Ch. 1: The Evolution Stones
Cara put the final plate on the ground and Regis, her Jolteon, who was always gracious enough to wait for the others to be fed, began to eat. Cara had been raising Eevee for as long as she could remember, and she was very proud of her little creatures. Vanessa, her Sylveon, grabbed a piece of her food and presented it to her. Vanessa was a sweetheart, Cara knew, and always offered her some of her food. Vanessa tended to wait for the others to finish eating, to make sure they all had enough, before eating her own food.
Victor and Rebecca were essentially inseparable. Victor's icy body seemed to cool off Rebecca's hot body, and they were essentially attached at the hip. Glaceon were difficult to raise in the city, especially in the summer time, but Rebecca's heat helped keep everything around Victor from freezing. Victor's low temperature absorbed much of Rebecca's latent heat, making them both pretty comfortable and safe.
Angelica, the Espeon, seemed to always be bumping heads with Brian, the Umbreon. As they ate, they snipped at each other. Brian's rings glowed blue as he snipped back. They never seemed to get along, but always seemed to be inseparable. Angelica would always stop when Cara told her to, but Brian was not so obedient.
Isabella always put herself in the middle of the food, because she wanted to make sure the others had clean air. She only seemed to care about that when she was eating, though. Otherwise, she just say in the sun all day. Rainy days she played in the rain with Albert, the Vaporeon.
Cara raised all of them from Eevee puppies. It was clear how they would mature over time. She just could not keep Albert away from water, no matter how hard she tried. Rebecca would try to start fires. Victor managed to find his way into the freezer to sleep every day. Angelica absolutely hated to be in the darkness, while Brian hated being in the light. Vanessa constantly wanted to be held and cuddle. Regis was constantly chewing on wires. Isabella was constantly sitting in the sunlight, usually in a bed of flowers.
Cara was fortunate that she had such a good job at Department of Nature. She could afford accommodations for all of them. The average person wouldn't be able to afford a pool large enough for a Vaporeon while also having a garden that fit a Leafeon's needs and a freeze that fit a Glaceon's needs. Most people in the city ended up with Espeon, Umbreon, or Jolteon. Depending on the district it was raised in, some people got Flareon, but most did not. They adapted based on their surroundings, with certain natures pushing them toward certain things. Had Cara not had a freezer, Victor probably would never have matured into a Glaceon. The only one that matured pretty consistently regardless of location is Sylveon, though it was clear to everyone at the Department of Nature that Sylveon only matured that way when exposed to humans. Sylveon had never been found in the wild before.
Cara's primary job was studying environmental effects on different Pokémon. The different Eevee forms often accompanied her to work, and she kept them around as an ongoing case study. It took years for an Eevee to fully develop into one of its final forms, and little research had been done to determine just what caused it to mutate into another form. The Department of Nature was the Roleo region's governmental body dedicated to protecting and studying Pokémon in such a way.
There was a knock on the door, and before Cara could respond the screen door opened. Cara's girlfriend Elizabeth walked in. They greeted each other with a kiss, but Elizabeth was there for something specific. "Have you seen the new commercials for these 'elemental Stones'?" she asked.
"Elemental stones?" Cara asked.
"Give me your pokewalker," Elizabeth said, taking the pokewalker from Cara's hip. She fiddled around for a moment and then handed it back to her. A video was playing on the screen. There were images of Eevee and a voiceover.
"Do you want your little Eevee to mature into a Vaporeon, but you don't have a pool in your apartment? Do you want your little guy to mature into a Flareon but there's a burning ban in your development? Want a Jolteon but you live on a farm? Silph Co. has the answer! Try our new Evolution stones! With these stones, your Eevee will grow to be either a Jolteon, Flareon or Vaporeon, regardless of environmental factors. Just put the collar with the stone imbedded in it on your Eevee and raise normally. They develop just like a normal Eevee would! Please call the number below to reserve yours today!"
"What the hell is Silph thinking?" Cara blurted out. "There's a reason that these Pokémon mature based on their environment!"
"Well, I looked into it, and since Silph is a Kanto based company, we can't really do anything about it without legislation. Which means if we want to do anything about this, we'll need to lobby for it," Elizabeth said.
"Well, they said 'reserve' a stone, which I guess means they aren't producing them, yet. Is there an estimated time when the stones will be ready to ship?" Cara asked.
"I'm not sure," Elizabeth said. "We can look into it when we get to the office."
"Al right," Cara said. "Let's go, kiddos."
AS the Eevee forms finished eating, they got very excited to join Cara and Elizabeth at work. They went with them almost every day, and had a good run of the building. Or course, since it was the Department of nature, there were places for each of the Eevee forms to go comfortably. Sylveon jumped into Cara's arms as she grabbed her things and headed out the door.