Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon (but I do have almost all the games!)
A/N: Thanks for the continuing encouragement from my reviewers! It's nice to know that people are enjoying my work, because I just love writing. Please, do continue to review to let me know how you think the story is progressing!
Chapter Eight: All That Glitters
The girls covered little ground over the next three days as the thunderstorm continued. Eventually they found a small cave created by a rock slide some years before, and decided to wait the storm out there – it would give them time to dry most of their clothing.
"Ugh!" Kamari shot through the mouth of the cave carrying a pile of damp sticks just as another downpour started. "Haven't you got that fire started yet?"
Alyssandra just gave her a Look. "Well it would help if I had DRY wood to work with!" she shot back. The weather was making them both testy.
Kamari rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well why don't YOU go out there in the rain and see how much dry wood YOU can find!" and she dropped the pile next to the fire pit they had dug. Aly gave up as another match died, throwing her hands up in the air. "This is getting us nowhere!"
Kamari sat, leaning against a wall. "Why don't you try using Helios' ember on it? It's worth a try."
Aly chewed her bottom lip, and unclipped the pokeball from her belt. "Yeah it could work….but you've seen what he's like around us. Plus how can I convey what I want him to do?"
"You could hold your hand up and wiggle your fingers so it kind of looks like flames," Kamari suggested. Aly rolled her eyes. "That is SO not going to work."
"Well how about pointing at the fire pit?" Kamari suggested, annoyed at Alyssandra's negative attitude.
"Hmmm. That might work. IF we can get him to come close enough." Aly sighed. "Time to back away." She motioned for Kamari to move to the back of the cave and tossed the pokeball. Helios appeared and whinnied in fright at the dark surrounds, pawing the ground with his hooves.
Aly used her hands to wave in front of her lightly in an attempt to tell the Ponyta everything was okay. Then she put an apple on the ground and stepped back to join Kamari at the back of the cave.
The Ponyta tossed his head nervously and stepped forward to grab the apple. It was the closest Aly had been able to get to him since she caught him, and she was still three metres away. Helios watched her carefully, every muscle tense. Slowly Aly pointed to the fire pit filled with damp wood behind him.
Helios followed her finger, then looked back at her uncomprehendingly, and snorted. Once again Aly pointed at the fire pit, then held her hand up and wiggled her fingers. Kamari raised an eyebrow.
The Ponyta took one step towards the fire pit and looked at Aly again. She used her hands to urge him to keep going. He took one tentative step after another until he was standing next to the fire pit, and turned to watch her.
She smiled at him encouragingly, hoping he would trust her. Then she tapped her lips with a finger, and pointed at the pit again. Helios bared his teeth at the fire pit. Aly shook her head slowly, and repeated the movement, this time adding a blowing motion.
The Ponyta's ears pricked, and he opened his mouth to deliver a strong ember attack at the wood in the pit. "YES!" Aly shouted, punching the air as the wood caught alight, and startling Helios, whoshot backwards tothe mouth of the cave. "Oh damn." She lowered her arms slowly, annoyed at herself for upsetting him. "I've run out of apples!"
"Here try this." Kamari dug through her backpack and pulled out a couple sugar cubes. She slowly took three steps forward and put the cubes on the ground. Helios sniffed the air as Kamari returned to the back of the cave. He shot forward and lipped the sugar, body still tense with nervousness.
Kamari grinned at Aly, who looked relieved. "That was really impressive!" Kamari said. Aly grinned back at her. "I'm glad it worked coz I was running out of ideas!" The two laughed softly as their tension eased with the warmth of the fire.
Helios had taken a step towards them without Aly noticing. Kamari did though, and put another sugar cube on the ground, this time only one metre from them. Aly smiled at the Ponyta, trying to convey safety and friendship in her expression. It took a while for Helios to step closer, and both Kamari and Aly held their breath as he did.
He was so close they could have reached out and touched him. Aly tried to. Helios, quick as a flash, danced backwards, whinnying and rearing, slamming his hooves on the rocky floor. The roof of the cave shook slightlyand rock fragments showered Kamari, Aly and Helios. Aly looked apprehensively at the ceiling, which still held firmly, while Kamari bent down, picking something out of the debris on the floor. Helios kept tossing his head and pawing the ground.
Aly called the distressed pokemon back to his ball and shook the dust and small rocks out of her pink curls. Kamari was still kneeling on the ground, rubbing the dirt off an object the length and width of her finger.
"Hey, what did you find?" Aly asked curiously, still dusting herself off.
"Not sure." Kamari walked over to the fire to get a better look at the hard reddish object. She held it to the light of the fire and the stone glowed a ruby red in her hand. "Whatever it is, it's really pretty!" Kamari exclaimed, examining it from all angles.
Aly just stared at it. "Kami! That's a fire stone, I'm sure of it!" She grabbed Kamari's wrist to have a closer look. "I was right!" she said excitedly. "Look!" and she pointed at the very centre of the stone.
Kamari frowned as she saw a tiny flame dancing inside the stone. "Are you sure that's not the reflection of the fire?" she asked doubtfully.
"No, I'm positive this is a fire stone. They're really rare Kami! Go check your Eevee book!"
"My Eevee book?" Kamari said, not quite understanding.
Aly slapped her forehead. "Did your brain blow a fuse in the rain? Three of Eevee's evolutions are through stones like this one."
Kamari's eyes widened and she grabbed her backpack, rummaging through it frantically. She found the book and flipped it open, scanning page after page.
"Here!" She pointed at the bottom half of one page. There was a photo of a stone similar to the one she had found, accompanied by a paragraph of text.
"An Eevee can evolve into the fire pokemon Flareon (see chapter 13)if it comes into contact with a fire stone (pic 3). Fire stones, like water and thunder stones (see previous page) are very hard to come by, and are always in demand.
To evolve an Eevee into a Flareon, Vaporeon (water stone) or Jolteon (thunder stone), trainers can save money to buy the required stone from a specialist store, however due to the high cost of purchasing one of these stones, many trainers prefer to evolve their Eevees into the psychic pokemon Espeon, or the dark pokemon Umbreon (see chapter 15).
An Eevee only has to have physical contact with a fire stone to evolve into a Flareon. It is recommended by pokemon specialists that this is not done until the Eevee is appropriately bonded with its trainer, and is at least a Level 15. This is because a trainer may find it difficult to handle the temperamental nature of a Flareon if they do not have a close relationship (for more on bonding, see chapter 3)."
Kamari looked up at Aly, her eyes sparkling. "This is SO COOL!" she squealed. Aly was green with envy. "Guess that makes us even then. I caught the elusive Ponyta, and you scored yourself a free firestone," Aly said. She rubbed her nose. "Although, with an Eevee, you ARE the best person to find one!" she laughed.
Kamari carefully stowed away the firestone in her backpack and started spreading out her damp clothes to dry. Aly began to do the same. "So do you think you'll evolve him soon?" she asked Kamari.
"I don't know. I'd have to see what Calin wants to do," Kamari said, placing a pot on the fire and emptying a can of spaghetti into it. "I wouldn't want to evolve him if he didn't want to. But wow a Flareon! That would be so cool."
Aly yawned loudly, unrolling her sleeping bag next to the fire. "I'm beat. But at least I got Helios to do what I asked. Hey, thanks for the help with that."
"No probs, I'm just glad he came so close," Kamari said, and started to thumb through her book to read up on Flareons. Aly grinned, knowing Kamari would stay awake for ages reading now. "Night," she said, snuggling into her sleeping bag and promptly falling asleep. "Mmm" Kamari mumbled, concentrating on the book. Between the flick of pages turning, the only othersounds were the rain beating downoutside and the crackling of the fire.
A/N: Okay, so I always wanted her Eevee to evolve into a Flareon...I just had to figure out how she was going to get a hold of the stone! I did mention that Flareon is a temperamental pokemon. This is because as an element, fire can be both soothing and scathing, so I matched the elemental properties of fire to the temperament of a Flareon. But we all know Kamari's Eevee is just toooooo sweet to be reallytemperamental ;) . I listed Level 15 as the lowest level to evolve an Eevee into a Flareon because a Flareon learns Ember at Level 16. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the latest chapter! Please review review review! Laters!