The Shapeshifter

Written by Zelda

 

                The cold, serpentine eyes scanned over the faded and yellowed paper. He lifted a blood red claw, turning the page with a great sense of delicacy. Wraith hovered nearby, peering over the purple-robed shoulder.

                "You see Lord?" he asked, rather impatient.

Dragaunus suddenly snapped the book shut, the frail leather binding nearly snapping. Wraith darted forward, hands out in restraint, but backed off as Dragaunus looked up.

                "This is excellent work Wraith." he started. Wraith smiled, and bent his staff down sheepishly. "These spells are potent as I have ever seen." Dragaunus opened the book again, and scanned thorough the pages. "But this one is especially intriguing."

                "Yes." said Wraith. He looked at the page, to see a faded picture and some alien inscription.

                "This will be perfect. But are you absolutely sure this will work?"            

                "It's foolproof my Lord." assured Wraith. "That creature is an ifrite. Whoever summons it is whom it must obey."

                "Very well." Dragaunus grinned, smoke curling coyly from his nostrils. He spun around, and yelled towards the hulking lizard at the control panel. "Siege! Set the teleporter for the seashore." Suddenly, the Chameleon leapt out, dressing in an old-fashioned bathing suit and carrying a pail full of sand.

                "Ho boy, it's gonna be a day at the beach!" He morphed quickly into a surfer, and slicked back his white hair. "Awesome dude!" All three suddenly

disappeared in an immense green shadow, leaving the control room silent.

 

                Nosedive suddenly wrenched to the side, hoping it might affect his playing style. Mallory laughed and punched down furiously with her thumbs.

                "Come on Mal, no fair!" he yelled, swiveling back up and yelling.

                "It never is for you!" she yelled back, and resumed her assault. In a matter of seconds, Nosedive threw down his controller and stormed away.

                "That does it, I QUIT!" he yelled, stomping out of the room. Mallory stepped away and nearly fell down on a couch, laughing.                

                "Jeez, it's just a video game." chuckled Zelda, watching from afar.

                "Wrong!" interjected Dive from down the hall. He popped his head back into the room. "That's CYBER SLEAZOIDS! The coolest game in the universe!"

                "Cooler than hockey?" Zelda answered, amused.                         

                "Hey, it's not that bad," said Mallory. She lowered her eyebrows and grinned at Nosedive. "After all, there's always three out of five...." Nosedive rolled his eyes and stomped away again. This time,

both Zelda and Mallory laughed. Zelda left the room slowly, and proceeded to the sleeping quarters. Stepping through the door, she found Grin meditating in a corner. She sneaked in like a cat, moving noiselessly to a vantage point behind a bunk, spying and lashing her

tail.

                "Hey Zelda." said Grin nonchalantly, not opening his eyes. Zelda humphed in playful disappointment, and went to rummaging through her musical instruments. The metal and wood clanked and crashed together, but something resounded over the din. Zelda froze, and Grin opened his eyes in alarm. It was what they had thought: Drake One's alarm.

                "Grin! We've got a situation with teleportation energy by the seashore!" Wildwing suddenly interrupted on his com.

                "Okay, we'll meet you by the Migrator." replied Grin, getting up quickly and running out of the room.

 

                The Migrator's tires skidded lightly on the sand as they sunk in.

                "Everybody out!" yelled Duke, as the team stumbled into the sand. Four Saurians turned abruptly to see them.

                "Hold them off!" yelled Dragaunus, as he thumbed through the pages of the old book. Wildwing raised his shield to hold off the laser of The Chameleon as the team advanced forwards. Unfortunately, they were rather clumsy in the sand. Zelda shoveled some up in her wing, and flung it into the wind, showering it over Siege, who covered his eyes and ducked.

                "Tanya! What is that thing?" asked Mallory, pointing to the book Dragaunus was holding the two covered their heads as a fireball flung up sand before them.

                "I have no clue." Tanya replied. Slowly, Dragaunus raised his claws and chanted something out into the sea.

Wildwing smacked the Chameleon into a sand dune. "Get him!" he yelled. Suddenly, the water began to froth and bubble before them. Ducks and Saurians alike stumbled as the earth shook, and all but Dragaunus fell back. Looking up in surprise, the Ducks saw a huge, deep green serpent, with a spiny sail along the back of her neck, explode, writhing, from the surface of the water with an unearthly scream. The snake reared up and roared, revealing the ivory white fangs that drooped over her lower jaws.

                "I AM THE SHAPESHIFTER!" she screamed, as the water shot up beside her. Appearing completely unafraid of the massive snake that reared before him, Dragaunus stepped forwards.

                "Ifrite!" he yelled. "You have been summoned! And you must now do my bidding!" The snake glanced down with it's blood red eyes, and slithered up onto the

sand.

                "Indeed lizard, your bidding is my command."                              

                "Umm, somebody wanna fill me in on what's going on here?" Nosedive asked uneasily. Dragaunus grinned.

                "Shapeshifter, I grant you use whatever means you posses to destroy those fowl!" He pointed a slender claw at the Ducks, who were backing uneasily towards the Migrator.

                "A pleasure, my Lord!" the snake grinned. She slowly started towards Wildwing.

                "Umm, Wing?" asked Duke, who was standing nearest. Wing sensed his tone, and began running.

                "Come on Ducks!" he yelled. The Ducks fled back into the Migrator.

                "What are we gonna do? We can't retreat like this!" yelled Mallory, as the Ducks strapped themselves in. Suddenly, the vehicle rocked violently to the side, as the snake slammed into it.

                "We don't know what we're dealing with here!" Wildwing yelled. "I say we get out of here!" The Migrator's wheels spun helplessly in the sand for a few seconds, and then the vehicle snapped into motion, and sped away.

 

                Tanya tapped away nervously at the keyboard, tracking the snake's movements. Zelda, lost in thought, was rethinking of just what that snake was. As the rest of the team stood about nervously, Mallory reached down, and tore a large scrap of paper off of the bottom of her shoe. She crumpled it up and tossed it over her shoulder, annoyed, when Tanya dove forwards and caught it.

                "What do you want with that?" asked Dive.

                "Just a whim." Tanya said, unfolding the scrap gently and placing it on the control panel. She brought a microscope out of her Omnitool, and started to examine it.

                "It's just a newspaper.." started Mallory.

                "No it's not." said Tanya. "It's very old. Hundreds of years. The paper's real decayed." She focused in further. "Whoa, this is weird. It isn't made of wood pulp, looks more like seaweed or something..." Zelda reared up beside her.

                "Seaweed?" she asked. "Yeah, I see a lot of salt here."

                "Hey, do you think this had anything to do with the robbery at the Pacific Museum last night?" asked Duke, interrupting.

                "What do you mean?" asked Wildwing.

                "Yeah, the police said a book was stolen from..."

                "The Atlantis exhibit!" Wildwing finished the sentence off. "It must be a piece of paper from that book Dragaunus used!"

                "Yeah, but we still have to figure out what that oversized gecko is out there..." started Dive.             

                "Hmmm, he called it an ifrite..." started Zelda.

                "You have something to share with us Zelda?" asked Wildwing, turning around.

                "So that's what it is!" she said, leaping up. "The Shapeshifter is a mythical serpent of Atlantean origin." Zelda said. "Legend has it that she had the power to change herself or others into any whole or part of any animal or insect."                

                "That's it?" asked Mallory.

                "Atlantean mythology isn't very well known." Zelda shrugged. Suddenly, a loud alarm blared out from Drake One.

                "Well, I think we're about to get to know it a little better!" Tanya yelled. "That snake has just broken into the police station!"

                "We're on it!" said Wildwing.

                "We're gonna go out and fight this thing?" asked Dive.

                "It's our responsibility." argued Wildwing.

                "And, that ifrite has orders to kill us. She's trying to draw us out." added Zelda.

                "Okay." said Wildwing, shuffling his armor. "Let's go."

 

                The Migrator swerved to a stop at the front of the police headquarters, to find the huge snake wrapped around the building.

                "Looking for us?" yelled Grin, punching the

snake hard into the side. The Shapeshifter felt it, and uncoiled.

                "Well there you are." she grinned. "I though you'd never show up." Zelda flew up, swooping around the snake's darting head. The snake watched Zelda with interest.

                "A dragon! Why I haven't seen one of your kind for centuries! Indeed, a most intriguing creature." she smiled.

                "You won't be so intrigued." snarled Zelda, swooping closer in. "After we slice you in two!" Zelda snapped her claws across the muzzle of the snake. The Shapeshifter withdrew, three red gashes across her face. She suddenly withdrew from the building, and slithered away into the night.

                "Follow her!" yelled Wildwing.

                "She's heading for the park!" Duke yelled in reply. They ran a few blocks over, and onto a wide grassy spanse of a twilight-lit meadow. The forest preserve wildlife park. Wildwing scanned the area with his Mask, turning up nothing.

                "Keep on your toes." he whispered, as the team eased out into the field. Something buzzed in Nosedive's ear. He slapped, annoyed at a mosquito, which swirled above his head. Suddenly, a huge, blue-green whirlwind exploded above him, and a gigantic lion leapt from it. The lion landed on top of Dive, slamming him to the ground. Tanya whirled around and shot at it, hitting it in the flank. The lion leapt up in the air, and suddenly disappeared in the whirlwind again. Emerging from the tornado, The Shapeshifter reared up, in her giant snake form once again.

                "Don't even try it! We can take anything you can dish out!" Mallory yelled. The snake cocked her head and looked at her, amused.       

                "Perhaps in your current form, you can." The snake raised her tail, which was tipped with feathers, and started to whip it around. The whirlwind suddenly appeared again, whipped and frothed into a huge suction force. The snake suddenly lashed her tail forwards, and threw the whirlwind at the team. Zelda was thrown violently off by the winds, and rolled away in the grass. She bounded back up, and looked up in alarm, to see her teammates being thrown back and forth violently in the midst of the clamor, being changed, being reshaped. Finally, the team was thrown out, and the snake and whirlwind disappeared. Zelda ran up to where Wildwing had landed in the grass. As she came up through night's darkness, she parted the grass aside, but was totally shocked by what she found.

 

                A strange creature lay sprawled before her on the ground. Surprisingly enough, it was a dragon! It had white scales, a teal underbelly, and purple-streaked wings. As the creature looked up at her, she noticed the scales that covered the whole of the head were fused and golden, and the eyes glowed red.

                "Wildwing?" she asked incredulously.

                "Whoa. What happened?" he muttered. He looked down at himself and nearly fell over in shock.

                "Somebody wanna tell me what's going on here?!" yelled Duke. He parted through the grass, revealing himself to be a gray-colored eagle!

                "Duke!" yelled Wildwing, surprised. Duke stretched his wings in curiosity. Slowly, Mallory emerged through the grass as a multi colored purple dragon, with red scales along her neck, and with a green underside. Grin emerged afterwards, as a dark brown colored griffon, who was unusually big as griffons went. Tanya came out behind him, also a griffon, but with purple feathers and fur, and a huge crest of yellow feathers on the back of her head. Nosedive was last to show himself, revealing himself to be a white mountain lion, with a yellowish mane.

                "The Shapeshifter must have done this!" Tanya marveled.

                "Indeed!" grinned a voice. The team turned, to see The Shapeshifter towering above them. "Now, let's see how you handle things!" The team panicked. They had no idea what to do! "See if you can fly!" Zelda yelped. Turning to Nosedive, she snarled to herself. "Unfortunately, you'll have a bit of a flight impediment."

                "Aww, I never get to have any fun!" cried Nosedive, backing away from the snake. Zelda flew up, scooping Nosedive up as she went, in her two back claws. Wildwing looked at his wings.

                "Oh well." he thought. Almost instinctively, he pumped them hard, and shot up into the air, followed by the rest of the team. As they flew away, Grin looked behind him.

                "Oh, you can't get away that easily!" laughed the snake. In a flash of light, two great, white wings unfolded themselves from the scales, and the snake followed them up into the air.

                "Faster, faster!" cried Mallory, surging ahead. As Tanya flew, she was amazed. So this was what it was like to fly! How strange it felt! She pumped her wings harder. Tanya had no idea how she even knew how to keep her balance in the air. Perhaps The Shapeshifter had given them instinct as well as form. But now the situation at hand was growing desperate. The huge snake swooped just behind them. Zelda strained upwards, as she flew behind the rest. Nosedive had weighted her down

considerably. Suddenly, Zelda felt a huge surge of heat behind her. Looking back, Nosedive was horrified to find a ball of fire coming strait at him! Zelda panicked and fell, just far enough to avoid the blast of fire. Suddenly, the thick, sharp sting of a feather-tipped tail snapped Zelda across the back of the legs. She screamed in pain, but refused to let Nosedive go. Wildwing swerved backwards, pivoting about and pausing as the rest of the team rushed past him. Zelda darted sideways, trying to shake the lizard. The Shapeshifter suddenly whipped around again, this time sending her tail crashing down with a blow that, if it had hit better, would have broken Zelda's back. The blow did it's work though, stunning the dragon beyond reaction. As she fell, she shoved Nosedive out and to the side, plummeting in the opposite direction. Nosedive closed his eyes in terror as the ground rushed up to meet him. He rolled in the grass, finally coming to a stop and getting up slowly. Zelda fell with a crash into a thicket of scrub and brambles, bouncing hard and finally sliding, motionless, to a stop. The team halted, and swiveled around, diving down towards the ground. Wildwing ran up and stood over Nosedive, as the snake too, landed on the ground. Suddenly, the snake sprang four short, lizard-like legs. Peering, she darted

her head about through the grass.

                "Where's Zelda?" asked Mallory, alarmed. Suddenly, the snake lashed out away from the team, and flopped her tail at something. She flung her tail up, Zelda firmly wrapped up in the end.

                "Oh, well there you are, little one!" smirked the snake, licking her lips.

                "Why are you doing this to us?" Zelda snapped.        

                "I'm an ifrite! The great controller of the ever-changing image. I have been summoned to do a deed, and I have to do it. That's what we ifrites do. As for changing your friends into the forms of your kind, well." she grinned. "I though it would make for an interesting situation. I've been trapped up for so long under the sea, it's nice to have some amusement." She snapped Zelda violently with her tail. "But I tire of these games. It's time for me to accomplish my deed." She started to tighten her coils, squeezing Zelda. Nosedive staggered up, startled. Zelda squinted in pain, and then lashed out and bit the coil closest to her, hard. The snake snarled in pain, and stared at the dragon in fury.

                "Come on!" cried Wildwing, who took to the air again. The team bounded towards The Shapeshifter. The snake suddenly whipped her tail about, and sent Zelda flying away, disappearing into the treeline of the nearby forest. Suddenly, the huge whirlwind enveloped the snake again, and The Shapeshifter emerged as a huge stork-like bird. She shook her head and cried so loud

that it shook the earth. "Duke! Go find Zelda, we'll draw her out!" cried Wildwing, as he and the rest of the team leapt up into the air. Duke loped sneakily across the grass, using his wings as arms to crawl. Jeez, it was much easier to do this in Duck form! He watched warily as the huge bird swirled and snapped at the tiny creatures that darted about its head, like it was snapping at a cloud of insects. Finally, the rest of the team managed to draw her away, and Duke flew up to the trees.

 

                Entering the darkness of the forest, he flew more slowly and deliberately, to avoid flying into a tree trunk.

                "Zelda!?" he called. "Zelda!" There was no response. Overhead as he flew, he thought he heard a rustling of leaves. Suddenly, something landed hard on his back, and he fell downwards, slamming into the forest floor. Rolling up quickly, he turned around to see Zelda staggering up on her foreclaws. "There you are!" he said, dusting off his feathers.

                "I musta fallen out of the tree. Sorry." Zelda said, rubbing her head and getting up slowly.

                "Come on, the others need our help!" said Duke, as he flew out, landing with her on the edge of the forest.

                "Look!" said Zelda, pointing with her wing to the night sky. Five tiny dots zipped across the light of the moon, followed by a huge winged snake. Suddenly, the sky lit up as the snake reared back, and blasted a ball of fire from its jaws. The five tiny dots darted haphazardly about, avoiding the blast. "We can't fight this thing this way!" said Zelda.

                "Boy, what I wouldn't give for a puck launcher right now..." muttered Duke, annoyed.

                "There's always another way, come on!" yelped Zelda, flapping up into the air.

 

                Grin looked wildly about for his two comrades. In times of past trouble, he had looked to his inner self for strength, but his outer self had been changed now, and it was slightly distressing. Of course, the giant, fire breathing snake flying right behind him didn't help either. Finally, he saw two shadows swoop up from the forest treeline.

                "Team!" Wildwing called. "We're full strength now! Attack!" He stopped in midair and flew back towards the snake. The team followed, trying to avoid slamming into the snake in her velocity. Wildwing snagged his claws into the snake's snout, and dug in hard. The Shapeshifter shook her head slightly. Tanya scraped her claws down a third of the snake's neck, while Nosedive was dropped onto the shoulder. Grin slid down to the base of the neck and caught a hold there, while Mallory nipped around an eye. Mallory kept trying to swipe, but was forced to pull away. Finally, she swooped in, and delivered a blow across the eyelid. The snake roared and suddenly lashed upwards.

                "Well, I guess that worked!" she yelped. The snake shook her head violently, and Wildwing lost his grip. He plummeted downwards, unable to catch a steadying wind with his wings. Suddenly, he felt himself be snatched up, as Duke caught him in his two claws.                       

                "You okay?" Zelda asked, flying beside him. Wildwing regained his balance, and flew on his own again.

                "I'm fine." he assured.

                "Wildwing, we can't fight this thing, it's too big!" Duke argued, pointing to the four little dots that struggled to keep a hold on the huge lizard.

                "But it wants to kill us!" Wildwing yelled back, frustrated.

                "There are other ways." said Zelda, who swooped upwards. She flew right beside the snake, and yelled loudly into her ear. "Listen ifrite! Once you finish your job, you'll be sent to sleep again! You'll remain that way for who knows how long! Reconsider your actions!" she yelled. The snake smiled coyly.

                "It is ifrite law!" she grinned. "I must do my job."

                "But your going against the wrong guys!" Zelda pleaded. "Dragaunus is evil! He wishes for the destruction of us all!"

                "I care not." the ifrite smirked. "I shall not be affected." The snake suddenly snapped her jaws to the side, catching Zelda by surprise. She darted away as the massive jaws crashed downwards, but could not escape quickly enough. Zelda screamed out as the white teeth punctured through her wings, and she dangled from the jaws of the beast. She flopped around, feeling her wings tear and stretch beyond their limits. Tanya flew up beside her, and cuffed the snake on the chin. Mallory landed squarely on the snake's snout, sunk her teeth in, and started to wrench herself back and forth.          

                "No Mallory!" Zelda cried. Mal turned, surprised, and looked downwards. Zelda yelled up at her. "There are other ways!"

                "Of course!" Tanya said suddenly. She lifted away from the snake, and flew beside Wildwing. "Let me go back to the Pond, I have a plan!" she yelled.

                "What do we do in the meantime?" asked Wildwing.  

                "Distract it!" she yelled behind her, flapping away.

 

                Grin wedged himself precariously in-between the jaws of the beast, shoving the jaws upwards. Finally, Zelda tore herself free with a final groan of pain, and toppled downwards, catching a hold on the bottom jaw of the snake. Grin shoved up hard, and slid quickly out of harm's way, just before the jaws crashed shut behind him. Zelda was scooped up by Mallory, and dropped off beside Nosedive, who still clung to the shoulder of the snake. Nosedive helped her up, as he himself fought to retain his grip. The snake glimpsed backwards.

                "Looks like I'm gonna have to give you the slip." she grinned. Suddenly, her deep green scales shimmered a silvery blue, and they washed over with a

coat of slime. The Shapeshifter had suddenly turned herself into a flying fish! Unable to retain his hold, Nosedive slipped off, followed by Zelda. Wildwing snagged up his brother and Zelda at the same time, but found it impossible to hold them both up. He fell downwards, spreading his wings to try and glide. They rolled to a soft stop in the grass.

                "Nice landing." Zelda praised as she winced in getting up. The three still clung to the Shapeshifter, trying to tear through her scales. The Shapeshifter landed heavily on the ground, and then disappeared into the whirlwind again. She emerged as a flaming red tiger.

                "Enough with these gamesssss." she snarled, still hissing like a snake. "I have to accomplish my deeds." With a swat, she threw Grin, Duke and Mallory hard into the ground, and crouched over all six of them. "Now, silly beings, shall you meet your untimely end."

                "Not yet they won't!" yelled a voice. Flying as fast as she could, Tanya landed beside the team in the grass.

                "Tanya! Where were you?" coughed Duke, getting up slowly. The tiger above them roared so loudly that the hot winds of stale breath blew the team over. Tanya opened one claw, revealing the wrinkled page of paper from the Atlantean spell book. She looked the page once over, scanning over the foreign script.

                "There is another way." she said loudly. The tiger reared back, realizing just what was on the sheet. An undetectable wind ripped violently through Tanya's feathers, as her eyes blazed a blinding white. She chanted something loudly into the night, and repeated it over and over, three times. Great plumes of blue smoke shot up everywhere from the surrounding earth, enshrouding her. Suddenly, the earth shook violently, opening up a great fissure in the ground. The shaking and some unknown forces suddenly threw the team apart. Zelda could hear them scream in terror, not knowing where they might land. She too, panicked. The tiger disappeared, among the ruckus and smoke, into her

whirlwind again, emerging in her original serpentine form. As the earth opened beneath her, it revealed a great dark pool of swirling fire-colored waters. The smoke shot from the ground, swirling around her, as the waters shot up, entangling her scales, pulling her

underground. She reared her head back and roared in rage, as the waters hauled her down. She finally disappeared amidst the clamor as the earth rumbled. Finally, the shaking stopped, and the smoke slowly wafted away. Zelda was afraid to open her eyes, and felt about her tentatively. All she could feel was the cool, trampled grass beneath her feet. Finally opening her eyes, she could see the blue smoke wafting from the earth. Zelda leapt to her feet in a start as she saw something coming through the shadows. Slowly, the

breeze blew the smoke away, revealing Grin, back in his normal form!

                "Grin! You're okay!" yelped Zelda, leaping up onto his shoulder. Tanya emerged, shaken, from the smoke, as Wildwing also came into view from the opposite direction.

                "Tanya! What was that thing you read?" he asked, as Mallory came up beside him.

                "A counter spell, I guess." she said, still a little bewildered. Nosedive came crawling up to the group on all fours.

                "Umm, Dive?" Wildwing grinned. Nosedive looked down at himself, then jumped up and hugged himself in joy.

                "Whew! Nice to be back to normal!" he yelped.                           

                "But you didn't even know what it was? How did you even read it?" asked Mallory, still questioning Tanya.

                "We have always had a bit of a sense for magic." grinned Zelda, brushing the grass off of her. "I believe what Tanya read was the only other way to make an ifrite turn from its duties."

                "Speaking of which, Dragaunus still has that book of spells!" said Wildwing.

                "I think not." said Duke, coming up and producing it in his hands. "That spell must have brought it here!"

                "To be given back to the museum." said Zelda.                            

                "Jeez, this episode just wraps itself up, doesn't it." said Nosedive, as the team walked back out of the park, and away from all of the events that had transpired there.

 

                "So tell me." said Zelda. "As one of another species, what did it feel like to be one of my kind?"        "Well, it was different." Wildwing said.

                "Very different." grinned Mallory.

                "I sort of enjoyed the flying part." Tanya piped up.

                "No offense Zelda, but we kinda like us the way we are." smiled Nosedive.

                "Well of course!" laughed Zelda. "None taken 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!