A/N: Hello my readers, and welcome to the seventeenth installment of 'Wings of Flame'. Thank you to those who have stayed with me this long. Thank you for reviewing; your comments really do make a difference. One person's reply made me rethink the pace of my story and I stretched it out a bit and added more of a plot, so don't be afraid to add critiques as well. As some of you have said, the last chapter was mainly a filler, but I needed it to get to this chapter, so it's all good. This chapter is kind of heavy in one part, and things might stay sort of heavy for a while, but they will get better! There will also be some language in this chapter, but the words are covered up by censor tape that looks like this: [censored]. Some language I don't mind putting in my stories, but then there are times where 'crap' is just too light, but I don't actually want to write down the other words. That's where censor tape comes in handy. All right now, carry on.

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Erin awoke in the woods in the early morning, ready to begin her day. She stretched her arms wide to relieve the night's fatigue and yawned deeply as she regained consciousness. Abadon stirred and awoke as well. Chasm, as usual, was already alert and fed.

"Congratulations," the umbreon said, though there was no joy in her words. Erin raised an eyebrow in question. "This is the seventeenth anniversary of the day of your birth, is it not? That is what you told us four days ago."

Erin's face broke into a smile that, had there been any other humans around, would have been contagious. "You're right!" she said happily as she stood up and began to get her things together. "I'm seventeen today! We should celebrate. When we get to the city we'll…" Here she trailed off, thinking. "Well, I can't think of anything now, but we'll do something special. Maybe I'll buy us cake."

Had Erin been in the same predicament that she was when she left her school, she birthday would have been quite lonely. As it were, she had made good friends since then and this day was a joyous one.

The group finished packing and set off once more, headed toward the city. Erin led the way and Abadon and Chasm followed close behind. Still looking forward, to make sure Erin did not catch him, Abadon bent his head lower and whispered to Chasm.

"Why is a birthday so special?"

She shrugged, obviously indifferent about the whole subject. "There are many things about the humans that I don't comprehend. It makes no difference to me whether it makes her happy or not, that it doesn't," she whispered back.

"As long as we get cake, I think I like birthdays too."

Chasm sighed.

"Whoa!" cried Erin suddenly, jumping back in surprise and almost back-stepping into the others. Abadon and Chasm both dashed up beside her for protection, but as it turned out, there was no need for it. What had startled Erin was a pair of tiny pokemon that had scampered in front of her quickly, startling the human. They were playing with each other and didn't seem to care about their watchers' existence. "I've never seen those pokemon; I wonder what they are!" she said, gently taking the pokedex out of one of the pockets in her pants so as not to startled the pokemon. They were small, yellow, and almost identical, except one had orange markings on its ears and tail, and the other had blue. "They're so small, I bet they don't even come up to my knees," Erin stated while opening up the device and turning it on. "They almost look like tiny pikachu; how odd."

As with the others, a holographic image of the pokemon in front of them appeared above the pokedex. "Plusle and Minun. Rarely seen apart, as the negative and positive charges that their bodies create balance out the other. No further information."

"No more information?" said Erin. "That's odd. Maybe they're newly discovered pokemon, and the professor didn't know anything else about them to download into the 'dex." She then bent down too observe the two as they continued to play with each other. "Makes sense, I guess, because we've never studied those in school." Then the plusle and the minun ran off and were out of sight to quickly to observe further. Erin sighed out of disappointment because the opportunity was over, but was elated that she had been able to see them at all. "I wonder why they look so much like the pichu evolutions," she said to herself.

Though the question was rhetorical, Chasm had never been too good at staying out of the personal life of others. "I believe it is the pichu's way of "keeping up with the times", if I may use a human expression. They have had to change themselves in order to survive. They are not still pichu, but something else entirely."

Erin glanced back at the umbreon but soon watched the ground before her again. Sometimes the insight that that pokemon had was unnerving. Oh well, it still seemed like a fairly accurate assumption. Maybe she would ask Chronal about it sometime.

The group continued to walk for some time, and most of it was taken in silence. They made conversation here and there, but it was never prolonged. Eventually, they came upon the base of the Old City. The first city that Erin and Abadon had entered was not the only city with an ancient outer rim full of rundown buildings and shops; in fact, most cities had them, and this one was no exception. If anything, it was more depressing than the last. The very sky above them seemed to darken to play up the mood and Erin knew that if there was ever a time that the three needed to be silent, it was now. The journey through this part of the town would be the roughest, and Erin wanted no trouble.

The complete outer layer of the Old City was nothing more than ruins and rubble. There were no longer any buildings of any kind to speak of. It appeared as if a bomb had been dropped and leveled everything within a two-mile radius. To cross and get to the other side, the group had to climb over large boulders and scale areas of fallen walls. As they explored the easiest route over the debris, they began to travel farther and farther from each other. Soon, Erin looked up and couldn't spot either of her pokemon companions. Chasm she could understand, because she was so small that any hill would conceal her body, but Erin couldn't even spot Abadon. She looked forward, sighed, and began to trek forward once more. They would all find her eventually…

"Hello there."

Erin spun around quickly, almost tripping over a loose stone in her surprise. She had just passed a large concrete wall that had only half-fallen and was now leaning at a diagonal angle. Behind this wall stood a kid who looked only a few years older than Erin herself. He had dusty blonde hair and at first glance, a welcoming and friendly nature. Then he began to walk toward her and his smile twisted into a grimace. He did not seem so friendly any more.

"Little girls shouldn't walk through dangerous parts of the city by themselves; they might get hurt. Here," he said, stretching out his hand, "let me help you." The kid didn't appear completely coherent and stumbled in the wreckage beneath his feet. Erin noted that he was probably high on some form of drug and wouldn't remember this encounter at all in a few hours. That still didn't excuse his behavior.

"No thanks," she replied, turning back around to leave.

"Now, that's not a very nice way to treat my friend after he's offered to help you."

Erin halted her steps. Without her knowledge another person, this time a man a few years older than the other, had blocked her path from the front while she had been talking with the blonde haired boy.

"I really think you should be taught a lesson in manners." He began to walk toward her as well.

Erin stepped back into a defensive stance and the second man, whose hair was shaved close to his head, only snickered. He reached for her face and she batted his hand away and swiftly punched him in the jaw. He was not expecting that and stumbled backward while holding the side of his face where he had been hit. He looked at Erin angrily and moved his hand toward his pocket. Erin's eyes widened and panic shot through her body. Was he reaching for a gun!?!

What the man pulled out of his pocket calmed her heart but spiked her interest: a pokeball. Then she heard a sickening crack from behind her. She had forgotten about the blonde boy! Turning swiftly, she saw there was no need for alarm. The boy had lost touch with what meager reality he had held onto and had fallen, hitting his head on a rock. There was blood and no movement. "Oh my god…" Erin said, rotating her head back to look at her other opponent.

The man with the pokeball was looking at the boy he had referred to as his friend. "Stupid [censored]." He looked back at Erin and she could see there was no compassion in his eyes, only anger. "You're going down," he said to her, throwing the pokeball. "You may be able to hit me, but pokemon are born to fight, and you can't defend yourself against them!" In front of him appeared a poochynea. It was already growling as the dim glow from the red laser disappeared. "Poochynea!" he called, pointing at Erin, "Attack! Use Bite!"

The pokemon needed no more encouragement as it dashed toward Erin with bloodlust in its eyes. The man was right though; once it attacked, Erin would not be able to defend herself. It lunged and Erin tried to run but lost her footing in the rubble and almost fell, but caught herself at the last moment. In a split second she glanced up to see the face of an airborne poochynea directly in front of her eyes. It was foaming at the mouth and only had one thing on its mind: kill. She knew she was doomed, but then it was gone. Suddenly her view was clear, but her ears heard everything, and Erin glanced down toward her right to see her opponent's poochynea picking itself up off the ground after a hard body slam at top speed from an exceptionally angry umbreon.

Chasm had heard the commotion and followed her sharp hearing to the source, only to see a group of people gang up on the one human who had ever shown her kindness. There were a number of people waiting behind the wreckage in this part of the city watching Erin and her conversation with the two punks. They were simply waiting for a signal to make themselves known. As if that weren't enough, Chasm then saw a man reveal a pokemon only to have him attack Erin. That was not the least bit noble, and at the moment the only thing on her mind was the death of this pokemon.

Erin watched on in awe and slight fear. She knew Chasm was strong, and at the moment she could tell that the umbreon was rigid with anger, which would boost her dark type attacks, but there was something wrong with the poochynea. Erin had learned at the academy that poochynea would attack most any opponent that was their size or smaller to get in the first strikes, but if their adversary began to fight back, the dark type mutt would be the first to back off. This one did no such thing. It didn't appear as if it was quite right in it's mind either. As it watched Chasm and braced itself for an attack, its whole body twitched, and the foam in its mouth continued to stream. This pokemon had rabies, and it's trainer not only refused to take it to a Pokecenter, but also still continued to use it in battle! That was unthinkable!

Erin's opponent must have decided that now was a good time to call out his companions, for he created a loud whistle that pierced the air, and about ten other people, both men and women who were all about his age, made themselves known. He didn't know where the umbreon had come from, but he was determined that neither it nor Erin would leave that day alive. Each member of his gang had a pokemon of his or her own, most of which had also become demented in one way or another. And all at once, they released their pokemon. There was a vibrava, who Erin knew could flap their wings fast enough to cause supersonic vibrations. There was also a misdreavus, which were good for nothing more than playing practical jokes. There were a number of other pokemon, and Erin knew facts about each one, but facts would not help her once they attacked.

Suddenly, Chasm was beside her once again. The umbreon was seething with anger and had blood on her paws and snout. Erin stole a glance in the direction of the pokemon's former battle and quickly looked away. It was not a pretty sight.

The poochynea's owner had seen the outcome as well. "Why you little [censored]! I'm gonna' rip you apart! Attack!" This order seemed to be for the other pokemon that had recently appeared, because they dashed forward as one.

Chasm dove for another as a pillar of fire exploded from the sky, encompassing one pokemon and causing the others to falter. Abadon appeared beside her, nearly as angry as Chasm, as stood in front of Erin so as to protect her. The pokemon attacked and Abadon countered. He used his claws, teeth, flamed tail, and scorching fire that came from the pit of his stomach as weapons. At one point, there were three smaller pokemon bounding up the wreckage in front of him.

"Rushing Magma!" screamed Erin.

In reply, the Char opened his mouth as wide as was possible and appeared to puke all over his attackers. Of course, it was scalding lava instead of his breakfast, but that doesn't take away from the thought. Two of the three pokemon were wounded, possibly mortally so. Erin knew that eventually, one of her friends, if not herself, would be harmed, and she did not want that to happen. She noted the position of most of the enemy and decided that if she was going to do something that now was as good a time as any. She reached into her pocket and brought out Celeste's pokeball. Erin pointed the ball into the air and released before covering her head and screaming at her companions to 'think fast'.

Celeste appeared overhead and proceeded to fall downward, as is what usually happens when gravity decides to be present. She ended up landing on top of most of the rest of the attacking pokemon, and one or two humans as well, though that was unintentional. She seemed slightly shocked to be called out of the pokeball, only to land on sharp rocks rather than in an ocean, and glanced around for a moment while the other gang members overcame their shock. Erin reached for the pokeball once more to retract the milotic now that her job had been completed and stretched out her hand. As she did this, as searing pain swept through Erin's right arm and she was knocked down to the ground.

Chasm came to the rescue and tore a linoose from Erin's arm. Though a linoose's teeth aren't long, they are sharp and are capable of drawing blood. Erin cried out in pain and held her right arm to her chest as she reached with her left for the dropped pokeball. She climbed to her feet and retracted Celeste while running for Abadon. "Chasm!" she called, beckoning for the umbreon to join her.

Abadon bent lower as Erin climbed haphazardly onto his neck. Chasm jumped into Erin's lap and within three beats of his mighty wings, the Char was airborne and darting away from the commotion. In a matter of seconds the group was out of sight of the dangerous street gang and in less that a minute they were on the border of the New City.

"You can put us down here, Abadon," said Erin, clasping her bleeding arm with her whole one.

The Char did as she said and Chasm was on the ground even before Erin could begin to climb off. Erin ripped off her backpack and searched through it for the emergency First Aid kit that Professor Chronal had insisted she bring with her. Now, Erin had never actually had the need to bandage a bleeding arm before, so she wasn't quite sure what she was supposed to do, but she did the best she could. The best she could being: dumping a forth of a bottle of disinfectant over her arm, squeezing some sort of healing gel onto it, then wrapping it in medical tape, all in a short amount of time. It didn't look too pretty, but it got the job done. Once her arm was tightly wrapped, Erin could finally sit back and breathe to let her heart settle down and slow its beat.

"That was close," she said.

"You're telling me," said Abadon. "If I hadn't heard that guy cussing so loud, I-"

"No, I mean, that was real close. We could have died tonight, Abadon. We were lucky." She glanced at Chasm, who was at the moment licking a cut on her shoulder to cleanse it. "Here, let me get that," Erin said, reaching for the umbreon with the rag she had used to quickly wipe away any blood from her arm. Surprisingly, Chasm let Erin help her. Erin cleaned her few cuts and wiped the blood from her small black form: blood that was not her own. After that, Erin checked out Abadon in the same way.

"Why don't we just find a Pokecenter?" asked the Char.

"Pokecenters are evil," Erin replied. "We don't go to Pokecenters anymore. No good can come from them." She said this in a lighthearted mood, because the last, and only, two centers that the group had visited ended in disaster. When she was done Erin put away her supplies, put on her backpack, stuffed her hands into her pockets, and walked down the sidewalk toward the center of the city. "All right, now let's see what there is to do in this town…"

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A/N: I hope this wasn't too intense for you guys, but the main part of my plot (the part that's been gurgling in my brain for the longest and will give more background on some things) will come in the next few chapters. I had actually planned for it to start during this chapter, but the fight went longer than I expected. And please tell me if you think anything should be changed/ made better/ totally redone/ etc. because I promise I pay attention.

Thank you and hopefully the next update will come sooner!

Also, I have another story that I have started, if you would be so kind to go check it out and review there as well. It's called Death and Rebirth, and is a digimon fic. It's off to a shaky start, but then again most stories start off shaky, so it's all good. If you would read this I would really appreciate it.

AND! The next update will also come with a picture. Whoot!