Mind or no Mind

Written by Zelda

 

 

                Gretchen drove down the street as quick as she could, being careful not to run over anyone. Wildwing sat in the passengers seat, directing her. They pulled up in front of a bank.

                "Strange..." Mallory said looking at the bank. "I have never seen this bank before." The others nodded there heads in agreement. Wildwing unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up.

                "Well, we still have to check it out." he said, heading for the door.

The others followed. Duke however wasn't there. He had had a terrible fever and Zelda ordered him to stay in bed. Wildwing looked up at the building and gasped in horror. Through the Mask, the Raptor could be seen instead of a bank. Nosedive stepped up next to him.

                "Its the Raptor." Wildwing said turning around.          

                "Then come on, lets catch those lizards!" Laura snarled pulling her gun. Gretchen screamed and kicked it out of Laura's hands. Laura sighed in frustration and put it away from Gretchen's view.

                "I hate it when she does that!" Mallory said walking out the door.

                "ITS A REFLEX!" Gretchen said through clenched teeth. Wildwing looked around.

                "I have a feeling ol' lizard lips is planning on seeing us," Wildwing muttered.

                "THAT'S ABSOLUTLY CORRECT!" A show host's voice said coming out of a green shadow. The ducks spun around to see Siege and about 50 hunter drones surrounding them all. Dragaunus appeared with Wraith not to far away, Zelda saw this. She roared to get Wildwing's attention. Wildwing looked up to see him also and growled. Wraith was talking to Dragaunus about something, but Wildwing wasn't close enough to hear it. Dragaunus nodded his head and Wraith started mumbling a spell of some sort.

                "Oh man! We are about to become Duck pate!" Nosedive cried. Wraith finished mumbling the spell and threw a flaming ball of blue light at the ducks and Zelda, knocking them all to the ground. Wraith floated over to them and cackled under his breath.

                "We got 'em now lord," He said proudly. "They are ours to order!" Dragaunus walked up to the fallen figures.

                "Stand!" Dragaunus snarled. Immediately, the ducks stood up in a straight line, their eyes glowing red. Dragaunus walked over to Wildwing and tapped the beak of the Mask. "It mine, all mine! And I don't even need to steal it, you can use it for me!" Dragaunus laughed. Wraith nodded his head. "Now you know what to do......" He said smiling. "Order them to go to the Pond and shut off every alarm so we can get the last one!" Siege walked over to Gretchen and smiled.

                "I have wanted to do this for a long time!" He said holding his fist above her head. Before he could do anything, Gretchen caught his arm and flipped him over her back.

                "Oh! And they are much better henchmen then you 3 ever were! They can fight!" Dragaunus laughed. He was going to have fun.......

               

                Duke had a funny feeling something was up. You know, like that little thing in the pit of your stomach that just makes you nervous? Well, Duke had that. He'd had it for a while now, it was even becoming a bit of a normal feeling. But something just wasn't right. He laid back and sighed. Maybe it was his head. He had had a horrible fever he must have contracted two nights before in a game. He had been forced to stay at the Pond while the team had gone out to investigate a robbery an hour ago. They returned unharmed, saying it was just a false alarm, but they seemed to be... well, Duke just couldn't put his finger on it. Zelda trotted into the room as Duke lay in his bunk.

                "Hey Zelda!" he said. Zelda snorted in reply. Duke frowned. What was going on? He got up and followed her out as she trotted to the ready room. The rest of the team was in there, just standing around. "Hey Mal, you wanna go out for a pizza or something?" he asked, coming up to them. Mallory turned away, as if irritated, and walked away. "Whoa, okay guys, you can stop acting now." Duke laughed. The team turned to stare blankly at him. "Oh come on, you thought this one up, didn't you Dive?" Duke said. Tanya silently walked over and started pressing buttons on Drake One's control panel. Suddenly, an alarm went off. "Tanya! What are you doing?" Duke yelled, walking up beside her. "You just shut off all of the defense syst---" He was broken off abruptly when Tanya turned her head and snarled at him, eyes glowing red. Duke stepped back, alarmed. Suddenly, a huge green shadow came between him and Tanya.

                "That's exactly what we told her to do, you fool." grinned Dragaunus, taking his form and staring down coldly at him. Duke gasped.

                "What the..?" he started. The Ducks surrounded him.

                "A spell, dear little fowl." grinned Wraith. "A spell that will rid us of your disobedience forever! Now, all that's left is you..." The Ducks started to close in around Duke.

                "Guys! What are you doing! Snap out of it!" he pleaded. Wildwing raised his puck launcher and aimed strait at Duke's beak. Duke realized that he would have to get himself out of this one. He glanced up, and then raised his hand. He shot out one of his grappling pucks, letting it loop around a thick coil of piping in the ceiling. The rope ran taught, and he started to pull himself up.

                "GET HIM YOU FOOLS!" thundered Dragaunus. The Ducks started to fire at Duke as he dangled in midair. He drew his saber to try and deflect the shots. Finally, he reached the ceiling and pried the grating off of a vent. As he started to crawl in, Zelda leapt up after him, shearing the grappling puck line in half. Duke scrambled to hang on to the vent with one hand, and hold his sword with the other. Zelda snarled, swooping around, and bit deeply into his leg as it swung freely in the open space. Duke cried in pain, turning around.                             

                "Sorry about this.." he muttered. He swatted at her with the blunt of his sword, before he took a gentle hack, shearing at the base of her right wing. Zelda screamed and fell back. Duke hadn't the time to see her fall. The others were distracted and he needed the time. He pulled himself up into the vent and disappeared. The Ducks howled after him, but Dragaunus raised his hand.                       

                "Enough!" he called. "Let him go. Sooner or later, he will come to us."

 

                Silver swooped down, to find Duke standing outside of Weiner World. Silver landed beside him, with Northstar and Diamond not far behind.

                "We came as soon as we could." Diamond said. "What's the trouble?"

                "Dragaunus has Zelda and the Ducks under some sort of compliance spell. They attacked me, but I was able to escape."

                "Good for you." Northstar said. "But where are they now?"

                "Well, they might have gone back to the Raptor, but my guess is that they're busy ransacking the Pond." Duke sighed. "Will you help me snap them out of it?"

                "Of course!" Silver grinned. "But we need to be careful. If it's a spell, Wraith is probably the one who cast it. So if we get to him, we can get the cure out of him too."

                "Sounds good, but were outnumbered four to ten." Duke muttered.

                "Not a problem if you can be as crafty as you usually are." grinned Diamond. "They probably want you to come back, but they're not expecting us."

                "Okay, the faster we move, the better." Northstar said. "Let's go."

 

                Dragaunus tapped broodingly away at Drake One.               

                "Magnificent." he marveled. "I didn't know the capability of this machine."

                "Whadda ya gonna do with it boss?" Siege said.                  

                "Well, I think we'll disable the scanners. This thing is full of stuff to detect teleportation energy and the like. No wonder they were able to foil our plans so easily!"

                "So can I smash it?" Siege asked eagerly. Dragaunus thought.

                "Sure." he said, turning away. "But make sure you leave the CPU. With all that central processing power, we can increase the power of the Raptor's equipment." Siege bounced about with destructive glee, and then slammed his tail club into the control panel.                        

                "I've found something Lord!" Wraith called, as he minded the security system.

                "Yes?" Dragaunus turned, walking over to him.                    

                "Look." Wraith pointed to one of the small screens, revealing a video of Duke sneaking around the side of the Pond. He entered through a ventilation tunnel and disappeared from view.

                "Excellent." Dragaunus sneered. "I told you he'd come back. I'll think I'll go and prepare the welcoming committee." Dragaunus walked over to the Ducks, who were standing stock still in a line. Zelda acted as though she had never been wounded. "Now go! But I want that duck alive!" Dragaunus ordered. The Ducks filed out of the room. Dragaunus turned back to the monitors, waiting.

 

                Duke waited. He knew the Pond's security system well enough. It would have been a miracle if they hadn't spotted him already. Tanya had built the thing with deadly precision. Very deadly. Duke waited some more. The ventilation duct walls were dark. He knew where the others were at the moment. Or at least they were supposed to be. Suddenly, he heard noises beneath him. Duke froze. This was going to be tough. Suddenly, a laser burned through the ventilation duct walls in front of him, from the bottom to the top. It was a Saurian laser. Suddenly, it shot another hole in the duct. Closer this time. Again the shots came, faster and faster. Duke panicked and backed up, but he was moving too slowly. He felt a searing pain in his right shoulder, as the thick, hot laser burned through his flesh. Duke screamed in pain and collapsed in the vent. Great, his cover was blown. All of a sudden, he heard a huge ruckus. The other three leaders must have shown up! Well, the noise was moving away. Duke gripped his shoulder, still seething in pain. Slowly, he noticed that the vent duct was actually tilting downwards! Suddenly, the duct snapped, and Duke fell, crashing down to the floor. He hit hard, laying still for a few moments before he finally started to get up. He groaned in pain, feeling the ache run through his shoulder and up his spine. Suddenly, he felt a blunt object jab down into his right shoulder, into the wound. Duke cried out and flattened himself against the floor. He rolled out and away, and leapt up in his stealthy, catlike fashion. He turned around to face Wildwing, eyes glowing red, stalking towards him.

        "Wing, don't do this!" he pleaded. "Snap out of it!" Then, for the first time since he had been under the spell, Wildwing spoke.

                "You will come now, Lord Dragaunus commands your imprisonment!" Duke shook his head.

                "Wing listen to me! It's Duke! Your teammate! You've gotta snap outta this!"

                "We serve only Lord Dragaunus, and soon you will too." Wildwing raised his puck launcher, the end dabbed in Duke's blood. Duke backed off slowly.

                "I hate to do this to ya buddy..." he started, drawing his saber. The two circled each other, waiting for the other to make his move. Finally, Wildwing whipped around, sending a circle of explosive pucks ripping up around him. Duke was thrown back, but he stumbled to his feet. He felt Wildwing kick him hard in the stomach. Duke punched him squarely in the beak. Wildwing was stronger, but Duke was craftier. Wing wheeled about and punched for him. Duke ducked and stood up behind him, shoving him onto the floor. He stood up slowly, gathering himself, before he flung out again. He grabbed Duke's saber and wrenched it away from him, the sword scraping against the metal floor. Wildwing had Duke. He kneed him hard in the stomach, Duke bending double to catch his breath. Wildwing brought down his gloved hand and grabbed Duke by the shoulders, digging deep into his wound. Duke winced and snarled in frustration and pain. Wildwing walked with him still held high in the air, until he rammed him into a wall. Duke cried out as a surge up pain ran up his back, then slowly went limp. Wildwing dropped Duke to the floor, standing back to catch his breath. Suddenly, he looked down to find Duke gone! Duke ran as fast as he could across the floor, scooping up his sword as he headed down the passageway. Wildwing ran too. Duke knew he was too wounded to outrun him this time. He raised his hand and fired a bola puck at him. Wildwing became entangled and fell, landing with a heavy metallic screech of his armor. As he struggled to get free, Duke ran off. He didn't get far though. He was exhausted. He had never known Wildwing could fight so hard! He just hoped the other three leaders could handle the rest of the Ducks. He limped into a dusty storage room, and leaned heavily against the wall. Slowly, he sank to the floor, still gasping for breath.

 

                Dragaunus pounded on Drake one in frustration. How hard could it be to catch one duck?

                "GRETCHEN!" Dragaunus cried. Gretchen ran in. "Why have you not caught that duck yet?" Gretchen looked at the ground.

                "He is tougher then we thought Lord." Gretchen explained. there was a cry from the next room.

                "WHAT IS GOING ON IN THERE?" Dragaunus shouted at Gretchen making her hair blow back.

                "M'Lord, The other leaders are here!" Gretchen stuttered trying to stay brave.

                "Bring them to me and Wraith will take care of them, go! Find that duck! With his skills, we could rule this planet in no time...." Gretchen ran out. "We're getting that duck, one way or another!" Dragaunus snarled.

               

                Zelda screeched as Northstar rammed her against a wall. Zelda scratched rapidly at his head. Northstar reared up trying to get Zelda to calm down, but was failing miserably.

                "Where's Duke?" Silver cried, just now dodging Mallory and jumping off the wall, making Mal bump her head and fall to the ground.

                "I don't know, but Wildwing is gone too!" Diamond said, looking worried.

                "That's bad, Wildwing is really strong!" Northstar yelled from across the room. Suddenly Diamond looked up to see no one in the room anymore.

                "Somthing's going on...." Diamond said backing up. Silver looked around nervously and ran to his 2 comrades. Suddenly, Mallory and Nosedive jumped through one door grabbing Northstar by the legs and Grin took Silver by his waist. Tanya shot a bola puck at Diamond's leg's and they wrapped themselves tightly around making her fall to the ground.

                "You guys don't know what your doing! Let us down!" Silver cried, wriggling like mad to make Grin let him go, but his grip was too tight.

        "I hate to do this Grin..." Diamond said, and slashed at Grin's wrist. Grin shouted in pain and let her go. Diamond, knowing that there was no hope for her other two friends, fled from the room. If she would have stayed, they would have gotten her too. Then there would be no hope at all. Diamond sniffed the air and then heard noise from the next room. She ran in to see Duke, leaning against a far wall, breathing hard. "Duke! Thank my fur I found you! Are you all right?" Diamond asked running up next to him.

                "Yeah, boy Wildwing is tough...." Duke gasped.                   

                "But not as tough as I am!" A voice screeched from above. The 2 looked up .....to see Zelda staring wickedly at them with cold, blood red eyes....

 

                The two were shoved hard into a wall, as they struggled. Northstar and Silver had seen Diamond escape, and now they were on their own. The Ducks crowded around them, with the henchmen, to make an impenetrable semicircle. They were trapped. Slowly, Dragaunus walked into the circle, and motioned for Wraith to follow him.          

                "So, we meet again, little friends." he grinned.        

                "Only this time we won't be so unlucky as to be defeated." Tanya giggled bitterly.

                "Things change." Northstar grinned.

                "Indeed they do." Wraith snarled. He raised his claws and drew up a huge blue fireball. "They change for the worse!"

 

                Duke peered around the corner.

                "Now, we're outnumbered." Diamond sighed.                        

                "There's a way to snap them out of this." assured Duke. "For one thing, this is magical, so it must be Wraith's department. So all we have to do is get to him." Zelda had gone to tell Dragaunus where Diamond and Duke were. Duke ran out from the corner and ran beak to beak with Gretchen and Wildwing. Duke gasped, shocked, and Diamond bumped right into Gretchen's legs.   

                "Lord Dragaunus requires you alive." Wildwing sneered. He grabbed Duke's arms, but Duke easily flipped him over his head and grabbed Diamond. They both made a run for it.

                "GET THEM!!!" Gretchen cried. Mallory and Zelda suddenly appeared from around the corner and ran after them. Zelda flew in the air and swooped down. She clawed Diamond's legs, and blood soon appeared in the wound. But Diamond kept running. Northstar and Silver flew down and landed near them.

                "Come on!" Silver shouted. "Wraith is the only one who can cure them!"

                "We thought you guys would be goners by now!" Diamond said without stopping. They now had all the ducks running after them.

                "No, you must hear and see the spell to make it work. The Ducks saw and

heard the spell, we shut our eyes." Northstar said proudly.

                "I would be happy for you but-" Duke stopped when he ran into Wraith and Siege. Wildwing and the others started to circle around them.

                "Ah, Duke, Right?" Dragaunus said stepping into the circle, "We have you now, you can't get away this time." The circle tightened up, closing in on them. Duke looked around for hope of escape. Instead, his eyes moved towards The Chameleon, who was in the circle trying to get Laura to laugh at one of his jokes. Duke grabbed The Chameleon.

                "All right, Wraith, either you cure my friends, or I will kill your comic relief." Duke held a puck launcher against his head. Gretchen, being under the spell, did not do anything. She did not remember her reflexes against guns. Wraith looked at Dragaunus, Dragaunus looked at Siege, and Siege moved back to Wraith. Now what?

 

                Dragaunus rasied his eyebrow. Wraith shifted his weight on his staff.

                "Okay." he finally said. "But when I release them, you have to grant us safe passage back to the Raptor." The henchmen glanced around again.

                "No dice, Wraith. I'm the one who makes demands around here." Duke grinned. Wraith grinned back.

                "Then perhaps you don't know the fine print of this spell. Its strength increases with time. Every second you spend is another off the clock, before this becomes permanent." Duke thought hard.

                "Ohh, don't bother thinking." Siege grinned, motioning to the Ducks. "We'll make the decisions for you." Suddenly, Duke felt something grab him by the back of the shirt. Within seconds, Grin lifted him off of the ground, grabbing his puck launcher away from him and squeezing it into decommission. The Chameleon slid out from underneath him and turned into baseball player.                               

                "What say we play a little hardball, Duck?" he laughed, swinging up a large wooden bat. He swung back and struck Duke flat across the back. Duke yelled in pain and wrenched away. He kicked Grin hard in the stomach. Grin doubled up in pain and let him go. Duke stumbled back and grabbed the bat from Chameleon, grabbing him and placing the bat horizontally across his neck. Pulling the bat back, he started to choke the lizard, who immediately assumed his normal form.

                "Now Wraith." Duke coughed, tightening his hold. The Ducks all moved forwards. Silver, Northstar and Diamond leapt in front of them and raised their claws, threatening to slash at the hostage. "Or I'll snap his neck." Duke finished. Wraith thought harder. He looked over to Dragaunus and nodded.

                "Very well Duck." he snorted. Wraith raised his claws, and suddenly a thread of blue light came from each of the Ducks. They doubled over in pain as the light was sucked away, back into Wraith's fingertips. Finally, the light disappeared, and the Ducks collapsed to the floor.

                "Now grant us passage back." Siege snarled.

                "We still outnumber you Duke." Dragaunus warned. "Don't make us get rough." Duke nodded, and released The Chameleon. They all disappeared, leaving the hallway silent.

 

                Wildwing snorted and slowly sat up. He cramped up as he sat, a huge, aching pain still present in his stomach.

                "Hey Wildwing, you okay?" Duke said, noticing he had awoken. Wildwing opened his eyes and looked around.                  

                "Yeah...what happened?" Duke smiled.

                "Ahh, what does it matter, the spell's been broken now." Silver, Diamond, and Northstar walked over.            

                "Ouch." Wildwing grunted as he tried to flex his legs.

                "Aftermath of the spell. That should go away soon." Diamond said.

                "Sheesh, and what a spell." Wildwing agreed. "Are they gone?"

                "Gone and out. You needn't worry." smiled Northstar.

                "Ahh, thanks for covering for us guys." Wildwing smiled.

                "No trouble. Now, let's see if we can't get you off to the infirmary." Silver grinned. "It's been a long day."

 

The End

 

Mighty Ducks-The Animated Series, including all logos and characters (except me) 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!