Eugene quietly made his way to a more open field well on the western outskirts of Animalia. It was essentially the main flight training area for any and all humans that decided to become bird or bat based Animalians. It was open to allow for take off and landing practice without worry of crashing into trees, telephone poles, or electrical wires. Basic flight "training" started with learning the mechanics to flap one's wings and know all the physical movements. From there, training would move onto beginning to get practice at actually flying. There was also a large wooden tower that was set up to help new Animalians in flight training in a way that worked similar to how humans tested gliders. They'd have some height to start from and challenge for the new Animalian was to maintain lift with their wings after gaining it after jumping from the platform. Once that was mastered, they'd progress to taking off from the ground. Once taking off and landing was mastered, flight training would then move to maintaining height and speed and changing direction while in the air.
At present, Eugene had been making good progress with regard to flight training, though flight was still only second on the things that Eugene considered as a positive thing regarding becoming an Animalian. His transformation had secured for him the thing he'd always wanted, to be able to see. While at times that sight seemed difficult in that it had become too good. Tests at Horizon Labs demonstrated that his eyes could focus perfectly and that he could see fairly well at all ranges, though his vision actually was at its best at long ranges. Eugene figured that had to do with birds of prey, like the Bald Eagle, depended on high vision so as to pick out prey at long ranges. The tests had also determined that Eugene could now look in through the surface of water without serious hampering from glare, which made additional sense. Bald Eagles were fish eagles and would need some ability to follow fish swimming in lakes and streams.
While at times Eugene's now enhanced vision was a difficult point, he didn't truly regret his decision on what kind of Animalian to become. He'd been blind for far too long and simply seeing able to see was wonderful. There were too many beautiful things for Eugene to see and not enjoy what he'd gained by participating in Project Phoenix, and he told Animalia's ambassadors that over the Thanksgiving exposition. The other thing that Eugene had left to work through was the other perk that came with becoming a Bald Eagle Animalian, the ability to fly. Flying was an amazing sensation. It wasn't a sensation of weightlessness, as Eugene could still feel the effect of gravity, but the wings on his back were large enough to have lift and even catch the thermal updrafts that normal eagles glided on and the muscles on his back that controlled his wings were strong enough for him to gain lift. It was amazing.
"I'm here!" Eugene called out as he approached a large wooden tower that stood in the area.
"I can see that," came a voice from a stairway on the wooden tower, drawing Eugene's attention to it.
There was another male eagle Animalian, though this one was based on the Golden Eagle, who had the name "Noble." Eugene looked to him and slowly made his way up the stairs toward Noble.
"And you're right on time," Noble continued.
"And able to do it on my own, though it was a fair hike from my home," Eugene replied.
"Then we'll keep working to improve with those wings," Noble gave a smile, "as flying beats walking."
Noble then turned and began to lead Eugene up the stairs. Eugene followed quietly until they were at the top and practically six stories up in the air. The stair way and part of the platform had hand and guard rails, so that no human or non-flight capable Animalian came and fell off, but the platform was built to help those who could fly learn to do so. There was a large soft bag at the bottom of the platform to make sure if a new flight trainee had trouble with regard to take off they wouldn't fall to their death, and the flight trainers, like Noble was for Eugene, would also go with the trainee to catch the trainee if it looked like they'd miss the bag.
"Now, Eugene, you've been making excellent progress and I think we're getting close to progressing to the next phase in your flight training," Noble said as the turned to face Eugene as they reached the top of the platform, "We'll start with a standard jump and dive to let you get airborne to start with, as we have been. We'll then climb and fly to the north and move toward the northern edge of the flight training area. There we'll land and then move on to taking off from the ground to fly back."
Eugene nodded and moved to the edge of the platform and then looked down toward the bag. He also felt his toes turn down, as if to grip the platform. This was something he'd found since his transformation. While becoming a bird based Animalian hadn't cost him his hands, he'd found that his feet were now surprisingly dexterous and he sometimes wondered if he could actually write with them if he practiced it, though Eugene had never actually went through the practice to find out. He flexed his wings behind him and waited for Noble to move and stand beside him. Once Noble was ready, Eugene jumped and dove down.
The descent was rapid and Eugene could feel the breeze of his momentum push against his feathers, but he didn't let that last long. After a little more than a second he flared his wings and began to beat them. The motion actually reminded Eugene of some swimming strokes that a caregiver had described to him while he was blind back while the Olympics was on television, in that his wing beats pushed air down and backward. With his wing beats he soon leveled out and was soon rising into the air with each wing beat. Eugene couldn't help but smile as he rose into the air, feeling his wings successfully battle the force of gravity. Noble was quick to catch up to him.
"Remember, to rise into the air... beat your wings more straight up and down and the standard forward swing of your wings will carry you forward," Noble instructed, "and keep your wing beats at a relatively steady pace. You're an eagle, not a song bird. On some level, you can do a lot just by gliding... and since your wings are larger, you will have more lift than they do. You aren't as dependent on beating your wings to fly."
Eugene nodded while Noble continued.
"Also remember to keep your tail feathers level," Noble instructed, "any change in them will have the potential to change your course."
Eugene nodded and kept flying forward. He had to admit that he liked flying, and while he could still feel the pull of gravity, he got a personal sense of triumph at being able to successfully resist it. Once he noticed that Noble had leveled out after the dive take off and wasn't trying to gain any more height, Eugene did the same. He also slowed his wing beats and simply managed a few short glides between strokes. It slowed him down a little, but Eugene wasn't aiming for high speed and even if he was, he'd only be able to try that in a dive and Eugene didn't feel comfortable enough with his ability to fly to actually try that. The dive take off from the platform already put on the strains of resisting gravity, and there he certainly didn't have the time to get to full speed. He'd wait until he'd fully mastered flight before trying anything more extreme. Besides, simply flying was more than good enough. Eugene liked that.
"Okay now, we're approaching our landing zone," Noble spoke from beside him, "Remember to lean back and flare your wings. You'll continue to beat them, but now, with your body pointed up, they'll only serve to help slow your descent. And that's something you'll want to do carefully... Slow down too quickly, you'll lose lift and before you know it, you'll drop like a stone... stall, I believe is the word humans use with regard to their airplanes when that happens. Slow down too slowly and you'll either risk landing too hard and breaking bones or having to lengthen your approach. Out here, you have the room to let you go into the later category as you can glide in and slow down... but once we get you to a point where you can fly rather than walk around Lyre and Animalia, you'll need to have your landings perfected as the sidewalks won't give you a long landing strip to walk on."
Eugene nodded and began his descent. He lowered his legs, so to be ready to land and beat his wings in the precise way that Noble had taught him to in their other sessions. This wasn't his first lesson and they'd gone through it plenty of times. By now, Noble's presence was becoming more and more of a safety net rather than a requirement as Eugene continued to adapt to his wings and his body. In no time at all, Eugene came in for a landing in the field to the north of the platform he'd taken off from. He had to half walk half hop for a few steps before being able to fully stop, but his landing was gentle. He smiled and turned to look back toward the platform that he'd started from. It was easily a thousand yards away from where they were, but with his "new" eagle eyes, Eugene could see it clearly. He smiled, flight and sight were wonderful.