An Author's Note: I honestly don't know where this came from.

From somewhere in the deep dark recesses of my brain comes a really bizarre little crossover story between two franchises that have nothing to do with each other, aren't really that similar at all unless you count the fact they are both from the damn 90s and both are technically sci-fi. This idea snuck up on me during the writing of a chapter of another fic I have on fanfiction dot net (Negaverse Chronicles, if anyone is interested). So the past however long after I started writing that chapter this idea just started marinating and now it's boiling over and if I don't write it I will go nuts.

So now I inflict this upon you, Reader.

Sorry about that.

There will be headcannons abound. Some of this will be coming straight to you out of left field. The fact that there isn't much Mighty Ducks lore means that I will be pulling a lot of random crap from nowhere and filling in bits. Consider this as much an AU for both Animorphs and Ducks but while the Ducks side is going wildly out into space from the start the Animorphs is going to stick fairly close to the books up until the point where I will eventually break all cannon and we all have to fasten our seatbelts for the ride.

This fic will be set after book 12 of the Animorphs and after the first and only season of Mighty Ducks. So, we are chronologically right after the Raptor plunges into the briny deep and right after Rachel burps the crocodile (alligator?).

I cannot write in first person so I'm sorry for the Animorph's purists but there will be very little first person pov. There might be some in from of small snippets, think like from the Earth Diary of Ax from book 8, but for the most part we are sticking with third person. Again, sorry.

I know nothing about hockey. It's the one with ice, right?

I've also posted this on Ao3 because I wanted to test it out but all of my fics seem to end up here on Fanfic net anyway so let's goooo.

Chapter 1

Looking back I'd often wonder if there was any sign of what was to come. Some hint I could have clued into that could have prevented the entire situation. Some signal I could gotten that would have stopped the entire thing in it tracks.

But there was nothing at all. It's how the Yeerks operate.

Yeerks aren't something our people ever had to deal with before. When the Saurians invaded it was a normal operation. Ships. Guns. Robots herding ducks from their homes and shoving them into transports to be normal slaves. Minds free but forced under threat of violence. Bad enough, but not what the Yeerks do. Yeerks are silent, for the most part. They slither in and take over your friends and family and before you know it you are surrounded.

So there was really no way any of us could have known they were among us until it was too late.

-From the writings of Wildwing Flashblade, Captain of the Mighty Ducks.

The Earth's hockey season, or at least the hockey season on the territory the ducks now lived, was over. It had been a particularly good one for the six aliens, even though, in the end, they hadn't won the cup. It had been very close though. Apparently, their opponents had been studying them all season, watched every game in fact. It was enough to not only match their game but beat them, though barely. Still, it had been a great season, especially since Dragaunus and the rest of his Saurian crew were presumably still at the bottom of the ocean. Hopefully gone for good.

But it left them in a bit of a pickle. Without the Raptor they couldn't go home. It didn't matter how much they wished it, without the dimensional gateway that was now at the bottom of the sea with the rest of the ship it was impossible. Saurian technology was too foreign to their own, it would take years of study for even their resident genius to figure it out. It was even worse with only the few samples of Saurian tech they had from their clashes with the lizard's forces.

So, for now, they were stuck on Earth. Which meant they had to wait months to play another game against the human teams. Why in the world the humans thought that it was a good idea to just…not play hockey for months was baffling to Wildwing. Maybe it was because they didn't like the cold? But no, they apparently did that for every major sport. Just months of nothing. It was bizarre, but at least they could still play each other.

For now, at least until it got closer to hockey time again, the ducks practice sessions had sort of devolved to three-on-three casual games between them. Each of them took a turn playing a different position, no matter what they usually played. It wasn't as good as a game, but at least it kept them from going crazy.

A sudden eruption of coughs cut through the general friendly practice chatter, and five of the six ducks followed the sound to the source. Wildwing frowned. He wasn't sure if it was just the onset of Earth's 'spring' or the Pond's new guests up in the rafters, but lately almost every time she exited the secret base resulted in an almost terrifying fit of coughing coming from Tanya. Normally she always sounded a little stopped up, but the new Earth season seemed to bring with it something that caused her to just burst out into coughing fits. He was almost glad that Dragaunus was under water. By now he probably would have figured it out and sent some sort of hyper allergy causing fluff monster after them or something. As it was, he was half afraid of letting her go on patrol. He really didn't want her to get shot or stabbed or slammed by a crazed human with delusions of supervillainy while she was in the middle of hacking up a lung.

"You need a break?" Wildwing skated up to her, concern in his tone.

"Ya. Probably." She rubbed her eyes and took a few deep gasping breaths as the coughing settled down. "Sorry."

"It's fine. Let's all take a break. It's almost lunch time anyway." Wildwing nodded to the others, who began to make their way off the ice. Above them Wildwing heard a gentle coo coming from the rafters. He looked up with a mild frown.

Tanya was allergic to a lot of things, and he couldn't help but wonder if their new guests were partly responsible. Looking down at him from the scoreboard was a soft looking grey and green head and a pair of beady little yellow eyes. The pigeon cooed again (rather adorable, Wildwing had to admit) and sort of bobbed his or her head at the much larger humanoid avian down below. It then turned and cooed its way back to the nest it and its mate had constructed on top of the Pond's scoreboard.

Wildwing shook his head. He had wanted to get rid of them, but Nosedive had thrown up a fuss about orphaning baby eggs. Which then caused a bit of an argument concerning 'innocent' animals vs the comfort and possible health safety of a teammate. Although Tanya herself had been against pigeon relocation, though Wildwing wasn't sure why, in the end she had just started to use human antihistamines and said she was fine. The pills were safe for them to use. But Wildwing swore if the situation got worse he was going to drag her to a doctor and see if she needed an inhaler or something. And if it got really bad he was going to, gently with as much respect for their adopted planet as possible, relocate the damn Earth birds.

Fortunately by the time the team had hit the showers and gathered up in the Pond's cafeteria the coughing fit subsided. Human food was strange, but fortunately edible enough for the aliens. Even the birds were technically edible. Even the Earth ducks, though none of them had actually tried that. Or tried eggs for that matter. It was a bit too strange. The scans from Drake One indicated that most of the human food was digestible to them, but eggs looked uncomfortably close to their own eggs and the sight of rotisserie chicken was stomach churning. It would be like humans coming up to see a nice roasted shaved monkey.

Although Wildwing heard that some humans did eat monkey so maybe it was just that humans were a little bit demented.

Thankfully, burgers and fries existed and there was nothing objectionable to a nice pizza. As long as they didn't let Dive go overboard they were good.

As they were finishing lunch Wildwing heard the door open and a very familiar, annoying, voice babbling behind him. Honestly, after a few months most of whatever it was that Phil was saying flew over Wildwing's head, because most of the time he would be leading with some sort of attempt to flatter or sweet talk them before getting around to the point. The others barely looked up from their own meals to listen to whatever the manager was saying. They were leaving Phil handling to Wildwing again, the traitors. Wildwing took a few moments to ignore the babbling in favor of taking a large sip of water before turning around and waiting for the point. He didn't groan at Phil. At all.

"…for a celebrity endorsement there." Phil was saying as Wildwing's brain finally clued into the words. "It's a wonderful group, you'll love it, it's called the Sharing."

Wildwing almost missed it. For a moment, when Phil looked up from the papers he was holding Wildwing saw a…strange look pass over Phil's face. He met Wildwing's eyes and sort of grimaced at him, as if he was struggling or in pain. Like his sales pitch was all part of some painful act he was putting on. It was gone in a moment, but Wildwing couldn't help but be concerned. As annoying as Phil could be he still had let them play in his hockey rink, introduced them to the humans, ran their media appearances to put them in the most positive light possible so the ducks were welcomed as guests on the Earth rather than invaders, and helped them navigate a world not their own. Yes, the constant endorsements and appearances and publicity stunts were irritating but their manager still did a lot for them.

Maybe I should just hear him out. It can't be that bad.

"What's a Sharing? And where do you want us to go?" Wildwing asked.

Phil smiled and shuffled some of the papers he was holding. Almost unceremoniously he shoved a pamphlet into Wildwing's hands.

"It's a great organization! You'll love it! They do a lot of things for impoverished youths and they help out their community. You know, fundraising, beach cleanups, outreach programs for the needy. It's full of great young people really trying to make a difference, you know. But they've had a bit of an issue with celebrity endorsements…"

"Yeah, what kind of 'problem?" Mallory had picked up a pamphlet, displaying a scene with a human on a jet ski, riding underneath the bright heading of 'The Sharing, where Fun and Family and Friendships are Found.' It was cheesy, all things considered. She gave the pamphlet a small distrustful snort before handing it down the line to Duke, who seemed only slightly more interested but not by much.

"Oh some bratty teenager actor. Jeremy McCole or something like that. Can't remember the name, honestly. But apparently, he went nuts after an interview at some daytime talk show went bad and ran off to the Congo. Some animals got loose and rampaged through the studio." Phil beamed at Wildwing. "But you guys aren't to run off just because of a stamped of wild llamas, right?"

"I don't know, the llamas might smother Tanya." Nosedive grinned at her. She simply glared back at him.

"There shouldn't be any actual llamas this time." Phil said quickly. "Or any other animals attacks. It'll be a nice easy weekend. Drive down there, it's a six-hour drive, show off the Migrator at the local school, really impress the kids, give a few interviews. Simple. Easy. We'll be back to the Pond by the next night." He kept grinning at them. "Come on, boobies, what do you say?"

Wildwing sighed and looked at the team. Mallory was still giving a suspicious glare at the pamphlet Duke was holding, and Nosedive was still mostly focused on his fries. Grin, surprisingly, wasn't looking at the brochures at all but was looking at Phil with a slight frown on his beak. After a few moments Mallory sighed heavily, rolled her eyes and nodded. Dive sort of shrugged without a care and Duke was sort of smiling.

"Eh, looks good to me. Bein' a former impoverished youth myself I think it'll be a good experience." Duke said. He grinned as Tanya reached over the table, snatched the pamphlet and sort of hacked a cough at it. Wildwing wasn't sure if it was a just a general cough or an unhappy one.

"I'll go and, ya know, look this place up with Drake One." She got up from the table and started towards the elevator to the underground base. "Don't want this to end up like the last road trip to a random town with weird things going on."

For a moment Phil grimaced again, but the look he shot Tanya didn't looked pained. It looked almost like hatred. But that couldn't be right.

"Alright, we'll go." Wildwing said, caving in. Clearly this meant a lot to Phil, and it had been a quiet few weeks. Maybe going out of town would be good for them. And meeting fans was always nice.

For the third time Wildwing saw Phil's face contort in a twisted expression, and he wondered just how much stress their manager must be under. It made Wildwing all the more determined to go. Maybe Phil was stressed about something, or maybe stressed about money, and they needed this little adventure for actual financial reasons instead of just simple greed. Besides, even if there was a sinister secret lurking in this neighboring town, they could handle it easily.

Wildwing wasn't worried at all.

"Alright, so." Tanya squinted at Drake One's monitor in a slightly annoyed fashion. "Either these Sharing people outright lied to Phil or he doesn't want us to be deterred by these animal attacks."

"So there's more than one incident?" Wildwing asked.

"Oh yeah.' Tanya nodded. "Really strange stuff. Like this."

She pulled up a video on the monitor. It looked like a news report. Wildwing's eyes narrowed at the sight of a hawk of some variety in a small cage, next to some human saying something about used cars. Before he could comment about the poor caged bird another hawk suddenly swooped down from the sky and…apparently began to break open the cage door.

"You sure this isn't some publicity stunt?" Mallory asked as a few startled looking humans began to shoo the hawk.

"Just watch, it gets better."

A loud trumpeting sound and a few resounding crashes and the camera turned to reveal an elephant happily stomping its way through the used cars, swinging its trunk and stabbing with its tusks. Somewhere in the distance a flapping was heard and the formally caged hawk took to the sky. The second stayed perched on the cage, watching the escaping one with what Wildwing could almost think was a wistful look. As much as a hawk could look wistful. Then, the news video cut to a very amused looking reporter, theorizing on if it was a stunt (like Mallory's guess) or a strange case of nature on the loose.

"The elephant comes up again. Rampages through a neighborhood a few weeks later, apparently being chased by a tornado." Tanya continued, pulling up a few more news articles. "A bear, a tiger and a gorilla attack a skyscraper in the town and apparently wreak the top of it." She coughed slightly and rubbed her eyes before pulling up more. "Some, uh…logging company gets driven out of the forest by a pack of wolves and a skunk."

"A skunk, really?" Duke laughed.

"Well, the inspector that ya know, was investigating the place said something about the logging company tying him up and going nuts on the trees. Claims the spirit of a skunk with a human face chased them off. I'm not sure about that story. Seems far-fetched."

"So, we looking for some crazed eco-terrorist either trainin or mind controllin a bunch of animals into wrecking the town, right?" Duke asked. "Can't be too hard. I mean, we've fought dinosaurs. Bunch of kitties and puppies isn't going to be that hard to deal with."

Tanya rubbed her eyes again. "Great."

"You could stay-"

"No, no. If there is some sort of remote control on these animals I'll need to dismantle it at some point. Might as well come along instead of having to fly there at the last minute in the Aerowing…actually, that might be a good idea."

"Say what?" Duke blinked at her.

"Ya know I've been working on reverse engin-" She paused and noted their slightly blank gazes. "Umm, copying Saurian tech, right?"

Wildwing nodded. He remembered that conversation. He didn't know the exact reasons why or how, but he did know that Tanya had been trying to duplicate some of the Saurian's tech, hoping that understanding their basic tech would help her understand the dimensional portal so their own could be built. The result was a recently installed cloaking device on the Aerowing.

"You want to take the Aerowing." He said.

"Ya, it has a better ventilation system than the Migrator. It also has that hidden fold away bed and some emergency food stocks. I can just camp in it if my allergies get bad. We can also test out the cloaking device as a bonus. We can still take the Migrator if Phil insists. Only one or two of us can drive it there and the others can use the Aerowing."

"I'm not sure I like the idea of any of us going to a strange town without checking out the people there first with the Mask." Wildwing said. "I'll go on the Aerowing too. We can time it so we get there a few hours before the Migrator team, and give the place a good scan with the Mask. Might even identify any animal rampage hotspots."

In the end, team Aerowing consisted of himself, Tanya, Nosedive (who really wanted to play with the cloaking device) and Duke (Tanya was not going to leave him in the Migrator unsupervised.). Team Migrator consisted of Grin and Mallory, who would be riding with Phil. Team Migrator would start off the next morning, with Team Aerowing coming in behind them a few hours later. Tanya estimated they would reach their destination in about two hours by air, with the second team arriving an hour or so later, depending on traffic.

Despite the possibly of having to fight an army of maybe brainwashed animals in the next twenty four hours Wildwing was still not that concerned. An animal themed enemy wouldn't be out of place in the arrangement of human lunatics they had to deal with it. Heck, if it turned out they were robots it might just be Baron Von Lickerstamp (or whatever, Wildwing didn't bother to remember his name correctly he was still angry about being hunted by a crazed human), and they already knew how to deal with him.

Animal fights or no it was going to be a simple trip. There, maybe a thirty-minute rumble, then back to the Pond.

There was nothing to worry about.

Jake was a young man under a lot of pressure.

Of course there was the normal teenage angst. Homework. School. Friends. His crush. His failure to make the basketball team (although that had almost turned out to be a blessing in disguise). Normal teenage things.

Then there was the alien parasites invading the planet, one of whom was currently wrapped around his older brother Tom's brain, smirking at him from across the dinner table. By now Jake had reached a point where he was almost used to pretending that everything was okay and that there was nothing wrong and that he had no idea there was a Yeerk staring at him instead of his brother.

Then the Yeerk would drop a bombshell on him and Jake would have to hold back his panic that threatened to overwhelm him.

Instead, he reached for a dinner roll and proceeded to butter it. "What are you talking about?" His voice was careful. Neutral. Flat. Every inch a bored teen.

"I said, don't you want to see a real alien tomorrow?"

Jake rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Right. Aliens." He took a defiant bite of roll. "What aliens?"

"The Sharing is hosting an event with the Mighty Ducks hockey team from- "

"Hockey? Since when do you care about hockey? I mean, you abandoned basketball for the Sharing. Going to abandon the Sharing for hockey now?"

The Yeerk rolled Tom's eyes. "As if, squirt. Their team is going to endorse the Sharing, but they are coming to the school after classes are over. You know, just an afterschool thing. Was hoping you'd come along." He leaned forwards. "Mr. Chapman told me he met with their manager, and guess what? They really are aliens. Real. Actual. Aliens."

For a long moment Jake just stared at the once familiar face on the other side of the dinner table. Calculated his response. What would be the best way of getting the most information out of Tom without giving himself away?

"I heard it was a promotional stunt. Masks and special effects. There's no way they're really aliens." Jake scoffed.

"Oh?" Tom raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

Here it was. Tom was fishing. Seeing how Jake reacted. Seeing if he knew anything about the real aliens invading the Earth. Jake had no idea if this hockey team was really alien in origin, he doubted it, but he knew that it was important to be dismissive. More than likely the Yeerks were just spreading rumors about more aliens. Trying to lure the Andalite Bandits out and using a hockey team with a gimmick to help. The fact that they could infest the team and have them passing out Sharing brochures and pins and other knickknacks probably helped. Anything to make the Sharing look good.

So he scoffed. "Yeah sure. Next you'll tell me that Ford is coming out with a new line of robots in disguise. Or Japan is opening a Godzilla theme park complete with giant lizard. Oh, or maybe the New York sewage inspectors are really starting to crack down on that ninja turtle problem." Jake shook his head. "Come on, Tom. Get real." Before Tom could start up again Jake threw his napkin down and got up from the table. "This is dumb, I'm going to meet up with Marco. I don't have time deal with Sharing nonsense."

Tom's eyes flashed. "If you just came to a few more events you'd- "

"Yeah. No. Thanks. Have fun with the birds." Jake gave his 'brother' another sarcastic eye roll before leaving, heading for the door and just barely acknowledging his mother yelling at him to be home by nine.

It was five now. Plenty of time for a short fly to Marco and the other Animorphs. They needed to discuss this.

A quick fly over Rachel's house, and a thought speak message to her with instructions to gather Ax and Tobias, and then a flap over to Marco's was all it took. Jake trusted the others to come up with their excuses and find ways to escape their parents. It helped that Rachel's mom was always busy and while Marco's dad had improved and moved to a better apartment, he was now busy with his own job. Jake guessed being a single parent was hard. He wouldn't know. He'd count himself lucky if eight years from now he'd be alive and free to even have kids.

After alerting Cassie Jake flew around the farm, giving the place a once over before flapping into the barn. Also known as the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic, Cassie's barn was filled with wild animals of all types. And the family horses. Jake perched on a rafter and waited, not willing to demorph from his peregrine falcon until he was sure it was all clear.

Within a few moments Cassie was out, carrying a bucket of feed with her. She gave him a little nod as she began to give the horses their dinner, casually and slowly just in case her parents checked on her. With his laser focused vision Jake could see her tense expression.

A few moments later a bald eagle, a harrier, and an osprey flew into the barn, finding various perches to sit on while the last member of the Animorphs flew above, giving one last visual check.

((We're good.)) Tobias's thought speak voice echoed in Jake's head. The red-tailed hawk who was once a boy landed next to Jake in the rafters. ((You guys can demorph.))

"So, what's the emergency, fearless leader?" Marco said as his smirk emerged from his osprey beak. "Any leftover news from Jeremy Jason McDork?"

"No, but you are in the ballpark." Jake said, the last bits of falcon talons disappearing from his toes. "The Sharing has a new group willing to endorse them. Any of you ever heard of the Mighty Ducks? The hockey team?"

((What is a hockey?)) Ax asked. His stalk eyes twisted and turned slowly; his main eyes focused on Jake. The Andalite aristh looked out of place among the normal Earth animals. Unlike a hockey playing duck from another dimension it would be easy to tell that Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, with his blue furred deer like body to his humanoid torso and head (minus a mouth), with four eyes (two on stalks atop his head) and his wickedly sharp scorpion like tail, his alien nature was obvious. It was only the power to morph that kept Ax from being discovered by the Yeerks.

((Oh, you mean the Anaheim Mighty Ducks? I've seen some of their games. You know, they almost won the Stanley Cup. Kinda impressive, honestly, getting that far wearing those dumb duck outfits. You have to admire their tenancy I guess.)) Tobias said. "Too bad they didn't pick a bird of prey species. I know another city already had a hawk theme, but maybe they could have been, say, falcons…"

((A duck is some sort of bird, correct?)) Ax asked. ((I am not sure I have seen a duck before. What is a hockey?))

"Hockey is a game played on ice with a bunch of sticks and a puck." Cassie said, then pointed to an ill male mallard in a cage. "And that's a duck. A mallard, to be exact."

((Ah." Ax said, then after two seconds of silence. ((What is a puck?))

((Well a puck is a small black disk thing that you put on the ice, and you have two teams and each team has a goalie. The other players try to hit the puck into the other teams goal with a stick and the goalie defends the goal.)) Tobias helpfully explained.

((Ah…and what is the ice on? Some sort of raised platform I assume? A table?))

((Ah, no Ax-man. The players skate. On the ice.))

Ax's main eyes widened in horror. ((Wait. Humans…humans with their two unstable legs and no tails…go out on frozen water…with sticks to hit a disk at each other? What kind of ritual is this?))

"It's not a ritual Ax, it's a sport." Rachel rolled her eyes upwards to Tobias and gave him a little smile. "Although I guess to some people it can be a sacred ritual."

"Ah yes, the sacred ritual of the sports ball." Marco grinned and threw an arm around Jake's shoulder. "Everyone had their Game, Ax. For our dear Prince here it's basketball," He ignored the murderous look Jake gave him and continued. "I guess for Bird Boy it's hockey, but everyone has their Game. Remember, Ax. Every year around America at a certain time once normal families gather around the Sacred Television to give thanks to the Gods of the Foot Balls. Assembling their finest offerings of pigs in a blanket, crazy nachos and The Dip. Serving the men great kegs of beer while the children must contend with soda until they are of age. Worshiping at the altar of The Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers and the- "

"Why is Marco babbling about football? I thought we were talking about hockey?" Rachel snorted.

"Oh who can tell the difference. One just has sticks and the other doesn't."

((I mean there are a few other differences…)) Tobias grumbled.

"Okay, guys, focus." Jake slipped from under Marco's arm. "We have a problem."

"So, the Yeerks are going after more celebrities." Rachel frowned, probably remembering the last time the Yeerks were grabbing famous people. "It sucks, but let's be real here. I mean, hockey has fans, but it's not like they're going after the guys who won the Super Bowl."

"Who did win the last Super Bowl…" Cassie wondered aloud.

"Yeah, they are going after the closest champion level hockey team around. But that's not all." Jake tried to get his team to focus. "Tom also made a huge stink at the dinner table tonight about them being aliens. Alien ducks."

There was a long silence, then Ax tilted his head to one side like a curious dog.

((I…am not sure I understand. A duck is an Earth bird. Are they saying they think these birds are aliens.)) Ax studied the sick mallard with a stalk eye, who gave an annoyed duck noise in response to the Andalite's scrutiny.

"No. The Ducks, the hockey team I mean, not them." Jake waved a hand dismissively at the mallard. "They look like humans. Normal humans, with duck heads."

There was another long silence, then. "Oh yeah, I remember seeing one of them in a magazine once. Red hair…kinda petite. Some swimsuit sports issue or something." Rachel pondered. "I thought it was a weird promo, but…are you saying they are real aliens? Like, Hork-Bajir and Taxxons are?"

((I…am sorry Prince Jake but that is…simply not possible.)) Ax said. ((I am not a xenobiology expert but if there was a species that looked exactly like humans just…with these bird heads we would know about it. If only because that would mean there are two species in the galaxy with two legs and no tails. I hate to keep pointing this out-))

"Oh no you don't, don't lie." Marco rolled his eyes.

((I am not lying! The human body is the most impossible and ridiculous model of locomotion in the known universe! It's a minor miracle your species has not only evolved this way but evolved on a planet with such a variety of different animals in the first place. The idea that there is another, with skulls modeled after another Earth species, is laughable. Utterly impossible!))

"And yet Tom seemed pretty determined that the Ducks are really aliens." Jake said.

((It must be a Yeerk trick!)) Ax exclaimed.

"Yeah, but to what purpose?" Marco frowned. "I mean, clearly the Yeerks are spreading rumors about more aliens. Why use a silly gimmicky hockey team?"

"Maybe they think they can lure the 'Andalite Bandits' out." Cassie said quietly. "Maybe they think that rumors of more aliens will do the trick."

((I do not think a typical Andalite War Prince the Yeerks would assume to be leading us would take rumors of a human sport playing team of alien birds seriously.)) Ax said, then focused his stalk eyes on Jake. ((It is more likely that Tom is trying to lure you to them. Perhaps he trying a new angle to infest the rest of your family, starting with you. I doubt that is their main goal. They are more likely attempting to lure in…hockey fans, and Tom simply hopes that the sight of possible alien sports teams will lure you in as well. A bonus to the Yeerks true goal.))

((…has anyone even thought of the other possibility?))

"What possibility, Tobias?" Jake asked as he looked upwards.

((The possibility that the Ducks are legit.))

"…you mean legit aliens?" Marco laughed. "Oh come on, Tobias."

((Wait, hear me out!)) Tobias flapped his wings. ((I know that Ax says it's a near impossibility but let's just say for a moment the Ducks really are aliens. Maybe they just never came across the Andalites. It's a big galaxy.))

((That…would be highly improbable.))

((But not impossible, right?)) Tobias asked.

((Perhaps not…)) Ax said doubtfully.

((Right, so.)) Tobias continued. ((Let's say that, for whatever reason, the Mighty Ducks hockey team are aliens. How did they get here? Had to have landed on their own ship, right? Or maybe some other technology unfamiliar to us, right? And what if, out there somewhere beyond known Andalite space, there's a planet full of humanoid creatures, with technology that gets them from wherever there is to here, who have never heard of Yeerks or Andalites. A whole planet full of unsuspecting hosts. Better yet, if they can go back and forth, and the Andalites don't know, then that means the Yeerks can launch another secret invasion on a planet with an unknown number of host bodies, but this time, no Animorphs or Andalites there to stop them. No one knows that they are there. Only a team of hockey players. And who would expect a sports team to bring home an alien parasite from off world?))

"Isn't that the plot of a movie somewhere?" Marco asked.

((Regardless, Marco. What do we do if that's the truth?)) Tobias said. ((What if we ignore this, then months later we're facing duck aliens alongside Hork-Bajir and Taxxons?))

"I mean, unless they have razor sharp feathers and can shoot Superman eye lasers we can probably kick their butts just like we kick Hork-Bajir butt." Rachel said.

((Yes, but what if the opposite happens? What if tomorrow these aliens come here and all of a sudden, they get introduced to the invasion? What if we can show them there's an invading force here. I doubt the ducks themselves are hostile to humans, you don't go to a planet to play hockey and then destroy it.)) Tobias said.

"I mean, what if that is the tradition on Duck Home world." Marco snorted. "Beat the locals at hockey then blow up the joint and move on to the next planet."

Jake sighed. "We don't have enough information to make a call on that. If the ducks are aliens, we don't know what could be going on in their heads. We need to keep an eye on this." He nodded to himself "Tobias is right. Maybe the ducks are real. Maybe the ducks will bail on Earth when they learn about the Yeerks. Maybe they won't. Maybe they like Earth now that they've been here…what a year? Maybe we can have actual allies in this fight."

"Or they sell us out to the Yeerks." Marco pointed out.

"Maybe, which is why we take this one step at a time. Tobias." Jake looked up. "I want you to follow the ducks tomorrow, think you can spot them?"

((Sure, they'll be easy to track. They drive around in a huge van with a giant duck face on it.))

Marco snorted in derisive laughter.

"…okay. Great. You and Ax track them. Let us know what they do. Then, when they are at the school fly cover for us. The rest of us are going to a hockey meet and greet."

"It makes sense for me to go." Cassie said. "I'm interested in animals, and I've clearly heard the rumor that they are duck creatures, so I'll go."

"And of course, she drags me along for moral support." Rachel said. "Which also gives us a reason to bail if you need a sudden Andalite attack. I can only take so much animal sports talk."

"Anyone have any objections to the plan?"

((I…will follow your orders, Prince Jake.)) Ax kept whatever doubts he had to himself. The very concept of the Mighty Ducks was absurd to him. Asinine. But Jake was his prince and he would follow his prince's commands even if they made no sense.

"Stop calling me Prince." Jake grumbled.

((Yes, Prince Jake.))

The next day found Mallory riding in the Migrator with both Phil and Grin.

It was already irritating to her.

Sure, Grin was fine company. A little strange with his spiritual nature and sayings, but he also was nice and calm and almost peaceful to be around. Honestly, he was a nice change from Nosedive bickering with Duke and Nosedive getting berated by Tanya for touching her stuff or Nosedive talking loudly to Wildwing just like he talked loudly about everything…

Okay, never mind, traveling alone with Grin was fine.

It was Phil that was bothering her. He started off his normal, chatty self, but then once they left the city limits he quieted down. Just abruptly stopped talking to brood out the window. It was a little odd and Mallory didn't like it at all.

With Grin taking over driving Mallory set to reading a book she brought with her. It was a pretty good one. It was set in a possible human future where a unit of human soldiers had to guide a political figure through a hellhole of a planet with only their guns, grit and tenacity. Being a military girl herself she admired a good tale of army heroes. A good human sci fi story was always fun as well. They had no experience with space travel themselves, so the various ideas they had about how it might work and how to go about it was fun. Mallory knew Tanya and Nosedive liked this stuff too. Tanya because the technobabble amused her and Nosedive because he liked goofy movies. It was nice to have things in common with your team other than hockey and fighting in a resistance. It almost made living on Earth normal.

It was a good three hours into their trip along a barren human wasteland when Phil suddenly stopped brooding and tapped Grin on the shoulder.

"Hey, can you pull over. Nature's calling." Phil asked.

"…you cannot hold it until there is a gas station?" Grin asked.

"Naw, sorry. But when you gotta go you gotta go, you know?"

Grin nodded. "I suppose that is a type of wisdom." The serene duck pulled over and opened the Migrator's door for Phil. "There you are."

Mallory looked up just in time to see the pained expression from last night flit over Phil's features before the wide grin took over. A smile that, for the first time, she noticed didn't meet their human manager's eyes. As Phil exited the Migrator Mallory shut her book and walked up to Grin.

"Hey, Grin, you think he's acting a bit off?" She asked. "Wildwing said he seemed a bit weird yesterday."

"…there is something wrong with him." Grin said, frowning at the desert in general.

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"A dark cloud looms over our friend's head, but it is not within his own soul. A dark presence has been lurking in our ride for the past few hours, and it has left to follow him." Grin shook his head. "Mallory, there is something very very wrong with him. I don't know what it is, but I can feel it."

"Hmmm," Mallory looked out the window, but she could see nothing out of place. Just miles of nothing. She had no idea how to respond to that. She wasn't a spiritual person. She wanted action, an enemy, something to fight. If there was something threatening or influencing their manager she wanted to be able to fight it. "Think Wraith is back?"

"No. This is not Saurian in nature. It is something else. Something more…oppressive." Grin shook his head. "It's like a thundercloud on the horizon. There, but you don't know when or how it will strike. The Saurians are always in your face. This thing hides."

Mallory sighed. Great. They should have just brought the entire group with them. Wildwing and the Mask would have been able to find their secret enemy in a flash.

Five minutes later Mallory lost her very short allotment of patience. She grabbed a puck pistol and loaded it with a puck. "Let's go look for him." Grin nodded and followed her, his beak furrowed in a troubled expression.

Instinctively the two moved through the desert as one, Mallory depending on Grin to cover her back. Her eyes scanned the terrain, but while she saw nothing there was something inside of her screaming that something was off. Grin was right. They were not alone.

"Hey, Phil! You okay?" Mallory called out, hoping that he'd whine back to her about lacking toilet paper or something.

Mallory tensed as the desert in front of her shivered, and two rocks suddenly vanished. In their place were now two gigantic, tall lizards. Lizards with long snakelike necks, raptor feet and blades extending from their wrists, knees and heads. Saurians! No, wait…they had bird beaks! Not duck beaks, but beaks all the same.

"Mallory." Grin growled. "They're Scaleborn."

Mallory knew what he meant. Ever since she was a young girl when her father came home on leave he would tell stories about Scaleborn. Ducks with the blood of ancient Saurians running their veins. Hybrids. Half-breeds. Some of these monsters might look normal, but something would be off. Long talons, or sharp snake fangs or slitted lizard eyes. Some of them were even more twisted and malformed. Scales mixed with beaks and long tails. When she was older she visited the base where her father stood watch over a clutch of those things. Some indeed looked normal. Most were deformed mutants. At least one of them, a tall, loud one, looked just like these lizards before her, just with a duck's bill and no blades. She never got close enough to talk to them, but she would always remember their resentful, hateful gazes as they had watched her from their (prison) yard.

(It was only much later when Mallory would learn that all the awful things her father, General McMallard, said about Scaleborn wasn't true. It was just that he was a bigot. She hated to think about that. No daughter wanted to think of their father as a bigot. But it was true. Scaleborn were treated badly, that was fact. But not all were bad.)

(Wasn't one of her own team one after all? Wasn't a friend who Mallory would trust with her life a Scaleborn? Wasn't it possible that one of those who had glared up at her from that prison one of her trusted teammates now? A teammate that never once showed a hint of resentment for what her family had done?)

But that didn't matter right now. All that mattered were the weapons aimed at them in the claws of the lizards.

Mallory slipped into a martial arts stance and launched herself at the rightmost lizard. The beast blinked in surprise at the quick response and was rewarded with a foot to the razor-sharp beak. It flew three feet and slammed its back against a cactus. It roared and yelled in a strange mixture of utter nonsense and actual words. The understandable words to Mallory were 'get' and 'host'. She had no time to think about it though, as the other lizard was slashing at her with his blades or attempting to. Mallory grabbed the lizard by the arm and threw him on top of the other lizard, who was apparently swearing at the second, if the tone was any indication.

She heard Grin grunt with effort and looked over to see him lifting two other lizards and tossing them aside. It looked like he had just slammed the two's heads together and was tossing them away. Grin brushed off his hands with a proud smile.

"Guys! Help, they got me! I'm hurt!"

Mallory turned and rushed to where she heard Phil's voice. So he had been ambushed by lizards. She supposed she could give him a break from the scolding she had been planning to give him. Sure going alone to answer nature's call had been dumb but he couldn't help but be overpowered by lizards. He was laying on the ground, hand clutching his side underneath his jacket as his face contorted with pain.

"Don't worry, I got you." Mallory leaned down to support Phil and get a look at the injury.

Phil smirked at her. "No, I got you." His hand emerged from his jacket to reveal some sort of gun. Mallory didn't get a good enough look at it before there was a flash of light and a wash of pain. She grunted and fell to the ground, unable to move.

"Mallory!" Grin started to charge, but Phil fired on him as well. Grin was usually able to shrug off most blows, but the ray seemed to do its job and all too soon Grin was beak first on the ground. Mallory gritted her teeth and tried to stand, but her muscles refused to obey her commands.

Phil shook his head and looked over at the quartet of lizards picking cactus spines out of their hides. "Umuass 532, what was that! You almost let the new hosts get away! Didn't any of you learn how to shoot a Dracon Beam? Or have those Hork-Bajir brains rotted away your own sense?"

"Talluk 319 you- "One of the lizards started, but Phil cut him off.

"Just get our brothers into their heads before they shake it off. Who knows how long a Dracon Beam will stun them on that setting. They're the most combat capable of these ridiculous aliens! It's bad enough their leader took that mask with them…" Phil marched over to the complaining lizard…Umuass? And gave it a small glass cylinder filled with sludgy liquid. Within that liquid something slimy and slippery oozed within. Mallory gritted her teeth and struggled to stand, but she was still paralyzed, at least temporarily. She wasn't sure what exactly was going on, but this clearly was not Phil. It must be an imposter. All she could do was glare at the imposter Phil as he leaned over her with a second slime filled cylinder in his hand. He popped the top and placed the opening next to her head.

"Don't fight it, bird. It's pointless." He grinned. "Your manager has been struggling against my control since I first got him, you know. He hates doing this to you, but it's not up to him anymore. It took me a while to convince the Visser he wasn't just a madman, but now your little flock will belong to the Yeerk Empire. Your flock, and all that nice alien technology your scientist has been tinkering with for the past year. Eventually, your entire world will belong to us. Just like our Hork-Bajir troops. Just like what's happening to your human friends now."

He could talk all he wanted, but whatever mind control they were using would never work on her, or any of the team. These Yeerks would regret tangling with the Mighty Ducks. It wasn't like she didn't hear a villainous monologue every month or so. Sometimes twice a month.

Something touched her ear, but she was beginning to regain control of her body. She tried to reach up to pull the wet slimy thing of whatever it was away from her ear, but Phil, or the thing controlling Phil, slapped her hand away. She winched as something began to crawl instead her ear canal. It didn't hurt, but she knew it should. She could feel it writhing and sliding and wiggling inside her ear and she wanted nothing more than to pull it out, but she knew that it was fully in now. So, she opted for the next best thing. She opened her mouth to berate the thing controlling Phil, so it knew what it was dealing with.

She tried to talk, but nothing came out.

((Ahhh, the new host body. Interesting. Almost exactly like my old human host, but with a few extra features. Oh, you're a soldier, aren't you? Lovely. You will fit right in.))

What…what?

((Ah, hmmm….oh I know! We are the Yeerks. Your bodies and minds will be assimilated or infested and now belong to us. Resistance is futile.)) The voice in her head laughed. ((It's not mind control, Mallory McMallard. I am in your head. I just crawled your ear canal, and even now I'm wrapping myself around your brain. I'm hooking myself up to your nerves and synapse. I feel everything you do. I control your eyes, your beak, your entire body. You are just a passenger now. My name is Atiuss 304. You, are nothing.))

Wait. No NO! ((Get out!))

((Yeah. No.)) The thing…((Yeerk. I'm a Yeerk. Get it right…slave.))

((No! You sick, disgusting-)) All of a sudden her mind was flooded with a torrent of voices, neither the Yeerk's nor hers. They all said basically the same things. Screams for help. Denials. Threats. All the things she was going to say, at least in her head.

((I have heard it all before, Mallory. The 'you'll never get away with this'. 'Someone will find out' And my favorite 'I'll fight you.' Here's a secret, Mallory. All involuntary hosts like yourself say the same things. You want to know what happens to those hosts?)) An image appeared in her head. Humans and the lizard creatures, confined in cages in some underground facility. Some screamed. Some cried but the ones that the Yeerk focused on were the ones that stared blankly into space like broken dolls. It was horrifying and it made Mallory sick to see it.

((That's your future, Mallory. Everyone fights, but as the months go by they realize the truth. There is no hope. This is your life now. Best accept it sooner rather than later. I'm not a cruel Yeerk. Some of my people can be very cruel, but I never saw the sense in it. That doesn't mean I won't discipline you if you get…uppity. Just stay nice and quiet back there and we can all have a nice life. Or at least until I'm promoted beyond you.))

Mallory had somehow missed that the three of them, herself, Grin and Phil were back in the Migrator. How had she missed that? ((Oh, how the time flies when your Yeerk is laying down the law on you, doesn't it?)) Shut up you-

((Well well well, it looks like you've been keeping secrets from dear Phil…about a member of your team. Scaleborn, hmmmm? Why don't we let Phil know this. He's still in there, you know. He can see everything his own Yeerk does just like you can see what I'm doing. Wonder how much he screamed watching you and the big fellow being infested…))

Mallory growled to herself, but didn't bother to reply to the Yeerk, even mentally. It wouldn't be long until Wildwing figured out what was going on and saved them. ((Pinning all your hopes on a man like a princess, how brave, Mallory)). Or Tanya would find a way to drive these things out their heads. ((Not when she gets one of us wrapped around that brilliant frontal lobe of hers.)) They had been through worse things than this before!

The Yeerk laughed in her head. ((Keep telling yourself that, host. Just keep telling yourself that.))

A/N: The Scaleborn thing is one of the many worldbuildingish nonsenses that came from that left field, along with the identity of the duck who is one of them. It's important to remember that they can look normal aside from one or two things. I hope you find what I do with this concept fun. I dunno. I might lose yall.

It's cool, I'm still having fun.

I suck at Yeerk names.

Enjoy the nonsense till next time.