The large, triangular head of Rayquaza tore through the air like a twirling missile, his slit eyes fixed on the expanding horizon as his body trailed across the sky. White clouds hid his figure every now and then, dubbing his location as nothing but a dragon-shaped silhouette before he flew out of the fog puffs' fragile casings, path still set on the colossal mountains, which were beginning to eat the sun and therefore paint the sky with a mesh of vibrant colors to signal its upcoming metamorphoses to nighttime obsidian. The large dragon-type liked this time of day the most, mainly because the air was nice and cool, and it sailed across his green scales as if the wind itself was trying to massage him.
Yep, this was the life. The skies…the air…he didn't want anything other than flying through their soothing pathways, which made every flight an amazing experience despite that he had been soaring for quite some time.
Lowering closer to the forest-covered ground, he straightened his serpent-like body to maneuver around the army of sentinel-sized trees like a hovering snake, his claws twitching happily as he barrel-rolled out of the collision course of a barricading log. Following this, he soared down a long ditch, smoke rushing across the ground as the vibrations of his flight movements danced across the dirt and rock-covered floor. Smirking slightly, he made a sharp turn up and therefore sent his rod body rocketing off the ground like a rising volcanic eruption, only to suddenly pull backwards, which made him fly over the floor upside down with his stomach now pointing towards the towering sky.
He was surprised that such a large space among the continent of Hoenn was so isolated, seeing as how Pokemon usually populated every single inch of the land in large numbers (perhaps they were all intimidated by his appearance). He didn't really care, actually, and was just happy that he had the whole airspace to himself – a whole region of the sky to call his own for the rest of the dying day.
Performing a few more twirls, he watched his fading shadow mimic his movements across the ground, like his silhouetted twin being inspired by his amazing flight maneuvers and thus trying the said twirls, flips and turns himself. Grinning slightly, which revealed his red-colored fangs, he shot upward, enjoying the sensation of the wind kissing his scales and massaging his tired muscles. Amongst the relaxing feeling, he slowly closed his eyes as if the actions were good enough to lull the long, colossal dragon into sleep.
That is, before he opened his eyes slightly, only to suddenly widen them when he spotted the familiar red and white-colored dragon-like body of his Legendary friend - Latias - right in front of him!
Producing a sort of nervous, surprised gasp, he immediately snapped the other way, his trailing body ricocheting off the rush of air and sending it spiraling towards the ground in a dazed and confused mess. He opened his eyes after impacting the dirt, eyeing the small crater that he had made in the wake of nearly colliding with his female friend of the same type. However, he only wound up regretting it when the said red and white dragon slowly flew down to meet his face, giggling all the same at the large mess he made.
"Gee, Ray'," Latias chuckled, her arm-like appendages reaching up to hide her mouth and dissipate the rest of her laughs (although it wasn't really doing any good), "that was quite a unique flying style you had there."
Rayquaza only snorted in response, his eyes furrowing into annoyed proportions as he struggled to regain his posture. "It would've been better if you hadn't been in my flight path!" the dragon then snarled, and despite the harsh, venomous tone of his usually heavy voice, Latias only broke out into laughter afterwards. Rayquaza could feel himself blush from embarrassment, which made him turn his head the other way since red stood out quite well against green.
"I'm sorry, Ray'," Latias replied, her colorful eyes somewhat shadowing in sadness. Rayquaza was surprised by her sudden change of mood, but nonetheless shook the feeling off and waved his claw in the motion of forgetting about the irrelevant incident. Why did she have to make him feel so guilty sometimes?
Latias smiled in glee at his gesture, flying upwards and performing some twirls in the air out of happiness. Rayquaza couldn't help but frown at her immatureness, although he eventually rose himself up to her level, his own body slightly dancing to the feelings of the massaging air. Latias stopped her movements once she had noticed this, approaching the large green dragon and smiling warmly.
"I saw you fly up there," Latias then stated, the jumpiness that usually occupied her voice dangling from her tone. "You're very good, Ray' –"
Rayquaza could feel himself blush for no apparent reason. "You…you were watching me the whole time?"
" – but not as good as me!" Latias, ignoring Rayquaza's interrupting question, now grinned gleefully and watched the green dragon snort in sudden anger.
"Oh please," the emerald Legendary muttered, clenching his small claws. "You are a newbie compared to me."
Regardless that Latias was always the type to enjoy debating with humorous jokes, she found this situation quite serious, as she placed her claws on her hip areas and puffed out her chest. Rayquaza slightly floated backwards, somewhat scared of the red and white dragon's next possible move (mainly for the reason that females weren't very nice when they were angry, or at least that's what Groudon always said for reasons Rayquaza didn't want to know), despite that the said Pokemon was only half his size.
Sticking her claw threateningly at him, Latias huffed, "Well, dear dragon of the sky, I happen to be a master at air travel, too."
Rayquaza couldn't help but smirk, his fear dissipating quickly. "Oh? Then let's see you prove it then." He flew to the side, revealing the vast, darkening sky behind him, as if opening a large pathway for the red and white dragon, who was now staring bewilderedly at the atmospheric ocean.
"I challenge you, Latias," Rayquaza then declared proudly, his original needs of escaping from the female dragon being replaced with the urge to win against her in a match that involved his most favorite thing to do. "I challenge you to a race – an air race. Best flier wins?"
Latias seemed to recover from her confusion, and instead grinned widely to outmatch her sudden fears and doubts of the outcome of the green dragon's challenge. Besides, maybe the winds would be in her favor; so, with a smirk, she nodded determinedly and followed Rayquaza to the chosen starting point of the race – the entrance to the very forest that encompassed them.
"So, we're gonna soar real low so we enter into the trees, which would technically make them our obstacles in the race, and the main objective is to merely fly through the whole forest on the said designated track?"
Rayquaza nodded after Latias had recited the race plans, a sinister smirk spreading across his snout in the wake, and also at the sudden nervous look that had washed across Latias' facial expression. To his surprise, though, the red and white dragon suddenly chirped in agreement and took a place right by the stunned green dragon, a determined look lingering among her face.
"Ready…" Rayquaza chimed, his eyes slowly furrowing more with every tense second that passed.
"Set…" Latias replied, her tone of voice matching his, her own eyes furrowing as well. The two dragons crouched low to assure a proper, speedy kickstart.
"Go!"
The dragons bulleted forward into the jungle of trees, their bodies immediately twisting and turning as they dodged every plant, rock, and any other types of nature that happened to be in their way. Since they were flying a few feet across from each other, they shot dastardly looks towards one another every now and then, which almost made them crash into trees a few times. Ducking her head and wings low, Latias managed to speed up slightly and therefore send herself rocketing past Rayquaza, the cold sensation of the following rushes of wind dancing across his stunned face.
"Who's the newbie now?" Latias laughed as she turned her head to eye the struggling green dragon behind her with a teasing stare. Although the rushes of wind and zips of passing objects somewhat blocked out the female dragon's voice, Rayquaza heard it all the same and pushed himself to at least reach up to her level. Eventually, with aching muscles, he managed to do it.
That is, before they suddenly broke out into a large clearing that bore a deep ditch. Latias chuckled as she sent herself shooting down the sloping hills, Rayquaza following right behind her with a growing smirk across his face. As they turned up sharply to reach the top of the rising plateau, the green dragon managed to catch a gust of air at the right time and shoot past Latias with bullet speed, which didn't stun the red and white dragon, but instead motivated her to raise her own speed.
Rayquaza remained in the lead for a large majority of the race, and when the finish line – the exit out of the forest – came into view, the green dragon couldn't help but smile, proud of his efforts. With the fact that Latias had disappeared behind the trees quite some time ago, Rayquaza assumed that she had gotten lost within the ruckus of nature, which granted the green dragon the win most definitely. Rayquaza eventually lowered his head to quicken his speed as he approached the exit out of the forest.
All of a sudden, he was nearly thrown to the side when Latias shot up a near hill and bulleted past the said green dragon with such speed that she passed the finish line before Rayquaza could even recover from the rush of air.
He…lost? But how?
Rayquaza slowed his speed as he stuck his head out of the exit of the forest, eyeing the vast grounds of green that corresponded well with the shadowed mountains and darkening sky. As he eyed Latias dance in celebration of her unexpected win of the race, the green dragon sighed out of both annoyance and agony.
Latias ceased her childish dances when she caught sight of Rayquaza's desponded face, and with one of her own she slowly floated towards the green dragon, thoughts on what was possibly running through his head circulating throughout her mind.
"Congratulations," Rayquaza eventually mumbled, causing Latias to jump a little. "You beat me fair and square – I guess you are a better flier." Although Rayquaza's face was straight, which led up to the fact that expressing feelings like sadness was abnormal for him, Latias could tell that he was actually finding the outcome of the match quite depressing.
"I guess I am a pretty bad flier," the green dragon then muttered, earning a look of compassion from Latias (although he didn't notice it).
All of a sudden, he tensed up, his muscles cringing before freezing when Latias moved up to place her arms around the part of his neck right below his head, therefore allowing her to bury her face affectionately into the green dragon's cheek. Rayquaza blushed heavily from the action, his mouth slightly agape as Latias pulled away (her arms still around his neck). A look of pure compassion, love and support radiated off her abnormally calm face as she then softly replied with a single sentence – a sentence that made even the loner heart of Rayquaza flutter with warmth.
"You're good enough for me."