literature

Dragon Skin

Deviation Actions

biffiea's avatar
By
Published:
24.4K Views

Literature Text

Flygon Costume
by biffiea

     Matthew was eating lunch in the school cafeteria. Well, “eating.” The hamburger he had been nibbling on for the past few hours could double as a hockey puck. Really he was day dreaming. Today was the day he finally picked up his costume. There were two things he kept hidden from everybody, his love of pokemon, and the fact that he wanted to be one. In order to move that much closer to his desire, he had ordered a costume a few weeks ago from a local shop. It was expensive, to say the least, but, from the look of this guy’s previous work, worth it. He had gotten a Flygon costume, under the guaranty that he would know exactly what it felt like to be a Flygon, whatever that meant. He just wanted to put the thing on and act like a dragon or a bit. He would have some time for it. His parents would be gone for a day.
     “Earth to Matthew!” He came back with a jolt. “I said what did you think of the math test?” It was his friend Andrew.
     “Oh, it was okay, but I didn’t study too much for it.” He went about eating his lunch, silently anticipating 4:00 when he would go to pick up his new outfit from the shop.

     Dragons, they always wanted dragons! At least this kid was original, or had the presence of mind to use somebody else’s originality. He had only made variations of reptiles so far, with mammals and others thrown in every now and again. There was a gargoyle or two, but what he really wanted was something totally exotic, like an original design. However, this was good enough for experimentation purposes, even a bit of a personal challenge. He did have to create an original set of instincts for attacks, but it was pretty much another dragon.
     Though, this was a first. Most costumes were as sentient as a typical  animal with a few exceptional costumes thrown in that were as intelligent as a human. This one, however, he knew had a mind of it’s own. All the essence he had thrown in there had definitely created a spirit, an intelligent one at that. The owner would be lucky not to lose his human self within a few hours with this costumes brain power. But that was not his concern. What really mattered was how the costume blended with the subject.
     The bell over the door rang, signalling a customer. Drethen stepped out of the back, through curtains, and saw the owner of the costume he had just finished up. 4:00 exactly, he must have really wanted this. Just another factor releasing the scientist of any guilt.  “Ah, Matthew! I just finished your order, let me get it for you.” He went back and picked up the costume, and could see it squirming a bit, reacting to its owner’s presence. He quickly brought it out.
     “Here you go. All ready, now, I’ll just place this in a box.” He acted quickly, so as not to let him see the outfit’s movements.
     “Woah! How do you make it look so real?”
     “I have my tricks.”
     “Well here’s my card.” He handed over his debit card.
     “All paid for, now, enjoy the costume.”
     Matthew walked out the door, a smile on his face, never having been more desperate to get home.
     Drethen was smiling too. “I charged that kid a lot for that costume. Hope Nintendo doesn’t catch me for violating copyright laws.” He chuckled, and went back to his work.

     Finally the moment he had been waiting for! His trainer picked him up (the human that owned a pokemon was technically its trainer, even if that owner wouldn’t be human for long). He was so tired of the darkness and solidarity of being just a costume hanging on the wall. He was ready to see the world! To touch, to smell, to taste, to breathe, to eat, to feel a heart beat, to know the feeling of is lungs expanding, to exist. All the things that his trainer and that stupid scientist had taken for granted. He wanted nothing more than to feel the wind blowing over his wings as flew into the shining sun. All he needed was for the human to put him on, then again, why wait? The human was right there.
     His desire was powerful. The costume knew that his owner would love to be a Flygon. But it went beyond a casual wonder, this was a need that the pokesuit could feel burning inside and around him. It was a wish he was surprised that other humans could not feel. He existed to fulfill that wish. He was determined, in seconds he would be merging with the human. ‘No’ he though ‘I can’t do this in public, it would cause a panic. I can’t do it in the car, we might both get hurt. I’ll wait until we’re in his home. Then we’ll merge.’ He would have no problem getting along. Especially with that kind of dream. There was no way the human could be unhappy as a pokemon, and even his he didn’t like having his wish granted, the pokemon would help him see the beauty of this form. After all, the happiness of the human was his priority, even if he was anxious for this as well. It was something he had decided on. The human had given him life, in a way, and he should repay his owner.


     The teenager got into his car, a 74, the actual make of the car long forgotten, as time had transformed the car into a moving pile of junk. He was just happy to have a car in high school. He carefully set the box down in the seat next him, and started the car. As it started with the sound of a series of small explosion, he jerked his head to look at the passengers seat. He could have sworn he saw movement there. Must have just been his imagination.

     He took the costume box upstairs and set it in his room. “Matthew! We’re leaving!” To the costume’s disappointment, he ran downstairs to say good-bye to his parents.
     ‘Well, it will be the last time the two of us are apart.’ He used the time to crawl out of the box, and waited for his owner to come back. When he did he stopped for a second. “Did I already take it out of the box?” Then he decided he must have. After all, what were the other possibilities? A man broke into his house, and took his costume out of the box, then left, leaving the various electronics in his room completely untouched? Yeah right.
     He undressed, preparing to put the costume on. After he was completely nude, he picked up the costume, but his eyes jolted to the head, he could have sworn he saw the eyes move. Then he was certain the hand had moved, IT HAD GRABBED HIM BY THE WRIST! The claws had a very tight grip on him, and the costume seemed to turn into liquid latex, becoming a generic green goo with only a few features, and was pulling itself onto Matt. It started to creep up his arms. Not thinking, but doing it fast, he tried to rip the costume off of him with his other hand, but he only succeeded  in spreading the viscous goo to the other side of his body.
     Matthew started to go into a panic, desperately trying to tear the costume from him, but he could not succeed. ‘relax, I won’t hurt you. you asked for me, and I know this will make you happy.’  It was a distant voice, that he couldn’t really hear so much as sense, but it took affect, and he relaxed a bit. His arms were completely covered in green. It started to stretch and thin out, mutating into brilliant green scales. Seeing that that was the only change, made him really calm down. Maybe nothing bad was actually happening? The goo spread from his arms over the top his back. It was a chilling sensation, but Matt got used to it. The costume continued its advance over his torso, and the features in the costume took position, the tail and the base of his spine, and the wings over his shoulder blades. They overtook his legs, as they spread.
      The flygon was enjoying this too much for words. His hopes and dreams were coning true, being real, He just smiled as he engulfed his owner. Soon he would be fully transformed.
      His torso was claimed by the costume, it all stretched out and turned into the magnificent green scales on his arms. The once plastic claws had a brilliant shine to them, almost like metal. ‘there almost done, brace yourself, this might be unpleasant.’ It was the voice again, but he had no idea... the mask! The Flygon’s head was on either side of his own, and started to take over. It creeped up, which he didn’t find unpleasant, until it reached his nose. The latex pulled over him, closing off his air, sending him into a panic as he franticly tried to pull the costume off his head. ‘Stop freaking out! This will only take a second. Then you’ll finally be a pokemon.’ Matt heeded the voice, and stopped flailing, but it was hard to ignore the fact that he was suffocating! The latex stole his sight as well when it went over his eyes. When the mask was fully in place over his head, he could feel the nose and mouth open, allowing him to breath once more. He could even see faintly out through the eyes. He then noticed that he could feel through the costume, like it had become his skin.
     ‘There. That wasn’t so bad. Now to be a real Flygon.’ What did that mean? He had the costume on already. What more could there be? He got his answer when an intense heat started to rack his body. The teen could feel his muscles and bones being reconstituted into new form. The costume was transforming his body!
     The heat changed into mutation, as his arms shrank in size, his legs re-jointed to his body, his feet became longer, taking up what was the lower half of his legs. The tail and wings, once drooping, filled with muscle and blood, springing to life. Matthew’s tail started to move of its own accord, and he stretched his wings, simply because they felt so tired. His back bone started to reorganise itself, giving his body a curve shape. His lower torso expanded, and he grew in size all over. The short horns on his head grew into the three foot giants. The mask fused with his face, making the snout feel entirely natural, and changing the wiring of his eyes, so the world looked normal despite the pink shields. He was physically a Flygon, from tail to horns, he was a Flygon exactly like one from the game.
      He was about to move, but he felt a presence in the back of his mind, telling him that something was there that shouldn’t be. He resisted ‘don’t resist me, I made your dream come true!’ We’ll be happier merged!’  He complied immediately. He didn’t really know why, but strange things were the order of the day, and he didn’t feel like getting in their way right now. The mind inside his mind flooded him with new instincts. He knew several attacks, like Dragon breath, Crunch, Dig. The knowledge of flight was apparent to him now. It was all normal. He could feel the costume’s mind though, and he didn’t question the fact that he wasn’t alone. He also didn’t care.
     “Oh my God! I’m a Flygon! It really happened!” He was looking over himself in utter disbelief. Somehow, none of what had just happened to him, seemed real. Even looking at his body, it still felt a bit like a dream. “I need to get out, go flying!” He took one look at the window in the room, and head butted it. He flew out the window, but before he hit the ground, instincts guided the muscles in his wings as he started to fly into the bright afternoon sun.
     He flew as far as he could into the sunshine, occasionally looking down to see the city. He noticed some people looking up at him, and started to do flips and tricks, but quickly set back out to the forest.
     After an hour, he was deep into the forest, and landed. It was a wonderful afternoon, but the sun would set in a few hours, and adolescent dragons needed to eat. He smelled a deer about 50 yards from where he had landed. He stared at it for a second before his wings sprung into action. His body lifted into the air and bolted right at his prey, his mouth opened, launching a blast of fire at the deer. It dropped in a second. “Wow, I didn’t even have to think about that.” The costume laughed a bit, his human side still didn’t fully realize what was going on.
     The fire blast was hot enough that, Matt didn’t have to eat truly raw meat. He just had to heat it up a bit longer, and it was instantly cooked. After his dinner, he flew over to a nearby stream. He looked down into the clear water at this reflection. A proud pokemon in the wild. He leaned over and drank from the water. It was so, tasty! He had never known water to taste so sweet. This water was completely natural, how did it taste better than what he had at home?
     “Because you’re part of nature, you prefer natural food!” Matt's attention was brought to the other presence in his mind. He hadn’t really thought about it. He really hadn’t thought about anything over the past few hours!
     “I’ve hunted. I’ve never hunted before! How did I do that?” Truth be told, he was actually kind of squeamish. Now that he was thinking about it, the thought of  killing more game like his evening dinner was really sickening to him. “Who are? You’re my costume right.” Best to get answers.
     “Yep. Thank you by the way. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t exist.”
     Matt thought about that for a second. “Does that make me your father?”
     The Flygon chuckled, “No, that would probably be the costume shop owner.”
     “Do you have a name.”
     “My name is Matthew, but I prefer Matt.” Matt was taken aback a bit by the costume’s words. They had the same name, or did the costume just assume his name because it didn’t have one?”
     “Where did you come from, and how did you do this?”
     “Well, the old man gave me my magic. That’s how I morphed you. You know where I came from, you ordered me!” Well, that much was obvious. “You’ve been wondering about you’re instincts.” How did he? “I’m connected to your mind! I can see your thoughts. I make your instincts. I’m a Flygon! When our minds merged, I sent them over to you, or did you want to learn to fly the hard way?”
     “No, That’s okay. Thank you. So, My mind changed so that I feel like part of nature?”
     “Yep!”
     “Okay, I guess we should start for home. I can make it there before sundown.”
     ‘What are you talking about? You are home!”
     “I’m not home. This is a forest! I live an hour away from here.”
     “Matt, it’s not exactly an hour. The mountain is only about 10 minutes away. We should be able to find a cave pretty fast.”
     “Are you suggesting that I live in a cave?”
     “Well, yeah. Unless you wanted to move to the desert. That is our natural habitat, but the forest is so much nicer!”
      “I have a house I live in!”
     “Houses are for humans and their pets. We don’t have a trainer, we live in nature.”
     “You must have me confused for a real flygon, I’m a human, not a pokemon.”
     “No, you stopped being a human when you put me on. Now WE are a Flygon. Why are you complaining? You always wanted to be a flygon. This is the draconic form you have always wanted isn’t it?”
     “Well... Yes, but I didn’t want to give up my life and live in nature! I just wanted to know what it feels like to be a dragon!”
     “And you will.” Most other costumes, with or without a real consciousness, had panicked at the realization that their owners might not have wanted them. After all, no thinking creature wanted to be in the cold darkness again. Flygon however, being infused with enough life essence to form the foundation of his pokemon attacks, was quite intelligent, and knew not to panic. The only real task was making sure his human counterpart was happy, as it was an intrinsic need of his, but the costume was not a slave to the human, just the human’s emotions. He just had to convince Matt that being a flygon all the time was a good life choice. This may not be easy, but he had his battle strategy all laid out, and he was determined to see that not only did his owner enjoy being a flygon, but that he also wanted to never be human again.
     “You know, eh, costume, I have friends and family back there. You really want me to abandon them to be in the wild?”
     “There’s no reason you would have to. They live so close by! We could fly over and visit any time you wanted to. Think how much Andrew would enjoy seeing a live dragon at his window one morning! His face would be priceless.”
     “That would be true, but I would never be able to talk to them! I’ve been speaking in Flygon for the past hours!”
     “Well, you can still read and write in human, I guarantee it.”
     “That's about enough of this. How do I get you off any way? You’re starting to freak me out.” Matthew looked in his reflection trying to find a seam or zipper, or anything that would tell him how he could shed his Flygon body. Failing to see anything other than his natural draconic body, he felt around his back. Then his arms locked up, and were forcibly lowered back to his sides.
     “I am not some second skin you can take off any time! I’m a living being!” Matt could feel the rage the costume gave off at the attempt, but he also felt it subside quickly. “Now, why don’t we work all these details out in the morning? Your parents won’t be home tonight, and you did want to know what it was like to be a dragon. We sleep out side. Let’s find a cave before it gets to dark.”
     Matt really wanted to talk more about this, but he couldn’t doubt what the costume was saying. He wanted to feel like a dragon, so tonight, he would. What was the harm. He would work the rest out in the morning, even though he was offended by the costume referring to the rest of his life as a detail. He took flight toward the mountain, and began searching for a cave.
     He found one in a nearby mountain, and landed there as the sun started to set. He looked around the cave, finding that it wasn’t very deep. He stepped back outside, and laid down on the grass, and did something he had never done before, watch the sun set. He just sat there and watched the glow fade and disappear into the horizon. As darkness fell over the land, he opened his wings, and felt the cool night breeze brush against them. He looked up at the stars, noticing that this was the clearest he had ever seen them before. He gazed up, not even trying to find constellations, just looking at the stars. Totally relaxed.
     “Enjoying yourself?”  
     “I was until I was interrupted! “
     “But, you have to admit it is nice out here.”
     Matt tried to retain his reservations, “Whatever, O’m going to sleep.”
     Time for the first part of the costume’s plan. “Good night!” Matt walked to the center of the cave. He curled up, and fell asleep quickly.


     Matt was dreaming,  at the costumes behest of course. He needed Matt to dream this.
     He was standing in English class, but he wasn’t dressed normal. He looked over himself and saw that he was in full pokemon gear! Pokemon t-shirt, pants, socks! Every article of clothing he had on had to do with his favorite game, down to the pikachu cap. Everybody in the room was looking at him, laughing under their breath. He shrank underneath his desk, trying to escape they’re stare. Then their light giggles turned into full blown laughter, they started pointing at him and taunting him, calling him a baby and wuss.
     He bolted out of his chair, and ran into the hallway to escape them. Running for the door, he started to transform, sprouting wings as he burst outside. He took flight immediately, the rest of his body mopped by the time he was in the air. He flew over the city to his home, and landed through and open window. His parents were sitting there, and stared at the dragon. “What in the world?”
     His Mother came over, “What a neat pokemon!” She started to pet him, making her son feel very proud of himself, and the fact that he was a dragon. Suddenly the room, and everybody in it changed, he was now in a room with his friends.
     “Woah! A live dragon!” They all crowded around him and were all asking for him to breath fire. He signaled for them to step back, before opening his maw, and firing a jet flame. They all applauded, making him feel even better about himself.
     He left his audience, and took back to the sky. There he woke up. The sun was shining in through the mouth of the cave, and shined right on his. He sleepily got up and walked into the sunlight, warmed by the presence. “Morning! Sleep well?”
     Matt only had to think about it for a second, “You gave me that dream, didn’t you!” He had a hint of anger in his voice.
     “Well, its real isn’t it. You know your classmates wouldn’t accept you if they knew you liked Pokemon. However, as a dragon, who wouldn’t like you?”
     “Would you stop  trying to convince me to always be a Flygon. We’re getting breakfast, then we’re heading back to my house in the city.” The costume sighed. This human had a strong will to be human. Something he found confusing. His desire to be a pokemon was so powerful. Matt had wanted nothing more than to live out his fantasies as a Flygon, now he was trying to escape them. Well, if worse comes to worse, he can always use that to keep Matt a Flygon.

     Matt took off, hunting for something to eat. However, he still had his reservations about blood, but that was the only way to eat around here. He would have to let his instincts take control of him, either that, or starve. He let down his guard, and felt the costumes instincts guide him, letting him swoop down on another dear. After he had eaten it, he took off for the city, still lost in the haze of his draconic mind.
     “You know what Matt? Why don’t we drop in on some of your human friends? After all, your parents won’t be home until  tomorrow night. Don’t you think it would be a bit of fun.” He agreed with the costume, and altered his course slightly to go right past his house, and to Andrew’s.
     When he landed Andrew’s yard, he was surprised there wasn’t someone already rushing out to meet him. Then he picked up Andrew’s sent from inside the house, and floated over to the nearest window. “Still asleep even though it must be past ten. That’s Andrew.” He roared at the glass, making it shake, and saw Andrew shoot up from inside. He rubbed the sleet from is eyes and stare out the window.”
     “What the Hell!” He ran over to the window and opened it, wondering if he was still dreaming. Matt motioned for him to come outside, and Andrew complied, stepping through the window. “Unreal! An actual dragon!” He wasn’t a pokemon fan, and didn’t recognize Matt as a Ffygon. Matt nuzzled him in the chest, and lowered one of his wings. “You want to take me flying?”
     “Gon Flygon!”
      “Okay!” He got on the green dragon’s back and held onto his neck as hard as he could. Matt flapped his wings and started to take off into the sky. “Holy cow!” The force of the wind against Andrew was a lot to bear, but he took it, amazed out how liberating it was to fly on the back of a dragon.
     Matt kept it at a safe speed for his friend’s sake, but started to do turns and drops to make it seem like a live roller coaster ride. After a while, he landed in Andrew’s backyard, and let him down. “Over all ready?” Matt nodded, but nuzzled his friend. “You’ll be back?” Another nod. “Well, see then!” Andrew patted the dragon on the head before he took off.
     The costume was probably the most happy. That went off without a hitch, now, just one more thing.

     As Matt was flying back to his house, they were over the park, when the costume spoke up, “Did you here that?”
     “Here what?”
     “It sounded like a cry for help.” Matt focused his ears around him, trying to pick up the sound, then he got it. A mugging a few yard away from him. Once he was looking for it, he found the scene instantly. A man in a mask was attacking a woman in the park, and he dived at them. Once he saw a live dragon dropping out of the sky, the mugger took off, frightened half to death, but he had her purse. Matt took off after him, and caught up in a half second, snatching the purse back, and sending the criminal in a panic the other way.
     He floated back over to the woman who was now frozen with fear. Matt handed her purse back to her, causing the woman to relax a little. He smiled and flew off, proud of his good deed.
     He landed in his back yard by noon, and climbed back into his room. “There something in here you need?” The costume asked.
     “I live here! Now, can you tell me how to change back? I have homework I need to do before my parents get home tonight,”
     “How many time do I need to say this, we are a Flygon now. Why do you want to be a human any ways? You’ve seen what you can do as one. You can live a peaceful life in the forest, you can take your friends and family for flights, and you can help out people in the city. You could take up being a super hero! Now why don’t you let your silly reservations go, and become a full Flygon mentally?”
     “I don’t care how much good it can do. I love being a Flygon more than anything else, but I can’t abandon my life!”
     “Why is this? You’ve seen how many benefits there are to life like this. Why not stay? You know how much you want this. I can see your deepest emotions, and this is the happiest you’ve been in a long time. Being me puts your soul at, so why go back. If you hadn’t have been so worried  about going back to being human, you could have really enjoyed this. Now, stop the nonsense, and let’s fly back to the forest.”
     “I know how wonderful this has been, the wind on my wings, living in tranquility. It’s all been perfect. I wish I could stay like this forever, but I have a life! School, friends, family. I can’t leave them behind no matter how happy I am as this.” Now Flygon really was starting to panic. If he convincing his human half that being a Flygon wasn’t going to work, what would?
     “You selfish human!!!!”
     “What?”
     “You get to spend every day in the light. You feel all the time. When I was made, I wasn’t born with sensation. I was made to do one thing only, to fulfill your wish to be a Flygon. I did it, and my reward was light. I can breathe, I can see, I can do more than hear! It’s so amazing. I won’t be separated from you! Then I go through all the trouble to make you happy. I really do want you to be happy. You are a kind human, and deserve it, not just as my master, but I want to be happy too. I can only do that if we’re merged
     Matt felt his body take command of him, as he started to be led out the window. “Hey where are you taking me!”
     “Back to the forest! Where we belong. Please accept it, I really don’t want you to be unhappy, but I don’t think I can face going back to being a costume now that I’m a living being.”
     Matt was starting to feel sorry for the costume, but he knew he couldn’t resign the rest of his life to being a pokemon. He had to resist. He focused on his leg, and managed to get a bit of control, if only for a split section. This overwhelmed the costume. He didn’t think any human would be able to rest power from him for even that long. “Now let me go!” The costume stopped, realising that if Matt was so desperate that he could override the costume veto, then he would keep struggling. Matt would never really happy trapped as a flygon. The costume would have to keep the two of them going, while Matt struggled, and made life miserable. It wasn’t even that, as a costume, he didn’t want control, just to make his owner happy, while being happy. But he could never achieve that. He stepped down onto the floor.
     “Please reconsider Matt. Please! I don’t want to go back into the darkness. Being real is too great”
     Matt noticed how much the costume had changed. It once was incredibly confident, but now, that confidence was gone from its voice. Now it sounded sad, and desperate, like it was defeated. He knew there was no reason for malice, and tried to be kind. “I’m sorry to do this. I really am. You’ve made me happy in the past day, and let me live my fantasy, but I can’t be a Flygon forever. I don’t mean any harm to you, but I can’t leave my human life behind.”
     He could almost hear the costume crying. “How do I know you won’t leave me behind, or just shove me in the back of some drawer?”
     “Because you make me incredibly happy. I promise to put you on every available chance. Besides, I know now why you gave the name Matt as yours. We’re part of each other, and I will never forget that.” The costume wasn’t ecstatic with the decision, but he really didn’t have much of a choice. He had to be right with his master.
     “I’ll see you later then. Good night Matt.”
     Matt then felt a cold chill shoot through his body. His muscle and bones reformed almost instantly as the costume went slack around him. He crawled out, a human once more. He looked at the costume, and could tell that it had changed to frowning. “Don’t worry Matt, I think you’ll be alive again tonight. The stars looked to good through our eyes.” He was smiling now.
This is an entry for
[link]

I've been a fan of the costume shop series for a long time, and finaly thought that I should try to add something. At one point, I tried to write this story from the costume's perspective, just to try something different, however, this proved to be unimaginably boring, and uninspiring.

Please Comment!
Comments67
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
LucidAura42's avatar
This was really good! I loved the narrative. It was surprising how much personality you managed to put into a simple suit TF story. Good job!