Full Moon

Written by Zelda

 

                The ripstop nylon tent flaps crinkled in the light breeze. Flashlight beams and the florescent glow of a propane lamp penetrated the darkness of the deep California forest. Zelda plodded carefully around the tent strings and the posts that were hammered into the ground. She ran up the ramp of the Migrator and inside, where Tanya and Duke were hovering over the scanners.                       

                "Find anything?" she asked.

                "No, no. It's weird too." answered Tanya. "There was a large amount of teleportation energy, and now there's nothing."

                "And all the way out here." said Duke. "It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere."

                "Well, I'm sure the scanners will pick up something." said Wildwing, coming up behind the three. "Come on, it's 12:30 already! Camp's set up, let's get some sleep."

                "You got all three tents up already?" Tanya asked. Suddenly, the four heard a snap, and looked out of the windshield to see a huge pile of dark green ripstop nylon rolling around on the forest floor.

                "Well, all except the one Dive was supposed to set up..." Wildwing sighed. "Come on, Drake One will alert us if it finds anything out while we're asleep." The four walked out of the Migrator, closing the door behind them. Mallory stood up in the red-orange glow of the campfire and yawned.

                "Come on." said Tanya, helping her up. "Let's off to bed." Grin and Duke went into the next tent, and Wildwing stooped over to unravel his brother from what was their tent. They set it up quickly, and settled in. Zelda paced about outside for a while. Finally, good night calls echoed from each of the tents, seven in all. Zelda doused the fire and settled down beside the smoking embers. She glanced up. It was a perfect night sky, lit by the great white orb of a full moon. Whatever Dragaunus had done in this forest, they would find out tomorrow. Zelda closed her eyes, and drifted off.

 

                The night drifted on slowly in the deep forest. But the thing that pervaded over it all was the full moon. Underneath it, near the Ducks' camp, the forest echoed with a soft pneumonic hissing. Ten small, dark shapes moved across the forest floor, heading towards a drifting plume of smoke through the trees.

 

                Zelda opened her eyes slowly. She didn't move, and stared slowly at the forest floor. Something was moving. Slowly, her eyes focused to the darkness, and she could make out some small animals moving in the bushes. She stood up very slowly. Sliding outwards, she moved towards Wildwing's tent, keeping her eyes on the creatures the whole time. She scratched nervously on the side of the ripstop nylon. It was creating too much noise! She searched with her claws for the flap zipper, while trying to look for the animals. Suddenly, she realized that she had lost them! She looked about her in a circle in panic. From behind her, she heard a loud metallic hiss, and then the tear in nylon. She spun around to see two of the creatures ripping into Duke and Grin's tent! She roared loudly in warning. The creatures didn't stop.

                "Wildwing! Wake up! There are wolves in the camp!" Zelda cried, as she dashed out to the two who were biting the tent. As she arrived, she pounced on one, knocking it away. She looked into its eyes, to see it was no real wolf, but a robot. It's eyes suddenly blazed red. Zelda bit hard into the wiring in its paw. She glanced behind her in terror to see the other wolf entering the tent! Suddenly, it was thrown back out. Grin poked his head through the hole in the tent and wrestled the wolf out, throwing it against a tree trunk, making it explode. Mallory and Tanya had started to come out of their tent, and got out their puck launchers. Suddenly, Zelda heard Duke yelling inside the tent. She ran around to the back, to find a wolf standing over a huge hole. She knocked it away quickly, scratching deep into the side of the neck. She left the wolf on the ground and ran in through the hole in the tent. She reared up and roared in the darkness. She rammed another wolf away from Duke and lashed back and forth to try and force it out of the tent. From outside, she could hear explosions. Finally, the wolf was shoved outside, and Zelda turned back to Duke. He leaned up, with puncture wounds along his wrist. "Thanks for covering for me." he grunted, holding the wound gingerly. "Go help the others, I'm fine!" he yelled.

Zelda darted out through the back of the tent and raced about to the front.

 

                The wolves were nearly all destroyed. They darted about, trying to avoid the puck fire. Finally, the last one exploded, and the camp once again fell silent. Tanya lit the propane lamp and glanced around.

                "Everyone okay?" she asked.

Duke came out holding a flashlight. "One just nipped me on the wrist, nothing bad." He assured.

                "One got me on the leg." Wildwing snorted. He limped into the clearing, supported by his brother. Tanya bent down to examine the bits of machinery and wiring.

                "Well, whatever they were, they're gone now." said Zelda, sniffing the air cautiously. "Let's get those wounds taken care of and see if we can't get a little more sleep tonight."

 

                And so it went. The holes were patched, the fire re-lighted, and wounds were bandaged. Finally, about an hour later, all was calm again. Duke and Wildwing sat in the Migrator. Zelda padded up the ramp and into the vehicle.

                "Come on, let's get back to bed." she smiled.

                "And what of those robots?" Duke asked.

                "Well they're certainly not natural fauna." Zelda snorted frankly. "But what can we do? It's two in the morning, we all need our sleep." Wildwing held his head.

                "Ahh, I don't feel so good anymore Zelda." he sighed. Duke nodded.

                "Come on, I'm sure it's nothing a few hours of sleep won't fix." She jumped up on the chair beside them and watched them stand up. They slowly walked towards the door and out the hatch. Zelda walked out with them, as the three came into the glow of the moon again. Suddenly, Duke and Wildwing both ducked and covered their eyes. Zelda yelped, surprised. She jumped down off of the ramp to see them stumbling about, as if trying to fight off a bout of nausea. Slowly, she noticed their appearence changing! Their feathers became strangely ragged and long. They curled up, groaning in pain. By now, the others had noticed, but were smart enough to stay away. Finally, the two reared up and screamed, Duke first, then Wildwing, letting out an unearthly howl. Huge fangs had grown from their beaks, their eyes glowed red, sharp claws grew from their hands, and their feathers hung in tangled locks about their faces. Zelda backed away in horror as the two stood hunched over and panting on the ramp.

                "Wing? Duke?" Tanya said in question. The two darted their heads up quickly, as if agitated. Frothy saliva dripped from the corner of Wildwing's beak. Slowly, the two stumbled off of the platform, and stalked towards the Ducks. Nosedive gasped.

                "They've been turned into werewolves!" he yelped.

 

                "They were ALL destroyed?" Dragaunus snarled.                

                "Yup, there's no reading from any of them." Siege replied. "But they were all destroyed in the vicinity of the Ducks camp." Suddenly, the crisp forest air was penetrated by a long howl. Dragaunus grinned.

                "I think we've done our job here." he sneered. He walked back to his scout ship, laughing to himself.

 

                The Ducks continued to back away. Wildwing and Duke snapped at them, circling.

                "They're hunting us." Zelda breathed.

                "What?" Nosedive gasped. "Come on! I'm your bro. Wing!" Wildwing stepped forwards slowly. He crept up, as if unsure of himself. Suddenly, a cloud that had spiderwebbed the moon drifted away, and he came back into full light. Wildwing howled, and then leapt at his brother. Nosedive turned and ran, but wasn't looking and rammed hard into a tree. He fell and lay at the base. Wildwing stood over him, stepping on him with a clawed foot. Suddenly, a puck ricocheted off of the tree trunk and barely missed him. Wildwing stepped back, to see Grin advancing. The brown Duck reached the tree, picked up Nosedive, and slowly backed off. Suddenly, Tanya yelped. She had picked up a thick piece of tree branch, and now swung it repeatedly in an arc wide enough to keep Duke away from her. When Mallory tried to approach, he ran and leapt at her. She retreated back to the Migrator and slammed the door shut in his face. Duke howled in anger, and raked his claws across the door, leaving four deep gashes in the metal.            

                "Zelda, you know about these things." Grin reasoned as Nosedive began to recover himself. "What does a wolf do?" The three Ducks and the dragon grouped together for protection. Suddenly, the two turned and rushed the group together.

                "They hunt in packs!" Zelda yelped, flying up into a lofty tree branch. "Spread out! Don't let them bite you!"

                "I'll get a tranquilizer!" Tanya yelled, edging towards her tent. Zelda swooped down to cover for her, as she opened a steel box and loaded a small dart gun with two tranquilizer darts. She clicked the gun closed. "Okay guys." she muttered, turning around and edging away from Zelda. "This is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you..." She waved the gun slowly, but the two were already involved in circling the other three.

                "What do I do?" she asked, as Grin, Dive, and Zelda were backed into the woods.

                "Act wounded! Wolves take down the wounded!" Zelda snarled, trying to lead Wildwing away. Tanya started to limp back and forth wildly. It attracted the attention of the two immediately. They both turned away from the three and made a simultaneous rush at Tanya. She raised the gun and fired. Duke immediately howled, threw his head up, and fell to the ground with a loud and angry thump. Wildwing paused for a split second, and then continued the charge, Tanya fired again, but the shot bounced off of Wildwing's armor. In panic, she whipped out her puck launcher and fired a smoke puck at him. Wildwing was enveloped in a cloud of black smoke. He howled and choked as Tanya reloaded the dart gun. She fired another shot, and Wildwing yelped in pain. He pulled the dart out and crushed it, the green tranquilizer liquid oozing out onto the dirt. He staggered through the smoke, and quickly stole away into the forest foliage.

                "Wing! Come back bro!" Dive yelled. The only response was a far away howl.

                "He's not coming back now Dive." Mallory said, finally able to emerge from the Migrator.

        "Let's hope that dart does its work." Zelda bent over Duke. He was still conscious, just paralyzed. He breathed in wild, short gasps, and his eyes still burned red. "Get him into the Migrator." she instructed. "Let's see if we can find out what's going on here before this tranquilizer wears off."

 

                The Ducks stood, hesitantly, over Duke's body as it lay on a cot in the Migrator.

                "Well, we know it was those wolves, but they were robots." said Zelda. Tanya was bent over a small microscope, examining Duke's frothy saliva that dripped periodically off of his beak.               

                "Well, there's some sort of a chemical here....I think that's what's caused the effect. But I've never seen anything like it before." she muttered, very puzzled. "I'll try and see if there's anything which can break the molecules down." Suddenly, Mallory grabbed Zelda's wing and tugged it sharply. She pointed at Duke, who was starting to move! He was waking up!

                "Get out." Zelda said calmly, trying to move slowly towards the door. Slowly, Duke opened his eyes, and rolled off of the cot, hitting the metal floor hard. He staggered up, leaning heavily on the wall.

                "Take it easy Duke." Nosedive said, easing away from him. Duke suddenly opened his eyes in fury and roared. He lunged at the group as they panicked and ran for the door. He landed flat on op of Zelda, shoving her off of the ramp. She hit her back hard on the forest floor, Duke landing on her a split second later. She screamed in pain as she felt his teeth shearing into the flesh of her right arm and shoulder. She tried desperately to pull away, but Duke clamped down harder on her, until her bones felt like they were going to splinter. Finally, Duke howled and withdrew as the glowing pucks snapped across the dirt near him. As Zelda curled up beneath him, he stood up, groggy and disoriented. From a distance, a long, broken howl cracked the confusion. Duke snapped up, and dragged himself into the woods again, leaving Zelda behind. The three ran up behind her, looking to find where Duke was heading. But he was gone, into the night. Nosedive kneeled down and tried to pick Zelda up, but she screamed in pain, and crimped up into a tiny ball of scales.

                "Whoa!" he said, nearly dropping her. She squirmed as he staggered back up into the Migrator, and plunked her back down on the cot. But, even though she had been bitten, she wasn't going crazy or anything.                                

                "What's wrong with her?" Mallory asked. Tanya knelt down beside her and started probing the wound gently. Zelda whined loudly in agony and crimped up further.

                "The chemical was meant for Ducks, not dragons." Tanya started. "It's having a different effect."

                "So what do we do?" asked Nosedive.

                "Close the doors." Tanya said quickly. "Keep those two out. Mal, go over and start the scanners again will you? I've tuned them to hone in on the traces of that chemical. We'll find both the others and the source."

                "Scanning." Mallory said. Suddenly, two dots burned red on the scanner screen. "Got them." Mallory snarled.

 

                "They've locked on to us Lord!" Siege reported.          

                "Good, just let them come." Dragaunus clicked his claws gently against the head of a wolf, who snapped at him and snarled. Dragaunus laughed. "Will they ever have a surprise when they show up!"

 

                The Migrator crept almost hesitantly through the forest, picking its way through the underbrush.                    "Slowly...slowly." advised Tanya, looking up from her position beside Zelda. "Keep it down! We're really close."

                "I'm trying my best." Mallory hissed back at the controls.

                "Stop stop stop!" stammered Dive. "We're TOO close. They'll spot us."

                "I suggest if we go any further, we continue on foot." Grin advised.

                "Practical, but we have a slight medical problem to deal with." Mallory said. Whatever the chemical present in Duke's saliva was, it was having a weird effect on Zelda. She had become completely unresponsive, curling up as tightly as she could. The only effort she made at showing a sign of life was emitting a series of broken whines, varying in pitch.

                "What should we do with her?" Nosedive asked.

                "I guess we can leave her here for a bit." Tanya said, getting up. "I hate to, but we've got bigger problems. I'll hook up a link to alert me if anything goes wrong here."

                "Okay then, let's go." Mallory said. She swung her puck launcher over her shoulder and gritted her teeth. This wasn't gonna be pretty....

 

                Grin picked his way delicately through the underbrush, careful not to step on anything. He could see a plume of smoke rising from the forest floor about a hundred feet away. He raised his puck launcher and looked behind him, signaling for the others to approach. They filed along among the huge pine trees. Finally, they came within about twenty feet of the camp, and halted. Mallory could see things moving through the gaps in the brush, but couldn't tell what they were. She squatted behind a fallen log and set up her puck cannon. Suddenly, a few dry pine needles fell onto the ground next to her from above. There was a loud snarl, and a huge creature came crashing down onto her shoulders. She hit the ground hard and was spun around to reveal two hideous red eyes in the darkness. Her head throbbed painfully, and her side dug into a rock on the ground. She could see the figure above her illuminated by the glow of pucks that weren't hitting. It was Wildwing.                   

                "Wing! What are you doing?!" she snarled, bracing her feet underneath him.

                "I'm afraid that's not going to work anymore." grinned a familiar voice. The team looked up to see Wraith, shadowed and leaning on his staff.

                "What have you done to Duke and Wing?" demanded Nosedive.

                "Why, nothing at all!" Wraith laughed. "All of their actions are based on free will. Their becoming a werewolf, however, was.... assisted by ourselves."                     

                "Assisted alright." snarled Mallory. She shoved Wildwing off of her and stood up, jabbing him in the stomach with her puck launcher. Tanya hid in the bushes behind Wraith, hoping to get a shot in. Grin sneaked up behind Wildwing, who was in a confusion over which one of them to attack. Grin grabbed a thick piece of a fallen tree branch.

                "Forgive me my friend. You know not what you do." he said calmly, raising the branch high in the air. He snapped it downward quickly, but Wildwing caught it, digging his claws in and splintering the old wood. Grin tossed the stub of wood away in frustration.

                "Hey, where is Duke anyway?" asked Mallory. Suddenly, an animal came shooting through the black, landing heavily on Grin's shoulder. Tanya aimed her launcher to fire, but Grin held his hand up to stop her. The creature was actually an exhausted Zelda, and seconds later, Duke burst through the bushes, chasing her. Grin suddenly threw a large net over his head. Duke screamed in fury and tried to rip it off. The noise was deafening. Suddenly, Wildwing leapt at Duke, snarling. The others raised their launchers, thinking Wing was helping Duke out of the net, but it turned out that Wing was actually attacking! The Ducks stood in surprise.                             

                "What the?" Tanya started. Suddenly, a dark figure giggled behind them. Wraith reappeared from the shadows, holding in his hand a foggy white stone hanging from a silver chain.

                "Moonstone..." Zelda muttered in amazement.                              

                "Absolutely correct." Wraith smiled.

                "Separate those two!" Mallory snarled.

                "I'm on it!" Tanya said, whipping out her dart gun again. The two suddenly yelped, arched thier backs, and fell to the ground, stunned. Wraith stepped into the clearing, among the wary team.

                "This moonstone was cursed with the ancient spell this night, of the full moon." Wraith floated high up into the air. "For the duration of this night's full moon, those two must obey the command of the moonstone....even to their death." Suddenly, a green shadow lit up the forest branches, and Wraith was gone.

 

                The two were secured in.

                "So what now?" Zelda asked, panting slowly.                              

                "Now." started Tanya. "We get back to the Pond and see what we can do about that rock."

                "Moonstone actually." corrected Zelda. "And if I were you, I'd keep these two away from each other and the rest of the majorly populated areas until this thing blows over."

                "Why?" Mallory asked.

                "Because Wraith was correct. Moonstone was named so for it's translucent properties, and it's resemblance to moonlight. In ancient times, it was though to bring the wearer the powers of the moon, which could be used in both good and evil ways. Once a stone was used in evil, it was forever cursed that way. But the ancient ways of science are poorly documented. All we have is memory."

                "Perhaps your memory can tell us how to get the guys out of this!" Nosedive yelled, as the Migrator drove to the edge of the forest. Zelda thought hard.

                "If the stone was cursed on the night of the full moon on this date, then the spell should only last as long as the moon is up." She walked over to Wildwing's side, examining the tight leather straps that held him down to his cot. "The problem will be in keeping these two safe."

                "What do you mean?" Tanya asked. "They're tranquilized and secure." Suddenly, Wildwing's eyes blazed open. Zelda leapt back as he started to thrash about. One of the leather straps snapped feebly.

                "You were saying?" Zelda yelped. Duke soon awakened, and they both tore at the straps that held them fast. Tanya shot them each with a dart. They howled in pain and continued to free themselves as if they were unaffected.

                "What the.." started Nosedive in surprise.

                "It is always darkest before the dawn." snorted Grin. "The spell is so strong on them that they may feel no pain."

                "Get out of the car!" Zelda yelped, as the two started to rip at the last straps. The team frantically ran out, Mallory helping to shove the ramp up in Wildwing's face. Grin leapt up and locked the top hatch, while Tanya secured the door. Suddenly, huge dents began to appear in the sides of the Migrator, as the two threw themselves against the walls.

                "Get away from there!" Mallory yelled, backing off into the forest for cover. Zelda ran back and leapt up on top of a mossy fallen log. She leapt down to take cover, when something clamped around her hind leg as she hit the floor, shearing into her flesh. She screamed in pain, writhing as the force tightened it's grip, crushing her leg. Grin heard her and responded. He knew something was wrong. Suddenly, the metal on the door of the Migrator split and Wildwing came crashing through. Duke landed heavily beside him and stalked towards Tanya. She raised her dart gun, but Mallory pulled her back.

                "That's not going to work!" she yelled. "We have to keep them busy until the moon goes down." She pointed at the great white orb, which still hung in the black sky.

                "I'll take care of it! Get back into the Migrator!" Nosedive yelled, taking a smoke puck out. He activated it and tossed it towards the two, who immediately disappeared in the thick black fumes. Mallory covered her beak and charged through, climbing up and opening the top hatch again. Tanya and Nosedive were right behind her as she collapsed, choking, to the floor of the vehicle.

                "Everyone okay?" she asked.

                "Umm..." Tanya started in panic. "Everyone's not here!"

 

TO BE CONTINUED......

 

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!