Ch. 31

Sitting in the sand I looked out at the water imagining all of the things I would be able to see if I dove under the surface. Then a thought struck me. Why didn't Pokemon from other regions appear? I mean I understand why land based Pokemon stayed in their regions but take the Kanto and Johto regions. They are right next to each other but the Pokemon are different.

Sure there is a mountain range between the two regions but that shouldn't be that big of an obstacle for Pokemon. And then there are water type Pokemon, can't they just swim over?

I'll ask mom and dad about it later.

After a little while mom, Aunt Beth, and Aunt Delia joined us in their own swimsuits. Looking at them I felt a strange feeling inside myself especially when I saw Aunt Delia. As we all swam and played around I kept stealing glances at her without understanding why.

Around noon we all headed over to the picnic table where lunch was already spread out as well as cake and a few presents. We devoured the food and after a quick chorus of happy birthday we had cake.

"Here Jake open this one first."

After the cake plates were moved out of the way Uncle Blue handed me a small box. Quickly ripping the paper off I opened it to see a picture inside. It looked like weights and workout equipment.

"It's waiting for you when you get home. It's a set of strength training equipment for young Pokemon of many different species so both your Growlithe and Pidgey can use it."

I looked up from the picture and gave Uncle Blue and Aunt Beth a hug.

"Thank you very much!"

Then Uncle Red handed me another box.

"This one is from us."

Opening the second box I saw a lump of some kind off black lump attached to a weird looking necklace. It took me a second but I eventually recognized it as Charcoal. Looking between Uncle Red and Aunt Delia I asked.

"Really? Are you sure?!"

They both nodded and I gave them each a hug as well.

"And last but not least is the present from your mother and I."

Dad picked up the last box and handed it to me. Pulling the paper off I saw a sleek metal case with a silver button on the front. As I pressed the button the top flipped open and I felt a wave of heat hit me in the face.

I just stared at the beautiful red stone that had flames flickering inside of it. It was stunning to look at. I was pulled back from staring when Growlithe yipped at me and nudged my leg. Looking at him I could see the desire for the Fire Stone that I had been given.

Looking at my dad he spoke.

"Growlithe has been by your side for years now and it's time for him to evolve."

I looked from the stone to Growlithe before picking it up, as soon as I did I felt the energy pulsing inside of the stone but there was something bothering me. Yes the fire energy inside the stone was immense but for some reason my instincts were telling me there was something wrong with it. The energy felt stagnant. I looked at Growlithe and knelt down in front of him.

"Do you trust me Growlithe?"

He nodded firmly once and I smiled.

"Then we are going to wait just a little longer before using this."

I could see that he was reluctant but he nodded and I closed the box.

"What's wrong Jake?"

"Nothing Dad there is just something I want to look into first."

Everyone looked a little confused but didn't question me about it. After a few more minutes and another round of cake we all headed back home.

When we got home I asked if I could use dad's computer he looked confused but gave his permission leading me down the hallway to his office. When we stepped inside he gave me a look.

"What's this about Jake? You've been acting strange every since you looked at the Fire Stone."

I pulled the metal box containing the Fire Stone from my backpack and opened it. Picking up the stone I held it in my hand and felt that strange feeling again before handing it to dad. He took it and looked confused.

"Do you feel anything strange when you hold it?"

He raised an eyebrow at me before turning his attention to the stone. He looked at it for a few seconds before shaking his head.

"Nope. Why?"

I took the stone back and put it into the box again.

"When I picked it up the first time and again just now I could feel the energy inside but it feels stagnant like there is something it's missing. So I wanted to look into it."

Dad looked at me before me nodded.

"Just don't wait too long before you use it. The box it's in will help keep it from degrading but it can't stop it entirely."

That had me confused.

"Degrading why would it degrade?"

"Because that's not a natural Fire Stone it's man made."

This was the first I had ever heard of man-made evolution stones.

"What do you mean by man-made? How is that possible?"

He sat in one of his office chairs and I did the same.

"Do you know what an Everstone is?"

I nodded.

"It's a treasure your Pokemon can hold to prevent it from evolving."

"Yes, but do you know how it does that?"

I shook my head at him.

"An Everstone absorbs elemental energy preventing it from building up, so your Pokemon can't accumulate enough energy to spark it's evolution. However after absorbing too much energy it will crumble away to nothing."

"A few years ago someone had an idea to try an experiment. He took several Everstones to the top of the Cinnabar Volcanoe and stayed there to observe them. After several years, right when he was about to give up, he noticed changes to the Everstones, they were turning red."

"Encouraged by this he kept observing the stones until their transformation was complete and they became the first ever man made Fire Stones. He published research stating that the reason Everstones crumble is because of the accumulation of to many types of elemental energy. He theorized that the concentration of a single element would cause the creation of evolution stones."

"He continued his research and was able to artificially create fire, water, grass, and electric evolution stones which proved his theory and allowed for a new industry. There are several factions that have taken possession of different environments for the sole purpose of creating evolution stones."

I was stunned by this revelation, nothing in my memories even hinted at this.

"Where do all of the Everstones come from?"

Dad smiled at me.

"They are mined from the mountain that separates the Kanto and Johto regions. Those mountains are made up almost entirely of Everstones. That's also why the Pokemon from the two regions don't cross the mountains. The Everstones act as a natural barrier that Pokemon avoid."

Even without me asking dad had answered a question that I had.

"That's really cool dad and I understand, I won't wait long before evolving Growlithe."

"Good."

With that dad moved to his desk and powered up his computer and created an account for me to use. After he left I started looking up research about Pokemon energy. Piecing together parts of my own knowledge from my memories with the research from this world I had an idea. That's when I found a research paper published by Professor Oak that completely contradiction my idea.

It stated that after evolution was started outside energy could not and would not affect the outcome of the evolution. I read through it twice and the memories I had from the other Jake ripped holes in his research so wide I could fly a Pidgeot through them.

So I downloaded a research template from the net and started writing my own research paper and wrote out a plan on how to conduct an experiment to back up my research.

After spending two hours writing I printed out my work and left dad's office. Walking to the living room I heard sounds from the kitchen. Stepping around the corner I found my parents kissing in the kitchen not wanting to interrupt I backed out slowly and sat on the couch rereading my papers looking for any mistakes.

About 20 minutes later dad walked in with a smile of his face and sat on the couch next to me.

"What do you have there Jake?"

I looked at him and handed him one of the sheets of paper. He read through it his eyebrows going higher and higher the more he read. When he finished I handed him the second sheet outlining the plans for my experiment.

When he finished with that I handed him the last sheet which had a rough drawing that we would need to construct to perform my experiment. When he was done looking over everything I asked.

"Would you be willing to help me with this?"

He looked at me for a few seconds before speaking.

"Are you sure you want to do this? If you're wrong Growlithe may not survive."

I looked him dead in the eye.

"I wouldn't risk it if I wasn't sure."

We held eye contact for a while before dad smiled and spoke.

"If you're sure we can start tomorrow. I'll call you in sick to school tomorrow."

"Thanks dad."

I smiled at him and hugged him. Just then mom called out that dinner was ready. During dinner we explained the plan to mom and she agreed to help as well.

That's how it came to be that the next morning we went to Professor Oak's lab and retrieved dozens of Pokemon to help us.

We headed miles outside of town and started construction. First we cleared a large section of trees and piled them off to one side. Then the ground type Pokemon started digging a deep circular trench leaving the center alone. Then they dug tunnels from the bottom of the trench up at an angle to the outside of the circle. After that was done all of the trees were thrown into the trench.

Looking over everything I didn't see any problems so I very carefully walked across a tree to the center of the circle. Calling Growlithe out I knelt down in front of him.

"Okay boy. It's time for you to evolve."

He yipped happily and licked my face while wagging his tail.

"This is important buddy. We are going to try something but it's dangerous are you willing to try it? If it works it will make you really strong."

He barked and I knew he wanted to try.

"Mom and dad are going to have their Pokemon light all of these trees on fire. I want you to absorb as much fire energy as you can before you use this."

At that I pulled the Fire Stone out of my Item Box and set the stone on the ground.

He looked at me before nodding and nudging me gently. I scratched behind his ears and gave him a few pats before joining my parents outside of the trench. Setting up a several cameras I set them all to record and my parents gave the order.

As one their fire type Pokemon began spitting flames into the trench while their flying type Pokemon began fanning air into the tunnels. Before long the trench was ablaze and the flames were circling like a tornado.

I was 90% sure this was going to work but that 10% had me scared. Growlithe was my best friend and I didn't know what I would do if he didn't survive this.