"Endings and Beginnings: Part 4"

March 23rd - Sunset

The California clan’s house:

    Chaos snapped awake and admitted a roar as stone chips fell away from his body. His face registered an expression of shock as pain shot through his wings and tails when stretching. He was grateful than the pain was at a level lower than the night before. After the pain steadied down to a small, but steady throbbing, he noticed a slow, but steady breeze washing over him. A small smile formed as he took in the sight of a rapidly darkening sky.

    A moment later, confusion replaced the happiness upon realizing he had no idea where he was. Glancing down and noted that he was standing on a stone perch of some sort, causing yet more confusion since he had no idea how he got there to begin with. He was snapped out of his confusion a moment later when he heard a female voice call over to him, "Hello."

    He turned and replied with a quick, "Hello." A couple hard blinks followed as he took in the sight in front of him, for it was another gargoyle. He took in some of her features; medium gray coloration, medium and dark brown hair, wire-framed glasses with round lenses and a longer beak like mouth. He also noticed that she had a pair of horns that angled back slightly and were thinner than his and terminated with what looked like rather sharp points.

    Her expression turned to one of slight puzzlement as she saw curiosity in his eyes and maybe even slight wonderment. She noted that his eyes remained locked on her head and didn't drift down at all. While a small part of her was relieved at this, another part was puzzled outright. When he didn't say anything, she decided to break the ice. "You sure are acting like you've never seen another gargoyle before."

    He replied with, "And you would be right," as he snapped out of his staring. Yeah, that was really a smart thing to do, just stare at her.

    She formed a shocked look to his comment. He's never seen another gargoyle...? How could that be? She quickly regained her composure. Snap out of it girl. "Anyways, my name is Gadget. What might yours be?"

    "Chaos." It clicked less than a second later as how casually he had said it; almost like that had been his name throughout his entire life.

    "Certainly sounds like an appropriate name considering it looked you have been through quite a bit of it when they brought you in last night."

    He let out a small grunt. "You have no idea." Not to mention how ironic the name seems now he thought to himself.

    She blinked at his comment. "Well, I'm sure I'll get to hear all about it later. For now, let's go get you cleaned up and then over to see Ohio and Main so they can take a look at you. After that, we can see about getting some food."

    His stomach let out a rumble upon the mention of food, which of course earned him a bemused look. "Sounds good to me." As he got off of his perch, he gave her a quick look over and made sure his eyes didn't linger anywhere. First he noticed how the insides of her wings were a light gray and the backsides were black. He also noticed that her elbow spikes were a little longer than his own, plus she had a pair of rather short knee spikes. He had barely processed her black top and blue jeans when he noticed that she shared a wing design that was similar to his own. How interesting. As he followed her towards the doorway, he couldn't help but to notice that her hair ran all the way down to the base of her tail. A few blinks followed at the sight of that. I wonder how long it takes for her to wash all of that.

    After going down two flights of stairs and turning a couple corners, she opened one of the doors and gestured for him to enter. "You can take a shower and get cleaned up in here. In fact," she paused as she looked at something inside, "this shower room looks like the one you'll be using for a while." Pointing, she said,  "Hampers are over there and they're all labeled. Clean clothes should be in one of the lockers, along with shampoo, soap and a towel for you." With that, she closed the door.

    Moving over to the lockers, he noticed all of them had names except for one. A wry grin formed when he saw that it had a simper piece of paper taped on the outside that said, "Green guy." Well, I guess that's me. He quickly got what he needed before stripping down and steeping into the shower. Within seconds of turning the water on, he started to feel rather relived. After what happened over the last few nights, it's finally nice to be able to enjoy a hot shower!

    Chaos felt the hot water flow over him and part of him wished that the water would wash away what he was seeing and reveal that everything that had happened over the last few days had been an illusion or nothing more than a bad dream. At the same time, another part of him knew that it wasn't going to happen. This body, along with everything that he had experienced over the last few days, was all too real no matter how much he wished or wanted otherwise. He silently stood there for several more minutes just letting the water to flow over his body.

    A small sigh of relief escaped him as he carefully started to wash his wings, both of which were still sore from the shrapnel they had taken night before. It's nice to have encountered another of my kind, though I have no idea how that even happened. Last thing I can recall clearly before waking up was landing a bit too hard on my wounded leg and blacking out from the pain. I certainly don't recall seeing any others last night. Maybe she or somebody else spotted me in flight or on the ground? So many questions to ask and I'm pretty sure there are some questions for me too. Shoving the thoughts aside, he went about finishing up his already long shower.

    Gadget let out a small sigh of relief as she waited for Chaos to finish up with his shower. Certainly is nice to see another gargoyle with a beak, even if it's half the length of my own. For as long as I can remember, I had been the only member in the clan with one. Well, at least now I know I'm not the only gargoyle around with one. She shot a thoughtful look in the direction of the shower room he was in. You know, I hope he decides to stick around with us since he probably doesn't have any other place to go. Plus so I don't feel so lonely about being the only with a beak, even though I know that's a selfish thought.

    She heard the shower shut off a moment later. She noted that his shower had lasted quite a while, but didn't blame him in the slightest since he had been rather dirty and bloody when they brought him in the night before. She had to admit as to what happened that left him in that shape. I'm sure I'll found out soon enough. A click was heard as the door was unlocked and she turned to see him poke his head out with a slight bit of confusion and embarrassment. "Something wrong?"

    "Uh, yeah. It seems I didn't get a shirt along with the other clothes I was given."

    She chuckled and pointed at his wings. "That's because of your wing wounds."

    "Oh. The shorts then...?"

    She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, what you're thinking."

    He let out a sigh as he stepped out and froze a moment later. He ducked back inside to ditch the towel he had left draped over his shoulders. "Sorry if I took so long in the shower."

    She shrugged and motioned for him to follow. "Don't worry about it too much." As she lead him over to see Ohio and Maine, she noticed something a little odd about him. They were almost to the doorway when it clicked in her mind; his energy level didn't seem to be as high as it should have been. Well, it did look he had a rather rough night last night. She motioned to the door. "They're inside. I'll wait for you out here."

    He slowly opened the door and stepped inside where he saw both a male and female gargoyle equal in height to one another and clearly were several inches shorter than himself. The female was a chocolate color with her bat like wings being a lighter shade on the inside and darker on the outside. Jutting up through her graying black hair was four short horns. The male had bat like wings as well and had a ruby coloration. He had a set of ram like horns and not a trace of hair on his head. The male looked at him. "I'm Ohio and this is Maine. What's your name?"

    "Chaos."

    Maine pointed to the examination table. "Sit." Moving quickly, she hadn't even waited for him to fully sit down when she stuck a tongue depressor into his beak as he went to say something. After she finished peeking inside of his mouth, she shoved a thermometer into his mouth. "Keep that under your tongue and lift your left leg." She took a look at his calf where he had suffered a three-inch long laceration from a wooden fragment the night before. Once done looking, she started wrapping it in gauze. "Leg wound is mostly healed. Should be fully healed tomorrow night." She looked him in the eye. "Minimal movement and weight on it for the next three nights."

    Ohio stood up after looking at the green gargoyle's wings and tail. Pulling out the thermometer, he said, "Temperature is normal. Wing and tails wound look nicely healed. How do your wings feel?"

    "A little sore."

    The older male nodded. "No gliding for the next three nights. Now get on the scale for weight and height."

    Chaos quickly complied, though slightly startled at there bluntness. He had just barely stood on the scale when he felt the slider that helped measure height tap the top of his head. Maine looked at it and then down at the scale. "Height is 6' 6" and weight is 240 pounds." She guided him out the door. "Come back in three nights. And tell Falcon I want him to swing by later with a work out plan for you."

    Before he could say anything, the door closed. He pointed at the door with a slight look of confusion. "Are they...?"

    Gadget nodded. "It's not you. They're that quick and blunt with everybody in the clan. Anyways, let's go eat."

    "Oh." He was both surprised and puzzled, though more puzzled than anything as he followed Gadget down the hallway. Maine's comments about his height and weight echoed through his mind. I know my body went through quite a bit of a change, but what the hell? I mean, my height suddenly goes from being barely six feet even to six feet, six inches!  I can understand that the change might have added or taken away a quarter to half an inch, but adding six inches outright? Not only that, my weight shot from around 180 pounds to 240 pounds. That's just plain crazy!

    A moment later, he heard Maine shout down the hallway. "Oh yeah, you need to put on about ten pounds."

    He paused and turned around, only to realize she had ducked back inside the medical room. "Huh...?"

    Gadget replied without missing a beat, "Well, you do look a little bit on the scrawny side. That and your build is a little on the thin side too."

    I can't believe I just head that! A small sigh escaped him. "Just what do you mean a little on the thin side?"

    "For starters, it doesn't look like you have very much in the way of upper body strength, more so in the area of your upper chest muscles. You do need to build those up some more." She saw his puzzled expression. "Deals with your wings." She then pointed to his arms. "That, and you really need to put some more muscle on those arms of yours. Tends to be useful when climbing things or beating up the occasional thug who thinks they can take one of us on in a fight."

    "I guess you do have a point there."

    "Darn right I do. Now let's stop standing around and get some food." Both made couple more turns before strolling into the kitchen and dining area. She gestured for him to take a seat. "Hey Missouri, we're here."

    Another female gargoyle popped out of a different doorway. She had light purple coloration and not a trace of hair on hear head, but had four small knobs that ran down the center. Unlike the two of them, she had fan like ears. She was decked out in blue shorts, a white shirt and an apron that said, "Kiss the cook." She chuckled. "I was wondering if you had gotten lost Gadget. And you are...?'

    "I'm Chaos."

    She smiled. "Nice to meet you Chaos. Any sort of dietary requirements I might need to know about?"

    "Nope."

    "Good to hear. I sure hope you brought your appetite."

    His stomach let out a rumble. "Yeah, I think I did manage to bring that along." He heard her chuckle and saw her turn back to tending the food. A moment later, he saw another four gargoyles enter the room and was introduced to each one in turn by Gadget. Falcon was a tall mustard yellow colored male with black wings and short blond hair. The shorter male of the two was named Woodpecker. One could see why; he was black with white wings and short, dark red hair.

    Next was Eagle, who was the taller of the two females. He noted that unlike the rest of them, her wings were attached to her arms and legs with an appendage in the middle of each wing that he guessed help with deploying them or stability. It took him a brief moment to realize she had been named after Golden Eagle; she was a golden brown in color with her hair being just a little lighter and going down to the middle of her back. It took another second to realize that she had no horns like the others.

    The last of one of the group was also the shortest of the group; she was a cinnamon brown with shoulder length electric blue hair. Upon hearing that her name was Titmouse, Chaos blinked. "Wait, what did you say her name was? I'm not sure if I heard you right."

    Titmouse nodded. "Name's Titmouse. There are three species of bird that have that as part of their name."

    He blinked. "How interesting."

    The others joined them at the table and all exchanged quick greetings. Chaos was a little surprised upon noticing none of them asked questions of him, but instead, dove into talking about what happened during their patrols the night before. A twinge of guilt ran through him as he listened in, but knew this was probably going to be one of the few ways to learn more about the species he was now a member of. While listening in, he failed to notice another male gargoyle enter the room. He was a light tan with dark tan colored wings capped over his shoulders. Poking out of the short salt and pepper colored hair were three short, pencil thick horns. "So, you must be the one we found last night."

    Chaos turned, slightly startled. "Yeah, that would be me."

    "The name is Iowa." He offered his hand. "You are?"

    "Chaos."

    "Pleasure to meet you." Sitting down, he looked up to see Missouri bringing over some food. "I have some questions for you, but first, let's eat." The group proceeded to eat with little in the way of conversation. Once everybody was finished with their food, he looked over at Chaos. "I must admit, I'm a trifle curious, how did you end up with the name Chaos?"

    The green gargoyle sighed. "Well, I guess you can say it's probably a reflection of how... chaotic the last few nights have been for me."

    Falcon spoke up, "Sounds interesting."

    "Well, interesting would probably be a prize understatement...." Chaos started with how when he woke up after the change, there was the vague feeling that something was wrong, but didn't pin down what was wrong until several seconds after looking in the mirror. From there, he covered his brief encounter with the man he suspected was behind the change, but had no way of being sure. After that, he glossed over his failed escape attempt on the first night and escapes that were managed over the next two nights, though was recaptured due to tracking devices.

    He paused briefly before continuing. "And last night was anything but pleasant. This time, ten of them lead me into another room and spread out a bit in case I tried something. Of course, I wasn't about to try anything since they had their hands on the butt of their weapons. I'm not sure why they lead me into another room, other than maybe they were tired of me escaping. The way they were acting suggested that something was probably about to go down soon, but that's just a guess since I had no information.

    Waited in there for a while before hearing something akin to the sound of an explosion." He saw that this earned shocked expression. "One of them handed out orders and eight them filed out to deal with the attackers. This opened the door for another escape and I went for it. Knocked both of them out, took a set of keys and ran for the back of the building since all the commotion was coming from the front. Or at least, I guess it was the front."

    He paused long enough to take a sip of his soda. "Just as I started to unlock the door, I heard a muffled voice on the other side. I stood there like an idiot for a moment before some instinct screamed out. Ran and jumped over some crates to use them for cover, but just as I cleared the top of them.... BOOM! Felt myself get peppered by fragments. Not sure how, but managed not to pass out from the pain. Everything after that was somewhat hazy from the pain. I vaguely recall bandaging the wound on my leg, along with a couple on my tail before getting out of there. Don't really recall anything from that point on until I landed a bit too hard."

    Iowa winced upon hearing that Chaos had nearly been blown to bits the night before. "Damn." To him, the idea that somebody would go about changing somebody from being human into a gargoyle seemed a bit far fetched, but also found the idea unnerving. He had noted that the younger gargoyle had been smart enough to explain what he knew, didn't know and what were nothing more than guesses. That and at least he had the common sense to keep trying to escape, even after getting recaptured. Definitely has warrior blood in him. He chased the thought away. "Any possible idea as to they have chosen you for this... experiment?"

    Chaos gave a slight shake of the head. "No idea at all. Not even a guess either."

    Gadget spoke up, "I don't believe you."

    Chaos formed a slightly startled look, though he was aware that he shouldn't have expected any of them to believe his story. "Why's that?"

    Gadget crossed her arms. "Here's why I don't believe that you were human up until a few nights ago. One, you're walking around just fine, except for that slight limp due to the wound on your leg. You're not stumbling around at all. Anybody can tell from the way your walking that you've been doing it that way your entire life. Two, you're able to talk without difficulty. We gargoyles with beaks have to learn how to talk in a slightly different way than others. I mean if you went from having no beak to suddenly having one, some of your words should be screwed up as you try to communicate. Instead, you come across quite clearly, sounding like somebody who's mastered how to talk with a beak."

    She paused briefly before continuing, “Three, your body language indicates that you don't seemed bothered by your," she quickly made the quotes symbol with her hands, "new body. If anything, it should be off base, but it's getting the right signals across. Heck, your wings and tail are moving in time with the signals." She paused. "I'm sorry, but you're not giving off any of the signs or signals of somebody who claims to have been human up until a few nights ago. The old saying applies. If it looks, sounds and walks like a gargoyle, then it is a gargoyle. You come across as somebody who has been a gargoyle his entire life."

    Chaos felt more than a bit stung from her comments. "Look, I know it's a bit hard to believe..."

    "Hard? Try impossible!"

    "Gadget, that's enough!" Iowa said rather angrily. He took a few deep breaths as he calmed down. "Chaos, do not tell any of the others you had been human with the exception of Grandma, who you’ll meet later. If they ask, tell them humans had raised you. I'll explain why later. For the next three nights, you'll team up with Titmouse and Woodpecker to learn communications, patrol areas and some of our customs. Friday, you start working on your fighting skills with Falcon and Eagle.

    Rest on Saturday and then you start getting into the thick of it on Sunday." He paused briefly before continuing. "On Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays until otherwise, Gadget will teach you how to glide. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, you'll work with Falcon and Eagle on your fighting skills and getting a slightly thicker build. Again, that's until you pick up on it enough you can start coming out on patrols. Saturdays will be your rest days."

    Gadget formed an annoyed look. "Now wait just a moment."

    Iowa held his hand as he cut her off. "Gadget, the two of you share the same wing type. It's better than that he learns from somebody with the same type of wings versus somebody with a different wing type."

    Gadget frowned. "Fine." With that, she left the room.

    Iowa turned towards the green gargoyle. "Chaos, I assume you have no place to go, correct?"

    "That would be correct."

    The clan leader nodded and let out a sigh as he searched for the right words. "With that being the case, I think it might be in your best interests to stay here with us, even after we teach you how to glide and fight. I would be honored if you decided to stay and join our clan."

    Chaos thought it over for a moment before looking at Iowa. "I accept."

     Iowa quickly showed him how to do the warrior shake. "I'm glad to hear that. Don't worry; we take care of our own. If you'll excuse me, I need to get out on patrol."

    Chaos watched him leave along with Falcon and Eagle, who also had patrol duty. He let out a small sigh and turned to face Titmouse and Woodpecker. "So, what now?"

    Woodpecker responded as he got up. "Over to the communications room. Show you the all the radio stuff, along with the map of patrol areas." He quickly lead the group to the other room.

- - - -

    Gadget snarled as she dove off of the house's roof. As she climbed to patrol height, her hands balled into fists. I don't believe it! Of all the things in the world. Chaos goes and claims he had been human! What in the hell is the matter with him?

    Iowa noticed Gadget's reaction, but decided to say nothing. I do admit she brought up some valid points, but I think I'll just let the two of them settle it on their own terms. Just hopefully she won't beat him up or kill him in the process. Of course, that might end up taking a while. Well, not much I can do about it at this point. He banked right as he followed the younger gargoyle to their patrol area.

- - - -

    Titmouse closed the door after the small group entered the communications room. She gestured for Chaos to take an empty seat to her right and could see a trace of uncertainty in his eyes. "Chaos, this is our communications room. As you can see, we've got a decent sized map of the area and a number of radios. A few books, a TV and a computer to keep us from being bored out of our minds." She gave a small smile. "Despite what Gadget said earlier, I believe you and don't worry, we'll take good care of you."

    Woodpecker nodded in agreement. "Indeed we will. Gadget did bring up some good points, but I doubt she was paying full attention. I picked up a few human like gestures that you were making." He paused for a second. "Something does strike me odd about this whole thing though."

    Chaos didn't turn as he studied the map. "What's that?"

    "What I don't quite get is why somebody would go through all that trouble of changing you into a gargoyle. I mean, what's the point?"

    Chaos looked over at the other two. "Money for starters. The ringleader of that circus had mentioned something about other parties being interested in buying me. As to who, nary a hint was given. Maybe even scientific knowledge as well, though the idea of getting dissected is pretty scary." He blinked. "There was something I forgot to mention earlier."

    Titmouse gave him a puzzled look. "What?"

    "One of the guards called me a gargoyle when moving me out of my cell. Unless I totally misunderstood, it sounded an awful like an indication he had dealt with others of our kind."

    She blinked a few times. "If that's true, it sure wasn't anybody in this clan."

    Woodpecker pondered this and spoke up, "And idea where they might have been from? Accent or anything that would have given you a hint?"

    Chaos thought that over and replayed their voices in his head. "I'm not positive, but I want to say most of the ones that I heard have similar accents. Best guess is somewhere on the East Coast, maybe somewhere in the New York area. Why do you ask?"

    The black colored male leaned back in his chair. "We've heard rumors that another clan might exist somewhere near the New York area, but we haven't been able to check it out. If you're right, this would be the first piece of evidence we've gotten."

    The green male blinked. "How interesting." He sighed. "Anyways, I rather suspect you have stuff to teach me about. So, what's first?"

    Titmouse answered that question. "Well, let's get started with the map. Sooner or later, you'll go out on patrol and thus you will need to know where each patrol area is..."

March 27 - 30 minutes after sunset

    Falcon looked over at Chaos. "Tonight, we start working on teaching you how to fight."

    Eagle grinned, "That we do." She looked at Falcon. "I say we jump right to the point where we throw him around like a rag doll."

    Chaos's eyes went wide from shock. "Uh..."

    Falcon chuckled. "We're not really going to do that. We'll just run a couple quick tests to see what your current skill level is and then build from there."

    Eagle frowned. "Gee, you sure know how to ruin a fun evening."

    Falcon smirked. “I’ll apologize for her. Eagle is a pretty tough warrior and at times itches for a fight.” 

    Eagle rolled her eyes. “You're just saying that because I beat you up a lot when we were younger.” She sighed and looked at Chaos. “Fine, I won’t beat you up tonight, but I reserve the right to beat you up later.” 

    Chaos formed a shocked look. “What…?” 

    Falcon shook his head. “Don’t worry, she’s kidding.” 

    Eagle mock pouted. “Fine, go ahead and ruin all of my fun tonight! I guess we’ll do things your way.” 

    Chaos took a cautious step back. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” 

    Eagle gave an evil grin. “Good!”

    Falcon shook his head. "Let me go get my padding that way you can show what you do know so far. And Eagle, while I'm doing that, no starting a fight with our student."

    Eagle rolled her eyes. "Go get your padding. I'm not going to beat him up tonight."

    Chaos blinked a few times and watched Falcon walk off. "Say, why do you want to beat me up?"

    The web-winged female chuckled. "That's a secret."

March 29, Close to sunrise -

    Chaos let out a small sigh; glad to be finally returning to the clan's house after spending a better part of the night learning how to glide. He watched Gadget flare her wings and make a smooth landing. Looks easy enough. Flaring his wings, he slowed down upon trying to land on his perch. Unlike her, he stumbled on landing and ended up flat on his face. I was wrong.

    Gadget groaned. "You are so pathetic."

    Standing up, he checked for any wounds and found none. "Well excuse me for not knowing how to glide, much less land. After all, I was human not too long ago."

    She frowned. "Don't even go there."

    Chaos grimaced. "Hey, it's the truth."

    Gadget snarled. "Are you dense or something?"

    Before Chaos could reply, the sun peeked over the horizon.

April 20th, twenty minutes after sunset -

    Eagle looked over at Gadget. “Hey sis, why do you keep getting on Chaos’s case about him being human before?”

    Gadget rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me you believe his story.”

    The web-winged female sighed. “Have you seen him try to fight at all? He throws a punch like a human would.”

    The gray colored female crossed her arms. “Maybe he learned from watching them or had one teach him a few moves.”

    Eagle frowned. “Care to explain then why anytime he tries to do a kick, he falls on his butt? Or how about the fact he doesn’t try to use his tail? If he had been a gargoyle all of his life, I’m sure he would have at least figured out how to use his tail in a fight.”

    Gadget threw her arms up. “Oh, for the love of Pete…”

2 hours later -

    Eagle took a sip of water as she watched Chaos beat on a punching bag. She smirked after noting he had been at it for a good hour and a half. After taking another sip of water, she noted that he was starting show clears signs of improvement. She let out a small sigh and made a mental note that they really needed to start drilling it into Chaos's head that his tail could be used in combat. "Ok, that's enough for now. Take a break and get something to drink."

    Chaos let out a deep breath before getting a drink of water. He noted that his hands and arms were sore from the workout, but also felt a bit less tense than earlier in the night. After he finished off a glass of water, he looked at his instructor. "Anything special planned for tonight?"

    Eagle looked over Chaos and pondered his question. "Chaos, as of tonight, I'm going to start teaching you how to use a Bo staff."

    He blinked. "Look, I don't know..."

    "Shut up or I'll beat you with it until you agree."   

    Chaos took a cautious step back. "No offense, but I don't think this is a great idea."

    Eagle rolled her eyes as she got up. "Quit being such a hatchling." She quickly retrieved a pair of Bo staffs. "Besides, I think it's a skill you'll find rather useful."

    He accepted one of the Bo staffs. "Are you sure about this?"

    The web-winged female twirled her Bo staff around several times and chuckled. "Quite sure and stop worrying. I'll start with the basics and go from there."

May 12th, 25 minutes after sunset -

    Gadget looked over at Chaos. "Tonight, we're going to work on your hard turns." She scowled slightly, "Again."

    Chaos rolled his eyes when he saw her scowl. Over the past several weeks, he had gotten down most of the aspects of gliding, save for hard turns. "Fine."

    "Just watch how I execute the turn and then you do it." She shot him a quick look. "And make sure you get it right this time."

    He let out an angry sigh and did a slow banking turn to the left while she did her hard turn to the right. After completing the turn, he headed for the clan's house. He decided that when he got back, he would head down to the weight room and vent on the punching bag. He landed several minutes later and caped his wings. Before he could head inside, he saw her land in front of him.

    She snarled. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing hatchling?”

    Chaos growled. “And what the hell is your problem?” he snapped back. “Ever since you’ve started teaching me how to glide, you keep getting on my case. In case you’ve forgotten, I had had been human until several weeks ago.”

    Gadget rolled her eyes. “Don’t be starting up with that ‘I was human’ crap again.”

    His wings flared as he snarled. “It’s the truth.” He shrugged before going on, “What’s so damn hard to understand about it? Shouldn't the fact that I tripped pretty much every time I tried landing for the first two weeks been a clue? How about when I was having trouble with turns, including the simple ones? Or how about when I was having trouble adjusting to wind gusts?”

    She pointed at his chest. "Care to explain how you were able to maintain level flight right off the bat then? How about you diving off the roof to follow me? If you had been human like you claim, then I'm sure you would have had trouble with level flight. Not only that, but I would have needed to push you off the roof just in order to teach you anything."

    He threw up his arms in disgust. "Could you be any more dense?" He let out an angry sigh. "Look, I was human. I remember walking around during the day. Got to see all sorts of birds flying about, the vibrant colors of flowers, sunburns from being out in the sun too long among other things."

    Gadget snarled at being called dense. "I'm dense? Look who's talking!”

    Chaos snarled back. "And what the hell does that mean?"

    "Oh, for the love of..." She looked at him with angry disbelief. "Delusional, are we?"

    Snapping back, he said, "You take that back!" The argument went on for another half an hour.

- - - - - - -

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