Aoife opened her eyes slowly, stretching her short limbs and flicking her rabbit like ears. She sighed as she looked around at the wide, empty den she slept in, pawing at the moss used for her makeshift nest. She was a shiny eevee, the only in her tribe. However, that didn't make her "Special" in her tribe. They disliked her. Becuase she was shiny, Aoife never got to play with the other eevees, nor did she get to eat, sleep, or talk with them. She lived a life of solitude, doing nearly everything alone. Her evolution ceremony, which every eevee experiences at the age of ten, was postponed because she was shiny. She was now thirteen, almost fully mature, yet she still got rejected and hated. All becuase her fur was silver.
The only respect Aoife had ever gotten was from few people. Storm the Jolteon, Soliel the Espeon, and her brother, Silver, who was a Glaceon.
Soliel was Aoife's clan's leader, a prideful yet kind espeon. She put others before herself and frowned upon discrimination. However, she could not stop it fully, in fact, the seven sector generals encouraged it.
Aoife's clan was divided into eight sectors, one for each eeveelution, Eevee, Joleton, Flareon, Vaporeon, Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon, and Glaceon*. Each sector had a leader, or general, who foresaw the sector's activities and spoke for the sector in meetings. Soliel was the leader of it all, and she and the other generals together formed the clan's heiarchy. Of course, things only worked out if the majority agreed, and since nearly everyone in Aoife's tribe hated her, she was never treated fair. Of course, there were times where she had gotten fair treatment, but only due to the laws set in place by the founders of the tribe. Most of the time she was kept in solitude in a small den in the Nursing Quarters, the Eevee's sector.
Silver, Aoife's non-shiny brother, had evolved into a glaceon years ago. He now had a mate and two children, and he had little to no time to chat with his sister. She and Silver had been found by Soliel on a hunting expedition out-of-territory, cold and malnourished. The espeon took the two in and allowed them to live with the tribe. Of course the sector generals were reluctant to allow a shiny eevee into their tribe, but Soliel had overridden the protests and raised Aoife anyway. Aoife really didn't remember much of her past before that point, but all she could remember was fire. Silver, having been a few years older than her, had remembered, and he still hadn't wanted to talk about it. To this day he never mentioned the past, and he probably never would. As soon as he evolved, he moved into the Glaceon's sector, Glacier Forest, and Aoife had not spoken to him since.
After Silver left, Aoife met Storm, a rambunctious and hyperactive young Eevee. He was the only Eevee that would Approach Aoife, and he was the only one who ever spoke to her without giving her some snide comment about her fur. His parents didn't want him hangng out with the shiny Eevee, but he paid them no heed.
"Hah! Like I'd listen to them! They have no right to be mean to you becuase you're shiny. I like ya just the way you are!" he had said. However, he had evolved when he turned ten, so they hadn't really seen each other much. Aoife only went out to see her friend in the morning and at night, no other times. It was forbidden to leave your sector if you were under fifteen, or to leave at all as an Eevee. Naturally, Aoife was punished much more severely if she was caught off-sector, so she only went out to see her friend when everyone else was asleep. She would be going to see him now, actually. She stood up wearily, stretching her limbs and parting her jaws in a yawn. She headed out of her den, squinting at the bright sun that greeted her eyes adjusted, she noticed that everyone else was still asleep, save for the guards near the sector's border. Aoife would have to be cautious sneaking by them, but she had done it many times before and succeded. The silver Eevee lowered her body into a crouch to avoid the guard, who was a battle-scarred Flareon with one blind eye. Aoife figured she'd get into his blind spot and sneak by; it'd be much harder for him to hear or see her then. She padded forward, trying not to step on any leaves or pebbles in her path. Each step she took she knew risked something or the other, so precaution was key. Slowly but surely she finally made her way to Volt Plains, the Jolteon sector. She hesitantly stepped into the new area, glancing around before heading toward a small cave in the distance. The cave, which was only small enough to hold a couple pokemon, was well hidden with boulders and trees which made it the perfect meeting spot. This was where Aoife would meet Storm.
A few moments later, a Jolteon came running around the corner. He Skidded to a halt before crawling into the den, looking at Aoife with a smile on his face. "Hey, Aoife!" he greeted, his head fur sticking out in all sorts of places.
Aoife giggled. "Hey, Storm." she replied, smiling. "How did you sleep?"
Storm sighed. "Well, long story short, all the newbies were bouncing around almost all night, I could've sworn they were jumping off the walls. Then one of the older Jolteons, Boltstrike, told them all to shut up. So of course, they did, but they were whispering and giggling for the rest of the night. So yeah. I slept great." murmured Storm sarcastically.
Aoife giggled again. "Sounds like a nightmare." she said.
Storm grinned. "Yeah. I bet it was quiet in your sector." he said.
Aoife looked down at her paws. "Yeah, it was quiet. It always is." she murmured.
Storm lowered his ears. "S-Sorry." he apologized, knowing that his friend was sensitive about being alone. Changing the subject, he looked outside. "It sure is nice out. I wonder how long it'll be until it gets cold." he stated. Aoife looked at her friend.
"Uh, Storm?" she asked.
"Hm?"
"I-I was wondering...would you come with me to see Soliel? I wanted to ask her about my evolution."
Storm blinked. "I thought the majority of the vote was not to let you evolve?" he asked.
Aoife nodded. "Yeah, but..I want to talk to her. I want to see if she can do anything." The small Eevee shuffled her paws, looking at the ground. "I'll need you there for moral support."
Storm paused, then nodded. "Sure, then! You're my best friend, why shouldn't I go?" he grinned. "And if she agrees, we can see each other at meals!"
Aoife smiled. "That'd be nice." she looked out. "Well, I should get going. Talk to your sector general about seeing Soliel after breakfast. Tell him that she wated to see you, or you needed to ask her something."
Storm nodded. "I will." he said. He stood up and turned, glancing back. "Bye Aoife. I'll see you." and with that, he turned and darted out the door.
Aoife waieted until he was out of sight before heading back to her sector. When she got there, she hurried into her den, and waited for the other Eevees to wake up. When they did, she had to wait for the sector general, a middle-aged Espeon with a bad temper, to allow her to eat. Normally, the sector generals would be of the eevelution their sector held, but since all Eevees evolved eventually, there couldn't be an Eevee leading the Nursing Quarters.
After a bit of waiting, a screech interrupted Aoife's thoughts. It was birdlike, definetly, and she rushed outside to see what was happening. She saw a giant bird pokemon with red, blue, and white feathers, strong looking talons, and a short yellow beak. Around its neck was a messenger's bag. She looked up at it, and it met her eyes with a long cold stare before landing in front of Aoife.
"You are Aoife, correct?" it asked. Aoife nodded slowly.
"Y-Yeah..." she murmured. "And...who are you?"
The pokemon blinked before answering. "You do not know? I am Brady, conquerer of skies, messenger of legend, Lord Arceus' top messenger braviary!" he boasted.
"Why are you here?" asked Aoife.
"I am here for you." Brady answered.
Aoife's mouth hung open. "Wh-Why would you want me? I'm just a simple eevee!" she asked with shock. The braviary looked at her. "You are important. Your fur..it is silver. You are shiny." he stated. Aoife tilted her head. "What does that have to do with anything?" she asked.
"You shininess marks you as a chosen one of Arceus. Many years ago, a few years before you were born, Arceus recived a warning from Celebi. 'For what seems endless days and nights, nightmares will corrupt the land. War will ravage the land and sea, and deaths will be great. Through the darkness and doubt, four shining figures wil march from the stars, beating back the nightmare with extraordinary force. The enemies will fall, and the land will prosper, memories of death erased by choice.' It is the tale that celebi told. The shining figures mentioned in the tale...each of the come from one of the four resident tribes of this mountan. One Zorua, One Fennekin, One Vulpix, and you. You, Aoife, are the chosen eevee, and you will be the one to save us, alongside your shining bretheren."
Aoife's jaw hung open, and her eyes were wide with shock. "I-I...I was chosen by Arceus?"
Brady nodded. "Indeed." he looked her in the eye. "So, will you aid us in the battle of legend?"
Aoife took a step back. "I-I don't know...I..." she stammered. She sat down and looked at her paws. "This is all so overwhelming...what do I do?"
Brady sighed. "Young Aoife, I understand this is a little sudden, and hard to accept-" he started.
"A little sudden? A little sudden?! All this time I've been rejected, bullied, hurt...nobody cared about me! And you're telling me that I'm special? That I'm a chosen one?" Aoife shouted. "How can I believe this if all my life I've been treated like trash?"
Brady, though taken aback, remained still. "Very well." he stated. "I will allow you to think it over. When you have decided, take this," he handed her a necklace with a small, triangular white gemstone in the middle. "And bring it to Drift Mountain. The pokemon living there will contact me, and I will reveal to you more details about your mission." After he finished speaking, the huge bird flew off, leaving Aoife panting in the open grass, confused and alone.
oooooooooooooooooooo
*For anyone wondering why sylveon wasn't mentioned in the sectors, Given Higen is a small and fairly isolated region, many of the inhabitants don't know much about sylveon. They've all heard of it and understand to a point how to obtain it, but otherwise they're stuck. The tribes in the mountain do not know anything at all of sylveon, however, and that is why there's not Sylveon sector. But someone we recently met will evolve into oone~
Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Chapter three is in the works and is almost finished, and don't forget to check out the comic on my deviantart! (0-Soulfire-0, link is on my profile)
Also, if anyone has any pokemon OC's you'd like me to cameo in either the story, comic, or both, send me a message/note on deviantart or leave a link to a reference or picture of your character in a review! Please keep in mind that they have to be somewhat believable looking, I don't want red eevees and black espeons running all over the place. Make sure your characters are either shiny or regular, with few changes to the original Pokemon's design.
Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, shape or form, own pokemon or any other the creatures featured in this story. I only own the plot, region, and characters(minus their species.)
~Soul, out!~
