Hey everybody! I hope you guys enjoyed the last chapter! I actually figured out why the font was bolded in Chapter 3. I use Arial as the font for the story, but somehow it got switched to Arial Black instead, thus, making it look bolded.

Please review! I really want some feedback on what you guys think I could improve on! For those of you that have, thank you! It means a lot!

So here's Chapter 5! Enjoy!

"Speech" – Human Speech (Also Pokemon speech when there aren't any humans are around besides Kurtis.)

"Speech" - Pokemon Speech (When humans other than Kurtis are around)

"Thoughts" - Telepathy

'Thoughts' – Inner Thoughts

Chapter 5 – Up in the Air

My heart froze. The very objects that were meant to be relatively hidden have just been revealed to somebody that I barely knew. Panicking, I struggled to put my shirt on while under the stunned gaze of Winona.

'What should I say? Do?'

After a moment of infectious silence, she finally managed to sputter out, "W…w…what? B…but how? How on earth is that even possible?", she finished the last sentence in a whisper.

I sighed deeply, "It's a long story."

"You have wings, probably the only person in the world who does, and all you can say is, 'It's a long story?! Let me tell you this, ever since I was a young girl, I have often fantasized about being above the clouds all by myself, with nothing but my own wings supporting me!"

"Me too."

"Doesn't have the freedom… wait… what?!", she said, shocked.

"I feel the same way.", I said a little somberly.

She paused for a moment, "….Really?", she said nervously

I nodded. "Ever since I was bullied and picked on in school, I wanted to desperately to get away from the people who terrorized me because of my affinity for flying. In high school, a group of 5 guys beat me and left me broken and bleeding on the sidewalk just because of that. But I chose to keep the dream alive, because somehow, someway, I would find a way to reach my goals no matter what people thought of me."

She stared at me, as if appalled that some people would go to such lengths. "I…. I'm terribly sorry…"

There was a long period of silence while both of us were tipping our heads downwards. I could sense that she was nervous to say anything else on the matter, but Winona kept trying to sneak glances at my wings.

"….so you haven't told Flan yet?", she guessed.

I took a deep breath in defeat, "No. And she doesn't need to know, either"

"I don't think so! She's been in your life much longer than I have! If I just found out about this, she deserves to know as well!", she said with a demanding tone, shocking me with her authoritative voice.

'She's right.', I thought after much contemplation, "Hey, Ray. What should I do? I want to tell them what happened, but I know you don't want me telling anybody about this."

He hummed to himself while pondering in thought for a moment, "I do not sense any evil harboring within her. In fact, she isn't mad. She feels extremely jealous of you at the moment. I suppose it wouldn't be hurtful to let her know. You may need somebody to talk to in a time of need, just in case. Also, I agree with the girl to tell the one with the fire for hair as well. I sense she may be of importance in the future."

"Are you sure, Ray?"

"Yes. She has been in your life for a long time, has she not?"

I left my inner conversation to turn to Winona, whose previous gaze of shock was more confused. "What were you doing just now? You were all concentrated for some reason.", she wondered.

"As I said, it's a long story. One that, honestly, I am not ready to share yet. Let's wait until we all get ready for bed."

"Wait you're spending the night here? What for?"

"I'll touch on that also."

She nodded and turned so I could exit the bathroom. I barely caught a glimpse of Winona's face covered with a slight hue of red as she closed the door and retreated to her thoughts.

I decided to put my shirt on to avoid surprising Flannery, but as I was doing so, I heard her voice. "What's this about wings?"

I looked up to see Flannery with her arms crossed and her foot tapping against to the cold hardwood floor. I have seen this look many times when she wants something. She will not stop until she gets it.

"What's up, Flan?", I casually asked.

"What's up? You just made Winona mad. It takes a lot to do that. Now, I'm only going to ask you this once, so you better listen up. What. Did. You. Say.?", she demanded.

"Rather than repeat everything to you, I'll just show you."

I whipped out my massive, 15-foot span of black and white wings, changing her gaze from a look of annoyance to one of complete and utter confusion in less than a second. Her mouth dropped considerably.

Before she could say anything, I folded my wings in and said, "Questions later. I'll talk to you and Winona after you both are ready for bed."

She looked puzzled, "You're staying here tonight?"

"Yeah. I'll tell you about that trip I'm taking too."

I decided to take off my shirt since there was no reason to hide my wings anymore. I walked towards my bed to prepare for the barrage of questions that were to come.

"How should I do this, Ray? What if they don't believe me?", I tentatively asked.

"Bring them to me."

I visibly jumped up from my sitting position on my bed and thought in surprise, "What?! Are you serious?!"

"Yes. I have searched their minds over the past 12 hours that you have been here. I believe that they are very capable of keeping a secret of this intensity. Also, I believe the wing-haired one specializes in the training of Flying Pokemon, am I correct?"

"Yeah, she does, why?"

"Considering that your friend Flannery is not in possession of one, she can borrow a Flying Pokemon from Winona."

"So you want them to follow me to the Sky Pillar?"

"Yes.", he said as he left me to my thoughts.

Before I could manage to get a single thought into my brain, Winona and Flannery both walked in. They had serious expressions on their faces, as if trying to suppress anxiety. Winona unrolled a blue sleeping bag, not surprising at all, and Flannery took her place on her bed, which was covered with flame-embossed sheets.

There was an awkward silence after they were both situated. They appeared to be expecting me to speak up first, so I did.

"Where should I start?"

Winona spoke, obviously curious, "How did you get them?"

"That's simple. Rayquaza."

They both shouthed, "WHAT?!"

I nodded, "Remember when I told you that I was in a clearing when I found Milo and his flock? Well, during that time I talked to an Altaria. Before you ask, Winona, I can talk to Pokemon. Only a select few know this fact. When I was talking to him, I explained my burning desire to fly. Because of that, he flew me over to the Sky Pillar, just East of Pacifidlog Town, where Rayquaza rests."

Winona sighed deeply, "It's not fair…", she said to herself.

"Wait, I thought Rayquaza was just a myth?", Flannery said

"Oh, he's very much real, Flannery. If you don't believe me, I can take you to him.", I said.

"You can take us to the Lord of the Skies?", Winona blurted.

"Yes. You have a Pokemon for Flannery to ride on, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"Then, we'll go tomorrow after lunch." I got up to exit the room.

"But don't you need a flying Pokemon too?, Winona questioned.

I laughed, "The wings aren't just for show, Winona" I opened my wings briefly to make sure they got the point.

After they returned from their stunned gazes, Flannery asked, "So what's this trip you're going on?"

I smirked, "Well, I think it would be very obvious, considering I just got a Pokemon and have a backpack stuffed to the brim of travelling supplies."

Flannery face-palmed, most likely humiliated for not realizing it sooner. "Wow. I can't believe I never guessed that. So you're going to leave after we see Rayquaza, I'm guessing?"

"Yup. Then, my journey begins."

And with that, I left for them to talk things over amongst themselves. I entered the guest bedroom that I was using for the night and ungracefully flopped onto the bed with my belly, unprepared for what the next day might bring me.

Morning: 11:00 A.M.

I took a deep yawn after I rose from my lengthy sleep. Milo, apparently, had been calling my name and pecking me for the past hour, trying to wake me up.

"Ugh… Milo… I'm not an early bird."

"Well that's ironic, because if I remember correctly, you have wings. That makes you a bird, somewhat. Come on, the girls have been waiting.", he said.

I deadpanned at my unintentional pun. "Alrighty, then"

After I dressed, I packed all of my belongings into my backpack and left the room.

When I reached the lobby, Winona appeared to be completely prepared. Wearing her outfit that she had on when I met her, Winona also had her backpack leaning against a couch, where she was currently trying to take a nap. Flannery was at the front door, apparently handing a delivery man money for our lunch, which consisted of pizza and breadsticks.

"Morning everybody.", I said while yawning.

"Oh!", Winona jumped from her seat, "Hey, Kurtis.", she said with a wave. "Do you always sleep this late?"

"Nope, only when I'm indoors"

"Well that explains it."

At that, Flannery approached, "All right one pizza, half cheese, half sausage, and some breadsticks."

I devoured my half of the pizza within seconds.

When we finished cleaning up, we all gathered our things, left the gym, and Flannery locked up and put a note on the door saying that she would be back in a few hours.

I spoke up, "Let's go find a place to take off", hoping that they understood that secrecy was necessary for my take-offs.

And they did, so we decided to take the long, winding road of the Jagged Pass up toward Mt. Chimney, where, hopefully, we could take off without anybody in the area.

About 30 minutes later, we exited the path of children's nightmares onto the searing summit of the dormant volcano. Thankfully, nobody was on the top of the volcano, so we were safe from being discovered.

Winona spoke, "Seeing as there's nobody around, let's get ready for takeoff.", so she took out two Poke Balls and released her Altaria and a Pokemon that, until now, I had not seen up close. The Pokemon's body, seemingly made entirely of metal, shone in the midday sun that slowly gave off steam due to the intensity of the heat in the area. It opened its wings, showing that the metal appendages were capable of moving freely and sustaining flight.

"Kurtis, meet Skarmory."

The Skarmory said, "Sup' bro"

"Sup' to you too", the metal bird visibly faltered and looked to Winona for an explanation.

"Yes, he can understand you completely.", she quickly said.

"Are you two ready to leave?" They both nodded.

"Follow me."

I ran towards the summit's edge where I leapt into the open air and spread my massive wings. With a mighty downswing, I propelled myself higher and higher, hopefully high enough for people only to see a black silhouette marking the sky. I looked behind me to see the girls slowly trying to keep up with me, so I decided to slow down the pace and talk to Ray briefly.

"We are currently tearing through the sky en route to your location, Ray.", I said

"I see. And how are you tearing through the sky? Are you using oversized shears of some kind?", he added.

I inwardly grimaced, "It's another expression, Ray. We're just going pretty fast."

"Oh. In that case, I shall see you soon."

I left my internal conversation to see that Winona and Flannery had caught up to me and were both staring at me as if I was the next teen pop star or something.

"What?", I said.

This apparently broke both of their stares, causing them to both look away quickly. Then, Winona asked, "How does it feel?"

"I'm sorry?"

She repeated, "What does it feel like? How do you feel when you are relying on nothing but your wings, floating above the clouds, with all the freedom of the skies at your disposal?"

All I could say was, "Absolutely incredible."

We continued on for about two hours, simply enjoying the midday sun on our backs as we soared through the airspace, gazing at the distance or the landscapes below us. It wasn't long before we approached the peak of the Sky Pillar.

We landed on the windswept exterior of the building, but I noticed Ray wasn't here. That was the case until I saw a massive green snake land about 50 feet away.

"Just went out for an evening patrol of the ozone layer. Sorry to keep you waiting.", he said.

"I had a feeling. Hey, let's just talk normally now. I don't want the girls to be left out.", I told him.

"Ah, that might be best, Kurtis. It is very nice to meet you, Flannery and Winona. I am Rayquaza, Lord of the Skies. Pleased to make your acquaintance.", he did a slight hand gesture.

At this moment, Winona fell to her knees. Flannery had a shocked expression on her face and her knees were visibly buckling, so I rushed over to keep her steady. I also helped Winona up onto her feet.

Milo spoke first, "Sup, Ray"

"Hello, Milo. How have you been?"

I interrupted, "Wait, you know each other?"

"Yeah, Ray's stopped by the flock a few times to talk to Hughes. He even told a few stories to the young hatchlings sometimes."

"Oh."

Winona stammered, "Y… you're r…re…real… I thought you were just a myth…". She could not bear to make eye contact with Rayquaza, embarrassed to be in midst of a legend and in the state she is in right now.

"I was always real, my dear. As the people of old slowly died off, the difference between truths and legends slowly became less distinct from one another."

Winona, overwhelmed at this point, started crying, "I'm not worthy….", she slowly breathed, unheard.

Flannery, who by now had regained composure, asked, "So why give Kurtis the wings?"

"That answer is relatively simple. Even though what he said to me the very first day he spoke to me spoke of hardship and suffering in his life, I sensed a deep feeling in his heart that, even though he might be different, there is a strong desire to prove himself. By becoming my vassal, he now has an opportunity to do just that.", Ray said.

Flannery nodded, "That's good enough for me. I already know what's happened in the many years that I've known him. He deserves this chance."

Now, Winona had recovered from her crying fit and said, "I can second that."

I looked at Flannery, "Does she know what happened?"

She nodded, "Yeah. I told Winona everything that's happened to you after you left to go to bed last night."

I looked at Winona, who looked away in embarrassment. "I'm sorry for what happened.", she simply said.

I said, "It's okay.", unsure how else to respond.

Flannery blurted, "I almost forgot!", and started rummaging through her backpack for something.

"Huh?"

"Here. This might help us keep in touch while you're away."

She put a watch-like object in my hands, although I knew that wasn't the case.

She noticed the look of confusion on my face. "It's called a X-Tranciever. Basically, it's the same as a cell phone, but on your wrist. Also you can video call somebody if they also have the same feature. I've already programmed your mom's number, my number, and Winona's into it. I'll let you figure out all the other features."

I stared flabbergasted at the gift, "You want me to have this?"

"Well, yeah that's why I gave it to you in the first place.", she said sarcastically.

"Well, thank you!", I said while putting the device on my wrist and turning in on. I was greeted by a loading screen that had a Poke Ball at its center and the time at the top of the screen. Milo tried pecking at the screen, saying 'the ball of doom returns!', but I prevented him from doing so. Noticing the time and deciding that now wasn't the time to tinker with it, I looked away from the screen.

"It's almost three, everybody. I'd hate to end this conversation, but I need to get going.", I said with a little disappointment.

"I agree. You most likely will need to depart now if you desire to seek lodging in a nearby town."

"Yeah, that might be good."

Flannery spoke, "Well in that case, I'll be looking forward to our gym battle the next time I see you.", and then hugged me goodbye.

Winona, "I look forward to our battle as well", she said with a smile, having now gotten over the fact that there was a legendary Pokemon in our midst. "I hope to see you sooner, though." She hugged me, clinging on a little longer than I expected. I awkwardly broke the hug by coughing, sending her through a string of apologies and letting go very quickly.

"Alrighty, then. Let's go Milo."

I darted towards the edge of the Sky Pillar, jumping as I reached the open airspace that awaited my presence. As I was diving towards the water, I spread my wings very slowly until they were completely unfurled. When they were, Milo and I soared in the air currents that guided us to my next destination.

Well there's Chapter 5! As always, R&R!

Winona and Flannery talk to Kurtis briefly about the wings, then Kurtis brings them both to Rayquaza, where they get an explanation from the deity of the sky.

Kurtis also gets an X-Tranciever from Flannery.

See you guys next time!

-Kurty Pops