The Flock: Max's Story

grumpygrinch wrote:

yay darkus is back (i think)

How naive... Don't be so sure about that.

DarkusPhoenix wrote:

grumpygrinch wrote:

yay darkus is back (i think)

How naive... Don't be so sure about that.

could it be D_M because max wanted to find her but D_M wasn't there but it's just a thought.

Okay. Lemme just say this plain out grumpgrinch....STOP FREAKING MAKING POSTS!!!!IT'S DRIVING ME INSANE!!!!!!IF YOU WANT TO SAY SOMTHING ABOUT THE STORY JUST PM IT TO ME!!!!!IT'S LIKE SPAM BUT 10X WORSE T______T

The longer I stared the figure, the more I realized that the figure was actually two. The wings and claws belonged to person behind the forefront character. The wings got larger. “But, Maybe a God can…” Wasn’t said by the forefront character. It was said by the one in the background. The figure in the back walked forward, seemed like time slowed, the forefront figure turned slowly as a blade lifted above his head and slashed downward. The figure in the back pushed the figure in the front off the edge of the building. The figure in the forefront was a guard, morphed into a super strong being. So, who killed this thing? I looked back up to the top of the building. The figure was gone. I looked back down to the one on the ground. It was getting to it’s feet. He was walking my way. “Attack. Keep them alive.” The Director directed. The beast looked and nodded at the Director and stared at me with it’s soulless black eyes. He got closer and closer. The guards around us had their guns trained on us. If we moved, we would get pumped with Paralyzer Darts again. If we stood still, we would be pummeled to unconsciousness by this demon human. The figure got closer. What do we do? Move I told myself. MOVE! I screamed it in my head. Fear kept my feet planted. The beast stood over me, raised it’s claws. I looked up at them as they began to fall. I closed my eyes and waited for it to end. I heard the claws hit something. I didn’t feel anything, so it wasn’t me. I looked up again, the second figure was standing on the demon’s shoulder, one hand grasped a claw, holding them back. The other hand had a long sword, which he promptly stabbed down through the shoulder diagonally to the heart. The beasts eyes rolled back and began to fall forward onto me. The figure jumped down in front of me and stabbed the demon through the chest, lifted him up with the sword alone, and threw him towards the Director, making his creation land, dead at his feet. The figure stepped forward a few feet., and looked at the Director. “See what happens when you mess with Nature? You get THAT. No man or beast can control Nature but, a God can.” the figure spoke in a powerful tone. The figure spoke that line before, but who was this figure? “As I told you. Let a human capture them for good. I disliked those experiments you did to take my place, Director. Let me take them down.” The figure said the Director. “Heh. Just as stubborn as ever. That demon wasn’t going to last the hour at the rate his cells were dividing. Go ahead. Get them, unharmed.” The Director commanded the guards to back off. The figure nodded and turned around to look at me. He was going to kill us. He was dressed in typical Guard clothing, the armor, the helmet, sword and gun hanging at his waist. Was this an even stronger experiment? How powerful had he gotten since I left? “Let’s make this easy, little ones. I won’t hurt you if you just surrender now. Face it. The Director has created a God in human bonds. Nothing can control or beat a God.” I looked at him. I had no choice. “We surrender.” I muttered. Within a second I felt a blow on the back of my neck and I went out like a light. I just saw a flash of black.

I woke up in that cage again, an undamaged one. I was exhausted yet again. If only I can get those pills again, I would be as good as new. The other boys were awake when I awoke. We could hear the guards chatting outside again. Sounded like 4 of them. They upped the security on us. “We have these prisoners covered. You go and get some rest.” One of the guards said. “Alright, two guards should be enough. Don’t run this time if a siren goes off.” One of the guards said. “Understood.” One guard said. I could see two sets of boots from underneath the door. “Rsteg? Can you blast through the bars again?” I asked Rsteg. “No, they shut my weapons systems down, they must know that I caused us to escape last time.” Rsteg sighed in tiredness. “Drat!” I muttered, thinking. I heard the two guards talking again. “Hey buddy, I think you have a mustards stain from dinner tonight on your shoulder. Let me get it before the Director sees you with am essy uniform and uses you as an experiment.” One Guard said to the other. “Hey thanks, pal. I wouldn’t want to be tested on again.” then next thing I heard was a crumpling of a body. I heard footsteps and the door open. I saw a guard enter and walk up to us again. He threw pills into the cage, this time two a piece. “Eat one, store one. Hurry.” He spoke softly. We did as he said. They were the same pills. We gained strength and felt a lot better. “Why do you keep helping us?” I asked the guard. “I have been your position before, I hated it. I want to help who I can. “ he spoke in a low voice as before. “Well, we can’t get out of this cage. We used Rsteg’s weapons last time, but they shut them off.” I explained to him. “Fine then. We need to move fast.” He mumbled as he unlocked our cage and turned away and walked to the door and down the hallway. “Wait!” I called as we ran after him. “Here, quiet.” He muttered. As he opened a window at the end of the hallway. “We can’t fly, the laser system will fry us.” Jake said. “We are blow the laser system height right now. Just fly below that level for now., jump out this window and hover to the ground. The guards have gone to bed, at least most of them. Hurry. “ he pushed us to the window. I dove out first and landed softly. Everyone else followed. The guard jumped out, did a flip and landed on one knee. Well this guy didn’t have wings, that much was for sure. “Follow me. Closely.” he said to us and began to run towards the front gate of the wall. We were about 45 feet from the wall, when a large beast-like figure stepped out from the shadows between us and the gate. “You’re still alive? I thought that guy killed you.” the Guard said. “Well, he doesn’t know that I can force myself into a hibernative state in order to beef up the security around my organs.” The beast said. He looked like a minotaur-devil. Massive in size, easily four times as big as the guard, and he was twice the size of me. The guard grasped his gun and aimed it at the minoaur thing. “Don’t you get it? I am god, nothing can beat a God.” the minotaur muttered. “One thing can beat a God.” the guard said as he clipped his gun to his belt and drew his sword. A typical 4 foot long double sided bade. This guy was nothing special. I doubt he could beat this thing. The guard ran forward towards the minotaur. The minotaur raised his arms, claws at the ready to spring. The guard continued to run. The minotaur dropped his arms, they hit the ground. The Guard was gone. He appeared directly under the bend over minotaur with his claws embedded in the ground. The next instant a sword broke through the top of the minotaur’s head sending a splatter of blood onto the guard., over the front of the helmet and into the eye holes.. It looked like about 4 to 5 gallons of blood of this massive beast poured out of the beast onto the guard. The minotaur was help up only by the guard and his sword. The guards energy began to fade, the massive minotaur fell on top of the guard, the sword still sticking through the head. “No!” I yelled and ran over to the minotaur, trying to free the guard. He was too heavy, even with all 5 of us lifting. We could only see the hand of the guard sticking out from one side of the minotaur. I felt his hand, it was cold. “We have to follow his lead and get out.” We all got up and ran towards the door. I grabbed the bars of the gate and pulled at them. They were locked as always. I shook the bars. A siren went off. The Director ran out of the front door to the School. “Guards. Kill them. I am tired of them trying to escape. They will only be problems. Get rid of them. Do whatever you must to kill them. I want them DEAD!”

Max wrote:

Okay. Lemme just say this plain out grumpgrinch....STOP FREAKING MAKING POSTS!!!!IT'S DRIVING ME INSANE!!!!!!IF YOU WANT TO SAY SOMTHING ABOUT THE STORY JUST PM IT TO ME!!!!!IT'S LIKE SPAM BUT 10X WORSE T______T

srry max i post because my computer doesn't tell me when new posts come on so this way it's easier to tell if it's new or not i'm srry for bothering you.

“I am a god!” The Director yelled out. “I have done the impossible. Nothing can stop my reign over the DNA altering technology. I am going to master Nature by recreating the world as we know it. Nothing can kill a God such as I!!!” I stared in disbelief. I can’t believe him. He was ready for us. Even our escapes. The one guy in the Directors ranks that wants to help us dies by a dead “god beast” Even the dead creations he makes are powerful enough to kill. I looked at the dead minotaur who crushed the guard. I felt hopeless. Even the winner becomes the loser. “WAIT!” I heard a voice say. The Director had his arm in the air. “I want to take care of HER myself!” The Director yelled out. He took out a syringe from his jacket pocket and jabbed it into his chest. WHAT WAS HE DOING?!?! He stabbed his own heart. He was going to kill himself. The Director just stared at me as he grew larger, grew claws, wings, and teeth. His skin became hard as stone. He easily was twice my height and three times my weight. My eyes got wider as he grew larger and more menacing. “I am the most powerful being. I will rule all. Everyone will bow to me as a GOD! Nothing can beat me!” He roared as he walked my way. He held his arm out. His palm began to glow red. Was he really? COULD he really? I just stared not able to move. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was over for me. Why fight it. If I moved a muscle the guards would shoot us all. If I stayed still, he would shoot me. Either way, I am done for. I just stood there and waited. “HAHAHAHAHA No man nor beast can kill a God! Behold my POWER!!” He roared as he was ready to shoot the blast at nearly point blank. “Maybe Man nor Beast can kill a God,” I heard a voice speak. It sounded like the guard who was under the minotaur had said it. I looked over to the minotaur to see it motionless. I was hearing things. Just then the minotaur burst aside. A Figure launched into the air, looking into the sky. The figure stopped, it’s head still pointing into the air. The head slowly lowered as he said “but an even stronger God CAN!” The figure’s wings were incredible. They looked like the form of the Dragon wings, with red as the skin in between the supports. The figure still had the guards uniform on, just holes in the back for the wings. He still wore the helmet. So, this guy was one of the Directors experiments after all. The blood was still dripping off of his helmet and body. He hovered in mid-air silently. The blast was still charging in the Directors hand. He knew that the guard wouldn’t be fast enough to stop the blast before it hit me. The Director launched it. I closed my eyes. I hear a hit but I didn’t feel it. I opened them. I saw a glow with a silhouette standing in front of me. The blast just dissipated. The guard stood in front of he with one hand held in the air. Did his hand really stop the attack? Who was this guy? WHAT was this guy? He is stronger than anyone I had ever seen. The Director rushed and hit the Guard with a dagger. The Director jumped back. I noticed the dagger had a green substance on it. It was poison! The guard was poisoned now. He was in trouble. The Director smirked at the guard. The guard didn’t make a sound. He just stood there. I blinked, an he was gone. Like he wasn’t even there. I blinked again and I saw The Director have a sword through his chest. The sword twisted, causing the Director to scream in pain. The sword was then pulled out, bringing with it a waterfall of blood, and more painful wails. I stared in amazement. The Director crumpled over for a second. Then he got back up and looked almost unharmed. WHAT WAS THIS GUY?!?! He ran straight for me. The guard couldn’t keep up. I blinked and the guard was gone. I turned to run. The boys followed shortly behind me. They were frozen in fear this whole time along with me. I could feel the breath of the Director on my neck. I saw the gate in my sights, I blinked and I didn’t feel the ground. I was in the air. I could hear the boys near me. They were also in the air. I could se the ground getting further from me. I could only see a small window. The rest was black. I felt encased. I realized then that wings surrounded me. Who was it? I looked up to see a head looking in the direction we were going. It was the guard. This guy continued to amaze me. A normal guard with powers I have never seen, more powerful than I have ever seen any human. He never looked at me. He just flew into the air, spinning and over the wall. Within 30 seconds we were out of distance of tracking of the school.The guard stopped spinning after we flew over the wall. The speed at which we flew was immense. Easily three times as fast as I had EVER flow before. Who was this guy? Where were the boys? I readjusted myself. I elbowed something. “Ow.” I heard. It was Jake. He was encased too with me? I elbowed the other side. I hit Rsteg. “Is everyone alright? “ I called out. “Yeah, I think so… Question is, WHERE ARE WE!?!” Blaze asked. “I have no idea. Wherever we are, it is away from the School. We are safe now.” I spoke. We just sat and waited. I could see we were getting closer to the ground. I recognized the place. The Temple. We were THAT far away already? We were flying FASTER than I had expected. We flew about 3 feet from the ground when I felt myself fall. I landed on my feet, no harm done. The boys fell with a little more difficulty. Jake was on his knees. Blaze and Haos were on their butts. Rsteg landed on his back. I looked up to the figure who was hovering in front of us. The boys got up and joined in my stare. The guard just stared back at us for a few long moments. He closed his wings and landed on his feet. We just looked at him. He walked up to us. He was taller than me by a good foot and a half. I never noticed how tall he was. He looked down at the boys and I. The blood still dripped off of his helmet and . That Minotaur blood was especially thick. It was then I heard a noise through the woods behind us. The minotaur came out of the woods and looked at us. He saw me and charged. The Guard stepped forward, between me and the minotaur. He held his hand out and grasped he minotaur’s forehead, making him stop in his tracks. The minotaur froze and seemed to fall asleep in an instant. The guards hand glowed white. The guard pulled his hand back. It looked as if his hand was pulling a dark string from the minotaur’s skull. The minotaur fell to the ground. It began to transform. It shrunk into a human form. As if it was never experimented on. The guard bent down picked up the human. He turned around and walked the young girl, it seemed, over to a overturned marble pedestal and laid her out on it. He held his hand out over the girls chest. His hand glowed white, then to blue. “She’ll be fine.” he muttered. “The minotaur’s has been removed from her body. She’ll regain consciousness by morning.” I stared at him as he walked into the woods. He returned a few moments later with an armful of firewood. He made a pile of wood and pointed to the wood, bursting it into flames. The area illuminated, I looked at the girl. I remembered her. It was Alicia. How? WHAT? I was confused now. I walked over to her. It was definitely her. “What did you do?” I asked the guard about Alicia. “She was fused with a minotaur . She was controlled by the Director for sometime now. I extracted it and absorbed it into myself. She’ll be fine.” The guard muttered, the voice echoing inside his helmet. He went into the woods and carried a large log into the ring of light from the fire, set it down, and sat down. The fire light shined off his helmet. It was as if he was a statue. I walked over on the opposite side of the fire and stared at him. The guard stared back at me. “Who are you?” I asked. He just stared back at me, as if time had frozen.

“I know you all are out to take out the Director. Why else would you walk into the Director’s School willingly. Quite a foolish move not to wait until nightfall when all the guards are asleep.” The guard said, staring into the fire. “Well we didn’t know that he advanced that much. How were we supposed to know. We have been off fighting the two most powerful beings in the world the past week.” I explained to him. “I see. Why were you fighting these two beings then?” the guard asked in return. “Well, we were trying to save a friend, who died during the last battle.” I replied sadly. “I see. So I assume he as the strongest of you all? Otherwise you would have beaten the Director easily.” the guard returned. “He was much stronger than all of us. Especially since he successfully beat the Phoenix the first time, alone.” I explained. “I see. “ he mumbled as he got up and walked away from the fire and stared up into the moonlit sky. The boys went about resting. “I’m hungry.” Blaze said. “Me too.” Jake agreed. I walked over to the guard to took off into the sky once I got close. “Wait.” I spoke. He continued to fly off.

After 15 minutes, we heard a faint noise in the woods. We heard footsteps coming towards camp. Did the Director catch us already? We saw someone step out of the bushes lining the woods. We saw a deer head appear from the shadows. It kept walking towards us. The antlers were huge. It kept coming towards us. It fell inside the ring of fire. It was then we saw the guard. “Here, dinner.” He said as he crouched down and began to disassemble the deer carcass. “You expect us to eat deer?” I asked surprised. “It’s not bad. It tastes like chicken but with a consistency of beef. It’s healthier than most meats you are used to.” He mumbled as he cut the hide away. He released the brown hide from the carcass and walked over to a tree branch hanging near the fire and hung it up over the branch. “What is that for?” I asked. “When it dries, you can use it as a blanket.” the guard explained. He continued to cut away the antlers. He put them aside. “You planning to use those too?” I asked, getting a little irritated as so the few words he says. “Yes. You can use them for your later invasion.” the guard replied, sensing my irritation. “Who says we are going to invade again? We barely made it out of there alive. If you hadn’t come along, we would have died. I don’t think we should invade again.” I spoke. “The boys stopped their pointless discussion to listen to what I had to say. “Max… You were so set on killing the Director. What happened?” Rsteg asked. “Think about it. He is too strong. He is gaining power by the day. We can’t keep up. We get within a mile of the School and they know we are there. It’s hopeless. We are too few in number.” I said looking into the sky. “I see.” The guard said. That was it! I couldn’t take it anymore. “I SEE?! Is that ALL you know how to say?” I asked him releasing some steam. “Too few in number. Who do you think can help you in this? Normal humans? They are too weak. The military won’t believe these things are happening. The people in the School are told they are there to learn, not to be experimented on. They truly believe that learning constitutes them gaining powers. The Director brainwashed them. Like her.” He spoke pointing to Alicia, who was still passed out on the pedestal. “No one has reported them. The School is designed to alarm if anyone comes with in a mile, by land or air. So if reporters come, everything suspicious in the School shuts down, becomes hidden. I have been there for a while, in and out. I know all this. I have just been waiting for people who have lived outside of the School with powers to come. You have seen how the world is. They become scared of us. Wings aren’t anything to be scared of. It was illegal for me to open my wings to help you. I am most likely being searched for right now to be executed.” the guard said. “I know one person who didn’t mind my wings. I saved her from being shot, but in return, was grazed by a shot myself. This little girl’s mother fixed me up. She saw my wings when I was healing and she was spooked but she didn’t mind overall. She is one of my only friends that isn’t an experiment.” I explained with a determined tone. “So if anything, humans can learn to accept our strange power. Only we can do it. Together.” I said looking at everyone. My determination had been lit. “We are the only ones who can show the world what we have seen behind those walls. We are all experiments, we need to show the world that we are like them.” I finished, the boys smiled at my speech. Had I finally given a speech like Darkus? A motivational speech that lights the power in all of us. “Hmph…” The guard spoke. “I’m glad to see you are motivated once again, Max.“ The guard said as he finished disembodying the carcass. He stood up and looked at me. “We are birds of a feather.” I stared at him. Something inside me felt strange, like I had heard this all before. I had. In my dream. I finally spoke. “Who…who are you?” I asked, somewhat scared. The guard reached for his helmet. He slid it off his head. The blood had truly dripped inside the eye holes and onto his face, streaking down his face. He had his eyes closed when he took it off. He looked at me and opened them. “You!” I said, not believing what I was seeing. “It’s YOU!!!” I stared in disbelief. I couldn’t believe what was happening. That THIS was happening.

wow i wonder who it is.

Those eyes stared down at me. I became flushed with emotions of all kinds. I remembered the fight, the guard, the failed attempt at escape, the spotlights, the pellets, everything from that place. Where did I go wrong. What did I miss. How did he get here? How did it not get my attention. It should have been obvious. I relived that battle in my head a million times in that moment. I then realized it. How could I be so stupid. Did I get hit on the head or something and lost my memory? How did I let THAT by me…. Phoenix dragon, Demon, Bird, Human. How did I not see it before. I looked deep into the eyes of the stranger before me. He only stared back at me. I looked around at the others. They just stared at him. Were they not seeing who I was seeing? They were frozen it seemed. I placed my hand on Rsteg shoulder, he didn’t move. I mean he was a statue. He was frozen. I looked at a leaf, it was frozen in mid air. “Well, Max?” The unmasked guard asked. “I…. I don’t understand.” I replied stuttering. “What the heck are you doing here?” The guard just stared back at me. I saw the leaf begin to slip through the air. Rsteg began to recoil back, as if surprised. What was going on? What kind of statue world had I entered? I left like I was in an empty garden. Everything moved SO SLOWLY. A second in this frozen world was only a millisecond in real life. “What is with this place? Everything is slow.” I demanded to know. The guard chuckled and replied “Time is merely an illusion Max, so is death.” I stared at him in confusion. “What the heck does that mean?” I commented. He opened his mouth and I immediately jumped back to a dream. “I had a dream - of the wide open prairie. I had a dream - of the pale morning sky. I had a dream - that we flew on golden wings. And we were the same - just the same - you and I. Follow your heart - little child of the west wind. Follow the voice - that's calling you home. Follow your dreams - but always, remember me.” I realized then that it was true. It was him. “D-Darkus?” I mumbled, looking down. “I am your brother - under the sun” He finished as I looked up into his eyes again. “Hello, Max.” He said. I couldn’t help myself. I ran to him and hung from his neck, which seemed much higher than before. I saw the leaves begin to fall again. I could hear the breeze blowing through the trees. I could hear the boys behind me whispering to each other. I let go of his neck and turned to face the boys. “Max, who is this?” Rsteg asked. “Boys, this is Darkus.” Immediately all their jaws dropped. “He is? He doesn’t look like him.”

I looked at Darkus he just stared as he used to. "Uh.... Right. Explain Darkus." I said as I turned to face him. He just inhaled and closed his eyes. "There's not much to explain, I survived somehow. That's it." He mumbled as he turned to face the fire and sat down on a nearby overturned pillar, back to us. He sat in silence for a few minutes. I looked at the boys, they each shrugged and sat by the fire eating the last bit of deer meat. I approached him. "Max..." He mumbled as I approached from behind. "How'd you hear me? I was SILENT as a mouse! And more importantly, how'd you know it was ME?" I heard him let out a mini-laugh then he raised his head and looked at the moon. No answer. He still wore the Guard outfit. Suddenly his clothing burst apart in bright light, revealing his black trench coat and long hair and his wings unfurled. I stumbled back a few feet. Darkus turned his head a bit to stare at me from the corner of his eye. "Don't be afraid Max." He turned his head back. In the moonlight, I realized he had a large scar stretching diagonally across his forehead and cut across his left eye. It seemed to glow only when the moon shone on it. I walked up beside him and leaned on the pillar he was perched on. "So, explain something to me. What happened back there?! With the Dragon? We thought... " I trailed off because Darkus exhaled. "I passed out. The last thing I remember seeing was the throat of the dragon growing closer and closer, surrounding me until all light faded from view. The next thing I knew, I was surrounded by darkness. It faded, and I was alive. I don't remember anything else. It seemed about 2-3 days had passed when I came to." He explained and went silent. "You don't remember anything else? Talking to me? Dreams?" I asked shyly. "No, just darkness then I woke up. It felt like I had slept." He replied in a low voice. His normal voice was lower than usual now. "No, Max. Nothing. Why?" I felt like an idiot. Do I tell him the truth and look like a freak? Well, I can't make myself look any worse than needing to be saved from my death I guess. "Yeah, actually. The night you died, I swear I saw you in the forest, and I found a letter. Then for the next two or three nights, I saw you in my dreams. You kept repeating things to me. Similar to what you said earlier. Are you SURE you didn't have any dreams?" I asked again, goading him into telling. "No, Max. I just floated in Darkness and woke up a few days later." He is hard to tell if he is lying so, I just let it go. "So, Where did you come from. I mean in the School. How did you become a Guard?" I asked. "When I woke up, I was at this temple, miraculously. I saw huge footprints leading away from the direction or where we fought the Dragon. I saw signs that you had headed towards the School. I flew as fast as I could. I arrived shortly before you landed and got yourself captured the first time. I mauled a guard and took his outfit and made sure I was assigned to guard you both times. I got you all out and that's the story. Nothing much to it really." He replied shallowly smiling at the end. "Nothing much to it??!!?! You kicked a guards butt and disguised yourself. That is AWESOME. Wait, how did you get there BEFORE us?" I asked being nosey. "I was able to slow time down to a tenth of the time normally passed. Seeing as I flew faster than you with these new wings, I was able to get to the School an hour or two before you showed up. I wanted to use your distraction to my advantage." He admitted, still looking at the moon. "Okay.... What for?" At this question Darkus got up and walked into the ring of light near the fire. The rest of the boys stopped talking and stared. I followed Darkus and stood on the opposite side of the fire. Darkus reached inside his trench coat and pulled out what looked like a picture frame. "Why is a picture frame something good, Darkus?" I asked nearly laughing. He just stared at me with his "I'm gonna kill you" stare. "Sorry." I said smiling. Darkus looked away and held the frame up in front of him, waved his hand over the frame's front. The frame immediately lit up. He began pressing lights and other keys on the transparent screen. "What the heck? What is that Darkus?" Darkus continued to key along. "It's a data portal. It's linked directly to the Directors personal computer." My jaw dropped. What was he doing, the Director will notice that he is accessing the data. "Darkus, he will know you are linking to his data. You are putting us all in dang..." "Hush, Max." Darkus spoke over me. "I used my energy to make a detection barrier. The Director won't be able to identify who is accessing his files. I camouflaged the access point as one of his own terminal addresses. No need to worry. As you know, that Director experimented on people for a while before we were each experimented on." Darkus continued to press buttons and drag his finger across the screen, moving other doo dads and other switches. "Now, just to find, ha....Here." Darkus stopped keying in and threw the frame to me. I caught it and was matched with the faces of several humans. I quickly looked over each one. "Darkus, who are these people?" I asked switching between a few faces. They had biological scans, information and data on every person. Darkus let us look on the screen for a few moments then said "We weren't the only ones to escape."

"What do you mean we weren't the only ones to escape? Who else has escaped?" I asked surprised. "Those people you see there also have escaped the Directors clutches. They have avoided the Director's radar by cloaking their signatures." Darkus explained. "Well, HOW did they escape?" I asked being a bit suspicious. "They spoke with each other while held captive. They organized to escape. All these people escaped BEFORE the Director upped his security. We were the last it seems to escape. Secretly, before I met Max, that was my main goal. While I was trusted by the Director when I was apparently brainwashed to obey him. I helped many of those experimented humans become free. Max was the last one I was able to free before I was caught. I freed about 100 humans in all, not including those three, looking at the three boys. Rsteg was the very last." My eyes widened as he told of his actions. "Darkus, you saved all these people? Back then?" I muttered as I realized how strong a soul he really was. "So, why bring up these people now?" I asked. "When these people escaped, they all had been completed experiments. Some have wings, some are mechanical, some have other powers." Darkus said. "Yeah and....?" I replied. "They all formed clans in the order they escaped. I asked one thing of them when I helped them escape. To stay together and seek refuge and await for directions. I gave them a machine that just needed to be recharged every month at any electrical outlet. It cloaked all experimental signatures for one square mile. I gave the last one to the group before I met Max. I knew then it was my turn to protect the last group of experiments I could free. I kept the tracking signatures for the cloakers." Darkus explained for a few minutes while I continued to look at the list of people. "Hey, Rsteg. LOOK! Theres another part machine cyborg guy like you that escaped. Here, look!" I showed the frame to Rsteg. "Cool, I'm not alone. Although it says he is only 25% machine, while I am about 50%. Close enough!" Rsteg replied. I have never seen him so happy before. Maybe being alone in the group was the thing that was bothering him all along. "So, Darkus. You helped all these people escape. What do you plan to do with them?" I asked. Darkus stood up looked at each of us intensely. "The Director has done this to all of us, thinking we are just an experiment to be used and thrown away when through, and no one can stop him. But, we will tell him otherwise. Let us fly as fast as the wind can carry us. Tell these escaped clans to join our fight. Tell them their savior who freed them calls them at last. Together we will show the Director that humans cannot be changed outside of Nature or will, and his reign of scientific tyranny is over!" Darkus spoke with a tone I had never heard him speak in before. He was alive again. His drive was more powerful than ever. Whatever happened between the Phoenix and Dragon and him, had to have been magic. Darkus' return brought hope to not only Rsteg and I, but for every living experiment that still lived in this world. Darkus brought hope back to me. Seeing the Director's power growing, startled me and disheartened me. Knowing Darkus was still alive, brought everything back. I felt more determined than ever before. I knew nothing could stop us now. Darkus didn't speak another word for that night. He looked up at the night sky, at the moon, for the remainder of the night. I fell asleep at about 3 in the morning. The last thing I saw for the night was Darkus' silhouette staring up into the sky.

"Max, wake up!" I heard with a blurred sight. Darkus stood over me pushing me with the front of his boot. "Huh? It's sunrise... Another few hours... " I mumbled as I pulled the blanket over my head. "Oh no you don't!" Darkus scowled as he ripped the the blanket from my hands in one quick movement. "Ah, fine....." I growled and looked up at Darkus. He held his hand out and helped me up. He shot into the air and hovered above us. "Are you ready to find somebody just like you? Who felt the same emotion as you? Who have seen all that you have seen? Those who live with the same things you do?" We all nodded and got psyched. He did it again. He inspired all of us. "Finding these Tribe of experiments will take about a week, with lots of flying and talking. Be prepared for it. Let's go." Darkus spoke as he waited for the rest of us to get airborne. I was the first to join Darkus' side in the air. The rest of them flew beside us. Darkus was obviously holding back. We flew into the morning light, to the west. We flew for hours until Darkus spoke. "Here's the first stop. The Director's Animal DNA Integration Phase of his experiments: The Animal Transformation Tribe."

All I saw for miles around us was trees. How could the Tribe be here? Unless they lived IN the woods. There was a break in the trees up ahead, Darkus lowered in altitude and dove into the trees, he landed gracefully in the clearing below the trees. One of the wings hit a branch and I began to fall but recoiled and landed on one knee beside Darkus. I heard Darkus exhale a "humph." when he saw me fall. "Better." he mumbled. The rest of the boys followed shortly after, very slow in dodging tree limbs. Even Rsteg was having a bit of a hard time. I guess being mechanical wasn't all it's cracked up to be. Then again he isn't part bird, so I guess I should cut him some slack. Darkus began to walk into the forest. We walked a good mile before Darkus stepping near a pile of leaves. He stopped in his tracks and looked down into the pile of leaves. I heard him inhale and exhale in and out a few times, as if he was smelling something. "This is it." he spoke softly. "Each of you get near a pile of leaves here." We all found our own pile. "Now, do what I do after I do it." Darkus commanded. Darkus kicked at the pile in front of him, causing a rope to shoot from the ground into the trees above. As the rope shot up, Darkus grabbed hold of the rope, causing his to launch upward into the trees. The canopy was so thick I couldn't see him anymore. "Now, each of you do the same." I heard him shout from above. I looked at Rsteg and Jake. Rsteg kicked at his leaves and he shot up into the trees. I nervously held my hand out and kicked. My hand nudged the rope and my fist closed right at the end of the rope. I launched up through the leaves. "Max, you can let go now." I heard Rsteg say. I opened my eyes that I realized I closed because twigs were hitting my face to see a platform underneath me. I let go and dropped to my feet on the platform. I saw Darkus looking around. We saw connecting platforms rounded around each tree. It was like a town, but in the trees. "Wow.... This is COOL!" I said. "SHH..." Darkus snapped at me. "Sorry..." I replied in a whisper. "It's too quiet for this place." Darkus said as he looked around and often times closed his eyes, seeming to focus on something. "Watch out! He suddenly jumped in front of us with his large wings shielding us. His wings had gotten MUCH larger. They seemed to grow larger on command now. They were covered in harder, seemed like metal plated feathers. I heard poles hitting the ground. Darkus lowered his wings to see three men standing on a higher platform attached to a nearby tree. Darkus just stared at them, while they stared back. "One of the three men turned and spoke to their friend. We culd hear them talking jibberish. Darkus seemed to understand. He shouted back in the same jibberish. They shouted back. Whatever it was they said seemed to anger Darkus. He slowly rose in the air and floated towards the men. The three men took out bows and arrows and shot them towards Darkus. The arrows just split in half, I noticed that three feathers pinned against the tree that the men were standing near. Did he shoot feathers and split the arrows in half during mid flight? Who is this guy and what had happened to Darkus. This guy was MUCH more powerful than Darkus. "Calm down brothers." Darkus spoke in English. "I am not here to harm you. Surely you remember me." He asked with a stern face. The men whispered amongst themselves and responded back to Darkus in gibberish. "You don't remember me? Surely you remember this?" Darkus replied and continued to speak "When the War of the Beast's brings about the worlds end, the Savior descends from the sky, wings of light and dark spread afar and guides us to bliss, the gift everlasting." Darkus finished and looked at the men. Each of them understood English it seemed, they stood up and looked at Darkus. Darkus gave a half smile and hovered beside them and landed. He signaled the rest of us to come over. Darkus talked gibberish with the men for a few seconds. The men began to lead us somewhere.

"We are sorry, Darkus. We didn't recognize you with your new powers. Terribly sorry, oh, Dark Angel." one man said. I saw Darkus wince at the name. "Dark Angel?" I repeated and began to laugh at the name. Darkus turned around and bared his teeth at me, showing a set of Wolf-like fangs. Since when had he grown those? Was THAT what caused his voice to deepen? His eyes flashed bright red at me, making me feel a slight jab in my chest. "Ouch!" I mumbled and looked away. Darkus looked away and began to chat with the men again. I looked around us, I could see faces amongst the trees around us. Each one followed us as we made our way deeper into the maze of platforms. We appeared at a spot that sloped down into what seemed like a amphitheater. There was one man sitting at a table at the center of this large platform. The three men talked with this leader in gibberish. The man looked at Darkus, then smiled. He stood up, held his hands in the air and spoke "The Dark Angel has returned to us at last!" The older man spoke loudly. Suddenly an eruption of yelps and roars erupted from the trees. Several dozen men leaped out of the trees and gathered around us. Each of them looked different. They had strange markings on their faces. Some had lines around their eyes, forehead and cheeks, others had marking running down their arms and legs. They certainly weren't of our form of experimentation, THAT'S for sure! "Dark Angel...." The leader spoke. "Please call me Darkus. That's what I go by now." Now?! I thought, what did he USED to go by? "Darkus," the leader corrected. "We have waited for your return. You have changed radically. What has happened?" Darkus began to speak in the different language. I heard Dragon and Phoenix mentioned, in the conversation. The leader's face showed signs of shock and awe. He was clearly enjoying Darkus' tale of battle, apparently. Darkus seemed to have finished. They had both sat down a while ago before talking. The boys had sat down on the edge of one of the platforms and let their legs dangle over the edge, they were chatting about random things. I had tried to listen to Darkus' discussion but I had grown bored. So, I kind of stared off into space, then looked around the area, hung out with the boys for a little while, and returned back to my place beside Darkus. Suddenly, the leader and Darkus stood up. The leader seemed to raise his arms, signaling everyone to step back. Darkus was in the center of the open area. The leader said one word, and Darkus spread his wings wide. They had become at least 25 to 30 feet wide wingspan. They nearly doubled in length since the time I met him. They were massive! The tribe members each ooh'ed and awe'ed at Darkus' wings. "Truly exceptional!" The leader FINALLY spoke some English. "So, Darkus. What is it you came to us for?" the shaman spoke. "Well, we have decided to take on the Director. The one who experimented on every one of us. He is gaining power rapidly. He had finally made minotaurs. So he isn't just using single animal DNA anymore, he is morphing DNA together. This is a bad sign. He is gaining power more rapidly than I have imagined. He needs to be stopped. So, we have come asking for your tribe's support." Darkus spoke with a bit of anger, then calmness. "Hmm... Darkus. I will need to think this over. I am in charge of these people. I can't just throw them into battle with a life they have tried to forget so long ago. Nearly 10 years it has been. We have grown in number but, not in strength. We don't have many young ones, but not as many adept fighters as you may think. May we speak in private, Darkus?" said the shaman glancing at the boys and I. I felt out of place. I looked away from them. "Of course." Darkus replied. Darkus walked by me, following the shaman. "Watch after them while I negotiate. That's an order." Darkus mumbled. "An order." I mumbled mockingly and rolled my eyes. I supposed I had no other choice.
"Darkus..." The shaman spoke. "I know you need members, but I'm not sure we have many to offer to help you. I'll help in whatever way that I can." "Thanks, any help is appreciated. Would you mind if you line up all your Tribe members who are willing to help us? I'll decide who could help. Remember, we aren't fighting tomorrow. It is going to take nearly a week to travel to all the Tribes. Then I plan to get all new recruits battle ready, which might take two to three weeks. I assure you, after I am done with any new members, they will be able to swarm that school with their eyes closed and assassinate the Director with nothing more than a 4 inch blade. That is a promise. You will have some adept young men when this is all over." Darkus spoke. "Hmm... you make an interesting offer. Alright, I guess we will follow you into battle in whatever conditions. You did give us a btter life all these years. It's the least we can do for our savior." the shaman spoke rising to his feet. They both walked out of the tent and back to the amphitheater. The shaman stood and rose his hands. "Everyone line up. Darkus, wished to speak to you all. They all lined up as asked. Darkus quickly glanced over the entire line of members. He then stood and began to speak. "I know you all wonder why I am here and I certainly hope you know who I am. " Darkus glanced around. "You, who am I?" He asked one younger boy about 14 or so. "Uh.. You are Darkus, sir. The Dark Angel. The one who saved our ancestors from the Director and his experimentation. You saved both my mother and father's lives, sir!" The boy spoke admiringly. "Good, good. You have taught them well Swiftpaw." Darkus smirked and glanced at the shaman. "Of course. They should know the only reason they are alive today is because of you, Darkus." Swiftpaw spoke. Darkus turned silently and looked at the line again. "You all must have heard of or remember the conditions the Director placed your or your fathers or mothers in in the wretched School of his." Darkus stopped and looked to the left and right, meeting the gazes of each member. "I am not going to sugar coat this for you. This will be the fight of your life, if you so wish to embark upon it. The Director needs to learn his place on the food chain, is below his own creations. Nature is the supreme ruler over the Earth, not his brains, not his machines, not his spirit. He needs to fall. I am sure you all can imagine the stuffy laboratory rooms, the cages, not seeing the light of the sun for years at a time. I am asking you, not making you. Taking this risk is your choice, I am not forcing you. However, I can tell you this. The Director's plans are growing colder and colder as the day breaks. He plans to experiment on the world, by it's own air. He will eventually attack this place too. So, you fight now, before it get's bad and you have a chance at saving the world, by my side or you fight later, where you will most certainly die." Darkus paused to let his comment sink in. "I ask of all of you. To join me, and my friends, to take down the Director and that school, before the makes the world his laboratory. So, I ask those of you, who don't wish to fight now, please step backward." Darkus gave the command. Some women stepped back. Not a man did, even the thin boys didn't. "I see. Thank you all for your sacrifice. I ask any boys the age of 10 and below to step back." About 10 boys stepped backward. "Thank you. Now. Those of you who stepped back, while the older ones are gone, you will be in charge of looking after this place. A few adults will stay behind for safety. You are the warriors of the tribe now. Be fierce and protect your home. Alright?" Darkus looked at the young boys smiles and growl in mocking humor. "The rest of you. I admire your stance on this." Darkus spoke as he stared at the line of 30 warriors of all ages. "Shaman, is there anyone you wish not to send?" The shaman joined Darkus' side looking at the line of warriors. He picked a few choice people from the list. Lowering the number to 25 Warriors. "Well done, all of you. We will be leaving in a few hours. Shaman, would you like to say any last words to your men before they leave?" Darkus asked. "Last words. I am afraid you are mistaken. I may be the oldest Darkus, but I am also the most adept warrior amongst these people. I wasn't Shaman because I am weak you know. I plan to come along and help in the effort." Darkus only looked and nodded. "We leave in two hours. Get whatever you wish to bring with you. I warn you that you will be flying a lot, so pack lightly. Dismissed." Darkus turned around while the warriors each ran off to their tents to pack for the fight. I walked up to Darkus he seemed so focused on something. "Darkus...?" I asked quietly. "Indeed, Max." Darkus replied to a question. " I hadn't asked you anything yet!!!" I replied thinking Darkus had gone nuts! "You were going to ask if everything I said to them was true, and indeed it was." Was I going nuts! That WAS what I was going to ask. "What the....?!?! How'd you do that?" I asked him baffled. It had to of been a lucky guess. Darkus WAS always lucky after all.

Darkus sat atop that tree for the two hours before departure. He just stared into the daytime sky. I knew he was thinking about something. He has been doing that a lot recently. Ever since the Phoenix battle, he has been off by himself a lot, thinking. I shouldered a few things and flew up to Darkus and sat on the branch below him. "Dar..." I began. "It's nothing, Max. Just thinking." He replied, cutting me off. Why does he keep doing that? He is creeping me out! "WHY do you keep doing THAT. What are you reading my mind or something?!?!" I spoke, a little freaked out and a little aggravated with his emo-like attitude lately. He didn't answer. "Darkus, why are you acting like this. Dare I say it, like an EMO?!? I don't want anymore of your brushed off answers either. You are preoccupied by something, but I don't know what. Now spill what you know or I won't be going with you to fight the Director. If you are hiding something from me that concerns this mission, I want to know about it right now!!" I spoke looking up at Darkus from a lower branch. He only blinked sleepily a few times, then exhaled, closed his eyes. "Max. This is more complicated than you will ever understand. What I am thinking about has nothing to do with the Director or this mission. It has to do with me, and only me. It's nothing you should be preoccupied with. YOU need to focus on the fight at hand." He spoke while opening his eyes again and staring into the sky as normal. "What do you mean it is all about you? I don't understand, Darkus. Stop acting like this. It is beginning to scare me. I know you are keeping something to yourself." I replied, trying to pull a guilt trip. "It's nothing of your concern, Max. That is my final word. " Darkus said as he left himself slip forward off the tree branch and fall towards the ground. "He's not going to make it! DARKUS!?!" I yelled. Darkus whipped out his wings at the last minute and caught the air like a parachute and glided to the amphitheater-like platform, where the 25 new recruits were getting their last belongings together. Darkus stood with his arms crossed and looked over everyone. "This is your last chance to abandon this mission. If you do, I will not take offense. Choosing life over possible death is an honorable choice. Now is your last chance." Darkus spoke lowly but clearly. None of the 25 stepped away. "Excellent. It's time to leave. We will be flying to the north from here, towards the Sky Mountains." Darkus spoke like a general or something. A young man from the line raised his hand and began to spoke. "Darkus, sir, some of us can't fly. How do you think we will be coming with you?" Darkus looked at the young boy intently. "I was getting to that." Darkus held his hand in the air and closed his fist. The warriors gasped and noticed they were glowing. Sudenly White wings sprouted from the backs of the young warriors. "These wings are produced by my energy. You will have them as long as you are on this mission with me. With these wings we will travel to the other tribes and befriends them. After we finish, our fighting force should be somewhere between 150-200 warriors. I need to speak with the leader of each one. Each place we stop, I am plan to have you all do training to strengthen yourselves for battle. Now, it's time to leave." Darkus rose into the air in the same stance he stood in. The warriors lifted off and flew by him. He turned and flew to the front of the pack. I flew beside him. "Where is the next place?" I asked over the roaring wind of flight. "The place where the strangest experiment products has settled. I am even considering not asking them." Darkus said, staring straight ahead. "What is their experimental thing, Darkus?" I asked, looking up at him. "Element Control." Darkus spoke. I was surprised at his reply. "Whoa.... You mean they can like throw rocks and bend water and stuff?" I replied. "Yes. They control the elements to Nature itself. It's not right. Nature does what it was made to do, not be controlled by others. I guess I have no choice, we need the members. I need to find the right type." Darkus replied, clearly agitated. I had no reply. I just kept quiet and kept flying.

A few hours later. "We are here." I could see a large mountain ahead. On it's top I could see smoke rising into the air. I kept thinking about what Darkus had said. Nature? He is a freak of Nature, why does he has such a strong stance on this? Darkus shot ahead of us. I couldn't keep up. It was then I saw what he was flying towards. A large fireball. No way Darkus could blow that away. I only stared in amazement as Darkus pulled his wings in and spun like a drill. He got a red smoky glow around his body. He hit the fireball, making it fizzle out before we flew into it. Darkus unfolded himself and caught the air again. He fell back into line next to me. I didn't say a word. He never ceases to amaze me. He darted ahead of me again shortly after. This time he ran into a flurry of arrows. A shower was more like it. Darkus stood as the flurry came towards him. He raised his hand quick and had his hand bent downward, his wrist making up the end of his arm. Suddenly a fury of boulders shot into the air in front of Darkus, knocking out the arrows. An arrow made it by him and hurdled towards me. I used my right wing to shield myself by blowing a gust towards the arrow, knocking it off course and down to the ground. "Darkus! " I shouted forward. "You missed an arrow." I called with a smile on my face as I dove down to catch the falling arrow. Darkus fell back beside me. "Everyone! Close in behind me. Keep your wings tucked in." Darkus flew ahead of me a bit. Suddenly an flurry of fire surrounded our group. I didn't even have to use my wings to fly. I just let myself glide. We were awfully close to the mountain now. There was a large waterfall in the center of the village. We were flying rapidly towards the waterfall. The fire hit the waterfall and went out but, I could still feel myself moving, this time downward but, I wasn't falling. I was flying downward without having to change direction. We were INSIDE the waterfall. Water surrounded us, but a air bubble was around everyone's heads. We burst from the waterfall, still surrounded by a thin sheet of water. Arrows and fireballs tried hitting us as we flew to the ground, but nothing hit us. We slowed down in front of a ledge against the sheer mountain cliff nearby the waterfall. I felt my feet touch the ground softly. I was standing on the ground. Darkus in front of me 10 feet away, fight in front of the cave entrance. I looked around. We were inside the village. We had about 500 arrows fly at us and about 100 fireballs. None of us was hurt. Darkus just stared at the entrance to the cave. Darkus stood hand tensed at his side, wings spread, tensed as well, feet spread about a foot. He looked like no one could move him. The pelt that covered the door moved. I noticed then that a man stood before Darkus They were having a staring contest until the man said "Who are you, black one?" The leader seemed to have a normal voice for a guy. He stared at Darkus plainly. He looked pretty in shape and strong. Weaker than Darkus of course. "Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Savior. We seek it thus and take to the sky. Ripples form on the water's surface. The wandering soul knows no rest." Darkus spoke. The stare-off continued for a few moments. Warriors began to surround us. They managed to climb up the cliff and surround our group of 31 people. "Uh... Darkus.." I spoke, worried. The leader raised his hand. Darkus didn't flinch.The leader raised his other hand. Not a movement from Darkus. "Controllers!" the leader spoke. "The Dark Angel has returned to us at last!" The leader slowly smiled. The warriors around us stopped in their tracks and looked at each other, then at their leader. The warriors began to chant some gibberish and came toward Darkus. They surrounded him "Alright enough. Master, we need to talk. May we? Also, may some of your best warriors train with these 30 warriors while we talk?" Darkus suggested. "Of course. Anything for our Savior." the Master said. He called gibberish to one of the warriors around us. He approved and called ot the rest. "Follow them, okay? Pay attention to ever warrior you see. I'll need your input later.I told them that you were the second in command of this group" Darkus whispered to me before he followed the Master into the cave. Second in Command? I guess I had no choice but to follow Darkus' command. The leader of the warriors came and spoke to me. "Follow me, great Max." The great Max? I like this. I smiled and told the rest of our group to follow me.

I stepped into the cave, following the Master. “So,” The Master spoke in a dialectic English. “Why have you returned to us at last. The last words you uttered to me was when you need us, you would come to us. So, why have you come?” I paused a moment, summarizing what I should say. “I know many of your warriors are powerful enough to help us in our cause.” I spoke sternly. The Master became rather confused. “I’m not sure I understand. What cause is this?” he spoke with a cocked head. “The Director. The one who experimented on thousands of us. He is planning to take over the world. We have to stop him. I am traveling around the world to get recruits from the many tribes that I helped free over the years of reconnaissance. I need help. This is what I ask in return.” I spoke looking into the Master eyes. I wasn’t passing along crude lies, this was life or death, for the world. “You want to take many of my warriors into battle where they might not return?” the Master questioned. “That’s correct. The Director‘s plan includes the devastation of the world. We need to stop him, NOW!” I responded, having an odd feeling that he was going to refuse. “We are fighting to save the world full of people that called us freaks when we tried to blend in? Why would I risk my family’s lives for them?” The Master questioned, a little agitated. “You aren’t saving just the ones who are unlike us, you are helping save those LIKE us. You are helping preserve those of us who had been treated like us all those years hidden behind those walls.” I replied calmly. “I still disagree, Darkus. You did save us, but you might be walking those you saved into the firing line. I can’t let my warriors go not knowing whether I will see them again or not. “ The Master spoke sadly. “The Director is telling everyone how to live their lives, by MAKING them live that way. What about the world today? What about that place we call home? We have never been so many, but we have never been so alone.” I spoke raising my voice and tightening my face in near ferocity at the Master’s stubbornness. “Well, I….” The Master stuttered. “The Director thinks it’s all about power by taking control, breaking our wills, breaking our souls, sucking us dry until there’s nothing left. Everyone fails to recognize the enemy within those walls. We must stop him NOW!” I spoke, the cave becoming silent, not an echo. The Master exhaled and closed his eyes. “One question, Darkus. “ The Master spoke. “What is it?” I replied. “Can you afford one more leader to come with you?” The Master asked. “Anyone is welcome who has control of their powers enough to have them not be used against them.” I replied. The Master opened his eyes, as his arms bulged outward, muscles rippling under the skin. The skin became a gray color and pulsed to gray and black fur. The Master’s teeth lengthened into fangs, his fingernails turned to claws, his legs reformed into a canine’s legs. “How’s this Darkus?” The Master asked smiling. “Excellent.” I replied and gave a shallow smile as the Master lifted his paw and gave a handshake. “Now, if you want to gather those who you are sure will wish to go, I’ll go see how the training is going with my second in command” I spoke as I walked out of the cave. I can’t believe I said Max was second in command. I guess it works. I jumped off the ledge and flew towards the training ground just outside the village’s center. I landed and noticed that Max was sparring with a younger warrior, about 6 to 8 inches taller than Max. It looked like Max was in her proper mind for a fight. As little as she knows it, she is powerful when she is focused.

I leaned over the the guy, looking anxiously at his face. "You okay? Sorry. Didn't mean to slam you against the ground that hard. Nose not broken? Good." This guy wasn't nearly as big as Darkus. He was supposed to be the tribe's best fighter. But this guy was just a big marshmellow. He was still trying to catch his breath. He'd already tried jackknifing to his feet, only to slide slowly sideways as his brain realized that his lungs didn't have any oxygen in them.
We stood around waiting, along with the rest of the group, which now stared at me like I was a freak. Oh, wait - that was beacuse I am a freak. This guy had chopped, kicked, and punched everyone, trying to show me and the boys a few fighting skills. Honestly, do you THINK I need them? He'd ignored me until I'd stepped right infront of him, ready to take my turn in line.
"You can just watch for now," he said briskly. His english wasn't perfect. But it was alright. I shook my head. "Let's get this over with." So he'd explain what he was going to do and how I should block it or evade it, but I was already thinking about lunch and really didn't pay attention. Then he'd come at me, and I dodged to one side, under his arm, then kicked his knee out from behind, making him sag. He started to spin, but I gave him a two-handed chop on the shoulder, trying not to break his collarbone, then jumped and did a spinning back kick, right into his chest. That was when he'd smack up against a tree and slid down like a raindrop.
He looked a little better now, wheezing slightly and sitting up. "I told ol' Darkus that I had a pretty good hand on this, but I guess he didn't believe me," I said apologetically. His eyes narrowed and he slowly stood up, a good six inches taller than me, and I'm five-seven. He probably outweighed me by a hundred and forty pounds. "That was a fluke," he said. "I was going easy on you because your a kid. But if you want to fight, I can." I guess this gets filed in the bulging folder of Max's Nongirliness, but my heart gave a little jump. I'd been worried about getting soft, losing my razor-sharp survival skill instincts. And what do you know, this nice guy was volunteering to help me brush up on them. "Yeah?" I said, trying not to look too excited. Behind me, I heard Blaze snort, saw Haos and Jake start calculate odds and exchange money.
"Don't hurt him to bad, Max," said Darkus, smothering a grin as fury crossed the man's face. He rolled his shoulders, walked about ten paces away, and cracked his knuckles. The other boys looked nervous and backed away from us, edging towards the bushes. He stared at me with cold, cut-me-no-slack determination, then got into a fighting stance, holding one hand out, beckoning me. "I saw that movie too!" I said. "It was like the coolest movie of all -" He launched himself at me. And that's when his day really went downhill. It didn't last that long- maybe four minutes. Which can feel like a long time when someones whaling on you. Not to malign this mutant group or anything, but he didn't land a single blow. Maybe he was having an off day. Finally, we resumed our earlier postition: me leaning over him as he gasped on the floor.
"It's not your fault," I said, not even breathing hard. "I'm the newest genetically enchanced version. And, you know, ruthless. Plus, of course, meaner than a rabid wolverine. Are you okay?" After a long pause, he nodded silently. I jerked a thumb at the boys. "Do you want to try it against any of them?" Everyone except Darkus failed at not looking hopeful. This guy shook his head no. I looked at the others. "Is it lunchtime yet? I'm starving." Haos looked at his watch. "It's a little past nine, in the morning," he clarified. I groaned. "Okay, let's go find some grub. I need, like, about a million berries."

I approached Max after her fight. “Well done, Max.” I placed my hand on her shoulder. “You have gotten stronger since I last saw you truly fight at your full capacity.” I smiled and began to walk away, while waving my hand beckoning her to follow me. “Yeah, maybe good enough to take you on in a good fight.” Max spoke with a smile of pride across her face. “Trust me, it wouldn’t be a fight at all, Max. You haven’t seen me fight at full capacity yet either. I could hear Max stop behind me. “And yes, I DID have to crush your pride.” I spoke then turned to a friendly laugh. “H-how….did he know I was going to ask that?!” I heard Max catch up to my pace.

I launched off the ground and flew above the tribal center. I saw women going about their day, and some children running around the square in the center of the village. I heard Max following me. “Max,” I called. “Yeah?” She replied. “Go fetch Jake, Haos and Blaze would you. I’ll be in the town square. Bring them there, tell them to bring their things with them.” “Uh, alright.” She replied as she flew towards the training grounds. Meanwhile, I flew down to the square. I approached a woman who was watching the 7 children playing in the square. The woman fell to her knees before me. “Dark Angel” she muttered. “It’s okay, you don’t need to show me such fanfare.” I spoke with a smile as I helped her get to her feet. “Do you watch all these children yourself?” I asked. “I take care of them one or two times a week. A bunch of women technically raise the young ones, like a bunch of nannies really.” The woman replied. “Do all these kinds live together all the time?” I asked in return. “Yes, the large building over there houses all the children, and one woman each night. We take turns. “ She replied. “I see. May we go in there for a moment?” I asked. “Of course.” The woman replied and led me to the building. I entered the building to see triple bunk beds. “I noticed each one except for one had ruffled blankets on it with various personal belongings scatters along each bed’s railing and surface. I walked over to the empty bunk bed. The blankets were still tucked in. “Is this set being used?” I asked. “No, we usually keep them open for new arrivals or other such occasions.” The woman replied in her calm “nice old lady” tone. “Well, is there enough room and resources to fit three more children in here?” The woman’s face looked surprised. “I think so. The food might be sparingly short, but since the warriors are leaving for a while, I think the food should spike in availability while they are away.” The woman replied. “Darkus?” I heard Max call from the door. I waved my hand to have the boys be brought in. “Jake, Haos, Blaze. Each of you grab a bed.” I told them. The boys, being boys, immediately grabbed a bed and began acting rambunctious. “Boys, you are going to be staying here for a while.” I spoke while looking towards Max. The boys silenced right away and looked at me. “B-but Darkus? We are supposed to be coming with you.” Blaze uttered sadly. “I’m sorry but, you boys are too young to risk your lives. Let the adults do the fighting.” I spoke sternly. Max was shocked at all this. “This isn’t fair!” Jake shouted. “Well, the warriors are going to be gone with us, so I guess you guys are the defenders of this village while we are fighting. That’s a big job to fill. Do you think you can do it?” I asked them. “Jake’s face turned joyful again. He jumped off the bed and saluted me. “Yes, Darkus, SIR!” I couldn’t help but cut a small smirk. “Good.” I turned to the woman. “Make sure they don’t cause a ruckus okay? Make sure they spar each day for an hour. Keep them in shape.” I spoke to her and began to walk out. I heard Max jog to catch up to me. “I didn’t know you were good with kids….” Max commented. “What are you talking about. I made our team stronger by removing the weak. That’s all. “ I replied looking ahead. “No, I meant convincing them to stay. Big bad Darkus has a soft side after all.” Max spoke mockingly while smiling. I quickly jabbed Max in the back of the shoulder, she stopped and cried in pain for a moment and then realized her arm went numb. “Darkus!!!! I can’t feel my arm!” she complained. “Well, do I have a soft side now? “ I asked while still walking. “NO! I was joking, just make my arm better!” Max whined. I bolted behind Max and jabbed the same spot again, catching her off guard and making her fall forward. “HEY!” She yelped as she pushed herself off the ground. “What was THAT for?” she asked stomping up to me. “I looked at her, then looked at her arm. Max knew what I meant immediately. She shrugged her shoulder that was numb. I turned around and began walking. “Come on, we have to gather up the new recruits.” Max ran to catch up to me and we headed off to the training grounds. It was nearly noon now.

i'm guessing you're excluding me in it or i skipped 1 part and you killed me plz answer which 1

I'm not GOING to answer. You keep spamming my story. I'm SICK of it. I cannot wait until Darkus slays you and cuts you into shreds. You've ruined this topic with your lame comments.

Max wrote:

I'm not GOING to answer. You keep spamming my story. I'm SICK of it. I cannot wait until Darkus slays you and cuts you into shreds. You've ruined this topic with your lame comments.

i havent posted a comment in 2 pages max seriously.

I walked beside Darkus as we headed back to the campground. Ah, it was kind of fun recruting new warriors. I even got to fight some of them for practice! It was sooo much fun, until Darkus said I had to stop. It was pretty dark now, and if it weren't for the torches lit, and my raptor vision, I'd be totally blind.
"So, Darkus. When are we going to leave?" I asked. Darkus closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. "I don't know. As soon as I can convince more warriors to join us. It may take awhile..." he said quietly. "You need to go to bed and get some rest." I rolled my shoulders and as I walked. "Yea. I am a bit sore from that fight I had eariler today. Night, Darkus." I chimed. "Goodnight, Max." I opened my wings and flew up into the air, the wind ruffling my feathers.
I glided flawlessly through the air, until I felt a slight pinch on my shoulder. I looked down to see a dart in it. My eyes widened and I quickly pulled it out. Next thing I know, I'm falling to the ground.


Break free! My brain went from sleep to extremely, annihilatting panicK in an instant. I arched my back with all my strength, bucking myself off the floor. At the same time I tried yanking my hands and feet apart as hard as I could, only to find they wouldn't budge. Think, Max, think! You can get out of this! They can't get you this easily! My scream was muffled by the duct tap. I heaved myself around, trying to knock into someone or break somthing to make a noise. I couldn't believe the others were sleeping through this - usually the slightest sound would wake Darkus or the boys. Maybe there's somthing wrong with them. Two dark figures leaned over me, trying to gather me up, but I struggled against them with all my might. I managed to knee onee on the stomach, but it didn't do much. Then the other one simply sat on me, knocking every bit of breath out of my body.
Wild-eyed, I sucked in air through my nose, already feeling like I was suffocating. It had been awhile since I had been completely helpless, and it made me crazy. All thought fled my brain - I went into frenzied animal instinct, struggling for my life, willing to kill my captors, to do anything to stay alive. I was hyperventilating, screaming silently, gouging ridges in my ankles and wrists where they were bound with plastic ties. And still I was helpless. Still unable to stop the black hood from coming over my head, unable to not breathe the sickly sweet smell of air, unable to stop myself from letting go, releasing into a deep, cold blackness where there was no pain, no fear, only nothingness.
Oh yeah, and one other bad thing. Really bad, I think. I saw me when thEy kidnapped me. And I think she stayed their with my flock.



After the scientist had taken the inferior Max away from the village, I quickly lay down in her spot and pulled the blanket over me. I closed my eyes, positive I wouldn't sleep a wink. I was so hyped up - it was all finally happening. No way would I sleep. . . . . Out with the old Max, in with the new and improved Max. All according to plan.
"Wagh!" I woke up flailing, dreaming that I was being sponged by aliens. I blinked slowly and looked around. Out the window, the village looked more disgusting than at night. How could the other Max stand it?
"Max?" I looked up to see a brown headed boy - Rsteg, what a name - leaning over me. "Uh, what?" I said. "Darkus said to get up." Showtime! Now I would see how well I could play Maximum Ride. "Right," I said, getting up. I was sore and stiff from sleeping on the floor. Now that I could see everyone close up, it was hard for me not to stare. They really were different from those back at the labs. I didn't know how they could stand themselves.
"Max." I turned to see Darkus, the older, dark-haired boy. Just looking at him gave me the chills. His hair was unnatrually long, almost down past his waist. He was a good foot taller than me. But is eyes are what scared me. They weren't normal, not in the least bit. "Come with me, it's time to get more recrutes." he said emotionlessly. "Alright." He raised an eyebrow. "Somthing wrong?" I asked. His face went back stoic. "No...nothing at all. Just no arguements from you..." He strided away, and I had to jog to keep up. So far so good.



The last thing I remember was being kidnapped. No, the very last thing I remember is the other Max. What happened? Had she replaced me? Why? At that moment, I didn't know if I was awake or asleep, alive or dead. I blinked again and again, but theee was complete and utter blackness: no shadows, no blurry forms, no pinprick of light. Not being able to see anything at all made my blood run cold. Was I blind now? Had they experimented on my eyes? Where was I? I remembered being bound and gagged. I remembered passing out. Now I was here, but where "here" was I had no clue. Where was Darkus and the others? Had they been drugged? Somthing worse? The village? Was everyone okay? I tried to sit up, but it was as if I was suspended somehow - I couldn't put my feet down, couldn't push off anything. But I felt wetness. I could touch my face.
My hair was wet. I reached my hands out and felt nothing. There was water or somthing all around me, but it wasn't like ordinary water - I couldn't sink. I swallowed and blinked again, feeling myself start panick. Where was my flock? Where was I? What the heck was going on? Was I dead? If I was dead, I was going to be incredibly pissed because there was no way I could deal with this limitless nothingness for an hour, much less eternity. No one said death would be so immensely boring.
My heart was beating fast, my breaths were quick and shallow, my skin was tingling because blood was rushing to my muscles and main organs: fight or flight. Which reminded me. I stretched out my wings and couldn't feel a thing. Wildly I reached back with one hand. My heavy wing muscles, the thick ridges where they joined my shoulders, were there. I still had wings. Just couldnt feel them. Was I anesthetized? Was I having an operation? I tried as hard as I could to move, thrashing around in the blackness, but again I felt nothing. Very bad news. Where the heck am I?
Try to clam down. Clam down. Get it together. If you're dead, you're dead, and there's nothing you can do about it. If you're not dead, you need to get it together so you can escape, catch up with the others, open a can of whup-ass on whoever put you here.
I was completely alone. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been completely alone. Now if I were on a hammock on a beach, sipping a drink with a little umbrella in it, and I knew Darkus and the others were nearby and okay and everything was fine, I would be estatic. Being alone, off-duty, able to relax - it would be a dream come ture. Instead I was alone in darkness, with fear, with uncertainty. So where was I? You might not want to know. A voice. I wasn't completely alone after all. "Do you know where I am?" I asked, dropping away in to dull nothingness. Yes. "So tell me!" Are you sure you want to know? "Oh no, I enjoy being in a state of complete ignorance!" I snapped. "This is why I act the way I do! Now tell me, jerk!" Your in a isoltaion tank. A sensory-deprivation chamber. I don't know where, exactly. "Oh, my God. You were right - I didn't want to know."
An isolation tank. Nothing but me, my totally screwed-up consciousness, and some funky voice. Well, I could probably stand this for say, oh, ten minutes before I went starkraving nuts. Knowing those sickos in the lab coats, they probably planned to keep me in here a year or two, so they could take notes, see what happened to me. I needed to die, right now. But I'm Maximum Ride. So it wouldn't be that easy, would it? Of course not. My life would never contain a convenient, pain-saving plan when it could strech a problem out into and endless agony of uncertainty and torture.
I don't know how long I was in that tank. It could have been ten minutes. It felt like ten years. A lifetime. Maybe I slept. I know I hallucinated. Again and again I "woke up" to see myself back with Darkus, flying flawlessly through the cool air. I saw Erin and her mother again, smiling and waving at me. I think I cried for awhile. Basically every thought I'd ever had in my entire life, I had it all over again, on after the other in rapid-fire succession. Every memory, every color, every taste, every sensation of any kind replayed itself in my fevered brain, endless loops of thought and memory and dream and hope, over and over, until I couldn't tell what had been real and what had been a movie I'd seen or a book I'd read. I didn't know if I was really Max, or if I really had wings, or if I really had a friend named Darkus. Nothing was real except this tank. And maybe not even that.
Weridly, I was never hungry or thirsty. Nothing hurt; it felt good. So when the tank was finally cracked open and light streamed in, it seemed like the worst, most painful thing that had ever happened to me. I screamed, but the sound of my voice was intensly loud, piercing my eardrums, so I shut up immediately. I squeezed my eyes shut against the blinding light and curled up into a ball as much as I could. Big hands grabed me and pulled me up, and just their touch, after so much nothingness, freaked out me senses. They put me on a bed and covered me with a blanket. The feeling of anything touching me was torture, I huddled their trying not to move for a long, long time. Finally I realized that I wasn't in to much pain anymore. I tried opening one eye a slit. It was to bright, but I didn't feel like my retina was searing.
"Max?" The hushed whisper woke every nerve all over again, sending unbearably painful chills down my spine. I tensed, my eyes closed. I no longer knew how to run, how to flee, how to fight. I wanted to be back in the tank, the blessed darkness and silence and nothingness. "Max, how are you doing?" Jim Dandy, I thought hysterically. Peachy. Never better. "Max, do you need anything?" That was such a ludicrous question that I felt myself smile. "I need to ask you some questions," the voice whispered. "I need to know what Darkus is doing. I need to know." That got me. A couple of synapes actually connected in my brain. I pulled the blanket down just a little and opened my eyes a slit. "You know," I said. My voice was thin and rusty, made of nails. "You know."
"I'm afraid not, sweetheart," The Director said, his voice very quiet. Wait, did he just call me sweetheart? He was kneeling on the floor next to the cot I was on. "I want to know what he is doing. If you tell me, I will let you live. Keep you safe from harms way. And I will never experiment on you...most of the time." Now I felt 10 percent like myself. "D. Can I call you D? No? I'm afraid your going to have to learn to live without knowing." I chuckled a tiny bit. It sounded like a cat choking. The Director leaned closer to me. I opened my eyes and looked him straight in the face, that familiar face. But it only represnted bad now. "Your just a lost cause...you haven't got what it takes." I narrowed my eyes. "I'll show everyone I've got what it takes to rip out your spleen and out through your nose," I said weakly. Then my light was blocked again, the blanket pulled off, and big hands picked me up and dropped me back into that horrible tank.
I didn't want to be their lab rat anymore... What if I took that away from them? I smiled. But how can I take that away from them? I'd pretty much been established that I couldn't break out of this sardine can. Think about it. Not that I really thought about it, realizing how limited my options truly were kind of freaked me out. Here was a situation where all my speed, my physical strength, my cunning - none of it would do any good. It was mind-blowing. If it hadn't been so totally spaced, I would have panicked. As it was, I felt oddly removed from the problem. Freaked, but moved at the same time. I was losing myself. Losing my mind. Losing myself...losing me.
They would be upset if they lost me. Because I wouldn't be around to jump through their hoops. But since I couldn't physically move, getting lost seemed pretty unworkable. There was another way for them to lose me: if I died. Which would sort of defeat my purpose, as well as theirs. But - could I just make them think I was dead? I bet their were monitor of some sort in here. When you put a rat in a maze, you hung around to observe the results. They'd probably been recording my crazed ranting and sobbing all along. Now. How to be dead? I lay back in the buoyant liquid. It supproted me totally- I didn't try to keep my head up or anything. My breatheing slowed, in and out, one, two, three, four, I relazed every single muscle. Then I just... went inside myself. It was like I was a machine and I was slowly flicking switches off, I just willed all my systems to slow down more and more. In the yawning silence, my heart began to beat slower, then slower. My eyes closed. Everything was still and silent. Maybe I would lie in this watery tomb forever.
There was no time, no thought, no motion. I hoped I wasn't actually dead. That would make finding Darkus and saving the world really hard.

I, Maximum Ride, was dead, and nobody seemed to have noticed. Maybe I really was dead. I was starting to not really care one way or another. Finally, finally my captors figured out that instead of an interesting, captive lab rat, they now had a much less interactive dead body on their hands. Deep in my trance, I had only a split second to brace myself as they ripped open the top of the tank, letting in the retine-searing, blinding light. Staying limp was the hardest thing I ever done.
Voices said, "What happened? Who was monitoring her? They're gonna have our butts!" Once again hands grabbed me and hauled me out of there. Once again it was the most horrible, painful thing I could imagine. But this time I forced my eyes open, put my feet down, and roared. My knee's buckled under me, But I flung my wings out, shaking as much moisture off them. I had a brief glimpse of astonished, then angry faces, and, with another raspt, croaky roar, not nearly as intimidating as I'd hoped, I leaped up shakily.
I saw a blurred image of a window and ran at it, hardly able to keep on my rubbery legs. When I was close, I threw myself at the glass as hands grabbed my wet cloathes and wings. Please don't let this glass have chicken wire embedded in it, I remembered to pray last second. I guess it didn't, because I crashed right through it, which made every cell in my body feel like it had been crushed by a truck. Screaming in pain, I felt damp hair hit my cheeks and then I started to fall. I tried to move my wings, tried to remember that familiar feeling of catching wind beneth them: light, beautiful sails of muscle and feather and bone. But I felt only numbnessm a deadened sensation, as if I'd been dipped in novocaine.
Work, dang it, work! I thought, and had an image of myself crumpling into a broken heap on the ground, maybe five stories below. I also had the image of when that happened to Darkus. And it wasn't a pretty picture. It was dark out: less painful for my eyes. I opened them to see the ground rushing up at me way to fast. Once again I flung my wings out, desperate for them to catch me, to snatch me up into the air. And they did - just as my bare feet banged against the grass. Then I was lurching unsteadily upward, trying to remeber how to fly, how to move my muscles, how to hinge my shoulder blades to give me freedom. I lifted up past the broken window, which had several angry faces crowded in it. One face wasn't angry. The Director's. He gave me a cold stare. I soared upward, the wind blowing my wet hair back. I'm coming, Darkus.
________________________________________________________________________
Later on...

I tore through the night sky, rage rolling off me like steam. My whole life, the whitecoats had done countless heinous, inhuman, unforgivable things to me, to almost everyone I know. They had kidnapped Darkus and I. But now they'd really crossed the line. They had put me in a freaking tank! I was amazed I was still coherent at all, could fly at all. I stayed out of sight, under the tree canopy, zipping through and amoung and between the pine trees. I was close now. I'd be in the village in a matter of minutes.
I found it. Now to find Darkus. I ran through the village, being carful not to be seen. I screamed to a halt when I saw a familiar black figure. I hid behind some bushes and looked closer. There he was. My partner in crime! The head hancho! The big cheese! Then I frowned, I saw someone beside him. I strained to see the figure. My eyes widened and I felt the blood drain from my face. My hands clenged and unclenged at my side. There, standing beside Darkus, was ME?!?!?
Okay. Heck was GOING to be raised. I let out a murderous scream and lunged from my hiding spot.
________________________________________________________________________


In the middle of talking with Mr. Wonderful, a scream made heads whip around. Unbelievably, the old Max, Maximum Ride, appeared from the bushes. Where had she come from? She was supposed to have been taken care of! But here she was, and she looked sooo mad. "My invite must have gotten lost in the mail," she said venomously. "But I don't mind crashing this party." While everyone else blinked, looking around - giving new meaning to the word dumb - I cursed under my breath. A fine time for her to show up. This - along with the untimely arrival of my charming predecessor - was going to make my job a little more difficult. "Max?" Darkus asked, staring at the other Max. "Max!" Rsteg shouted. "Yes," we both answered.
The other Max looked at me, and her eyes narrowed. "They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," she said snidely. "So I guess you're really sucking up."
"Who are you?" I gasped, my eyes wide. "You're an imposter!"
"No, she isn't.' The creepy one, Darkus, turned to look at me. "You are." I swallowed my anger. Who did he think he was, him and his long hair? I gave a concered smile. "But Darkus," I said, sincerity dripping from my voice, "how can you say that? You know who I am."
"I think I'm Darkus," he said. "And my hair's just fine. You're the stupid one, to think that you can fool me. I can read minds, you idiot."
My stomach dropped faster than a falling elevator. No one at the school had told me that. I gaped at him. Was this a trick? Maximum Ride was running towards him. He hugged her, and I glared at her. I couldn't believe she had shown up, ruining everything. "Okay, let's solve your personality crisis," the other Max growled, turning to face me. Her face white and her hands turned into fists. "I was about to say the same thing," I growled back, getting ready to fight. "Keep your hands off my flock!" I noticed she had was trembling, and Darkus put a hand on her shoulder. "Max, are you alright?" Darkus asked. I started to say yeah, but then I saw he was looking at the Max. It was the other Max he cared about.
I was expendable. Fury rose in me. I was exactly like Max, I was Max, I was better than her in every way. But to everybody here, I was chopped liver. Nothing. Nobody. That's when I heard the Director's voice in my head. Take out the old version. She's no good. She's got an experation date. Without thinking, I launched myself at the other Max, right onto the ground, headfirst. The other Max was braced, but I had insane jealousy and rage on my side, I managed to slam into her, knocking her against a tree. Instantly she regained her balance and squared off at me.
"You don't want a piece of this," she said in a low voice. "You don't want a piece of me."
"Wrong!" I said snidely. "Uh, Max?" said Rsteg. "Shut up!" I snapped at him, and threw myself at Maximum Ride again. Darkus, Rsteg, and some shocked villigers moved out of our way. She managed to pull a fist back and punch me in the head, making me cry out. I kneed her stomach and her a satisfying oof! We were evenly matched - too evenly matched. We attacked in a flurry, with fists flying and roundhouse kicks and bruising connections. But then we retreated, circling each other warily. "There can only be one Max," Rsteg mummbled. "Yes, the real one," I heard Darkus said. I yelled and lunged for Max again, knocking her down. She held me by my hair and head-butted me so hard I saw stars, but I didn't let go. I whaled into her side with my fist, once, twice, three times. The third time, I sword I heard a rib crack. It felt sooo good.
"Which one survives is up to you," Darkus said, "May the strongest Max win."
"Shut up, jerk!" Maximum Ride barked at him, just as I was about to say th exact same thing. She jumped up, looked at each other. It was like looking in a mirror. So werid. But she had to go. There was one Max to many. With another roar I sprang forward, snapping out a side kick that sent her to the ground again. I dropped down onto her, sitting on her stomach, and punched her right in the nose. She winced, her head whipped to the sidem and then blood spurted out her nose. "You think you're so great," I hissed. She struggled beneath me, but I clamped my arms at her sides with my knee's and reached for her throat.
This was going to end one way: with me on top. I was built to survive. This was my destiny - to be able to outdo anything weaker that came before me. That was all I cared about. Max was weak because she cared about everything else - stupid emo boy. Everything other than she should care about. I chuckled aloud, thinking how pathetic she was. I was ready to squash. I was ready to squash her. But suddenly she arched her back, snarling, throwing me off hard. On her feet again, she kicked my chin, cracking my head back with so much forced I almost blacked out. Then she was straddling me, like I had done to her a moment ago. She grabbed my throat with both hands and started squeezing. With blood running from her nose, she looked murderous, unstoppable. One of her eyes were black, but she still has a choke on me. I grabbed her arms, trying to pull them away.
Oh, my God, I thought, struggling, vaguely suprised. She's going to win. It had never, ever occured to me that she could. In every scenario I'd run through, every training exercise, I'd always won. But amazingly, I was getting tunnel vision, and my world was going dark. I tried to buck her off with all my strength, but she was stronger than I was. "There can only be one Max," I dimly heard Darkus say. It came from a distance, floating over my head. This . . . is . . .it, I thought hazily. This . . . is . . . the . . .end. Suddenly the pressure around my neck released. With a huge, sucking rush, air poured into my lungs. Light filled my eyes, and I was gasping, wheezing, gulping in air. The old Max got off me. I coughed, my hand to my throat. I was struggling to sit up. "I'm stronger!" she growled. She then picked me up by my collar and brought my face to hers. "Leave. NOW!!!" Without hesitation I scrambled to my feet and headed into the darkness. Unsure of what fate had in store.
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I kept my eyes on the fake Max as she disappeared into the trees. Everyone was staring at me in shock. Even Darkus, who was hard to impress. Once I no longer heard the fake Max, I dropped to the ground, and went limp. My body ached and my breaths were fast. Judging by the pain I guess I had three broken ribs. And my skin felt like it was on fire because of that stupid TANK. "Max? Are you okay? Bark three times if you are!" I let out a hiss and opened my eyes to see Rsteg standing over me. "Shut...up..." I closed my eyes again and tried to ignore him. Then I felt that familiar presense that gave me the chills. "Max." Darkus whispered in my ear. "How bad is it." I forced a smirk and looked up at him, his face stoic but his eyes full of concern. "It's okay. Just a couple broken ribs..." He stared at me for a moment. Then ever so gently, picked me up.
I felt the wind run through my hair and the sensation of being off the ground. But after a few minutes that sensation was gone. The place we were in was dark and warm. And it smelled a bit like skittles. Or was it just me still a bit crazy from the tank? I was laid down on somthing soft, and I almost immediatly fell asleep. "Get some rest. You deserve it, Max. I'll be back later..." My eyes knitted together. "Don't leave me...please. Don't go." I pleaded with a whimper. "I will be right here when you wake up. Now get some rest." I felt an unnatural breeze and opened my eyes. Darkness. AGAIN. But this time I welcomed it. I closed my eyes. So many questions were running through my mind. Was the director making clones of Darkus to? What crazy plan is he up to? I didn't want to know. So I closed my eyes and went into a deep sleep.

You know when your awake but you keep your eyes shut and you don't move? That's what I was doing. My skin didn't burn anymore. But my ribs still felt like they were hit by a baseball bat. It didn't feel very peachy let me tell you. I squinted and forced my eyes open. I saw a dark figure in the corner, at first my mind started to race and I panicked. But then my eyes adjusted and saw that it was only Darkus. He had kept his promise. He walked over to my bed and sat down on the side.
"Was it bad?" Darkus asked quietly, not looking at me. "Yep," I said not looking at him. "Did you really know that wasn't me, the other Max?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"When?"
"Right away."
"How?" I persisted. "We look identical! She even had identical scars and scratches! She was even wearing my cloathes. How could you tell us apart?" He turned at me and grinned, making my world brighter. "She offered to cook..." A second later we were laughing so hard it brought tears to my eyes all over again. Darkus and I laughed and laughed, unable to speak, for the longest time.

ALMOST FORGOT! Darkus you better finish this story! Not ONLY for me. But for our fans. You and I made this together! And I want tis to keep going... Please, please finish it. I'm BEGGING you to... To all the loyal fans who have been reading my story. THANK YOU. I could have never reached 1018 views without you :') I salute you all! I'm going to miss letting my hands fly across the keyboard and tell the tale of Max and her flock. But it seems it was never ment to be. I'm going to miss ALOT of you... And it won't be the same without you all. So here's some stuff for you all...

TO TWINNIEH:
Twinnieh,
You are ubber awsome, amazingness. T_T And I am going to miss you SOOOOOO much! And I will keep my promise of trying to come back in 7-8 months. )': I am going to miss singing our Hula song. When I try it with Carley or somthing...they just stare at me like I'm crazy. So it will be hard But just know your Twinnieh is with you in spirit. I will be praying for you and you-know-who. Love you, Twinnieh~! *glomp* P.S Keep Darkus company for me. Talk to him every single day and talk about random things. He will get lonely!!! DX

TO MUSTANG:
Mustang~San!
Gonna miss ya pal! It was fun while it lasted. I am also happy I was your very first glomp! 8D Your calmness mixed with that awsome sense of humor makes my day! I want you to stay that way. Never, ever change. Don't go evil like you did on the first site >_> And please keep that awsome Toshiro avatar! 8DDD Love it! X3 Love chu, Mustang~San!

TO D_M:
D_M...
I'M GONNA MISS YOU, YOU CRAZY CHICK!!!! D8 Your special in your own way and that's why I love chu. We use to hate each others guts. But now we are close, as close can be. I know your gonna miss me as much as I am going to miss you. Keep rocking it for me, gurly!

TO GRILL:
NAGU! Love ya, girl! We both live in the south and rock the house! I cannot wait for our home teams to play against each other! X3 ALABAMA RULZ! *O* But so dose SC -.- We've had some pretty good times, cha know. Besides the fake that we sometimes claw each others eyes out O_O *gulp* Anyway...Gonna miss you, Grill. P.S Heard you say you was going Pyrus...YOU GO, GIRL! 8D

TO DAN:
Ah, Dan...
Where do I begin? Your my Pyrus brother!! Gonna miss you pal. We've done it all basically. You can be kinda a air head, but that's why I love chu! 83 But no worries! Once you get you X-Box fixed we can chats! 8D I cannot wait. Do me a FLAVOR (notice how I didnt use favor?) please DEMOLISH Spectra That means no Saber battles for chu! Okay? Bai..Dan.

TO KASEY:
Kasey.
Now I KNOW it's been kinda bad in the past. But we are friends in the end... And that's what matter's, am I right? *sigh* Ah, well. Nice knowing ya, Kass. AND KILL ALL THE EVIL BOYS LIKE YUGI!!!!!!! 8DDD

And finally-

TO DARKUS:
Darkus...
My brother. My darker half. I am going to miss you soooo much. It's going to hurt. I'm going to miss talking to you... Miss your lectures. Miss the way you always comfort me at hard times... We have a bond that can last forever. And we both know that... It was you who showed me who I am. Taught me how to stand. Your the shadow that will always linger behind me. Watching me, protecting me. I hope Kana watches out for you. I know it won't be the same though as talking to me. And it will be even harder on me because I won't see hardly any of you AT ALL. But I will go on. I promise whenever I have even just a few short minutes of internet, to make you a letter and tell you what's up in Max-Land! And I am probably going to listen to our song every single day. Praying our one wish will come true. But it will have to. Our bond is just to strong to break us apart. Just know that I am always with you in spirit...and I love you as much as one of my own brothers. Just know.. even though we may be apart for awhile... I'm already there...

~M~

I guess that's it then... Goodbye...

The story continues, with me as the writer. I hope I keep it as interesting as Max did.
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He stayed, by my side. I sat up. “Easy…” He spoke. I felt bandages around my chest. Had he? No….. It had to of been one of the nurses in the village. I moved from that question to the next. “So, how long was “the other Max” here?” I asked, wondering how long I was in the that cursed tank. “About 3 days.” Darkus replied. Three days? You have got to be kidding. “Wait, you were supposed to leave two days ago, the morning after I disappeared. Why didn’t you leave?” I asked looking at him as he was looking at the floor. “Because… you weren’t here.” He said. He just confused me…. “Wha?” I said. “Nevermind, just get some rest. You won’t be back up to flying strength for another week or two. I’ll be back in a few hours to check on you.” Darkus got up, went to the other side of the room and grabbed a glass of water and a small paper packet with some powder inside, walked over and handed it to me. “What’s this?” I asked as he began to head for the door. “Some medicine, it’ll help. I’ll be back soon.” Darkus stepped outside the door and launched into the sky. Medicine? I hate medicine…. It didn’t smell like just plain pain reliever. I read the side of the paper packet. “Osteo-Replenisher” What the heck did that mean. Well, the REAL Darkus wouldn’t give it to me if he didn’t have a reason. I dumped the packet into my glass of water and spun the glass, mixing it. I sipped the water until it was gone, then curled up for a nap again. It was nice to sleep and actually know where you are.



I left Max to rest. I know she had been through a lot. She must think I didn’t try to help her. What she doesn’t understand is that I couldn’t just leave the fake Max to rampage the village while I went to find her. Anyone missing would tip off the fake Max that we knew who she was. So, Max had to get herself out. If her will was strong enough, she would, and she did, faster than I had expected.
I took to the skies and flew to the training grounds where I arranged the warriors to meet that morning. Everyone from the past few days seemed to be present and accounted for. I landed, stirring up some dust. “Alright, you all have improved in sparring with each other. You all have become more aware of movement of the opponent. You are excellent warriors who can stand on your own two feet, in both your released form and human form.” The warriors looked at each other with looks of joy and excitement. “Now, is your last day…..” I spoke while drawing out a sword, and held it out pointing at one warrior then sliding it across the group. “ALIVE!” I cried as I lunged forward swinging my sword at one young kid. The crowd separated as I dove through it. Their faces looked wildly at me. “Come on! Attack!” I lunged again, this time nicking as older male across the shoulder, a minor wound. “Come on worms! Fight me!” I stood determined and ferocious. They all just stared. One boy looked around at the older boys who stood frozen in fear. He then looked toward me, then ran at me full force, trying to take me on alone. I stepped sideways, dodging his charge, then turned my back toward the group. “NOW!” I heard yelled from behind me. The half the group came rushing from behind me, while the other half ran around the back of me and tried to attack from behind. I leaped into the air just as they were around to reach me. I looked down to see the two lines of attack crash into each other. I laughed and circled around the massacre below, then landed about 10 feet away from the pile. I shook my head as I fell, with closed eyes, sword still in hand. Some of the young boys on top of the pile recovered quickly and charged. By my guess of hearing, it was about 5 of them. I kept my eyes closed as they approached. I held my hand out and felt the boy in the front of the charge chest hit my fingertips. I flicked my fingers down, sending him rolling backward, knocking the remainder of the charge behind him to the ground. I twitched my ear to hear footsteps behind me. I side stepped to the left, hearing about 5 boys run to my right. “A secondary charge from behind huh?” I said as the secondary line fell over the first line that was sprawled out in front of me. They boys didn’t attempt to get up. I heard no more footsteps. I looked up and counted the warriors sprawled out in front of me. I noticed one was missing. “Hmmm… one of you is missing…” I spoke. At that exact moment a young boy leapt into the air above me and fell down toward me. I closed my eyes again and leapt upward with a fist extended into the air. I landed the punch right in the stomach of the airborne kid. “Nice… Try!” I yelled as I forced my fist through his fall and sent him flying about 25 feet and he tumbled to the ground. He stood up, hunching over, wiping blood from his the corner of his mouth. I noticed more footsteps behind me, another charge. An easy evade, a young kid knocked out. Each attempt resulted in another warrior to be hit in the stomach or round-housed in the knee. The charges went on, decreasing the number from about 33.The number dwindled to just one. This young warrior was tired, he charged toward me sluggishly. He got near me, my eyes still closed, and fell, tripping over a rock. I caught his wrist as he fell, keeping him off the ground. I lifted the boys wrist to about where his eyes lined up with mine, still closed. I opened them to look into the boys dirty frantic, yet tired stare. I lowered the boy to his feet. He was too tired to fight back. I looked around, seeing 33 warriors sitting down, sprawled about, beaten and bruised. I stared at each one. Evaluating the damage I inflicted on each one. I sheathed my sword, not a thing was cut with it. I counted each time, one handed, with no sight. All the boys looked at me wildly. One of the finally spoke up. “Why?….Why would…. You attack us? Dark Angel?” He looked heartbroken. I looked back and walked over to him, sternly staring at his eyes. His eye followed mine upward as I approached him. I placed my hand up in front of his face. He closed his eyes and turned away, fearing my hand. My hand began to glow white. The white light encircled his body, tracing each wound with a glowing light. The boy still cowered in front of me. “Hey, look!” I commanded him. Reluctantly he looked up to see my hand lower. I stared down at him and then switched my gaze to a large wound on his arm, not glowing with light. He boy then turned to look at his arm. In a moment, the wound was gone, as if it never happened. “Hey, thanks!” I continued and went to each boy and healed him or her. (yes, there were a few girls that decided to join, mostly tomboys.) After they were all healed I spoke. “Listen up! Do you know why I did this?” Silence. “I did this because, like I said, you are all advanced attackers, even unarmed.” I was interrupted by an younger girl. “Then why did you do this if we are advanced?” She stared at me with annoyance. “However, you may be advanced in your own skill, but you lack one thing that is crucial for this plan to work; Teamwork. If you don’t work as a unit, you won’t get anywhere facing the Director. His power is increasing. Max was captured three days ago, and no one except myself noticed. From her description of the place, he is getting stronger than even beyond my expectations. It’s time you all smarten up and get serious in becoming one fighting force. Even the ferocious wolf doesn’t hunt alone.” I looked at all the young kids. They turned to each other and spoke a few words. “So, I can no longer help you in this training. Max needs to rest for a week or two. For now, my training with you is done. I will supervise, but not instruct. Here’s your challenge. Working in a group, you all must retrieve this ring….” I spoke and got interrupted. “That’s easy! We can do this.” one boy spoke. “From…” I tossed the ring into the air and threw it towards the top of the largest tree in the entire area. It stood at least 100 feet above the surrounding trees. “up there.” I finished. There will also be defenses I have installed inside that tree that will keep you from getting it. You have one week to get it. You can try as many times as you like. Good luck.” I walked away after 3 hours of knocking back kids. I took to the skies and flew toward Max’s hut, leaving the boys confused near the tree.

I heard birds chirping outside the window. It was so nice here, as if what happened yesterday was a nightmare. Going from a place of torture to this wonderland. It’s like it never happened. I slid up out of bed and winced. These wounds certainly bring reality back. I managed to sit against the backboard. I turned my head to look out the window overlooking the training grounds. I saw kids trying to climb the tallest tree in the bunch. They all tried to climb the SAME tree. What the heck were they doing? And most of all, what was Darkus doing? Making them go nuts? I shook my head and sighed. I heard a footstep at my door. I turned my gaze to the doorway. Darkus stood there, just looking at me, leaning against the door frame. “Oh… hello Darkus. I didn’t hear you come there.” I said as I game a shallow smile. He looked at me with a plain stare. “Yeah… because you were too busy wondering why I am making the warriors down there go nuts.” He said. I HATE when he does that. The thought of him getting inside my mind makes me cold. “Hmph!” I grumbled. “Anyway, how are you Max?” He asked. “Well, better. Not as sore and I feel rested up now.” I attempted to slide my feet onto the ground. The floor was cold and rocky. I attempted to get up and fell backward with a jolt of pain at my sides. “Max you aren’t going anywhere by yourself. Here.” He walked over and placed a large flattened, but slightly bend wooden strut against my back and fastened a series of straps across my chest that crossed over my shoulders, then one around my waist as a belt. It was uncomfortable. I couldn’t bend at all, my back was a straight as a board. “Darkus! I don’t like this thing.” I complained. He turned and began to walk away. “Come on! You aren’t getting out of some training.” He said coldly. “I can’t walk remember?” I then tried to get to my feet, no pain. “Oh….” I sighed and began to follow him. We stepped outside and winced at the sunlight. Darkus dove off the cliff that the house sat on. I stepped to the edge of the cliff and look down to see Darkus getting smaller and smaller. It was then I noticed the straps that crossed my chest had pockets and a handle on the back. This thing prevented my wings from opening. “Darkus!! I want this thing off me NOW!” I yelled down the side of the cliff. I saw Darkus open his wings towards the bottom of the cliffside. I blinked and then didn’t see him at all. My eyes frantically searched the ground. I heard a noise behind me. I was lifted off my feet and thrown off the cliff. I was falling headfirst, I tried to struggle but I couldn’t move. I closed my eyes as the ground closed in. It felt like I was falling forever, I should have hit the ground by now. I peeked one eye open to see that I was gliding over the forest. I could reach my hand out and touch the branches of the trees. I was perplexed. I tried to open my wings. They were still blocked by that brace Darkus put on me. I looked to the left and to the right. I couldn’t see anyone. I looked down to see my shadow. Funny thing is, the shadow had wings, but mine were wrapped up. I looked up as most as I could. I could see clouds and the blue sky, but nothing else. This brace stopped me from lifting my head very far. I held my hands out to the side, which for this whole time was pressed to my stomach. It felt nice to fly and not have to remember to press your wings up and down, up and down. Then I corkscrewed down into the trees. I could see tress coming my way. I tried to dodge to the right, but I went left. I tried to dodge down but I went up. I tried to dodge left, and I went down. All the commands I sent were messed up. What was this? Did I become mental from the Director? All the dodges and dives made me dizzy, considering I didn’t know which way I was going next. The tree line receded. Now I neared one of the many waterfalls in this area. I headed straight towards it and dove into it then pulled up. I closed my eyes and held my breath. I didn’t feel surrounded in water though, but I was inside the waterfall. I opened my eyes to be looking at a rushing reflection of myself as we climbed upward. The inside of the waterfall column was hollow. From the hazy reflection in the water, I could see I did have wings. I wasn’t seeing things was I? I tried to look back again. I couldn’t see a thing, this darn brace. I approached the top of the waterfall. I splashed through it again. I opened my eyes to see that I was climbing into the air above the river that then fell over the edge. Suddenly, I stopped climbing and dove downward. I am already rather confused at this point. Now, I begin to spin like a drill, diving downward towards the river. “Oh god! I am going to die!” I said out loud as I closed my eyes and covered my eyes. I neared the water and dived in, holding my breath. Then I felt a sudden pull upward. This DID hurt my ribs. “OW!” I yelled, realizing I wasn’t in the water… but in air, UNDER the river?!?! I opened my eyes to see we were in a cavern. I looked to the left and to the right to see stalactites and stalagmites. But they were crystals instead of stone. I looked up to see that the river flowed over the hole that was in the top of this cavern. No other way in or out.. From the top to the ground was about 100 feet or maybe more. I hovered in mid-air while I looked around. Each crystal reflected the sun-light entering from the water eclipsed hole in the ceiling and bounced from crystal to crystal until it hit the ground. There was a pool of water that seemed to shine after the light beams reflected and hit the pool. As I looked down, I started to descend downward. My feet touched the ground. I walked a few feet forward towards the pool. I placed my hand in, it was nice and warm. “This is so cool. This can be my little oasis. I’m gonna keep this secret from Darkus.” I said smiling like an evil genius. I was wearing shorts seeing as it’s the late summer at the time. I sat at the edge of the pool and placed my feet in. It felt so nice. From the struggle with the Directors forces, I did get some bruises and scrapes. I looked down to see that the scraps heal and the bruise slowly disappear…. “Whoa….” I whispered. “What were you going to keep from me?” A voice startled me so bad I jumped. I turned my head to see Darkus standing there when I had touched ground. “Darkus?!? What the heck are you doing here?” I asked, shocked and startled. “This pool is called the Crystalline Cosmos. It’s a one of a kind deposit of spirit energy. These crystals reflect the sunlight and moonlight that the Sun and Moon Spirits release as they pass over this spot each day and night. The only way you can find this pool is if you are endowed with the privilege or if you are with someone who is. It uses the energy to heal those whom the Spirits approve. It seems you have been looked upon by a God, Max.” Darkus spoke as he walked over to the pool and placed his leather gloved hand into the pool and grabbed a palm full of water and cupped it into his mouth and swallowed, while turning to face away from me. I looked at him. “So, if I sit in this pool I will be healed of all wounds?” I asked with squinted eyes. “Yeah. Bones however will take overnight. The moonlight heals most interior injuries while the sunlight heals most topical and shallow flesh wounds.” Darkus spoke while looking over his shoulder. “Alright then! I want to get these wounds healed ASAP. I hate pain.” I replied. “So, let’s get that brace off then.” Darkus walked over to me and untied all the straps. “I love how I found this place!” I cried as I slipped into the pool wearing my t-shirt and shorts. “You don’t think you found this place by yourself did you?” Darkus asked smugly as he leaned against the crystals lining the edge of the pool with a shallow smile on his face. I scrunched my face at him. “Yeah right Darkie… you weren’t there, I was alone. I don’t know HOW I found it, but your weren’t there.” I replied with a smirk. “Oh wasn’t I? How did you fly here? You might want to look on the back of the brace you were wearing during your flight.” Darkus said as he got that look of I-know-it-all on this face. I looked at the brace which sat on the edge of the pool. There was a handle on the back of the brace. “Why YOU!?!” I smirked at him. He gave a smile and turned around. “Now then, we will wait here until tomorrow morning, then you should be all set to continue training. Darkus jumped into the air and spiraled upward into the hole and out of the cavern. “DARKUS! Get back here!” I yelled at him. He didn’t hear me. I sank in the water and relaxed. I could feel the wounds healing. It feels like being cut, but in reverse. The bones rather, would tingle as they were beginning to heal, I assume. I drifted off into sleep with this warm water.

I awoke with a hazy feeling. I was in a deep sleep. I looked up to see the moon shining down, the light bouncing off the crystals and down into the pool. I heard a clattering sound echo inside the cavern. I looked up to see Darkus hovering in mid-air moving a crystal. The new beam formed onto my left side. I could feel a warm numbing sensation on that spot once the beam was set. “Hey.” I called to Darkus. He looked down then descended downward to hover near the pool. “How are you feeling?” He asked. “Better. Breathing doesn’t hurt anymore.” I told him still half asleep. “Good. It’s nearly healed then, another 6 hours or so and you should be okay.” Darkus said as he landed and walked across the cavern. I could hear his footsteps echo across the cavern. He knelt down and picked up a bowl that had steam rising from it that was simmering over a small fire that floated in the center of the cavern. I looked at him and cocked my head, confused. “That fire wasn’t there before I drifted off. What did you do?” I asked him as he handed me the bowl of what looked like a soup. “It’s nothing.” he said as he snapped his fingers and the fire faded away. Darkus snapped again with the opposite hand and I heard a sliding of rocks behind me. Crystals erupted from the ground and rose to form small pools that connected and flowed into the big pool I was in. The crystals grew in a spiral pattern around the cavern until it reached the he top. Darkus lifted his hand into the air and then I noticed that the water flowing over the entrance separated and flowed into the newly formed crystals which trickled down slowly filling each pool then overflowing into the next until it flowed into the pool at the bottom. It made the prettiest sound I have ever heard. I looked at Darkus, he was looking up at what had formed around the room. It was a sanctuary. Beautiful, yet mystifying at the same instant. We sat in silence admiring the beauty. Darkus finally stopped gazing around and walked over to the darker side of the cavern and leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. He didn’t move or even make a sound. Once he closed his eyes, it felt like the crystals glowed brighter and prettier. The water felt like the healing sped up too. I began to relax again as I finished the soup Darkus gave me. I set the bowl to the side and relaxed in the water. I could make out Darkus’ figure on the opposite side of the room. The light in the cave dimmed a bit as the moonlight dimmed above. The moon had set, and the sun began to rise. Darkus then knelt to the ground and sat Indian style, keeping his eyes closed. I thought I was seeing things when I saw his wings pull out and he began to levitate. I looked at him and rubbed my eyes in disbelief. After a few minutes, Darkus began to glow red. Now that you mention it, when he was leaning against the wall before he was glowing a lightning blue. The tips of the feathers on Darkus’ wings lit of fire, but never shortened. The light in the cave brightened again as the sun began to filter into the cave. I was confused now, but I felt like I was going numb with warmth. I got sleepy all of a sudden. I drifted off into sleep again, with a large smile across my face. I haven ever talked so little in one day before, but I had never been so happy.

I heard a large fire flare up. I burst my eyes open in panic sitting up in the water, looking around, making sure not to make a sound. A bright light emanated from the center of the room, it was so hot that my forehead began to bead up with sweat. I had to close my eyes at one point because it was so bright. The flames subsided, leaving nothing behind. I looked around for a minute and called out “Darkus?” I only heard my voice echo. He’s gone? Where could he have gone this time? I was only asleep for a few hours since he last left for food. He couldn’t be hungry again… could he? But, that light earlier? I was so confused. “WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!” I yelled out, only to hear myself echo. It sounded cool. “You’re an idiot!” I yelled. Only to hear the same insult back at me. “NO! YOU’RE the idiot!” I called. I laughed and then shook my head. I was getting off track. I needed to find Darkus. I stretched and got out of the pool. Funny thing is, you’d figure my skin would be swelled from being in the water for 24 hours. THIS was funny water, I was dry as soon as I stepped out of the pool. It’s like I wasn’t in water at all. I stretched my arms into the air. No pain at all. I felt better than before I was hurt! I thought of my wings, being kept closed for nearly 2 days, they must be screaming for freedom. I unveiled them. They breathed a sigh of relief. I shook them around and rose into the air. It felt like forever since I flew last. I did a quick glide around the room. I landed then saw a lightning blue flash in the center of the room. I saw Darkus standing there, arms crossed, eyes closed. “Darkus!” I yelled and walked over to him. “Where did you go?” I was worried. “He just opened his eyes and stared at me. “I see you are back to full strength. If you are, then let’s go.” Darkus said as he opened his wings and jumped into the air. “Again, IGNORED!!!! Will I EVER get answers from you Mr. dark secret?” I jumped into the air after Darkus to meet his death stare. I felt like a lightning bolt had slowed down and struck me. My sight focused in and out and almost faded completely. It lasted a few seconds. “It’s nothing. You are not to come back here without my presence. Do you understand?” Darkus looked upward towards the exit. “Yeah, I’ll keep it secret since it’s so nice here, I don’t want others to find it.” I replied with a shallow smile. “No one will EVER find this place. Now, you need to spin at a fast velocity in order to exit.” Darkus spoke as he began to fly at full speed while spinning rapidly. I followed close behind. I dove through and lost momentum half way through the river. I floated to the surface. My head broke free from the water to see Darkus land ever so gracefully on the bank. I looked around and saw the meadow again. I turned away from Darkus in the water. In the corner of my eyes I saw something rushing towards me. I could never move fast enough to dodge it. I suddenly felt a pull. Next thing I knew I landed on the grass as the water erupted into a fireball. “Get up!” Darkus called as I tried getting to my feet. “What do you think I am trying to do?” I replied while jumping into the air. Darkus jumped into the air beside me. “What was that?” I asked, freaking out. “Him.” Darkus replied as he pointed to a metallic figure below us, about 100 years away to the east. “What is this guys deal?” I asked Darkus. I looked over to Darkus to see that he was glowing lightning blue. “Why not ask your old friend, the Director?” Darkus replied staring daggers at the man below.