A.N. - Hello people. I am so sorry it took this long to update. I've been really busy with school and bowling and chorus. So I'm really sorry. Well, here's the next chapter of "Her Sacrifice." I hope you all like it. Lastly, this story is based loosely off of something called Rachel's Challenge. If you would like Information, you can P.M. me or ask me about it in a review. (I'll also put this on the bottom.)
This chapter is dedicated to greyskys, )( *wings* )(, Is That Even English?!, nathan-p, Hic-Up-Apple-Nod, jenfan456, and rockababy. Thanks guys!
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot. Ari, Fang, and the rest of the Flock belong to James Patterson and so does anything else that has to do with Maximum Ride.
Ari scanned the crowd. "There is something you all need to understand before I start," he began. "Not everyone is as they seem. Take me for instance, what do I look like to you? Just shout out what you think." He closed his eyes slightly, letting his hearing take over. He sifted through the different voices, listening for what he needed.
"Tall."
"Hot." He mentally rolled his eyes at that one and heard soft snickers coming from the back.
"Innocent." He had to keep from laughing at that one and the snickers turned into full out laughter.
"Weak," he heard someone mumble.
Ari's eyes shot open and automatically locked on the person who had said that. He held up his hand, silencing the other replies. "What's your name sir?" he asked the man, eyes unblinking as he stared at him. "The name's Kevin Johnson, I'm a gym teacher here," the man replied, with raised eyebrows. Ari nodded. 'This is going to be fun,' he thought to himself. "Well Kevin, did I hear correctly when I heard you call me weak?" Ari asked, crossing his arms across his chest. Kevin nodded, looking confused.
'He's wondering how you heard him, and he's kind of freaked out, too,' said a voice in his head.
'He should be freaked out,' Ari replied in his head. 'And get out of my head, Angel. You know I hate it when you do that.' He heard laughter, and he growled softly. 'Fine, Ari,' Angel said. 'I'll stay out of your head for the time being. We can't wait to see what you're going to do to the guy .Make it good! We all need a good laugh.' With that, Ari felt Angel leave his mind. He focused his attention back on Kevin who was starting to look a little freaked out. "Well then Kevin, would you like to help me with the first demonstration I have?" Kevin gave a short nod and then quickly walked up to the stage. "Okay, this is going to be really simple," Ari said to both the people in the auditorium and to Kevin. "We're simply going to be lifting weights and see who can lift the most." Ari walked back stage and wheeled out a set of weights.
Ari decided to start small and easily lifted a 30 pound dumbbell. Kevin smirked and lifted a 50 pound dumbbell over his head. Ari smirked back and lifted a 55 pound dumbbell just as easily as he had lifted the first. This continued, each person lifting a dumbbell that was heavier than the one lifted before. Finally, Kevin was finished. He bent to pick up a 150 pound dumbbell, but could only get it up past his knee. He dropped it, panting and sweating. Ari laughed. Deciding it was time to prove his point. He fluidly picked up and lifted the same dumbbell over his head. He put it down and smirked at Kevin. "Had enough yet Kevin?" he teased, still breathing easy and sweat-free. Kevin glared at him, but said nothing. "One more question, how much do weigh?"
"260 pounds, why?" Kevin asked, looking suspicious. "Nothing," said Ari. He walked backstage again and came by with a chair. "Could you please have a seat up here for a couple minutes?" Kevin sat down, still looking suspicious. "Now kids, this isn't to be tried at home," Ari joked, going to stand behind the chair that Kevin was sitting on. He leaned down close to the man's ear. "Don't freak out," he whispered spookily. He stood up straight and bent down. He grabbed one of the legs with a hand. "Are you ready to be amazed?" he asked the people in the auditorium. After a few seconds of cheers, he lifted the chair, slowly and smoothly, until it was high in the air above his head. The cheering stopped and everyone looked on amazed. Kevin looked freaked out, eyes darting everywhere. "Get me down from here!" he shouted. "Okay," Ari replied. He lowered the chair a little and then tossed it ten feet in the air, Kevin screaming the entire way. "As you can see, I'm very strong," he told the students. He moved slightly to the left and shot out is hand, straight up. A second later, the chair, and Kevin, landed on his hand. "And I also have very good reflexes." He put the chair on the ground. Kevin got up and walked shakily offstage and back to his seat.
"Now, I'm also really fast and a great fighter. Who's the fastest runner in this school?" A tall kid with black hair stood up. "I am," he said. "I'm Nick and I've broken ten records already, and I've only been on the track team for a month." Ari motioned Nick up to the stage. "Nick and I are going to have a little race against time," he said. "We're each going to run once around the auditorium and see who can do it quicker. Nick will go first." Ari fished a stopwatch out of his pocket. "On your mark, get set, go!" he shouted. Nick sprinted off stage and around the auditorium as fast as he could. He skidded to a stop next to Ari, panting. "One minute two seconds," Ari stated. "My turn," he said happily, he loved to run. He handed the stopwatch to Nick and got ready to run. "Ready, set, go!" Ari shot off the stage and made his way around the auditorium. He slowed slightly near the back, catching sight of Angel and the others. He gave a quick smile and wave and shot off again, knowing that to everyone except Angel and the Flock he would seem to be a blur and a gust of wind. Ari stopped next to Nick and tapped him on the shoulder. Nick jumped and turned around. His eyes widened in amazement and he looked down at the stopwatch. "Five seconds," he said in amazement. Ari smiled and took the stopwatch back. After telling Nick to go sit back down, he turned back to the crowd.
"As you can see, I'm inhumanely fast and strong. And that's because I'm not human." He stopped as people gasped and started talking to each other. After everyone had calmed down, he went on. "I am human, just not fully. I'm a lupine-avian-human hybrid. In other words, I'm a mutant, a freak. When I was seven, whitecoats, or scientists, grafted wolf DNA into my DNA turning me into what I am now. Because of the wolf DNA, I can morph into what is called an Eraser. I was trained to hunt and kill. A month or two later, they grafted wings onto my back. I was able to fly. Now what those scientists did was illegal, and the sad part is that my dad was one of them. But the thing is I'm not the only one. Hundreds of Erasers were made to be guards and to hunt down other mutants that had escaped. Sadly, they were made from children that were stolen from their parents or sold to the company by their parents." He paused as a hand went up, the girl from before.
He nodded to her and she lowered her hand. "What was the company's name? And what other hybrids were created?" she asked. "Those are good questions," said Ari. "Itex was the name of the company, and they owned pretty much everything. As for the mutants, they experimented with pretty much anything, from crocodile-dog hybrids, to fish-human hybrids. Anything you can think of, they tried." Another hand shot up. "What was life like for the mutants," the student asked.
Ari's eyes turned hard and his expression turned somber. "The mutants were kept in cages or dog crates. They were hardly fed and were tested on day and night. They had to run mazes. If they took too long, Erasers were let in and they either had to get out, kill the Eraser, or be killed. They had to run on treadmills until they collapsed, and if they stopped, they were shocked. They had to swallow different kinds of poisons to see the effect it had on them. In other words, it was a living hell."
Everything was quiet for a while as everyone took this in. The same girl from before raised her hand, tentatively. "Ask your question, and then tell me your name. I'd like to know since you've asked most of the questions I've had to answer," Ari said. The girl nodded her head and stood up. "Could you please morph into an Eraser for us?" Ari looked around at the crowd, unsure if he should or not. "Are you guys okay with that?" he asked the crowd. After a chorus of 'yeas' and cheers, he held up his hand.
'Angel, do you think it would be okay for me to morph?'
'It should be fine,' she said, 'but do you want us to come up as well? Maybe you could have a 'fight' with Fang, for old times' sake. Maybe excite them a little.'
'Sure, how do you want to do it?'
'Morph, look scary, maybe give a roar or snarl. We'll take it from there.'
'Okay, make it good.' Ari looked at the crowd. "Okay guys, here it goes, and please don't scream too much, I have very sensitive hearing. Ari took a deep breath and slowly started to morph. He felt his teeth lengthen, his face lengthen into a muzzle, and claws grow out of his fingers. Hair sprouted all over his body and his shoulders hunched a little. Finally, it was over. He looked around at the students and teachers. He put a ferocious look on his face and snarled loudly. A couple of students screamed while others paled. Suddenly, kids in the back started screaming and pointing. Five shadows leaped into the air and hovered near the ceiling. The largest one shot toward him while the others started swooping around the room. A man with medium length black hair, black eyes, and twenty foot black wings stopped and hovered in front of him.
"Hey there mutt, whatcha doing?" Fang asked with a playful gleam in his eyes. 'Play along Ari,' Angel said. With a slight nod and a quick wink, Ari answered Fang. "Nothing much, freak. Actually, now that you've come along, I think I'll rip your throat out," he snarled. "Just try, dog-breath," Fang growled. With a snarl, he shot out his wings and leapt off the stage, stroking his wings hard so he wouldn't hit the students, most of which were screaming now.
He and Fang circled each other, while Angel, Gazzy, Nudge, and Iggy swooped around the room, flying right over the students' and teachers' heads. Fang flew toward him, pulling his arm back for a punch. He angled it so it would just miss Ari. Ari whipped his head around, acting as if it had hit him. His body followed his head and he spun his leg around for a roundhouse kick. He made it come up short, but Fang acted as if it had hit him, dropping a few feet as if the breath had been knocked out of him. They continued this act for about five minutes.
'Hurry it up you two, I think a couple kids are catching on,' Angel said. Ari gave a slight nod, as did Fang. Ari flew so that he was above the center of the stage. Fang flew above him and folded in his wings, tackling Ari towards the stage. "On three, I'm going to let go, swoop up then land in the upper right of the stage," Fang whispered in Ari's ear. "You skim along the top of the stage and land in the upper left of the stage. The others will land in the space between us. Got that?" Ari nodded a smile on his lips. "One, two, three!" Fang let go of Ari and swooped up heading toward the upper right corner of the stage. He flew up to the ceiling and dived down, spinning. He landed with his wings outstretched. At the same time, Ari leveled out, so he was flying just above the stage. He angled himself toward the upper left corner of the stage. He started spinning so he looked kind of like a drill, or a sideways tornado. He shot up right before he went over the edge of the stage and landed like Fang had, wings outstretched. One by one, the Flock landed as well, doing graceful arcs and spins.
After everyone ha d calmed down, Ari shot back in the air again. "Ladies and gentleman, I'd like to introduce you to the Flock! Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel!" As their names were called, the Flock members leaped into the air, and started circling around the room. "Hey! Don't forget me," said a voice and everyone looked towards the back. A little black Scottie came running down the center aisle and leaped onto the stage. "Why does everyone forget about me?" the dog asked looking indignant. People gasped and someone shouted out, "The dog just talked!"
Ari laughed. "I'm sorry," he said, still laughing. "And last, but not least, Total, the flying, talking dog!" Total jumped into the air and spread his wings, and flew up to Angel, who gave him a hug and then let him fly around some more. Everyone stared amazed up at the Flock and Ari, amazed. Finally, Ari flew toward the stage, the Flock following his lead. He landed and turned toward the girl. "Okay, I morphed," he said to her. Now it's your turn. What's your name and why are you so interested about this?"
A.N.- How did you guys like the chapter? Please review. Also, should I have the 'mystery girl be Fang and Max's daughter? I kind of have something for her, but I don't know if I should make her their daughter or not. And if you guys have ideas for a name, I would appreciate that, too. This story is based loosely off of something called Rachel's Challenge. If you would like Information, you can P.M. me or ask me about it in a review.