Altaria are a pokemon which have long baffled conventional understanding, for so much about them flips our understanding about pokemon in general on its head. They are dragons, with all the majesty that implies, yet evolve from a pokemon nearly as common as Taillow. They have an easy time in battle against powerful evolved pokemon, yet often struggle to dispatch their weaker initial forms. And although great trainers struggle to tame them, imaginative dreamers with little grasp on reality bond with them with ease.

It is this latter fact which gives rise to phrases like "Cloud cuckoo lander" and "having one's head in the clouds" both of which refer not to clouds made of atmospheric moisture but to an Altaria's wings. Altaria, despite their majestic reputation, are affectionate pokemon who will wrap their wings around their trainers in a warm, cottony embrace, and many trainers will use their wings as pillows at night. This does not hurt the Altaria, for despite their wispy appearance, Altaria are so powerful that they are known to steal clouds out of the sky and add them to their wings in order to calm the weather.

Perhaps it is these trainers and their numerous bizarre theories, not the current theoretical models, which can truly explain these pokemon. It seems odd to imagine, as Winona of Fortree City suggests, that these pokemon are fragments of the sky itself, born whenever meteors smash enormous chunks of air down to earth. Yet it makes as much sense as any other explanation we have for these mysterious and wonderful pokemon.