Leftover Alphabet Soup
A/N: We (I) procrastinated 'till the end of the month. And you know what that means?
MARATHON!
Disclaimer: NANOWRIMONANOWRIMONANOWRIMO
R is for: Red Rover
By Tassel630
"Gasman."
"But he's so violent – call Iggy."
"Yes, because Iggy's not violent at all."
"We could always call Max."
"That's a good idea."
"Ironically enough, Iggy is less blindly violent than Gazzy. Pun intended."
"But Gazzy's smaller."
"Fine then. Gazzy."
Fang, Nudge, and Angel broke their huddle and spread into a line, forming an impenetrable wall, timing their wingbeats so they wouldn't knock each other from the sky.
"Red Rover, Red Rover, send Gasman on over!"
The Gasman's eyebrows furrowed in determination as he broke away from Max and Iggy, gathering speed. He aimed himself for the junction between Fang and Nudge, who were still carefully coordinating their wings so as not to get tangled together. Gazzy rolled one shoulder foreward, barreling toward them -
WHAM!
The connection held, but Gazzy kept driving forward, dragging Nudge and Fang, who refused to release hands, with him.
"Gazzy! You didn't break it, now stop trying to kill us!"
Looking disappointed, Gazzy extricated himself from Nudges wings, and she managed to right herself before falling dangerously far.
Without conference, Max and Iggy called, "Red Rover, Red Rover, send Fang on over!"
Expressionless, Fang launched himself toward them in one smooth motion. Max and Iggy grimaced in anticipation, both hands going white from sqeezing so tightly -
Fang didn't break their grip. When the flock had discovered Red Rover, they had agreed to keep a short distance between the two lines to prevent anyone building up much speed, in order to prevent broken arms. Fang's face remained expressionless, but Max looked a tiny bit smug.
After a brief argument, the younger three called for Iggy. He smirked slightly before shooting toward them, and barreling straight into Gazzy.
"Iggy, you moron!" the Gasman screamed as they tumbled downward, tangled together. Max and Fang swooped over and caught them before they got too close to the ground, but their wings were too thoughroughly tied up to separate them without landing. The rest of the flock followed, spiraling downward and listening to Gazzy and Iggy's argument, which was quickly escalating into some sort of fistfight/screaming match hybrid.
"Not fair!" the Gasman was shouting as he tried to tug his wings free. "You hit me on purpose!"
"I'm blind, Gaz, can you blame me?"
Max shot him a look. "Don't give me that. We know perfectly well that you can tell exactly where we are just from our wingbeats."
Iggy's face showed a strange mixture of guilt and smugness.
They all tucked their wings under their sweatshirts for the walk through town that was required to get back to the forest that was their temporary home. They had been nesting there -pun intended – each night while they were waiting for their next suggestion from Max's mom.
When they crossed a street close to the center of the town, however, they encountered a small crowd of people gathered on a sidewalk, shading their eyes and squinting into the sky.
"What are we all looking at?" Max asked a blond girl who appeared to be about 19.
"There was this group of birds attacking each other or something – it was so bizarre, I've never seen anything like it."
"Uh, right," Max said, exchanging glances with Fang and pushing through the group. "Well, you guys tell us if they come back." The flock hurried away, the distant trees coming into view.
Fang muttered to Max, "Do you notice that all of the Gasman's games seem to turn into fistfights? Though, admittedly, this is the first one that has been noticed by the public."
"Hey, guys!" Gazzy shouted from behind them. "Wanna play Crack the Whip?"
A/N: If anyone wants to know, Crack the Whip is a children's game that is actually sort of dangerous. Everyone forms a line and starts to run in a circle, sort of like one big spoke on a wheel. As they pick up speed, the inside person is, of course, making tiny little circles, but the outside-most person is moving much faster, and it gets to the point where they're just being dragged along. That person will eventually fly off the line – the cracking of the whip – and, depending on the game, they can actually get seriously injured. I read about the game... somewhere. Whatever.
So... I felt like this was really boring. Hopefully Akira can do better, because she'll be bringing you Snow Storm, or possibly Snowstorm, whichever she feels like doing.