The GKR Factor

Written by Zelda

 

                The light, sharp sound raced through, space and time fading quickly as it slit through the open and echoed wide in a ring that may have well spanned the entire universe, for it's clarity and distance. It raced down, down through a cloudy atmosphere and lush foliage, through metal and earth. It came and went through the ears of creatures without a note, fading into the ground without further incident. But it came down to the folded ears of sleeping creatures and some reacted to the noise, the faint and weak call being enough to wake them from their sleep. They blinked, not recognizing the source. So they lay back down on their mats of leaf and reed and moss, and slept again.

 

                The sound entered the folded ear, slitting through the nerves and up to the brain, evoking a wild reaction. Zelda shot up in her hammock suddenly. Wildwing, who was patting his pillow into place, looked over his shoulder at her.

                "You okay?" he said. Zelda caught herself.

                "Distress call." she explained, getting up quickly.

                "From who?" Wing asked.

                "From someone a loooong way off. I almost didn't hear that one..." she said. The signal came again. "It's urgent..." she said, thinking it over. Then she snapped her claws. "Of course! GeeKeR must be in trouble..."

                "GeeKeR?" Wildwing raised his eyebrows.

                "GKR officially. He and two of his friends live ... a distance away. I helped them once."

                "A distance? Where? What city?"

                "Well, it's not so much the place as the time. They live in the future."

                "What? How on earth could you get there?"

                "Long story... but it looks like I have to go back."

                "Well wait a minute..."

                "Yeah, I know what you're thinking. However GeeKeR is a master of the 'trans-spacial megaflux' If he does his work, I can travel to his time." Wildwing rubbed his beak. Time travel? Perhaps even dimensional travel?

                "Maybe we can help." he started.

 

                "Okay, so it's set. Gretch, Stivz, Mal, Grin, Turbulance, Matt, and Lindsay can go with you in case there's any trouble. The rest'll stay here in case Dragaunus pulls another fast one." Wildwing said as the chosen boarded the Aerowing.

                "And we KNOW what you're thinking Zel." Nosedive intervened. "We'll be fine without the Aerowing for like, 5 seconds. Don't worry." Zelda smiled a little sheepishly.

                "Thanks a lot guys." she said.

                "Ahh it's nothing." Gretchen said. She sat in the cockpit controls and gripped the handles. "So your friends are in trouble right? Well let's get going!" The Aerowing shot out and into the sky.

                "So, whadda we do?" Matt asked impatiently.

                "Wait." Zelda said. Suddenly, a white light surrounded the ship, and they were gone.

 

                The Aerowing set down in a large alley. The Ducks looked out of the windshield to see an enormous, twisted city sprawling before them. The streets were crowded, and not all of the pedestrians human. Strange hovercraft zipped through the streets and across the sky.

                "My friends." said Zelda. "Welcome to Neo-Denaire. This is the world's largest city. In this time, 90% of the earth is covered in urbania. And the cities are built on top of the old ones. Beneath the subways, are the remnants of the past, of our time." Gretchen breathed.

                "You mean there's like Anaheim under there?"

                "Maybe." said Zelda. "And deeper in the earth, beyond the old cities, is a world that very very few know the location of. It is a world of my ancestors, called Dinopolis. The dinosaurs survived here and now are as intelligent as humans."

                "And this city is where your friends live?"

                "Yup. Come on, the Aerowing should be safe here." Zelda said, stepping out into the street. The city was bustling and crowded. People walked by, not noticing the Ducks. "Now we just have to find my friends." Zelda reared up suddenly.

                "Another signal?" Stivz asked.

                "Yup, follow me." Zelda said, and started back through the alleyway. Stivz activated his mask out of caution, and followed.

 

                "Ewwww...." Lindsay moaned, as she stood ankle-deep in yesterday's garbage. "This is icky sticky! Why on earth would your friends be HERE?"

                "They have to keep a low profile." Zelda said. "If they're hiding out here, it must be VERY low." The Ducks waded slowly through the garbage, passing mounds more than two stories tall. They soon became lost in the stinking dump.

                "Great, now how're we gonna find 'em?" Matt said. Suddenly something flashed in the corner of his eye. The team turned to see the flash again. A piece of metal was being waved back and forth next to a high mound. Zelda stepped forward.

                "MacBeth?" she called softly.

                "Zelda?" a woman replied. A tall figure came out from hiding, clad in black and with a long blond ponytail. Her left hand was not a hand at all, but rather a thick pneumonic appendage from the shoulder down. "Hey there!" she greeted. She reached behind her. "Come ON GeeKeR!" she said, and pulled someone else out with her. A rather short, skinny figure came out, with short red hair, yellow clothes, big eyes, and red shoes.

                "Hey! Zel's here!" he said, and jumped up happily. He ran up to her and hugged her around the neck. "Me and Becky thought you'd never get here! You want a chocolate monkey?" he said with a wild look in his eyes.

                "Maybe later." Zelda smiled. Becky came up to meet GeeKeR. "Becky, GeeKeR, these are my friends the Ducks. This is Matt, Gretchen, Stivz, Lindsay, Mallory, Turbulance, and Grin."

                "Pleasure to meet ya." Becky greeted.

                "Same here." Gretchen nodded.

                "Wow I didn't know you brought your friends along!" GeeKeR yelled. Confetti sprayed out from his ears. "Now we can have a party!" The Ducks regarded him with raised eyebrows. Lindsay lit up.

                "Oooo yeah a big party right? With lots of Surge and LOTS of coffee!!" Zelda grinned.

                "But why did you signal me? And where's Noah?" Zelda asked. Becky looked at the ground.

                "Noah's really sick Zel. We had to meet you here so Smiley and the pinkers wouldn't follow us to the hideout." Zelda looked worried.

                "Well then let's get back. Our ship's safe for now."

                "Good." Becky replied. "Follow me." The group walked quickly off into the dump.

 

                The team walked into a wide space. The room was large and well lit, but a mess and full of old furniture.

                "Welcome to the hideout." GeeKeR said. He immediately hopped off into a corner and started bouncing around like a pogo stick, complete with sound effects. Zelda was already heading towards a creature in a large red hammock. Following, Matt saw the huge green thing was actually a tyrannosaurus rex! It wore a red backwards cap, a tan shirt, and various pouches for weapons. Zelda perched up on the anchor for the hammock fearlessly and peered into the creature's closed eyes.

                "Noah? Noah hey there, you feel okay?" she asked. The dinosaur grunted and opened its eyes.

                "Zelda." he said slowly. "Nice of you to come." he rolled up a bit and saw the Ducks.

                "Friends of mine." Zelda grinned. "This is Mallory, Lindsay, Matt, Stivz, Grin, Turbulance, and Gretchen." Noah smiled at them. He tried to sit up further but grunted in pain. "Hmm, you lie still for a sec." Zelda said, and leapt off the hammock. She went up to Becky. "How did this start?"

                "A few weeks ago he got hit by a tracer dart. We picked it out and he was fine. A few days later he started getting headaches, fevers, stuff like that. He's just been getting worse."

                "He doesn't look too bad now." Becky sighed and stooped down beside Zelda.

                "He's worse than he looks." she said lowly. "He gets these fits and seizures from time to time. We've given him painkillers but they make him worse. He hasn't eaten in about two weeks. Everything we give him makes him sick." Zelda frowned. Becky stood again. "We've determined that it's something in his system, but we haven't got enough medical technology yet to get anything else."

                "Couldn't we take him to Dinopolis?" Zelda asked.

                "Tried it. Nearly got our heads blown off. Smiley's stepped up his patrols. Looks like Molach had this planned." Zelda nodded.

                "Well, lemme run a few tests here and see what I can find." she said. Becky looked up at the Ducks, who were completely lost and confused. Becky grinned.

                "Come on, I may as well explain all this to you." she said. They all went over to a circular couch in a corner and sat down. GeeKeR suddenly jumped up and landed in Matt's lap.

                "Can you teach me how to dance?" he asked.

                "Cool down man." Matt said, pushing GeeKeR off.

                "Well where do we start?" Becky asked.

                "Might as well be the beginning of it all." GeeKeR replied. Becky nodded.

                "You see it all began a while back. There's this guy named Molach. Owns like everything here, and I mean big corporate monopoly. And he's got this scientist named Don Maston."

                "He's a hairy elephant that floats." GeeKeR said very informatively.

                "Yeah. So they create this synthetic bioweapon, an artificial human being, and plan to take over the world and everything with it. He's got a synthetic body that can change into anything. And the project is code named GKR. So here I was, a common street thief. Me and Noah here find out about this weapon, and we plan to steal it and sell it on the black market. We break in and steal GKR's holding container. Once a safe distance away, we open it, and boom, out pops GeeKeR. See Molach was about to complete him and insert a chip that would make GeeKeR follow all his orders without question. But he didn't have time. GeeKeR can't really control his powers as a result. We didn't have the heart to sell the little guy. He'd be pretty helpless out alone, so me and Noah watch him.

                "Which is no easy task I assume." said Grin.

                "You got that right. Ever since Noah and I rescued him, Molach has tried nonstop to get him back. He's alerted the public of his little 'wanted list' every so often, and the public belives him and not us. GeeKeR just has a time fitting in. He's fought the pinkers ever since he was 3 minutes old." GeeKeR, at the time, was pulling a string of colored hankerchiefs from his ear. "Molach's also hired this bounty hunter named Smiley."

                "Tough guy?" asked Turbulance.

                "Lemme put it this way: if you're ever on the street and see this guy go by with a big yellow smiley face on his head, blast him to pieces. And the common pinkers are like guards. And they're EVERYWHERE." The Ducks nodded sympathetically. "So what about you? What's your story?"

                "We're just your average, run of the mill hockey-loving Ducks from another universe, driven to earth by the last of the evil Saurian Overlords and battling him to this day." Lindsay said.

                "Hmmm." Becky nodded. Zelda trotted up to them.

                "Find anything?" Stivz asked.

                "I've confirmed what you told me Becky. It is something in his system, and he's getting worse fast." Becky sighed.

                "Great. Now what are we gonna do? Molach was expecting this. The moment we set foot outside we're most likely going to be staring down the barrel of a laser gun, and our force of three is down by one."

                "Maybe we could take Noah." Mallory volunteered.

                "Yeah... why don't all of you come back with us to Earth?" Stivz said. "You'll be safe from this Molach character, and we've got better med. facilities."

                "Really?" Becky asked. "Wow thanks guys, this is a big favor." Gretchen waved it off.

                "Don't mention it." she said.

                "Well we'd better be off." Lindsay said, getting up.

                "Yeah, now about Noah... GeeKeR, see if you can't turn yourself into an anti-gravity platform." GeeKeR squeaked with delight and melted into a puddle of goo on the floor. He rose up into a candy cane.

                "Nope, that's not it." he said, melting again. He rose up as a brown platform.

                "Thanks GeeKeR." Becky said. GeeKeR floated over to Noah's hammock and held him as the supports were untied. He floated out of the bay door as Becky and the Ducks followed close behind.

 

                Noah was set down in a far corner of the Aerowing, and GeeKeR assumed his normal form. He bounced over to the front of the Aerowing and plunked himself into a seat gleefully. The team took their seats, while Zelda and Becky stood.

                "Nice ship ya got here." Becky noted, walking up to the windshield. Suddenly she froze. "Umm, I'd get the ship outta here." she said.

                "Why?" asked Turbulance. Suddenly, an explosion ripped up from the side. The ship was being hit!

                "That's why!" Becky yelled.

                "Gretch, get us outta here!" Stivz yelled.

                "I'm trying! The left back thruster's been damaged!" she yelped back. Becky leaned out of the hatch and drew her blaster. She fired a few shots to the building across the street. A bit of corner fell, and a person came tumbling down with it.

                "Nice shot." said Matt.

                "Thanks, but that won't buy us much time. Smiley and his goons'll be here any minute, if they aren't already." she replied, shutting the hatch. By now, the ship had wobbled off of the ground. Gretchen hit the throttle and the ship shot forwards. As they flew up they continued to receive fire.

                "It's okay now, they can't follow us. And by the time they can, we'll be long gone." Becky sighed. And so they cleared the atmosphere and blasted out into space.

                "Whew, that was close. Stupid pinkers." Zelda snorted.

                "So how are we gonna get back to our own time?" Gretchen asked. Becky smiled.

                "Okay GeeKeR, do your thing..." GeeKeR stepped to the front of the ship. His bowl hair cut suddenly spun around, his big eyes spun with circles. Suddenly a green ray shot out from his eyes and enveloped the ship. Then, they disappeared.

 

                The bright Anaheim sky appeared in front of them.

                "Hurray! We made it!" Lindsay cheered.

                "You're gettin' better at that 'trans-spacial megaflux' thing GeeKeR." Becky praised. GeeKeR happily twisted his whole body into a spiral and unwound quickly from the feet up. They heard a low snorting in the back and turned around. Noah was twisting around on the floor.

                "Uh oh..." Becky started, and walked back for him. Zelda was there sooner.

                "Easy Noah, we're here now." she said gently.

                "Transdimensional travel doesn't mix to well with him." Becky started. Noah had curled up in a tight little ball, groaning softly.

                "Come on!" said Stivz. "Let's get back and get him on the Medicom."

 

                The whole team came to help the others off of the ship. GeeKeR had turned into his platform again and carried Noah to the infirmary, setting him down on the Medicom. Becky introduced her friends and explained their story to those who hadn't heard it.

                "So... you're a former thief, huh?" Duke grinned. Celyna elbowed him roughly in the side. Zelda started up the Medicom and began to run a few tests.

                "Find anything?" Wildwing asked.

                "Hang on a sec, I have to adjust the Medicom to, uh, dealing with a tyranno-sapien." she said.

                "A what?" Candy asked.

                "Very intelligent descendant of early tyrannosaurids." Becky explained.

                "Well there we are..." Zelda started, looking at the data feedout. Tanya came over and looked with her. "It seems to be a chemical in his bloodstream. Noah's so weak because he's not getting enough blood circulated about. However, blood levels are normal... so is heartbeat...." she said. Curious, she pressed a few more buttons and read the new data. "Huh, look at this." Tanya leaned over.

                "That's weird. Noah's blood level is normal, but his red and white blood cells are far below normal. It's just like his blood is.. thinning out."

                "There's more to it than that chemical I'm sure... but that thinning problem needs to be solved. After all we don't have any blood donors for a guy like this... maybe I can rig up something." Zelda went out of the room.

                "Well I wouldn't worry about this Molach. You'll be safe here. Lemme show you two around." Wildwing offered. "Noah's in good hands." Becky and GeeKeR followed him out. The rest of the team was left with the dinosaur.

                "Jeez, who woulda thought." Mallory began. Grin sat down in a chair.

 

                Mallory yawned and opened her can of soda. GeeKeR and Becky were long gone, taking a tour around the mall, a la Nosedive. Most of the others had gone off to do something or other, Zelda stayed with the sleeping Noah. Suddenly her com beeped. She opened it and saw a shot from one of the outside security cameras. A man in a crisp suit was standing at the team entrance door, knocking patiently.

                "Hello? Is anyone there?" he called.

                "Great." Mallory sighed. She got up and decided to see what he wanted. She approached the door and opened it. The man stepped back.

                "Oh! There you are." he said. Sharp black sunglasses hid his eyes. "I was wondering if you could help me find my seat for tonight's game." Mallory frowned.

                "The game doesn't start for another 2 hours, sir."

                "I know, I know. I just would like to know where my seat is so I don't get lost in all the gametime confusion."

                "Well, okay." Mallory said. She stood back and let the man in, closing the door behind him. "So where's your ticket?" The man reached into his back pocket, and began to pull out something. Mallory turned around and started to walk, when an arm wrapped tightly around her neck and yanked her back. She raised her arms to struggle, when she felt the barrel of a gun against her cheek and stopped.

                "Now." snarled the man. "Where is the GeeKeR?"

 

                Zelda eased back and patted Noah on the shoulder. The IV line was secure and she added a thin green fluid into the plastic pouch. Bayberry juice. It was always a good blood thickener for her kind. Maybe she would consult Diamond on this one. The door opened with a hiss.

                "Zelda..." it was Mallory. Her tone was high and urgent. Zelda looked up and gasped in alarm. Then she caught herself and stared angrily at the man in the door, still Holding Mallory in a vice grip.

                "So you must be the hot-shot Mister Molach." she snarled.

                "I am." he said plainly. "Now, bring me the GeeKeR or I'll blow your friend's skull clear across the room." Mallory winked at Zelda. The dragon grinned devilishly and swooped her tail aside, hitting a button on the Medicom console. Suddenly the whole room and hallway beyond erupted in sirens.

                "Hear that Molach? That's the sound of every alarm in the building going off." She leaned over and clicked on the radio on the side of the console. "Ducks, we've got a visitor down in the infirmary. Get Becky and GeeKeR out of here now." she ordered. She turned back up with a wide grin on her face and stepped into the center of the room.

                "Stupid move." he said, and clicked the gun into place. Mallory suddenly clasped her hands and heaved back, elbowing Molach hard in the gut. He gasped and let her go. She whipped backwards, prepared to take him on.

                "Come on, let's have it!" she yelled at the figure stooped on all fours.

                "You want it?" a cybernetically twisted voice came through the halls. A figure appeared before her. It was a tall, muscled man with a big black gun and a metal head with a smiley face painted on it. Four men in helmets and armor lined up behind him. "You got it." he grinned. Mallory gasped and leapt aside as fire split the ground where she once stood. She rolled and jumped up, leaning against the wall and drawing her launcher quickly. Zelda drove forwards into one of the pinkers, head-butting it flat in the chest. She toppled him over and leapt quickly back up, pouncing on another. Mallory shot a smoke puck at Smiley, who buckled over in the cloud. She covered her mouth and leapt at him, kicking him in the head. A laser shot over her shoulder and hit the wall. Mallory ducked and charged forwards like a football player. A foot came down on her shoulder, throwing her to the floor. Zelda followed suit a few seconds later. The two looked up to see an angry Smiley and four pinkers shoving guns into their faces. The two gasped, trapped, as the five men closed in quickly on them. And suddenly, they were all thrown flat on their faces. Grin stood above them, rubbing his fist. Wildwing immediately hoisted Smiley off of the floor and shook him hard. Grin secured two of the Pinkers, while Duke and Gretchen had the other two. Matt and Lindsay helped Zelda and Mallory up and surrounded Molach.

                "How did you follow us?" Wildwing snarled.

                "It was a simple matter of bracing the trans-spacial megaflux to stay open long enough to allow us through." Molach said.

                "You monster... you'll never find Becky or GeeKeR here! Not until they go back when Noah gets better." Zelda snapped.

                "Ahh but he won't get better. Doctor Maston designed it that way. Noah's blood will thin out until it's nothing but plasma. It's a microvirus that is certainly uncurable in your primitive time. And this of course weakens Noah's immune system. Your ship will be a little lighter if you ever get the chance to take the GeeKeR back." Suddenly there was a loud scuffle behind. Matt cried out as he was hit by something and thrown backwards to the floor. The Pinkers had gotten loose! Three of them were out now. Wildwing yelled and tripped. Smiley was out too. He shot quickly in-between the group around Molach, causing them to leap aside. Molach dusted himself off and walked casually out. Gretchen tried to run after him, but a pinker wheeled around and kicked her hard in the back, and she fell too. In the confusion, the Pinkers and their leader began to run. The Ducks were tripping over themselves to try and follow.

                "Stop already!" yelled Stivz. "They're probably gone." Wildwing got up and picked up Gretchen.

                "Are you okay?" he asked, worried. Gretchen rubbed a spot on her back.

                "Yeah I'll be fine... stupid pink-people." she growled. Matt was struggling up, Lindsay standing over him. He had been kicked in the stomach, the wind was knocked out of him.

                "Ouch.." he coughed. Causually, Nosedive walked in carrying a pizza.

                "Who wants---What happened here?" He gasped.

                "Pinkers." said Becky lowly, coming up behind him with GeeKeR. "I can't believe they followed us here!"

                "That's bad, right Becky?" GeeKeR asked.

                "Very." Becky frowned. Zelda reared up beside Noah. Grin came up beside her and looked back at the team.

                "Molach is a fool." he said plainly to them all.

                "In ways." Zelda replied, adjusting an IV line. "He was stupid enough to tell us what he did to Noah. Now I know just what to give him to help."

                "It's a villain thing: Think you've won, then spill the beans." Nosedive sighed.

                "Well have to up security after this..." Stivz started. Becky looked worried.

                "Look MacBeth, I know that if GeeKeR is caught, you and Noah go down in flames too. But the Pond is like a fort." comforted Mallory. "We'll put ya in a fortified location and see if we can't track down Molach ourselves."

                "That's really nice of you guys... why are you taking such precautions?" Becky asked.

                "Because if Lord Dragaunus finds out about this..." Wildwing started. He didn't have to finish.

 

                "So? You say this is a kind of dimensional limbo eh?" Dragaunus asked, leaning over the control panel, staring at the screen.

                "Well not exactly my good man." Chameleon explained. "But ya see, this kind of gateway can transport us anywhere in this dimension, and this little number comes complete with time transport options."

                "Including into the past..." Dragaunus grinned. Then he frowned. "The Ducks already have this... thing. Whoever has the technology to make one came back to this time with the Ducks. If they activated it, that means they could go back to the past, any one of the times they've defeated us and finish the job!"

                "Well, yes sir...." Chameleon ventured.          

                "This is horrible! Why do they get the advantage?!" Dragaunus moaned.

                "But it could be an advantage to us, Lord." Wraith broke in. "If we got our hands on that technology before the Ducks could use it, we could go back..."

                "Back to when we arrived here! When the crystals were still intact. Then we'd know about the attack..."

                "And could destroy those pests even before they knew where we were!" Wraith agreed. Dragaunus set to thinking as he watched the tape, monitoring the dimensional gateway the Aerowing had come through. He paused as he saw the gravitational carts of the Pinkers and Molach's scout ship come soaring through later, seconds before the gateway snapped shut.

                "Who are they?" he asked.

                "I don't know my Lord... they appeared to be in pursuit of the Ducks." Siege said.

                "Never mind. Make the necessary preparations, we're going out for a bit."

 

To be continued.....