Author's Note: Snickers bars to anyone who can guess what is going to happen first in the second chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Max Ride, her Flock, Danny, or any of the characters you recognize from Tamora Pierce's Kingdom of Tortall (which is not a book in itself, Tortall is the setting of several quartets of hers). I also don't own the animal mentioned in the last paragraph. I do own Ultima and the plot of this story, though.
Maximum Ride and her Flock were currently practicing flying exercises over a forest near their latest home in the mountains. Max looked over at Nudge, the twelve-year-old motor-mouth of the group, and guessed exactly what the little girl would say next:
"Maa-ax! I'm HUNGRY!" Nudge's extreme appetite was probably the only thing that kept her from extending that phrase to a five-minute rant.
"Okay, honey. I guess we can take a break." Max then addressed the rest of the group, "Let's land in that clearing! We can rest for a minute or two there!" She began her descent, and could tell the others had followed her; everybody was tired, although no one would admit it outright.
A few minutes later, Iggy had started a small fire and Fang, Nudge, and the Gasman were cooking hotdogs and lunchmeat over it. Max and Angel were at the edge of the clearing discussing things with their minds. Suddenly, Angel looked around wildly and mentally sent a message to the other Flock members. Everyone else looked up—and panicked. All the trees had disappeared, and they were surrounded by people. Worst of all, every one of the strangers was staring at them, or rather, at the wings they hadn't been hiding. The people started murmuring and the bird-kids could make out things like, "strange," "—magic?" and "Goddess bless!"
Max was about to shout for take-off, when a piercing shriek broke the air.
"Daine!" Someone shouted, and everyone who knew what that meant looked up. Now the Flock could see a golden eagle flying straight towards them. The eagle called again, and landed on Max's shoulder. As if that wasn't surprising enough, it looked Max right in the eye and said, "Hello."
"AAAAH!!!" Nudge and Gazzy screamed. Iggy, being blind, didn't know who had spoken and therefore wasn't freaking out. Fang blinked, so he must have been amazed. Max just stared at the bird in disbelief. Angel was the picture of concentration-incarnate.
Max sent a mental question to Angel: 'What's going on? Where are we? Who are these people and can we trust them?' Okay, make that several questions. But before Angel could answer, the eagle spoke again:
"You can trust everyone here. You're in the Kingdom of Tortall, though I don't know how you got to this camp. My teacher might know, though. Too bad he ain't here right now."
Max though to herself, 'How did she know what I was thinking? And how can she talk?'
"I know your thoughts because of my Wild Magic. It connects me to all Beast People. Your bird-part lets me enter your mind. And I can talk because I'm not a real eagle. This just happens to be my fastest form. Follow me to the castle. Fly. Jon'll want to meet you." With that the eagle took off and headed north.
Shrugging, Max gave the command to Up-and-Away. Next thing anybody else knew, the winged children were gone and seven dots were flying away. Last thing they heard was, "Cloud! Get Numair!" and the dots were gone.
Danny Phantom was, as usual, fighting a ghost. Only, this time, the ghost he was fighting wasn't Vlad Plasmius, Skulker, or the Box Ghost. This ghost was new, and he didn't seem to fight back; he just dodged everything Danny threw at him.
"I am Ultima! I control all things over-crossed! Be ready!"
"Be ready for what? You're not even trying to hurt me!" Danny was getting annoyed. This ghost, apparently named Ultima, was very agile, but made no attempts to either escape or attack. This would be the first ghost the halfa had met outside the Ghost Zone that didn't try to pulverize him, and he couldn't figure out how to defeat stripy-haired ghost.
"Your choices are not your own. You must learn to ignore the views of your creator. Do as you believe right; not as you are told that is right. Join forces with others like you—you must learn!" With that, Ultima threw something at Danny, who went intangible by habit. But the object didn't go through the ghost-child. It was absorbed by Danny's body, and the last thing he saw before blacking out were the words "TAMORA PIERCE" scrolling across his view. Ultima watched calmly as Danny Phantom fell out of the sky, and disappeared a few feet from the ground.
"OW!" Danny hit the hard forest floor…well, hard. The pine needles poked through his jumpsuit. Wait a minute! Pine needles?! He should have landed—okay, crashed—on the pavement of the street! Looking around, Danny gasped.
The knights that were surrounding him looked up from whatever they were doing, and their gasps were added to the one belonging to the white-haired boy that had just appeared in the middle of their camp. A short woman with purple eyes and copper-red hair stood up.
"Who are you?" The lady asked. "How did you get here?"
"Where am I? Who are you?" Danny tensed up, ready to fly away if necessary.
"You are in the Kingdom of Tortall. And as Knight of the Realm, and as King's Champion, I have to take you to the castle for questioning." The lady (knight?) turned to a large man near her and stated, "Hakim, take over."
Returning her attention to Danny, she said, "Please come with me. I'll get you a horse."
"I'll go with you if it means answers, but I don't need a horse. I'll fly." Danny levitated 10 feet to show her.
The lady shrugged. "Fine, but your ghost-form will be very tired before we get there." The halfa was, of course, stunned. He was so stunned, in fact, that he dropped five feet before he regained control and went back up again.
"How did you know I'm a half-ghost—or even a ghost at all?! Only the people in Amity Park know, and I had to flat-out tell them! Who are you?!?"
"I am Lady Alanna of Pirates Swoop and Olau, and I am Sir Alanna, King's Champion and Knight of the Realm of Tortall. While I know what you are, I still have yet to know who you are. Please?"
"I am Danny Phantom, Amity Park's ghost hero. And since you already know I'm only a half-ghost, I guess I can tell you that my other form is," (Danny Phantom transformed at this point, quickly becoming Danny Fenton) "Danny Fenton, son of Amity Park's strangest ghost hunters." All the knights except Alanna gasped. (AN: These people like to gasp, have you noticed?)
Before anyone could say anything more, a loud shriek pierced the air. Everyone looked at the sky to see a large, golden bird swoop down. The eagle was being followed by six kids with wings. Huh? The bird landed on Alanna's shoulder, and the kids landed in the trees. They looked on in interest, and wariness. Following the apparent tradition, the knights gasped. Twice.
Alanna was the first to stop staring at the bird-kids. She faced the eagle that was on her shoulder and staring at the flying boy. "Daine, go in my tent. You can change back there, and a set of your extra clothes is in the left pocket of the saddlebags." The eagle flew toward a tent farther away. Turning to the kids, who were fidgeting by now, Alanna commented, "Well. Looks like Tortall has more unusual visitors than I thought. Who are you?"
Five of the kids looked at the sixth, youngest member of the group. The little girl nodded, and all the kids glided to the ground.
The oldest girl, who looked about 15 or 16 years old, spoke up. "I'm a little worried since we fought for our lives on a daily basis for four and a half years, but Angel trusts you, so I guess it's alright. I'm Maximum, Max, Ride. My Flock and I are the result of genetic mutation and experimentation. We are less than 98 human; the rest is all bird, hence the wings."
Seemingly snapping out of a trance, the girl called Max glared at the little girl (Angel?) and said, "Why did you make me tell them that much? They're STRANGERS! And they're completely human! Remember what humans think of us and do to us?"
"They can help us. And Daine, the eagle, she's a demi-goddess with animal-magic! She's gonna take us to someone who might know how to send us back! He might even help us control our powers!" Angel was shaking with what appeared to be excitement.
Alanna was shocked, to say the least. "How does she know that?! What do people do to you that would keep you from telling us who you are? I doubt it could be worse than what people did to Daine before she came here."
Max continued to stare at the littlest girl. "To answer your first question, she's a mind reader. And for your second question and your statement about you doubts, nothing could be worse than what we received as results of our existence. As Angel made me tell you before, we're experiments. The crazy scientists that created us kept us in cages and did dangerous things to us just to see how we would react. Then we escaped, and for four and a half years, we were on the run. News-crews tried to catch us and made us look like unintelligent things, while the scientists sent monsters after us to catch or kill us. Several times we were caught and sent back to the labs, where we were scheduled to be exterminated. We always escaped, thanks to a Voice in my head telling me to 'save the world'. A year ago, we were in Germany when we were caught for the final time. Fang had gotten news to the German kids, who attacked the castle we were kept in. We defeated Itex, the company that had been out to kill half of the people on the planet. But for another six months, we were still on the run because allies of Itex were constantly trying to get us back for foiling their plans. That is why I never trust anyone outside the Flock. Trust gets you killed."
Again, Max twitched and got mad at Angel for "making her say too much". And again, everyone gasped. Oi.
Danny had gone unnoticed since the bird-kids' arrival, so everyone was startled when he spoke up. "Yeah, sounds like my parents and my community news-crew. Except they never really catch me, and they only want to do anything to me because I'm a ghost, and they think to the point of obsession that all ghosts are evil."
That was when a glowing man appeared. He was hovering about 20 feet off the ground, and everyone had a good view of his striped hair and constantly-changing face. Danny ga… well, you know.
"I am Ultima! I am the supreme ruler of all things over-crossed! Be ready!" With that the floating man was gone.
"Ultima! Get back here NOW! You better start explaining!" White rings appeared around Danny Fenton's waist and moved over him, one going up, and the other going down. Danny Phantom now stood in his place, and he was seething.
But before the halfa could do anything more violent than shouting, a giant, furry animal with an arrow pattern on its head winked into existence right above him. With a roar, it landed at the edge of the clearing, its six legs bending to soften the impact. Stunned silence.