Well, first off on this post, this story has hit fifty reviews! Yay! The reviewer that made the record was… Zoe625! Congrats, Zoe625! I'm going to carry a tradition over from the Warriors realm, and give you a virtual plushie of Spark with Alant and Swift.

Thanks to all that have reviewed so far! But this plot is only just beginning…

The day after the birthday, everyone was quieter. Still happy, oh yes, but quieter, a bit more subdued. The surprise at the flaming furniture hadn't worn off yet.

Max glared at Dylan and Fang. I heard they fought last night. Over what, I'm not sure, but no one seemed to be physically hurt.

Dylan seemed to be hurt emotionally. He avoided Max's gaze almost shamefully. He reminded me of a wolf shying away from the Alpha who was mad at him. Dylan didn't like to stay in the same room as her, either, unusually.

I finally took pity on him an hour or two after noon. "Hey," I said, approaching him.

"Hi," he replied, looking up.

"Well, you know how you said last night that you couldn't fly?"

"Yeah," he responded, seeming a bit wary.

"Erm, I can teach you if you want," I said quickly, glancing down at my feet.

Dylan just stared at me. I thought he had forgotten how to talk until he got to his feet. "That'd be nice."

And so, we headed out the door to the back… not really yard, but behind the house. There was a nice big rock that would serve as a good place to start flying.

I climbed to the top of the rock, oddly enough getting on all fours to get up its steep surface. I straightened up and faced Dylan, who had remained at the bottom.

"Right," I started, "Flying. It's hard, it's takes a while to get good at it, but it's incredibly worth it. You feel so free while doing it…"

Dylan continued to watch attentively as I trailed off. I shook my head and continued. "Plus, it's good for survival and fighting, and looks beautiful." I extended my wings of a golden eagle. "So, Dylan. Are you ready to learn?"

He nodded eagerly. I showed him how to do a really big jump before extending wings for grace and power. He imitated me almost flawlessly.

We weren't quite flying yet, we were still working on good takeoffs, when Max poked her head outside and hollered, "Guys! Come in!" We had only been outside for half an hour- what could've happened?

Well, as it turns out, Dr. Martinez and Ella were standing by the door with packed bags. It dawned on me that they needed to get back to Arizona.

"Sorry, guys, for the sudden decision," Dr. Martinez apologized, "But I just got a call saying I needed to get back ASAP."

Ella seemed sad. She hugged all of us, and headed outside, not wanting to prolong this any longer. Total and Aikla came dashing down too. "We're going to go with them, too," said Total.

Angel was heartbroken. We were all quite, quite sad, and didn't want to drag this out, so we parted ways quickly.

Everyone ended up quieter after they left. Jeb came into the room, and smiled. "This is just like old times, right?"

Max glowered at him. I remembered that she had told be that he had left them a few years ago randomly, and scared the feathers off of them before showing up a bad guy again. I didn't have any personal relation with this, so I simply ignored it.

Jeb trailed off, not smiling anymore, and I decided to break the tension by turning to Dylan again. "Shall I continue the flying lesson?"

He nodded. "Yes please."

We ended up attracting an audience, actually, that consisted of Angel, Nudge, and Jeb. I climbed onto my big rock again and faced Dylan once more. "Right. Now that we're back, let's try that last takeoff again, shall we?"

Dylan complied, climbing onto the rock with me and leaping off, mostly high but out a bit so he wouldn't land on me. His wings whooshed open quickly, and he landed neatly on the ground, dust puffing up around his feet.

I smiled in approval, and climbed down. "Okay, do that again, but flap your wings at the top of your jump, okay?"

His eyes glinted in surprise. "Wait- this means I'll be flying, right?"

I laughed, then touched his shoulder. "Yup. Just try your best, and remember how to land on your feet, and you'll be fine. Don't go too high, though."

Dylan nodded enthusiastically, and clambered to the top of the gray rock. He took a deep breath and tensed to spring. I also tensed my muscles, readying myself to transform and catch him if he got too high and fell. Dylan was tall, as tall as Iggy and Fang, which meant a little over six feet. He was also more muscly than either of them, at least showing. I think this came from more food than normal.

Now, I am a little over five feet tall, skinny enough to be considered scrawny, and not the strongest. I make up for my lack of strength with speed. All the speed in the world would not catch Dylan if he plummets. The only way to do that would to shape-shift into something bigger. I would have wings to fly with and blue eyes no matter what shape I took. They ruined any perfect disguise I could do.

Dylan's leap scattered a few small pebbles from the top of the rock and broke into my thoughts. I snapped my head up, watching his aerial arc. Just at the height of the jump, his wings snapped open with a loud whoosh, like the last time. He pushed down with them, hard enough for me to really feel the wind they generated.

And Dylan was truly flying.

He continued flapping, climbing higher and higher into the sky. I grinned and leaped up to join him.

Unfortunately, he was climbing higher and higher, not figuring out how to swoop and turn and vie like a bird. That would come. Right now, he just needed practice.

I flew over him and guided him so that he was able to come downwards. I was a bit worried, seeing as landings were more dangerous and harder to do than take-offs. I yelled, "Just watch what I do and follow," before swooping down gently and landing gracefully on my feet.

I turned in time to see Dylan flap, not as elegantly as me, downwards, towards the ground. He was imitating me a little too closely, because he almost landed on me. I fell out of harm's way in time to see him come to a running halt- almost, but not quite close enough to land on me.

I felt foolish for overreacting, and was starting to rise when a hand extended into my sight. I followed the hand up, and saw Dylan reaching down. I took the hand and got up, feeling self-conscious.

Applause reached my ears. Angel, Nudge, and Jeb were all applauding Dylan for flying. I smiled at him and he grinned back.

Max poked her head out of the house and yelled, (I'm feeling a bit of déjà vu here…) "Guys, Fang and I are going out for a flight! We'll be back in a bit!"

With that, she and Fang leaped out the door and took off, effortless as a hawk. We watched them go, then Jeb stood up and said, "We might as well go inside, then." We all agreed, and we walked in on Gazzy and Iggy doing something… From what I could see, it was using some of the shredded clothes, an alarm clock, and some cooking oil. Uh-oh.

Jeb snapped, "Put it away," and amazingly, they did as he asked.

We ended up sitting in the living room, me by the window that showed the back not-yard. We chatted happily for a few minutes, when, Angel, who was sitting beside me, suddenly stiffened. I turned to her and asked questioningly, "What is it?"

Her eyes were wide with fear as she looked at me and whispered, "Erasers. They're coming. I don't know why, or how, but they are."

…Um…. I didn't see any trouble from the pink pencil toppers… Apparently, everyone except Dylan and me did. Nudge squealed in shock, and Iggy froze. Jeb shouted, "What?! They're all supposed to be dead!"

I raised my hand above the squabble, asking, "Uh, what's the danger from an eraser? I don't see what they can do, unless they can erase us to death…"

Gazzy looked at me and moaned slightly. "Not that kind of eraser. This kind of Eraser is a wolf-human hybrid. They're very bad news!"

Oh. That explained a lot.

I jumped up and headed for the kitchen right by the living room. Oddly enough, everyone followed. "What're you doing?" asked Nudge curiously, watching me dig through a draw.

I produced a few large knives. "Would these help?" I inquired.

Jeb picked one up. "A bit, though I think it'd be better to hide these. We can fight without them, and we don't want the Erasers to get them."

So we hid them. I cocked my ears to the side, tail flicking. I heard at the very edge of my hearing a slight flapping sound. It was heavier than any of the flock, or the M-Geeks we had encountered before.

Erasers. So apparently they can fly, too.

I spun around to warn everyone, and instead saw Dylan looking very scared. I ducked down beside him. "What's wrong?"

He looked at me sadly. "I don't know how to fight."

I blinked in surprise, and pulled him up from his sitting position. "Then I'll make sure you're safe," I promised. He gave me a half-smile, and I led him over to the rest of the group.

"So, how do we fight these Erasers? Just normal street fight or what?" I asked.

Iggy was about to reply when suddenly, all of heck broke loose in the form of somethings shattering the window glass and coming into the house. They roared, and launched themselves at us.

Oh joy.