Lovie: I am soooo sorry that I haven't updated when I said I would! --dodges rotten fruit and veggie-- I feel bad, honestly I do. I won't feed you a bunch of excuses either, I'm just gonna read the disclaimer and get on with the story. You guys have been waiting long enough.

Disclaimer: I, Lovie, do not own anything besides the thoughts coming from Fang's head. Everything else is Patterson's.

Chapter five: Fighting and...--gulp-- the kiss

Max ran over to Angel's dripping form and hugged her tightly as they went onto the wet sand, where they collapsed. We (as in the flock) faced Angel and Max as Angel recanted her tale. I was confused as to what she meant when she screwed up her face and blew air out her nose.

"It comes out your nose?" I asked her, meaning the water that she 'swallowed.' Angel shook her head and said she didn't know where the water went. Max looked at me as she explained what Angel was meaning to me.

"She's extracting oxygen form the water."

"Can you show us?" I asked Angel, wanting to see this. She stood and re-entered the water until she was in waist deep. Max was right by her side, and I almost smiled at that. Always the protective 14-year-old 'mother hen.' Angel took a big mouthful of water, stood, and did her little 'swallow' thing as she blew air out her nose. We were all stunned by this, especially when Iggy couldn't feel anything abnormal on our youngest flock member's neck. Well, after we all failed miserably at trying to breath underwater, and Max snapped at her voice, we ate and crashed.

I awoke to hear a very familiar voice say something to Max. I jumped up when I saw Ari lean close to her, seemingly angry.

"When I want your opinion, I'll ask for it," Max snapped at the Eraser-fied boy. I half cheered as Max struggled against Ari's boot, but a full grown Eraser isn't something you want to make angry and screw with. Then, the cretin did something I will never forgive him for. He touched Max. He placed his ugly claw on my Max's cheek. Caressed it in a sick manner. Only I could touch her like that. Me and me alone!

"Get off her!" I heard myself yell as I threw myself onto Ari, tackling him to the ground. Yes, Ari's bigger. Yes, he's stronger too. But I wanted to see him bleeding on the ground for what he just did, either unconscious or dead. I preferred the latter. I vaguely heard Max telling Nudge and Gazzy to get in the air, but I brushed it all off. All I knew then is that I was going to kill Ari. He was so burnt toast.

Ari scratched my face, which-quite frankly-pissed me off. I landed a good hit on Ari's collarbone in retaliation. I was seeing red and, at the time, wasn't feeling any pain of any kind. Air could though, which was my advantage for the time being. He yelped when I hit his collarbone, and he nailed my head. I blacked out-temporarily stunned from the blow. The next thing I know, Ari's holding my head tightly, as if he were trying to pop it like a balloon, and there was a sharp pain in the back of my head. Max was screaming something, but I couldn't tell what it was. I opened my eyes and threw sand in Ari's face-making the Eraser let me go long enough for me to stand again and get a kick in to his chest. He staggered back a little bit-and this was a blow that probably would've knocked Max on her rear end-and elbowed me in the face. I was dimly aware that Ari was threatening me before I felt my body and mind give into the darkness that was unconsciousness.

I came around slowly-I didn't really want to move because now I was feeling pain. It was then that I felt someone gently wiping my face with something soft, causing it to sting slightly. My head was slightly elevated and there were voices all around me. I felt Iggy slowly feeling my injuries-he's the only one whose touch feels like a feather.

"...check him into a hospital," Max's voice first one to make any sense-and what I heard made me think she had gone nuts. There was no way that I was hurt that badly. I mean, yeah, so there was the coppery taste of blood in my mouth and I felt like every part of my body weighed a ton, but I wasn't hurt bad enough to go to some place that smelled like the School!

"No hospi'l," I said, sounding rather rough. The cleaning of my face ceased when I spoke, and to admit, I kind of missed it.

"Fang! How bad?" Max asked...was it anxiously? She had relief pouring through her three words, and it was rather strange. I took stock of how I felt...and it wasn't too good.

"Pre'y bad," I said, still groggy. I felt something rolling around my mouth, mixed in with the coppery taste of blood. I tried to shift so that I could spit it all out, and Max freaked.

"Don't move!" she said, sounding kind of funny. I didn't try to move much more-mostly because it hurt way too bad to. I turned my head and spit the stuff out of my mouth, and caught the lose thing that had been in my mouth.

"Tooth," I said, disgusted. I mean, c'mon. I was supposed to have been the victor, but here I was, lying with my head in Max's lap, in pain, bleeding. Ari had beaten me, and I wasn't happy about it. "I feel like crap." I gingerly touched the bumps on the back of my head, suppressing winces. Max seemed to have attempted a smile, but failed rather spectacularly.

"You look like a kitty cat," she said as she made a whisker motion on her face...meaning the scrapes on my face from Ari looked funny. I gave Max a look that meant I was less than amused, but I have to tell you, Max's lap was actually pretty comfortable. "Fang," she said, her voice breaking slightly. I thought that she was going to start to cry, and I hated it when that happened. I always feel kind of useless when she cries. So here I was, lying on Max's lap, defeated, and she was going to cry over something. Some protector I am, huh? I always kind of thought of myself as some kind of hero when I went up against Ari because he was always bigger...and because we always usually won. Now I'm just a pathetic excuse for a wanna be hero-er...strong mutant.

"Just live, okay? Live and be okay." she said, and kissed me. On the lips. I'll tell you one thing-I may not have been a hero, but I still got the girl!

Lovie: Yes, it's short...but I want to leave the rest of his thoughts for the next chapter. I'll try not to take so long! And until my next update, i bid ye all a fond adieu!