Chapter 2

Evolutionary Rumors

Four Eevee, two Umbreon, a Jolteon, and a Vaporeon all sat at a round table filled with food. The male Jolteon had a pendant with a red gem in it, and the female Vaporeon, his wife, had a tiara with the same red gem. It symbolized King Arron and Queen Cynthia's leadership over Oblivion District. The male Umbreon had a similar pendant, but with a blue gem to match his pure blue eyes, and his wife, the female Umbreon, had a tiara with the blue gem. King Cyle and Queen Abrielle were leaders of Auras District. The two queens bore a striking resemblance to each other, despite being different evolution, and it couldn't be more obvious that they were twins. While the Eeveelutions were kings and queens, they didn't have total control over the districts in Equilibrium Kingdom. They were the symbolic leaders, but just representatives for their respective districts.

The twins Stephanie and Jason Lawless sat closest to Cyle and Abrielle, their parents. The other set of twins, Leona and Liam Rose, were closest to their own mother and father, Arron and Cynthia. The family enjoyed their breakfast. While the parents had a lot of responsibilities, they still made time to spend with their cubs, and living in the same castle made that quite easy.

"Liam, you were excellent in the play last night," Arron complemented his son. "The best I've seen all year."

The green-tipped ears shot up. "You were there?"

"Of course we were," Cynthia responded in a loving voice. "We had to leave as soon as the show ended, but we promised you we would be at one of the showings."

"Carson and I worked together a lot better at the battle on Wednesday." Stephania pointed out. "And Jason beat his old swim time by nearly three seconds?"

"You beat your time?" Queen Abrielle questioned her son. "That's great."

Jason swallowed his berry pancake and nodded. "Coach said I'm nearly as fast as her water type team."

"Looks like someone's shaping up to be a Vaporeon," Cynthia whispered not-so-subtly.

"That reminds me," King Cyle pointed out, "you four have your evolution test after our vacation next week."

"That's right," King Arron remembered. "After today, the next time you go to school you could be completely different pokemon."

"We don't have to evolve right away, do we?" Leona interrupted.

"Not if you don't want to." Cynthia said lovingly, not noticing her daughter was struggling with the decision.

"Why did you guys chose what you did?" Jason asked. "For your evolution?"

"Well, your uncle and I didn't get to chose," the blue eyed father reminded the blue and brown eyed Eevee. "Before we became leaders, it was mandatory for Eevee to evolve into the pokemon the evolution test said was strongest."

"Then how did Aunt Cynthia and Mom get to."

"Because the were Descending," Liam recited from memory. He used this opportunity to prepare himself for his test. "It was a simple rumor from an old legend, until it actually happened."

Abrielle chuckled at her nephew. "You've got it."

"So how did you chose?" Stephanie asked, curious about evolution in general for the time. "Why didn't you just chose what made you strongest?"

"Well," Cynthia began, "what made us Descending was that no evolution proved to be stronger than the other."

Liam nodded, remembering words from his book that were similar to what his mother said.

"It just doesn't make sense." Steph looked at her nearly empty plate of food, trying to understand the concept. "How can one evolution not be stronger than the other?"

"Watch," Leona joked to her cousin, "you're probably going to get Descending now that you've said that."

Steph chuckled, and then a question arose in her mind: "Is Descending even hereditary?"

The three Eevee immediately looked to Liam, who knew practically everything there was to know about Descending. He paused his chewing and swallow partially. "I dunno," he answered through a mouthful of food. He chewed and swallowed all the Oran berry mush and gestured to his mother and aunt. "There have only been two recorded cases."

"It doesn't matter," Leona told to herself mostly. She looked between her mother and aunt and asked, "So how did you decide?"

Queen Cynthia cleared her throat. "I originally wanted to be a Leafeon, but since I was undercover in Auras, I had to chose something a little more subtle. I didn't like ice or electricity, and an Espeon or Umbreon weren't appealing to me. Sylveon was too girly, and I absolutely hated fire because of my love for plants. Since water helps plants grow, Vaporeon seemed like the obvious second choice."

Arron smiled at his wife and rubbed his head against hers. Steph and Jason looked away, embarrassed, but Leona and Liam smiled at how much their parents loved each other.

"What about you, Mom?" Jason asked, thinking a story from his own mother would help with his decision.

"Well, after finding out I could choose, I made one of the most important decisions of my life in a few seconds. And, I didn't know why I chose an Umbreon, at first," Abrielle admitted. She looked at Cyle's pure blue eyes, silently alerting him. "I chose an Umbreon because I highly admired your great uncle Zen."

Only a faint picture of an Umbreon painting came to their minds. "You don't...talk about him a lot," Leona stated. "Why?"

"Excuse me." King Cyle stood up and left without even pushing his chair back in.

The red-furred Eevee's ears fell back. "Did I say something wrong?" She looked at her parents, who had their eyes focused on the table.

"No, Leona. It's not you," Abrielle sighed. "Zen is just a sensitive topic for your uncle."

"Did something happen?" Liam asked, concerned and no longer hungry.

Cynthia sighed. "Your great uncle Leone was trying to find and awaken Yveltal, but the crystals that contained Yveltal's power, the Crystal Minds, were corrupting him, and he attacked Zen."

"Zen thought he killed his brother," Abrielle continued. "And Zen never told Cyle until we were all about to risk our lives to stop Yveltal. For a long time, your uncle looked up to Zen, just like I did, and it hurt him to know that Zen wasn't the pokemon Cyle thought he was."

"He ran away after the battle between Abrielle and I," Cynthia pointed out.

There was silence for a minute, until Stephanie spoke up. "I wish I could've met him. Do you know where he is now?"

Another long pause before her mother answered. "No."

…

The Eevee placed their lunches on the table and sat down. They ignored the noise their classmates were making during the lunch hour. The four Eevee told a Riolu and Rockruff about what their parents had told them.

"So, wait," Kai, the Rockruff, interrupted. "Your great uncle Zen just left his whole family?"

"Yeah," Liam confirmed with a slight depressed tone. "Xerneas was keeping Leone alive, and when Zen finally saw him after all those years of feeling guilty, I guess he couldn't stand to be around his family anymore."

"Well, Queen Cynthia was the Descending One and she was literally trying to kill Abrielle, the Wild One, and everyone in Auras Kingdom," Carson pointed out. "But, she still stayed with her family."

"She was lied to, though," Stephanie explained, brushing her pink bangs out of her eyes. "Lidia convinced Cynthia that Zen killed her dad, when really Leone wasn't even her dad at all."

"I think the circumstances are a little different," Jason stated, taking a bite from his medley of berries.

"Yeah, ok," Carson understood.

Silence fell over their table for a few seconds, until the Rockruff decided to try to lighten the mood. "C'mon, you guys had to have talked about something a little more light-hearted."

"Evolution," Steph quickly and proudly declared. "These three are worried about which evolution they're going to chose."

"You know everyone is talking about it, right?" Carson put his bread down on his paper plate, preparing to explain as he saw questioning looks.

"Huh?" the four Eevee questioned in unison.

"You guys seriously don't know?" Kai chuckled, surprised. "It's the topic of the month. No one's shutting up."

"Why would anyone else care about our evolutions?" Leona questioned. "It doesn't affect them."

"You're the princes and princesses of Equilibrium!" Carson emphasized, using paw gestures to make it clear. "Everyone knows you and everyone has guesses and bets on what each of you are going to evolve into. I think even the teachers are in on it."

Jason's ears immediately fell to the sides and he furrowed his eyebrows. "What is everyone saying?"

The Riolu pointed a blue paw at Liam. "Leafeon."

One green tipped ear tilted to the side in question. He was confused, but unlike Leona and Jason, his confusion wasn't eating at him. There wasn't a certain evolution he specifically wanted, but a Leafeon wasn't the first thing that came to his mind. Sure, parts of his fur were dyed green, but that was simply because he liked the color. The top two pokemon on his list were a Jolteon and Umbreon, but now everyone thought he would be most suited to a Leafeon. He knew what everyone else thought didn't matter, but it still made him think.

Next, Leone. "Flareon."

Leona knew she had a fire in her heart, but from what she heard, a Flareon was the weakest of her evolution choices. Plus, she was already named after her great uncle Leone, who was also a Flareon, and she didn't want to be even more like him. It wasn't that she didn't like Leone, it was that her name was basically his name with one letter changed. She wanted to be her own pokemon, but if everyone thought that she was a Flareon, how could she?

Then, Jason. "Vaporeon."

That feeling ate at him. He already knew it was coming before Carson even said it. He was a swimmer, one of the best, almost as fast as a water type. His swim friends, his coach, even his parents had all mentioned it. He didn't think it was a bad evolution. In fact, one of his top choices was a Vaporeon, but why didn't anyone say Glaceon or Jolteon or Espeon. It was because no one had seen him on the ice, or running, or how good his grades were. Swimming was what he did, but maybe it wasn't the only thing he was good at.

Finally, Stephanie. "Sylveon."

She felt indifferent toward what her predicted evolution would be, partially because she didn't really care what other pokemon thought she would be, and partially because she was considering all evolutions. Before, Steph was going to wait until after she found out what the test said before choosing, but lately with her brother and cousins worrying about it, she had been forced to think about it. However, she wasn't worried, which made them think she didn't care. But, there wasn't any use in worrying. Besides, she thought a Sylveon suited her. It was beautiful and graceful, but ferocious and strong. Plus, those ribbon-like appendages could come quite in handy.

"Is that really what's going around?" Liam asked with a slightly disappointed voice.

The Rockruff nodded his head. "Ever since your birthday party a few weeks ago."

"Have they been talking about me and Steph longer?" Jason asked, his ears perking up.

"Not really," Kai answered. "You're only two weeks older than Leona and Liam, and everyone just kinda blends you guys together."

"Guys, stop worrying," Steph said through a mouthful of food.

Leona growled, frustrated. "How can you not be worried? Evolution is something you can't undo. It lasts for the rest of your life."

"I'm not worried because all of our evolutions are great!" She smiled brightly, causing her pink tipped bangs to fall between her eyes. "A Flareon is passionate and has a fire in its heart. A Leafeon is graceful and calm, but can hit hard. A Vaporeon is fast on land and water and its calming look throws opponents off in battle. And a Sylveon is beautiful and has an advantage with its stretchy ribbons. I'm not worried because no matter what evolution I get, it's going to be great."

"You know," Carson added in. "My mom was worried about her evolution too."

"How?" Leona asked. "She only had one thing to evolve into."

"Believe it or not, pokemon with only one evolution have trouble coping with that." The Riolu raised an eyebrow at the red furred Eevee. "She wanted to evolve into a Gallade, not a Gardevoir, but only a male Kirlia can evolve into a Gallade."

"Oh, I think my grandpa told me this story," Liam stated excitedly, his ears popping up. "And the Crysti Xerneas gave her let her evolve into a Gallade."

"I think it's so sweet how Luca and Kila got married," Steph hummed with a bright smile. "They were best friends since they were little and they were both Gemini. I just-"

The loud clatter of a dropped tray silenced the lunchroom as Steph fell backwards off the seat when someone pulled her from behind. Unfortunately, her paw was on her own red lunch tray when she was pulled, and when she fell she dragged it with her. The brown Eevee landed on her stomach on top of someone else, and the tray landed upside down on her. Her berry salad landed all over her fur, and some on the pokemon under her. Another unfortunate accident was the other pokemon's blue and sticky Oran berry sauce that got all over both of them.

The Eevee stood up carefully, trying to avoid stepping on the silver body she landed on, and immediately noticed the stickiness of her paws. She backed away, giving the other pokemon a chance to stand up, and saw her legs, paws, and collar covered in blue, yellow, and purple berry splotches. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw more of the berries smashed against the rest of her body.

"I am so sorry."

Steph shook her head and smiled, flicking her wrist to get the berries off. She turned her head and met her blue eyes with his deep green ones. Under all the berry stains, the Eevee had a shiny, silver pelt with a pure white collar and tipped tail.

Then, she felt something deep in her heart. It sparked an instinct deep inside and told her something about this pokemon in front of her. Something clicked in her mind, and she suddenly felt the need to pull an Iron Tail out and begin battling. Not in the violent type way, as if she were mad about being knocked over, but more in the she-was-pumped-up-for-battle type way. It was the same feeling she got before a battle tournament where her heart rate sped up and she was ready to release some energy. However, she felt more energy being generated in her heart, so she tightened her paws to contain it.

"Hey," she greeted, completely pushing aside the feeling as if it didn't exist, "you're Leonardo, aren't you?"

"Yeah, yeah," he agreed, clearly distracted. He wiped some berries from his face and quickly grabbed a few napkins from the ground. Instead of wiping his own paws off, he gently picked up Steph's paw and began cleaning it off. "I am so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going."

"It's fine. It's just berries. They'll wash off."

Leonardo let go off her paw and frowned, seeing that he hadn't really gotten anything off. "I'm really sorry." He noticed that there was silence and looked around, seeing a lot of pokemon staring at them. "C'mon guys! You've only got a few minutes till next period. Go enjoy your lunches."

And with that, everyone immediately diverted their attention and continued on with their day. Steph chuckled and pointed out, "Looks like we drew a lot of attention to ourselves."

"It was my fault. I should've been looking at where I was going."

"It's fine, Leonardo. I'm really okay."

He smiled. "You can just call me Leo."

"Okay, Leo."

Just as the words left her mouth, the bell went off, signalling the end of lunch. Leo sighed and dragged his paw across his face. "I am so sorry. Now you have to go to class all sticky and-"

"Leo!" Steph nearly shouted to get him to stop apologizing. "I am okay. My next teacher will probably let me go to the locker room and wash off, and if she doesn't then I guess she'll have to clean one of her desks after school."

Leo chuckled and picked up his bag, carefully placing the strap on his shoulder. "Tell you what, I'll bring you some homemade apple pie tomorrow."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "We don't have school tomorrow."

"Oh, right. Well I'll bring you some when we get back from break."

As he turned to walk away, she caught him. "Wait, actually." He stopped and turned, still listening with attentive eyes. "My friends and I are going into the city tomorrow night, so do you want to come? You could bring me that apple pie."

"That sounds great, but I can't. My mom and I already have plans."

Steph wasn't concerned about getting to class. "Sorry, one more question."

"Name it."

"Are you taking the evolution test next week. I mean, you don't have to take it to evolve and you don't have to evolve into what it says."

"I know, and I think I am going."

"Great! Then I'll see you there."

The shiny Eevee began walking away. "Looking forward to it, Lawless. And great job at your battle."

Steph thanked him as she turned around to see her brother standing there. Jason smiled at her and gestured to all the different colored spots on her fur. "You wanna rinse off in the locker room before class?"

She was somewhat relieved that he didn't ask what the conversation with Leo was about. She didn't want to be teased.

"Nah." She shook her head and picked up her backpack. "We've only got two more classes left. I'll deal with it until I get home."

While she walked to class with Jason, she wondered one thing, something that had never crossed her mind before. It didn't even occur to her that she was thinking about it. Did Leonardo think she would evolve into a Sylveon?

…

Liam was a good student, he really was, but today he could not pay attention. It also didn't help that this was the last class of the day, and that his sister and cousins were in this class. He knew that he should be listening attentively and taking good notes, considering that this was the class where the teacher decided to make it her job to ruin students' vacations and give them a test the day they came back from break.

"You bored?" Leona asked in a hushed voice.

"Yes," Liam replied, placing his head face down on his desk and sighing.

"Just be glad you aren't Steph," Jason snickered. "Bored, covered in berries, and getting a complaint from Mrs. Sandomir."

"I can hear you, ya know." Steph whispered over her shoulder.

Jason winked at her. "You know you love me too much to be mad."

The Eevee with pink fur simply smiled, shook her head, and turned her head back toward the front of the room.

"Why is she giving us a test on this?" Leona whined. "Mrs. Sandomir acts like it's the most important thing in the world to know what herbs and berries do. When are we ever going to use this?"

"Well, actually," Liam began, prepared to give a small speech about his range of knowledge, "these are actually good things to know if you ever get lost in the woods. And it's not just on herbs and berries, it's also on evolution and-"

"Liam Rose!"

The Eevee with green fur nearly jumped out of his seat when the sharp voice from the Roserade reached his ears. She sounded angry and harsh, which caused his stomach to sink when she shouted his name.

"Just because you happen to have the name of a plant does not mean you can ignore my lesson and pass my class without studying."

"Sorry Mrs. Sandomir," he apologized quickly, hoping she would drop it and continue to teach.

"Sorry isn't going to do it this time." She picked up a pen, turned on the projector so it shined on the dry erase board, and called him up. "C'mon. I want you to start answering the questions on the study guide IN complete sentences right in front of everyone."

Liam groaned quietly so the teacher wouldn't hear and stood up, doing his best to hide his uncaring body language and sleepiness. He took the pen and sat down at the desk next to hers. As he began writing, the machine projected his words onto the wall. No one was paying attention to him because they all started their own study guides as well and had their eyes on their papers. No one wanted to take this home to do over break.

To Liam, the questions were easy. Unlike the other pokemon who were using their notes and books to find the answers, he was easily able to answer without anything. He finished the study guide within ten minutes, even when he had to write in complete sentences. Everyone else sighed when Mrs. Sandomir told them to put down their pens and pencils.

"Are you confident enough in your answers to say them aloud to the class?" the Roserade asked.

"Yes ma'am," Liam responded, knowing she wanted him to say no so he would supposedly learn his lesson from talking in class.

Mrs. Sandomir, disregarding one of her students, picked up his paper and began reading the questions. "Question one: what kind of berry can return a pokemon's fur to its natural color? Explain."

"Trick question," Liam responded nearly monotone, annoyed with his teacher. He cleared his throat, pretending his tone was because of his throat. "Apricots, not berries, can return fur to its natural color because the minerals inside them draw out the minerals used in dye. As an added fun fact: it's better to use apricots of the same color as the fur, but it's not required."

She scowled at the paper, but Liam knew it was meant for him. "Question two: name all berries that cure status conditions and which conditions they cure."

"Cheri berry: paralysis. Chesto: confusion. Pecha: poison. Rawst: burn. Aspear: freeze. And Persim: confusion."

He answered all the questions on the study guide correctly, only adding to Mrs. Sandomir's anger. She hated students who talked in class just because they knew everything, but she couldn't really get mad at them because they knew all the information.

"Last question: how does an Eevee evolve into each of its evolutions?"

Ready to go back to his seat and to stopped being called out by his teacher, he answered quickly. "Jolteon, Flareon, and Vaporeon all require special evolutionary stones. Leafeon requires touching a special kind of moss and Glaceon a special kind of ice. Espeon requires exposure to a certain type of sun rays, an Umbreon a certain kind of moonlight, and a Sylveon requires two factors: knowing a fairy type move and the other is unknown."

The Roserade sent the Eevee back to his seat, saying she should give him a detention, but not giving him one. Steph and Jason both smiled at him, and Leona winked and said, "Nice job." Liam smiled, sighed, and sat down at his desk. Like the rest of his family, he was ready for break.