Ducky flinched momentarily from Petrie's sudden outburst in the distance. In normal circumstances, everyone, especially her would not hesitate to respond to a friend's call of distress. But as of now, what reason would she even have? As far as Ducky is concerned, their friendship was as good as finished, and they have all probably diverged to live their own separate lives at this point.
But she couldn't dawdle at that fact any longer as she was steadily reminded of the monstrosity that stands before her. She rigidly stood there, shaking with intense trepidation at the bellydragger that was staring daggers at her with its blood red eyes. Ducky wanted to desperately fly away from the predator, but in her current form and mental state, she simply couldn't. And besides, she knew she didn't know how to fly. And furthermore, the added weight to her delicate wing membranes caused by the dip in the river earlier made any sort of mobility impossible. To make things worse, this particular one had an eerie similarity to the bellydragger that had relentlessly tormented her and her former friends during their quest to find the Night Flower in the Land of Mists. But worst of all, she remembered falling in midair, right into Dil's gaping mouth of sharp teeth. It was a miracle that she even awoken from her unconscious state and saved herself in time. While Ducky wanted nothing more than to suppress these memories, there was also a glimmer of happiness within them. It made her heart swell up with joy to hear Spike talk for the first time. And not just any word, it was her own name. Ducky! That was the distressed call that saved her from an untimely demise. And for that, she'd always be grateful at her little Spiketail brother.
That is why in this exact moment, Ducky made it her goal to reconcile with Spike, no matter the costs. She regretted walking away and exploding at him with rage just mere moments ago. The poor Spiketail didn't deserve that, oh no, no, no, she thought.
Unfortunately, she realized her goal would never come to fruition.
...Or would it?
Something seemed strangely off about this bellydragger. It seemed to gaze intently upon her with curiosity and interest, rather than any malice or attempt to eat her whole. Perhaps it meant no harm? No, that couldn't be it! There must be something more to it. But then again, with everything that has transpired in the past day, anything is possible at this point.
*Whistling*
...
Ducky literally felt her heart stop at this point. Not only was this bellydragger whistling, of all things it could do to her, it was whistling to the melody of "Good Times, Good Friends." A tsunami wave of nostalgia struck her at this moment. There's no way this could be one of her transformed friends, nope, nope, nope! But then, the obvious connection hit her like a ton of treesweets. Those tiny purple irises. The exact same color that her brother Spike possessed. Ducky was still shaking intensely at this point, but rather than pure fear, there's now a big surge of excitement to accompany it.
"...Sp-Sp-Spike? Is that...you?"
And at last, the long anticipated question was asked. He did it. Spike's gamble actually paid off. Ducky most likely recognized who he actually was. But before anything else could happen between both of them, the sounds of wings flapping could be heard closing in on them. Mama Flyer has spotted the presence of a bellydragger in the Great Valley, and she has decided to swoop down to investigate this potential intruder. While Ducky has a strong feeling that this exact predator standing in front of her truly is Spike, she was worried that Petrie's mother may not see eye to eye. So Ducky stood there, waiting anxiously for her arrival so that she could explain everything to her.