Ace: Thanks for everyone's support of Shadow of the Flock! As a special treat for the views and patience, I made a super long chapter! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.

Chapter 5: The Beginning of Many Discoveries

Nudge

After several minutes of flying, I found a cave to rest in. I was tired, hungry, and too upset with Angel to care about the list I made earlier. If it wasn't for Angel, then I would be back in America, eating cookies and going shopping. But I can't change the past. Oh well.

Exhaustion fell over me. I was so tired. Maybe one nap will be okay...

Wake up child, a raspy voice said.

My eyes shot open. "Who are you?"

A person in need of help, it responded.

I jumped up. "Where are you?"

Deep... Inside... The... Cave... It said softly.

A small part of me wanted to get as far away as possible, while the other part was curious to see what would happen. After several minutes of weighing the benefits of both options, I decided to investigate the cave.

Gripping my sword tightly, I descended into the cave. The farther down I went, the damper and darker it got. Eventually, it got to the point where I couldn't see in front of me, and I had to rely on my sword for support and to see what was ahead by poking the ground, which is considered taboo for sword fighting, according to a crazy voice in my head.

Will this madness ever end? I asked myself.

I swear that something was watching me at that point, because I immediately hit a wall.

"What's this?" I asked aloud.

The beginning, the raspy voice responded in my head.

The wall began to shake, and I stepped back in horror. Groaning, it began to rise slowly. When light crept into the room, I felt my breath go away.

If there was such thing as Atlantis underground, then I swear that I found it.

Unknown Person (Location: The School, in a White Coats Computer Room) (OC)

I stared at the screen. A small red dot was blinking on the radar. What was this? Did the computer go nuts? Or was it something else? How would I know? I'm just here to look at a screen. Not much else.

"Um, there is a weird dot on the radar," I yelled.

The White Coat in charge came over and looked at the screen. I swear that I could see blood drain from his face within two seconds.

"Oh no," he whispered.

He ran to a nearby intercom and pushed a button. "Sir, the rogue's back!"

What rogue? I stared at him in confusion, but he kept his focus on the intercom. And I know better than to bother him about information, or else I get punished severely.

"Where?" A metallic voice responded.

"In Japan," the White Coat replied.

"Shut him down!"

"Sir, we can't. He disabled the signal that would shut him down some time ago."

"He better not interfere with Project X or Maximum Ride. We need both of them for our plan. If one dies, then our plan dies with them."

"Let's hope that he gets defeated by a ninja or something like that," the White Coat said as he shut off the intercom. He turned to me and smiled. "Soon, you'll be one of our greatest experiments since Maximum Ride and Project X."

I nodded grimly. How I dreaded that day that is arriving soon. How I feared these White Coats. How I hated how my fate is being engineered right now, and how my freedom is fading slowly...

I stared back at the screens. I saw Max running out with a boy into the forest. There was another screen showing a blind guy- I think his name was Iggy- running in a different forest, yelling Max's name. A stab of pain went through my heart, and I looked away.

How I envied how much freedom Maximum Ride had.

Max

The bushes kept rustling. I stared at them, and before I could register anything, Ichiro knocked me down as I heard gunshots ring out.

A man stepped out. He looked like a mutated vampire. He had super pale skin, long brown hair, and a scar across his face. He had on a black jacket, black combat boots, a dark grey t-shirt, and dark pants. A modified rifle was resting on his shoulder, but that wasn't where my focus was. My focus point was his eyes. Not because they're pretty, but because they were scary. They were glowing aqua blue, like he was possessed. He smirked and said in a deep voice, "Hello there."

I stood up, pushing Ichiro back. "Who are you?"

He frowned. "You don't remember me?"

"I have never seen you in my life," I responded.

He sighed. "I guess you're right. I am Project Sigma, and I am going to kill to wreck revenge on the School," he smiled as he held the rifle with both hands.

Ichiro dashed to Sigma and slashed him with his sword. Sigma doubled over, and Ichiro kicked the rifle out of his hands. It skirted to the side. I ran to help Ichiro. Sigma growled, and tried to punch Ichiro. Ichiro jumped back. As this was happening, I slashed Sigma with my sword. He howled and tried to hit me. I kicked him and he flew backwards. As he got up he pulled a knife out of his boots.

He had a knife this entire time? Why didn't he bust it out earlier? Oh wait, he had a huge rifle in his hands. He couldn't have held it unless he had multiple arms, a smaller gun, telekinesis, or if he didn't have a gun on him at all.

Ichiro must have seen this, as he jumped back. Sigma grinned and lunged at me. I moved to the side and held my leg out. Sigma tripped and fell on his face. I giggled a little, because it was kinda funny.

Sigma got up and hit me. I was sent backwards and I hit a tree. My eyes closed for a second, and when they opened, I saw Ichiro laying on the ground with a knife in his shoulder. I ran to him and felt his pulse. He was still alive, but he probably passed out from the pain. Or poison. Or a sleeping dart.

Something snapped inside of me as I saw Ichiro laying on the ground. No one hurts my friends, even if I attacked them first by accident. Shades of deja vū? Totally.

Screaming, I turned and tackled Sigma. He clearly wasn't expecting this, but he didn't fall down. I punched him, and he tried to kick me. I dodged and hit him in the face. Then I kicked his shin. He hissed and tried to grab me. I ducked and slashed him in the chest with my sword. He gasped and staggered backwards. He glared at me.

"You'll regret this," Sigma hissed. He reached for something in his jacket, and threw it on the ground. Smoke emerged, and I began to gag. After my gag attack, I realized three things that sent me into a panic (actually, only one of these worried me):

1. Sigma escaped, although that was quite obvious. He DID pull out a smoke bomb to escape me. Not really important. I can always kick him in the face later.

2. Sigma's rifle was also gone. He probably grabbed it while he was running. It didn't really matter either.

3. Ichiro was missing. And THAT worried me greatly.

Did Sigma kidnap Ichiro? And if so, was did he stab Ichiro? Did he have a buddy with him who did? Or was it someone else, and I happened to attack the wrong person? The only way to answer my questions is to check the surrounding area. With that, I yelled out Ichiro's name.

Ella

I ran down the stairs with my messenger bag slung across my body. I had changed into a black t-shirt and pants to help hid myself in the forest.

Akira was already downstairs. She was looking at a watch on her wrist.

"You ready?" She asked without looking up.

"Of course I am. It's my sister who's in danger, and I want to save her," I replied.

Akira put her watch away. "Let's go."

Mom was waiting at the door. "Be safe, and protect Max. I'll help from here by keeping an eye on the School."

"I will," I responded.

I walked over to Akira. "How do we get to Japan?"

"By teleporting."

"Say what?" I asked.

"I can teleport. That's my gift. It's hard to explain why I have this gift without a scroll that has the history of my clan."

"Cool," I said.

Akira grabbed my shoulder and muttered something. I felt a wave of nausea, and closed my eyes.

When they opened, I found myself standing in the middle of a village. Some people were walking by, and they acted as if it was normal to see random people teleport into the middle of the village, which looked like a old Japanese village with modern tech.

"It is normal to see Akira teleport people into the village," a voice said behind me.

I whipped around and saw a boy that looked older than Max standing behind me. He looked a lot like Akira, with black hair, brown eyes, and a black outfit.

Akira came up to us. "Hayate, this is Max's younger sister Ella. Ella, this is my older brother Hayate. He can read minds."

I held out my hand. "Pleased to meet you."

He smiled. "This pleasure is mine. Come on. We must talk to the elders to see what happens next."

I nodded, and followed them to a big building in the middle of the village.

Electra (Location: Australia) (OC)

I looove the Outback. Sun, desert, an the possibility of getting attacked while looking at Koalas and Kangaroos. My day would have been perfect- if that stupid boy hadn't ruined my day.

Let me back up a bit.

I'm Electra, and that is all you need to know about me.

Okay, so I was walking in the Outback, minding my own business, when I heard something that sounded like beating wings.

Must be a bird, I thought to myself.

Yeah, as if birds could make that sound really loud.

A boy with wings dropped down from the sky. He looked at me, yelled, "Maxie!" and ran towards me. Or, he tried to. He got hit by a small bolt of lightning, but it was more of an electric shock. How do I know? Well, I do have powers of electricity, so I could tell. Oops. Totally forgot to mention that.

The boy got up. "You're not Max."

"No duh," I replied. "Who are you, and why did

"I'm Dylan, and I'm looking for my crush/perfect half Max, who is a beautiful girl, created to be the most perfect thing in the universe."

"You're nuts," I said after a moment of awkward of silence.

He frowned. "But I don't see her here..."

"Where did you come from?" I asked. "And don't leave out anything, okay?"

"Let start from my earlier days. I am a clone, and-"

"I meant before you came here to Australia,"I said. My hand was twitching, which would be bad for Dylan. One more annoyance, and I'll go zap him again. Harder.

"This is Japan, right?"

I zapped him. "You are in the Outback genius!"

"I am?" He asked. I got super upset, because he looked unharmed.

"Yeah, you are. Now go away!" I yelled at him.

"Can you help me find my sweetheart Max?" Dylan asked.

I zapped him a third time, but kinda hard this time. He fell over. Gasping, he looked up at me with big eyes.

I rolled my eyes. "I'll just get you to Japan, but I'm doing it because you are annoying me and I want you to go away!"

Dylan got up and smiled. Sighing, I willed myself to have patience for the next few days of stupidity.

Iggy

"Max! Max, where are you?" I yelled as I dashed through the forest. I kept getting hit by branches, but I didn't care. I needed to find Max as soon as possible.

After several minutes of hitting trees and tripping over rocks, I stopped in an area that was close to a building. Sinking down to my knees, I leaned my head against a nearby tree.

Will I ever find Max? I asked myself softly. She's like an older sister, and she kept the Flock together for so long. There is no way I would leave my sister behind, no matter how many times she bosses me around, annoys me, takes away my explosives for the "safety" of others nearby, or does rash decisions randomly. The Flock sticks together, even if half of them are jerks. Or it if one of them is Dylan. Strike that. Dylan just hangs around us, hoping to go out with Max, no matter how many times she rejects him politely. (She actually says, "Dylan, can you please leave me alone?" Crazy, right? So OOC.)

Iggy, a voice hissed, breaking me from my thoughts.

I jumped up. "Who's there?"

The voice laughed. Definitely sounded masculine. How would you like to have your sight back to find your beloved sister Max?

Ace: Research, research, research.

Nudge: What are you doing Ace?

Ace: I'm saying that I had to do a lot of research for this chapter: names, Australia, and a little bit about Japan.

Nudge: But you did have that ninja clan hideout in a forest. How are you going to explain it?

Ace: Here's my explanation for the viewers: There are multiple 'levels' of realities overlapping each other in the world, and you and the Flock happen to stumble upon the entrance of one.

Nudge: *sarcastically* Wow Ace. Just... Wow.

Ace: How else am I going to explain this? You went back in time? *Crosses arms and rises eyebrow*

Nudge: Point taken

Ace: Yeah. Next time I'll do my best to do research BEFORE I write the chapter. And explain this better in your next part, as it will be extended.

Nudge: Thanks Ace!

Ace: No problem. And expect an update before the 23rd. Hopefully.

Nudge: Okay.

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Ace