Chapter 6: Getting To Know You
Phil took a break from his story when he heard his cell phone ringing. As he took the call, Jonah went outside and lit a cigarette while thinking in deep thought from what Phil told him so far from the story. Jonah wasn't much of a smoker, but he only had a cigarette once a while, sometimes while in the interrogation room to try and act intimidating to the suspect while getting answers out of them, or when he was doing undercover work during a drug or crime bust. After finishing his smoke, he crushed the cigarette with his foot and went back inside the diner just as Phil turned off his phone and placed it back in his coat pocket.
Seeing Jonah sit back down in his seat, he said to the detective, "Sorry about that, detective, had to take that call. A soda company wanted to know if my team wanted to do an ad for their new cola flavor."
"It's no problem at all, Phil." Jonah assured him. "It gave me plenty of time to process everything."
"So, where was I before I got interrupted?"
Jonah answered, taking a drink of his soda, "Avril was spending a night with Duke after spending a full day at the Pond, first getting used to being touched again to having her first bath and actual meal in years. And I assume she stays in the Pond for her protection against this Dragaunus and his minions?"
"Not necessarily," said Phil. "Just because she stayed with them at the Pond doesn't mean they kept her locked up." Phil continued his story. As they did, they looked through the dessert menu to order a pie or cake to have during their conversation.
The next morning, Avril woke up feeling the softness and warmth of bedsheets. She thought it was all a dream at first after spending so long sleeping on the cold hard ground or concrete on the streets, and also the thin sheets of the mattress she slept on for years. But then she remembered last night before falling asleep that she was in Duke's bed.
For the first time in the last three years, it was the best sleep she ever had. She remembered drifting off to sleep in no time flat when she laid her head on one of the pillows. But what she never expected was after having the same bad dream she had since her parents' deaths, Duke was there to comfort her instead of her waking up alone in an alley and crying herself back to sleep, which was rare for her since the many times she had that dream resulted in her having to stay awake for the rest of the night. Even that lullaby he sang to her to help her sleep was so soothing that it prevented the dream from returning to her for the rest of the night.
She lifted herself from the bed and rubbed her eyes with a little yawn. Some of her hair was loose and her braid was coming apart a little. But at least for her, it was better compared to waking up to tangled and messy hair.
Avril felt something heavy beside her, and she looked over to see Duke sleeping on the side of the bed, his head resting on his arms. She watched as he groaned a little and rubbed his good eye. When he was almost fully awake, he looked at her.
"Good morning." he said to her with a tired smile. "Sleep okay?"
Avril nodded. "I forgot what a good sleep felt like. But you stayed by my side all night?"
"I did. Just in case ya had another bad dream." Duke said to her. "But it looks like you slept through the night without another one." He pulled the covers off of her. "And it looks like you even kept your clothes and my sheets dry." He chuckled a little, but he stopped when he saw how uneasy it made Avril feel. Deciding to change the subject, and hearing her stomach growl a little, he said to her, "How's about we get some breakfast in ya, huh?"
He helped get Avril down from the bed and took her hand, walked her out of the room and down the hall. A few minutes later, they arrived at the kitchen where all the other ducks were gathered, dressed in sleepwear and having their own breakfast and getting ready for the new day. Phil was also with them, pouring himself a fresh cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. He seemed to be interested in something on the front page.
The ducks looked over to see Avril and Duke coming towards the table near the cooking area. Nosedive greeted her, grabbing a bowl and a box of cereal, "Morning, Avs!" Everyone else greeted her, Phil even looking up from his paper and greeting her with a grin and a wave.
"Good morning, everyone." Avril greeted back shyly. This was the first time in years since anyone greeted her in the morning like that. Whenever her relatives got her up for the morning, they would rudely bang the door to the basement and yell at her to get up to clean the dishes from the breakfast Vanessa would make for her and Nick in the morning; the first year she spent with them, Vanessa would sometimes drag her off her mattress when she wouldn't get up, especially while she was still grieving over her dead parents after the funeral.
She sat down on a chair that Duke pulled out for her, and Mallory finished cooking something before taking it to the table on a white plate. Before arriving with the plate, Mallory asked Duke, "I take it she slept without any problems?"
Duke nodded, "Yeah. She said she had a bad dream, but she fell back asleep afterwards. But I think it's best we keep an eye on that while she's here."
Mallory gave an understanding nod. She then went to where Avril was sitting and put down the plate in front of her. She said to Avril, "Here you go, kiddo. Eat up before it gets cold." She also set a glass of milk next to the plate after pouring it from a carton on the table into a glass she also brought with her. She went over to another chair and sat down to eat.
While the ducks started talking about stuff, Avril could only stare at what was on the plate she was given.
The plate consisted of some scrambled eggs, a couple slices of toast that were lightly buttered, three strips of bacon, and two orange slices.
She couldn't remember the last time she had something like this for breakfast.
Her last one with her parents before the accident was when her father made pancakes, but that was all she could remember from before the accident. She recalled all those mornings at her relatives' house when after she was done washing the dishes, Vanessa only gave her pieces of bread crusts and whatever bacon was leftover, which was hardly ever since Nick would wolf down every strip along with the eggs Vanessa cooked. Sometimes they would give her nothing to eat for breakfast, especially as punishment for breaking a plate or a glass by accident, which she did quite a bunch of times during her first year with them. After getting the hang of doing the dishes, she was lucky to get even a little bit of leftovers from breakfast or dinner. And during her time on the streets, she would try to find scraps from the dumpsters behind diners and restaurants like partially eaten pancakes or bits of sausage or bread.
As she stared at her plate and looked back at those memories, Avril's vision started getting blurry.
After handing Avril the breakfast she made for her, Mallory sat next to Wildwing with a bowl of oatmeal she prepared for herself; to make it taste a little better, she added some yogurt and berries.
"Regarding last night with the Saurians," Wildwing began, biting into a piece of toast. He had the mask off so he could eat properly. "We'll have to keep a close eye out today for them and any teleportation energy. We'll start on that before hockey practice. In the meantime, two of us have to stay behind to watch Avril and get her some new clothes."
"Duke and I will both take her." said Mallory. "I can help her pick out some good ones for her to wear from the kids' clothing store at the mall."
"Does that mean she won't be wearing any of those clothes from the gift shop?" Nosedive asked, swallowing a spoonful of cornflakes from his bowl.
"We need to know what proper size she'll fit in." Tanya said to him, eating some eggs; despite them being ducks from another universe, they were okay eating eggs as long as they were only chicken eggs and not Earth duck ones. "Judging by how underweight she looks, she'll need a certain size to have once she has a proper weight gain. So it's best to go to a professional clothing store so they could give us suggestions of what size she'd be good in."
"How about it, Avs? Would you like having new clothes you'd like?" Nosedive expected her to answer him, but he didn't hear her say anything. They looked over at Avril, and what they saw shocked them.
Avril could only stare at the breakfast Mallory made for her, and she had tears filling her eyes. She blinked and some tears fell onto the table just next to her plate, and her lips quivered as she started sobbing so hard.
"The Ducks and I have never seen anyone, even a little girl, cry over a delicious meal, especially breakfast." Phil narrated. "And Avril crying over her first real breakfast in years really broke their hearts, and I admit, even I couldn't help feeling bad for her. I mean who wouldn't enjoy a nice breakfast first thing in the morning, especially one made with love and care?"
Avril tried wiping away the tears she cried, but they wouldn't stop coming.
Seeing her react like that made both Nosedive and Wildwing feel sympathy for her, since they knew the feeling of having their first real meal in a long time since being made into slaves back on Puckworld before joining the resistance and they had a decent meal before leaving to fight against Dragaunus the next morning, and the feeling they had when they had a real meal when they arrived on Earth.
Mallory and Grin got up from their chairs and went over to Avril, and Mallory rubbed her back gently as she gave her a comforting look. They knew what seeing a child crying at their first meal in a long time looked like after spending so much time in the resistance back on Puckworld and watching young children they saved from the slave camps get emotional from eating a tasty meal after so long.
"Just let it all out, little one. Don't hold back." Grin assured her, looking at her with compassion.
The other Ducks and Phil could only watch Avril let out her tears over a good meal. Duke looked at her with a look with pity. He knew how she felt seeing something this delicious put in front of her, and a dish made with love and kindess put into it. He felt the same way when he ate his first real meal after a year on the streets.
Several minutes later, Avril stopped crying, and Mallory gave her a tissue to dry her eyes and blow her nose with, and she started eating her meal in front of her. She admired the taste of the food, and she ate the whole plate, with Grin also telling her to eat at a slow pace to enjoy it and not scarf it down without savoring the taste.
Once her plate was cleared, Mallory took the plate from her along with the fork she used and the empty glass after drinking all her milk. Once breakfast was done for everyone, they all got dressed in their uniforms. After that, they all headed to the elevator next to Drake-1, bringing Avril with them, and Phil accompanied them after telling them he needs to be in his office in the meantime.
While going up the elevator, Avril spoke up. "I'm sorry."
"For what, Avril?" Wildwing asked her.
"For crying at my breakfast. I... I just can't remember the last time I had something like that." She looked away in shame, worried about what they'd think about how she acted.
Nosedive assured her, "Hey, don't apologize, Avs. You've been on the streets for a long time, right? So, it's normal for someone to get a little emotional over something like that. But haven't you ever been to a soup kitchen or even a homeless shelter where they can give you a good meal?"
Avril shook her head.
"Why not?" Nosedive asked her.
Avril was reluctant to answer him. While she was on the run from her relatives, she saw multiple places called soup kitchens and homeless shelters in some of the cities she went through. But she didn't want to go into any of them since she was too scared to even be in a room of so many people, even though they were homeless like her, but she didn't like being around all those adults that she couldn't trust. Plus, she would stand out a lot with people wondering how a little girl would be among all those homeless adults and wondering where her parents could be.
Before she could come up with something else to tell them, she felt the elevator stop suddenly. The doors opened, and they revealed another room. There were rows of tall lockers and shelves of sports equipment, and benches in front of the lockers.
"Where are we now?" she asked.
Wildwing answered her, "Avril, this is only a part of it, but-"
Phil interrupted him, "Allow me, babes." He looked at Avril as he and the Ducks led her out of the room. "Avril, welcome... To the Anaheim Pond hockey arena."
Avril looked around the area with her eyes wide with wonder.
She was in a giant ice rink! It seemed bigger than the Rockefeller Center rink back in New York (from what she remembered seeing it as since the last time she was there was shortly after Christmas and just a few months before her fourth birthday). All around the rink were rows and rows and rows of seats.
"This is where the action happens, kid." Phil said to her. "People come here from all around town and even out of town just to see the Mighty Ducks play."
"But since it's not hockey season, the least we can do is just use the rink for practice or lend it to younger hockey teams to use for practice." Wildwing added.
Nosedive came over and added, "But we've got an exhibition game coming up next month, and that's when the action will really happen."
"Speaking of practice," Wildwing said. "We're going to get started on that this afternoon. In the meantime, Duke and Mallory are going to take you to get some new clothes to wear."
"I'm going with them," Nosedive added. "I wanna say hi to Thrash and Mookie at the comic shop."
"Can't that wait until after we're finished with getting Avril new clothes?" Mallory frowned at him. "I think finding new clothes for Avril should be our top priority."
"Mallory's right, baby bro," Wildwing added. "We need to think of Avril's needs before anything else for now. In the meantime, the rest of us will handle being on the lookout for any activity by Dragaunus' goons for the rest of the morning, and then we'll start practice in the afternoon."
With the plan settled, Duke, Mallory, and Nosedive walked Avril towards the exit while the others prepared for their mission. The three older ducks walked Avril into a large hall, which was just as big as the rink itself and over to the doors. They grabbed a pair of children's shoes from the lost and found in the lobby, which surprisingly fit Avril for her to wear until they bought her a new pair from the mall while they got her some new clothes. Once they stepped out, Avril felt the heat of the warm weather hitting her skin. She spent quite a bit of time underground after realizing where she was is actually underneath a giant rink that she forgot what the California weather felt like.
The three ducks walked Avril towards the mall, which wasn't too far from the Pond. Avril was initially hesitant to enter the area since during her time on the streets, she was at the mall a couple weeks ago and she was almost caught eating out of the dumpster behind Weiner World when she was hungry, and she was caught by someone who worked in one of the shops when she found a spot to get some shade and she ran off when it seemed like they were going to call the police on her.
But since she was clean and wearing different clothes, maybe nobody would recognize her.
Still, she stayed close to Duke and held his hand as they made their way through the mall. She heard the ducks talking to one another but she didn't pay attention, and she suddenly stopped and let go of Duke's hand and looked through the window of the toy shop they were passing by.
On the display table on the other side of the window, there was a bunch of stuffed toys huddled together. They were mostly dogs, cats, rabbits, and other adorable animals, but what caught her eye the most was one particular stuffed animal. A polar bear with a dark purple scarf and light purple stripes. Her heart hurt as she stared at it.
It looked an awful lot like her beloved stuffed polar bear, the one she had before Vanessa tore it apart and disposed of its remains. She felt a tear form in her eyes at the painful memory of her aunt destroying the very thing to remember her father by.
She didn't notice Duke coming over to her when he noticed she let go of his hand and he was watching her look at the window. He asked her, "What are you looking at?"
Avril said to him, still looking at the polar bear sadly, "That bear. It looks so much like the one my daddy gave me."
"What happened to it?" he asked her.
When he asked her that, the awful memory of Vanessa tearing it up in front of her and later burning the remains outside in a metal trash can flashed through her mind. It felt so painful to remember, especially the cruel look on Vanessa's face when she didn't care that it was one of the only couple things she had left to remember her parents by.
"I... I lost it after the accident." she lied. She didn't want to talk about that memory. Duke seemed to buy her little lie, since she saw him nodding in sympathy. He took her hand again.
"Come on, let's get you some new clothes." He walked her away from the toy store window, and Avril looked behind as she kept looking at the polar bear in the window, still thinking about her old one. Soon, they arrived at Kiddy Kouture, one of the mall's clothing stores. They were best known for having great clothes for children, especially for back-to-school clothes and summer clothes.
When Avril first stepped inside, she was amazed at how many clothes were in that store. She hadn't been inside a children's clothing store since before the accident, and she was never given any good clothes to wear during her time with her relatives, only being given that single pair of jeans and white boys' shirt before she ran away.
Mallory took her to see an employee at the fitting rooms to get her measured in her body for what clothing size would fit her and even measured her foot size for what shoe size would be good for her, even what size of underwear she would wear. After that, Mallory, Duke, and Nosedive got to work helping her find new clothes, and the employee picked out a bunch of outfits for her that she thought would look good on Avril.
The first outfit Avril tried on was an outfit that made her look almost like a ballerina, with a bright white leotard, a pink skirt, and a tight pink t-shirt and pink slippers. She even had her hair tied up in a high ponytail
Mallory shook her head at the outfit, while Duke face-palmed at it and Nosedive cringed at it.
The second one they had her try on consisted of a jean vest that looked torn over a long-sleeved shirt with a skull on it, a plaid skirt, black tights and black shoes, and her hair hung loose.
Mallory cringed at the outfit, Duke shook his head in disapproval, and Nosedive frowned at it, even commenting that the outfit looked cool but it didn't look her style.
The next ones she tried on were mostly overalls and shirt combos (which she didn't even like since they made her look babyish, especially when the employee tied her hair in pigtails), a frilly dress that the store referred to as 'Lolita-styled' which she also didn't like, and other kinds of dresses. But none of them seemed good enough for Avril to like.
The last thing the employee found for Avril to wear was a little long-sleeved pink dress with orange flowers on it, and a pair of white flats. But looking at it, it brought back a memory of the day of the accident. It looked almost like the outfit she wore that night, except the dress didn't have sleeves and she wore white strap-on shoes. She refused to try on the outfit, shaking her head at it and looking away.
Seeing her expression, Mallory said to the employee, "Why don't we just let Avril pick what she wants to wear?" She looked at Avril. "Would that make it easier for you? You're a big girl, and you should be picking your own clothes out to try on."
Avril nodded. Mallory took her around the store to look at some shirts and pants. She found a good pair of blue jeans with the bottoms being cuffed up and a purple shirt that had teal trimmings on the sleeves. She showed them to Mallory. The female duck said to her, taking a good look at the clothes she picked, "Okay, if this is what you want to try on, let's have a look."
She took Avril back to the fitting rooms, and Avril came out a few minutes later with the clothes she picked. The ducks all had nods and smiles of approval seeing her in her new outfit.
"That's perfect!" Nosedive complimented.
"Not too shabby." Duke added.
"That looks much better!" Mallory said with a nod.
Avril was happy with the new clothes she picked as she looked at herself in the mirror. She no longer saw a little girl in old filthy clothes with tangled messy hair, and instead saw a normal looking little girl with her hair straight and hanging loose. The clothes she was wearing since yesterday were placed in a shopping bag by Nosedive, while Duke took her to the shoes to get her a new pair. After going through some size 8 shoes, which she was measured in foot size, Avril found herself a pair of light purple sneakers.
After getting all her new clothes, Mallory used her credit card to pay for the clothes. After that, they made their way out of the store. While Mallory went back to the Pond to bring back Nosedive's clothes (he told Avril he could use the t-shirt as a sleep shirt for another night if she wanted) and the sneakers to the lost and found, Duke and Avril sat on one of the benches to have tacos for lunch while Nosedive went to go to his favorite comic shop, Captain Comics. They made sure to give her mild tacos in case she didn't do well with spiciness.
Avril had to keep herself from scarfing down her tacos too fast after Duke told her to eat it slowly, assuring her that no one was going to take it from her and that eating too fast could make her choke. She suddenly remembered what she was going to ask him and the other ducks before they left her with Mallory, Nosedive and Grin.
"Are you guys really aliens?" she asked without looking at him and kept eating her first taco.
Duke looked at her, remembering that he was going to answer that question before going on the mission with Tanya and Wildwing yesterday. He said to her, "It's like we said, we are aliens in a way."
"B.R.A.W.N told me all about those giant lizards including their leader named Lord Dragaunus and they come from a place called Dimensional Limbo, but I want to know more about where you and the others came from."
Duke saw that she was suddenly curious about getting to know more about them. He began to tell her their story of where they came from and how they and the Saurians came to Earth.
He told her that they were more than just aliens to the humans of Earth, and they're not only from another planet; they were also from another universe. They came from a planet called 'Puckworld', a planet inhabited by ducks and was covered in ice and snow, which allowed them to play their traditional sport, hockey, which they dedicated themselves to in honor of their hero, Drake DuCaine, who defeated some tyrants known as the Saurian Overlords by sending them away to Dimensional Limbo.
One day, two years ago, a handful of the Saurians, led by Lord Dragaunus, the last of the Saurian Overlords escaped from Dimensional Limbo using a device called the Gateway Generator to enable their escape, and they attacked Puckworld, destroyed many cities, and made the Ducks into slaves after conquering the planet. Luckily, a handful of civilians and what was left of the military formed a resistance and fought back against the Saurians, their main mission to take down Dragaunus before he could expand his tyranny to the rest of their universe.
The Mighty Ducks themselves were the resistance team that went on the mission to take down Dragaunus once and for all and free their planet, and they succeeded in their mission with the help of a special mask created by Drake DuCaine himself to allow the wearer to see anything that was hidden in plain sight, like through the Saurians' cloaking technology that made them invisible. But Dragaunus escaped using his Gateway Generator, and the Mighty Ducks followed him through the dimensional gateway to his next destination, which turned out to be Earth. Despite finding themselves stranded on the planet, they made sure Dragaunus stayed in this universe and away from their home planet. At the same time, they made a living on the side by forming a hockey team in Anaheim, where they landed the day they arrived on Earth. Ever since then, they dedicated their lives to fighting crime and preventing Dragaunus from taking over the world.
He also told her that before the Saurian Invasion, he used to be his planet's most infamous jewel thief, and even the leader of a thieves' guild known as the Brotherhood of the Blade, but he left that life behind him to join the fight against the Saurians, and his skills as a thief came in handy in their mission. And he was the one who convinced the Mighty Ducks to become crimefighters since turning a blind eye on people in danger or refusing to stop a crime the police can't handle would make them no better than the Saurians who took everything from their people.
"After she learned about the Mighty Ducks' origins, Avril realized how lucky she was to have been saved that night from Dragaunus' goons by the Ducks, and that they were no different from her after learning they went through the same hardship and abuse she endured." Phil narrated. "But Avril was even more fascinated by Duke after he told her about his past and his reasons for becoming a hero and leaving his old life behind him."
As Avril listened to more of Duke's story, she was amazed at everything he told her. She even found his past as a jewel thief quite interesting; she thought that he reminded her of Robin Hood, since after the Saurians invaded their homeworld and after their arrival on Earth, he went from stealing treasure to stealing from bad guys to give back to those they stole from them.
After telling her his story, Duke told Avril to finish her taco so they could go back to the Pond. The rest of the team was due back soon after their morning patrol, and they needed to get ready for hockey practice. She had only a few bites of her taco left as they got off the bench and walked down the mall when a man walking a Labrador Retriever approached them.
The dog jumped and barked when it saw the duck and human, and Avril gasped in fright, dropping her taco in reaction, and held herself against Duke, shaking as she closed her eyes tightly. Duke saw how scared Avril was, and he glared at the man, "Hey, pal! Control that dog of yours! Can't ya see he's scarin' this kid?"
The man held his dog back and calmed him down, and he got him to sit, allowing Duke and Avril to walk past them while Avril still held herself close to Duke. He looked at her and said, "You okay?"
Avril nodded.
"Hey, don't worry. That dog was probably friendly and got a little too excited. But why were you scared of it?"
Avril answered him, "A dog bit me a few years ago."
"Bad experience?" Duke asked.
Avril nodded again. "A few years ago before my fourth birthday, I was playing in the front yard of my old home while Mommy was planting new flowers in her garden. A big dog got out of our neighbor's backyard and ran over to me, and he bit me on the leg. It really hurt."
"Were you bleeding when he bit you?"
Avril shook her head. "No, I was wearing long pants that time. When it happened, Daddy came out of the house and managed to get the dog away from me. I don't know what happened afterwards because Mommy brought me into the house to check on me. But ever since then, I've been too scared to go near dogs."
Duke assured her, "Well, you've got nothin' to worry about. There ain't any dogs in the Pond, and no dog will come near you as long as I'm around." He ruffled her hair, making her giggle a little. They soon met up with Nosedive at the end of the mall, and he was holding a small stack of comic books in his hands.
"Ready to head back to the Pond now." he said, and he walked with Duke and Avril until they finally reached the Pond.
When they entered the building, the two male ducks walked with Avril into the change rooms where Mallory was waiting for them. She was already dressed into a different outfit; on the back it had her name and the number 15 on the back and shoulders.
"Get dressed, you two," she said, putting on a helmet. "Wildwing said as soon as he and the others get back, it's straight to practice." The two nodded, and Nosedive went to the elevator to put his comics away, saying he'd be right back, while Mallory had Duke stay with her for a few seconds.
Avril saw him be given something from Mallory, who said to him, "I took the time to go to the kitchen to grab this so Avril can snack on it while she watches us practice."
Duke took the item from her. He turned to look at Avril and said as he held out what he was given to her, "Here you go."
Avril's eyes widened when she saw it was an apple in his hand. Looking at it made her recall that night she lost her parents. Seeing that worm inside that apple she was eating, and letting out that scream that caused her parents' deaths. She slapped the apple out of Duke's hand, making it fly out of his hand and landing on the floor on the other side of the room.
Mallory looked at her with shock and confusion, but what she didn't expect next was how Duke reacted. He yelled at her, "Hey! You never waste food like that! Don't ever do that again!"
The volume of his voice and how angry he sounded made Avril shake and shrink back. It made her think about the times Nick yelled at her for breaking a plate she was cleaning or when Vanessa yelled at her for accidentally knocking over a potted plant while she swept the floor. She backed into the wall, scared that he was going to hit her.
But when Duke saw the fear she was showing, his anger disappeared and he realized that he was actually scaring her. Even when he held his hand out to her, she just flinched and backed away.
He looked away from her and sighed, "I'm sorry. You've done nothing wrong." He went over to a locker and got out the same outfit Mallory was wearing, the only difference being that it had a different number than the one on Mallory, with his being the number 13.
While Duke was getting changed, Mallory took Avril out of the locker room and took her into a row of seats closer to the ice. She said to Avril, "You just sit here. You'll get a good look of what we'll be doing once everyone gets here."
Mallory then left to return to the locker room, and Avril waited for the rest of the ducks to come so she could see them in their outfits. She couldn't wait to see what hockey looked like and how it was played, especially with a bunch of giant ducks. But she couldn't get the thought of how angry Duke looked and how angry he sounded when she hit the apple he was giving her out of his hands.
She wanted to tell him why she reacted that way and that she was sorry, but she couldn't tell him about it also being how she got her parents killed.
After getting changed into his uniform, Duke felt bad for yelling at Avril like that. Usually kids loved eating apples, but seeing her react that way confused him. But he mentally cursed at himself for yelling at Avril like that. When he lived on the streets as a child, he was always hungry and every bit of food he stole was important to eat, regardless of how bad things tasted. He thought about apologizing again to Avril later and telling her why he acted that way with her.
He saw Mallory coming in, and she was frowning angrily at him. She snapped at him, "What the heck was that, Duke?!"
Duke held his hands up defensively, "I'm sorry, Mal. I overreacted."
"Overreacted? Over an apple?" She shook her head in disbelief. "Who overreacts like that? It's one thing to react about wasting food, but the way you reacted with her doing that? She's seven! Why would you react like that?"
Duke didn't look at her when he answered her, "...It's complicated." He grabbed his hockey stick and he and Mallory left the locker room while Nosedive returned and exited out of the elevator to get dressed for hockey practice just as the rest of the team arrived.
Mighty Ducks belongs to Disney, and I own Avril, Jonah, and Vanessa and Nick.