Chapter 2: An Invitation
Summertime was normally a stressful period for Evan Morrow. It was often an argument about whether he'd spend the summer with his dad, who usually argued over the phone with his mom about which weekends Evan would spend with him. On top of that, last summer had been even worse because of hockey training season. Evan had been so convinced that he and Teddi would get cut from the Ducks during the first few weeks of pre-season training, but Coach T, Coach Riley, and Coach Cole had ultimately decided to wait until the very first game to embarrass them in front of everyone; they'd intentionally set the Ducks up to lose that first game by putting Evan, Gordy, and Teddi in because they wanted to prove to everyone that the three of them didn't belong.
Payback was a real bitch.
Now, Evan was, surprisingly enough, excited for summer. They were no longer the Don't Bothers. They were the Ducks. That meant Evan had been going to the Ice Palace every day to practice his skating and puck handling, determined to bring his best game for the new season. And he knew Teddi was bringing her A-game, too. As captains, they needed to set an example for the others that in order to be the best, you had to do your best.
That was why Evan was at the rink, practicing with Sofi. If one thing held them together, it was their love for the game. Of course, Sofi was never one that wanted to settle. She lived by the thought that you could always have more than your best, and that you should never be content with just being good enough. She wanted to go for bigger things, and she couldn't be criticized for lack of ambition; it was why she'd initially stuck with the old Ducks, because she knew for sure that would get her a little further and potentially get her into a really good high school for hockey because her parents were people who came from nothing and pushed for her and her brother to achieve greatness.
Now that their team was known as the Ducks, they had a title to defend and a lot to prove. They had another chance to play at the state championship next season, which meant they needed to put in more hours than anyone else.
Evan and Sofi skated around, their blades cutting across the ice as they practiced passing the puck back and forth between one another. Surprisingly enough, Bombay entrusted Evan's mom with the keys to the Ice Palace while he was away on his honeymoon in Disneyland. But given that she was one of the assistant coaches of the Ducks, and the Ice Palace was officially their new pond, that meant someone needed to be in charge of collecting any mail they might get, and with Coach Conway spending his first few weeks of the summer break teaching summer school half a day, that meant most of those duties were in Alex's hands.
Evan laughed as Sofi checked him hard into the boards. She shot the puck at the goalpost. It sailed in, and she skated over to him, grinning.
"You wounded my pride, Sofe," he said, laughing.
"Want me to kiss it better?" Sofi teased.
Evan grinned at her, and she bent down, kissing him sweetly. Aside from hockey, kissing Sofi was probably his favorite activity. After months of teasing by his mother about his feelings for Sofi, they finally got it together and began dating after they won that grudge match against the previous Ducks. And the months they've had together were special; every weekend, they'd either be at the Ice Palace ice skating, or they'd go to the park with Teddi and Logan for a double date. But they heard Alex calling for them before she could help him to his feet.
"Sofi, Evan! Come up here! You've got to see this!" she said excitedly. She waved an envelope in her hand, a large smile on her face as she beckoned them to come up to the concession stand.
Sofi and Evan exchanged a glance with one another. Evan grabbed his girlfriend's hand as they skated off the ice, not even bothering to remove their ice skates before climbing the stairs to the concession stand, where Alex continued staring at them, beaming, her brown eyes wide with delight.
"Mom, what is that?" Evan asked.
"It's addressed to us. It's from Elite Performance Ice Center in Anaheim," she said.
"Wait, that's, like, the greatest youth hockey academy in the world!" Sofi exclaimed as Evan reached for the envelope and tore into it. As he read it, his eyes grew twice their size as his heart beat wildly in his chest, his hands shaking.
"It said, 'Dear Mighty Ducks of District Five, you are cordially invited by EPIC director and former NHL player Colin Cole to attend our exclusive summer training program from July 1 to August 14!'" Evan said, his voice growing louder as the realization settled in. It was all he could ever dream of, getting chosen to train at such an exclusive summer program. He'd imagined what it would be like when he was in Squirts league. Now, he was considered among the best of the best, and it only made him want to prove himself even more; he wanted to go beyond what he knew he was capable of. "Only the top teams in the world get to go to this camp, Mom! Do you know what this means?"
"It means that we better RSVP and start packing up. I wonder if Coach Conway knows yet," Alex said excitedly.
"We'll tell Teddi, who will tell her dad," Evan said. "We're so going!"
"Then go, gather up the flock, guys!"
Evan and Sofi grinned at one another, knowing the fastest way to gather the others would be to rollerblade and have them all meet at the Ice Palace so they could begin discussing the trip. Within minutes, they changed their ice skates for their rollerblades and left the Ice Palace, skating across town to pick up Koobler first, who was undoubtedly playing video games with Nick over at Nick's house. Finding those two was easy, given they lived on the same block as Evan.
They cut through town in less than fifteen minutes, their blades sliding smoothly across the bumpy pavement. When they finally stopped at Nick's house, they saw Nick and Koob playing a video game in front of Nick's television in the living room. Instantly, Evan pounded on the window with his gloved hand to get their attention, and Nick bolted from the sofa to open the window.
"Evan, Sofi, what are you guys doing?"
"Nick, Koob! We're back! Have you ever heard of Elite Performance Ice Center?" Evan asked.
"Who hasn't?" Nick asked, grinning. "It's the best training center for youth hockey out there."
"The Ducks got invited to go to a training camp there for the summer!" Sofi said.
"You're kidding!" Koob said, looking as surprised and thrilled as they felt.
"No, we're not! We've gotta tell the others. Koob, did you rollerblade here?" asked Evan.
"Yeah!"
Moments later, Nick and Koob followed them across town, cheering madly.
"Where to next?" Koob asked.
"Let's go get Maya and Lauren! They're volunteering at the District Five summer camp; they should be on their lunch break right now," Nick said.
The others nodded, and they raced off in the direction of the District Five recreation center, where Maya and Lauren volunteered with the second-graders as camp counselors for half a day, considering they weren't of age to get working papers yet. As they cut through Evan, Nick, Logan, and Koob's street, they skated off toward the rec center, which was downtown and not far from Mickey's Dining Car. When they arrived, they saw the spray grounds being turned on and little kids splashing in the kiddie pool and playing in the jungle gym. Maya and Lauren were dogpiled in the kiddie pool by several of the children, who splashed at them and giggled fiercely. Evan rattled against the fence to get their attention, and Maya and Lauren managed to push the little kids off of them enough to make their way to the fence.
"Are you almost cut?" Evan asked.
"Yeah, in like, five minutes. Why?" Maya asked.
"The Ducks are back!" Sofi said. "We got invited to the best youth hockey academy in the world for the summer!"
"Come on! Let's go! Do you have your skates?" Nick asked.
"Yeah!" Lauren said, running off to grab her rollerblades, her warrior princess cape flying behind her back.
Pretty soon, they were all flying along the pavement, heading toward the park to pick up Sam, who would more than likely be skateboarding at the basketball court. When they arrived, they sure enough found him, practicing his kickflip.
"Sam! Let's go!" yelled Evan.
After explaining to Sam why they were gathering up all the Ducks, the daredevil quickly obliged, following them along on his skateboard.
"Where to now?" asked Maya.
"We've gotta get Teddi and Logan!" Evan said.
"I think I saw them over at the Duck Pond," Sam said, and they skated off in that direction. Sure enough, they saw their second resident power couple sitting by the Duck Pond, sunbathing and snuggling closely together. But before the two could lean in and share a kiss, Nick yelled, "Yuck! Get a room, you two!"
Teddi and Logan leaped to their feet, their faces turning red.
"Guys, the quack attack is back on!" said Sam. "C'mon! Let's go! We've gotta get Banksy!"
"All right!" Teddi grinned, rushing to put on her roller skates while Logan shook his head at them.
"Guys! I was this close!" Logan said, exasperated, before lacing up his skates. Pretty soon, Logan and Teddi fell in line with them as they skated off to Ducksworth's, where Adam insisted Billy spend his summer volunteering, claiming that he could learn a thing or two by shadowing him and gaining some life experience, even if he ended up not being a lawyer. They were lucky in many ways that Adam Banks never scolded them for skating indoors, so they felt a lot less guilty about what they were about to do as they raced up the stairs and went into Duckworth Savor and Gross, skating down the hallways despite the protests of the legal aids and those that worked in the office. They saw Billy sitting behind his father's desk at the law firm while his father took several important telephone calls about some upcoming court case he had, and they pounded on the glass door of Adam's office, grinning as Billy's head shot up. Evan yanked the door open.
"Hey, Banksy! You wanna spend your summer playing some real hockey?" asked Teddi.
"What do you mean?" Billy asked.
"One word: EPIC!" Evan declared.
"You mean –?" Billy stammered excitedly. His blue eyes widened significantly. Next to Teddi, Evan, and Gordy, Billy was the most hockey-obsessed and knew all about the best training camps and schools for hockey. In fact, he was even researching private schools with the best J.V. hockey programs so that he could continue playing the sport at the high school level and potentially go to college for it and go pro afterward. He even knew all about the pros who eventually retired and went on to do other things, like coaching and training.
"Yes! Now, come on! We've gotta find Gordy! Get your skates on, and let's go!" Lauren said.
"Dad? Can I –?"
Adam covered his cell phone over his chest. "Yes! Go!" He hardly seemed able to contain his smile, hearing that his son would get to train with the best of the best.
They all grinned as they tore out of the law firm, ignoring several yells for them not to rollerblade through the office halls. But they raced out of the building and jumped down the stairs, racing off to go pick up Gordy, who lived in St. Paul and spent the majority of his summers helping his dad with his brother and sister. As they neared the edge of Minneapolis, they headed into Gordy's neighborhood of St. Paul, and Billy couldn't stop raving about the opportunity.
"Guys, this camp is where only the best internationally gets to go! It's us against the world!" Aside from Sofi and Evan, Billy was probably one of the most ambitious, a trait he inherited from both his parents; his father had gotten bumped up to Varsity during his freshman year of high school, and his mom had been one of the top goalies in the United States. Ever since he got moved from winger to goalie, Billy had been working exceptionally hard, practicing with his dad and mom every night to improve his skills in the goalpost, and he turned out to be the best goalie they ever could've gotten – if it hadn't been for Charlie deciding to move Koob out of the goalpost and put Billy there fulltime, they probably wouldn't have gotten as far as they did. However, Koob was a reliable defenseman and invaluable to them; he helped save them on the ice more times than they could count, and he was a far better defense than he was a goalie.
"It's just a shame the Capek brothers moved back to their home country," Lauren said. "That means we're two men down."
"But at least we're all together," Teddi pointed out. "And we've got my dad and Alex. Maybe we can convince Orion to come and be our trainer again."
"I don't think he'd say no, especially if you ask. After all, you're his favorite," teased Evan.
Teddi blushed deeply at that. It was no lie that while Orion didn't believe in playing favorites, he did hold a soft spot for Teddi; she was his namesake, and within the past few months, he'd grown closer to Teddi's family, to where he joined Gordon, Casey, Charlie, Teddi, and Henry for family dinners every Sunday night. While the rest of the Ducks knew Orion would never display favoritism and that Charlie pushed his daughter harder than anyone else on the team, that didn't mean other teams in Minnesota didn't have big mouths. Even so, Orion coming with them would be of significant help, considering they didn't have Bombay because he was away on his honeymoon and would be for the rest of the summer, but they also knew he'd be in the area if they ever needed him for anything.
They continued skating along until they reached Gordy's street. They saw Gordy outside in his driveway, practicing with his dad and his little brother Sam, who had just turned seven and would be eligible to play in the Mites Ducks team in the fall, so of course, Gordy was helping his little brother practice shooting and puck handling, volleying the puck back and forth between himself, his brother, and his father. At the same time, the only girl, Rose, watched from her stroller, giggling.
Evan and Teddi shared a grin with one another as they yelled, "Hey! Gordy!"
Gordy's blond head shot up as he waved at his friends.
"Germaine! We're back!" said Maya.
"What do you mean?"
"We got invited by EPIC to attend their summer program!" chimed Koob.
Gordy's smile widened as he shot an excited look with his father. "I'll talk with your mother," said Guy. "I'm sure she'll let you go. We were allowed to go to L.A for the Junior Goodwill Games. There's no reason you can't spend a summer in Anaheim, which is far safer than L.A."
"YES!" Gordy yelled.
"Come on! Let's get to the Ice Palace!" Nick exclaimed.
"I think my dad should be there by now. Summer school's no longer in session for the day!" Teddi said, leading the charge with Logan at her side, and Evan and Sofi closely behind her. Together, the remaining Ducks of District Five skated along St. Paul until they were back near the outskirts of Minneapolis. When they neared the Ice Palace, they were in a chorus, quacking as they noticed Orion, Alex, and Charlie outside, waiting for them. The quacking soon turned into chants of "Ducks! Ducks! Ducks! Ducks . . .!"
"All right, all right, Ducks!" Charlie said, getting everyone quiet. "This is a great opportunity for all of you. I'm real proud of you guys for being chosen for this. Are you ready to fly?"
"YEAH!" the kids all yelled simultaneously.
"Okay, well, before you can go, I'll need to have your parents sign some permission slips. And since we won't be able to afford a flight to California for all of you, we'll be renting an RV," Alex explained, "we'll leave June twenty-eighth so that we'll have plenty of time to drive and get settled into the apartments over there; it'll take us at least two days because we'll have to make stops along the way to rest and camp out. So, whoever wants first picks for roommates, tell me who you're dorming with so I have all that information."
"And no girls and boys sharing rooms, either," Charlie said, causing Sofi, Evan, Logan, and Teddi to blush fiercely.
"Daddy!" Teddi groaned. "What are we gonna do?"
"Huh, good point," Charlie said with a shrug. "But I am bringing Henry with us; I can't leave him here unsupervised for the summer. And those of you who have volunteer work for the summer, clear it with your bosses and give them two weeks' notice."
"Okay," said Lauren, nodding along with Maya.
"But just because you'll be going to this summer camp, that doesn't mean you get to neglect your summer reading requirements. So, you all better bring your copies of Great Expectations with you and read at least two chapters every night, or I won't allow you to play," Charlie said, casting all of them a stern look; he had almost all of them in his English classes next semester, and he wasn't about to allow any of them to slack on their summer assignments, especially for his class – he held higher expectations for them when it came to summer reading assignments, assigning them books that most read a grade level ahead, because he wanted to make sure they were more advanced with reading and writing comprehension.
Almost all the kids, except Billy, Teddi, and Sofi, groaned loudly. None of them were thrilled with Charlie's assigned reading, even if he did give them the abridged version of the story. Teddi, at the very least, took it seriously; she always loved to read, and even though Great Expectations was a challenge for her, she loved the challenge.
"Guys, what's so bad about Great Expectations?" she demanded.
"It's so boring!" groaned Evan. "And they talk so English!"
"That's because it's set in Old England, moron," Billy said, rolling his eyes. "I was reading that book in sixth grade. It's easy."
"Yeah, okay, cake-eater!" teased Logan, having heard Charlie call Adam Banks that plenty of times. But it was true. Billy, unlike the rest of them, attended private school, much like Sofi. They had way more advanced education than the rest of them. Billy's parents, a successful lawyer, and a pediatric physical therapist, gave him a better education. He was probably next in line to attend Eden Hall, Edina's stuck-up rich brats academy, which was so rich that it had its own equestrian program. Or, there was a chance he could go to Minnetonka Preparatory, another exclusive, private academy considered one of the best in the state for J.V. hockey and located in Minnetonka Beach, which was only getting better year after year.
"I don't even eat any cake!" Billy snapped.
"Oh, I beg to differ. Remember your twelfth birthday party?" snickered Gordy. They'd all been there for Billy's hockey-themed birthday party at the park last month. And did he ever indulge in cake that day?
"It was ice cream cake!" Billy's face flushed deeply. "You know that's my weakness."
Everyone roared with laughter. They knew Billy's ultimate kryptonite was ice cream cake.
"Well, you all better spend these next couple of weeks practicing and doing your summer reading," Charlie said, getting right to the point. "You all should bring your A-game because I know who the director of this camp is. He played for the Buffalo Sabres until he retired; his facility is the best of the best, and you know he's going to have high expectations for you all. That means you need to put your best foot forward to meet those expectations."
"I just hope he's not another Coach T," said Gordy, shuddering. Those who'd been on the old Ducks team with him shivered, as well. Playing for Coach T, Coach Riley, and Coach Cole had been their worst nightmare. And if this was a repeat of that, none of them wanted to imagine what would happen at this camp.
"Well, his team, the Dominators, won the state championship five years in a row for California," said Ted. "His son, Jace, is about your age and is his best player."
"And with this letter came the roster of other teams that will be coming," said Charlie. "It includes an Iceland team, the Vikings, a team from Manhattan called Perseverance, from Colombus, Ohio – Endurance, from London, Team Accountability, from Trinidad and Tobago, the Whale Sharks, and Germany, Team Intention. There will be weekly games every Friday night, with Saturdays and Sundays being your days off, and the schedule includes an hour of conditioning every morning held an hour after breakfast, with Mondays and Wednesdays being the exception for classroom time." Koob paled at that; it was no mystery among anyone that Koob could be very lazy and hated exercise, not to mention that he was still a very nervous skater, even worse than Logan. "Monday and Wednesday, you will be expected to attend classroom sessions that focus specifically on athletic training and health and fitness and how that applies to what you do on the ice, and Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, you have on-ice practices and you will play a scrimmage at the end of each of those nights; the top two teams that have the most wins will get a chance to play in the finals at the end of summer. But you have Saturdays and Sundays off to do as you please, at least until the nighttime; you'll play more scrimmages against other teams every weekend."
"Sounds more like school than summer camp," Koob commented shrewdly.
"It's what you make of it. It could either be fun, or it could be miserable. The choice is ultimately yours," Charlie said. "Hockey is hard work. And don't think it'll be lax when you get to high school level, either, because it'll only get tougher. Believe me. Just go in there, and do what you do best. Show them how you persevere and work hard; you'll earn your place there just like you earned the title of the Ducks. And we'll find ways to have a good time in between; I'll think of something." He flashed Teddi and Evan a smile, and the two smiled back at him. Of course, Charlie always found ways to make practices fun. And if their training included Ted's garbage cleanup drill, they were thrilled at the thought of that.
"Yeah, Dad, you're right," Teddi said, nodding in agreement.
"We're with you," Evan said.
"Totally," Maya chimed in.
"Good," Charlie said. "So, starting tomorrow, get ready to work. Because this program will only help you further in this new season."
A/N:
I took a lot of creative liberties with the team names; I wanted a chance to change some things around from what the show did. I looked up the names of the teams that were invited to the EPIC summer camp, and I thought something I could do would be to bring back some familiar faces and have it sort of emulate D2, particularly by bringing in a reformed Team Iceland, which I think was an opportunity the show missed out on for season 2 of the series.
And I'll also admit for a bit, I struggled with how I'd continue things with this since I didn't have the clearest outline in my head, and that wasn't helped by my lack of viewing the show. But then I remembered something: What's Mighty Ducks without some good old-fashioned pranks? So expect to see some of that fun in this story.