Theanimedude: Alright- here's where the plot alllllll comes together. The part I've been wanting to just post everywhere in the world since the very. First. Chapter.
Nick: (low whistle)
Fang: Wow.
Theanimedude: I also have a lot of Christina hate mail, (PMs are hate mail, I guess) so I've decided to do something that will probably make all of you happy.
Nick: What?
Theanimedude: Christina! Enter!
:Christy: Yeah? What is it-
Theanimedude: (gets out pistol) (fires)
Random unseen voice: H-H-HEADSHOT!
Nick: What the heck?!
(Clip cuts)
Theanimedude: Naw, I'm just kiddin'.
Nick: Got you guys, didn't we?
Fang: Hn.
Theanimedude: And no, I'm not going to kill Christy off- STOP FREAKING ASKING!
Honestly, if you're going to read a story all the way up to the 26th chapter and then PM me about how much you hate a character, why keep reading onto the 27th, let alone the 28th that I'm making right now? That makes no sense.
Wheatley: It's pointless! Mad!
Theanimedude: Questions have been put on hold until I'm not too lazy to answer them- ah, screw it, I'll answer one now.
Nick: From Reflections of Twilight, for Nudge. Nudgemuffin, come in here!
Nudge: Nudgemuffin? Hm... I like it.
Theanimedude: Nudge: If you only could only have one word in your entire vocabulary, what would it be?
Nudge: Food.
Nick: Saw that one coming...
Theanimedude: Disclaimer for the not-so-loyail-Christy-hatin'-PM-misusin' readahs, Fang!
Fang: Hn, fine. Theanimedude owns Sara and I. He also owns Camo and Espio, as well as Dak. The original ideas for characters Cato, Kimmy and Kiki were supplied by Pennycat11. The following is a fan-based parody. Maximum Ride and all its respecting characters and titles belong to James Patterson. Please support the official release.
Theanimedude: Credit for last songs chapter and then this chapter right now- and frankly, I'd be really happy if I could get just ONE piece of mail that said something nice. I've gotten enough flames to roast thirty weenies, and that's in PMs. Anyways, next chappie.
Through the Fire and Flames- Dragon Force
/lib/2006/the-5-stages-of-loss-and-grief/ Credit for Camo's speech
Nick the Eraser 2 chapter 28
"And you're saying that her heart is beating?" Espio asked me with an eyebrow raised.
"No, I'm saying she's alive because it's NOT beating."
"Okay, geez," Espio muttered. "I get it."
"If you ask me, you're obsessed with the idea of Sara living," Camo said nonchalantly. "The first reaction to learning of death of a cherished loved one is to deny the reality of the situation. It is a normal reaction to rationalize overwhelming emotions. It is a defense mechanism that buffers the immediate shock. We block out the words and hide from the facts. This is a temporary response that carries us through the first wave of pain."
"We'd know," Espio said simply.
" ... Whaaaat?" Kiki asked, looking completely confused.
"Huuuuh?" Kimmy.
" ... If I cared, I'd ask," I said, slightly bewildered by Camo's speech and, same as Kiki, confused by Espio's statement. "Just listen."
Espio and his brother sighed before leaning against the wall they were standing by. I held Sara's limp body up beside them. In a couple of seconds, the thump that came scared the crap out of them.
"What the heck?!"
"Is that even possible?!"
"Yeah," I responded. "I mean, it must be. It's happening. You guys heard it, so that means it's happening, right?"
Camo and Espio looked at each other warily before nodding at me.
"Sara!" I shouted again, hugging her unmoving body to me. "You're alive, you're alive..."
Kii and Kimmy stared at me apprehensively.
I got no response.
"What's going on?" I asked the two older siblings, and they shrugged.
"No clue," Espio said. "Maybe we're all crazy."
"That sounds about right," Camo said thoughtfully, a hand on his chin.
"No," I insisted firmly, glaring at them while I stared at Sara's silent form. "She has to be alive."
"I'm not sure," Kiki whispered sadly, poking Sara. "She doesn't seem very alive to me..."
"That wouldn't explain her having a heartbeat," I muttered.
I UNDERSTAND IT PERFECTLY.
I gasped shortly, surprised. When was the last time ol' M had talked to me?
Merciless?
YES, NICK.
What the heck do you mean?!
SHE'S NOT DEAD.
Oh, really?! I never would've guessed! Thank you, Captain Obvious!
SHE CAN BE HELPED.
Helped?
YOU KNOW SOMEBODY WHO CAN HELP YOU.
Who?
THE ONE WHO YOU SEE ONLY WHEN YOU ARE ALONE... THE ONE THAT YOU HAVE FOUGHT WITH MANY TIMES... THE ONE WHO YOU'VE KILLED.
Cato.
BINGO, NICK.
Why would he help me?
NOT WILLINGLY. BUT HE KNOWS SOMEBODY THAT CAN HELP YOU.
Who?
YOU.
... What?!
GO TO HIM, AND ALL WILL BE REVEALED.
"What does Christina think about all this?" Camo asked me, looking away from his brother.
"She doesn't know," I said simply as I envisioned Cato with anger.. "Gotta go. Bye."
I left my friends with their confusion, carrying Sara along the way.
3-3-3-3-3
"Where's Nick?" Christina asked as she walked into Camo and Espio's room.
"Gone," Camo said simply. "You just missed him."
"What?!" Christina shouted incredulously. "He left without telling me?!"
"Parentally," Kiki said, rocking between her toes and heels.
"I think she means apparently," Espio said," and the smaller girl nodded in agreement.
"That's what I said."
"But he- He-" Christina sighed in exasperation. "What happened?! I mean, yes, he has an excuse to grieve, yes, he's entitled to his alone time, but for one thing, he runs an army, and for another, he loves me! Why wouldn't he tell me that he was leaving?!"
"Maybe he didn't want you to know?" Kiki suggested, her eyes scrunched up as she thought to the best of her ability.
"To be fair, he didn't tell us where he was going," Camo pointed out.
"Well, we can't exactly go out and look for him with an entire army of mutants getting ready to charge into World War Three!" Christina shouted. "Ugh, this sucks..."
"I'll go and tell everybody what's up," Camo said. "In the meantime, why don't you get one of the wolves to lead you to him?"
" ... That's not a bad idea," Christina said after looking at the wolves, all curled up in the corner. "C' mere, Akira," she said, and one of the wolves hopped up, trotting over to Christina and flopping onto her back.
"How did...?"
"Nick told me all their names," she said as she scratched the wolf's belly, making its tongue loll out in ecstasy. "He said that they had to call each other something. This one's Akira." She smiled as the wolf lifted up its head to meet Christy's face, giving it a sloppy kiss that had the other four human's in the room making "ew" faces, but Christina didn't seem to mind.
"Isn't she sweet?"
"Um, yeah," Kiki said, looking away. "Really sweet."
"I'm going after him," Christina said as she ran out the door.
"Good luck," Kimmy shouted after the older girl, mirroring her sister.
3-3-3-3-3
I groaned as I sat up in the dimly lit room that I knew too well.
"So, what is this, the second time he's killed you?" my oh-so caring partner asked me. "You're pushing it. Most people only get one shot."
"Shut up," I muttered as he patched me up.
I rose slowly, my bare feet meeting the cold tiled floor. "So? Have I gone in and fought him enough?"
"Yeah," he told me, beaming. Genuinely beaming. "Good job out there. You really-"
"Played the cannon fodder act?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "Are you sending me to commit suicide on purpose?"
"Of course not," Dak told me reassuringly, which somehow didn't reassure me at all. "You're done dying. You've still got seven lives left anyway though, eh cat boy?"
"Very funny," I grumbled. "I found the part where you sent me out to almost kill Sara the best. That was just a waste of time."
"Hey now," he said with a hurt expression. "Everything has a purpose. You'll see."
"I can't wait."
"Alright," Dak said, now in business mode, as signified by the sudden clasping of his hands. "I've got the armor that absorbs his elemental attacks, I've got the weapons rigged into the armor, and I've gotten you a little strength enhancer to fight him with."
"So basically I'm Iron Man on steroids?" I asked in a growl.
"Except Iron Man lost repetitively. You're losing ends now."
"Uh-huh," I muttered, walking to the wall where he'd shown me my gear was.
"Show some confidence, partner," Dak said in a disapproving tone. "There's literally no way you can lose now. Not even one."
"Look, just send me to him so we can get this over with," I demanded as I pulled the thick metallic suit over my head and let it cling to my body easily before adjusting itself to allow me more fluid movement.
"I don't need to do that," he said with a small smile.
"And why not?"
"He's here."
My fist suddenly shot out to my left on instinct, just in time to catch him as he burst through the wall. There was less than a second's time that I got to see his ace go from enraged anger to total surprise. I stared at the place where Nick had just been as Dak laughed.
"I've never seen my own face like that!" he chortled. "I look ridiculous!"
"Yeah," I agreed with a grin. "Excuse me while I go out there and kick your butt."
"Be my guest."
Okay, with the amount of times I'd failed, I didn't really trust Dak for a little while. But now? Of course I trusted him.
"You!" Nick shouted at me after I leapt through the hole in the wall and landed next to Nick a few yards away.
"Yes, me!"
"You hurt Sara!" he accused, staggering to his feet before falling right back down.
"I did absolutely nothing of the sort!" I said with mock innocence.
"You hurt her, you can fix her," he said, finally rising to his feet and limping towards me. Kid had guts.
Hold on- let's rewind. He completely overpowered me back at the glaciers, knocked me out with little effort as soon as he got all murderous-like at the ocean, and kicked my butt at the school that he'd been chickening out in just recently. ONE PUNCH NOW, and he can hardly stand?
Oh yeah. I'm loving this, I thought to myself with a smile.
"Maybe I don't want to help her," I said simply. "Why should I?"
"I don't care what you want!" he shouted, still limping "I want Sara back!"
I could've killed him right then if I had wanted to. But I wanted the freak to feel a whole lot of pain first. Not just physical pain- that was easy. No, I wanted to hurt him by showing him just how weak he really was. I'd wound his mind, his sense of superiority over everything, and especially his pride.
"You've made that perfectly clear by bringing her straight to me," I said, holding one and out slowly. "You're practically begging for her to be killed."
His glare intensified, his eyes going bloodshot. Okay, I can deal with the red-light-thingy while insulting him.
"Also, don't you lead an army now?" I asked him. "You left them alone just before a huge attack on the school was scheduled. That's VERY irresponsible."
"Shut up!" he shouted, suddenly charging towards me. I jump to my left and grabbed his arm as he passed me before going horizontal in the air and spinning him into the ground.
I let the metallic boot of my armor settle on his face, pushing it down into the rocky ground of the barren wasteland that Dak's laboratory was in. Where in the world was it? Pfft, like I'd tell you.
"And," I added. "Haven't you been neglecting those around you for some googly-eyed babe for a little while now? Frankly, that's mean. Do you think Sara loved you nearly as much as she did before you met this Cassie girl?"
"Christy!" he shouted, trying to push himself up as I rotated my foot, effectively eliciting a yelp of pain from his throat.
I then picked him up by the neck with one hand, making him choke and gasp for air, scratching at my hands desperately and breaking his lupine claws on my metallic gloves.
"And to top it all off," I continued. "You even blocked HER out in favor of running straight to me to commit suicide and get your 'little sister' killed."
"Sh-Shut up!" he yelled, his pupils dilating as he slowed his clawing down, starting to go limp in my arms.
"You're pathetic," I taunted, holding him up like he was a freaking feather. "You make all the worst decisions. You cut your ties with your friends, you get your friends killed, and- well, everything you do is just letting your friends down."
He stared at me, all the hatred on his face replaced with mortification and acknowledgement. He knew just how wrong he was.
"Want me to help you end it all?" I asked him. "Well, here!"
I threw him upwards just a tad and whaled on him, sending him flying. FLYING. I couldn't even see him anymore, I punched him so hard.
I heard everything- his ribs cracking, his outburst of pain, the whoosh of air as he careened through the sky, and lastly, the tree that he crashed into breaking open.
"I... I did it," I whispered to myself before cackling gleefully. "He's dead!"
"No, he isn't," Dak said, making a tsk sound. "Your little traitors gave him life-threatening wounds plenty of times and he lived through it easily, only getting better each time. He is unconscious, though. Bring him here.
Right then, I would've done just about anything for the guy.
3-3-3-3-3
"This way, huh?" Christina asked the wolf as they ran through the night forest. It panted in reply, dashing with all the strength of its four legs.
"Guess it must be," she nodded, continuing to follow the lupine creature. Then they both froze.
"Who's there?" Christina shouted as Akira growled. The slightest sound had tipped them both off to the presence of another living creature.
"Just us crickets," a voice replied before its source touched down beside her.
"Leroy-"
"ALPHA!"
That was all the confirmation she needed. Plus, pretty much nobody else she knew wore flight goggles.
"What are you doing?" she asked him. "Stalking us?"
"No, no," Leroy said with a bit of annoyance in his voice. "I came to talk to you."
"Talk... to me?" Christina asked slowly and deliberately, obviously looking down on the boy in front of her, who scowled.
"Yes, talk to you, you stupid- never mind." He grumbled, turning around. "And here I was going to tell you something really interesting..."
"What?" Christina asked him with surprise. He was using childish tactics to get what he wanted- and she was falling for it hook, line and sinker.
"Weeeeeeell..." Leroy said, stretching the word out. "Just something I noticed, nothing to big..."
"Tell me, come on," Christina implored, walking up to his back.
"Say please."
"Please?"
"Alright," he said, turning with a corny grin before turning serious. "Christina, do you know what just happened recently?"
"What do you mean?"
"Sara died," Leroy said, his voice sounding harsh instead of having its usual obnoxious tone.
"Yeah... and?" Christy asked him, not seeing the point.
"Nick- the new boss," Leroy said, scolding himself inwardly. "Is in a mourning phase. He doesn't do it like most people, he skipped right to depression instead of starting with denial, and he's staying there. You're not his first priority."
"But she's dead," Christina said, cocking an eyebrow. "I should be."
"Well, you're not," Leroy told her bluntly. "The boss cared for that girl a lot, and to have her suddenly be gone is a horrible thing to him. I know."
"How do you-"
"I only got mutated after I watch those labcoated morons send their little wolf pets to butcher my family," he told her. "Loss sucks. It takes everything away from you, and leave you empty. You change. I did, so is he."
"But-"
"From what I've seen, he was a caring person," Leroy cut her off. "Real nice guy, no doubt about it. He cared for nothing more than his family- and of course, his girlfriend. But now he cares about one thing above all else."
"Revenge," Christina whispered.
"Exactly. Revenge," Leroy said with a nod. "You're not at the top of his love list right now, so you need to leave him be until he's ready to take you back."
"What if I want him back now?" Christina asked defiantly, appalled that this boy, no older than her, would speak to her like that. "I'm the greatest thing in his life, and he's said it himself. There's no reason why he shouldn't be crawling back to me after what he did!"
They stared at each other for a moment before Leroy held up his hand and- faster than she could see- smacked her across her left cheek, making it burn.
"You are so full of it," he growled as tears started to form in her eyes. "You're not the greatest thing in his life. It isn't all about what you care about. You know pain. You understand pain. Well, he's got pain that goes deeper than what you care about. If you don't care, I wasted time coming out here to talk to you. Hope you're happy."
With that, he turned around, adjusted his goggles slightly and took off, his dragonfly wings buzzing and carrying him away faster that she'd seen anyone fly before. Akira nudge the girl with her nose, as though to remind her that she was there, and turned to set course for where Nick was.
"No," Christy whispered. "Let's leave him alone for now."
