Now

Not far away, the rest of the flock was huddled within an alcove high atop the canopy of a mango tree, hearing the disturbing news that Iggy was telling them. Neither of them realized how much trouble Angel was in, nor did they know that Max, under a new persona, and the scheming serpent would soon be on their way...

"So then he left me tied up next to a tree in a bunch of vines," Iggy was elaborating, "and that's we're I've been all night."

The three remaining flock members, Nudge, Total, and the Gasman, were wide-eyed with worry and confusion at the same time. The Gasman was the most shocked besides Iggy, having experienced a close brush with probably the same serpent before, but he was too embarrassed to say anything about it.

"Poor Max," Nudge bit her lips. "We've got to find her, and then beat the heck out of that creepy snake."

"You're not that far off from what I was thinking," Iggy replied.

"Say, if she gets eaten, can I have her iPod?" Total giggled in a puppyish sound. Under normal circumstances, everyone would've thought that was weird and cute at the same time. The grim frowns on the kid's faces told Total that his timing couldn't have been worse.

"Just kidding," Total quickly apologized. "But seriously, doesn't anyone else here think that Iggy looks like he had been mugged by a troop of monkeys?"

Iggy rolled his eyes at Total's description of his appearance. "You're probably not that far off ether," he muttered darkly. The kids laughed at that joke, but with their grave situation hanging in the air, it didn't last for more than one second.

"Maybe this snake is the white-coat's some sort of bio-weapon," Nudge theorized. "So maybe that means that their lab can't be too far away."

"Whoa, time out here Nudge," Total held out his front paws. "Let's take things one step at a time. First of all, *bio-weapon?*"

"Well, how do you explain it?"

Everyone else seemed to have their own theory, but before anyone could say another word, they heard three knocks and one tap outside the alcove. It was the flock's secret knocking technique. Iggy responded with the return secret knock, and Fang came inside with a look of anxiousness in his eyes.

"Where's Angel?" He said.

When everyone said they had no idea, Fang's face turned into a "WTH" (what the heck) display. "Alright guys, here is the new plan. Anybody who doesn't listen will be sorry, so pay attention."

At once, the flock huddled tightly in a pack to listen, which was something that they all thought was childish and emasculating, but none of them wanted to suffer the wraith of Fang so they did it anyways.

Skipping a long dialogue ahead, Fang devised a system in which the flock would stay together but also cover enough ground at the same time. The flock would make a straight line in which each flock member were a certain distance away from each other; fifteen meters for each kid (and dog).

As none of them carried walkie-talkies, Fang told everyone to use vocal calls that everyone could recognize (Gazzy was extremely disappointed that he wasn't allowed to make burping noise, as this would've sound too conspicuous and just plain disgusting).

"I have just one question before we go," said Total.

"Aw, not another potty break!" The flock cried unanimously. Fang took it very harshly.

"Ok, if anyone has to go, then go. CAUSE WE'RE NOT GONNA BE STOPPING!"

Total paused for a moment. "What I meant to ask was . . . what do we do if one of us runs into the snake?"

Fang pounded his fists together and looked away in humiliation. Out of all the time he spent on mapping out his rescue plan, he spent his time worrying about Max and Angel more than he did about the snake. Max was the better planner than he was because she always kept a better focal point and cooler head than him, which were the main reasons why she was the flock leader instead of him; nothing having to do with gender or strength evaluation.

"I've got my bag full of bombs!" Gazzy waved. "But nobody tell Max, ok?"

Fang smirked at the genius-kid, relieved that he had saved him from Total's problematic question. "Don't care," he ruffled Gazzy's hair. "Just as long it'll go boom."

Iggy smiled at the mention of "boom," but then he felt a weird vibe that seemed to have come out of nowhere. As if something he had felt was now missing. It slowly dawned on him like an ignited candle . . . he was no longer smelling the flowery mangrove perfume from Nudge anymore.

"Um, guys, where's Nudge?"

The other boys turned around and saw Iggy by himself, and Fang did that WTH with his face again.

N/A: Sorry for placing this story of hiatus for so long. I've been doing a lot of other things that I've wanted to do, such as writing another fan fic staring Kaa. Hope you've enjoyed this chapter.