The GKR Factor, Part 2

Written by Zelda

 

                GeeKeR sat on the couch, randomly melting and emerging as objects such as yo-yos and small fighter jets.

                "So this is your idea of fun huh?" Gretchen asked him.

                "GeeKeR is concentrating on trying to control his powers." Becky said. "Now try, say... a radar screen." GeeKeR melted again, and re-emerged as a gumball machine. Becky sighed and sat down on the couch as he started eating his own gumballs. Zelda emerged from a far door.

                "Hey Zel! You got news?" Wildwing asked her. Zelda flopped down next to the couch.

                "Noah's holding steady. That mixture of botanicals I gave him might be doing the trick."

                "That's good right?" GeeKeR asked hopefully.

                "Well yeah, but Noah can't go on like this... there has to be a cure."

                "There is." Becky said with a growl. "And Molach knows it."

                "The trick is gonna be to get Molach to spill." Dive nodded.

 

                "So you see it's all incredibly simple. All they need is a very diluted amount of bulerium solution to restore their friend to perfect health. However, they'll never figure it out." Molach chuckled to himself. Next to him, Dr. Don Maston floated proudly. Maston was a scientist that had suffered from a problem-plagued past. His early experiments were literally detrimental to him. He was in perfect health of course, just kept suspended by a delicate anti-gravity device on his back. He had a much more colorful temper than Molach, and took great pride in the fact that Molach had hired him himself. He now floated, staring at the queer figure in front of him.

                "Well I must say, Mister Molach, that you have quite an impressive operation here." the creature said. He leaned comfortably back in the office chair, it creaking slightly under the huge lizard's weight. The three sat/floated in an empty office building that was currently up for rent. For now however, it was serving home to a slew of pinkers.

                "Now I'll have to turn to you, Dragaunus, for a bit of strategic advice. You've done a great many battles with these Ducks."

                "I have." Dragaunus said proudly. "And I'll tell you, it isn't easy to trick them. Look at me! Been stuck on this dribbly little planet for over a year and I've only managed to take one of them out."

                "I can sympathize, living in this primitive dump of a planet can't be a paradise. But the GeeKeR has been just as elusive as your Ducks. No matter how hard I try I just can't catch him...." he mused.

                "Listen Molach, I have a proposition for you." Dragaunus started. The man leaned forwards, interested. "I've got the experience in the Ducks, you've got some good solid manpower..."

 

                Becky and Zelda strolled calmly through the park.

                "Jeez, you guys actually have TREES here." Becky marveled. "In Neo-Denaire it's so crowded it's rare to find a weed in the cracks in the sidewalk." Zelda shook her head sadly.

                "Cities are wonderful yes, but they're so, well, unnerving to me. I've lived out in the woods all my life." Becky nodded. She suddenly started.

                "What's wrong?" Zelda asked.

                "I thought I heard something."

                "MacBeth, you need to relax girl. Things right now could be plenty worse." Suddenly a huge green shadow loomed up over the two. Siege and Chameleon stepped out, grinning. Zelda slapped her forehead. Becky spun and tried to run for it, but she was suddenly mowed over by a pinker on an anti-grav cart! Zelda helped her up as more pinkers arrived.

                "Pinkers... and Saurians?" Zelda started. She looked to her left to see what she hoped upon hope that she wouldn't: Draguanus and Molach stood together. "Run for it Becks!" Zelda cried, and dove at the two villains. In mid-leap, she was cut down by a laser. Zelda rolled to a stop on the grass and stumbled up. Siege ran for Zelda, but suddenly a puff of smoke went up in front of him, and he fell flat on his face, snoring. Zelda stared in alarm, as Becky came to her side, the launcher in her mechanical hand still smoking.

                "One gas canister." she grinned. Zelda got up as the pinkers were moving in. She and Becky backed against each other as they surrounded them. There was no way out. Then suddenly there was a clamor in one part of the ring. An anti-grav cart came wheeling through the air, dangerously low. MacBeth and Zelda ducked as it whizzed overhead, rammed into the remaining henchmen, and slammed into the ground. Grin stormed up through some of the remaining Pinkers, dusting off his hands. Siege snorted loudly as he started to wake up. The rest of the Ducks were here! Dragaunus gasped, and pressed a button on his teleporter. Green shadows lit up all around the place, but instead of Saurians retreating, it turned out that about ten hunter drones teleported in! They surrounded the Ducks and immediately the fighting began. Tanya whipped out her launcher and looked in several directions at once, finding herself cornered by two drones. The one in front of her cocked its laser and prepared to fire, but Tanya ducked. As the drone fired, she shot a puck at the blast, hitting it and redirecting it, so that it hit the other drone. Another puck finished off the drone in front of her. She stood up and dusted off her hands.

                "I am too good." she grinned devilishly. Suddenly, a solid blow to the back sent her sprawling forwards and laying there. Siege withdrew his fist and grinned back. As Tanya tried to drag herself up, Siege turned her over and planted his huge foot in her gut, pressing mercilessly downward.

 

                GeeKeR blinked uncomprehendingly at the fight, hidden safely behind a tree. He tried to follow Becky, the Ducks, these strange new fighters they called Saurians. All of them sorta looked like Noah... GeeKeR decided he'd ask him about them. He was snapped back to attention as a blast suddenly tore up the earth near him, and Don Maston himself came floating up through the smoke! Terrified, GeeKeR fell and melted into a helpless blob, which wasn't unusual for him when he panicked, only he always had Becky and Noah to help him! Babbling in a crazy tone, he watched as Maston took out a glass container from his lab coat, and gathered GeeKeR up in it. With a click, the container was sealed.

 

                Wildwing pulled back and continued to fire. The drone on front of him exploded, sending a Pinker fleeing from the debris. He wheeled around and punched another Pinker right in the glasses. They were thinning out, he could see it. Slowly, he started to regroup with his teammates.

                "Where's Tanya?" he asked. Becky grabbed him by the arm.

                "Wildwing!" she said, panic stricken. "I can't find GeeKeR!"

                "Oh I'm sorry, do these belong to you?" Dragaunus's voice hissed loudly and obviously over the crowd. The fighting was over by now. The team parted and looked up, to see Dragaunus, Molach, and Maston standing together, flanked by the henchmen. Dragaunus held up a battered and bruised Tanya, who was curled up in midair, holding her gut and shivering in pain. The team made an instinctive move forwards.

                "Oh no you don't." Maston grinned. He raised GeeKeR's container and shook it like a drink, GeeKeR squealing as he was rattled around inside. There was nothing the Ducks or Becky could do, as their enemies all disappeared in a green light, and vanished.

 

                Becky sat, running her fingers gently over Noah's sleeping hide.

                "What can Molach do to GeeKeR here though?" Zelda asked.

                "Thank goodness we aren't in Neo-Denaire..." Becky sighed. "He doesn't have the technology to implant the last programming into GeeKeR's system and make him obey Molach's command."

                "But why capture him then? It dosen't seem like it's worth it?" Mallory reasoned. Zelda tapped musingly at the Medicom console.

                "How's Noah doing?" Wildwing asked.

                "Considerably better." Zelda said. At that moment, Noah snorted and opened his eyes. Becky kneeled down by him as he groaned weakly.

                "Easy Noah, you're okay." He looked relived to see Becky.

                "What.... what happened...?" he asked. He might have heard some of the conversation.

                "GeeKeR's been captured, Tanya too. Molach has joined up with the Ducks' enemy now." Noah let out a loud sigh, and propped himself up with his forearms. Zelda was up with him.

                "Relax Noah..." she said, but Noah shook his head.

                "No.... we have to get them back now." he insisted, slipping off of the bed. The Ducks stood back as the Tyrannosaur found his footing and let go of the bed, wobbling weakly. He suddenly slipped, Becky racing forward to catch him. Mallory helped her hold Noah up.

                "Noah, you should rest up." she told him sternly. Noah struggled up to his feet again with a pained look in his eyes.

                "We have to go." he said, teeth gritted. The Ducks turned.

                "He's right." Wildwing confessed. "We've had situations like this before. Things can get ugly."

                "You can find the Raptor, right?" Becky asked.

                "We can try. Chances are Draggy wants us to find him." Becky nodded. Supporting Noah on one side while Zelda walked on the other, she guided the dinosaur out, behind the Ducks.

 

                The Aerowing shot through the air.

                "This is like walking right into a trap!" Mallory said, annoyed.

                "But we don't have much choice." Becky sighed, feeling equally frustrated. Wildwing kept silent, scanning the city.

 

                GeeKeR stared, eyes wide and pressed against the glass. His blob form twisted like a lava lamp as he moved. His container was seated on some kind of computer console. Across the room from him, Tanya was shackled to the wall. Don Maston floated close by GeeKeR, while Dragaunus and Molach stood near Tanya, talking. But the glass was making it hard to hear them. GeeKeR swirled around in his container again, trying hard to listen.

 

                Tanya could hear every word. In fact, the two were speaking directly to her.

                "So you see we're not even going to start with you now." Molach said.

                "Much as it bothers me to keep you alive," Dragaunus grinned sarcastically. "We've got a plan."

                "You see the affliction that Noah has was cleverly started up by me. Try as you might, his condition can only be cured by one thing...." Molach started.

                "And what's that?" Tanya coughed, the pain in her gut surging up into her lungs as she spoke.

                "Hah, you really think we're gonna tell you?" Siege suddenly loomed in her face.

                "Siege is right. We'll wait until the rest of your flock gets here to tell you." Dragaunus grinned.

                "Of course, by then it will be too late, if your formula works Maston." Molach said, glancing at the elephant over his shoulder.

                "What? Are you questioning my plan? Are you doubting my genius?!?!." The mastadon became infuriated. "All we have to do is wait." Tanya thought slowly. What plan? She grimaced. She was going to have to work the details out of one of these two.

 

                Grin put a little extra oomph into opening the bay doors. The spined doors were pried open just enough to allow everyone through, before Grin fell back, breathing heavily and rubbing his hands.

                "Wow." Becky said.

                "Okay, you two might as well be briefed." Mallory said, turning to MacBeth and Noah. "This is no cakewalk. The Raptor is Draggy's command center. It's built like a maze, and armed to the teeth with automatic cannons on the ceilings, and hunter drones."

                "Wonderful, sounds just like Molach's place." Becky sighed, loading a last gas canister into her launcher.

                "We'll have to keep ourselves in groups. We'll keep in touch." Wildwing added. "So Zelda, you go with  Noah and Becky. Dive and Grin, come with me. Duke, you go with Mallory." Duke gave a thumbs up.

                "Sounds solid to me." he said.

                "Anything suspicious, let us know about it." Wildwing warned. They stepped into the Raptor and quickly split up.

 

                Noah breathed deeply. The air was rancid in here. He closed his eyes, following Zelda's careful lead. She and Becky peeked slowly around a corner.

                "Jeez, this place is a maze." Becky said.

                "Yup. It's my guess that when we find Tanya and GeeKeR, we'll be walking right into the lion's den." Zelda shook her head. "You holding up back there Noah?" The green dinosaur drew his head around the corner slowly.

                "I'll feel better once this whole ordeal is over with." he muttered. The three were interrupted when the com Zelda was carrying went off.

                "Heads up Zel, Duke and I saw Siege heading off in your direction." Mallory warned her. Zelda crept around the corner and stood against the wall.

                "Thanks for the warning Mal, turns out we may need it." she whispered back.

                "He's coming?" Mallory asked her.

                "Shhh......" Zelda hushed her, and closed the connection.

 

                Nosedive waved his brother over quickly. Wildwing sneaked up behind him and Grin. They all peered around a corner to see The Chameleon, standing down the corridor with his back to the three. He scanned his hallway, holding a laser gun ready. He then leaned down, and said something into his com. Wildwing couldn't hear from his position, so he activated the Mask's amplification abilities.

                "---othing here, so what should I do?" he asked.

                "Are you sure there's nothing out there?" It was Dragaunus at the other end. "If you screw up...."

                "Okay, okay boss, I'll be right there." Chameleon said quickly, and walked out of sight. The three looked at each other quickly. This was their chance.

 

                Mallory and Duke tracked Wildwing carefully.

                "So how do you think we can rendezvous with them that quickly?" Mallory said.

                "Well, looks like they're onto something when they're following Chameleon.... we can probably sneak along with them through the vents." he rubbed his beak.

                "The vents?" Mallory repeated. Duke grinned devilishly and nodded. He pointed down to a square metal grating on the wall, meeting the floor. With a few swats of his sabre, he had carved it out and stood back, waving his hand for Mallory to enter.

                "Ladies first." he beckoned.

                "Oh thanks a lot." Mallory rolled her eyes, and crawled in. Duke looked around before he too crawled in, using his feet to clumsily pull the grating back in place behind him. The vent was tight, but soon became more roomy as they crawled into a larger branch of the duct. The air was stale and musty.

                "Yuck." Mallory muttered, her voice echoing off of the tunnel.

                "Shhhh...." Duke whispered harshly. Mallory squinted her eyes and kept crawling, listening for any outside noises. Finally, she approached a grating.

                "Dead end!" she whispered. Suddenly, she gasped as the grating in front of her was torn away. Suddenly, something took her hand and started to pull her forward. She looked up in terror, but saw that it was only Grin! He lifted her out of the vent and onto the floor.

                "Thanks Grin, but jeez, tell me when you decide to do that again!" she muttered. "What's up with Zelda?"

                "What do you mean?" Wildwing asked, suddenly concerned with Mallory's tone.

                "Siege was heading her way last time I contacted her." Mallory said. Wildwing immediately checked his AutoTracker.

                "She hasn't moved from her last position." he said, curious. "Zelda, you okay back there?" There was a static over the com lines.

                "Houston, we've got a problem." was the quiet response on the end. Wildwing paused for a moment.

                "What kind of a problem?"

 

                Noah closed his eyes sadly and sighed.

                "You two were right.... I never should have come." he sighed.

                "Easy Noah, we'll get ya out of here. I'll get that cure from Maston even if I have to tear apart his anti-grav device myself." Becky promised him. The tyrannosaur shifted his weight a bit, rolling further onto his side, and mumbling lowly in pain. Zelda shook her head. He wouldn't be able to get up again, not like this. Time was running out.

                "Here." she said, turning to Becky. "Take the com and go. You can use it to find the others." Becky hesitated.

                "Are you sure? What if one of the henchmen comes?"

                "The others are almost to the main cockpit. I can hold them off from here." Zelda lied. Becky wasn't fooled.

                "GeeKeR needs your help." Noah told her. "Go on." Becky sighed and took the com.

                "I'll be right back." she told them, and ran off down the hall. Noah sighed again as she disappeared.

                "I hope they get out of this alright...." he started.

                "Now what are you getting at Noah?" Zelda asked him sternly. "You'll get through this."

                "Huhhhnnnnn." he sighed slowly, taking time in drawing in his breath again. "I dunno Zel.... I feel like there's something weird going on here... really weird. It's just a bad feeling, you know?"

                "I know." Zelda shook her head and rubbed Noah's rough eyebrow. "I know....."

 

                The main cockpit. Becky stared at the high entranceway. She could tell the room would be broad and wide, not much cover. She brushed back her hair as the other Ducks readied themselves.

                "So you've got it, just flank out and keep moving." Wildwing whispered to them. "We're going for finesse here, not just force."

                "Ah, my specialty." Duke rubbed his hands together.

                "But remember, we have to keep our element of---"

                "SUPRISE!!!!!!" A shrill cry rang through the halls. Suddenly, the Ducks were rained upon by a hail of laser fire, via The Chameleon.

                "So much for our element of surprise!" Mallory yelled, as the Ducks charged into the room. They spread out, shooting every which way. Becky looked around frantically, where was GeeKeR? She saw Maston running not too far off, with something in his hands. Becky was gone, running across the room. She ran in front of Maston, pulling her laser.

                "Drop him." she snarled. Trembling, Maston obliged and dropped GeeKeR, his vial crackling and breaking on the floor. GeeKeR quickly sprang up and shook himself. "GeeKeR!" Becky yelled happily as Maston growled and ran off. "GeeKeR, take this com and use it to find Zelda and Noah, go back to them!"

                "But Becky..." he started in a whiny voice.

                "Go!" she said sternly, and ran with him to the door. She watched him go down the hall, and as he rounded the corner, she was suddenly struck hard with something in the shoulder.

 

                Tanya winced and tried to dodge the laser blasts and pucks that ricocheted off of the wall, some too close to her for comfort.

                "A little help over here please?" she yelled. Nosedive turned around and ran up to her.

                "Tanya, there you are girl!" he swatted his hair back in relief. "Come on, we're splittin' this crazy joint!" He slowly started to work at the control panel near her, unlocking her shackles one by one. Finally, Tanya was free, rubbing her wrists slowly.

                "Thanks Dive, gimme a launcher will ya?" she asked. "I owe those lizards a little payback!" They both ran back out with the others, who seemed to be gaining the upper hand with the Saurians, and even with Molach's pinkers. Wildwing picked a Pinker off of the floor and hurled it, the man's body landing at the feet of his boss, Molach. Wildwing strode up to the defenseless figure, as Draguanus was backed up near him.

                "Tell us what you did to Noah, you monster!" Becky demanded. Molach smiled slightly.

                "A bulerium solution should do the trick quite nicely. No use in curing a dead corpse though." he told her. Becky seethed and was about to spring at him, when Molach suddenly turned translucent! He gasped and looked down at himself, as he quickly faded away into nothingness! The team looked around in confusion to see that Maston and all the pinkers were gone too!

                "What the devil?" Dragaunus breathed.

                "Huh, looks like you're friends bailed out on ya!" Nosedive laughed.

                "And if you were smart, I'd suggest you do the same." Wildwing said, shoving a launcher in the red lizard's face. Suddenly, he turned a vivid green, and Wildwing shot at him. The puck went through the lizard's translucent form, and hit the wall as Draguanus and his henchmen teleported away. Wildwing threw his launcher to the floor in frustration.

                "Darn it." Duke said, shouldering his sabre. "We'll get the rat next time."

                "Yeah, we've got bigger business to attend to." Wildwing reminded. "Come on!" The whole team ran out of the cockpit room.

 

                Becky knew something was very wrong as she turned the corner and saw Noah lying there. Zelda and GeeKeR were standing by him, talking to him. The team ran up quickly.

                "What happened?" Zelda asked.

                "Well we don't know." Wildwing said. "Molach was putting up a good fight, when he and all his men just disappeared."

                "Disappeared?" Noah asked weakly, slowly raising his head.

                "Yup, just vanished. Can they teleport now too?" Wildwing asked.

                "They can't." Zelda hung her head for some reason. She turned slowly back to Noah and petted him gently, smiling down. "Looks like you were right Noah." The dinosaur responded with a wheezing sigh.

                "Hey man, we've got the cure: a bulerium solution." Nosedive told him to cheer him up. "Tanya'll have it for you in no time when we get back to the Pond."

                "It's too late for that." Zelda told him slowly. She pointed to Noah, and the team watched as he slowly faded into translucency as well.

                "What the heck?" Mallory started. Zelda just rumbled lowly. She bent down and nuzzled her head against his gently.

                "I don't believe this....." Becky began.

                "What? What is it?" Wildwing asked.

                "Something that we'll all have to face someday." Zelda told him. Noah was fading faster. Suddenly, Becky looked down to see she was fading too! GeeKeR looked up in alarm and confusion.

                "Becky... what's going on?" he asked. She leaned down and whispered it into his ear, and he suddenly slumped down with realization. She looked up and shook her head. All three of them were just vanishing into thin air.

                "I'm sorry guys." Zelda told them.

                "There's nothing you could have done. We thank you for all you've done for us..." Becky sniffed to her.

                "It made no difference in the end." Zelda shook her head. GeeKeR suddenly ran up and tried to hug her. Being as thin as the air, he found it hard but somehow managed it. Zelda squinted her eyes shut as he parted from her. The three were all looking down at the floor as they disappeared completely. They were just gone. The Ducks were left alone. Zelda suddenly threw up her head and howled in sorrow. Grin felt the cry tear through him mentally with anguish. This was a true cry of death. Zelda came down and pounded the metal floor hard with her fist in anger. She stayed crumpled over like that for a few seconds, shivering a bit. She leaned up with tears in her eyes.

                "They're..... dead...?" Nosedive breathed.      

                "Not dead." Zelda slowly regained herself. "Just gone. They're all gone. The future world of Neo-Denaire, the villains, everyone. Project GeeKeR was neither failed nor successful. Their mission was and will never be completed." she sighed harshly, trying not to cry any more. "They've been cancelled." The team understood immediately somehow. Wildwing leaned down and patted her on the shoulder.

                "Let's go home." he told her. As the team slowly walked away, Zelda hung her head and followed.

 

The *untrue* 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!