Flying isn't *really* as easy as everyone thinks it is.
Barring all the obvious issues, those that can't fly often think that those that do only have to just... *think* about flying, and then they do it. But flight, as wondrous and exciting as it may be for everyone else, is just yet another part of being alive for the exclusive few that get to have that privilege. Basic hovering is something that's so ordinary and routine that it can be ingrained into memory and turned into immediate instinct, sure, but floating from one place to the next still takes up about the same energy as walking with your legs. Flying up to reach something in the top shelf is about as taxing as jumping *really* hard. And soaring up into the sky, traversing continents like it was nothing? Well... it *really* isn't like nothing.
Besides all that, there's also some other issues that need to be taken care of. Flying around with seemingly no means to actually do it *may* look like complete and total defiance of the laws of physics, but they're very much still in effect. Set an object into motion, and it stays in motion. Try to stop it, and you need about as much force as it took to get it going. Those with flight obviously have the means to both start and stop, as having it any other way would just be silly. But stopping, much like starting, requires conscious, willful effort. And when you could potentially be going several miles an hour, weaving your way across obstacles, and trying to stop *just* before some obstacle that you just now realized was there, that can be... *problematic*. There have been plenty of times where they've become *really* absorbed into flying high and flying fast, then realizing that they were coming up into a brick wall or something, then trying to brake as hard as they could, only to find that their all just wasn't cutting it (maybe they've exhausted more energy than they thought), and they end up crashing into it, perhaps earning them a nasty bruise or two.
Hopefully, for the most part, all that is kept under wraps behind the scenes; only in-between episodes do they find the energy and enthusiasm to get to such a state.
Another issue arises in the form of just where and when exactly you can take to the skies. Of course, there isn't exactly any governing body, anyone pulling the strings up above, preventing them from going wherever they please. At least, there *probably* isn't. But there is one in the form of connections. Maybe you're tired of the same old plains and want to see someplace new, or maybe you wanna go as high as you can just to push yourself. All it takes is a few seconds of flight before you're somewhere entirely different, someplace you've never been to before. And if you aren't paying attention, it can be *very* easy to lose your way, to end up utterly lost in the vastness of the world.
Thankfully, there are ways to mitigate that. Despite the world being so desolate and empty, there's still enough major landmarks and things sticking out like sore thumbs that one can easily regain their bearings and figure out where they are, so long as they bothered to memorize where everything is. But still, the thought is *terrifying*. One moment, you could be zooming through the air without a care in the world, then in the very next, you become aware for a second and realize you have *absolutely* no idea where you are. The sky looks just about the same everywhere, and it can be *very* easy to lose track of direction and speed when you're *extremely* immersed in the thrill.
And in a world where friends are *apparently* extremely hard to come by, such a silly mistake like that is all it takes to rob *everything* from you.
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Lightning was free, wasn't he?
Even though he wasn't stuck inside some metal prison, Even though he wasn't tethered to his *friend* Cloudy, he was still anchored to the same few square miles as everyone else. He still found himself bound to Yoyle City. It felt like it'd already been so long since he was finally freed from the Tiny Loser Chamber after his great mistake, so long since the Battle for Dream Island stopped being a problem he had to worry about. So long since he'd been given the opportunity to leave all this foolishness behind and just... *exist* again. The world was his oyster. He could *fly*, for crying out loud.
