A Small Spark

Escaping
I awoke from my sleep, stretching my long, quick limbs. Behind me I looked, and thought I had grown wings for a second. But I hadn’t. Sadly. Mommy told me it would be some time during her hard work hours that they’d grow. It was the middle of that time. No wings.
Beside me was dad. He looked strong, powerful, and peaceful in his sleep. I wanted to be just like him. I didn’t care how much work it took, I wanted to be dad’s little spark of hope. I admired dad’s choices, and tried literally to follow in his footsteps.
Then as I arouse, continuing to stretch, dad had groaned and turned over in his slumber. I cautiously tiptoed off, in search for mom.
“Hello hun.” Mom chimed as I came into view. “I haven’t been able to catch a second mouse, so once you finish this one, can you catch dad one before he wakes up?”
“For sure, mommy!” I smiled. Finally, a chance to run around!
I lurked across the empty halls for a few minutes. Crouching low, I made my way to an area with a possible mouse inhabitant. My nose senses weren’t too strong, but I could tell there was a mouse in there. I waited, then I heard its nearby chipping.
A little bit closer... And SNATCH!
My paw brought up a full-grown mouse. Perfect size too!

A long time passed before my dad drooped from our tiny bedroom.
“Hey daddy! Mom told me to catch a mouse for you!” I held up the squirmy mouse to him.
“Thanks Zappy, I really appreciate this.” Dad managed a lazy smirk to show he cared, then took the mouse and ate it. Moments later, he turned back to me and asked, 
“Have you gotten any bigger or stronger in the last few days?”
“Quicker, definitely.” I replied with pride.
“Good, now I’m gonna go take a nap. I came out here to see if you were okay.” He yawned then limped back into the bedroom again.
So strong! I thought. The rest of the day, though, I spent exploring. Then at one point, I found a small little cavern. Peeking outside, I saw something I’ve never seen before. Green, and above were shades of blue and white. Outside looked so different, so I decided to take a look!

As I was trotting around, those humans were everywhere. Running, walking, screeching. I stumbled upon a big stretch of green. Big buildings surrounded me. A big can towered over my little body, and it had an odd smell!
All of a sudden, the can moved. I cautiously pushed it, and it moved again! Curious, I zapped the contents of whatever was inside the opened can.
“Youch!” A high pitch screech responded. “What’s the big deal?” Seconds later, a creatures head appeared from the top of the can.
“Oh my goodness I’m so sorry!” I rapidly stammered and bowed my head in shame. “Strike me if you’d like, I’m so sorry for my rash behavior!”
“Whoa whoa whoa little guy.” The creature leaped from the can gracefully and cleaned its paws.
“You have paws! And a tail!” I exclaimed.
“Yeah, who doesn’t? Other than those humans.” Black fur whipped across her face, showing me her glowing blue eyes.
“But, what are you?” I mused in curiosity.
“Me? Oh, I’m Alley, the cat.” She mewled in sassy pride. “I dunno why I was named that though. Some human over there kept calling me alley cat.” Alley motioned to a nearby building. “I just kinda got used to that name.” She smiled in a cat way.
“Ah. A cat... I’ve never heard of those before.” My eyes glimmered with amazement.
“What’re you?”
“My name’s Zappy! I’m a dragon!” I replied with dignity.
“Humph, only heard of ‘em.” Alley sassed and whipped a tuff of fur behind her ear. “I heard they have wings. So you can’t possibly be a dragon.”
“I am! I’m just too young! I’ll grow them soon!” I couldn’t believe she didn’t trust my word!
“Oh whatever... By the way, what are you doing out here anyways?”
“I came out here to explore!”
“Huh. A naive little one.” Her tail lashed and she began trotting away, “see ya kid.”
Something inside me tumbled a feeling of anger. A thing I’ve never really felt. “Hey! Wait!” I ran and quickly caught up with the cat, matching her stride, which was much slower than mine. “Headed somewheres?”
“Na, just wanna walk.” She giggled softly, “and get away from you.”
I grew silent, and stopped in my tracks. “That’s not nice to say.” I glared at her and my tail lashed. Alley just knew how to aggravate me.
“Sorry kid, I guess life ain’t too nice then.” Her shoulder blades made a shrugging motion, and she continued walking.
“Hey, can you help me with something?” I asked because I had gotten a great idea.
“I need to free my parents from this building... see...”

In The Tunnel

Apparently, the note of my disappearance, spread around. A human sent one of its fellow pets, called a dog, to fetch me.

“Hurry up Alley!” I hollered loudly, hearing a rushing monster fly by.
“Just wait...” Alley panted from afar. “For a small little one, you can run so, so fast.”
As Alley caught up, I let her take a break. Looking around, I investigated our surroundings. A tunnel was ahead, followed by suspicious tracks.
“Ugh, are we seriously gonna go in the train tunnel?” Alley murmured in irritation.
“Yes, we’ll hide on the sides if we hear it coming.” I responded.

About halfway through the tunnel we heard roaring. Looking behind us, we saw the blinding lights.
“Run!” Alley hollered and bolted. I did too. By just a hair, we escaped. Yet as we tumbled into safety, a growling snarl met our faces.
“Oh no... It’s a dog.” Alley said as we lifted our heads. “Play dead.” She whispered into my ear.
I did as she said, guessing she knew more about these dogs than I did. I was then met by nuzzling, and couldn’t resist opening my eyes. The dog had reared back at my action, and lifted me up by the scruff.
“Zappy!” Alley mewled and attacked the dog. It dropped me, and I landed swiftly to the ground. Surprised, but uninjured. Miraculously.
“How dare you attack a small one like him!” Alley hissed, and swiped another attack on the dog.
It growled, “I’m Bull. I have come here on the telling of my owner.” The dog growled and faced me. “I must bring Zappy back to the power plant.”
“I don’t want to go back yet! Not under the command of those horrible humans!” I barked at him
“Too bad!” Bull snarled and lunged for me. I zoomed away from him, and took off a distance. “Alley!” I called for her.
“Coming!” She hollered back, and began running. Sadly, Bull lifted her also swiftly from the ground by her neck.
“No! Alley!” I screamed.
Bull muffled through Alley’s fur, “now come ‘ere, or I’ll dump your little friend in the lake.”
Alley yowled in response. My anger surged through me, like an electric circuit. I owned my mouth, expecting to yell, but instead, bolting lightning across the field and straight towards Bull. He was shocked, literally! Alley was barely affected from the bolt, and landed fast on her feet, scurrying, fleeted, to my side. We turned and ran towards town, leaving Bull in the dust.

Planning To Action
“So you said you wanted to free your parents. From this, nuclear power plant? Inhabited by hundreds of humans?” Alley spat a me in disbelief. “Are you crazy?”
“Nope!” I piped. “I think it’ll work, surely!”
Alley sighed, “fine, I’ll help, but I better get some catnip for this.”

“How will we do this?” We were marching along the highway, I was sneaking in every crevice and behind every sign.
“I think if we just run in, if you distract them, I’ll take care of the rest.” I replied, peeking from a mailbox. “Now let’s hurry!”
“Wait!” I heard a roar from behind, when I turned to look, Bull jumped and tackled me to the ground. Not again!
“You’ve just made my job easier. I can’t wait for my reward biscuit!” I was lifted from the scruff again.
“He just never learns...” Alley rolled her eyes and pounced for Bull’s forepaws.
“Not this time!” Bull swiped Alley to the side like opening a curtain.
“Alley!” I squirmed, and struggled. “Wait Bull! I need to tell you something!”
“Sh, little lizard.” Bull grunted. “You have no right to talk to something bigger than you are.”
“I’m not that small!” I yelped. “Hey, then why do you listen to those evil humans!”
That caught Bull off guard. He froze in place, and set me down. “You’re right. I shouldn’t. I’ve been ordered and bossed around too long.”
“Then you should help us raid the power plant!” I urged.
“You would be a great edition...” Alley panted as she met up with us.
“Edition? What am I? An object?”

The Raid

Bull roamed through the door. I bolted through the room, heading as fast as I could to the door which held my parents. The door was locked, and I couldn’t find the key.
“Mom! Dad!” I yelled against the door.
“Zappy? Is that you? Oh my gosh! We were so worried about you!” It was my mother’s voice.
“Can you break out of there?” I whimpered.
“Yes, let me get your father.” I heard her paw steps fade. Then I decided to check on Alley and Bull.
They were fighting side by side against the humans. Suddenly Alley collapsed under pressure, and I quickly took action and zapped the human about to attack her. By her side, and her aid, I helped her up, and fought with her.
All of a sudden, there was a big BOOM. We turned, and saw mom and dad emerging, covered in bolts of electricity spazzing around them. They had pulverized the door! I ran up to them.
“Mom, dad! I’m so happy to see you two are okay!” I whimpered and nuzzled them both.
“We should say the same for you.” My father spoke in his deep, concerned tone. “I’ve never been so worried in my life.”
“Hey! A little help?” Bull was caught on a harness. My mother leaped foreword and broke it with her tail. In one swift movement!
I gaped a little, wondering if I would be able to do that someday. But as quick as we went in, my father picked up Alley and I, and my mother had Bull safely on her back. Then we escaped from the prison that kept us for so many years.

Depart
My parents set us all down as soon as we were in a nearby forest.
“So what’re you gonna do now Bull?” Alley purred.
“Probably roam around the city. Maybe even find someone special.” His shoulder blades shrugged. Alley snorted, “I’ll believe it when it happens.”
Bull chuckled. “I’d like to see you with a tabby.”
“Excuse me,” I said. “But Alley’s done so much for me, that I’ve taken a liking to her.”
My parents laughed. Then my father spoke, “I’ve never seen a romance like this.”
“Whoa whoa whoa! You don’t even have my approval!” Alley protested.
I chimed in happily at her, “Alley, will you be my mate?”
“We’ll see little one.” Alley smirked.
“Well, I better get going.” Bull sighed. “See you, and thanks for what you’ve done.”
“Bye Bull!” We all said in unison.
“Oh, by the way...” Bull turned to me, “sorry for calling you little.” With a laugh, he ran off.

“Alright guys, let’s get going.” Dad said.
“Going? Where?” Alley asked.
“Somewhere, anywhere but here.” He replied. “His mother and I have some strength left, we should be able to get to some mountains by dark.”
“But its already dark.” Mom replied.
“Really? I’ve been in the dark so long, I couldn’t tell.” He laughed.
“I’ll light the way!” I yipped.
So I climbed onto dad’s back, noticing the strong ripples of his body, clearly representing his might. Alley was on my mother’s back, and since we were already adrift, they were talking. Some female talk, I guess. Probably about me, too. I saw Alley glance at me once or twice, giggling and smiling. Her blue eyes, so bright. I couldn’t express this feeling. Affection, maybe even love. Yeah, that’s what it felt like.
“Zappy!” I heard Alley’s voice echo in the air. I realized I was staring at her for some time now.
“Yeah?” I hollered back. My parents flew closer so we could hear, see, and touch each other’s noses.
“Yeah.” She nodded. Yeah?
“Yeah what?” I inquired.
“Zappy!” Alley sighed. I’ll be your mate.”
All the love I explained surged through like a lightning bolt once again. As strong as the wind blew through Alley’s gorgeous black fur. My horns sparked together, and suddenly two flaps of membrane penetrated out of my back.
Wings.
“You weren’t kidding...” Alley gasped.
“Yeah, I wasn’t.” I was just as surprised as she looked. All this time, this is what maturing felt like...
“I got wings! I can fly and twirl in the air!” I shouted.
“Will you be able to take me with you?”
“That’ll take some more maturing to do.” My mother said.
I stretched and looked at my long, quick limbs. I saw the wings, Alley, my parents, and the mountainous land ahead of us.
I’ve never been so happy to want to grow up, just like my dad.

Then we lived Zappily, ever after!