Chapter 1: Flip the World

(Dusk's POV)

"Dusk, wake up," my mother's voice called back to the sleeping area where my siblings and I slept.

They had gotten up hours ago, and I had remained where I was. I had been awake for at least that long, pondering and thinking. There wasn't much else to do in our clan, at least not at my age.

"Dusk!" she shouted, sounding more snappish. "Don't make me come back there, mister. Get up, now!"

I sighed heavily, my breath rustling from my lungs. "I'll be right there, Mom," I yelled back. "Just let me get cleaned up." I said the last two words with distaste dripping from my tone. I hated it when my mother got like that; she's so easily worked up and had no patience.

I pushed myself off of the bed, my joints stiff from lying still for so long. I shook out my fur, then walked over to the water basin in the corner of the bedroom. I dipped my paws in and splashed the lukewarm water over my face before examining my reflection. I was an Eevee, just like all my siblings. My brown fur was always smooth and my tan collar was also immaculately devoid of ruffles. My pointed ears were always more rounded than other Eevee's, and my tail had a patch of silver fur on the tip. Other than that, I was your average four year old Eevee, at least in appearance.

I shrugged, knowing I wasn't going to be able to delay the inevitable any longer, and walked out of the bedroom towards the kitchen. Our cave was simple, four rooms interconnected at a single point in the center, and it was easy to navigate.

As I walked into the kitchen, my mother apparently lost patience again, thinking I was still in my room. "DUSK!" she screamed venomously.

"Yes?" I said nonchalantly as I fully entered the room, stepping lightly across the stone floor.

She jumped for the ceiling when I spoke directly behind her. She whirled around, nearly upturning the table my father had stolen from a human dwelling almost two years ago. "Dusk, you need to stop doing that!" she snarled shakily, ruffling out her fluffy yellow and red fur. She was a Flareon, which might have explained why she was so easy to annoy.

"Stop what?" I asked with false politeness, simply trying to get another rise out of her. "Sneaking up on you, or sleeping in until…" I glanced towards the mouth of the cave, trying to judge the time from the amount of light. "…noon?"

She growled in frustration, jabbing her paw at the stolen clock that sat upon the stolen side table. Basically every human made thing we owned is stolen, just like it was with the rest of our clan. We would steal from humans for whatever we couldn't get from the wild, and the clan often got a large load with every raid. I squinted at the numbers on the face of the clock, using my basic understanding of human numerics to read it. "Oh. Ok, until two o'clock."

"Do you have any concept of how late that is?!" my mother growled furiously, her fur bristling.

I groaned mentally. "Yes mom, I'm sorry," I said in a honeyed voice, trying to get her off my back. "I didn't sleep well last night, and I slept in later than I should have."

My mother's face softened and her fur flattened instantly at my declaration. "I see…" she murmured worriedly. "Do you know why?"

"These weird nightmares," I muttered. "I just kept having the same nightmare keep popping into my head."

The nightmares were no excuse. They had been real, but I had slept through them. They were about the clan being destroyed by humans and Pokemon that they commanded. It wasn't an unusual nightmare, but I at the time, I couldn't shake the feeling of dread. An ironically fortunate problem, as it was.

"Well, I suppose I can forgive you for sleeping in so long," she sighed, glancing around the kitchen. "You're too late for breakfast, and your siblings have all gone off to play. Do you want me to fix you something?"

I shrugged. "I was going to take a walk and grab some berries while I was out," I told her, hopping down from my seat at the table. "Thanks for offering though." I made my way to the mouth of the cave, ready to get some food and exercise.

"When will you be back?" my mom called to me.

"By nightfall," I yelled back without turning around, then I raced off into the outside world.

The bright afternoon sunlight was blinding after being in the dim light of the cave for so long. I squinted and screwed up my face, trying to see where I was going. I veered crazily left and right, rushing past the multicolored blurs that were the other Eons in the clan. After a few seconds of this, my eyesight started to clear, and I pushed myself to a dead sprint towards the berry patch that was outside the clearing near our caves.

As I ran into the woods, I jumped up onto a branch of the nearest tree and started hopping from branch to branch. I was bored at the time, so I just did it for the hell of it. After a while, the trees started to thin, so I dropped down and walked into the small clearing where the berry patch stood. I trotted over the largest patch of berries, and bit a one off, not really caring what kind it was. I chewed absentmindedly, my thoughts drifting to why I had come out here.

In our clan, Eons weren't accepted as adults until they reached five years of age, whether they were evolved or not. The only problem was, we generally reached the age where playing and light sparring lost its enjoyment when we were around three. That left a two year gap in which we were restricted from doing things we were interested in by clan laws, and where we had nothing enjoyable that we could do. It was a paradox, and so many Eons in my age group got so frustrated with being restrained that they ran away or killed themselves.

I shook my head in disgust at how stupid the age laws were. Fortunately, my father was the clan leader, and since I was his eldest kit, I was next in line to become the clan leader. Hopefully, I'd be able to change that law when I took power, and maybe save a few lives in the process.

I was so consumed in debating what I was going to do once I was clan leader that I didn't notice where I had been walking. When I finally started paying attention again, I noticed that I was in an area that I didn't recognize. A vast plain stretched outwards towards the horizon, and a stone cliff stood off to one side, with a cave drilled into the rock face. "Strange…" I murmured, trotting gingerly forward. "I've never seen a place like this in the clan grounds before."

"Hey you!" a booming voice called out to me from my immediate right. "Halt! Where are you going?"

I jumped upon hearing the shout, turning to face the one who had shouted. A muscular Umbreon strode towards me. His golden rings flashed through his black pelt, and his blood red eyes stared sternly out from his face. By his voice and general build, I began to recognize who he was, vaguely. "Apocalypse, right?" I asked, unsure of his name.

"Don't change the subject, kid," he growled. "I asked where you were headed."

Great, a restricted area. Now I've got to think up some lie. "I'm headed to that cave over there," I shot back, puffing out my chest with confidence. "My father asked me to deliver the one living there a message."

The Umbreon cocked his head to the side quizzically. "Who approved this?" he asked.

"My father Nero is the clan leader," I told him, letting an inflection of menace invade my tone.

The guard recoiled backwards out of complete shock, recognizing me for the first time. "Dusk?!" he yelped, then he started to become apologetic. "I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you. If your father approved it, then go ahead."

I chuckled darkly. "Gee, thanks." I cast my gaze back to the cave. "Remind me who lives there, if you don't mind. And I asked you your name earlier."

"You were right, I'm Apocalypse," he told me meekly. "And the one who lives there is an Eevee named Solace, the Traitor."

I whipped my head around, staring wide-eyed at him. "No way, not the kit of Rai and Kami?"

He nodded sadly. "The very same, that's why it was such a shock to the whole clan. Both of them are members of our High Council, so nobody expected her to do what she did."

I turned myself back to the cave. "I sure didn't," I whispered softly. "Holy crap. What did she do?"

Apocalypse shrugged. "Ask her yourself. You used to be friends with her, right?" he asked.

I nodded slowly. "A long time ago. I hope she still remembers me."

"Good luck with whatever you'll be discussing," he said, slapping a paw on my back. "How long do you think you'll be?"

I shrugged. "Who knows? With her stubbornness, I could be there all day."

Apocalypse laughed and walked away, grumbling about how boring guard duty normally was.

I sighed and strode forward to stand near the mouth of the cave. Butterflies kept floating in my stomach, not surprising, considering that I was nervous. I haven't seen her in two years, much less spoken to her. How will she react? Will she remember me? I shook those thoughts from my head. "What's gonna happen will," I said softly, then I stepped in front of the mouth of the cave.

"Solace?" I called into the cave.

"Dusk?" a quiet response came back. "Is that you?"

I blinked in surprise, not expecting her to remember me. "Yeah, it's me," I called back. "Can I come in?"

"You have to ask?" she said, more loudly this time.

I waited for more, but I was confused when nothing more came. "Why wouldn't I ask?"

"Just get in here," she growled back. I was taken aback by this, but I strode into the cave anyway.

It was small, much smaller than my own cave. There was only one dimly lit room, and it was barely furnished at all. I noticed Solace sitting on one of only two cushions in the room, and she raised her head off of it to meet my gaze. She looked almost exactly like what I remembered, her coat was several shades lighter than a normal Eevee's, and her tail had a silver patch near the end like mine did. The one thing that had changed was her eyes. Their fire was gone, replaced by a black emptiness that seemed to extend throughout her soul. She looked so desolate and forlorn, I almost became scared at how much impact that gaze carried.

"Alright, sit down," she ordered roughly. I was still confused, but I complied anyway, seating myself on the cushion. "Now, what is this about, since this can't be a social visit."

"Who says it can't?" I shot back. Her eyes narrowed, so I continued before she got mad. "I came here on my own, Solace."

In that instant, her expression went from angry to confused. "You mean without being asked or ordered to?" she asked. I nodded, so she continued. "How did you get past the guard?"

"I told him my father had told me to give you a message, and because you're stubborn, it would take a while," I said with a grin. She looked half shocked and half offended at the same time. "I was lying about you being stubborn."

She shook her head quickly. "That's not the point," she muttered. "You could get in so much trouble and…"

"Honestly Solace, do you really think I care what my father thinks?" I interrupted her. "He's short sighted, old-fashioned, and he banished you from our clan without publicly giving a reason. I could care less."

She looked totally flabbergasted at that point, so I continued. "Why did he banish you and label you a traitor?" I asked gently.

She shuddered suddenly, and a flicker of unease passed across her face. "You're his son," she snapped harshly. "You should know already."

That surprised me. She knows that I don't like my father, and yet she says I know because of him? "I am nothing like my father," I growled back, offended. "I hate him. Did nothing I said earlier sink in?"

Solace flinched at my accusation, and I started to feel bad for losing my cool with her. "Solace, I'm trying to figure this out so I can help you," I sighed. "I'm your friend, and I don't want you to have to live like this."

She quietly sniffed into her cushion, and mumbled something unintelligible. "What?"

"How can you change anything?" she whispered. "I've been training every day for two years to get out of here, and yet I can't. Nothing has changed."

I sighed again, really getting tired of going in circles. "There's one advantage to being my father's son," I reminded her. "I'm next in line to be the clan leader. I can change this when I become leader. Once I turn five in a week, I'll challenge him for the position every day. I'm not going to rest until the clan is run properly, and until you are a part of it once again."

Solace started at me blankly for a few seconds, then she chuckled. "I knew you didn't get along with your father, Dusk," she said. "What I didn't know is that you hated him enough to push him out of power. But you're naïve."

"What?" I yelped. "How am I naïve?"

"If you don't get it, you're even more naïve," she stated bluntly. "Your father became the leader of this clan for a reason. It's because he's the strongest in the clan. Not because of his ideals, his methods, or anything like that. It was power that gave him that position, nothing else." Solace stared directly into my eyes again, and this time I could see just how bitter she was. "You have to accept that there are some things you can't change. You work so hard for your entire life, and just when you've got it all, someone comes along and stomps on everything you believe in. It's a fact of life."

"How can you say that?" I whispered hollowly, mesmerized by the change in her demeanor. "Your own name is meant to be a source of courage and hope. How can you-"

"I hate my name," she spat, bearing her fangs in a snarl.

I blinked, not expecting the interruption. "You what? Why?"

"Because it's the one thing I'll never have. There is no solace, no hope, no light." She turned her face away and whispered so quietly I could barely hear her. "Not for me."

I was frozen, completely unable to move. "Solace…" I rasped, dumbfounded by her negativity. "Why?"

For a moment, she didn't respond. Then, as time seemed to crawl, dragging itself across the barren desert of seconds that seemed like hours, she met my gaze once again. "Do you really want to know?" she whispered softly.

I shivered slightly at her implication, but my curiosity overcame my trepidation. "Yes."

Solace sighed, and shook her head. "I hope you don't regret it. I'll tell you just how corrupt the clan has become under your father…"

I could use some critique on this chapter. I'm hoping to make this my best fanfic yet, and one of my first completed attempts. Thanks in advance.