Maximum Ride is property of James Patterson. Kisha Reaper, Deveann, Aaron, Malissa, and Lash are property of ME! Kumali is property of Jwan!

Little fun fact for ya, those leather pants Fang was wearing... they weren't his. They're Deveann's. (giggle) He stole them. The shirt's his though. Tight red T-shirt with a skull on it. Why leather pants? Because... (wait for it, Jwan) I AM EVIL! (inside joke) Some of you may be wondering why Total isn't here, maybe you aren't. Well, I'm sorry to say, Total has not died. Kisha hates Total more than she hates Fang, Total lives with Dr. Martinez. (did I spell that right?) I have it! It is mine! All mine! YAY MY DAD! I have Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports! Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! I drew Lash today. First successful attempt at an Eraser. Fun as heck, anyway. I also drew the hottest pic of Deveann ever! I wish I had a website to show you! I just want you to know, I love you all who have reviewed! To show my appreciation I will now put your names up cuz it's what everyone else does. xo-MidnightSun-ox, Nifty One, Tremma, fangsgrl676, ARM1311, Jwan the Laughing Echidna (duh, she's the co-author), sherbertbunnybubbles, funniebanana, Cayla, queen.of.queens, AuthorGirl258retired (I'm sorry to hear what happened), nightline6, Aqua279, marie476, CrimsonScarz, Someone who loved ur story (nice name), Callie Noelle, magicmehome, talon101, angel hottie 18, vicki, MaxRideObsessed. Thanks!

Lash's POV

When I awoke all of the day's memories flooded back into my mind. I nearly screamed. I sat up, just then realizing I had been laying on Kisha. I touched my nose, thrilled to find skin, not a snout. I looked around the room, everyone was there. I saw Max, torn nearly to shreds... by me. And yet her eyes showed compassion for me and worry. I felt horrible. The kids were ragged and had various cuts and scratches but this evening... it was a test run. To see if Max could hold up to me, to see if I could be the new Max. Ari had told me all this and more. The test had been a success. Now, I was left back to the flock, to be reactivated when the time came. "Oh Max! I'm so sorry!" I broke into tears. Every breath in was ragged, painful, and the hardest thing I ever had to do. I was as torn as Max. Who had done that?

"Lash, oh you're back." Kisha hugged me. "I'm sorry. Mom called off the visit at the last second and when I came back. Well, you're hurt so bad because of me." I didn't hold it against her and I could hear the guilt in her voice. She'd gone as easy on me as she possibly could. From what I'd heard, Kisha could've ripped me to shreds.

"Kisha... I was told something very interesting from Ari." I said surprisingly calm. Kisha looked at me, shocked. "You were the back up plan, if Max hadn't worked, it would've been you. Ahsik... she is your... voice. But you're personality, your race, all added together, you were too independent from the School to save the world. And now it's up to-"

Max's POV

It was up to Lash to save the world now. I was a flop. They would try to exterminate me soon. That way there wouldn't be anyone to foil their plans and the world would be saved by someone more obedient.

Don't be so sure, Max. Lash is obedient and frankly, she would be a very good candidate for saving the world, but you are still the only one that can.

I let out a long sigh. "And now it's up to Max." Even after that, even after Lash knew she had beaten the snot out of me, I was still supposed to save the world.

"Why?" I whimpered. "Why me?"

"You were born to save the world, not created to. It's your destiny-"

"SCREW FRICKIN' DESTINY, I WANT A NORMAL LIFE!" I hollered. Fang put a hand on my shoulder. What was special about me? What?

"Max... there is something wrong with all of us. How the school detected it before we were born, I don't' know. But there is something genetically encoded into us and that is why the school chose us. You, Max, are special, very special. I haven't figured just what it is yet, but I know it's there." Kisha said. Genetically encoded? Our fates were in our DNA?!

Very good, Kisha. Gold star.

"Look at Deveann. He has fangs." Kisha pointed out.

"So?" I sighed, this is the boring part of being a teenage mutant human-bird thing. (I just sang that part in my head like the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" theme)

"Birds don't have fangs, Max." Kisha rolled her eyes. "Birds don't have teeth at all. So why do think he might have fangs? Humans don't have fangs, not ones that stick out of their mouths." I hadn't thought of that.

"His parents are vampires?" I whimpered. Fang chuckled.

"Deveann would have had fangs whether or not he had wings. It is in his genetic code to fight." She glinted her fangs at me, let her claws extend (Angama's power), let the blades in her arms slide out of her wrists (Cartinia's power), and her whole appearance suddenly changed Gothic, like her skin turned white her hair turned all black, there were dark rings around her eyes, she was pure darkness (Clairice's power). "On the other hand, it is in my genetic code to hunt." She looked to Angel. "Angel... is actually psychic by nature." She smiled. "It's odd but I find that even if she isn't really reading my mind, she knows what I'm thinking. I placed a 'firewall' of sorts around my thoughts and she couldn't penetrate it even if she pressed her powers to the limit. She is more in tune with nature than wild animals themselves, thus, her mind-reading ability is merely taking what is already in her DNA and making it more... noticeable. We were all perfect specimens for their crappy tests because we already had things about us that were unusual, they just made them more apparent." We all had our own little powers... that was... except Fang. I looked back at him, worriedly. "Even Fang." SHe said before I could even open my mouth. "I don't believe they made this enhanced but it most certainly is his special feature." She laughed spitefully. "YOu see, Fang is, in a sense, a Siren." Huh?

A Siren, Max. A Siren is very much like it's cousins the Selkie and the more popular Mermaid. All of these are thought to be mythical creatures. But then, isn't a Changelum just a myth, too? Yet there she sits on the bed in front of you, very real indeed. Selkies are seductive. They shed their seal skins to reveal a human form. The human is undoubtedly handsome/beautiful, in our case handseome. They cannot stay onland for long, though, so they're not all too practial. Sirens, too, are seductive creatures. Their voices hypnotize that of the opposite sex, though I am not sure I have heard of a male Siren. Sirens may sing their song to a traveler that would fall instantly in love with them but... later that traveler would be enslaved or possibly eaten by the Siren.

Ew.

Please tell me you know what a mermaid is.

Of course.

"What I mean to say is that... Fang is..." She almost looked as though she was in pain but could tell Deveann was enjoying this, as was Kumali. The two had no doubt had this conversation with Kisha before. "He's unnaturally... attractive." She let out a shuttering sigh of pain and relief. Fang smiled his fool head off.

"I'm what?" Kisha gave him a death glare.

"Remember what I said about me being a hunter?" Her upperlip curled as she snarled.

"Wait, what was that?" I didn't understand. "He's unnaturally attractive?" I spat. Kisha nodded. "What do you mean, how?"

"Why don't you answer that?" She hissed.

"Well, I mean, besides the obvious." I really wished the kids were in a different room

"HI KIDS!" We whipped around. It was Jamie! (Kisha'd mom, real name is Jasmine)

"Mom! It's great to see you! I was just telling the others about my theory but I'm not sure Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge will really need this information unless we have cold, hard evidence. Would you take them down to the arcade?" Kisha smiled, suddenly cheery.

"Of course, hon. Come on!" Jamie had such an inviting atmosphere I almost wanted to jump off the bed and go with them. They left.

You got your wish.

"His voice, take a moment and listen to it every once in a while. It's not what a seventeen year old boy's voice should sound like. Too... too streamlined, smooth, like water. The words just kind of pour out of his mouth. Thicker than water, honey. No, too many bubbles... like melted chocolate." Now that she mentioned it, she was right. His gravitational pull is somehow stronger than other people's, we are drawn to him. It's like... normal people are the 'north' magnets and Fang alone is a 'south' magnet." This was getting weirder and weider all the time.

"You're right..." I mumbled. "And... and Kumali?"

"Well the first thing one would take a look at would be hear ears, she does have very sensitve hearing. But her eyes, she is able to zoom in on people far away. Then that thing she does where she senses an unbalance. It's freaky but I'm sure that she like Angel and I, has hightend senses."

"Gazzy?"

"His mimicry of people is not of his own accord as one may thing but it is an instinct. Like a false Coral Snake he copies other's voices. At the moment you may not see how that would be a self-defense mechanism but it is. He can mimic anyone he's met because he has a storage system in his brain. Anytime he hears someone's voice, it is saved away with a label on it. He can look at that label, know exactly who it is and actually re-shape his vocal cordes to sound just like that person at will at anytime. Comparing that to a false Coral Snake... well, they can only mimic Coral Snakes, Gazzy is... shall we say... versitile."

This was getting so incredibly freaky. "And... and Iggy?"

"Iggy, he can sense chemical inbalances. Let's say that there is carbon monoxcide in the vicinity, he can sense the carbon monoxcide. NOw, granted, he has no clue that he's sensed it but he was get you guys out of that area at any cost because the little guy controling things in his head is saying, 'DANGER! DANGER! GET THE HECK OUT OF HERE!' That would have to be one of the reasons why he's always been so good at making bombs. He's never once blown something up by accidetally mixing the wrong chemicals. We are all very close to nature and that is why they chose us, the more animalistic (is that a word?) human-structured lifeforms, because our cells are more adept to change into something they aren't, they're more accepting of things outside of our comfort zone."

"But... you don't know what's wrong with me?" I stuttered.

"No, I don't. Their are many things about you that could lead me somewhere completely off the charts. I wouldn't know where to start. All I know is that you aren't a regular human whatsoever. If you didn't have wings... you could full well still be a freak. No meaning to offend but... that's what we are. Freaks. And I'm right there with ya. Not even human." She shrugged.

Well that was an exhilerating chapter. I had no clue where I was going eith that until I got there. I had to do a lot of research, too. Fun, anyway. Please Review! Kisses!