Author's Note:

To any weekday readers who may have just binge-read the first seven chapters, welcome! I typically upload Saturdays, but I upload bonus chapters any day of the week. I count reviews for my bonus chapters up until Friday evening, so read and review at your preferred time and place!

To all my readers, you may have noticed this story has a lot of characters. Based on first impressions, who's your favorite? Least favorite? Feel free to post your answer to either this chapter or the previous.

Today is 6/30/2015 and this chapter is 900+ words.

Chapter 8: Bitter Praise

Torches flickered and flashed their flames from upon their pedestals, marking the pathways and gathering areas for all those in attendance. There were many of them, vaporeon, jolteon, flareon, and young eevee. The smell of food wafted through the air; roasted berries tickled their noses. Mixed with the scents were traces of hot cinnamon and fresh mint. Woven leaves and flowers fantasized the aisles and breathed life to the stage. Above, various works of Eon light art flashed with luminance in fanciful patterns. Kieren spotted some of the decorations Kat had made hanging on the back wall. He also noticed the increased number of lights this ceremony compared to the previous year.

"Ready?" Trent asked.

Kieren nodded.

A vaporeon gestured to both of them, signaling them to begin their march. They were the last ones to march down the aisle. Shouts and flashes surrounded them in the air. Kieren marched onwards imitating his cousin's bold stride. Everyone was in a festive mood. He could hear his and Trent's names among the sounds shouted by the mass numbers of his tribe, albeit mostly Trent's.

"Good luck, Kieren," came a voice from the side.

Kieren turned. It was Caleb. He was wearing a green necklace woven out of fresh oran leaves. Kieren wished he could tell Caleb everything on his mind. Caleb likely knew none of it, unless he ran into Melody after Trent had. Kieren almost stopped, but realizing this could potentially interrupt the ceremony and interfere with Tara's plan, he continued walking as he neared the stage.

Soon he and Trent found the other honored eevee sitting in the first few rows. There were two cushions made from the softest of leaves unoccupied, clearly reserved for Trent and Kieren. The two eevee sat down.

A large roar of cheers greeted Celestia as she made her appearance from the back of the stage to the left of the giant wall of colors. She walked with grace and prestige as she made her way across the tiled floor until she found a comfortable position up front to address the audience. The tribe silenced. The sudden presence of the quiet wind through the leaves of the forest gave Kieren an eerie feeling, like the lake before a heavy rainstorm. The ceremony certainly would not end this peacefully.

"To my fellow citizens of the Eon tribe," Celestia addressed.

The tribe gave a quick roar of acknowledged applause before growing eerie quiet again.

"Tonight as you all know is a special night. As our tribe continues to stand against the test of time, new generations are born. Tonight we celebrate the achievements of a select few of our newest generation. The eevee that are here before you have proven themselves Eons of strength, and have outgrown their current forms. We as the Eon tribe possess the power of multiple elements…"

Kieren could no longer listen. There were way too many things on his mind. How would he confess that he had not made his decision? What would Celestia say? What would his mother say? Would his father bring some kind of disaster to the situation? Probably.

"And now we shall watch in awe as these eevee take on their chosen element of fire, water, or lightning!"

Kieren couldn't watch. These were the eevee that had ridiculed him because he was the son of "Boran the Dumb". Name after name was called. Enemy after enemy outgrew him in power. What were these eevee, now evolved, going to do to him? Would they bully him? Would he be able to escape? Where would he run? Could he dig his way out of the forest? Would he survive? The thoughts of him crawling up rocks had summoned his frequent nightmare to replay once again in his mind. Luckily, though, this time it was short lived.

"Trenton Lunaflare!" Celestia announced.

Kieren looked up, finally daring to make eye contact with the stage again. Celestia had moved over to the right of the stage watching with interest. At the center of the stage sat three pebbles, each possessing an elemental power.

"Good luck, Cous'!" Kieren told the eevee next to him.

"Thanks. I got this," Trent answered confidently as he rose from the leaf-woven seat. He valiantly ascended the three steps to the center of the stage and faced the audience. With a confident smile on his face he picked up his paw, and placed it on the left-most of the three stones on the stage. The whispers of the tribe died as Trent's fur began to radiate a brilliant white light. The glow began to conquer and possess his entire body, stretching it and reshaping it until the silhouette of his chosen form emerged. Suddenly the white glow exploded from the center of his body, leaving behind a blazing red version of the silhouette.

"Flareon, because I shall master the combination of both firepower and brainpower!" Upon finishing he blasted flames high into the air. Cheers erupted from the tribe.

"Congrats! Trenton!" praised Celestia. She was quite surprised that he had not chosen lightning, yet was very pleased with his reasoning. Next was Kieren. Kieren was the only one she could not even guess as to what he might choose.

"And last but not least, of the Lunar Family Line and successor of Boran Bluestripe, Lunar Alpha," Celestia announced. It had been a long time since that name for Boran's position had been spoken of within the tribe. Ever since the war with the furret, Celestia had always referred to herself as THE Alpha, because Boran never held up to his leadership responsibilities.

Trent nodded to Kieren as his new form sat cautiously on the woven cushion, avoiding setting it ablaze. Kieren gave one last faint smile to Trent, before readying his hind legs to move.

"Kieren Bluestripe!"

Author's Note: Everything I'd say here I already said in the previous chapter's author's notes, so go read that and feel free to give me a PM if you are interested in anything. And if you have questions on how to do any of the things I do (because I do a lot of things - see profile page and previous author's notes for more details), do not hesitate to ask me questions. The more questions I answer, the more I learn. Safe travels! ~Dreaming I'm Latios