Mighty Ducks Season 3: Trial by Fire

Esp. 1: New Mission, New Enemy

Princess Prywden, aka Pearl, knew she was having a dream; she looked around the foggy landscape and there was no one in sight.

"Princess…" a man's voice whispered and she jumped.

Just then, the ground gave way underneath her feet and she fell through and landed somewhere dark and eerie.

"Pearl?" Wildwing asked and she saw him come into view.

Suddenly, a figure came up from behind him and sucker-punched him in the back of the head and the mallard collapsed.

"WILDWING!" Pearl screamed, but the figure placed its hands around her mouth and looked into her eyes.

"You are beautiful, Princess Prywden, and soon, you'll be mine," the mysterious man said to her.

Pearl awoke from the dream and began to pant. The dream was over, but it terrified the princess of Avalon.

It had been about two weeks since the fight against Louran, Avalon's most hated enemy and since then, the Ducks and the two princesses were able to capture more of the spell pages.

She moved in with the Ducks at their headquarters and shared a bed with Wildwing, her boyfriend and perhaps, one day he will be her fiancé.

Subria had moved in, too and slept with Duke, leaving Phil alone in his big mansion outside of town.

Pearl stared up at the ceiling and began to think; who was in the dream? And why did he attack Wildwing?

'I have a terrible feeling that something bad is going to happen,' she thought and then went back to sleep.

()()()()()()()

Anaheim was lit up by the crescent moon and atop a high building; a figure looked down upon the mass jungle of glass and concrete.

"When I find that princess, I want to see if the rumors are true, and if they are, I will take her for myself," the figure said and stepped into the moon light. The man had jet black hair, tied in a pony tail, his skin was white as the moon, and he wore black and blue robes.

His name was Howel, his was the young brother of Louran, but he was equally feared as his brother.

"Sir, why did we come all this way just to search for a girl?" a hunched-back man asked.

"Not just any girl, Morholt, a princess who happens to have the Book of Avalon, and I will take it and spread fear across this world," Howel had explained to his henchmen.

Morholt, Teithi, and Ozanna listened to their master's plan and they grimly smiled.

"And maybe, I'll outsmart my brother and be the one everyone will come to fear," Howel replied and stared down at the city below him.

()()()()()()()

Labor Day Weekend had arrived and the people of Anaheim were enjoying the last few days of freedom before going back to school.

The Ducks and the two princesses decided to take the day off from practice and head to the beach.

"Nosedive, you should apply for North Orange Community College, it be good to have an associates' degree," Wildwing said to his brother.

"What should I study in? Besides school is for geeks," the young mallard replied.

"Hey, I respect geeks, they're the reason why Earth is full of gen...ge...smart people," Tanya stammered.

"You know Dive, you could be eligible for a hockey scholarship or maybe English; your stories could get published and you'd be famous," Pearl explained to him.

Nosedive lifted his head away from his journal and stared at Pearl.

"Is there still time to apply?" he asked.

"No, but you can apply for spring," she answered and rubbed her eyelids.

"Pearl, what's the matter? You look so tired," Wildwing said, in a concerned tone.

"I had that dream, again," she replied and everyone stared at her.

"I'm starting to get worried, maybe we should figure out what it means," Subria said to her mistress.

"I know what it means; there is a new enemy coming, and I think he wants me," Pearl explained.

Just then, her senses went crazy and she cupped her hands around her ears.

"Pearl!" Wildwing exclaimed and came to her side.

"There's a spell here and there's something else," the princess replied and looked around.

Suddenly, a wave of sand rushed passed them, toppling people and their beach items all over the place.

"What was that?!" Duke exclaimed. Then, the sand opened up and items and people began to sink in.

"Quick! We need to help them!" Canard shouted and they changed into their battle outfits. The Ducks pulled the humans out of the sinking sand, but the void began to grow bigger.

"Ducks, it's the 'Sand'!" Pearl said to her friends.

"We kind of figured it out ourselves," Nosedive replied, taking a six-year-old girl up to his back.

"Take them to the water; it will slow down the spell!" Pearl ordered and the Ducks obeyed. The humans rushed into the water and they saw that the 'Sand' wouldn't reach them.

"Guys, I have an idea!" Tanya exclaimed and turns to Pearl. "You can use the 'Rain' to soak the 'Sand'," the smart Duck said to her.

"Tanya, you're a genius!" Canard commented.

Pearl handed over the spell book to Tanya and she turned to the 'Rain' page.

Suddenly, before Tanya could say anything, an arrow pierced the sand underneath her, and more arrows began to rain down.

"What the heck is this?!" Duke cried out, using his saber to cut away the falling arrows.

"Hey duckies!" a voice called out and three, dwarf-like humans appeared. They were hideous with unkempt hair, yellow teeth, and muscle-man type arms.

"Want to play?" asked one of them, shooting arrows at them.

"Who are you?!" Pearl demanded and they stopped.

"I'm Morholt and these are my brothers, Ozanna and Teithi," said the eldest.

"Ha, your ugly names suit you!" Nosedive teased with a laugh.

"What did you say?!" Ozanna shouted and pulled out an arrow.

"Enough!" a voice demanded and the brothers obeyed.

Then, a human floated down in front of the Ducks and stared at them and the two princesses. He then stopped and met eye to eye with Pearl, "The rumors were true, your beauty exceeds beyond anyone in the Avalon court," he said.

"Who the heck are you?!" Wildwing demanded, placing himself in front of Pearl.

"I'm Howel, the brother of Louran, and your new nightmare," the new enemy said to them and pointed to Pearl, "I've been searching for you and I will take you for myself."

"Sorry, I have a boyfriend, and he said he will propose to me one day," Pearl replied, showing him her promise ring, and Howel gave a look.

"I see; then maybe I will take him out first!" Howel shouted and fired dark energy at the mallard. Wildwing dodged the attack, but Howel still kept on firing at him.

"Stop it!" Pearl yelled out and Howel did stop.

"I won't kill your beloved, but some day I will," he said to her and looks down at the 'Sand' spell. "However, I will be more than willing to help you capture this nuisance," he replied and summoned of what appeared to be a sphere of black-colored water.

Howel dropped it into the sinking sand and at that moment, the spell stopped moving and its body showed itself. It had the features of a woman, wearing Arabian clothes and its skin was color of sand.

"What did you do to her?!" Pearl demanded and placed her body over the spell.

"Not even a thank you? No matter, our business here is done. Farewell Ducks and farewell my lady," Howel said, bowing to her and he and his goons vanished.

"I would've given him a piece of my mind!" Mallory shouted, angrily.

Pearl checked on the 'Sand'; the spell was out cold and opened up the book. "'Sand', I command you to return to the spell book from where you came," she calmly ordered and the spell obeyed.

"Now we know who we are dealing with, we need to be more careful around this Howel; he may be Louran's brother, but he might be worse than him," Wildwing said to his comrades.

"But I wasn't told Louran had a brother," Pearl replied with a confused look.

Subria came forward, "Milady, I think it's time that I tell you, but we have to do it in private," she said to her mistress. The Ducks and the two princesses left the beach and headed back to the Pond.

()()()()()()()()

Once the group returned to the headquarters, Subria began to tell her secret.

"Before you were born, there was a conflict between your father and Howel. You see, Howel was obsessed with your mother, but only because she was beautiful and he wanted to have her to himself.

"However, Gwenever did not love Howel and refused his hand. That made him angry and he took control of his brother's forces, in order to win her affection. Then, the book came to her aid and she was able to banish him far into the future, but I never thought he would end up here."

Pearl stared at her friend and she gave a look of confusion and despair. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?" she asked.

"We wanted to protect you, if Howel did show up, again, he would take you for his own, and as you heard him, he is now infatuated with you," Subria explained.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, are you saying Howel is lovesick over Pearl? She doesn't even know him or the fact he existed," Wildwing asked and the African princess nodded.

"He does not care; it is my belief that when he kidnaps her, he will wait for her to fall for him," she replied.

"You mean, like Stockholm Syndrome? Man, this is messed up," Canard said.

"Well, after what happened today, I refuse to fall for his handsome looks, he is a tyrant and forever will be," Pearl replied and left the room.

"Pearl, wait a minute," Wildwing said, stopping her out in the arena.

"I'm glad that you find this Howel a complete stranger and a dimwit, but as Subria said, he will not stop at nothing in gaining your affection for him," Wildwing explained.

"Please, I would rather spend an eternity with you than with that creep," Pearl replied and the mallard's eyes widened.

"You would?" he asked and she hugged him.

"You are my knight in shining armor and we are a couple and I wish to stay that way, unless something slips between us," the princess answered.

"Well, that's a relief," he said and the two shared a kiss.

()()()()()()()

Outside of Anaheim, in a cottage at the edge of the forest, Howel mentally looked at an image of Pearl.

"I always get everything I want and very soon, I'll have you, my sweet princess," he said to himself and everything fades to black.