Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. Okay, that's over with.
The next day, I was still a little shaken by the guy who tried to strangle me. I decided not to tell my mother because nobody seemed to have known it happened. Plus, I didn't want to worry her.
I woke up again with a splitting headache. It seemed worse than the last time but after a little while it died down. It wasn't like the headaches I used to have that made me throw up.
Wait, I never had headaches like this before. What is going on with me?
After I showered and got dressed, I went downstairs and my mother was making breakfast. It was waffles this time. She gave me a plate of them with some butter and syrup.
"So, what are you doing today?" she asked.
"Well, there's the dance competition in the town square today," I said, "Jacob is taking part in it and we're gonna cheer him on."
"Oh, well that sounds nice."
After I finished, I went into the living room and started reading the newspaper. I was kind of bored and wanted something to do before the competition started.
Reading through it, there were some nice stories; a new bakery opening, a man found a briefcase full of money underground. There was rarely any bad news in Roland City. Afterwards, I went right to the comics.
After about an hour, I put the paper down and started to head out.
"I'm heading out Mom," I called.
"Okay, be careful, and have fun," she said.
I went out the door and unfurled my wings and flew off toward the town square. I always felt a little bit bad that everyone else had to walk or drive and I could fly. But then again, flying is pretty cool. I just wish I had my flock. I missed them.
Wait, I never had a flock. I only have Jacob, Celia, and Kevin. What is going on with my mind?
After some flying, I made it to the square. A lot of people were already there. There was a square wooden stage in the middle that the people surrounded. There was music playing, I guess to set the mood. I landed in the back of the crowd so I wouldn't land on anybody's head.
Nobody made a big deal about me flying in. Everyone knew about me so it wasn't really surprising. Still, it was strange nobody had crazy reaction. Not like when I was at that restaurant in New York. Everyone freaked when me and the flock flew away.
Gah! Why do I keep having these thoughts? I've never been to New York. Have I?
I started walking through the crowd, looking for Celia and Kevin. Jacob would be somewhere else with the other contestants.
After some bobbing and weaving, I managed to find them right next to the stage.
"Hey, guys," I called.
They both turned around and saw me. "Hey," they both said.
"You made it," said Kevin.
"Is it about start?"
"Yeah," said Celia, "any minute now."
Jacob was a pretty good dancer. I thought he had a good chance of winning. So did Celia and Kevin.
After a few minutes, somebody walked onto the stage with a microphone. "Roland City, are you ready TO ROCK!!!!" he screamed out.
He was answered with a tidal wave of screams and cheers.
"It's time to see who will become the next Roland City Dance Champion. The winner will be decided by whoever gets the loudest cheers from the audience. Now, let's bring out our contestants."
Ten people came out, four girls and six guys, Jacob being one of them. The announcer introduced each one of them and one by one they started dancing. Each of them had three minutes to show their moves. And they did. They were all really good.
But it turned out that it was Jacob who stole the show. Everyone was really impressed with what he pulled off.
He had the loudest cheers. He was no doubt the winner.
After the announcer made him the winner, he was given this really nice trophy. Then Jacob invited us up on the stage.
We all climbed up and celebrated with him. I was so proud of him for winning.
Then he did the most shocking thing. He got off the stage with the others and made me stay on it and said, "Your turn to dance."
"What?" I asked, completely embarrassed.
"You dance," he encouraged.
"I can't dance for crap."
"Yes, you" He suddenly stopped talking. And then I noticed that everyone suddenly stopped cheering. I looked around at all the people who were surrounding the stage. They all seemed as if they were frozen the way they were. Like time had just stopped.
What the hell was happening? It was bad enough I was having weird thoughts. Now this?
"Yeah, you never really could dance Maxie," said a voice from behind me.
I turned around to see someone on the stage with me. He had short, red hair and ocean blue eyes. He looked about my age and was tiny bit taller than me. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a grey vest and dark blue jeans. He also had a tattoo over his right eye. It looked the cent sign around his eye, except the ends were pointed, making it look a little demented.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"You mean you don't remember me," he answered, "it's me, Asch."
Suddenly some image of him crossed my mind. I was with him and so were some other people I didn't recognize. We were in a lab.
He was starting to seem familiar but I didn't know why.
"It's not familiar to me," I somewhat lied.
"Oh, man. I don't believe this. You still don't remember," he said.
"What is going on here? Are you doing this?"
Suddenly there was some loud echoing noises, and I could have sworn I saw rifts form in the air for a second.
"Uh-oh," said Asch, "Listen, I need you to come with me, one way or another, then you'll hear the whole story."
He got into a position like he was ready to fight.
"I don't just run off with people I don't know. That's something I learned in first grade."
Asch let out a small chuckle, "Nice to see you haven't changed Maxie."
"Stop calling me Maxie. It's just Max, thank you."
"What do you mean? You used to let me call you that all the time."
"How could I have done that? I don't even know you."
Asch sighed. He seemed somewhat sad that he was doing this. "Guess we're doing this the hard way, huh?"
Suddenly, some images came across my mind. It was me giving a kick to an Eraser. And then me punching another. And then me giving a roundhouse kick to another.
And then all of a sudden, I knew how to fight. I could take this guy on no problem.
I got into a fighting stance. I was ready for him.
Asch smiled, "That's more like it."
He then charged me. He came at me swinging his fists. I was able to duck and block every shot, and then I hit an uppercut right on his chin. He staggered backward and then I gave him a kick square in his chest.
He fell to the ground but rolled through and got back on his feet. He was quick. He came right back and gave me a right cross that had me seeing stars. Then he spun and gave me a kick right to the temple. He was strong.
I still managed to stay on my feet. I blocked a hook but he caught me with another cross. But then I grabbed his arm and kneed him in the stomach. Then I gave him a straight punch to the face.
He staggered back holding his mouth. He took his mouth away to see that he was bleeding from his lip.
He was about to charge me again but then a voice stopped him. "You there," it said, "What are you doing here?"
We both stopped and looked to where it came from. There was a man on the stage. He had a white lab coat with white hair and glasses.
"Damn it," said Asch. He put his index finger to his ear and said, "Lily."
Suddenly some sort of rift opened up behind Asch and he stepped through it. It then closed up and he was gone.
"Maximum," said the man, "don't listen to that boy. You know who you are. I'm terribly sorry this happened." Then he faded away and was gone.
What in the hell was going on? Who was that Asch person? Who was that other guy? And why was that Asch person familiar to me when I know I had never seen him before in my life?
Suddenly there was loud cheering again, people urging me to dance. Much to their disappointment, I got off the stage. I was too freaked out.
"Aww, come on Max," said Jacob, holding his trophy.
"No thanks," I said.
"All right."
"Hey, what happened to your shirt Max?" asked Celia.
"What?"
She pointed to my right shoulder. I looked down on it. It had a tear in it and it was surrounded by black, like it had been charred or burned. Where did that come from? Did it come from Asch?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Who was that?" asked Ari.
"I don't know," said Doc, sitting in his chair, "but he clearly has some sort of connection to Max."
"I've never seen him before in my life, and I've been with Max a lot."
"I know, but she had a memory of him cross her mind. There's only one explanation I can think of that makes sense."
"What's that?"
"This is not the first time Max has had her memories erased."
Well, what do you think? Please review.
