Prologue
Luna - an umbreon with blind silvery eyes
Heather - a sylveon with a broken back paw
Shadow - a vaporeon with no scales on his back
Lily - a leafeon with an oddly-bent tail
Cinnamon - an eevee with strange, glowing paws
Pyra - a glaceon with a frozen, pointy tail
Jingle - a flareon with strange white fire
Marsh - a jolteon with a long, soft white tail
Sami - an espeon with strange scars along his back
Luna – an umbreon with blind silvery eyes
A dark moon rose into the sky, illuminating the valley below the mountain. Far off in the distance, Luna could hear cheering and shouting, excited voices rising into the night as one. That should have been me, she though angrily, kneading her black paws on the soft stone. I should be the one's they're cheering for. A silky-smooth voice brought the umbreon out of her own thoughts, and back into the present.
"Luna." It was Marsh, one of the only others who knew what it was like to be different since birth. "Don't spend your time dwelling on what could have been." The jolteon beckoned her toward the inside of their cave. "Come along," he purred. "We have some new recruits." The blind umbreon stood and followed her friend, using all her senses to find her way blindly through the cave.
Inside, Luna could smell many young eevees and eeveelutions sitting in the cave. Though many less than last year, they would make suitable warriors. Shadow was standing on a tall rock on the far end of the cave, and Luna let Marsh guide her through the recruits and onto the rock to stand behind Shadow. The vaporeon waved his scale-less tail, and all of them sat down, except for Shadow himself. He continued to stand, preparing himself to address all of the rejects in front of him. "You'll be fine," Pyra breathed, flicking her tail. It tapped Heather's foot gently, and the lame sylveon breathed in a hiss of breath. "Sorry," Pyra whispered, bringing her icy tail closer around her paws.
"I'm fine," Heather hissed out, her teeth gritted together as warmth flooded back into her paws.
Shadow began to speak now, his voice ringing out over the crowds of Pokèmon below him. "Eevees and Eeveelutions!" he bellowed, and Sami flattened his ears against his head. "I know why you're here. Those 'Elite Eight' over on Mount Evolution though you not good enough. You didn't have the highest grade in anything when you were training, and quite a few of you were penalized when you stumbled upon a Stone. Be it Water or Fire, Leaf or Ice, some of you evolved 'too early' for there standards. You are all rejects. But not here. You grew up loving the Elite Eight? Well, we are the Novice Nine, rejects of their petty training program who decided that enough is enough, and it is time for us to stand up and fight! You will all be training alongside our professionals, who have been here since we formed. But, I know what you're all thinking. Why are we rejects? Well, I'm glad you asked. I'm Shadow, a vaporeon, and I have no scales on my back. The others? Well, you'll find out about their stories sooner or later. For now, find your way to a den. You'll be staying there until your training is complete. Then, you will join our other soldiers, as we wait for when we are prepared to strike against Mount Evolution. Now, who's with me?"
The Pokèmon below stamped their feet, and the rest of the eevees on the rock raised their voice to the moon. Shadow quickly dismissed the recruits, then turned to his friends.
"How are our little buddies over there?" he asked slyly, smiling and showing a row of razor-sharp teeth, perfect for catching magikarps for dinner.
Luna blinked her blind eyes at her friend and smiled back. "Wonderfully," she replied. "We should have more information soon."
Shadow licked his lips, walking down the rock and off toward their personal quarters. Cinnamon shuffled her paws nervously, and all the others scooted away from her warily. "Ginger cooked tonight, not me." The little eevee's voice was strong, making it somewhat hard to believe that she was once thrown out of an elite school for the strong.
Marsh laughed at that resting his soft tail against Luna's own black one. The umbreon stiffened, and Marsh jerked his own tail back. Before he had, though, Luna had been able to sense the heat coming from it. Sami shot them an odd look, but Luna ignored it. Instead, she laughed with her friends. Cinnamon always burned the food she cooked, and together, they walked off the rock to follow Shadow.
"I'm so hungry, I could eat 100 tepigs," Lily laughed as her stomach rumbled audibly.
"Too bad you're a vegetarian," Jingle teased, his tail high in the air as always, careful not to burn any of them. "Because Ginger prepared 100 tepigs just for us!"
Heather laughed from where she was at the back of the group. "As if we could get that kind of delicacy," she giggled. "I haven't had roasted tepig since I was thrown out two years ago." Luna felt a small smile spread across her lips as she remembered when she herself had tasted tepig last. It had been at the start of her training for the Eight, and she could still taste the smoky flavors dancing on her tongue as she ate beside Shealyn… Luna let out a growl as she remembered her sister, now a leader of the Elite Eight. The girl had been born a shiny eevee, and their mother had loved her most instantly, especially over Luna's blind silvery eyes. Nonetheless, the taste of tepig had still been wonderfully amazing. Something that Pokèmon like the Novice Nine would never be able to afford.
As they entered the dining hall reserved for only them, the smell of steamed crabbys reached Luna's nose, which she wrinkled in disgust. Another food only vaporeons enjoyed. Even Cinnamon, who would eat anything displayed in front of her, seemed disgusted. Nonetheless, they all took their seats around the huge table. Shadow sat at the far end, his perfectly smooth tail curled over his pale blue paws. Heather sat beside him, a velvety pillow placed beneath her injured paw. Lily was across from Heather, with Cinnamon on her right, and Sami on Cinnamon's own right. The scarred espeon sunk into his own velvet seat, the fabric smooth and cool against his old injuries. Jingle sat on Heather's left, then Marsh, and finally Luna at the opposite end of the table than Shadow.
After a moment, the espurrs brought out the crabbys, placing them down in front of each member of the Nine. Instead of eating, though, they all glanced over at Shadow. "Oh, you're all a bunch of pre-evolved kids," he joked, earning a 'humph!' from Cinnamon. "Just suck it up and try them, they're delicious."
The rest of the eevees obliged and dug in. It didn't taste that bad, but Luna would never admit that. Lily waited a moment, and the espurrs returned with her salad. She smiled softly and began to eat as well. "So," said Shadow, taking second helpings of the crab Pokèmon. "Cinnamon, you're not going to like this. I have a mission for you. Speak to me after dinner about it."
The little eevee didn't eat much the rest of dinner, but Luna doubted it was because of the meal. After they finished, they all went off to their sleeping quarters.
Luna settled down on her bed, and was surprised when a cough sounded from her doorway. The umbreon turned her blind eyes toward the sound. "It's me."
Marsh. Of course. She should have known.
"I'm trying to sleep," Luna muttered, tucking her nose beneath her tail. "Wait until tomorrow." She closed her eyes and waited until she could no longer hear the soft pitter-patter of Marsh walking away before Luna let the tears she had been holding back for so long dribble down her cheeks.