Yes, I know I haven't touched on what the letter says yet, but that's what happens this chapter.

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"No!" The scream cut across the fields to where a woman was picking wild flowers. She straightened, only to hear the scream again. She dropped the flowers and took off running.

"Lue!" she cried as she held her skirt up to run faster. Her feet carried her over a small hill and she cried out when she saw the sight before her. The village seemed to be on fire, and an army was around the village's protector, a huge pokemon that even in pain had a majestic air to it.

She raced down to the village and pushed her way through the soldiers, who were too surprised by her appearance to stop her. "Lue!" She threw herself over the pokemon as a general drove a knife down. Her eyes closed as the pain became unbearable. "Save yourself and live to repay your debt," she told the pokemon with her last breath.

Chira struggled to wake up in the morning. She slowly pushed herself up and moaned. Cami didn't even make her usual wry comment on Chira's inexperience at sleeping under the stars. Chira held her head as pain sliced through it. "Ooh," she moaned. "What a night."

"You didn't sleep well at all, did you?" Insight asked. "You kept waking up in the night, crying out."

"Did I," she winced. "Keep you up?"

"We both got enough sleep," Cami told her. "What I'm worried about is if you're fit to travel after last night."

"I'll be fine," Chira told them, standing up and trying to hide the discomfort she was in. "But I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to. Let's leave now and stop for breakfast later."

They ended up riding until almost noon, when Insight made them stop for some food. "We can't keep this up without some sustenance," she said very matter-of-factly.

"Okay," Chira said. "We can stop."

They ate and continued on, the closer they got to Indigo Plateau, the more people they encountered. Chira grew nervous with the amount of people that stared at her as they rode past. Insight grew nervous from the amount of battles that were going on. Chira finally couldn't stand it anymore and urged Cami to go fast, training fast. They broke into a full out gallop, Cami doing a commendable job of dodging all the travelers.

When they stopped for supper, Cami overheard two people talking about the challengers who would be participating in the first rounds the next day. She sighed and put her food away, her appetite gone. Cami nudged her.

"You are going to need your strength when we get there," she said.

"I know," Chira sighed. "But I'm really getting nervous the closer we get to Indigo." She pulled out the letter and stared at it. I have to read it sometime. Might as well be before I start asking everyone if they knew my birth parents. She carefully opened the letter and began reading, pausing on words often as the handwriting was hard to make out.

Please take care of this child as your own. Her parents have been killed, and she is in need of a home. They are the ones in the picture. Her name is Chira, and she must not leave you until she has reached her sixteenth birthday. I ask you from the bottom of my heart to accept her and treat her well. I have watched you and know you are the right ones to accept this task. One day, you will understand why she must not remain with any of her relations. Thank-you, and good luck.

Chira blinked back tears. Her birth parents had been killed. No wonder her parents hadn't let her go on her pokemon journey before now. And this letter, who had written it? Who was this mystery person who had given her to the best parents a girl could have. And why wasn't she supposed to leave them until she turned sixteen? Chira wiped her hand across her eyes. Cami nudged Chira lovingly, and Insight crawled into her lap. Chira managed to smile through her tears.

"No matter what happens, I'll always have you guys, right?" They nodded and she hugged them. She folded up the letter and placed it back in her bag after reading it to them. "Come on, we still have a lot of ground to cover before nightfall."

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Okay, so the letter isn't all that great, but the reason for that will be revealed in a later chapter. (Combine that with the fact that I had no idea what to write for it and, well, you get the picture)