Protective Lucas and protective Farkle. No shipping please, it's just protection. A lot of action in this one.

Maya breathe quickened.

Riley was worried.

Lucas was mad.

Farkle was, well... Farkle.

Maya wanted to hide; she wanted to run, but she couldn't. Her ankle prevented it.

Lucas and Farkle stood in front of her; shielding her from the view of the bullies.

Riley had a hand on Maya's shoulder, being that she wasn't quite tall enough to shield her effectively.

Maya's face was plastered with a look of fear; a face that was rarely ever seen from her. She never wanted to show fear to anyone.

Unfortunately, the bullies recognized Riley somehow.

Farkle studied them, making mental notes of their appearance.

Two boys and a girl; both boys blonde and the girl brown hair. The girl was shorter than the boys but more intimidating than them. The two boys looked related, but the girl was obviously not. The boys both had piercing blue eyes, while the girl had dark eyes. Farkle shuddered at the bullies. He understood how Maya felt.

So did Riley.

Lucas used to be a bully, so he also understood.

The bullies walked up to the group with a smug look on their faces.

Maya looked at the ground while Riley tried to make a brave face.

One of the boys walked up to Riley and harshly shoved her out of the way.

Riley hit her head and scraped up her face pretty good. She let out a whimper, which the boy laughed at.

Lucas could feel the rage inside of him start to boil, but he tried to shove it down. He sprinted over to Riley's side.

Farkle continued to put on his brave face, but he was scared as well. He still stood protectively in front of Maya. He may not look strong, but he will do anything for his friends.

The other boy walked up to Farkle and smiled wickedly.

Farkle stood taller, holding his ground.

The boy threw a quick punch, which Farkle somehow dodged. Luckily, he also missed Maya. The boy threw another punch and made contact with Farkle's jaw.

Farkle stumbled off to the side, leaving Maya defenseless.

Lucas quickly sprang up and stood in front of Maya.

The boy gritted his teeth in anger. "Move! You can't protect her forever! Your little friend made her weak, so we will continue making her weaker. We will be the strongest and you can't stop us!"

Lucas's anger flared once again, but this time he couldn't stop it. He kicked out his foot and made contact with the boy's leg.

He yelped in pain, but quickly straightened out again.

Meanwhile, the other boy was going after Riley again, but luckily Farkle was there. He may not be as strong as Lucas, but he was fast. Farkle dodged the boy's attacks and attempted to make him back off. He wasn't doing a bad job, he was actually doing pretty good. The girl they saw before was nowhere to be seen.

The boy that Lucas kicked tried to punch Lucas but Lucas caught his hand mid punch.

The boy tried to get free, but Lucas didn't let go.

"I suggest you leave before I make you leave," Lucas suggested firmly.

The boy's eyes widened in fear and he backed off a little.

Lucas stepped forward quickly, which made the boy run. Lucas grinned and turned to look at Maya, but his smile was soon girl that they lost track of had Maya by the collar; Maya struggling to get out of the grip.

Her crutches have fallen to the ground.

"You really are weak, Hart. You had to get your friends to protect you," The girl said to Maya harshly.

Lucas was quick. "Hey," he called out, "Leave her alone, or I'll make you leave her alone!"

She looked over at him and smirked. "Just try and make me, I dare you."

Lucas's face hardened, and the girl definitely noticed.

She made a tough face, but she looked scared.

Lucas stepped forward; fists clenched. He didn't intend to actually hit anyone, he was doing it to be intimidating.

The girl let go of Maya's collar, which made Maya drop to the ground.

Lucas glanced at her to make sure she was okay, then looked back at the girl. Lucas was a good 4 inches taller than the girl, making him, even more, intimidating looking. He clenched his jaw and growled a little, much like how a wolf would.

The girl backed off a little.

Farkle was still trying to get rid of the other boy and he was doing a decent job. Since he was more brains than brawn, he kept tricking the boy into hitting himself instead of him.

Riley was cheering him on but kept her distance due to her new injuries.

Eventually, the boy left; knowing that he was just going to end up hurting himself.

Riley ran up and hugged Farkle.

Little by little, Lucas made the girl back off more and more.

Eventually, she just scoffed and said, "You're lucky I don't hit guys taller than me," then left.

Lucas grabbed Maya's crutches and helped her up.

"Thanks, Ranger Rick," Maya grumbled. Suddenly, she remembered what the boy had done to Riley, so she "ran" over to her.

Riley smiled at her but winced.

Maya studied her face.

They were a cut on Riley jaw and a bruise on her forehead, with a couple other scratches here and there.

Maya felt really bad; like it was all her fault.

Riley smiled warmly as if she read her mind. "It's not your fault, Maya, you couldn't have done anything about it."

Maya still felt bad, but she had an idea. Something that Riley did for her. She moved closer and softly kissed the cut on Riley's jaw. Then she kissed the bruise on her forehead.

As if it was magic, the injuries hurt Riley less than they did before.

Maya smiled. "What can I say, kisses always make me feel better. I figured I would try it on you."

Riley laughed. "Hey, that's my line!" She then hugged her.

The boys shrugged at each other and joined for a group hug. Truly they had the best friend group ever.