This is just a one-shot because I was bored one night ;) Hope you all like it!
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Max POV
Boredom had set in a long time ago as we were just sitting around my mom's house on her couches and watching TV. It was a bright and sunny day but also very hot out; nearly 100 degrees.
"Hey guys, I have an idea." My mom suddenly said, making us all jump a little.
"What is that?" Iggy yawned and stretched his arms over his head; cracking his back and making his shirt ride up, flashing his ribs.
"You should all go out and race or play tag, get your heart rates up for some exercise. I'd like to measure your heart rates anyway out of curiosity." Mom smiled and I shrugged.
"Why not, I'm bored anyway." I said, getting up. I was also kinda curious about this. Everyone followed me outside and to the pool in the backyard. Mom had her complicated stethoscope that could read heart rates and how much energy was being used. I thought it was pretty cool. She called us all over and wrote down everyone's names in a column. She had a section for resting heart rate and energy as well as elevated heart rate and energy. We were all to go have fun and she'd call us over to check whenever she needed to.
"I wanna swim though." Angel said and Gazzy agreed.
"You can swim." Mom smiled and they cheered, both diving into the water, Nudge instantly following. That just left Iggy, Fang, and I.
"We could always play tag." I suggested and Iggy suddenly punched my arm.
"You're it then!" He shouted and instantly bolted up into the sky, Fang close on his heels. Their huge wings sent a large gust of wind rushing into us, making mom grab her papers so they didn't fly away. The boys easily had wingspans of nearly 16 feet wide, while mine was only 14 even though I was the oldest.
"Hey wait up!" I yelled and took off after them. They split up in the sky, each dive bombing back towards earth. I took after Iggy, knowing that he was the slowest out of the two. Even though he was blind, he easily navigated the sky, even avoiding obstacles like trees. His hearing was excellent, so he could easily tell when I was behind him. He'd move just a few feathers and he'd shoot off in another direction. Fang was way more fun to chase after. I spotted him just underneath me and I dived down towards him. He glanced up at me and shot straight up, rocketing past me. I instantly followed him, pumping my wings hard to catch up. But he continued to gain ground on me, flying higher and higher into the sky. We shot past the clouds and his wings suddenly unfurled again, stopping him immediately. I tried to do the same but was way less graceful at it. I clumsily turned around to see him already falling like a stone, headed straight for the ground. I tucked me wings in and flew after him, the characteristic whistle of the wind through his feathers ringing in my ears. This kind of stunt work always terrified my mom. Only Fang knew how to do this really well, that was his advantage on me. The huge amount of G's he was able to handle was over 3 times as much as a trained military fighter jet pilot.
"See ya!" I called out, pulling up out of my dive. I watched as he did the same, shooting off to the side and climbing into the sky again. Mom motioned towards me and I landed next to her, keeping my wings out to cool down. I panted as she placed the stethoscope on my chest.
"230." She said and I smiled. We were so much more efficient than humans at this kind of exercise. She wrote it down and then looked up as the whistling sound started up again. I saw Fang rocketing in behind the house. He shot towards the pool, unfurled his wings and pulled up just enough for his wing tip to graze the water. He climbed back up into the sky, his huge black wings glinting the sun.
"That always unnerves me." She shuddered. I smiled.
"He's just showing off." I said as she raised her hand up, waving him down. He was hundreds of feet up in the air and yet was still able to see her clearly; an advantage to his raptor DNA. I watched as he flew down to us, back beating his massive black wings to land. He walked up to us, his large wings held out to cool down as mom put the stethoscope on his chest. She nodded and wrote down his number; 303.
"That still amazes me." She said and put the stethoscope back on, motioning for me to come over. She put the earplugs in and I could instantly hear Fang's rapid heart rate droning in my ears. I could also hear him breathing, the huge rush of air nearly drowning out his heart. I gave back the stethoscope to mom and she smiled. Fang looked over at her and waited for a second, then turned and took off again.
"Why'd he hesitate?" I asked.
"Waiting for my permission I guess. He didn't go until I nodded." She put the stethoscope down. "You know what's cool is that his heart rate isn't that much elevated compared to his resting rate at 260. He could easily go for hours at this rate."
"I'm not surprised, he's done that many times in the School." I sighed.
"What do you mean?"
"Jeb had him running on a track once for 3 hours." I said and her eyes widened. "He ran the whole time and Jeb eventually got bored, making him stop."
"Amazing." She said and watched as Fang flew overhead and dropped into the swimming pool to cool down. "He has quite the endurance."
"We all do." I said and smiled at her. "When you live in our world you have to."