~Present day~

As Kijo thought back to that horrible day when the Merge struck, Rocky interrupted his thoughts with, "Maybe you should work on your flying some more. You and I both know you could use all the practice you can get." Kijo jerked himself back to the present and was just about to answer when he heard Kelly cry out, "Rocky! Wyldfire roasted the coils again!"

Rocky rolled his eyes in disbelief. "Sorry, Kijo. Sounds like they need another set of coils. Can't believe how fast we're going through them, what with Wyldfire's powers and all!" Then he ran over to deal with the coil fiasco.

For a few minutes, Kijo just sat there, lost in thought. Then he decided that maybe he should take Rocky's advice and work on his flying. He wondered if he should tell anyone where he was going, but then he decided against it. He'd only be gone for about an hour or so, and he wouldn't go far—just to the edge of the mountain range and back; that wouldn't take too much time. Quickly before he changed his mind, he backed up a little bit, spread his wings out to his sides, and ran to the edge of the stairs. He leaped off of the landing and spread his wings up and out.

"I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" he said to himself excitedly. Then it happened. He suddenly lost his momentum and dove downwards.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA!" he screamed, flapping his wings frantically. He thought for sure he was going to crash! Then he suddenly stopped falling and started to actually fly!

"It's working! My wings are working! I'm actually flying!" He let out a whoop of delight as he zoomed around and flew towards the edge of the range. From there he planned to turn around and come straight back, but for now, he was ready for the flight of a lifetime!

Now that he'd gotten over his fear of crashing, the view was actually beautiful. He could see clouds and trees and some mountain goats down below. As he got closer to the edge of the range, he could see the gleaming lights of New Imperium in the distance. He laughed softly to himself. To think that he had struggled so much with his flying that he was afraid to try again! Everything now was perfect.

Then it happened. He suddenly saw a small band of people down below. Then something shot up at him so fast he didn't even have time to dodge it. A rope with two rocks attached as weights wrapped around his back right leg and wing. With a scream, he suddenly spiraled downward as the weighted rope pulled him down.

He couldn't fly! His wing was pinned, and he was trapped in free fall!

"I'm going to crash!" he shrieked as he plummeted downward. He let out another scream. This was it! He was going to be dashed on the rocks below!

He closed his eyes tightly, bracing himself for the crash. Then something unexpected happened. His wings suddenly tingled with energy, and he opened his eyes to see that his wings were glowing!

Then, without warning, a portal opened underneath him, and he fell through to an utterly unknown world.