Trying Times

Written by Zelda

 

The story is a sad one, told many times

The story of my life in trying times

Just add water, stood in line

How the west was won and where it got us

-----R.E.M.

 

                It had been an exhaustingly close game with the Montana Ptarmigans, and the Ducks went away, tired and spent, after the overtime period with a tie, 3 all.                               

                "Sheesh." snarled Nosedive, frustrated, stowing his uniform in his locker.

                "I can't believe we couldn't break that tie!"                    

                "Hey, I'll settle for a tie." said Duke.

                "Yeah, the Ptarmigans are and excellent team." agreed Tanya.

                "Well, we can thank our defense for great help on this one." said Wildwing, turning in praise to Tanya and Grin. The team trudged back down into their headquarters, all too ready for a good night's rest. Unfortunately, this rest would not come that soon, or that easily.

 

                "What do you think you're doing!" roared Dragaunus, catching the Chameleon by surprise as he was sitting in his chair by the control panels, eating popcorn and watching TV. Chameleon threw the popcorn up in surprise as he spun around.

                "Boss!" he gasped. "Don't scare me like that!"                             

                "What is that!?' snarled Dragaunus, ignoring him, and pointing a claw to the huge monitor.

                "Just watching a little TV boss.." began the lizard, fumbling with the remote control. Dragaunus snatched it out of his hands, and stared at the TV. In all the haste, the channels had changed, now showing a live report on the game that had just taken place.                    

                "Well, it was a long and tiring game for the Ducks, but they managed to hold on and pull through with a tie!" said the announcer. Dragaunus leaned in

closer. "That's right folks, from these clips here you can see the Ducks in their true form. They played wonderfully tonight, but we all hope they can rest up enough to face the Icers two days from now." Dragaunus turned slowly away.

                "What is it boss?" asked Chameleon, trailing behind him carefully.

                "Face it Chameleon, hockey must be a challenging sport. It must take a great physical toll on those meddling mallards." he said slowly, rubbing his chin in thought. "They must be very tired after a game like that..." The Chameleon stared up at his boss in confusion. Presently, Siege and Wraith came walking into the room. "Yes, they would be very tired. Too tired to stay up for long after the game, too tired to fend off any 'irate fans' with much force..." Dragaunus grinned. "Siege! Set the teleporters for just outside the Pond." Dragaunus commanded, picking up a laser gun in his claws.

                "But Lord! Their sensors will pick us up in a split-second!" protested Wraith.

                "That's more than enough time for us." snarled Dragaunus.

 

                Zelda could have sworn she had only been sleeping for but a few seconds, when the blaring alarm that she recognized all too well as Drake One, blared and echoed through the hollow halls. She jerked her head up quickly, followed by the rest of the disgruntled members of the team.

                "Who on earth is makin' trouble at this hour?" snarled Duke, not exactly in haste to leave his bunk.                                

                "Those lizards are breaking into the Pond!"

Wildwing yelled in surprise, checking the screen of his com. "Let's move!" The team grabbed their gear, and ran out for the Ready Room.

 

                The doors of the Ready Room spread open in a hiss, and the Ducks ran though, to find themselves staring down the barrels of several laser guns. Dragaunus and his henchmen stood in the middle of the room, backed by about 15 hunter drones.

                "Terrific." muttered Nosedive.

                "Can you lend a cup of sugar to a neighbor?" grinned Wraith.

                "We'd rather lend you a launcher full of pucks!" yelled Mallory. She whipped out her launcher, and began firing. Dragaunus extended his claws, and Mallory, Nosedive, and Duke were suddenly enveloped in an orange light, being thrown back to the floor, stunned.

                "Split up!" cried Wildwing in alarm, as the Saurains advanced. He dragged his brother from the room, as Grin followed him with Mallory, and Tanya staggered along with Duke. Zelda sealed the Ready Room door behind her.

                "What are we going to do now?" she yelped.                               

                "We'll get these three to the Aerowing! They'll be safe there!" said Wildwing, as Siege's club tail

began to dent the door behind them. "Tanya, Zelda, try and hold them off!" he yelled, heading off with Grin down the hallway.

                "We can distract them!" suggested Tanya, as the door was being pried open. Tanya and Zelda waited until the Saurains saw them, defying the urge to run in panic, and then lured them down a hallway. Tanya was soon separated from Zelda, ducking into her lab, and hiding underneath a desk. In the darkness, she looked about in silent panic for her teammate. Suddenly, a searing red blast of laser fire snapped across the top of the lab table, sending shattered glass everywhere. Tanya covered her head and retreated underneath the table, cowering in the shadows. She slowly felt the metal panels beneath her vibrating. Something incredibly powerful was shaking them.... something from deep underground.

 

                Wildwing swiveled the lasers around, blasting across the loading platform haphazardly. About three drones fell, but the rest kept firing, and Wraith and the Chameleon were not far off. The Aerowing shook with the force of the hostile fire. Duke limped across the floor and took his place at the controls.

                "Wildwing, we're leaking fuel." reported Grin, helping to secure the others in, who were still in a daze.

                "What about Tanya and Zelda?" asked Duke, panicked. Suddenly, a huge explosion rocked the ship.                             

                "If we wait any longer we won't be able to take off!" Wildwing yelled. He activated his com.             

                "Tanya! Tanya, listen to me, we're in the Aerowing! Can you get to us in the next thirty seconds?" he yelled. There was no reply. "Tanya, if you can hear me, we have to take off before they blow up the ship! We're heading off to..."

 

                Tanya had literally shoved her com into her ear, listening to it on the lowest volume possible. She had heard Wildwing, but could not reply. Even as she listened, her eyes focused on the leathery Saurian foot that stood, shadowed by the darkness, at the door of her lab. She could still feel the floor shaking. It was making the pieces of shattered glass at her feet rattle. She turned back to the door, and suddenly saw that the Saurian foot had withdrawn. She peered up from over the lab table, looking around the room. Seeing nothing, she was about to stand, when she felt something snag her horribly tight around the collar. Before she could respond, she was lifted high into the air. The air next to her suddenly swirled green, and faded away, revealing Dragaunus, his nostrils smoking.

                "You are one sitting duck." he snarled, clapping his free hand over her bill.

 

                Zelda crouched down so low it made her muscles hurt. This was her break. If she could just make it to the ground floor, there would be plenty of places to hide. She had felt the floorboards shaking, and had to stifle the incredible urge to run, to fly, to head up to the surface. She bided her time, hiding in various niches and crannies, waiting until she could move again. Siege trod behind her with the kind of wary determination a tiger stalking it's prey might have. Persistence. It was scary. Zelda crouched behind a small stack of crates on the floor. She looked around, trying to move as little as possible. The doors to the service elevator lay just before her, but it would be too slow. She would have to use the stairs. Glancing about, she saw Siege just across the room, with his back turned. She scrunched up, preparing to leap forwards. As she did, something closed like a vice around her wings, and she was jerked violently back. She snapped her head up, only to feel the barrel of a laser gun being shoved into the side of her head. She stared up in panic, to see that Siege had nabbed her by the wings.

                "You're comin' with me, you little creep!" he laughed, as he dragged her forcefully back down the hall.

 

                Zelda was thrown hard against the floor. She scrambled up, to find Tanya beside her.

                "Tanya!" she yelped. Siege and Dragaunus presided over them menacingly.

                "One move and you're gonna be deep fried." Siege snarled, still pointing at them with his laser.

Wraith and the Chameleon trooped into the room, with two hunter drones behind them.

                "They got away Lord Dragaunus." Wraith sighed.                      

                "What!" he snarled in rage. Zelda snickered. Dragaunus glared at her in fury. "No matter. Wherever they are, we've got hostages." he smiled.

                "Yeah! We'll make 'em come to us!" added The Chameleon.

                "Or better yet, our hostages can find them for us." Dragaunus grinned. He grabbed Zelda by the back of her neck, and lifted her up. Siege did the same with Tanya.

                "Oh man, I've been wantin' to do this for a long time!" he laughed, setting his teleporter. Seconds later, the whole party vanished into a green shadow, leaving the room silent.

 

                The Aerowing ducked and plunged like a wild horse, wavering in its flight. Grin gripped the back of Wildwing's chair as the ship ducked again.

                "I can't believe we left the others behind!" snarled Nosedive, who had recovered by now. 

                "We've got bigger problems now, baby Bro." said Wildwing, jerking the controls with gritted teeth, trying to keep the Aerowing decently stable.

                "Like what?" asked Mallory.

                "Like landing." replied Wildwing. "I told Tanya where we were heading to hide... I just hope we have enough fuel to get there." The Aerowing flew over the wide expanse of red desert, approaching a small crack in the earth's surface: a canyon.

                "We're running out of fuel..." started Mallory.

                "We can make it." said Wildwing, panning down slowly. The ship maneuvered slowly and delicately down, until it came to rest with a loud shudder on the floor of the canyon. They all trooped out slowly, into the deep night, to behold what the Saurians had really done to the ship. The side was haphazardly punctuated with huge, charred holes, and pitted with dents. "Great." snorted Wildwing.

                "But what about the others?" asked Grin.                      

                "Tanya's not puttin' out any com signal." said Wildwing. "They need our help, but we can't go

anywhere until we get this thing flying again." he rubbed his hands together. "We'd better get to work."

 

                The shackles were cutting the circulation off to her claws. Seething, she glared at Dragaunus as he paced back and forth in front of Zelda. To her left, Tanya lay shackled up against the wall in a similar fashion.

                "This is going to be fun." smiled Wraith, thinking of all the things he could do to the lizard and the bird who were now to cater to his every destructive whim.

                "Now, there are two ways we can go about this." began Dragaunus, grinning. "You know where the rest of those wretched waterfowl went, so tell us."

                "Oh please, we're not that stupid." laughed Tanya bitterly.

                "Really?" asked Dragaunus, spinning around.

                "Well, the shackles that hold you in place are made of super conductive metal, and I think that the sensation of 5,000 volts of electricity running through them isn't going to be all that pleasant." He went over to a switch on the wall, tapping the handle. "Unless, you can just get this over with now."

                "You take us for idiots." snapped Zelda. "You actually think we're going to tell you?"

                "Well, you may not think so now." said Dragaunus. "But I find ways to be VERY persuasive!" he suddenly gripped the handle, and wrenched it downwards. Tanya was enveloped in a blue light, and she trashed back and forth, screaming dully in pain. Zelda roared and snapped in protest.

                "Oh, and maybe you would like a piece of the action too!" The Chameleon laughed, throwing the other switch. The surge of electricity raced through Zelda's body, and she wrenched violently, desperate to get away from it. Finally, it ceased, and Zelda slumped down, eyes closed dully, panting. She slowly raised her head, and glanced over at Tanya. Dragaunus grabbed her by the snout, and spun her around to look her in the face.                              

                "We'll find those wounded little waterfowl, and when we do, we'll kill them and you."

                "You speak of lies!" roared Zelda in fury. "You'll never find them. You'll have to kill us first!" Dragaunus suddenly reared back and raked her across the face with his claws.

                "Then that's just what I'll do!" he roared, so loudly that it shook the room. "Siege! Chameleon! Take these two to a cell, we'll deal with them later."

 

                Wildwing rubbed the oil off of his forehead. Jeez, he wished Tanya was here.

                "Okay, a little to the left, Grinster!" Nosedive yelled, leaning closer to the ship's dented hull. Inside, Grin was pounding the metal back into place. Mallory drained the last of their spare fuel into the tank, and laid the container down, sighing.

                "You okay?" asked Wildwing.

                "Yeah." she replied, coming over to him.

                "It would be great if Tanya were here though. This job is gonna take days instead of hours..." started Wildwing.

                "Do you think they're okay?" asked Mallory suddenly. Wildwing stood up slowly.

                "I'm sure they're doing everything they can." he replied slowly, actually not sure of what he was saying. "And if they aren't okay, we have to move as fast as we can to help them." Mallory walked off to get a set of wrenches, and Wildwing slumped back down. He checked the

time: 12:36. This was going to be a long night.

 

                Zelda hit her head hard, roaring as she was slammed to the floor. Siege stood at the door of the cell, grinning.

                "Bye bye, birdie." he sneered, slamming the cell door shut. They heard his heavy footfalls thumping away. Zelda closed her eyes and rubbed the side of her snout with a low whine. Glancing over, she saw Tanya kneeling bent over on the floor, with her back turned. She tried to get up and come over to her, but the pain that returned from the fried muscles made her withdraw. She felt like she had been stuck in the microwave. Finally, she heaved herself onto her stomach, and lay there for a minute or two, letting the cold, damp metal help keep her steady. She stumbled up, and over to Tanya, slowly regaining her coordination as she did so. She sat down next to her, and nuzzled her gently on the shoulder. Tanya lifted her head.

                "You okay?" Zelda asked.

                "Yeah, I'll be fine." she replied distantly. She sat up slowly, and turned to Zelda. She took her snout in her hand, and gently rubbed the wound. Zelda winced and withdrew slightly. Tanya sighed, and put her arm around Zelda's neck. "Do you think he'll really kill us?" Tanya asked.

                "No." replied Zelda, although the answer wasn't a confident one. "We're the only ones who know where the others are. We can't let him find them. If he kills us, the others will escape for sure." Tanya shuddered. The two didn't spend the night searching for a way out of the cell. They knew there was none. Dragaunus was not that kind of villain, and he certainly would have made extra adjustments for the "visitors". When the two finally went to sleep, Tanya lay her head down on Zelda's side, and they both lay like that, sleeping for as long as their captors would let them.

 

                Wildwing awoke with a jolt. 5:03 in the morning. He rolled over, groaning. Finally, he sat up, rubbing his head and staring out of the open hatch, at the brick red canyon walls not too far away. He stood up, yawning, and walked outside. Leaning against the light, hollow shell of the Aerowing, he picked up a wrench. He sat down, and started to get back to work.

 

                Tanya's head landed on the floor with a thud. She awoke with a jolt, to find her "pillow" wrestling with Dragaunus, who had lifted her up by the back of her neck.

                "Let's go campers!" laughed the Chameleon, stabbing her in the back with the muzzle of a laser

gun.

                "Yes." snarled Dragaunus. "Time to rise and shine." Tanya tried her best to walk, legs horribly stiff, and was led into an open room. Suddenly, Dragaunus's com went off.

                "Lord! I've found them. We won't need those hostages anymore." yelled Wraith, over the

static-filled transmission.

                "Good work!" sneered Dragaunus. "Chameleon! Come with me. We'll take care of those ducks." He started programming his teleporter. "Siege, you can stay here and deal with them." Dragaunus ordered, gesturing to Tanya and Zelda.

                "Oh, it'll be my pleasure." he hissed gleefully. Dragaunus and The Chameleon slowly faded into a green shadow, and disappeared. Tanya and Zelda looked at each other in panic. Could it be? Siege laughed, brandishing his laser gun. "I'll give you a chance to run, before I fry your feathers." he sneered, backing away to the center of the room. Tanya started to move away, but Zelda jerked her head up and snorted, holding her ground, and making Tanya pause. "Well? You gonna run or what?" snorted Siege, becoming annoyed. Zelda stared at him fixedly. "Fine!" he roared, firing. Zelda was hit in the shoulder, and she slammed into the wall, screaming in a sudden spurt of pain. Tanya yelled out, and moved to help her, but Siege intervened. Tanya felt an incredibly hot, oozing blast hit her right in the stomach. She screamed out, hitting her back against the wall and sinking to the floor, coiling up with the burning pain. Zelda looked over in panic to Tanya, and then stumbled up in blind fury. She lunged at Siege, missing him entirely. She landed heavily, spun around, and charged him again. She scrambled up him, and bit hard into his shoulder. Siege yelled out in anger, and yanked her off of him. He shoved the side of his laser into her head, and she could feel the hot metal against her scales. "I should kill you right now, you little monster!" he roared.

                "Then go ahead." she wheezed, now recoiling from the pain her aforesaid actions had caused her. Siege stared at her in rage for a few seconds, and then spun around, hurling her against a wall. Zelda fell to the floor with a cry, and lay still. Siege turned, eyes blazing, back to Tanya, who kneeled in place on the floor. She sprung up and began to run in terror, Siege's laser blasts following just barely behind. Suddenly, she tripped, and fell to the floor with a loud thud. The laser blasts zipped overhead, and then stopped. The next thing Tanya felt was the Siege's heavy club tail smashing right into the side of her ribcage. She coiled up, staring in fury at Siege. He backed off, panting, and stood still for a few seconds.

                "Ha! you're lying!" Tanya choked. "You haven't found the others, you're just trying to scare us!" Siege paused for a second, and then giggled.

                "Really? Well then, I'd like to see your face when your teammates' heads are mounted on Dragaunus's throne!" He stalked away in fury, and left Tanya and Zelda to their own.

 

                Mallory snarled, annoyed.

                "They musta shot the underside, the main vertical launch thruster's jammed."

                "Great!" smiled Duke sarcastically, picking up the toolbox he had just put down. "I'm on it."

                "We're making progress guys." encouraged Wildwing, stepping onto the ship. "At this rate, she'll be back and working in about an hour."

                "Yeah, if we don't find anything else that's busted." snarled Nosedive, blowing a loose lock of hair

away from his face as he stooped over his work at the control panel. Grin leaned into the hatch.

                "Wildwing, can you give me a hand?" he asked.          

                "Yeah, sure." Wildwing sighed, stepping back out. Suddenly, a loud explosion ripped up from outside, just beneath the ship.

 

                Once again, Zelda slammed hard against the cold floor of the dark cell. She lay there, panting dully. She wished there was a way for the pain to end. The hot laser blast still seemed to bubble and burn the scales on her shoulder, seeping down her arm. Every movement seemed to bring an ache from her back and side. She opened her eyes and stared at the dark wall before her. She could hear Tanya breathing heavily behind her. Zelda, squinting, raised her head up off of the ground, and tried to prop herself up on her front limbs. Tanya crawled over to her, and rubbed her snout gently. Zelda looked up and whined, seeing tears in her eyes.

                "Zelda, what if Siege is telling the truth?" she asked. Zelda reared up and licked her roughly on the cheek.

                "All we can do now is hope that he isn't." she replied slowly. Now, one only has so much internal strength to exert, and when isolated, it can wither and die quicker than one may expect. But one has to find something to stand on, and Zelda and Tanya found that in each other. When they themselves failed them, they would turn to the other, and share their strength, and so make it stronger. The rest of the hours passed in a blurry daze of nothingness. Zelda had her own thoughts screaming through her tormented head, weak as she was. Was it fate that they were here? Were they both to die here in some fit of torture? And what if their comrades really were dead? It seemed impossible, but fear was quick to invade the mind in a place like this. At some untold hour, she found some relief in the form of sleep.

 

                Slowly, her sleep was penetrated by a dull ringing, that grew slowly into the hideous sound that was an explosion, until it suddenly shook her body as well as her mind. She awoke with a gasp to feel a wave of heat wash over her. Two hands grabbed her around the middle, lifting her up. The fear and the pain that enveloped her caused her to panic. In anger and fear, she raised her claws and trashed out into the blackness. It scraped against something hard, she could hear it screech dully as her claws dragged across it. She tried to strike out again, but another hand squeezed her claws and held them down. She opened her eyes to find fire and heat before them, and so was forced to shut them again. She yelped out for Tanya, but there was no response. She could feel the heat rushing past her face, and she bounced up and down as if someone had grabbed her and ran. Suddenly, the heat was replaced by a warm, humid breeze, but seconds later, she slammed to a stop on a cold metal floor. Zelda's eyes flew open in panic, and she tried to jump up, but something held her down. She stared up in disbelief to find Wildwing trying to steady her.

                "Wildwing!" she cried. "You're alive!"  Wildwing grinned and eased away from her, revealing a deep scrape across the armor on his shoulder. Tanya leaned up next to Zelda, to see the rest of the team.

                "We thought you guys had been found!"

                "Nah." smiled Mallory. "Just a few technical difficulties."

                "You okay?" asked Duke, patting Zelda on the

snout. "Looks like Dragaunus had fun with ya."

                "Yeah." grinned Zelda. "I suppose he did."                   

                "Mallory, you think that thruster can hold for another liftoff?" asked Wildwing, as the hostile blasts of Dragaunus's henchmen snapped across the side of the crippled ship.

                "I just hope we don't have another explosion!" she snarled, firing the thruster up. The Aerowing climbed steadily, and swerved back, heading home.

 

                Zelda walked slowly around the Ready Room.

                "So fill us in." said Tanya, sitting on a chair.

                "What happened to you guys? How did you find us?"

                "Well, they did a number on the Aerowing, but once we got that out of the way, we headed back to the Pond to find you guys." started Wildwing.

                "Yeah, and found Dragaunus instead." snorted Duke, rubbing his shoulder.

                "He didn't put up much of a fight, and we found you with Drake One."

                "Well, we sure taught old Lizard Lips a lesson." grinned Tanya, poking Zelda.

                "Yeah, it'll take more than a few mind games to break us." she grinned back.

                "Well, I would hope so." said Wildwing, heading off to the locker room. "Come on, we got a practice in half an hour."

Zelda got up slowly, and followed the team out.

 

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!