Skyward Legends

"Nobody but them can see it. Let the Legends live on in newer ways, even if they can't accept themselves for who they are." -Unknown.

Part One: The All Nighter.

There they were, Quinn and Alex, nearly passed out in the living room of Quinn's house from playing video games and drinking can after can of pop the previous night. It was as if they were zombies at this point, not even knowing of their surroundings besides the TV screen in front of them. Alex was the normal one, he can sometimes be shy but comes out every so often. Quinn was the annoying one when it came to things, but he knows what he is doing. "Dude, I am so bored right now." Quinn sighed, lazily reaching out for a pop and taking a gulp out of it. "Me too, mate. Didn't you say Tony was coming over soon?" Alex said, yawning afterwards. "Yeah, I called him earlier." Quinn said, fiddling around with the game controller. A moment of silence settled int between the two, for they were too glued into the video game they were playing. Shooting, blood, and violence, the effects on the two boys seemed almost hypnotic. A sudden knock on the door snapped them out of their gaming trance and Quinn got up to go and see who was at the door.

"It's probably Tony." Alex said. When Quinn opened the door, Alex's words were true. Tony was the normal one out of the three, and for some reason, he would always be wearing something blue. "Whats up?" Quinn said as Tony walked in the house. "Wow, were you two up all night playing video games?" Tony said, hopping over the couch and sitting on it, the couch letting out a chorus of squeaks. "So, what do you want to do?" Alex said, turning off the game system. "Have to been to that one cave on the hill yet?" Tony asked. "Cave? What cave?" Quinn said, sitting down on the recliner chair. "The one outside of town. Nobody knows about it yet and I want to go and check it out before other people do." Tony said, pulling out his phone.

"Why would it matter if other people go and look at it?" Alex said, stretching. "Because, who knows what could be in that cave? If there is something of value in there, we should be the ones to get it." Tony got up and walked into the kitchen to grab a bite. "I don't know, Alex. There could also be like a bear or a pack of wolves living in the cave. I want to come home in one piece." Quinn said, slightly nervous about the situation. "Well, what else are we going to do? Sit around your house all day?" Alex said in a cocky tone. "Good point." Quinn said, as Tony walked back in with some fries.

Tony sat down on the couch and placed the bowl of fries on the table. All three of the boys simultaneously reached out and grabbed one. "So, are you guys in or not?"  Tony asked. "I am I guess, my parents won't be home till later on tonight so I don't need to worry about them." Quinn said, standing up and grabbing another handful of fries. "What about you Alex?" Tony said. "I guess so." Alex said quietly. The three boys got up and finished off the rest of the fries. "How long do you think were going to be there?" Alex said. "Not sure, I just want to do a good scope of the place." Tony replied Quinn and Alex put on their shoes, while Tony grabbed his sunglasses. The three boys walked out of the house, Quinn locking it, and began to walk down the street to the cave, not even knowing what to expect.

Part Two: Activation of the Stones.

'This is madness!' Lugia thought to himself, in stress on what had just happened. The three of them had gone missing. Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. Lugia wanted answers and fast before he reactivated the stones. The stones are what gives the three Legends there power. If they go missing, the stones deactivate until Lugia activates them and looks for three new victims to seal the powers in the stones. Lugia flew to the entrance of Skyward Cave and looked down at the village.

The thought of people living this close to Lugia made him sick but yet curious at the same time. Lugia had always wanted to see what the effects of the stones would have on human forms, considering it has never happened before. Suddenly, a presence hit Lugia, as he looked down the hill to see three boys climbing over a fence. 'This is my chance. The Skyward Legends can live!' Lugia was very excited. He flew back into the cave to find the three crossroads leading to each stone.

Each path had obstacle's to conquer in order to access the stone. Lugia tapped the sigil stone above each of the doors to activate them. The one on the left lit up in an icy blue, the middle path shined an electric yellow, and the right path glowed fire red. There were push stones on the inside of the doors. Who ever steps on them, the door will close behind them. Lugia now needed to activate the stones. He didn't need to go down the dangerous paths however, for there was a hole on top of the cave that lead to each one.

Lugia quickly flew up the hole and went to the Articuno stone first. When he tapped it with his wing, the stone lit up in a blue tint, icy mist emitting from it. Lugia went through the cave again and arrived at the Zapdos stone. Tapping it, the stone lit up a bright yellow with sparks popping off of it. Finally, Lugia landed by the Moltres stone and tapped it, a bright red coming from it followed by deep heat waves. 'Perfect.' Lugia thought as he flew out of the stone chamber and into the back part of the cave. He didn't need to worry about the boys finding him for now, for the backside of the cave was inaccessible to the humans. Lugia's mind twitched slightly, as he felt the presence of the boys coming closer to him. All he could do now is wait and hope.

Part Three: Ascending to the Unknown.

"...And that is why I like the color blue." Tony said, concluding one of his interesting speeches. "Wow, never knew it was like that." Quinn said in surprise. The three boys stopped when they saw that there was a river blocking there way to the cave. "How did we not see this before?" Alex asked. The river was a good eight feet across, too far for the boys to jump across. "What the hell do we do now?" Quinn said. "We find something to walk over it." Tony replied in a cocky tone. The boys looked around themselves to find anything of use. Alex walked down the hill to the river, Tony and Quinn following.

Tons of semi large branches scattered the low area by the river, as well as big hunks of wood stuck out of the ground. "I got an idea! Tony, check how deep that water is." Alex said. Tony grabbed a long stick off the ground and stuck it in the water, only to be embarrassed on what he felt. "Guys, this is only like four inches deep." Tony said, laughing slightly. "Well, isn't that convenient?" Quinn said, running over the river with ease.

Alex and Tony followed and caught up with Quinn, as they looked at the hill. It was almost a maze of trees and tall bushes, no specific path to go up. "Who wants to race?" Tony said, looking up at the cave. "Race up a steep hill filled with trees and bushes? Why?" Alex said. "Yeah, Tony. What kind of logic is that? Besides, were not little kids anymore." Quinn replied. "Fine, be like that. Lets go." Tony said, starting to walk up the hill, Quinn and Alex following. What the boys didn't notice is that the hill was a lot higher than they expected, the trees giving the hill an illusion of being small. Not even one minute after climbing, all three of them had to stop to catch their breath.

"Tony, how the hell did you convince us to come here?" Quinn said, panting. "I guess that's how I am." Tony said, putting his hand out on a tree. "Come on, were only half way up the hill." Alex said, continuing to push up the hill. They all needed a break, but determination to reach the cave was keeping them going up the hill. Every step they took seemed to take a bit out of them. Finally, after what seemed like climbing through hell and back, they made there way up the big hill, and almost falling onto the ground from the climb.

Quinn fell down onto the ground, tired and dripped with sweat. "Man, you can see the whole town from up here." Alex said, looking down at the valley. Tony and Quinn looked down as well. "Wow, this actually looks nice!" Tony said, gazing into the valley. "Come on, tree huggers, I want to see whats in this cave." Quinn said, standing up and walking to the entrance. The cave entrance was a good fifteen feet tall and wide, and it appeared to go very deep into the hill. "Oh shit, I forgot a flashlight!" Tony said in distress. "Oh really?" Alex said, pulling out a small flashlight from his pocket. "How did you...?" Tony saw that it was his own flashlight but he wondered why Alex had it. "You dropped it on the way up." Alex said, tossing it at Tony.

Tony caught it and turned it on, the incandescent light shining from it. He aimed it into the cave to see how far down it went. "Wow." Tony said in surprise. Alex and Quinn walked up next to him, as all three of the boys walked into the mysterious cave. They instantly lost the sunlight after a few seconds of walking in, and now fully relied on the flashlight to guide them. "Hey guys, look at this." Tony said, aiming the flashlight onto the ground. The boys saw a very large print on the ground, something other than human. "Man, something does live in this place! I'm getting out of here!" Alex said, beginning to run back.

Tony grabbed the collar of his shirt to stop him. "No. We stick together, Alex. We don't run! Got it?" Tony sounded angry. "Fine." Alex said, removing Tony's hand. The three boys continued down the cave. They began to feel something as they went deeper in. However, none of them could place a finger on it. Until, they saw something farther off. "Dude, what's that up ahead?" Quinn said, pointing down the cave. Quinn was pointing at a dim light coming from the ceiling farther off in the cave. "Lets go!" Tony said, beginning to run. Alex and Quinn followed behind him as they ran to the light.

As they got closer, they saw something else near the light, what seemed like colors on the walls. When the boys arrived at the light source, they were jaw dropped on what they saw. The cave divided up into three separate paths, each a different color. The one on the left was a soft blue, the one in the middle was a bright yellow, and the one on the right was a vibrant red. The boys didn't even know what to make of it. "This is amazing! How come nobody has seen this yes?" Alex said, looking at the yellow gate. "I don't know but it is awesome!" Quinn said, looking at the blue gate. "Very awesome." Tony said, looking down the blue path as well.

Suddenly, Quinn and Tony heard the sound of running footsteps, and saw that Alex had made a break to the yellow tunnel. When he passed under it, the step stone activated, and a large stone door came crashing down, preventing Alex from escaping. "What the hell?" Tony said, looking at the closed door. However, he had let his guard down for a moment, as he noticed Quinn starting to sprint to the blue gate. "Oh no you don't, you little shit!" Tony said, beginning to chase after him. He was too slow, as he saw the stone gate come crashing down before him, leaving only him and a non closed gate. "Well, it looks like your my only option." Tony sighed, as he walked to the red gate and stepped on the stone. Now, the three boys were separated from each other, unaware of what will happen to them as well.

Part Four: Obstacle's of Life and Death.

"What the fuck?" Quinn said, looking at the path he was in. A few feet in front of him, the ground was covered in pure ice that went down the entire cave. Large icicles hanged low from the ceiling, almost creating pure solid ice pillars. A strange light lit the cave up brightly in a icy blue shade. Meanwhile in the cave right next to him, Alex was facing the same confusion as Quinn. The cave he was in had sparks and electric bolts darting back and forward on the ceiling. Yellow patches of an unknown substance covered the floor like bathroom tiles. A bright electric yellow gave light to the cave Alex was in. In the red cave, Tony was almost sweating. The cave had to of been at least 102 degrees, as he began to take off his shirt. Slow moving waterfalls of hot lava came from the high walls and went into a pool of lava below. Small molten rocks fell from the ceiling as well, creating another hazard. A bright fire red lit the cave.

Back in the blue cave, Quinn was pondering on how he was going to tackle this. He slowly walked onto the ice and was careful not to slip. He managed to stop when he saw a pit full of razor sharp icicles jutting out from the floor. He saw that the gap was about five feet long, his only problem was how he was going to cross it. Quinn also noticed that the patch of ice he had to jump on was only about three feet long, so he would have to stop very quickly or else he would fall to his death. Quinn backed up slightly to get some speed on the ice. Pushing himself forward, he began to slide rapidly to the ledge. He jumped off of it and landed on the other side.

Quinn suddenly saw that he was going too fast and was about to fall into the pit. He slipped onto the side of his body to grab a small but sturdy low hanging icicle. Half of his body was hanging over the ledge, his only life line an icicle. Quinn managed to pull himself up onto the ledge safely and sat down in the center of it, scared that he had almost died. He took a breather for a little bit and began to plan how he would get through the rest of the cave.

Meanwhile in the yellow cave, Alex had made his way through up until the first yellow patch. He was afraid to step on it however, for it had sparks buzzing off of it. A small bolt of electricity hit Alex's left leg, bringing him to the ground and made him fall onto the yellow patch. A wave of electricity blazed through his body briefly and the yellow patched turned black as it let the last of its charge out. "Ah, fuck!" Alex yelled out, his voice echoing deep into the cave. Alex stiffly stood back up, still a little worn out from the electric discharge.

He noticed now that the patch had turned black, and an idea popped up in his mind. Alex collected the tabs from pop cans people use to open them, and he remembered he had some with him. Taking one out of his pocket, Alex saw another yellow patch on the ground in front of him. He threw the metal tab at the patch and saw the electric discharge go into it, the tab rocketing into the cave and the patch turning black. "Yes!" Alex said with joy, as he continued into the cave happily but cautiously.

In the red cave, Tony was figuring out his problems as well. A large 7 foot gap filled with hot lava was between Tony and the next ledge, not to mention molten rock falling from the ceiling. He saw that on the wall to the right was a three inch ledge that ran along the wall to the other side. "Looks like I'm going to take the hard way." Tony said, walking over to the wall ledge. Putting his back to the wall, Tony began to edge his way to the other side.

The rock scraped against his bare back, leaving some open cuts. Tony began to break out in more sweat as he became more nervous. He was looking death directly into the face, the face of red hot molten lava that is. Tony saw that he was half way across the lava pit, slowly getting closer to safety. A small chunk of rock fell from the ledge, crumbling from the weight of Tony. He saw that he was in jumping distance and hopped onto the main ledge, falling to the ground in relief. Tony looked up from the ground and saw he had a lot more in front of him.

Sub Part: The eyes from above.

'Such courage and nobleness it takes to conquer obstacles such as these.' Lugia thought, as he watched the boys progress via the grand stone. One after another, the boys easily overcame each obstacle that stood in their way. Quinn progress through the ice cold tunnels was astounding, Alex's progress through the electric cave amazing, and Tony's progress through the lava caverns fantastic. 'Maybe there suffering will turn into an award?' Lugia thought. He noticed that all three of the boys had reached the end of the tunnel, covering in cuts and bruises, and had arrived at the stone chambers. He saw that all three of the boys made their way to the stone and at the same time, all three of them touched them. The discharge of energy sunk into their body as they were blown backwards onto the ground, the stones now glowing to their color. 'Looks like I'm about to find out.' Lugia thought, gazing into the stone.

Part Five: A Life Changing Experience.

Quinn felt as if he had been hit by a frozen wrecking ball at full force. The cold feeling surged through his veins and organs, the feeling of it very strange. Quinn felt that his feet and legs were in unbelievable pain for some reason. "Man, what is up with this?" Quinn said, quickly taking off his shoes to be jaw dropped on what he saw. His feet were not feet anymore, but rather dark blue bird talons! His toes had merged into three and a fourth toe grew out the back of his new foot. His leg was also oncoming to the sudden changes, as Quinn yelled out in pain as he felt his bones narrowing and changing in an up most painful display. All he could do now is watch in horror as the changes were put onto him.

In the yellow chamber, Alex had almost been knocked out by the impact. His heart throbbed from the sudden discharge of energy, electric charges flowing through him. "Oww." Alex moaned in pain, as he felt something on his torso spike in pain. Lifting up his shirt, Alex was speechless on what he began to observe. Small yellow feathers began to sprout out of his skin and climbing up his chest. Alex tried to pluck one out, but was hit with harsh pain every time he tried. Alex began to panic, not knowing what would come next as the feathers began to cover his body.

In the red chamber, pulsations of intense heat raged through Tony's body from the heat blast. He began to pour sweat as the heat turned into pain in his head. A sudden crack of bone breaking in his head made in cry out in pain. He saw his mouth and nose begin to harden and pull outwards. His teeth fell out onto the ground in the process, as his mouth turned into a long and sharp orange beak. His ears sunk into his head, as his eyes fit the partially changed  skull. The hair on the back of his head grew outwards and without even realizing it, caught on fire in a fiery red blaze. The rest of his skull changed as well, making him cry out in even more pain, as the changes painfully pushed on.

Back in the blue chamber, Quinn wasn't doing any better than the rest. His legs had become much shorter than before, as well as a strange pain in his spine. Yelling out in agony, Quinn's pants ripped in the back end as a long, pure blue tail feather pushed out of his spine, extending quite a length. Quinn grabbed a hold of it, amazed that he could feel it on his own body. "This can't be happening!" He said, his voice fading away. A sudden and strange tingling feeling came over him, as Quinn began to see ice blue feathers coming out of his skin. Quinn now felt that the freezing in his body spiked.

White feathers formed in the center area of his chest, while the surrounding were blue. The feathers crawled up Quinn's arm, as yet another pain struck again. Quinn saw that his fingers were turning into feathers as well, the bones in his fingers narrowing and shortening. The bones in his arms extended outwards and narrowed slightly as well, the joint in which his wrist used to be now bending slightly to accommodate the wing span. He felt a sudden pause in the transformation, giving him a chance to observe himself.

Quinn looked like a freak, the only remaining human part of his body being his head. It felt very strange having actual wings, as he moved them. He was also surprised that he was managing to stand up on his new legs and talons. He noticed that he had grown a good two feet during the transformation. The break did not last for long however, as Quinn felt the feathers climb up his face.

A large impact of pain struck his head, as he saw that his mouth and nose was molding together and extending slightly, forming a short beak. Quinn's hair came down to the top point of his beak and then extended into long feathers. His eyes fit to the skull shape and turned from a deep blue to a sharp blood red. But, something tweaked in his mind. All of his memories began to vanish. His friends and family seemed a mystery to him now, as if they never even happened. Now, Quinn knew who he was. Articuno. He flapped his wings and flew up the hole in the ceiling, knowing his new destination.

Back in the yellow chamber, the yellow feathers have now spread across Alex's entire torso, ripping his shirt off. A collection of yellow and black larger spiked feathers grew from Alex's spine, giving a somewhat tail like appearance. Alex tried to stand back up, but a sharp pain in both of his legs brough him back onto the ground. He felt as if his feet had been ran over by a steam roller, as his shoes exploded off of him to reveal orange bird talons. "Yikes!" Alex said, his voice dieing off as the changes continued. His legs grew shorter as his spine extended to even out the height of his mutated body. Alex saw that the feathers had began to grow on his arms, much larger than the rest of the feathers covering his body. The ones on the front end of his arm were about a foot long, yellow, while the ones in the back were much longer than the front ones, extending to over three feet and spreading across his back, black.

Alex cried out in pain as he felt his fingers being turned into sharp yellow feathers. Finally, his arms extened out another foot before coming to a hault, as the last part of the transformation came to him at full force. The yellow feathers shrouded his face, slightly longer feathers on the bottom of his face. Alex saw that his mouth and nose fused and harded together and began to grow out a good foot into a long razor point bird beak. His eyes grew and pulled farther back, as his hair turned into large spiked feathers jolting off the top of his head. 'Why me?' He thought, but not for long. It was as if someone had put a large cloud over Alex's mind, as all of his memories began to dump. Now, he knew who he truly was. Zapdos. Skwaking out, he flew up in the air and darted through the hole, knowing he had to do his job.

In the red chamber, Tony was stunned on his beak and his flaming hair. He was so distracted by the changes he hadn't realized his neck had grown a good amount. Tony tried to talk, but all that came out was a strained "Craw!" Tony saw that his arms began to grow creamed colored feathers, the feeling of them poking out of his skin felt very odd to Tony, as he clenched in pain as his arms expanded. But what came next surprised him even more. The bottom parts of the feathers lit up in a bright red infero. Tony was amazed on how the flames didn't even hurt him. The flames were huge, longer than the actual feathers themself.

Tony was too distraced by the flames on his arms to even feel his hands transform into flaming feathers. Tony saw the feathers continue down his torso and into his shorts, this feeling very uncomftorbal. He saw his black sneakers explode to reveal not feet, but orange talons. His leg bones narrowed and shriveled up, making his shorts fall off of him. Tony tried to move but a pain in his lower spine stunned him in place, as he witnessed a large flaming tail feather come out of this back. 'Yikes!' He thought, shaking the feather sligtly. 'I wish these flames were blue.' Tony thought.

Suddenly, he saw that his thoughts were heard, and in a quick flash, the flames turned from a flaming red to a flaming blue. 'Now thats more like it.' Tony thought. However, Tony started to forget about many things and before he knew it, his mind set had been totally changed into who he was now. Moltres. Tony darted up the hole in the ceiling and into the tunnels.

Part Six: Revelations.

Lugia was amazed with the results. All three of the humans had turned into the Skyward Legends. 'Skyward Legends, come to me, as I see there has been a mistake with this process.' Lugia called out telepathically. Within a few seconds, Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres appeared and landed in front of Lugia, waiting his commands. "What is it you need, Lugia?" Articuno said, using their own language to communicate. 'What I am going to tell you might surprise you, but it is true. Just a few minutes ago, you three were humans.' Lugia said. "What? That's impossible!" Zapdos called out, not believing Lugia's words. 'Really? Look into the stone and you tell me.' Lugia said, turned the stone towards the Skward's. They watched the events that had unfolded and were flabbergasted on what they saw.

"Is this true?" Moltres said. 'Yes. You three were best friends as humans. Would you like me to make that be true again?' Lugia asked. "Wait, your turning us back into those foul things?!" Articuno barked out. 'No. I am giving you the minds of them so you can live your lives happily.' Lugia said. 'I can reverse the last part of your transformation, in which you lost your memory.' Lugia flipped the grand stone back towards him. 'Be ready.'

Lugia held both of his wings in front of the stone. A bright flash of green emitted from the stone and struck the Skyward's. They looked at each other, speechless on what they saw. 'Listen to me, I am Lugia, your leader.' Lugia said, surprising all three of them with his telepathy. 'You can speak you know, humans can't understand you now.' 'Tony, I noticed that you have blue flames as Moltres rather than the normal red flames. I must ask how this happened.' "Well, blue is my favorite color. Once the transformation happened, I thought in my mind on how I wish the flames were blue and sure enough, this happened to me." 'Interesting. You can switch the color of your flames at anytime with this ability. Just think of the color and it will come. Not now though, as I have explaining to do.'

'Now, you see, you three are the replacements for the others who went missing. I am not sure how they vanished but when they did, I began to panic. In order for there to be peace in this world, the Skyward Legends are a must, as they are the guardians of this planet. Without them, chaos will roam free. When I saw you three coming to the cave I knew this was my chance. I put the stones on activation and waited for you to come in contact with them.'

"Excuse me but why did we almost kill ourselves trying to get to them?" Quinn asked, waving his wing. 'The obstacles are a test to see if you deem worthy of the gift. If you are wondering if you can turn into a human again the answer is no, you are stuck as you are forever.' "What!? I had a good life as a human, I have to go back!" Alex said, sparks coming off of his wings. 'I am sorry, but It is impossible for this to happen. Now, as the Skyward Legends, you must listen to what I say.'

'One, make sure that nobody ever sees you. If you are spotted, you will be punished.' "Then how the hell are we supposed to save people?" Tony asked. 'In the time of chaos, you will be invisible. Two, this cave is your home now. The chamber in which you touched the stone is your new quarters. You will be able to adapt to the environment easily. And three, you are more than friends now, you are brothers. Protectors of this planet. Do you understand this?'

All three of the birds nodded in agreement. 'I fight when the time is needed in case your wondering. Now go, the world needs you.' Lugia said. Quinn, Alex and Tony flew out of the tunnel and went straight up into the sky, creating a cloud of ice, electricity, and flames behind them. They flew above the clouds and off into the horizon, carrying on the new task as the Skyward Legends, forever.