Chapter 4: Speading Wings

A overly warm July afternoon is what it was. Even among all the clatter of the suburbs, be it animals howling, birds tweeting, or humans shouting, a secluded yard in the back of the house gave a more quiet presence. Nothing stirred within its borders for the moment, only a small shed in the corner, holding its contents solemnly. Barred off from the rest of the world by a picket fence of absurdly tall proportions, it was a private area for the young lady walking in, and the crawling Eon Pokemon shortly behind her. Fran carried a small blanket around her arm, the red and white checkerboard design implying its normal usage for picnics. She layed it down onto the dry, yellow grass, where Valon collapsed his exhausted torso to rest upon.

"Okay," she began to speak, brushing the bangs of her hair to the side, "The backyard is pretty peaceful, we should be fine out here."

"The fresh air feels nice," Valon softly commented out loud. It came out a jumble of la's and ti's, which although Fran could not understand verbally, she noticed the relaxed expression on her brother's muzzle, and deducted as such. Maybe she was starting to get a hang of communicating with him and his strange tongue.

"I'm sure it feels great being outside after yesterday, right bro? You seem to look more relaxed too."

The Latios bobbled his head slowly up and down, signifying his agreement with his human sister. 'I usually don't even notice things like this, but it really is uplifting to get out of that house,' Valon thought to himself.

"Well then," Fran stretched outward, like preparing herself for a workout, "Let's get started! First things first," she paused a moment, "We should check out those big ol' back fins of yours." She moved toward her sibling's exposed backside, and her hands reached out to grab his blue wings. Valon jumped a bit at the sudden touching, feeling a privacy of sorts invaded. His long neck swerved around to glare at her.

"Hey, w-watch it! Who said you can just grab me like that!?" He barked in his new language, at which Fran simply gave a sly, little grin that always characterized her, and continued her 'fondling.'

"Clam it Valon, let me help you. For God's sake, you have no legs and you had to crawl out here. I just want to figure this out for you." Her voice emphasizing both her normal teasing, but also sincerity.

His glare subsided a bit, knowing how utterly correct Fran was, even though he did not want to admit such a thing. He lowered his neck back down in the previous position, besides having his eyes open, set on his sister's actions on the foreign parts of his new body. Fran restarted her exploration, carefully feeling out the tall wings from bottom to top. She felt the muscles surrounding them, how surprisingly strong and firm they were. She removed her hand from the appendages, and replaced it on his large back, in a patting motion.

A smile reemerged on her face. "I actually did a lot of studying on birds when I was in school, so I was just comparing yours. They're pretty unusual looking, but if you are able to fly, they seem to be up for the job," she reassured him. "Although I would have to do a lot of measuring and crap to be sure, but I know you wouldn't want to sit through all that." Checking Valon's grimacing expression, she confirmed that thought.

"So, um," Fran scratched the back of her head in thought, "Can you move those wings yourself? Can you make them flap or anything?"

A very good question for the Latios. Stretching a bit upward, Valon started focusing his concentration onto the fins, closing his eyes intently. He could feel the reaction of the muscles inside the area, the pulse beating through what he assumed were still veins. A sensation, he imagined, would soon come, and movement would thus follow within these unknown parts of his.

"Uh, I'm seeing nothing bro, if you're trying anything."

He reopened his eyes in response, directing his vision to those wings he was so entranced on. They were still and lifeless, as reported by Fran's observation. Disappointment came to Valon, followed soon by his naturally short temper. "Come on! I can feel them and everything!"

"Well, Valon, all I can say is that stuff like this takes time. Like riding a bike and stuff. It was a good try."

The sun had begun shifting downward, brightness fading, signalling the time that had passed so quickly. The saying of 'how time flies' was quite fitting for the situation. It would not be long before the sun nested on the horizon, and afterward vanished from the sky. Fran took notice of such, and nimbly checked the cellphone resting in her jeans' pocket for the specific time.

Regardless of the time, Valon did not want to submit to defeat so easily. Things are so terrible already, and the only positive was seemingly out of his reach. He channeled his anger, the image of his being in the air tantalizing him so. Then came the picture of the equine deity, and how he hated it with nearly every fiber of his mind.

"Calm down Valon, you'll just give yourself a..." Fran's voice trailed off, but the Eon Pokemon did not pay attention. His thoughts were still beating with the many things he would do to get back at Arceus, the numerous, unpleasant words he would share. He'd fly after it, thrusting his talon-formed fist in it's divine mug at break-neck speed.

"Valon, open your eyes!"

This shout from his sister managed to get his attention, and as commanded, he beamed his ruby eyes open. He stared at his sister face to face, as she stood with amazement. 'Wait, I was on the...' Valon immediately glanced downward after that train of thought.

Empty space. That was what separated Valon from the overgrown grass and the picnic blanket he assumed he was laying on. His dragonic body was levitating mid-air, as if in a magician's act on stage. As soon as he realized this, and his mind cleared of the previous anger, Valon suddenly plunged back down, gravity grounding him with a force.

'I-I was flying!' Valon's surprise and excitement filled the space where his rage once was. 'But then I fell... Ow...' The shock of the fall arrived after that initial delay, and he rubbed the side he landed on with his talons, relieving the aching now there.

"Holy crap Valon, you were doing it!" Fran appeared equally overjoyed at the discovery. "But it looks like when you lost track of what you were getting so antsy about, you came crashing down..." She placed her delicate hand to her chin, beginning to take a in-depth moment of thinking and deduction. Pacing back and forth in a tiny radius, she worked her puzzle-solving skills to solve this conundrum.

Valon was still in a disbelief that he had indeed defied the set laws of gravity. After a couple moments of silence, Fran had it. She snapped her finger in a 'eureka' motion, as she had figured out the answer she was looking for. She then relayed her idea over to her younger brother.

"Maybe it's like a psychic thing," Fran began her hypothesis. "You started flying when your emotions weren't under control, but then you fell once you calmed down. If you could, I dunno, focus that into thinking of flying, it might happen again!"

'So, I need to get mad again?...' He wondered, knowing how probably easy it would be to reenact that.

"I mean, it doesn't have to be anger. Maybe any emotion would work if it's strong enough. Like Peter Pan and fairy dust, how about happy thoughts?" Fran giggled a little bit.

'Happy...' It was sad to admit, happiness felt like an illusion to him after what had come to pass. Pushing that aside with the intent to fly without error, Valon dug into his psyche, recalling the last event that really made him happy. The one he pulled from that closet of memories, was once he questioned even having, being so long ago.

It was the last time he saw his father. Several months ago, before his Army unit was shipped overseas, Valon's father gave him a miniature tour of the military base he worked at. While Valon himself wasn't enthusiastic during the visit, seeing his dad's overstretched smile as he pointed out and described the various objects he would utilize in his patrols. He knew his father was dedicated to the military, and would likely not return for a very long, distant time.

Everyone in the family missed him during his deployments, but none more-so than Valon. His father was the only person that Valon felt understood him, and could relate to. He loved his sisters and his mother, without question, but he and his dad were truly close to each other. It was a bittersweet memory to the fullest.

Fran interrupted the recollection, but using a soft, sympathetic tone, instead of her usual mischievous teasing.

"Valon... You're doing it, you know?"

He regained his senses, finding himself back in his yard. His vision was blurry a bit, a formation of tears dripping outward from his eyes. He hurriedly curved his long neck to his bulbous arms, to wipe them away from being discovered. Fran had still noticed them however, hence the different behavior, and if what she knew about Valon was correct, she had a fairly good clue of why he would start crying in such a manner.

"I bet you were thinking of Dad, weren't you Val?" Her voice matched with his sadness, feeling the same pain of missing her father.

"S-Shut up..." Valon growled melancholy.

"Just try to focus, Valon. Keep whatever that thought is, and try possibly moving around."

He did what he was advised to. Pushing that depressive memory to a corner in his mind's closet, Valon advanced his train of thought to movement in mid-air. Currently, his large figure was merely hovering in place, fueled by an unseen force. After some breaths, self meditation, and encouragement from an older sibling, Valon started wobbling a slight amount from side to side. The wobbling soon became swerving, inches into feet in distance.

'I'm starting to get it, I think,' the Latios nervously swinging around the airspace of the backyard, as if he was a drunk pilot of a plane. Fran had to dodge his erratic paths several instances to avoid collision. 'Slow and easy Valon...'

Great advice it was, for his 'driving' was improving, more steady and less out of control. Valon was practically ecstatic with his performance, although still holding his concentration so he wouldn't suddenly plummet like before. By the moment that the sunlight had started losing its blue coloring and orange glowing in its place, he was circling around his sister with such ease, that you would think he was born with such finesse. Valon's confidence also grew along with his excitement.

Fran gave an applause for the psychic dragon. "Ha ha, look at you go bro! Sure beats crawling, huh?"

'You can't even compare the two, sis,' He thought to himself with a wide smile on his furry muzzle. 'This is so awesome, and even relaxing. I could just float here...' His troubles had seemed to be gone from his attention at the moment.

Valon swirled around with his back aimed to the ground, his head staring into the deep orange-blue sea of the sky. An idea then was conceived from his idle mind, and his smile simply grew larger from it. He halted in place, and shook himself off, preparing for this daring feat. He started rising, higher and faster, passing the roof of his home without any care.

"Whoa Valon, you're going too high!" Fran yelled with some concern. "People might see you!"

Valon disregarded her warning, only turning around momentarily to give off a 'thumbs-up' gesture, or 'claw-up' in this case. "I'll be right back, I promise!" He barked, forgetting in the moment his lack of verbal English. Just as quickly as he rose, he rocketed off into the horizon, leaving his sister and his house behind.

"I really, really hope that meant he'll be back soon..." Fran watched as she could no longer see her dragon brother in her view. However, the sound of a doorbell rang, followed by the call of her mother, asking for someone to answer it for her. With one last check to the sky, Fran walked back into the home.

"Yeah! Woo! This is amazing!"

Valon sped through the air, zooming past the neighborhoods he recognized down below. Not a single worry remaining in his thoughts, he kept onward, increasing his speed gradually. Instead of the pressure of G-forces and the pain of wind hitting him from such speed, he felt such an overwhelming sensation of pleasure throughout his new being. Whether it was the sleekness of his frame in the air deflecting those issues, or the dormant psychic powers protecting him, his body was designed for this.

He climbed higher and higher, to incredibly dizzying heights. Valon soon reached the clouds that he witnessed from below all his life. Swirling beside them, he reached out with his claws, shredding the white substance as he flew by. They parted, spreading chunks of the sky marshmallows all around, much to his amusement. He shot back downward to a lower altitude, piercing as many clouds as he could aim for. Spectators on a nearby airplane believed to see a blue bullet racing through, creating donut-shaped clouds in it's wake.

In such euphoria, he had blazed across numerous miles, even passing his father's military base in a matter of moments, where normally it would take hours to reach by vehicle. Snapping himself back to reality, he pulled his imaginary brake and slowed his pace considerably. As he took his surroundings in, all he saw was a stranded, lonely road under him, reaching outward farther into the unknown. With only a collection of trees and hills off to the sides of the road, Valon twisted around to check how far he had actually traveled. He could still see his moderately small city, building lights twinkling in preparation for the coming night, and the large, army compound his father worked at, was not too close by.

"Oh crap, I got way too carried away. I better get back home," Valon scolded himself. "If I just fly straight, I should see my neighborhood pretty easily." He restarted his engines, and soon after, was zipping through the sky in the opposite direction. He had only been gone for a few minutes, that he was sure of, so Valon was convinced he would reach his home in no time.

"Sir, you may want to check this out."

Loud beeps and boops emerged from a radar screen in distress. The man holding this station was bouncing from one monitor to the next, attempting to determine the alert. He motioned his superior to come over for inspection of the situation. When he approached, the operator tuned the screens onto the disturbance.

"It's traveling very quickly, and its movement seems unpredictable."

"Is it one of ours?"

"No sir, no airship is missing from the hangars. In fact, I don't think it is even a plane. I'm not getting any usual readings or signals."

"What are you implying?"

"Here sir, the camera managed to take some footage of the UFO before it left sight."

Some keys pressed here and there, and suddenly the screen began playing the recording. At first, nothing was visible except open skies. The operator fast-forwarded the filming, bringing it to just a minute of the current time. A blue and silver blur flashed past the screen from right to left. Within that same moment, the blur returns from the opposite direction. The footage is paused, and then re-winded to bring the object in the middle.

"Can you zoom in on it?"

"Yes sir. Also enhancing the picture."

The two men sat quiet in what they saw. The still portrait of a strange creature, in the shape of a mythical monster of some sort. It held proportions unlike any kind of normal animal, and certainly nothing that could reach such speeds. The superior officer leaned forward, inspecting the image as best as he could perform.

"What in the hell is that?"

"I... I don't know sir."

"...Have this image saved. It seems like I'll be needing to make a few calls."

"Yes sir."

A/N: I truly am sorry for all those who have waited and wanted this story to be continued. Life had made things hard and distracting, and many attempts to write more were always pushed back and forgotten. I would like to thank all the people who have apparently loved those three chapters so much, it really amazes me. I don't want to make promises in fear of not holding them, but I will try my best to continue this and hopefully finish.