Following an intense showdown at Zas Gym, Ash earned a Dark Badge! In even more surprising news, Ash discovered an abandoned/injured Eevee on the side of the road. Now with a new ally in Eevee, and seven badges at his side, Ash is more excited than ever to face the Pokemon League.
Eevee, Growlithe, and Riolu were sprinting around like wild children.
Ash smiled at his young Pokemon, all of whom had grown remarkably in the short time he'd had them.
As he and his friends, Misty and Anthony, sat down for lunch, Ash thought of his badges. Element. Earth. Boulder. Cascade. Ghost. Marsh. Dark.
Four of those badges he'd already obtained on his previous journey through the Kanto region, three of them had come from gyms that hadn't even existed all those years ago when he started his journey.
"We should probably let our other Pokemon out of their Pokeballs," Misty commented before Ash could dig in to the lunch Anthony had prepared for them.
Ash nodded as he released Dewgong and Electabuzz, watching Misty do the same with her Pokemon.
Her party consisted only of three Pokemon at the moment, as she'd been hoping to catch more on her journey. Nevertheless, she didn't go anywhere without her young Eevee, her powerful Golduck, and faithful Starmie.
Anthony had his trusty fighting Pokemon, Hitmonchan, at his side. But he also had a more recent catch in Hitmontop, whom he said he found in last month's vacation to the Johto Region with his family.
Misty found herself without much of an appetite as Ash devoured everything Anthony put in front of him. She smiled slightly, thinking of her many adventures with the boy in the red and white cap. He'd been a kid back then, heck, so had she. But that never stopped them from ending up with the fate of the cosmos on their shoulders.
After they ate, the three trainers recalled their Pokemon and restarted their travels.
"Misty, you doing okay?" Ash asked casually as they walked.
"Yeah, why?" She replied, trying to sound equally casual.
"I noticed you hadn't eaten much lunch. Are you feeling okay?" He couldn't have told you why, but his heart started to pound just a little bit harder as he noticed that he was walking slightly closer to Misty than he normally did.
"I just wasn't very hungry," Misty confessed, never daring to even think for a minute that her lack of appetite had anything to do with the butterflies she'd been feeling in the pit of her stomach nonstop since what happened in Cerulean Cave. The group happened to be traveling along a large rock formation when Misty noticed a rustle in the bushes, "Wait a minute."
"What is it?" Anthony asked.
In a flash, the group was drenched in water. A wild Wartortle appeared, danced mockingly by shaking its rear, and fired another Water Gun at Misty and her friends.
"That's a rotten Wartortle," Ash complained, using his hands to shield his face and Pikachu's. "Pikachu use—"
But Misty cut him off, "Go Eevee!"
Misty's Eevee popped out of her pokeball and stood at the ready.
"Tackle attack!" Misty called, to which Eevee immediately obeyed.
Wartortle was so caught up in the bask of gloating that it didn't see Eevee coming. A direct hit sent the semi-evolved Pokemon into the trunk of a nearby tree.
"WARTORTLE!" The water Pokemon protested before dipping into its shell for a Hydro Pump attack.
"Eevee, take to the trees!" Misty commanded, to which her small Pokemon obeyed immediately.
Wartortle fired a powerful Water Gun that kept getting slowed down by branches that smashed and fell to the ground from such force.
"That Wartortle's really tough," Ash commented.
"It's unlikely that this Pokemon evolved out here in the wild, it's fighting like it has experience." Anthony pointed out.
"Eevee, use Take Down from the trees!" Eevee leaped out of the trees and smacked into an unsuspecting Wartortle hard from behind, running him over, before scratching him five consecutive times.
"War—" Wartortle groaned as it collapsed onto the ground,"tortle..."
"Goooo Pokeball!" Misty proclaimed excitedly, hurling the ball without delay. The ball collided with Wartortle, shaking once... then twice... a third time...
Wartortle broke free!
"What?" Ash exclaimed.
"No way!" Misty couldn't believe her eyes.
Wartortle let out another Water Gun which pushed Eevee all the way into the rock wall with tremendous power for a Pokemon of its evolutionary state.
"WARTORTLE!" Wartortle seemed to complain, before turning to flee.
"HEY!" Misty called. "I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU!"
Eevee chased after Wartortle with Misty following closely.
"Don't let him get away!" Misty told Eevee from ten paces back.
Misty skidded to a stop at the edge of a small pool beneath a waterfall. She looked up and the miracle of nature and wondered how she could get up to where she hypothesized the Wartortle to have gone off too.
"Where'd he go?" Misty looked around. Eevee sniffed around the edge of the small pond and before either of them could react, Wartortle leaped out of the water and dragged Eevee in. "NO! EEVEE!" She dived into the water, momentarily forgetting about her water Pokemon as her Eevee was now in a potentially fatal situation and sheer panic overwhelmed her.
Eevee was squirming against the strong grip of Wartortle, who refused to let go of the small Pokemon's tail. Wartortle started swimming towards the waterfall, clearly with the intent of climbing up it.
Misty followed for as long as she could hold her breath, surfacing for air just long enough to shout, "GOLDUCK! I NEED YOU!"
Her timeless companion, Golduck, having long since evolved from its relatively-useless Psyduck phase, popped out of its Pokeball on command and appeared at the top of the waterfall, waiting for Wartortle to reach him.
"Use Water Pulse!" Misty called out from the bottom of the waterfall. Golduck showed Wartortle what it was made of with a rapid display of its power, sending Wartortle crashing to the bottom of the pool. Eevee went spiraling into the air, but Misty made a call, "USE PSYCHIC!"
Using its psychic powers, Golduck landed Eevee safely in the arms of a trainer that loved her dearly.
"Good job, Golduck!" Ash cheered from the sideline.
Wartortle broke the surface of the water angrily, challenging Eevee once again.
Misty swam to the side of the pond and contemplated having Golduck overpower Wartortle.
"Eevee!" Eevee barked daringly, jumping out of Misty's arms and daring Wartortle to step out of the water. The Pokemon left its haven and the battle resumed.
Wartortle used Rock Tomb!
Eevee was nearly crushed beneath the falling rocks, but managed to pull herself out from the dangerous area.
"Eevee! Eevee! EEVEE!" Eevee began to glow.
"What's happening?" Ash asked, having never seen an Eevee evolve without a stone although he was aware it was possible under specific conditions.
"Eevee!" Eevee called out as Wartortle tried for a Surf attack.
Eevee leaped into the air and evolved into a light blue Pokemon that didn't look like Umbreon or Espeon.
"That's a Glaceon!" Anthony exclaimed.
"Glaceon?" Ash and Misty said at the same time, right before Ash pulled out Dexter to fill him in.
"Glaceon, the fresh snow Pokemon, and the evolved form of Eevee. Eevee evolves into Glaceon when it levels up near ice rock. By controlling its body temperature, it can freeze the atmopshere around it."
"Sounds cool," Misty declared triumphantly, balling her fists like she was about to fight. She punched the air, "Glaceon, use ICE BEAM!"
Wartortle tried to use Water Gun but the stream of water was frozen solid and landed with a loud crash as the ice cracked on the ground.
"Tackle it!"
Glaceon charged forward, knocking the Warortle into the pond. Wartortle snuck into its shell and used Hydro Pump, sending Glaceon sliding back.
"Try your Icy Wind," said Misty.
Wartortle fell back into the water, floating up and not moving. Golduck used his powers to wash Wartortle onto shore gently, so as to not affect the outcome of the battle any more than he already had with Water Pulse earlier.
She recalled her faithful partner, and muttered, "Let's try this again," before tossing her empty Pokeball at the unconscious Pokemon.
Wartortle went into the Pokeball, which shook several times before blinking its acceptance.
"YES!" Misty screamed, running up and grabbing the Pokeball. "You did great Glaceon!"
It took her several minutes to calm down about Eevee's unexpected evolution before Ash reminded her that she should introduce Wartortle to the rest of her Pokemon.
"Right," Misty agreed before releasing Wartortle, Starmie, and Golduck once more. Once the four of her Pokemon were acquainted, Ash introduced Wartortle to his own Pokemon that the new addition would be traveling with.
Wartortle seemed to get along well with the other Pokemon, but appeared to be disgruntled about something.
"Did you used to have a trainer little guy?" Misty asked Wartortle.
"Wartortle," the Pokemon shook his head 'no'.
"You're pretty strong for a wild Pokemon," Misty confessed.
"Yeah, you battled really great." Ash agreed. "We should totally have a practice battle one day soon."
Wartortle gave a small smile.
"What's wrong with him Pikachu?" Ash asked his little yellow friend.
"Pika, Pikachu?"
"Wartortle," Wartortle spread its little arms out as wide as he possibly could.
"I think maybe he wants to evolve," Anthony suggested. "He thought that battling would help him become a Blastoise."
Wartortle nodded fiercely before chattering its name.
"Wait a minute," Ash said, plucking a small stone out from between Wartortle's skin and shell. "What's this?"
"If I'm not mistaken..." Anthony began, scratching his chin and not finishing his statement.
"What is it, Anthony?"
"That's a small Everstone," Anthony concluded finally.
"An Everstone?" Misty asked, petting her new Wartortle.
Ash pulled out Dexter again and had him scan the stone, "The Everstone: a rare stone used to stop Pokemon from evolving."
"A stone that stops Pokemon from evolving?" Ash asked, holding the stone gingerly.
"That's probably why Wartortle couldn't evolve into Blastoise," Misty realized. "As long as he was near that stone, it was stopping his evolution."
"But aren't the effects permanent?" Anthony asked Ash warily.
"It doesn't say specifically," Ash commented, reading every word that Dexter had. It never said the word "permanent" or any other synonym, but it was starting to feel that way.
"If it is, then Wartortle can never evolve." Misty whispered.
"Wartortle," the small Pokemon hung its head.
"Oh it's okay," Misty said, affectionately patting him on the head. "We'll figure this out, I promise."
UH-OH, Misty's new Wartortle wants to evolve! But did the Everstone do irreversible damage? What will come in our heroes next steps of their journey? Stay tuned...
Yes, when you use an Everstone in the game a Pokemon is unable to evolve. However, what happens if you give a Pokemon an Everstone to hold? Can it still evolve? Hmmm? I noticed there was a difference in using an Everstone and giving it to a Pokemon to hold. So, I'm using that technical difference and giving my own insight.
Remember in the anime, using a stone DOESN'T make it disappear as it does in the game. I like to use both as focal points for information on this fanfic, however I do have to make some executive decisions regarding which piece of conflicting information to follow.
However, I will say that I have already decided if Wartortle will evolve or not. This was simply a Misty-centered chapter to take a small break from Ash's journey.
So, I guess we'll see you next time!
I hope you have a wonderful 2018!
