-1Total stirred as Angel sat up, he was getting older now being a little more than 8 years old. "what's for food?" he asked.

I reached into the bag, "jerky, jerky, jerky and…you guessed it, jerky." I said tossing a scrap to him. Having a dog now was even worse than it was when we had first gotten him. He was now a bigger complainer, he just kinda sat there all the time, and he also wasn't able to do squat. He couldn't hunt, bark or do anything that a normal sized, USEFUL, dog could do.

Total made a strange face as he started to tear at the jerky, it was stale, which was hard to do to jerky. His face was a mix between the time he had licked Angel's leg after she had been in the ocean and the time he had been caught talking in public about four years back.

I handed Iggy and Angel each a piece before taking one for myself. The jerky had been around for a long time, and personally if I never saw jerky again it would be far too soon. I took a bite, it was extremely tough and stringy. It seemed like every time we opened it whatever was left of wildlife in the areas completely disappeared. We had seriously even lost the pack to a bear, the bear sniffed it and ran like it's snout was on fire.

As I finished my strip, I stood up. "well it's time to head south again…" I said flinging the bag of dried meats over my shoulder. Angel stood, Total instinctively jumped into Iggy's arms. Total was liking to be with Iggy since he wasn't the one who had to do the steep swoops to catch me.

"let's go." I said as I took to the small opening in the side made by some sort of explosive. I took to the air, a little less stable than usual. Angel and Iggy followed, I really hoped that Fang, Nudge and Gazzy found us in Florida, our usual wintering home.

Fang looked down to Nudge as they started to reach the edge of NYC. "we're clear of ground zero, you can fly on your own now I think." he said.

Nudge was honestly not feeling well however. "My stomach hurts…" she said weakly. She had been having this problem for a while now. It was probably the all twinkie diet they had been on for weeks on end.

"I know, but just try to go at least a half an hour." Fang responded as he landed.

Nudge looked around and teetered back and fourth as she tried to stabilize herself. Her legs quivered weakly as she fell to her knees. "I cant Fang…" she said in a frustrated, upset and disappointed voice. She was upset with herself, she was making Fang carry her again, it had only happened twice but she felt terrible because of it.

Fang lifted her up, onto her feet. "It's okay Nudge, you tried." he said before lifting her and starting to fly southward again.

"no it's not Fang, I'm weak…" she sobbed.
"the only reason you're weak is because you're exhausted Nudge." he reassured her.
"But…"
"Nudge, stop trying to compare yourself to Max."

Fang had hit the mark on that. The reason Nudge had felt so poorly was because she knew that Max was stronger when she was 16. She continually compared herself to Max. She felt she would never match up to her, be as strong, smart…

Nudge slowly started to drift off, she felt safe in Fang's arms. "I love you Fang…" she said nearly silently.