Disclaimer: Well, here it is. My first fanfic. :) I'd been working on various fic projects for nearly a year, but this is the first one I actually finished. :) If you have praise, comments, or (I hope not!) flames, feel free to e-mail them to me at JEB215AlphaZed@aol.com. :) Anyway, on to the disclaiming... all characters, places, situations, etc. from Gargoyles are the rightful property of Buena Vista Television. All characters, places, situations, etc. of my own are my own intellectual property. They can be used by other fic authors, as long as you ask. :)

Also, thanks to Gorebash for making the HTML version. :)

With all that done... on to the show!

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Many years later he remembered his first experience with ice. It was a cold yet sunny day in early February. The day began normally enough. John put on his usual winter clothing- white socks, black jeans, and a grey sweater. He ate a quick breakfast, of a sweet-tasting toasted pastry and a glass of cold milk. He scratched his black cat Timothy behind the ears as the cat rubbed against his legs, hoping for attention and perhaps a handout of food. After all that was done, John pulled on his grey coat and brown woolen cap, and set out for his school, Darwin Middle School. As he proceeded upon the worn path leading to the school, an icy wind stung at his face. He passed an ice-covered pond, and turned left on the path, and entered the school building.

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The classes passed in a blur that day. They studied Mount Rushmore in his US History class, and studied John Steinbeck's "The Grapes Of Wrath" in his English class. After a few hours came Lunch period.

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John walked in, just under the bell. He went through the lunch line, picking up a tray of turkey and mashed potatoes, and sat at his usual table with his best friend, Alex.

"Hey, John. How was the test in Mr. Harris's class?" Alex greeted.

"Pretty easy, I don't think you'll have any problems. It's just true or false and some multiple choice," John said, smiling, as he sat down across the table from his friend.

"Did you hear about the fight in Mr. Waverly's class?" Alex inquired.

"Nope," John replied. "Who was in it?"

"Dan Ortiz and Bob Wilson. Len Davies dared Dan that he couldn't swipe Bob's Walkman. Dan did, but Bob caught him, and they started fighting. Mr. Waverly broke 'em up before they got too far, though. I think all all three of them got suspended."

John picked up his spork, and shook his head. "I can't believe some people are dumb enough to go for dares like that."

"Oh, yeah? Well, I bet you won't go out on the middle of the ice pond," Alex jeered at him.

John set his spork down on the table and looked incredulously at his friend. "And why should I do that, exactly?"

"Why shouldn't you?" Alex countered. "Are ya scared?" He punctuated his comment with a derisive laugh.

"I'm not scared!" John exclaimed.

"Then after school, you go out to the middle of the ice pond, and walk back. I'll give ya..." He checked his pocket. "Five bucks for doin' it. It'll be easy, unless you're a chicken."

John scooped a spoonful of bland-tasting turkey into his mouth, and looked evenly at Alex. "All right. After school, I'll be there."

The bell then rang, and John and Alex went to their respective classes.

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Time passed. Alex and John were both unable to get to the pond for different reasons. Alex had to stay after school, and make up an Algebra test. John attended a meeting of the Computer Club. When the two arrived, it was nearly dark, and getting even colder than it had been in the morning.

"Let's hurry up and get this over with. It's getting late," John grumbled.

"Yeah, yeah. Go on out, I'll watch ya," Alex replied.

John hesitated briefly.

"Go on!" Alex urged.

John carefully but briskly walked onto the iced-over pond, hearing the ice groan quietly under his shoes, and feeling it give slightly. He halted.

"Um, Alex, I dunno about this..." he began to protest.

Alex smirked. "What, you're gonna give up now? Fine. I'll keep the five bucks, and tell everybody what a chicken you are."

John was worried by the possibility of breaking through the ice, but the likelihood of being the object of his classmates' ridicule worried him more. Offhandedly, he noticed the sun sinking below the horizon. A determined look covered his face, and he took another step towards the center...

...and heard an ominous and loud cracking sound when his foot sat down on the ice. John froze, afraid to move and hasten the ice's shattering. Looking down, John saw a growing spider web of cracks growing beneath his foot.

Before he could even move another inch, his foot broke straight through the ice. John yelled as he fell into the frigid waters of the pond.

The cold water stung at him like a thousand needles all over his body as he sank into the pond, which was much deeper than he had anticipated. The taste of fear filled his mouth, but was quickly replaced by the icy water that rushed into his mouth and nose, suffocating him. The hole that he had fallen into grew distant in his vision, but then a large shape jumped in, and grabbed him by his outstretched arm. As the man (~Or is it a man?,~ John thought) pulled him to the surface, John sank into the dark of unconsciousness.

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"John!" Alex yelled as he saw his friend fall through the ice. Thoughts immediately began to race through his mind. Should he run out on the cracking ice and try to save John himself? Or should he go and try to find someone to help? Unable to decide, he yelled out.

"Someone, anybody, please help!!"

Out of thin air, a large lavender shape streaked down from the sky with a swooping sound, and landed at the edge of the hole in the ice. Alex barely had time to notice that it was large, humanoid, male, and had wings before it dove into the hole, and quickly surfaced, with John in its arms.

Before Alex's astonished eyes, three more people appeared. Another winged lavender person, smaller and female, flew down and helped the big male out of the water. She was followed, on the ground, by an athletic black-haired woman in a green sweater and blue jeans, and a big, ugly, blue dog-like beast.

Alex stood there dumbfounded, as the three weird people and their equally weird dog walked to the pond's edge, with John still in the large male's arms, and turned to look at him.

Now that they were up close, Alex got a good look at his friend's rescuers.

The male was very tall, and very muscular, ~Sorta like Shaq and Superman mixed all into one,~ he thought. He wasn't exactly lavender, like he first thought, but his skin had a darker, purple-gray color to it, and a texture like leather. He also had long, black-brown hair. More noticeably, he had small sets of horns where his eyebrows should've been, slightly bigger than normal eyes, pointed ears, fangs, three-fingered and clawed hands, a tail, large bat-like wings, and his feet looked sort of like he was on his tip-toes, except that they were stuck that way.

The female was a lot like the male, except she wasn't quite as tall, and had a build like a fit human woman. In fact, Alex thought she was sort of pretty, in a weird sort of way.

Their dog looked like the Devil Dog out of "Ghostbusters," except it was some smaller, blue, and way friendlier-looking. The athletic woman looked like an Indian with her dark complexion and long black hair.

Alex thought he should've been afraid of the two winged people and the ugly dog, but weirdly enough, he wasn't. They'd saved John, hadn't they? They couldn't be too bad...

"Your friend needs help," the athletic woman stated urgently.

His eyes wide but unafraid, Alex dumbly nodded.

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John awoke in the back of an ambulance, its sirens blaring as it sped towards the hospital.

"What... where am I? What happened?"

A paramedic looked at him. "Good, you're awake. We were getting worried there. My name's Marianne. And you are a very lucky young man, John. You fell into that pond, but a woman saved you... Mazda or something like that. Anyway, she pulled you out, and your friend Alex called 911 and got you an ambulance."

"Alex!" John exclaimed. "Where is he?"

"He's fine. He said to tell you he's really sorry about all this, and that you wouldn't believe who pulled you out of there if he told you. Which is weird, 'cause he told me it was that woman..." Marianne shrugged.

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The days passed on. John made a full recovery. Alex told him of who really rescued him, and he was right- it was pretty unbelievable, something about a purple angel, her dad, and a big ugly dog that were with the woman, and that the angel's dad was the one who rescued him. Nevertheless, the experience John had that day would remain in his memories for years to come.