Sensing her father's gaze on her, Catherina turned her head towards him. "Is something wrong, Daddy?" she asked cutely.
"Nothing's wrong sweetie...don't worry", Bernard said with a smile.
"Okay!" Catherina replied and turned back to continue gazing at her brother
"What about his sister? Is she going to be like him or will she be totally normal?" Bernard turned and asked the two doctors.
Emmanuel turned and took a good look at the little girl who had her eyes of her brother.
"Well, taking into consideration that they both came from the same womb, I'd say the possibility was high", Emmanuel answered.
"So, I guess we should expect changes to occur in her in the future", Bernard wondered.
"We cannot be sure of anything just yet. She is yet to show signs of any similarity to her brother. Has she shown anything that you've perceived to be out of the ordinary?" Emmanuel looked up to the parents and asked.
"Well, other than being very strong and fast for her age, as well as having a greater appetite than most kids her age, she hasn't shown any profound extraordinary signs similar to that of Samuel", Bernard answered.
"Then please, inform me the moment she exhibits any such signs, and maybe bring her over to my lab for a full body appraisal one of these days", he requested.
"Will do, but where is your lab exactly", Vivian asked. "The third mountain in the distance houses my lab. it's just a couple of miles from your home. Just approach it and the lab will allow you access. It's high tech and the AI already has your data", he informed the couple.
"Then we will take you up on that. We'll be visiting very soon. For now, would you two like to join us on our picnic?" Vivian asked the two doctors.
"Sure, we have stuff to talk about anyway", Dr. Hathaway said.
"Thanks, but I need to finish up with Samuel", Emmanuel politely declined.
"That's alright. We'll leave you to it then. Please take good care of our son", Bernard requested.
They all turned and stared at Samuel for a while. "Still, it's insane how you were able to do such a crazy thing as to reintroduce dragons into the world", Dr. Hathaway commented.
"Tell me about it", Bernard concurred. "To tell you the truth, this was not the expected outcome, but it's welcome all the same", Emmanuel replied.
After a while, the Griffin family continued on their way to their picnic location with Dr. Hathaway. Knowing there was no one for miles to see what was going on helped them stay relaxed.
"Oh! I almost forgot. Please let Samuel know he shouldn't be late for dinner", Vivian called out from several meters away. Emmanuel waved back and turned his attention back to the huge beast standing in the middle of the field.
Samuel, who had spent the several minutes after his transformation with his eyes closed had finally succeed in gaining full control of his draconic body.
He stood upright on his hind legs and flexed his front paws. He then stretched his wings wide, covering the sky, and gave another loud roar.
He leapt off the ground as his mighty wings carried his massive body high up into the sky, the force of his take-off causing Dr. Michelson to almost fall on his butt.
He soared through the sky for a while, flying over the entire mountain range, even spotting his family and flying closely above them with a spin. They waved at him in return.
"I wonder, can I turn into any kind of dragon?" Samuel wondered to himself as he closed his eyes and concentrated, gliding through the cloud-filled skies.
He glowed suddenly, as he shifted into a different dragon form. He now resembled a humongous two-hundred meter long winged serpent, surprising Emmanuel greatly as well as his family watching him from the distance.
...
Contrary to Dr. Michelson's assurance, a small tent under a huge rock ledge, miles from their location. Two shirtless guys sat outside the tent laughing and passing a joint between each other.
"Dude, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" the dark-skinned of the two suddenly asked, pointing towards the sky. "What are you seeing?" his comrade asked as he turned following the same direction.
High up in the sky was what looked like a giant snake with wings swimming through the clouds. After a few blinks of their reddened eyes, the snake disappeared.
They looked down and stared at the half-smoked joint in the fingers of one of them. "I think I got to stop smoking this shit. I'm starting to see stuff", the dude with the joint said as he dropped it and stomped it out.
"You and me both. I think the plug sold as a bad batch. We gotta get our money back", his companion said as he entered the tent to sleep off his high.
....
Samuel's two-hundred-meter-long body flew over the massive lake as he stared at his reflection. Satisfied, he flew back to the clearing and returned to the ground.
He landed softly coiling around his horse as he gave a loud growl with a shake of his head sideways.
"Hey Doc., I'm back. So how do I go back to being human?", Samuel asked in his deep draconic voice.
"It's most likely the reverse of what you did to transform. Since you are in full control of your body, you should be able to will it to change forms easily. It's like a switch; flip it from your dragon side to your human side, that should change you back", Emmanuel instructed.
"Okay, I got it", Samuel said as he closed his eyes and refocused. He imagined taking control of the switch with his will, and flipped it.
With a faint glow, he shrunk in size as he transformed back into his human–dragon hybrid form. He was shocked to realize... he was completely naked.
He wrapped his wings around his body immediately and with an embarrassed look, rode his horse back to where the doctor was standing with Lightning grazing by his side.
"You are looking totally exhausted, but I guess I should expect that", Emmanuel said as he watched Samuel ride towards him.
"That really took a lot out of me", Samuel said as he approached him.
"Here", Dr. Michelson said as he threw a new set of clothes to Samuel.
"Thanks, but that was my favorite shirt", Samuel pouted as he put on the new clothes. "Sorry, I kind of expected that your clothes would be destroyed but I should have informed you beforehand", the doctor apologized.
"Any way, since you have now been able to unlock the transformation for the first time, the next time will be relatively simpler and with more practice, the transformation could be activated almost instantaneously as you command it", the doctor explained.
"Yeah", Samuel said as he took in a deep breath. "I'm starving! How about we go back and have lunch. It's getting late", Emmanuel said as he took a look at his watch.
"Sure, the transformation made me extremely hungry", Samuel said as his tummy rumbled after hearing the word lunch.
"You better get used to that. You will find that, your diet will increase even more as you grow older and stronger", the doctor warned.
They rode back to the lab and had a quick, filling lunch. "Oh, before I forget, your parents asked me to tell you not to be late for dinner", he told Samuel as they ate.
"Cool! I actually saw them when I was in the air", Samuel responded as he gulped down a glass of orange juice.
True to Emmanuel's warning, Samuel consumed more than three times the usual amount of food he normally eats, which was already a lot for a kid his age.
After lunch, Samuel asked for a tour of the whole facility, of which the doctor happily obliged. He showed Samuel the entire laboratory along with the weapons room, the simulation room, the gym and even the guest bedrooms.
After a couple of hours, the doctor asked Samuel to go home for it was getting late and that he should come over bright and early the next morning.
"You begin with the basic training tomorrow but your real training will be held elsewhere," he informed Samuel. "Where is that?" Samuel asked.
"Your training will be done in Cape Metro City", he announced. "There is only one person who is powerful enough to truly train you. Look forward to it", he said to Samuel as he left.
When Samuel got home, it was a quarter to five. He flew quietly to the house and landed gently on the front porch. He walked up to the door keeping his wings folded out with the intention of surprising his family with that new-found ability. He opened the door with a beaming smile and shouted to let his family know he was back.
Catherina appeared out of nowhere and tackled her brother. "You were so cool today brother. You were so big", she shouted and he laughed in response.
"I'll show you again sometime", he said to her. "Promise?!", she asked holding up her pinky. "Sure", he said as he took her pinky with his, in a gesture of a pinky promise, the most ultimate of all promises.
An hour later, the family sat at the table to have their supper. They noticed Sanuel's sudden increase in appetite and his increase in his desire for meat, although he still ate his veggies like the good boy he was.
After desert, he stood up and said to them, "I have a surprise for you guys". Everyone at the table was stunned at his sudden declaration.
They were even more shocked as Samuel retracted his wings and morphed into a regular human form. "Wait, how is this...? When did you...?" his parents began to stutter with questioning looks on their faces.
"I learnt it today", he said knowing exactly what they were trying to ask. "Incredible", was the only response his parents could muster.