Maximum Ride - Rise of the Phoenix

Chapter 12

"Max!!" someone yelled. Max looked around, recognizing the voice.

"Gazzy?!" Max called as she saw a small form with gray wings flying towards her, "Gazzy!!"

"Run!! Turn around!!" Gazzy yelled.

"But I'm headed for France! The news had sightings of--"

"Doesn't matter!!! A-Angel!!!" Gazzy cut Max off.

"What? What's wrong with her?"

"Snow!!! She made it snow in China!!!" Gazzy said, sounding very frazzled.

Snow...?! In September?!

"Why were you in China?!" Max asked.

"Cage...Whitecoats...captured...Angel... ice powers...no time!!!" Gazzy rambled uncontrollably. Max could tell that he was really scared.

"Look, we'll find ourselves out of this problem, okay? Don't worry..." Max reassured him, "wait, did you say 'ice powers'?!"

Gazzy nodded slowly as he stared into Max's eyes, his pupils filled with terror. He whimpered and turned around. Max looked in the same direction. She's never seen Gazzy this scared before, and now she understood why. She saw her Angel hovering not too far from them. She had a look that reminded Max of that horrid expression on her innocent little face. Then the terrified expression on Fang's face...when Angel pointed a gun at Max's head.

Oh, Fang...I miss you so much... Max thought, almost wanting to cry, how could this have happened between us?

"Angel?" Max called out.

"I tried to give her a hug, b-but..." Gazzy started crying, "she slapped me. Then she started spraying snow on me..."

"it's okay, it's okay. We'll take her out. But first, we need to meet up with the rest of the flock." Max looked around, then at Angel, who hadn't moved, "okay, Gaz. Just fly away from her as fast as you can, and we'll see if we can run into someone else. Good?"

Gazzy nodded slowly as he wiped his nose. They started flying away from Angel, but of course, she followed.

"What if we never get away? What if they catch us and kill us? What if...we never find the others again?" Gazzy asked, tears escaping his eyes once again.

Max looked at him with sympathy. She's never seen him cry this much before.

"Gaz..." She smiled comfortingly as she took his hand, "what if we find them and we all live one day longer with our entire family? Back together, all nine of us. And you can be reunited with Angel. What if?" Max asked, and Gazzy smiled back.

"I'm so optimistic." Gazzy laughed, then set off a big and smelly one.

"Whoo!!" Max laughed as she shoved him playfully and covered her nose.

"That never gets old!" Gazzy cracked up, suddenly, he blinked multiple times, then squinted, "what's that?"

"What?" Max asked as she looked in the direction Gazzy was pointing. They saw a figure in the sky flying towards them.

"Gasman?" A familiar voice called loudly and Gazzy had a smile from ear to ear spread on his face. He looked at Max, and she smiled and nodded. He took off like a bullet, followed by Max. The figure came into larger view, and Gazzy plowed right into Iggy.

"I missed you, man! I thought I was going to lose you forever!!" Gazzy said.

"Same. But I heard your fart from all the way over here!!" Iggy laughed, earning him a high-five from Gazzy.

"Why do you smell like burnt chicken?" Max asked as she sniffed the air around him.

"That might be me..." Gazzy smirked.

"Actually, it was you. You had powers, Man. You were shooting me with lightning bolts!" Iggy said to Gazzy.

"I was?" Gazzy asked.

"Oh, and there you are again..." Iggy said, gesturing behind him, "I thought I heard you coming."

"What in the..." Max muttered, "there's Gazzy, and there's Angel too...who else are we missing?"

"Amalda...." Gazzy said.

"No, no, I mean, who else is going to be here too?!" Max asked.

"Seriously, over there." Gazzy pointed behind Max. She turned and saw Amalda and Angel approach them, surrounding the three of them.

"It's so weird to see myself..." Gazzy said as he eyed his clone.

"Eh, you'll get used to it..." Max said, "for now, let's just fight them. Then we'll flee when we find an opening."

"Works for me." Iggy said, looking around, even though he really couldn't see anything.

"Let's go." Max nodded, and they launched themselves on the clones, fighting them.
Don't worry, guys...we're coming to get you...

__________________________
Hey everyone! Hope you enjoyed this chapter FINALLY!!! XD don't forget to vote, comment, criticize, and make suggestions!!! You all rock!!