The morning air was a little chilly, but still held a certain sweetness. There was the smell of dew, mixed in with the scents of grass and fresh air. Apart from the singing of birds and the breeze rustling the grass, no sound disturbed the peace. Under the shade of a tree, a small boy still slept on a bed of leaves, curled up like a snoozing kitten. He looked far too young and vulnerable to be sleeping out in the wild, open world all alone like that. But he wasn't alone.
Aerrow was awoken by something landing on top of him, startling him out of sleep. He opened his big green eyes to see a small, blue-furred, long-tailed, fluffy-eared animal sitting on his stomach. It chirped in greeting. The red-haired boy laughed.
"Morning Radarr." he said, ruffling the fur on the creature's head. "Did you get breakfast?"
Radarr chirped again and held out his hand-like paws. In his palms, he held a bunch of berries.
"Skyberries!" Aerrow said, smiling at the plump, blueish-purple fruits. "Awesome!"
He popped a berry into his mouth, chewing slowly to fully appreciate the explosion of flavor. Radarr immediately began scarfing down his own portion, covering his face in indigo-colored juice. For several minutes, the two ate happily, until there was only one left. Radarr's ears lowered and he whined, sorry that he wasn't able to find another. Aerrow glanced at the berry. He was still hungry, but he offered the berry to Radarr anyway.
"Here, you take it." he said, holding it out to the animal.
Radarr crossed his arms and shook his head. It wouldn't be fair if he took it! Aerrow was three times his size for Atmos' sake! He needed much more food than Radarr himself did. Plus, he was already way too skinny for his age in Radarr's opinion. Granted, the furry guy hadn't been around many humans Aerrow's age, but you didn't need an expert to know that only a few berries wasn't enough for a growing boy.
Aerrow smiled gratefully, finally eating the last skyberry. Then he stood and walked around the tree with Radarr at his heels. Behind it, there stood a skimmer. It was a somewhat old model, silver, its paint faded away, and a little rusty in some spots. But it was still beautiful in Aerrow's and Radarr's eyes. The skimmer was their most prized possession out of the very few they had, allowing them to travel from terra to terra, to fly and to survive. It was their saviour. Aerrow ran his hand over the seat, silently thanking the machine. If it weren't for it, he'd still be stuck in that hellhole that used to be his home terra.
The boy clambered onto the seat and Radarr hopped on behind him. With some difficulty, Aerrow reached his slightly-too-short arms to grasp the handlebars. The machine rumbled to life. Aerrow grinned and scooted forward in the seat a bit more. He gunned the throttle, heading towards the edge of the tiny terra. But just as the skimmer was about to reach the open skies before them, the engine sputtered once, twice, then quieted.
"Aw, dang." Aerrow said, frowning at the engine, then turned to Radarr. "Think you can fix it buddy?"
Radarr saluted, opened up a compartment in the back and pulled out a wrench. He hopped onto the ground, opened up the skimmer's front, tightened a few screws, tinkered a bit here and there, then slammed it shut. The engine was on again, purring like a contented tiger.
"We'll have to try getting some more parts at the next terra." said Aerrow and Radarr joined him on the seat again.
The sky monkey nodded.
"Alright then, let's fly!"
The skimmer zoomed off the terra and dove downwards. Radarr squawked in terror.
"Radarr!" Aerrow called over his shoulder. "Wings? Remember?"
The co-pilot removed his paws from his eyes and quickly flipped a switch on the side of the skimmer. The machine's two sets of wings popped out and they soared upwards, bursting through a fluffy mass of clouds.
"Woohoooo!" Aerrow whooped.
No matter how many times he flew, it never got any less wonderful. The wind in his hair, the smell of fresh breeze and cloud, the utter joy and freedom of flight: it was what he lived for.
HONK!
Aerrow's previously closed eyes flew open and he nearly tumbled off the skimmer! An airship was flying right at them! The boy turned the handlebars and the ride swerved so sharply that Radarr, crying out in fear and surprise, flew from his shoulder. Aerrow grabbed his tail as the skimmer spun violently. The world was upside-down, then right-side up, then upside-down again, spinning like a kaleidoscope. Just when Aerrow thought he was going to upchuck, the machine settled on its right side.
"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!" yelled the airship's driver, shaking his fist at the redhead.
"Sorry!" Aerrow called, slightly dazed from what had happened.
He could hardly believe it. He'd just done...a loop-the-loop! He'd seen others doing those tricks on their own skimmers, but had never dared trying to do it himself! It was awesome! He laughed, then looked down at Radarr in his arms.
"Did you see that buddy? We did a loop-the-loop!"
The sky monkey's eyeballs were still spinning, but he slowly made a thumb's-up.
"We gotta try that again!"
That snapped Radarr out of it. He blinked and leapt back onto Aerrow's shoulder, shaking his head vigorously.
"Ok, ok," Aerrow laughed again. "Maybe later."
He settled Radarr down with some comforting pats, then grabbed hold of the handlebars again. Gunning the engine, they pair flew off into the open sky. From behind them, a colorful mynall bird hung in the air and watched as the pair disappeared into the clouds. It waited there for several moments, blinking its yellow eyes slowly, then flew off.