Hey peoples. Okay, here's my story: I wrote this story and originally called it Maximum Ride #5: MY version. But it kind of sucked, and I didn't know how to continue, so I stopped it. These are pretty much the same chapters, starting with chapter 4 from the previous story. But they're a lot better and I'm hoping that since this story will be more about Lightning Thief, it'll attract more readers and more reviews and so I'll get better. So, please read and review!

Disclaimer: I've always wanted to do one of these that was funny, but I don't want to copy anyone else, and I can't think of anything right now, so here it is: I do not own Maximum Ride or Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The plot is MINE!

Max's POV:

We flew north, away from the School as fast as possible. The cold, desert night breeze stirred my feathers softly. The moon glowed like a giant orb in the sky. We passed over the desert and mountains started springing up from below.

Okay, getting poetic here.

Finally we seemed far enough away, and I dared to swirl down to the tree-covered Sierras, landing in a tree. All our stuff had been taken away. We had nothing but the clothes on our backs and whatever we had happened to have in our pockets. No food, no water, nothing to light a fire with. At least the snow had melted by now.

"I'll take first watch." My voice shattered the silence.

"I can if you want."

I paused. I was tired…. "No, you took the last one."

I scurried up a tree and sat down on a branch, watching as Fang chose his own and lay down across it. Eventually, his breathing slowed and he melted into the darkness, leaving me to sink into my misery at last.

They had been taken away. It was my fault.

I remembered what Angel had looked like when we had gotten her back from the school before. Half of her face had been a giant bruise, and she had had a hard time flying again for a while. Could we get them all back before that happened to them all? And what about Akila? She was just a normal dog! Would they turn her into something else?

We had to hurry. There wasn't time to stop and rest! I actually jumped down from my tree before I realized that we had just stopped. No, Max, calm down. Calm down. You need to rest.

I closed my eyes and sat down on the ground. Opening them again, I concentrated on making sure there wasn't anyone about to ambush us, doing regular three-sixty scans. Just, you know, being the night.

Eventually I glanced down at my watch. Time for Fang's turn.

#

I woke up to an early sunrise, not feeling any more rested than when Fang had taken over the watch. But I stood and stretched.

"Morning," I said to Fang.

He nodded back.

"Let's try to find a town, get some chow."

"Okay."

I took off running through the trees and took off, pushing myself through the air, Fang behind me. After a little while I spotted a town below. I angled myself towards a dumpster behind a restaurant.

When we landed, I hoisted up the lid and we pawed through the mess. I was too hungry to recoil at the smell. Finally, we found some cold pizza protected by a box. We wolfed it down, then, after shoving some more edible food in our pockets, launched ourselves back into the air.

"We've got a long day ahead of us," I said. We could do it. Fang and I were the strongest of the Flock and could fly for the longest without stopping.

We flew fast, desperately trying to get to my baby Angel and Gazzy. Or at least I did. Angel had to go through horrible experiences again because of me.

My own stupid self. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Not because of you, Max. You deserved a vacation.

Great, Voice. Don't even try to make me feel better. I should have stayed up for watch! If I had stayed up we would never have gotten captured and we wouldn't be in this mess!

The School wasn't supposed to take you. They shouldn't have even used Flyboys.

That was weird. Then why did they capture us?

They got tired of waiting for instructions from the new Director and decided to take things into their own hands. And the Uber-Director was destroyed before the new soldiers were exported to all the branches.

So they're going to experiment on the Flock without the Director's permission?

Exactly.

I considered that as we flew. Who was this new Director?

I thought about last night at the beach in California, about swimming without having to worry about showing our wings after Angel made everyone else go away, about s'mores around the campfire and music and laughing.

And then it was all taken away from us. We'd been gagged and tied up, and separated into our own separate prison cells. Fang and I managed to get out, but not before the others were taken away and transported to other schools.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

#

Fang and I coasted over the marshes and dry fields around a lake.

It's Harney Lake, part of the Harney Basin, Oregon. The Itex building is just a little north of here.

Okay. I looked around, seeing if there were any trees around. Absolutely none.

"Guess we'll just have to crash on the grass," I said.

"Yep. I'll take first watch."

After a dinner of some of the leftovers in our pockets, I curled up in a ball, feeling Fang's eyes on me. I tried to ignore him, and soon was asleep.

I woke up to Fang's hand on my shoulder.

"Max, Flyboys," he said, barely audible.

I looked up. A smudge in the sky was making its way towards us. There were maybe fifty.

"What are we going to do? We can't take that many!" I said, looking up at him, feeling panicky.

"There isn't much we can do. Fly away?"

I nodded, and we both launched ourselves into the dark night. We flapped as fast as we could, straight ahead. But after a few minutes, they were almost upon us. We swerved and twisted, trying to confuse them, but it didn't work that well, and soon we were fighting mid-air.

I figured out how to do this roundhouse kick thing, and that helped a little. Fang was punching and ducking and kicking a little bit away. But there was no way we were going to win.

Suddenly, a steam of silver arrows flew through the air and planted in a bunch of the Flyboys, right through the backs, and they fell to the ground below.

Whaaat? Arrows that could cut through metal? I glanced down, and wow and behold, there was a swarm of girls with bows and arrows shooting Flyboys right out of the sky.

One wasn't holding a bow, but was scowling up, arms crossed. Her arms unfolded and reached up, amazingly long fingers outstretched. She seemed to concentrate for a second, then electricity shot out and all the rest the Flyboys froze and crashed. I stared.

Fang and I looked at each other. How the heck did these people get here? And what was that? It was almost like… I hate to say it… magic. I shuddered.

We swooped to the ground, landing about twenty-five yards away from them

Two of the girls led the rest over to us. Who appeared to be the leader had flaming auburn hair, and looked younger than me, maybe thirteen? Actually, almost all of them looked pretty young.

She stared at me a moment, then said, "You're mortals."

Huh? "Um, yeah, what else would we be?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm and in control. Well, maybe with just a little sarcastic touch.

She laughed. "What were those things? They weren't like any monsters we've seen before."

"Who are you?"

The red-haired girl smiled. Oh no, I thought. Red-haired. I glanced at Fang out of the corner of my eye. "I am the goddess Artemis. You are mortals." She frowned at Fang. "You are a boy."

I laughed. Ri-i-i-ight.

Her glanced turned to me. "Don't believe me?"

"Um, no?" I said sardonically.

The girl with black hair who had done the magic thing stepped forward, eyes narrowed. "Well, who are you?"

Now, she looked a little dangerous. Or at least more dangerous than the others.

I put on my bored mask. "I usually don't go around giving people my name."

"I am Thalia, daughter of Zeus, second-in-command of the Hunt. As monster-hunters, we command you."

Now I was just grumpy. How stupid did they think we were? "Yeah, command me. That's worked really well for everyone else."

Artemis interrupted her retort. "You are injured. Stay in our camp one night so we can explain things to each other and you can heal."

I checked Fang and me out. She was right. Fang's nose was bleeding pretty badly, and we both had lots of other various injuries.

Fine. "Well, we're not going anywhere."

#

Fang and I had just sat down on the spot and watched as tents almost magically appeared out of their sacks. They set up silvery, silky-tents a little away from us. I saw a lot of the girls giving Fang suspicious looks. Finally the black-haired girl—Thalia—beckoned us into the largest tent.

Fang and I shared a glance. Could we trust them? Was it just another trap? "I guess we've go no choice," I muttered to him.

He nodded, and we followed her in.

Inside, it was surprisingly warm. "Artemis" was sitting on the ground, criss-cross-apple-sauce. "Welcome," she said simply in her pure, sweet voice.

I stared at her. Who did she think she was?

"We have a lot to learn about one another. Please, sit down."

I sighed, like, whatever, and did. Thalia sat down next to the girl.

"So, who are you really?" I asked.

"I am Artemis, goddess of the moon, of wild things, leader of the Hunt, patron of maidens like you, protector of children, sister of Apollo, sworn virgin, and one of the twelve Olympians."

"No, I mean, really."

She raised one eyebrow. "Don't believe me?"

"Uh, no?"

She considered. "I know it is hard to believe, but there in fact really are all of the gods and goddesses from Greek mythology. And all the monsters and heroes and pretty much everything else."

Silence. Did they honestly expect me to fall for that?

Suddenly, Thalia stood up. She was dressed in a combination of Punk and Gothic clothes, mostly black. Her fingers stretched and lighting slashed the night, her glaring all the way. Just like before. Except this time, I got an electric shock.

Jumping up, I said, "Hey! What is that, like, another of Itex's new inventions? Did they send you here to get us? Well, just take us there already! Stop wasting our time!"

"Itex? Are they the ones that gave you…?" She looked at my wings, which I hadn't bothered to fold up.

I breathed out. "Yes."

"I assure you, we have no part in this "Itex". We just heard the fight and came to help. That was Thalia's gift. Because she is the daughter of Zeus."

"So you really are a… goddess?" Fang asked, speaking for the first time.

"Yes."

Fang glanced up at me.

"What about you? What are you? Are there more of you? Why do you have wings?" Thalia asked.

Another sigh escaped me. "It's a long story."

"Just do the best you can."

It was weird. I mean major weird. Because I found myself trusting them. And that's amazingly rare for me, trusting people. "Yeah, there are four others. It started at a place called the School…. They created us by combining human genes and bird genes. Then they did all kinds of experiments on us, but then one of the lab workers stole us and took us away—set us free. Then he disappeared, and I kind of become the leader." I took in another deep breath. Even now, it was hard to talk about. "They've been after us now, and the others were taken to other Schools and Itex branches, so we're trying to get them back. Two of them are around here somewhere."

Artemis watches us closely. "You were the ones we heard about from the battle in Germany."

I laughed. Yes, folks, I actually laughed. "Yes, that was us."

She sat quietly, thinking. "Fang, you may leave. I wish to talk to Max alone."

So there you go. Wah-lah! PLEASE REVIW!!