Author's Note:
Welcome readers to my main FF work: Moon on the Water. I haven't finished this story yet, but the first arc is complete and metastable (has some closure). None of these chapters are final however, as I am continuously improving the whole story at once. This story is very dialogue heavy and rich in subtle foreshadowing. Unlike other stories you may have read, don't be afraid of overthinking this one.
Each summer I upload a chapter on a regular schedule with the possibility of an EXTRA CHAPTER for each upload based on the feedback I receive. This feedback can be in the forms of criticism, predictions, and/or submissions and can come via reviews or PMs. Criticism can be as simple as telling me you thought a particular line or moment was funny, or very elaborate and constructive. Predictions clue me in on how well I do foreshadowing (plus they are fun reading). As for submissions, you can find the current ones on my profile page. (At the time of updating this, an event submission is active.) However, I do not count feedback that ultimately only tells me if you like the story or not without telling me why. While I appreciate the positivity in these reviews, they don't help me improve the story.
For feedback on earlier chapters and feedback outside of summer, I will update the chapter of your choice with my latest rendition. You can even specify a delayed time (like in May when I go through and polish up the story again before the summer uploads start). If you don't specify, I will update the chapter following the one reviewed as soon as I have time. For practical purposes, I'm limiting this to one chapter per reader per week. Additional feedback on all chapters gets applied to a surprise goal!
Ultimately, as long as I know people are reading and enjoying, I'll keep writing!
This chapter was updated on 9/7/2016 and currently stands at 600+ words.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, just dream it.
Chapter 1: Letter by Fox
The sun rose over the valley, waking the lone eevee sleeping on a stump shaded by the tall branches of the surrounding forest trees. Any other time of year Kieran would have been sleeping in his cove with his parents. However, the summer weather was too nice to not sleep out in the open underneath the canopy of trees and stars. The young eevee stretched his muscles, releasing the stiffness of sleep from his tendons as he stood himself on his four stubby legs. He was a typical seventeen-year-old eevee near maturation, his muscles stable and developed. With those muscles he sprung from the stump and trotted off to a nearby oran tree decorated with its signature blue berries, as perfectly ripe as they'd ever be, or at least in Kieren's opinion they were. He decided the berries were a perfect breakfast meal and so he scaled up the tree and onto one of the branches. He was nearing towards the fruit with ease. His original plan was to knock some of the fruit down, but he determined that it would be more pleasant to eat from his perch overlooking the valley during the last few minutes of a beautiful sunrise. Thoughts about the day's potential adventures crossed his mind, but soon he was distracted by a faint object approaching him below.
"Kieren! Are you there?" yelled the figure that had now come clear into view.
"Up here," Kieren replied, jumping down to greet the six-tailed fox. "What brings you here, Melody?"
"I have a letter for you today," the vulpix replied with her morning cheer. She reached into the brown satchel she carried and pulled out an envelope, which she handed to Kieren.
Kieren ripped opened the envelope and pulled out a piece of paper. He unfolded it and stared at it, and after a moment of silence, he flipped the paper upside down. He paused again before rotating it several more times. Melody watched him inquisitively.
"Don't know how to read, do ya?" she evoked.
Kieren shook his head.
"That's ok. I had to write down the message myself. It's from Celestia."
The name surprised Kieren. What would the Eon pack's leader want in sending a letter to him?
"Well what does it say?" Kieren asked confoundedly, handing the letter back to Melody and rearranging his figure to view the letter as Melody read.
Melody paid little notice to Kieren's pointless antics as she began to read for him. "It reads,
To dear Kieren, eevee of the Eon tribe,
You have reached the time in your life where your maturity outmatches your strength. Because of this, you shall advance to your next stage in life in our Evelescence Ceremony tonight at dusk. Because of your family heritage and your past endeavors to the tribe, you will be granted final honors in the ceremony. You have until then to choose an element of fire, sea, or thunder that suits you. We look forward to your decision tonight.
Celestia,
Jolteon Eon Alpha."
"Congrats, Kieren!" Melody exclaimed.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Kieren?" she asked.
"…"
"Is something wrong, Kieren?" Melody tried, her voice and expression now void of excitement and replaced with genuine concern.
Kieren slunked his head with a nod as he turned away.
"I don't know what I want to be," he finally confessed, turning back towards his friend while gazing at the ground near his feet.
Melody's face sobered. She knew past ceremonies did not go well with undecided eevee. Now her best friend was threatened by that fate. He needed to make up his mind, fast!
Author's Note: Well I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! The first 10 chapters are really short, but afterwards they got a lot longer as the plotlines branch out a bit. Don't forget to leave a review if you want higher quality chapters! I'm pretty busy with college and running a video game development club, but I'm always listening to your feedback and am willing to answer any questions you might have! Best of luck this year! ~Dreaming I'm Latios