A.N. Hey, everybody! I'm so soooo sorry it's taken me so long to update this. I had a bunch of writers block, and college and work have been so busy these past couple of months. I'm finally off for summer break, so hopefully I'll be able to update more often.

So I've decided that I'm going to make this into 4 parts, and I have some more ideas on things to do afterwards as well.

Plus I've been having a ton new ideas for new Max Ride fanfictions, and my writers block has *for the most part* gone away.

***I've also just started a new Max Ride story called "Decoded", and the prologue and first chapter are up, so go check it out! I already have a couple chapters for that one, and I should be posting the second chapter in a few days or so. :)

And I was looking back at this fanfiction, and I noticed that my writing style has adapted just a tinge since I first uploaded this. What I'm probably going to do is go back through the other two chapters and update them a bit, and I'll let you know when I get that done.

So here is Part 2 of the Renaissance Fair, and I should have the 3rd part posted soon. Sorry for the short length of this chapter- I'm working on the next one, and Fang will be in it quite a bit!

Enjoy, and sorry again for the long update time!

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Recap:

The men let their daggers fly, a couple of them missing their targets. I looked over to the jerk and his friend to see that they had each hit around the first rung, the jerk having hit slightly closer to the center of the first. Not bad, not bad. The jerk sent me another smirk, seeing as I hadn't thrown mine yet. What is it with that guy and smirking? Wiggling my eyebrows at him, I turned and rapidly threw my right dagger, then the left within half a second of each other.

Let the challenge begin, Mr. Cocky…

I leant down to pick up two more daggers while the other men through their second ones. A small crowd had gathered behind the ropes, watching the competition with excitement. It was weird, being cheered on like this, as normally the flock and I stayed in hiding, away from other people. It was a nice feeling, actually.

Removing my gaze from the crowd, I turned back to the targets, noticing that many of the men had just thrown their third knives and were now starting on their fourth. The jerk had hit the center of the first rung this time, as well as the outside of the bulls eye.

I breathed in deeply, concentrating on the target. Alright, Max! Time to step up your game!

Focusing in, I blocked out everything except myself and the target, feeling the daggers in my hands and gaging their weight. Once I felt ready, I raised my arm, flicking my wrist and readjusting my aim at the last second, throwing the left dagger before the first one even hit its destination. The crowd gasped from behind me, amazed at the speed in which I could throw. Maybe I should have been a bit more incognito, since humans usually didn't have the speed that we bird-kids did…

But my concern was immediately washed out by the smug joy I felt at my aim being true.

One of the daggers had hit the bulls eye, dead center, while the other was beside my second, right on the borderline of the bulls eye's ring. I grinned wide, giving myself a mental pat on the back.

Bending down to pick up the last dagger, I held this one the same way I had held the other ones, staring down the line of targets. I was just getting ready to throw when the jerk leaned over to me.

"The lady is more adept at daggers than I had thought," He hissed angrily, narrowing his gaze at me. Do people here ever stray out of character? "But I promise you this, M'lady…" He paused to smirk 'menacingly' at me. "You shan't win against me."

"Well, that would have been a pretty harsh threat, trust me. Very scary," I exaggerated, gazing at the seething teen with a bored expression. "But, if you haven't noticed, I'm actually ahead of you, so you're actually the one who has the greatest chance of losing here. To a girl, no less. That's going to do wonders for your ego."

The jerk laughed, holding his belly and tilting his head up to the sun. I contained my amused smile and remained stoic. All I could think of when I looked at him now was Santa Claus. "You won't best me," He chuckled. "For before you stands Lord Fransico James, the most adept knife-thrower in the entire kingdom!" He leaned closer, almost nose-to-nose with me. "And I refuse to be bested by a mere harlot." Did he just call me… Anger boiled in my stomach, and I resisted the urge to punch him.

"First of all, Lord of the Sexist Pigs, you ever call me a harlot again, I will upper-cut you right in the nose. But we wouldn't want to spill your blood all over the place, now would we?" Fransico's eyes widened.

"Secondly; ever heard of a personal bubble? Because you're seriously invading mine at the moment. And Thirdly, I'm going to beat you. You want to know why?" Francis gulped, shuffling back the tiniest bit as I leaned closer. "Because, sir, you have just initiated a challenge." I smirked.
"And I never... Lose. A challenge."

Stepping back from Francis's shocked face, I gave him a huge sweet smile. "Best of luck to you!" I turn and pick up my dagger, not even thinking as I spin and hurl it through the air, looking on in satisfaction as it pierces the center of the bulls eye, scratching the metal on the dagger alongside it.

The crowd cheers from behind me, and we all turn to Francis, the only person with one dagger left. He picks it up in his hand and snorts, attempting to look confident. He nervously glances at me, and I gave him a saccharine smile. He flicks his eyes back to the target and takes a deep breath, letting the dagger fly…

And it hits just outside the bullseye, just centimeters away from matching mine. Lord Jerk-face had lost.

He fell to the ground, screaming in anger at losing to a girl. The crowd went wild, loving the competition. His friend punched the railing, glaring at me as if I had just ended the world. I grin at him before turning to the clapping old man, who looked up from admiring the placement of the daggers on each of the targets, smiling at me.

"And it appears that we have been honored with a new champion!" The man exclaims, gesturing to me. "Come hither, strong maiden, and honor us with the mention of your title!" My title? Oh! My name!

I stride forward, standing in front of the old man, feeling like I ruled the world. You know that feeling when you walk out of a movie theater, and the credits are rolling with some awesome music and you feel like you're invincible? Well, this was a little like that, except twenty times better.

"My name's Max." The man waited for me to elaborate, but continued after a slight pause, discerning that I wasn't going to say anymore.

"Ay, Lady Max!" The man exclaimed, placing his hand on my shoulder and turning me to the crowd. "Behold your champion!" The onlookers cheered loudly, shouting and exclaiming their praises. Well, except for Francis and his buddy, who were practically sobbing on the ground.

"Now, since you have won the competition, you are to be awarded a prize of your choice. Oh, Haramont!" He called, and a slender wiry young boy, whom I'm assuming was 'Haramont', ran up to the old man, a thin rectangular chest in his arms. He knelt before me, and I looked around awkwardly. The old man unlocked the trunk and opened its lid, revealing four different pieces of jewelry.

One was a circular necklace, silver with a blue underlay that depicted an old family crest; another was an ancient-looking ring, depicting leaves woven into the golden design. The third prize was a small medallion, a lion's head engraved into the gold surface, and the last was a jeweled bracelet, with dainty beads and silver weaving. I looked up to the old man, unsure of what to do.

"These prizes are all ancient artifacts, lass." He said, whispering quietly to me. "They have been donated by wealthy families who are large supporters of the fairs, and they offered them up as prizes to the winners of certain contests. There were two more artifacts, but alas, they were taken in the previous competitions." Wow, these were actually historic? I'd never been too much of a history buff, but even I had to admit that these were pretty cool.

I looked over each of the prizes, trying to decide which one to take. I knew that I probably couldn't wear the ring or the bracelet without them breaking in fights. That left me with the necklaces.

There was something about the medallion that I liked, even with my deep loathing of jewelry, but I couldn't quite place it. It was old, chipped, and worn, but still, it kind of spoke to me, in a way.

Glancing up at the old man, I pointed at the golden lion medallion.

"This one?" I asked, looking into the man's light blue eyes. His eyes crinkled as he smiled, taking the medallion from the box

"And it is the perfect fit, as you are a lioness yourself!" I grinned as he latched the necklace around my neck, and I adjusted it, gazing at the small lion in the quarter-sized circle. "One more round of applause for this courageous maiden, pheasant folk!" I would have thought that would be an insult, but the crowd ate it up, clapping and cheering.

"Now, be off with you!" He ordered, giving me one last pat on the shoulder. "You have many more adventures to be had, young lady!"

With a final 'thanks', I was off, heading into the cheering crowd. The people patted my upper back and shoulders, congratulating me. Hopefully they didn't feel my wings through my dress, or we'd have a big problem on our hands.

As I made my way through the crowd, fingering my new necklace, I wondered if I should get back to the flock. It had only been about twenty minutes since I had been gone, but I knew that Fang was already probably paranoid at my not showing up yet.

But as I began to walk back to the flock, I saw a shadow figure watching me from the plaza. I squinted my eyes, trying to make out the figure's features. Once it noticed I had spotted it, the figure turned, its cape spinning around him with a flourish, and he disappeared behind a wooden booth.

Well, that didn't seem suspicious at all. So with my cat-like curiosity, I followed him.

And once I did- well, I wished I hadn't.

Because it led me to a guy. No, not a Fang-like guy with charming looks and humor-

Um, never mind-

-But a guy named "Lord Sheldon the Bravehearted."

And boy, was he…. Interesting.

A.N. I'm sorry that it was so short. The next chappie should be a long and humor-filled one, so just hang in there!

And I know it's been awhile, but Lord Sheldon is the "courageous" knight who "bravely" wimped out of the jousting tournament in the last chapter.

Feel free to leave a review! Constructive criticism is always welcome!
I'm also gathering more ideas for one-shots, so if you have one you'd like me to do after I get done with the next two parts, go ahead and let me know!
Thanks for reading guys!