Duh duh duh duh…

Duh duh duh duh…. It's here! Finally, it's here, though it has no magic at all in it is, as my beta pointed out, quite short. I promise, though, starting next chapter the excitement turns up. Swear. Keep reviewing, and check out my other project, too.

--x--

I made sure the flock had packed up the camp site adequately, watching over them and the sky with hawk eyes. I decided that there was no more time to be miserable. I had to snap out of this, I had to act normal again; I had to control my flock. Most importantly, I had to push him out of my mind.

"Let's blow this joint, guys!" I called, when I noticed that they were all ready to go. I held out my arms and Total leapt into them. I stood by while one by one my flock jumped from the cliff ledge and into the noontime sun. Nudge shot me a smile as she walked past, and I smiled back. I jumped from the ledge and into the brisk air, spreading my wings and soaring upward to meet the others.

"Where to, Max?" Iggy asked. He was my second in command now, and he knew it.

"Let's head South West. Escape from all this snow," I said. The cold was too much. I was thinking something more like Florida or California, or even Hawaii would be nice.

"Oh, thank God," Total moaned as I shoved him into my already heavy backpack. "I hate this snow. I feel like a furry popsicle." I rolled my eyes, though it was wasted. Gazzy, too, seemed excited that we were headed for warmer weather, because he kept dropping hints that he wanted to go to the beach. Nudge was happy for the sun, I knew, because she kept up a streaming dialogue for the first hour of our flight about the benefits of the sun in regards to skincare. As if I cared. I just tuned out, nodding occasionally and oohing and ahhing in any available gap.

"Check it out, guys," Gazzy said, pointing at the ground where the dense evergreen forest below us finally started to fade out. "We're almost to Nevada!" He exclaimed. Apparently, that was the direction we were headed.

"Wait, guys, look," Nudge called, pointing off into the horizon. My eyes snapped up and quickly scanned the sky.

"Oh no," Total groaned. Oh no was right.

"Flyboys, 12 o'clock," I said, taking charge immediately. "Nudge, you and Iggy take the right. Gazzy, you've got outer left, I've got middle left. Keep watch for each other, and be listening in case I call for a U and A,"

"In this case, just an A, I suppose." Total said smugly. I rolled my eyes and ignored him.

"There looks to be about 50 of them. Easy for us. Let's rock," I said, rocketing off in the direction of the approaching flyboys. Deep down, I was almost glad they had come for us. I needed a good aerial fight to take out my anger. My feelings were building up, and I knew, that was never good. Nothing made feelings disappear like pummeling flyboys a couple of thousand feet in the air.

Behind me, I felt my flock fall into place, and we speed off to meet the enemy.I was just yards away from the first of them now, and I felt a familiar smile come to my face. This would be fun. I brought my fist slamming into the side of the first robot in front of me, and heard the sounds of the others hitting metal as well. One threw a punch at my head, but I tucked in my wings and dropped a few feet, leaving him to swing at the air. Then I surged up, punching him hard, and he collapsed into a heap of parts.

I continued to fly up, hitting any flyboy that came within ten feet of me, and looking for my flock. Gazzy had set off a bomb, destroying about ten of them, and he seemed to be fine fighting the other three against him. Iggy and Nudge seemed to be doing fine too, each taking on a handful of flyboys, though Iggy was reaching into his pocket, looking for a bomb, I'm sure. Following me were about seven flyboys, all stupidly close together.

I tucked in my wings and fell down, feet first, slamming into a flyboy and sending him tumbling into two more. Then I swung my fist around and kicked another in the side, the momentum from my fall adding extra impact. I looked around again, noticing nearly all the flyboys were done now.

Gazzy, though, was fighting off a half dozen robots at the same time, and sporting a black eye and a cut on his hand. I turned to go help him.

"Max, look out!" Total shrieked from my backpack. I whipped around quickly, just as a flyboy sent an iron fist into my still injured ribs. I felt them give slightly, and then an immense pain erupted. Though I felt like I could faint from the agony, I still managed to dismember him with one sharp punch. I'm just so committed like that. His metal head flew away from the rest of the body, and then both parts fell into a rapid decline.

"Report, everyone!" I shouted, still watching the last flyboys fall towards the land far below and clutching my ribs.

"I'm fine," Nudge said. Her arm had a little bloody cut, but it seemed minor.

"Same here," said Iggy. Gazzy also nodded to show he was okay.

"Well, I'm not okay!" Total complained from my backpack. "That was horrible! I'm never being with Max during a fight again!" He cried, shuddering.

"Why not? I kept you safe, didn't I?" I said, uneasily. Some talking dogs just don't know when to be grateful.

"You took nearly half of them out by yourself. They were all gunning for you. I'd much rather be with Iggy," Total said, climbing out of my bag and perching dangerously on my shoulder. Iggy rolled his sightless eyes and grabbed the whimpering idiot, pulling him safely into his own grasp. I just sighed. I don't know how Iggy can do that when he's blind.

"Let's get out of here before someone sees us," I said. "We'll steal a car, too. Maybe then we'll be less conspicuous."

"Good!" Nudge said happily.

"My wings are killing me," Gazzy agreed. It had been a long time since we had taken flight.

It took us quite a long time to find a car suited to our…… special needs. Eventually, we ended up with an old, broken down jeep with orange upholstery all along the inside. We had to attach a secondhand engine and a steering wheel, but eventually we got it working, and we rolled out of the used car parking lot without drawing too much attention to ourselves, though we were stealing a car. We didn't think it would be missed too much. Besides, it smelled like fish.

"Gazzy."

"Yeah Max?"

"SHUT UP!" I yelled, for what had to be the fiftieth time. He was sat in the front seat by me, having screamed shotgun before we'd actually found the car, with his whole body turned round to face Iggy in the back. They were having what they had described as an "exchange of bodily gasses." Let me tell you, a mutant burping contest is extremely distracting to the average learner driver (I.E. me). He nodded noncommittally, and turned to focus his attention on Iggy once again.

--x--

"Welcome to the Taco Bar," a perky girl practically sang, reminding me way too much of The Red Haired Wonder back in Virgina. I hated her already. I didn't bother to answer, I merely glared at her, and she looked back at me, surprised that I seemed so angry at her. "May I take your order?" She finally blubbered out. I admit, my death glare can be slightly intimidating to the average person.

"Yeah, I'll have thirteen soft tacos with everything, twenty one crunchy tacos with everything, five crunchy tacos with everything except sour cream and pinto beans, two sprites, a lemonade, three chocolate shakes, two vanilla shakes, five orders of nachos, an order of guacamole, and one taco salad with extra hot sauce."

I watched her press the buttons on the machine, looking panicked. Apparently we ordered too much, as we commonly did. She looked at me, astounded, and asked if we were sure the four of us could eat all this. I said yes, yes we could, that's why we ordered it, thank you. She still seemed dazed as she told me the total. She swiped my (Jeb's) credit card and handed it back to me, along with a piece of paper that stated our order as number 215.

I watched as the kids joked around in a booth, shooting straw wrappers at each other. I smiled at them, relishing in thoughts of their happiness. Soon we'd be well fed, back in our car and heading...wherever we were heading.

"Number 215?" An ugly kid called, covered in zits and with a mass of red curly hair shoved under his hat that read, 'Ask Me About the Burrito Snack Attack'.

"Gaz, get over here and help me with these!" I called, waving to the five trays of food in front of me. Willingly and licking his lips, he bounded over and scooped up two of the trays and then went back to the table, slamming them down. They hadn't even made full contact with the fake wood tabletop before items began to 'mysteriously' vanish.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Nudge said through a full mouth, reveling in the deliciousness of her taco.

"Guys, be civilized!" I yelled. They all looked at me for a second, then burst out laughing at my expense. I laughed, too, because who was I kidding? Salt and wrappers and pieces of lettuce and cheese already covered out surrounding area, and we'd been eating for barely 3 minutes. I felt bad for whoever had to clean up our mess

--x--

What did I tell you? Short, magic-less. Crap. But that's what I think all my stories are, but this one is worse than usual. Review, anyway.

Sari