Thunder echoed across the city as the heavens opened and poured down in gallons at a time. In the distance, the turbulent sky was slowly darkening as the sun was meeting the horizon beyond the clouds. Night had begun once again. A couple miles away, in a small suburban house, a cold nose pressed firmly on the pane of glass, as his eyes lazily scanned the unfolding scene beyond him. The steady beat of rain on the roof and decking outside reverberated throughout the house; a steady drumming that rung in his ears. A flash of lightning caught his eyes, followed by the deep rumble of thunder a few seconds following. Another boring night with nothing to do, nothing to think, and nothing to feel - like every night for the past several years. Ach. He didn't want to bring up that memory again.

Six years had past since he lost her. Six long, painful years. When Lewis looked back, it didn't seem like it had been that long - but no matter how much he tried to forget, ever since that fateful day his life had dropped into the pit. Suddenly, he was wracked with a flashback again. He was going back.

"Woooo!"

Her ecstatic voice rung out again, bringing a smile to his face as he watched her plunge from the open door into the wispy clouds below. Lucy was always an adrenaline-junkie. Even more than he was - and that was saying a lot. Since the beginning, their greatest joining factor was a shared interest in extreme sport, and it sure took them to the craziest of places. In honesty, she was most of the reason his life was worth living. Stepping up to the open door, he took a deep breath, and leaned forward, quickly dropping headfirst from the aircraft. Immediately his senses were overwhelmed by the incredible sound of rushing air as he fell like a rock, while he held his arms up beside him to steady his decent. Noticing her now-tiny figure far below him, he dipped his head down and pulled his arms closer to his sides, now falling faster than her. Within seconds, he was just meters above her as he shouted out above the cacophony of wind in an attempt to get her attention.

"Hey!"

He came up alongside her and slowed down. Her head turned to the left as her blue eyes met his. She smiled and chuckled slightly, moving over and shoving him to the side playfully with her arm, making him wobble around in the air slightly. He mentally cursed for a moment in surprise, before laughing back. Twisting his wrist towards him, he eyed his altimeter watch. The big hand of the analog readout crept past the figure '0' again, and he tapped her on the shoulder twice, to let her know. She nodded in reply, before he pushed away from her and quickly tugged on the small tether on the left strap of his pack. In a quick action, he was yanked up as the chute exploded out above him. Grunting from the force, he grasped firmly onto the straps as silence suddenly filled his ambiance. Still absorbed in the experience, it was a good few seconds before he glimpsed down again, and was met with a sight of horror.

Far below him, a small figure was flailing its arms as it struggled to pull at something on its pack. It was Lucy. Her chute was not deploying. Sudden thoughts of panic wracked his mind as he thought quickly. She'd got into danger before during their adventures; but he knew too well that with skydiving, getting her out of it wouldn't be as simple. Precious seconds ticked by as he tensely held the chute's handles. He had a reserve parachute, right? That's it! He could cut lose this one, dive down to her, fix her chute, and then open his reserve straight away. He still had three-thousand feet to play with. It'd be a close shot, but in the circumstances - it was worth it. Taking a deep breath, he pressed on the canopy release, and was once again dropping towards her. As he fell, his eyes darted from side to side as he glimpsed at the altimeter on his wrist. Two-thousand-eight-hundred. Seven-hundred. Six. He was now almost in shouting distance. Just a little more. Four-hundred. Three-hundred. Two-hundred... and! With a thump, he grasped Lucy's arm with his own and looked her in the eyes.

"Lewis! What are you doing?!"

Taken aback slightly by this utterance, Lewis distractedly fumbled around her torso, quickly noticing her flapping chute harnesses tangled everywhere. A part of him knew inside that there was no way her chute would be untangled before it was too late, but another kept trying in desperation.

"Aghhh... just, hold on tight!" shouted Lewis, undeterred as he freed another rope.

Lucy's face was also alight with horror as the dreaded beeping sound began to drone into their ears. The minimum altitude warning. They both knew what this meant. One-thousand feet; the feared point of no return. Lucy placed a hand slowly on his, and brought his head forward to look at her. He froze, a look of total dear blowing across his face.

"You have to open your chute now, Lewis." she said, tears beginning to form behind her goggles.

"But... you won't make it!" retorted Lewis, denial overwhelming him.

"There's just no choice. You don't do it now - we both die!"

Lewis quickly looked back at his altimeter again despairingly. Nine-hundred. Eight-hundred. Grimacing, and in tears, he held his head close to hers, and uttered his final words to her.

"I... love you, Lucy..."

Lucy forced an uneasy smile back, and spoke as softly as she could while still being audible.

"I love you too. We had a good ride!"

With this, she pulled his reserve chute, and in a second, he was forcefully pulled upwards again. He helplessly reached out with his arm at his love, before shielding his eyes with said hand as she impacted into the ground. She was gone.

...gone...

Gone...

GONE.

Everything had gone from his life. Lewis snapped out of his trance as he wiped the sweat off his forehead and propped his arms on the sofa in front of him, his head drooping weakly. It had happened again; that terrible memory he had being trying to forget. It just kept bugging at him. Like a deep wound that wouldn't heal. Lewis lifted his head up solemnly and eyed the slowly ticking clock up on the wall. 1 AM. He should probably try and get some sleep. Even that was easier said than done for him. Sighing, he sauntered over to his room, flicking off the lights as he went, and essentially collapsed onto the bed.

A sharp ringing of the doorbell resonated through a half-awake Lewis as he groaned and uneasily opened his eyes. He'd slept... well? Surprising, as the last few weeks had been full of broken nights. Groaning, he lifted up and rubbed his eyes, letting the blood rush to his head. Checking his clock again, he sighed. Who could be knocking on the door at eight in the morning? The doorbell then rang for a second time.

"Just a minute!" he shouted out, hurrying to get dressed. In a few seconds, he was stumbling to the door, where he quickly unlatched the lock and opened the door to the outside world. Shielding his eyes from the sudden light, he squinted to get a better view at the person standing in front him. She was female. Red hair, blue eyes and... no, it can't be! He could swear this girl was the spitting image of... Lucy. But surely, it couldn't be - she died six years ago. Maybe she had a twin?

"Uh... hello?" she said, snapping Lewis out of his short trance. Awkwardly, Lewis scratched his head before replying.

"Oh, yeah - sorry! I don't get many people coming to my house nowadays. Can I ask who you may be?"

Smirking, she seemed to fumble with something in her hand for a second.

"I'm... well... it's hard to explain - can we go in and talk about it?"

Normally, Lewis would have turned visitors away without if they were being this mystic, but looking so similar to Lucy, he couldn't refuse. So, he simply stepped to the side and gestured towards the living room.

"Sure..."

Soon, the Lucy-lookalike was sitting on the sofa quietly, looking around the room inquisitively asnoises were heard in the kitchen not far away. Then, Lewis appeared, with two mugs in his hands.

"Coffee?" he said, smiling.

"Yes, thankyou." replied Lucy.

Lewis sat down and sighed slightly, looking the girl in the eyes. Her resemblance to Lucy was striking, to say the least. She must have some sort of answer for him. Now everything was set, the girl returned the look and placed her hands on Lewis', a serious but friendly look on her face.

"Now... you're probably not going to believe this when you hear it, but... I am, or was... Lucy."

Lewis' mouth was almost immediately open in shock, as he looked on speechlessly. This was simply unreal. How was she alive?

"B-but... I thought you... died after that skydive?"

She nodded and looked down slightly.

"To the rest of the world, I did. But nobody every knew the real story..."

She proceeded to calmly sip her coffee, before continuing.

"The fact is - I was saved. After I hit the ground... I did not feel any pain. Instead, I felt something inside me... something good. Something that gave me new life, and- well, I think a practical demonstration is more suited to explain that part."

At this point, Lewis was staring at her, a utterly baffled look on his face. This was like a dream. He must be dreaming, right? However, he was about to be proved wrong. Lucy stood up, moving to the middle of the room and smiling at him. She then lifted her hand up in front of her and opened it, revealing a brilliant blue gem, similar to a sapphire but triangular in shape. Then, she pulled it to her chest, and suddenly the room was bathed in bright white light emitting from her. Squinting because of this, Lewis looked in astonishment as Lucy beganlevitating above the ground. This had just entered a whole new level of weird. Furthermore, as he looked on, he could swear she was changing... shape, in front of his eyes!

Although details could not be seen clearly, he noticed her neck extend upwards, and her body become more rounded in shape. Her feet shrunk and became small fins, and at the same time two protrusions erupted from her back to form what looked like wings. Her ears lengthened above her head, and her arms shrunk while her hands shifted into small claws. Finally, Lewis noticed the gem vanish into the light of her body. After this, the light died down, and finally, he could fully take in what Lucy had become.

She was slightly larger than before, and now had golden eyes that beamed at him as the two stared for a good few moments. Her body was mostly a pattern red and white, except for a small blue triangle shape on her chest, which glowed ever so slightly as he looked at it. As for her shape - he could only describe it as some sort of flying creature, evidenced by the wings and streamlined design. Finally, Lewis spoke up uneasily.

"Who... w-what are you?"

When she replied, her voice sounded somewhat different - more calming and soft, and yet it seemed like it was coming from every direction at once.

"I am Latias."

Lewis was now even more confused, as he cocked his head in attempt to make sense of the situation.

"But... I thought you were Lucy?"

Latias smiled and chuckled slightly.

"As said before - I used to be. Right up until I was given new life, that is."

He nodded back slowly, slowly understanding.

"So... whatever saved you from death could only give you life-"

"-by changing me into this... precisely." Latias continued, smiling warmly. Lewis was still finding this hard to take in, however. He took a seat in his sofa again, a huge mix of emotion flowing through him. He looked at his hands as he continued to contemplate.

"Words... cannot describe how overjoyed I am to see you again after so long, Luc- I mean... Latias, but-"

He was interrupted by a red and white claw grasping his right hand. Looking up, he noticed Latias' face next to him, looking at him imploringly. As he stared silently into her large amber eyes, he somehow felt he couldn't resist looking at them. They were so bright. So beautiful. And in those eyes he could still sense the true love and affection she had for him from when she was human. He didn't have time to dwell on it any further as she suddenly came in front of him and pushed him back onto the sofa, her mouth quickly contacting hers in a deep kiss. Lewis squirmed for a moment, taken by surprise as he felt her body press against his, pinning him tight against his seat. Soon, however, he began to feel a calming feeling cross his mind, and he relaxed, bringing his arms up to wrap around Latias' neck. He needed this.

While being absorbed in the moment, he did not notice the changes happening to him. His torso began to slowly shift shape to become more rounded, much like Latias', as he felt a pleasurable, not painful feeling spread across his body. His legs began to shift into fins similar to Latias', except they were larger and straighter. His neck stretched out too, and as his head reshaped with it he felt better than ever, now more able to fully embrace her. His ears extended upwards. His arms shrunk, and his hands became similar claws, as he continued to grasp tightly to her neck. Two blue wings erupted from his back, and as they did so, he began to feel even stranger in his mind. Something about this felt right. Like what he was always meant to be. A stray word began to clear in his mind as he continued to change. La...Lati...Latio?

His transformation almost complete, Latias giggled and quickly pulled off his clothes, now mostly in tatters from not fitting anymore. As she did this, Lewis' body shifted colour into blue and white, in a similar pattern to hers. After this happened, Lewis finally found the word he was looking for...

Latios. He was Latios. Somehow he knew that this... this was what he wanted to be. Something with ultimate freedom and potential, and a partner by his side to accompany him wherever he went. This was the life he had been so desperately wishing to have for all these years. This was him now. This was right.

He released himself from the kiss, and subsequently opened his new eyes for the first time. They were smaller than Latias', but now noticeably glowed a deep red colour as the two looked into each other with affection. Tears of joy almost welling in his eyes, Lew- no Latios spoke shakily, his voice now a male equivalent of Latias'.

"T-thank you... so much!"

Latias smiled warmly at this, and then proceeded to hug him again, closing her eyes as she replied.

"It's... the least I could do for you, Latios. This is better for the both of us."

The two released and held each other's claws.

"Fancy a little ride?" smirked Latios, gesturing his head towards the door behind him.

"I'll race you to the mountain. Good luck, in advance!"

With that, the two set flew out the house and towards the mountains a few miles north, never to be seen again. Many have said they have seen glimpses of them late at night, but never have they fully returned. Their legacy represents the freedom and adventure that so many desire for in life, and their story has only just begun.