Summary: With her expiration date appearing soon after the battle with Itex, Maximum Ride is forced out of the flock, forcing her to leave her loved ones behind. But it seems the gods have plans for our favorite bird kid. Max is soon transported to a timeline where Vikings and dragons are at war with each other, and their only hope for survival just might be their weakest member. Join Maximum Ride and Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III as they do the one thing that no Viking has ever been crazy enough to do… train a dragon! Living with dragons? It ain't easy, especially when they're trying to kill you. But with enough guts, perseverance, and willpower, the two will show the world that humans and dragons can coexist peacefully!
A/N: Looking back at how the old story was progressing, I decided that I didn't really like how it was going. So I decided to rewrite it and try to give better quality chapters for this story. It probably won't be updated as often as I'd like for it to be, but I promise you that it will be the best quality that I can write! And I'm gonna make sure that the chapters aren't as pathetically short as they had been in the past! So strap in, because here we go!
Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or How To Train Your Dragon!
The Story Begins!
~Max's POV.~
I'm fed up with all of this. I can't stand all of the death, double-crosses and heartbreak anymore! Not after what THEY did!
Sorry. You all probably have no idea who I am or what I'm talking about, do you. Well, I'll tell you.
My name's Max. Short for Maximum Ride. I'm a recombinant lifeform created by a cruel scientific research facility known as Itex. Those psychos were doing all sorts of illegal genetic experiments on humans by splicing them with animal DNA upon being conceived in some test tube or petri dish. I myself, along with five others, are some of their more successful experiments.
The other five, though I loathe to say their names, are Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman or Gazzy, as we like to call him, and finally Angel. We're a group of human/avian hybrids who have our DNA comprised of ninety eight percent human DNA and two percent bird DNA. As a result, we all have wings growing out of our backs, our blood has similar cells to the blood found in most birds, we have these large air sacs that help us stay airborne, our bones are thin and light yet strong, we have extra muscles, and our hearts are different from those of ordinary humans too. In short, we are built for flight.
The only downside is we need to eat a lot. Our bodies require us to take in a lot more calories in order to fuel our flight. But I've been flying for three days and two nights straight now, stopping only to use the bathroom and stop at a laundromat to clean my clothes.
I don't dare stay in one place for longer than absolutely necessary, otherwise I'll likely be captured or killed by another of Itex's successful recombinant lifeforms: the Erasers.
Unlike myself and the others of the flock, the Erasers are human/lupine hybrids. Although, I guess the more accurate term would be leporid, not lupine. They're literally half human and half wolf, and are much bigger and stronger than us. As humans, the Erasers are actually quite attractive. Some would call them male models with soothing or even angelic voices. But when they morph into their wolf forms, they look like the classic horror movie werewolves with blood red eyes. As a matter of fact, later on when I was still with the flock, we had encountered flying Erasers that had wings and could fly like us.
However, their huge size and weighty bulk made flying a real challenge for them. They had a total wingspan of eighteen feet, but those long wings and heavy bodies made for an interestingly stupid combination and made them cumbersome in battle while in the air. But on the ground, they still held quite the advantage over myself and the flock with their enhanced speed and strength.
But in exchange for all of this, the Erasers have one fatal flaw that is not so easily exploitable. They only have a lifespan of five to six years, and when they're close to when that lifespan ends, an expiration date will appear on the back of their neck.
That's how I lost my half-brother, Ari, who was turned into an Eraser when he was only three. Because of that, he had only half the total lifespan of an Eraser that was genetically created when it was still an unfertilized egg. He passed away via expiration, dying in my arms during the final battle with Itex.
It still hurts a lot thinking about how Ari was robbed of his life by a bunch of mad scientists.
As a matter of fact, no matter how successful the recombinant, we all have an expiration date. And I know that my end is coming soon. As a matter of fact, that's exactly why I'm on my own right now. Jeb Bachelor, a sort of inside man on my mission to defeat and disband Itex and save the world, ran a few scans of myself and the flock to make sure there were no lingering injuries from the battles thus far, and he found something disturbing.
There was another chip embedded in my arm, but this one was different from the tracking chip that my mom, Doctor Martinez, had surgically removed from me. It was so small, it didn't show up on ordinary X-Rays like the ones mom took of me the first time we met. But its size isn't the only thing that makes it different.
You see, each recombinant lifeform has one of these special chips in them that activates when Itex's set life limit for them is drawing closer. Removing them wouldn't be the problem for Fang and the others, and it would rid them of their expiration dates allowing them to life normal human lifespans, but mine is a whole other shoot out. During my fight with Omega, the top creation of Itex, my chip got ruptured and activated prematurely.
Jeb and Doctor Martinez ran a few extra tests to see if anything could be done for me, but… the results came up negative. Even if they did remove the chip, it would do no good for me since it's already been activated and had time to release its signals into my body. They estimate that I only have about a year left to live before I kick the bucket.
When I turned to the flock for support, hoping they'd have my back like they always had, the exact opposite happened. They voted me out of the flock and made Angel their leader due to her own psychic mutations. It hurt me so much that they would ever do that… And I didn't even want to stick around to see or hear what Jeb, mom, or my sister Ella had to say about it. So I ran out that door and have been flying in a random direction ever since.
Well, now you know why I'm out here like this.
And you know that I wasn't given a real choice in the matter.
My stomach growled as loud as a pride of hungry lions, and I might as well be one. I haven't eaten since I was kicked out of the flock, which was a week ago, and am basically beyond running on empty here. And in my grief, I didn't think to grab the wallet that my mom had gotten for me that has my bank card in it. Without that, I can't go to a store to buy food or clothes. Mine are already starting to wear out and tear so I definitely need new clothes, because there is no way I'm walking around in rags like Tarzan does in a loincloth! Looks like I'm gonna need to do some hunting and gathering tonight if I want to eat anything at all.
Oh well. Like the saying goes; beggars can't be choosers.
Landing in a clearing in a forest somewhere, I immediately started gathering things I'd need to make a snare trap. Lucky for me, I watched a lot of survival shows before I was kicked out, and even before we learned about Itex and their plan to essentially kill off more than half of the world's population. So if I'm fortunate, I might manage to snare a rabbit that I can kill and eat. If not, I could always find a pond or a lake to catch fish, and if that fails I guess I'll just have to catch a few frogs or something if I want to have any dinner.
~Fang's Blog~
Things have been kind of rough for all of the flock for the past week. As it turns out, Itex, the people who wanted to essentially jumpstart humanity's extinction, had placed very tiny microchips in myself and the rest of the flock that would send out the signals needed for us to pretty much die before our times. Those were easy enough to remove once those bastard quack scientists were shut down, but not for all of us.
Turns out, once Jeb and Doctor Martinez, Max's mom, took a few x-rays to find her chip, they discovered something that caused us to make the biggest mistake of our lives. Turns out, Max's Death Chip, as we took to calling them, got damaged during her fight with Omega (the wonder boy creation of Itex) and activated prematurely. Even if they removed it from her, it'd do her no good. It already had time to send out the necessary signals for her expiration date to appear. It's estimated that she has a year at the most to live before she "kicks the bucket", as the saying goes.
Now, you might be wondering how this caused our bad decision. And what was it?
Well, the thing is, Max is no longer a part of the Flock. We knew she likely would last long enough to accomplish her mission to save the world, so the flock (myself, Nudge, Gazzy, Iggy, and Angel. Total's a dog, so he doesn't count.) took a vote and we kicked Max out of the Flock.
I really wish we hadn't.
That look of heartbreak and betrayal as tears threatened to pour out of her eyes at the unanimous vote was enough to make our own hearts shatter. I tried to reach out to her, but she ran out the door and flew off at hyper speed before we could stop her. She's been gone for three full days now and we have no idea where she could be. She's out there and probably lost and cold, no one to watch her back in case there's trouble…
We need to find her before it's too late!
-Fang Out!
~Fang's POV.~
I sighed heavily as I closed my laptop after posting the latest news on my blog, detailing what happened between the flock and Max. I can already see the hate mail coming in the thousands. And you know what? I don't blame them for how I know they'll react.
Damn it, I didn't want this to happen! None of us did! We just wanted Max to live the rest of her life the way she wanted to live it. Not having to bear the burden of having to save the world like she was created to do. And yet, because of our stupidity in kicking her out of the flock, all we did was drive her away. There's not a single one of us who doesn't regret what happened. What we did to our beloved leader.
Nudge has gone into a deep depression after Max left. She's barely eating, locked herself in her room, and she's so quiet now she could pass for a mute! And quite frankly, it's a side of her I want gone and to never see again!
Gazzy and Iggy are pretty much catatonic without Max around, and poor Angel hasn't stopped crying for longer than five minutes without Max here with us. With Nudge, Gazzy and Angel being the youngest in the flock at eleven, eight and six years old respectively, Max has been more than just our leader to them. She was the mother they never had.
Especially since Max helped raise Angel practically since she was a baby.
Doctor Martinez and Ella have practically buried themselves in their own work at school and with a faction that was started up by Doctor Martinez and Jeb. The Coalition to Stop the Madness. It's basically a bunch of people who are working together to try and raise the awareness of the people about the many environmental hazards that we're creating and getting others to essentially stop things like pollution and overfishing and such things like that.
I myself have also been hit pretty hard by Max's leaving.
She was - is - one of the most important people in my life. I mean, sure, I may have harbored some romantic feelings for her in the past, but now that I've had time to reflect on those feelings I realize that it was just a childish crush. Nothing serious.
Those feelings have since faded away and now I'm just concerned for the wellbeing of my leader.
'Max… wherever you are, I hope you're doing okay…'
~Max's POV.~
Night fell on the clearing of wherever I was, and I'm feeling pretty content at the moment. I hit a lucky break with my snare trap and managed to land a wild hog that had attacked me earlier in the day and quickly killed it with a strong pocketknife that Jeb had given to me for emergencies. On quick slash across the throat, and that hog was basically my dinner. I quickly cleaned the wild pig, gutting it and burying the guts in a deep hole to avoid attracting scavengers to my improvised camp site as I made a cooking fire that would also keep me warm and cooked the pig using a big stick as a spit. The smell that wafted off of the cooking meat was maddening, I was so hungry!
But now, I've picked most of the roasted carcass clean of meat and had a full belly at last. After I take a few minutes to digest, I should be able to fly again and find a way to help others. Maybe start off by getting a job.
Don't give me that look! I see you giving me those looks behind your computer screen! It's my duty to save the world, and I'm gonna see this mission through to the end!
Besides, it's not like I have anything better to do.
I took a moment to bury the leftovers of the carcass in another hole, deep enough that it wouldn't attract scavengers to my campsite. My eyelids felt so heavy after such a big meal, and I know why.
The food coma is setting in.
Yawning loudly and taking a good stretch, I laid myself down on a particularly soft patch of mossy ground. Figuring out my next move can wait until tomorrow. I'm just gonna get a good night's sleep, then keep moving.
***To Be Continued…***
Ending A/N: So, what do you all think? A big improvement from the original version, I think. What could possibly await Max in chapter two? Will she finally find a true purpose in life? Will her expiration date do her in before anything or anyone else can? Who knows what exciting adventures she's in for? Well, I do, but you'll have to read the next chapter to find out! Thank you all for reading, and I'll see you all next time! Buh-bye, now!