The Deepest of Waters

Written by Zelda

 

 

                The curved sides of the Duck Foil plowed through the water, as the team headed out from the cliff. Zelda perched on the front of it, feeling the salty wind whip past her face. They circled slowly around the area where the Raptor had went down.*

                As Wildwing eased off of the motor, the others donned oxygen tanks and masks.

                The Duck Foil chugged to a slow stop, and Zelda dove down into the warm seawater, opening her eyes to reveal the dark, blood red stain of the Raptor, buried in the pale ocean sand. She growled, and swirled back up to the surface. Resurfacing, she blinked the water from her eyes.

                "Do you see it?" asked Grin.

                "Yep. Down a ways, but it's there." she answered.

                "Okay, everyone ready?" Wildwing asked, turning to the others.

                "Ready here!" said Nosedive.

                "Affirmative." added Mallory.

                "Ditto." said Duke.

                Tanya and Grin added their nods, and Wildwing stepped to the edge of the boat. Staring down into the blue water, glinting and glaring with sunshine, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and plunged downwards.

 

                Wildwing felt a surge of lukewarm water close around him, and opened his eyes to see a flurry of little white bubbles all around him. Suddenly, a purple blur swished before him, and he caught something later identified as Zelda's tail. Zelda pulled him down deeper, beyond the cloud of bubbles, and pointed to the Raptor as it lay on the ocean floor. Turning away, he saw Tanya splash into the water, followed by Duke and Grin. As Nosedive and Mallory entered the sunstreaked blue, Wildwing swam downwards with the others. Slowly, the dark red stain in the sand became larger as they neared it.

                Zelda dove down powerfully, using her wings to plow through the water. She swirled around a portion of the ship's hull.

                Tanya, swimming down, activated her Omnitool's metal cutter, and started shearing a circular hole in the side of the ship. Finally, a manhole-sized circle was pried away, and the water nearest to it got sucked in. Letting the suction pull them gently, the team swished with the water out of the gentle blue sea, and into the Raptor.

 

                Grin landed hard on his back, both falling and being pushed down by the water. He stood up, using his arms to block the gushing flood.

                Wildwing stood up, and ripped off his oxygen mask quickly. "Grin! Close it!" he yelled.

                Grin pushed forwards, and found the circle of metal, pulling it back into place.

                Duke stood up, helping Nosedive, as a few spurting leaks still gushed from the repaired gap. 

                The team removed their oxygen tanks and masks, placing them on the floor.

                "Let's hope we didn't get their attention." said Mallory, looking around. They stood in a tunnel near the rear of the Raptor, burning red.

                "The engines are close by." said Tanya, pointing down one of the tunnels.

                "Yeah, but we wanna reach the control  room." said Nosedive.

                "Come on, we'll find our way around." said Duke, and he started running off in the opposite direction. As the team followed, they passed though a number of tunnels. As they whirled by, a small device on the ceiling swung to follow them, watching as they disappeared.

 

 

                Dragaunus watched the video transmission from the monitor carefully, broodingly.

                "We gotta stop them boss!" yelled Siege. "What if they reach this room!"

                "They won't." said Dragaunus confidently. "Not if you stationed those hunter drones in the right places..." he continued, turning to Wraith.

                "Worry not, Lord Dragaunus." he smiled. "Before this day is done, we're going to have one team of waterlogged ducks."

 

 

                The Ducks were still running, and were about to dash around a bend, when Zelda stopped short.

                "Listen!" she whispered.

                Standing still, the Ducks could hear pneumonic clicks and the whirring of machinery. Peering around the corner, Wildwing saw about five drones standing in front of a passageway.

                "That must lead to the command room!" said Tanya.

                "Okay team, let's rust their gears!" yelled Wildwing, and they leapt out into the open.

                Duke leapt forwards, drawing his sword, and sliced right through the midsection of one of the drones.

                Mallory and Wildwing combined their fire to hit off two more, and Grin slammed one more against the wall.

                Nosedive shot another one out, finishing them off.

                "Come on!" yelled Wildwing. "Let's move before more show up!"

                The team darted into the tunnel, and ran, looking more behind them than ahead of them. It was because of this that they nearly ran into a wall, as the tunnel opened out into a square room.

                "Oh man, it's a dead end!" snarled Nosedive.                             

"Well, the drones must have been guarding this room for a reason..." said Zelda, as she and Mallory started searching along the wall. Suddenly, a long row of steel bars slammed down from the ceiling, separating Zelda and Mallory from the rest of the team, in a thin cell.

                "It's a trap!" yelled Duke.

                "Hang on guys!" said Tanya, activating her Omnitool's sonic metal cutter. "I'll have ya out of there in a second!"

                "Ummm, Tanya..." started Mallory, staring at the wall. "We don't have that much time!" A rectangular vent in the wall had started to open, sending a huge wave of water pouring through. The force of the blast slammed into the two occupants of the cell. Zelda screamed out as she felt her side slam into the cold bars of the cell, but her claws met a feathered hand seconds later. Her arm had slipped through the bars, and Wildwing had grabbed onto it.

                "Wildwing! Go! The tunnel's going to flood!" Zelda yelled.

                "We have to get you guys outta here!" he hesitated.

                "Go! We'll be fine!" Zelda yelled back, and Wildwing let go. The water was already starting to swirl around her. She dove down, and looked around for Mallory. She found her floating in an air pocket at the top of the cell. "Stay here!" Zelda barked, and swam back down. She bit into the top of one of the bars, and started to wrench it back and forth, until she had sawn through it. She bent it down with her foot, shoving hard. She swam back up, grabbed Mallory's hand, and pulled her down. She swam through the hole, and watched as Mallory squeezed through. They both resurfaced in another air pocket outside of the cell.

                "Nice work!" said Mallory. "But we gotta get outta here!"

                "Hold on! I'll try and get us out!" Mallory closed her eyes, and grabbed onto Zelda's tail. Zelda dove down into the swirling water, peering through the foggy deep red. She pumped her wings as Mallory swam, trying to navigate her way to the exit of the tunnel. Suddenly, Mallory tugged her wing. She was out of breath! Spotting another air pocket, Zelda resurfaced. Mallory gasped, and spent a few seconds on the top, panting. "You okay?" asked Zelda.

                "I'm fine. Let's go!" She dove down again, followed by Zelda, and they both started back. But when they finally reached the tunnel exit, they found it sealed off by a heavy door, which would be opened by turning a round handle. The two resurfaced again.                

"There's a door about eight feet from here, but I need your help in turning the handle!" gasped Zelda. They dove down again, Zelda guiding Mallory to the handle. Together, they both wrenched the door to unlock, and then shoved it open.

 

                The two were sucked helplessly out, as the water spilled beyond the door. Zelda was dropped on the floor, and jumped up violently.  "We have to close it!" she gasped. Both she and Mallory backed up against the door, and shoved it closed, sealing the water out.

                "Out of the frying pan..." panted Mallory, leaning heavily against the door. Suddenly, the two looked up, to see Dragaunus's henchmen standing before them, with weapons drawn.

                "And into the fire." finished Wraith with a laugh, drawing a fireball up in his claws.

 

                Wildwing ran with the others. Just seconds after they had exited the tunnel from the cell, a huge door had clapped the entrance shut. They had tried to open it again, but a slew of hunter drones had driven them away. Now, just as Nosedive blasted the last drone away, the five entered a large cavernous room. Turning, Wildwing saw Dragaunus standing in the center, with his henchmen off to the side.

                "Dragaunus!" he yelled, angry and surprised. The team drew out their weapons, but Dragaunus held a clawed hand up to stop them.

                "Not another move, my feathered fowl, or two of your flock get stuffed!" he gestured over to Siege, who moved to reveal Mallory and Zelda standing on the floor, soaked to the bone, and with thick, black, mechanical collars around their necks. "One move." threatened Dragaunus, holding the remote control out. "And I'll send so many volts of electricity through your friends, it will be like they were struck by lightning!"

 

                Mallory and Zelda watched from the corner of the room. Zelda was exhausted. The attempted escape from the henchmen had proved a miserable failure... and now these collars... Suddenly, Mallory nudged her. Zelda looked up, and followed the direction of her gaze, to see Dragaunus standing in the middle of a puddle of water. She glanced up at Mallory to confirm her thoughts, and she nodded. Zelda looked back down, staring hard. Mallory tapped her foot softly to time them. Three...two...one.

 

                Instantly, Zelda and Mallory darted forwards. They ran towards Dragaunus intently. Zelda swiped her wings in the puddle, and leapt up with a roar, wrapping herself around Dragaunus's head, while she saw Mallory slam into him below. The last thing she saw, was Dragaunus holding out the control, and pressing the activation button.

 

                The team could only watch as Mallory, Zelda, and Dragaunus were suddenly wreathed in a deep blue light. Zelda arched back, jaws open, but making no sound. Mallory shut her eyes, crimping up, as the electricity surged through her. The whole surge lasted only about five seconds, and when it was over, the three fell away from each other, and landed with a dull splash in the water on the floor. The Ducks ran up to the two, as the three henchmen carefully circled around them until they could drag Dragaunus out of the room.

                "He's getting away!" yelled Duke.

                "We've got bigger problems." said Grin, stooping over the two. They were carefully scooped up.

                "Let's get back to the Pond." sighed Wildwing.

 

                Mallory and Zelda lay doggedly on the Medicom beds, still unconscious after the team had returned to the Pond about half an hour ago. the team watched over them in worried silence. According to the Medicom feedout, the electricity had fried their circuits. It was like the two had been stuck in a microwave, and they had come out with strangely altered neurological patterns and sizzled nerves. Finally, Zelda started to whine and snort, twitching her head. She opened her eyes, and tried to lift her head.

                "Whoa, whoa, easy Zelda, your safe now." said Duke, reaching out a hand to steady her. Zelda leaned up.         

                "Mallory..." she wheezed.

                "She's okay too." assured Wildwing. Zelda fell back slowly against the bed, and sighed.

                "How do ya feel?" asked Nosedive, a little curious as to how someone would feel after being electrified.

                "Like my insides have been deep fried." Zelda sighed. "It burns my nose and throat when I breathe..."             

                "Okay, just relax." interrupted Wildwing.

                "That was smart thinking back there." said Grin.

                "It was actually Mallory's idea." Zelda smiled.   

                "Well, it was a good one. I think that, if you hadn't shared that reduced that electric voltage by sharing it with Dragaunus, you both would have been killed." said Tanya.

                "Wow. You think we'll be hearing more from old Lizard Lips?" asked Nosedive.

                "I don't doubt it." said Wildwing. "I don't doubt it at all."

 

                                                                                The End

 

Mighty Ducks-The Animated Series, including all logos and characters (except mine) are copyright and property of Disney. You may copy, print, or whatever with this document, so long as it is not altered and I (Zelda) am credited. Thanks!