Eros awoke to Sicily atop his stomach. He didn't like to admit it, but he kinda liked doing this. He thought himself a creep, yet on the inside it felt nice being away from the fort and with somebody that would give her life for him. None the less, this calm eventually had to end and he'd have to march out to Blackreach and attempt to work a peace over the land. Of course, Blachreach was easily one of the scariest places on the planet, the massive city practically fueled on the concepts of crime and thievery. Even as a younger being, Hank avoided the place like a plague. "It ain't safe there. The people don't hold their deals and bribe under the table every second. Ain't no fair business there." Considering that's how Hank felt, maybe war and destruction wasn't too far from an improvement...
Eros nudged Sicily awake, hoping to get back inside and get the skirmish over with as soon as possible. Of course, he was in no hurry to return to serving that asshole Articuno again, so he took his time in letting Sicily awaken once more. She took her sweet time getting off, rolling off of Eros as soon as she woke up and started stretching her wings or something. I don't know. Crazy bitch. The two agreed never to speak of Eros' crying and their conversation, as such were rather embarrassing matters that nobody else was to concern themselves with.
They spent some time looking for Articuno, finding that while he remained within the confines of the fort, he had managed to get himself lost in one of the dorms and couldn't navigate his way around the district, despite his ability to fly. That somehow ended up bringing him to the conclusion that he deserved to sleep in he rooms reserved for humans; Specifically, the one Cerci slept in. No rational explanation could be given as to why, but he did end up obtaining a nasty bruise atop his head. In this time, Sicily also disclosed how much she was going to miss Surge, since he'd be far away and with Hank when he left.
As he found Articuno stumbling around the mess hall, he was discovered to have bugged the baker consistently for more bread, despite having already gone through half of every batch he made. Upset at this, Eros marched up and stated, "What are you doing? I heard you are half the batch of bread!"
"Incorrect. I ate half of the batches of bread, follower. Magnificent treat, I must say. They only gave me stale bread while I was in Utopia. That was, before I froze them and smashed him into a million pieces. Intriguing story, no?"
Eros sighed and shook his head, muttering, "Please just tone it down a bit."
Articuno perked up and stated, "I've actually been thinking, follower. You were considering receiving a blessing of power from me?"
Eros stood straight and alert, suddenly interested in what he had to say. "Y-yeah?"
Articuno smiled and said, "Well, servant, I have decided that as my one and only follower, you deserve to have some kind of symbol of your most agreeable leader; As such, I would propose to educate you in any manner of ability before the skirmish. Of course, I am not omniscient. Only Arceus could possibly contain all the knowledge in the world, so understand that I can't teach you much sorcery beyond-"
"I want to fly!" Eros interrupted Articuno in his speech, making him furious right before he became bewildered.
"You want to fly? You understand that such capabilities are exclusive to the avians with functioning wings."
"No, I mean when I transform into a bird, I can't fly. Can you teach me?"
"When you...? Oh, that is correct. You are a Druid." Articuno extended the u in Druid, as he was uncomfortable with the term. "To think, of all the things you could learn... Well, if you would like to begin, I'd recommend... Transforming... As soon as possible."
Eros nodded and focused inwardly, the eyes of Articuno, Sicily and the baker trained upon him. Within a second, a tiny Pidgey, a bird much smaller than Articuno, came into existence as Eros looked up at the legend. Even so, not a hint of fear not inferiority could be traced upon his face, his eager and keen eyes awaiting the first command. Articuno stood taller and commanded, "Show me what you know."
Eros smiled even wider and started swinging his wings in an asymmetrical, unorthodox pattern. Soon after this pathetic attempt, he fell upon his face, giving an accurate and concise explanation of his capabilities when it came to flying. Realizing that Eros would have a long way to go before even beginning to hold himself straight, Articuno sighed in frustration, simply stating, "Well, let's start with the basics."
"The basics" took Eros much longer than he thought they would, consisting of lessons upon lessons who's primary component was drilling and repetition of the same basic motions over and over. At first, he had to practice running much faster than he was normally comfortable with, since he supposedly needed to be able to do so when landing. While this seemed to be no more than an excuse to give Sicily the opportunity to throw Eros as hard as she can, this training's use became much more apparent later on in the day. By the end of the hour, Eros was barely managing to stay on his two feet when tossed horizontally to the ground, his brisk hops slightly easing the tension on Articuno's demeanor.
The next step involved much more injury than the last step, its basic yet quintessential lesson necessary to learning the art of flight. Articuno commanded that Eros walk onto the catwalk (from one of the many stairs leading up to it) and jump back into the fort, making sure to glide on the way down. Although deceivingly simple-looking, mastering the art of gliding was nearly impossible for Eros. It wasn't impossible by any standards, yet the process took a tremendous toll on his body. Much like the few times he had to roll on the ground and injure himself when Sicily threw him, his every mistaken attempt at flight ended up dropping him more than a few meters every time, his diminutive size coupling into tremendous crashes that added up over the hour.
While gliding was simply extending the wings and waiting, it was incredibly difficult to keep his wings extended against the weight of his body and the rush of the wind. He lacked the initial confidence to hold his wings out against the pain the first ten or so tries, but with a little encouragement from Sicily he let his wings bear the weight and carry him whatever distance they could. He felt accomplished and nearly celebrated with Sicily on his first success, despite only gliding a few yards his first try; However, with the scorning of Articuno, he continued his training again and worked out a few more flaws in his technique that allowed him to successfully nearly a hundred yards by the end of the day.
The toll of the constant failures and crashes took its toll alright, but that didn't waver Eros from awakening at the peak of dawn the next morning. He managed to wake up even earlier than all the rest of the Druids, nudging Sicily awake eagerly to greet Articuno at the door, whose next session involved Sicily flying up with Eros in her arms. High.
Sicily was infinitely more skeptical than Eros, despite his claim to mastery over the art of gliding. Either way, she soon carried a tiny, enthusiastic and daring Pidgy nearly 400 meters into the sky- that's nearly a quarter mile, something I don't want to run again- and prepared herself to drop her trainer from this height; Luckily for her, she didn't have to, as Eros jumped out unexpectedly with the lust for the freedom of flight. The first few seconds of tumbling were terrifying for the both of them, but that was soon to change.
He was nearly euphoric as he adjusted himself and let the air gently bring his wings up and at an angle perfect for soaring above the forests of Morono. His gliding brought him a good distance over the inferior shrubbery below, the tiny Pokemon in the brush much smaller from this height. A few more seconds of flying straight led Sicily to appear flying at his side, giving an odd kind of smirk he'd never witnessed before. "Better turn back." Eros simply nodded in agreement and adjusted his wings so that they'd turn him around and start bringing him back to the fort.
He felt completely safe with Sicily at his side and suspended high in the air, yet he was suddenly touched by the slightest hint of anticipation. He looked down, realizing the ground was not too far off from him, meaning he'd have to end his flight sooner than he wanted or have Sicily grab him. Of course, there could be another way... Despite his fear of strain upon his feathers, he made a natural-feeling motion of his wings in an odd circle, the half where the wing came down slightly more open than the other half, slightly pushing his body higher in the sky. He repeated this strenuous process eight or nine more times, clearing him of the forest at least three times his former height, as well as accelerating him much faster than before.
He looked to Sicily, not understanding how he was to land with this newfound speed, yet rather finding her doing a spin of sorts in the air. He fathomed that this was intended to help him when he realized it to be a challenge of sorts, one of acrobatic ability. Just as Sicily performed a barrel roll away from Eros, he tried to do one towards her to close the distance; Rather, however, he dropped halfway out of the sky at the peak of the roll, forcing him to stumble as he corrected himself near the trees.
He pulled up and joined Sicily again, this time finding she was giggling so hard as to have a difficult time staying airborne herself. He gave a furious stare that ceased her laughing, an effect which lasted until he looked the other way. He stared again, this time to no effect as her giggling lasted a few good seconds, just enough time to bring the two right back over the fort.
As they were above the fort, Sicily suddenly made a dive for the ground, briskly halting herself in midair and looking towards the sky at Eros. Thinking he was capable of doing the same, Eros dive-bombed to the point where he was but a hundred meters above the roofs before pulling up and realizing he had no idea how to land.
He pulled up as soon as he could, just barely grazing one of the odd cement-like roofs with his claws. Noticing this, Sicily started shouting in a panicky voice at Articuno, who stared in great amusement before saying something and causing her to start flying towards Eros once more; Unfortunately, the sudden dive and pull had vastly increased his speed, making it difficult for Sicily to catch up to him from the ground.
After a few seconds of agonizing circling, Eros could hear the faint shouts of Sicily over the winds, commanding, "Pull up quick!"
Expecting there to be something to crash into, Eros looked around, spotting nothing but the open sky and the trees and fort below. He looked back at Sicily once more, circling as to close the gap, when he heard another shout demanding, "Pull up now!"
Eros obeyed without question and attempted to fly as far straight up as he could in a single motion; However, as was the true intent of Sicily, this motion only moved him a meter up before bringing him to a halt, dropping him into a slow flight barely above the rooftops once more as Sicily blew by and made the same maneuver. He closed in on one of the catwalks near Articuno and repeated this motion, using his prior training to end up doing a short run as he touched the ground.
He simply grinned at Articuno, who smiled with genuine pride for once and congratulated, "Well done. You still have a bit to learn, but... Very good performance. Of course, being the champion of capabilities that I am, I do have a few recommendations for you..."
Over the course of the next few days, Eros learned how to do a few more essential maneuvers that aided his flight. The first few consisted of taking off, banking and flying in place, each their own separate ordeals that finished off the day. After that, he learned how to fly faster, higher and farther with a few pointers from Articuno, who held an indescribably vast knowledge of every single detail of flight, appropriate for a being of his status. By day five, Eros was a master of flight in his own way, never ceasing to ride the air with glee and amusement as one of his life-long dreams became a reality. He had even managed to learn the move Arial Ace.
At his side throughout his training flew Sicily, who, despite seeming as capable of flying as any other creature, seemed to be absorbed and educated by the words and wisdom of Articuno. As she flew along side Eros every step of the way, she picked up a few tricks as well, having received as many Ariel Aces from Eros as she delivered unto wooden dummies. From what it seemed, she was just as into the sensation of flying as he was, eventually practicing to carry him on her back by the last day.
Using Fly was quite an accomplishment for her. Her ability to carry such a heavy load as well as maintaining the will to lift a full-sized human was certainly a challenge for her; And yet, she did not dare to even question him when he wrapped his arms around her neck. She simply gave a quick glance back at him before launching herself straight up, a technique that was taught by Articuno.
All was going perfectly for Eros until he was awoken the last day by Articuno. He strutted in, fitting himself snugly through the barrack door before speaking, "Well, a week's almost over. We leave tonight."
Eros looked confused for a moment, not understanding what he meant by this before remembering that he agreed to some very brash plans... "And we're going to stop everybody from killing each other, right?"
Articuno looked for a second, unwilling to challenge his goals, for he could've sworn that through the training, he felt the slightest bit... "I ask that you greatly favor the Pokemon, child. It is a must, for... Fine. Go ahead. Do what you will." He didn't want to challenge his beliefs. At least they were ideals high enough to become of consideration.
Eros was still a tad nervous, the prospect of headed into war highly frightening and hardly becoming of him. His first few steps following Articuno out of the room were paused with another diversion, one that made him feel worse, if anything. "Wait, I need to say goodby to Hank and Cerci. I might not see them again."
This time, Articuno gave no sign of response as Eros bolted to one of the nearby dorms, one in which he spotted Cerci with a few bundles of bags, aided on the side by Hank. The bags were akin to luggage, that of which belonged to the two packing it, a surefire sign that this could very well be their last encounter. Eros looked down for a second, the remorseful pause of the two to leave exclaiming the loss that would come from their departure. Eros looked back up and said, "I'll miss you."
Hank scoffed and said, "Yeah, yeah. You girl."
"..."
"I'll miss you too."
He looked to Cerci, who replied callously, "What? Fuck you, you're bad luck. I don't want this shit any more." Eros feigned a cartoonish depressed face, which earned a more heartfelt response from her. "Fine, if it makes you feel better... Mph mnn mnuh."
"Hun?"
"I'll miss you, too. Fine. I said it." Cerci looked around a bit, locating her X-transceiver and asking, "You have a number to call? Or an e-mail or something?"
Eros replied, "Sure. Wanna stay in touch?"
"Not just that. I'm the main contact for many of the... Organizations around the world. The Elite Four, Team Rocket, the Police, some various Pokemon organizations... You'll have a lot of ties to deal with, but trust me. You can handle it. Well, I won't keep you much longer. See you."
Eros smiled and ran out, notifying the new instructors of his departure before collecting Sicily, Dusk and Xerxes and setting off, the latter two in their balls. And, for the first time, Eros flew alongside Sicily and Articuno, an experience not many can say they've ever experienced...