A bright light, swirling 'round: it consumed all that was in sight. It is a fire: the fire of life. It has a warming touch; doesn't burn, simply strengthens. Rising up and flowing out. Bringing with it chaos and order alike, for how would one know it existed without the other? The chaos burning and destroying; the order calming and creating. But where is the one to whom the fire obeys? The one to whom is granted the ability to not only control the burning hatred, but also the calming warmth. A light that burns the eyes and yet calms the soul is seen, surrounding and engulfing. What is this light, this all consuming flame? Then he understands. It is the fires of birth, from which all things are created, and all things destroyed. Breathing the flames, there is no need for air: the fire itself sustains the life of those it chooses.
*~*~*~*
Abadon blinked and focused on what was around him. It should have been difficult to see, for the day had long ago turned to night, but his vision was clearer than. He was lying on the ground, dead leaves scattered around him and cool cracked dirt underneath his head. It felt good. He tried to remember what the circumstances were that led up to him being there. How did he come to be on the ground? The last thing he knew, he had been fighting that crazy umbreon. Oh my gosh! How am I still alive after what happened.
Abadon tried to sit up faster than he should have and soon regretted it when he began to black out once more.
"Easy," came a soothing voice next to him. He felt a warm hand on his forehead. "That's good. Your fever has gone down. Before I barely touch you without getting burned."
"Erin, is that you?" asked Abadon once he was able to see clearly again. He turned his head and saw her smiling face looking at him with pride. She seemed slightly smaller than before.
"You saved my life. You were extremely brave. Thank you."
"How am I still alive? I thought for sure that I would have died."
"Sit up and you'll see. Slowly," Erin added when Abadon began to sit up too fast again. "There you go."
Something was wrong. Everything looked different. It wasn't the land or the trees; it was to way that Abadon perceived it. The ground was much farther down than it should have been. Maybe he really was dead. "What happened?" he asked, worried. "What's wrong?" He glanced at Erin, who was also farther down than she should have been.
"Nothing's wrong, look behind you."
He did as he was told and gasped. Abadon was sure that his heart had stopped beating, and that if he wasn't dead already, he certainly was now. He looked back at Erin. "I… have wings."
Erin smiled and nodded.
"That means I… evolved?"
"Yes!" Erin almost squealed as she leaned over and hugged the new charizard with pride. "You risked your life to save mine, and in return you evolved!"
Abadon was stunned. He attempted to speak a number of times, but words never escaped his mouth. That was when he noticed the umbreon laying a few feet away on the other side of Erin. "What is she doing there?" he asked sullenly.
"The umbreon? I couldn't just let her die, could I?"
"I would have! Erin, she tried to kill you, and you save her life? Why?"
Erin watched the umbreon with sorrow. "She was blinded by her anger. Didn't you hear her? She kept yelling about how us humans have destroyed the land. Now, while she may be right about that, we didn't mean for it to turn out that way. I certainly haven't gone out and killed a whole forest." She returned her gaze to Abadon. "She was simply taking too drastic of measures. What she didn't realize was that, by killing humans, she would have been no better off than the humans who killed pokemon. It wouldn't have changed anything. I kind of wish she would come with us."
Abadon's anger had quieted, and he was beginning to feel stronger. He tried to stand up. "Not now," said Erin. "You can get up tomorrow, but for now you need to stay in bed. Look," she added, pointing to his back. "Your beautiful stripes have become larger."
She was right. The black stripes that graced the Char's back had grown with him. Now they made their way up his neck and crisscrossed around his eyes and snout, also reaching up with his wings. His eyes dropped. "I wish they hadn't."
"What? Why? They're beautiful. They make you unique and stand out. The thing I always feared most was that I would always be part of the crowd. I hated being normal and continuously thought up things to do at the academy that would make me different. I wasn't seeking attention; I simply didn't want to be like everybody else. That would have been boring. It was mainly just that I didn't dress how everyone else did or acted how the so-called 'in crowd' did."
Abadon glanced away. "Everyone always told me that the stripes were some kind of mutation and I wasn't fit to be around any of them. That's why I trained so hard, so I could show them that I wasn't any different from them. Funny thing was, that by doing that, I showed them even more that I was different. I had a natural talent for fighting and battling and soon surpassed everybody my age. I even evolved prematurely. Everyone was nervous to be around me. So," Abadon said with a shrug. "I left. I started traveling around to become even stronger. Not too long after that I met you," he said, looking at Erin. He glanced past her to see the umbreon awake and watching the two intently with her shifty red eyes.
Erin turned her head to see what Abadon was looking at. "Oh good, you're awake! …How long have you been up?" she said cautiously.
"Long enough," the umbreon replied with a voice much calmer and controlled than their earlier encounter. "Tell me," she asked. "Where are you from, trainer?"
"I'm from Cinnibar Island in the country of Kanto. And I'm not a trainer, I was expelled from my school."
The umbreon eyed her coolly. "Island of Fire; how fitting you travel with a Char. Why were you expelled?"
Erin told her the reason she was expelled and the events leading up until she met Abadon. He affirmed everything and added in a few comments himself. "But now I want to know your name," said Erin.
The umbreon looked mildly surprised. "You ask the name of a Pokemon? All others call them by their species, as if they are worthless." She was silent for a moment and then spoke again. "Chasm. That is all. It means void, darkness, destruction, and rift. Fitting, don't you agree?" She asked that question not expecting a reply.
"I think it's a beautiful name," said Erin, replying anyway. "And yes, it does fit."
Out of nowhere, Chasm made a most unusual request. "Tell me your thoughts on pokemon training."
"What?" asked Erin, rather confused.
"Come, you seem a bright child. Prove to me that you are capable as a trustworthy human and answer me."
Erin thought for a while. She believed that this question alone would be the deciding point in earning the trust of the umbreon. What did she believe pokemon training should be about? Is that what her question meant? "Well," she began. "So many trainers look up to Ketchum, who was the youngest Master ever. As a result, they copy his tactics and try and do everything just like he did, thinking that following his lifestyle will make them great as well."
"Where is this leading?" Chasm said sharply.
"I'm getting there, let me finish. The thing is, Ketchum found a thing that worked for him. All people seem to do anymore is follow the rules and regulations of the trainers who were great. But they shouldn't. The ones who were great were only great because they invented new training methods that worked around each of their pokemon. They didn't follow someone else. They may have looked up to someone, but they didn't follow them. And what's more, they worked together with their pokemon; they didn't treat them as a lesser being. This is what I believe Pokemon training should be."
Chasm looked up at the sky that was becoming brighter, her red eyes gleaming. "You are wise beyond your years Erin of Cinnibar. This will be an interesting experience."
"What? You're coming?"
"Of course. I attacked you and yet you healed me. There seem to be many ideas and thoughts in this world that I am not familiar with. This will be a way to discover them."
"No!" Erin was surprised at Abadon's outburst. "No Erin! She tried to kill you yesterday, and now you're letting her come with us? Why?"
"I don't think that she'll try and hurt us again. We can trust her."
"Fine, but I'm keeping an eye on her," Abadon growled reluctantly.
Chasm pulled herself up and stretched. "Well, a new day has dawned. I may be wrong, but isn't this the time of the sun's cycle that your kind travels? Yes? Then we had better be off."