The Regathering, Part 2

Written by Zelda

 

 

                Mallory ripped around a corner, the others speeding along behind her. She had to find Zelda and take her down! Suddenly, Mallory yelled, swerved, and nearly tumbled off of her cycle. A flood of water gushed out across the intersection in front of her like a moving wall! She leaned up again to see the water receding down the street. The others had stopped as well, albeit more gently.

                "Come on, she went this way!" Mallory yelled, and sped off again. She had her puck launcher ready. The water was receding down the street in front of her, heading west. West... Mallory thought that was weird. Suddenly it dawned on her. "She's heading for the ocean!" she yelled. Over the roar of the cycle engines, Wildwing couldn't hear her. 

                "What?" He yelled, pulling alongside.

                "We can't let her reach the ocean, remember!? She'll absorb all the water and become huge!" Wildwing slapped his forehead in misery and gunned the motor. The four Ducks sped onwards, slowly catching up with the blob of water. Wildwing raised his launcher and fired a few shots. Again they went up in a puff of steam. He heard the dragon scream, and suddenly the water halted. Wildwing slammed on the brakes as the huge watery form rose before him again at an intersection.

                "Duke, Grin, surround her!" Wildwing ordered as the others stopped behind him. Duke and Grin ripped off down the streets, reappearing seconds later across the way. Mallory moved, and all four streets were covered. The dragon giggled. Wildwing started firing again, and Zelda howled again. She whirled around to face him and suddenly threw her hand out, the claw turning into a freeflowing wave of water! Wildwing was slammed backwards as he and his cycle toppled over, and were submerged. Wing hit the ground and then felt the crunch of the waterlogged cycle landing on top of him. As the water receded, he heard Zelda howling again. The others were firing on her. He hefted the frame of the cycle off of him and shook the water off of his launcher, hoping it would still work. As he fired, his com went off.

                "You guys still having flooding problems over there?" Nosedive asked.

                "Where are you?"

                "Getting ready to head over if you need me, Tanya'll be safe in the 'Grator."

                "Great, get here soon." Wildwing said, and the link was closed. The dragon thrashed and was slowly disappearing in a cloud of steam as the Ducks continued to fire. Wing stopped every few seconds to defog the eyelets on the Mask. Finally, Zelda seemed to succumb, falling to the earth and disappearing. The steam quickly faded away. Wildwing got up and righted his cycle as his brother pulled up.

                "Woohoo! No more water for this duck. This is harder than beating that boss Slug guy on Cyber Sleezoids!" he celebrated.

                "She seems to be getting weaker every time we defeat her..." Mallory reasoned.

                "Speaking of Zelda... where is she?" Duke asked. Slowly, they heard a rumbling noise approaching from beneath them, getting louder by the second. They backed off slowly from the area, looking around nervously. Suddenly the ground shook violently, and split in the middle of the intersection! Zelda burst form the ground in solid earth and stone, roaring and shaking the buildings around her.

                "We've just begun my Ducks." Wraith grinned. "Now, you shall experience the unstoppable power of the earth!" The dragon bellowed powerfully. Mallory started to fire explosive pucks at her. They did little but blast a few chunks of stone off of her hide. Zelda snorted, annoyed, and dove down beneath the street as easily as if she were swimming. She ripped towards Mallory, the wave mark of uprooted pavement left in the dragon's wake. Mallory leapt onto her cycle and gunned the motor, but it was too late. She was flung from the machine as the earth flew up beneath her. She yelled and flailed her arms, landing hard on her side on the pavement several feet away. Looking up, she saw the dragon emerge from the street again, howling. Her wings burst out, and suddenly the gold stripes on them turned a burning red, dripping and oozing down. Heat flowed over the street as Zelda's form turned into molten lava! The dragon whipped her wings about, sending little streaks of red firing like rain about. Mallory got up and ran for shelter behind a mailbox. The little chunks of red rolled along the ground as they cooled and grayed. Zelda walked nonchalantly up the street as the Ducks reloaded their launchers.

                "Anybody got anymore freeze pucks left?" Wildwing asked.

                "We're down by a lot." Duke sighed.

                "Then use 'em carefully. We've got to try and drive her back to Petryole!" Mallory stood up and went back to her cycle, ripping it up beside the others as Zelda approached them.

                "You okay?" Grin asked. Mallory regarded her asphalt-grated shoulder with gritted teeth.

                "I'm fine." she snapped, and set her launcher to shoot the last of her freeze pucks. The dragon laughed as she approached them.

                "Fire!" Duke yelled. The team opened fire slowly. The intense cold reacted violently with the lava. Zelda snarled and reared back. She slammed into the ground, disappearing into a wave of molten lava that charged strait for the Ducks! They gasped and fled. Grin's engine started malfunctioning. As the lava neared, he leapt desperately from the machine and rolled to a stop on the sidewalk. The lava raced over the cycle and it soon exploded under the heat. Grin ran ahead of wave along the sidewalk. Wildwing saw him running, and slowed his cycle. Grin leapt onto the back and Wing caught up with the others.

                "Ducks, listen. At the next intersection you take the side streets and slow down! Come in behind Zelda and then drive her on! Grin and I will act as decoys." he instructed. The intersection came. Mallory and Duke swerved violently away and Wing and Grin raced forwards. "Now Dive, you go get Tanya and meet us at Petroyle!" Wing ordered. His brother gave him a thumbs up before he ripped away. As they left the next intersection behind, Wing saw two cycles converge in his mirror. Zelda howled behind him.

                "Okay team! Drive her on!" he yelled. Wing turned the corner and ripped up towards the oil refinery.

 

                The dragon fell in a red, burning heap several yards away from Wraith, who stood a little shocked. The three Duckcycles came to a halt and the remainder of the team marched up to Wraith, as Dive pulled up with Tanya.

                "Now you're done Wraith! Give up!" Duke demanded, banging hard on the shield.

                "Done? Hardly." Wraith snorted. He waved his hands. Slowly, the red started to melt away from Zelda's body. It was replaced by the normal purple, charred and bruised. The dragon, who had not changed size, slowly opened her eyes and groaned.

                "Zelda?" Wildwing asked. The dragon sat up, rocking back on her tail, rubbing her head slowly.

                "I would like to announce now that Zelda and I are mortally linked. Whatever you do to her you do to me. If she dies, then so do I." Wraith said. He cocked his head curiously as to see what the Ducks would do. Zelda blinked drowsily and moaned.

                "Well... what are you waiting for?" she asked.

                "You're not saying...." Wildwing started.

                "Of course I am! Go ahead, this is the best chance you've gotten so far to get rid of Wraith!" the dragon argued desperately. The Ducks didn't react. Wraith grinned. Zelda slumped over in defeat.

                "Fools, I'm going to kill her anyway." Wraith cackled. He raised his hands to the sky as jet clouds began to cut through the night. They gathered around quickly. Zelda crouched nervously to the ground. Wraith raised his staff and suddenly slammed it down into the ground. Horribly clawed bolts of lightning streaked out of the sky and caught the dragon. She roared and reared up, stumbling away. But they followed her. Zelda's skin seemed to disappear, her frame electrified by pure energy. Her eyes burned white and hot in her head. She hit the ground on all fours again. Wraith lowered his hands. "At last. One of the most rigid and unbreakable forces of nature in the world.... pure electricity!" Zelda flared her wings and little streaks of lightning went flying. The Ducks ducked and rolled, flying for the nearest cover. Nosedive helped Tanya off of the cycle and under an oil tank. Not exactly safe, but she wouldn't be seen. Nosedive reemerged to find himself inches away from being fried. He leapt clean up into the air as a bolt struck beneath him. Landing, he threw himself under his cycle, hands wrapped around the tires. The dragon spun around and flicked her tail at him. A bolt hit the cycle, and the machine exploded. Nosedive covered his head as he was showered in debris. He got up quickly and ran off again. Wildwing was calling him.

                "Everyone over here!" he yelled. The team joined him right in front of the boundary of Wraith's force field. He lined everyone up and began waving at the blazing skeleton that stood before him.

                "Come on Bolt Brain! Come on, you wanna piece of me?!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. The others stared at him like he was nuts!

                "Wing, what the heck you doin' Bro?" Nosedive yelled at him. He looked out to see a flash of lightning before him. Grin grabbed him by the arm and yanked him out of the way just as the dragon hurtled forwards and crashed into the force field. Wildwing watched intently. The dome around Wraith immediately electrified and shattered. Wraith yelled loudly as the electric frame crashed near him and exploded in a wild flurry of lightning and sparks, racing across the ground in chaotic directions. He quickly disappeared into his green shadow, and vanished. The electricity quickly left the air, frazzling into nothingness. The team looked out from behind their shelters, into the darkness. Slowly, they came out. Where was Zelda? Grin suddenly drew in his breath, attracting the attention of the others. Slowly, he knelt down beside the charred body of a dragon.

                "She's dead...." he sighed.

                "That can't..." Mallory broke off. But indeed she was. Her body, bruised and blackened like a grilled fish, couldn't possibly have survived the ordeal of fire and lightning she had been forced through. Mallory stooped down by something. The rock. It still hung from around a charred vine, still around the dragon's neck. Suddenly it became hot! "Ahhhh!" she yelped shortly, and dropped the stone. It landed on the ground and burned a hot white. The stone seeped into the earth, the light leeching in a circle around the body. It seeped into the dragon's body itself, slowly fading back to blackness again. In the shadows of the returned dark, something moved, grunting slightly.

                "Zel?" Nosedive asked incredulously.

                "You called?" she answered normally. She was alive! "The powers of the earth work wonders." she credited.

                "And you're okay and everything?" Tanya asked, leaning on Dive for support.

                "Besides a bit of a shock to the system... yeah I'm fine." Wildwing smiled and shook his head. This was one freaky planet.

                "Come on." he said, standing up slowly. "Let's head back."

 

The End

 

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