~ Chapter 77 ~
Triple Evolution, The Two Mysterious Stones
"The discussion between Alyssandra and myself had led me to both a physical and figurative chasm. We fell through the snow and landed in a chasm within the ice that was hidden by the landscape. But my heart and stomach, and my mind, had fallen into a pit of despair. She hadn't spoken to me much since our last discussion, either like she was avoiding me, or trying not to talk to me. I didn't know if I had done something, or if she was merely preoccupied with focusing on protecting the Lake Guardian of Lake Acuity. I didn't know, but I was worried either way. In agony every time I saw her, and I found it harder to sleep at night. Children, love makes you do strange things. Most of the time, if you feel like I do about Lyss towards a girl, you're probably going too far, too soon. With Lyss though? Well...I probably should've said something sooner."
Sam woke up quickly, head aching, back hurting; his vision was still swimming and blurry. But his first priority was running over to check on Alyssandra.
He shook her gently, rolling her over.
The two landed on snow, but a fall several feet into a chasm was still a fall several feet into a chasm.
Luckily for Sam, Alyssandra roused easily, her eyes opened, staring right into Sam.
She groaned, confirmed she was all right, but a little sore.
Sam helped her up and the two began collecting the belongings that had fallen out of their bags.
"Lucky the snow was there to catch us," commented Alyssandra.
"Lucky Lucario knows where we are, saw that we fell, and is likely on his way here to get us with the others," added Sam.
Alyssandra nodded. "Would Empoleon be able to cut us out?"
Sam had only brought Empoleon and Rampardos with him, leaving his other Pokémon safe back at camp.
Empoleon are Pokémon from the frigid northern areas of the world, living on ice floes, using their steel wings to cleave icebergs.
Rampardos was a truck that could smash through most things with its head and knew Flamethrower.
Lucario was out as well, but on his own doing recon.
Garchomp was a Dragon and Ground type Pokémon, and was not the best equipped for the ice and snow as a result.
Luxray and Staraptor faced a similar typing issue to Garchomp, and just weren't prepared for weather like this.
For some reason, Sam had brought his Rapidash and two Eevee with him. He couldn't explain why he had done that, but he had.
Alyssandra had left her Pokémon back at camp as well, except for her Piplup and her Eevee.
"He could, but I don't want to risk causing another cave in by moving snow from below out of the way," explained Sam, "We're better off waiting for Lucario and the others, rather than burying ourselves in worse."
As Sam continued to pick up the small stones from Alyssandra's bag to return to her, Alyssandra called to Sam, pointing ahead, further down the chasm they were in.
"What's up?" asked Sam, picking up the cool, mossy, green stone that Alyssandra had been carrying around since Eterna Forest.
Sam looked up to see a giant icy, crystalline stone protruding from the ground of the cave.
It sparkled like the biggest diamond Sam had ever seen, and light trickled down from a hole in the snow above to make the light refract through it.
Sam's mind suddenly clicked as he realized what that was.
"That's an Ice Rock!" exclaimed Sam, then he looked at the stone in his hand, "The Moss Rock too…I knew I recognized it from somewhere!"
"The what and what?" asked Alyssandra, confused.
"My uncle taught me about this when I was younger," explained Sam, "Learning about Eevee and evolutionary stones is like, Pokémon Breeding one-o-one. You know how Eevee evolve based on the circumstances provided to them?"
"Yeah!" exclaimed Alyssandra, starting to catch on to what Sam was saying, "If you give Eevee a Fire Stone, it becomes a Flareon, a Water Stone for Vaporeon, and a Thunder Stone turns it into Jolteon."
"Precisely!" continued Sam, "Deepening the bond between you and your Eevee during the day makes it become an Espeon, and during the night for Umbreon."
"There are two other evolutions, aren't there?" asked Alyssandra.
"Yes," continued Sam, "And that's where these stones come in. They're very rare, only a few locations in the world produce them. The Ice Rock has been known to occur in caves in Northern Sinnoh, like this one, Twist Mountain in Unova, and the lowest reaches of Shoal Cave in Hoenn. The Moss Rock occurs in caves and deep-forested areas, so far it's been sighted in Pinwheel Forest in Unova, Petalburg Woods in Hoenn, and Eteran Forest."
"So you're saying that these stones—" started Alyssandra.
"Will evolve our Eevee into either Leafeon or Glaceon," finished Sam definitively.
There was a pause as Sam and Alyssandra looked at each other. Their eyes locked. Alyssandra smiled, and then spoke.
"So, do you want to evolve your Eevee then?" asked Alyssandra.
"I hadn't decided yet but…if my Eevee are up for it," stated Sam, "I suppose, while we're waiting, right?"
"How do you want to evolve your Eevee?" asked Sam, "It's your Moss Rock, so I guess—"
"Oh no!" cried Alyssandra, "I just kept it because I thought it looked cool…I think I'd rather have Glaceon."
"Are you sure?" asked Sam.
Alyssandra nodded and released her Eevee.
The small brown Pokémon walked over to the Ice Rock with a look of awe and wonder, as if it was drawn there genetically.
"Are you sure you want to evolve, Eevee?" asked Alyssandra.
The Pokémon nodded and reached out, placing a paw on the Ice Rock. In a flash of white light, the Pokémon filled the cavern. A chill wind of ice and frost blew through the cavern, and as the light dispelled, a Glaceon was standing where the Eevee once stood.
Alyssandra picked up her hugged her Pokémon, though she could feel the chill of ice and cold start to run through her as she did.
Sam looked down at his own two Eevee. The twins hatched from a single egg, may both very well evolve into separate Pokémon now. They would always be siblings regardless.
There was something beautiful about it.
"So, you two get to choose now," explained Sam to his Pokémon, "Do you want to evolve into Glaceon, or Leafeon?"
The two Eevee looked at him, their eyes big, adorable, and seemingly blank. Sam knew deep down though they understood.
He walked over to the Ice Rock and walked a few feet to the left.
On the ground, just outside of the ring if frost and ice that formed around the Ice Rock, Sam placed the Moss Rock, and then looked back at his Eevee.
"I let you choose," explained Sam, "You can choose how you evolve, if you even want to in the first place."
The two Eevee inched their way to the two rocks slowly. They were wary, precarious. They sniffed both rocks and looked at each other, then Sam, then to Alyssandra's Glaceon that stood there, at her trainer's heels, tail swaying gently.
The chamber remained silent as the two Eevee puzzled and chose.
Finally, they chose.
Sam's male Eevee inched towards the Moss Rock, while his female Eevee inched towards the Ice Rock.
Blinding light once more filled the cavern.
A warm breeze from a summer day, with the smell of flowers and woodlands mixed with the chilled, icy wind of a winter storm and blew throughout the cavern.
As the two opposing winds subsided, Sam looked down to see a male Leafeon, and a female Glaceon. His Eevee had evolved.
One Leafeon, one Glaceon.
Sam smiled, kneeling down to pat his Pokémon on their heads. They brushed their head against his hand.
After a little while, loving up on his Pokémon, Sam returned them to their Poké Balls and turned back to Lyss, who was returning her Pokémon back to her Poké Ball as well.
The two stood there, smiling, happy, a sense of calm washing over them.
For all they were trapped together in a chasm, at least help was on the way, and they had just witnessed a truly beautiful thing.
"What a warm and fuzzy feeling that gives you," noted Alyssandra.
"Reminds me of when we used to sit out by the fire pit at your place during the summers, before I left to work on the ranch," explained Sam, "Same warm fuzzy feelings. When you used to play the guitar, or the ukulele, and you'd sing us songs, and we'd all sing together sometimes."
"You remember that?" asked Alyssandra, her face going a bright shade of pink.
"It wasn't that long ago," laughed Sam, "Of course I remember. Some of my favourite memories are those nights…I've heard Le vie en rose a hundred times before I'd heard you sing it, but to this day, your version is still my favourite."
Alyssandra's face went bright red.
"How many instruments did you play, anyway? Seemed like you were always spending your free time after school learning some instrument or singing," asked Sam.
Alyssandra crossed her eyes and began muttering under her breath as she counted the amount of instruments on her fingers.
"Piano, Cello, Violin, Guitar, Mandolin, Ukulele, and there were those few Shamisen classes I once took—oh and I sing, of course!" concluded Alyssandra, "My parents also let me learn fencing, karate, and Rapidash riding."
"Did they force it on you, or was that your choice?" asked Sam, genuinely curious how one human could do all of that and not explode.
"My choice," smiled Alyssandra, "I genuinely enjoyed it. Rapidash riding was fun, I'm thankful for my own Rapidash…you and your uncle gave me back a piece of freedom I'd been missing."
"How come we never knew about the Rapidash riding, karate or fencing?" asked Sam, "How did we miss that?"
Alyssandra shrugged. "No one ever asked."
"What about when my uncle asked you if you knew how to ride a Rapidash?" asked Sam, more confused now.
Alyssandra shrugged again. "I wasn't about to interrupt him," she explained, "And I was kinda embarrassed…besides, I used to do dressage and show jumping. I wasn't sure if ranch riding was any different than show riding."
Sam didn't know if Alyssandra was being cheeky or serious—though he guessed by the flesh of fire in her eyes it was cheeky.
"I can't imagine it's all that different," chuckled Sam, "Just less pretty, more dirty."
Sam came over to Alyssandra, something coming to mind as the two finally started talking again. "Hey, Lyss?" he asked.
Alyssandra nodded in response.
"You…you were going to say something before we fell down here," started Sam, "You don't happen to remember, do you?"
Sam had a feeling it was something important, and perhaps Alyssandra was either hesitating or delaying out of worry.
Something in his gut sunk, and needed to know what Alyssandra was going to say.
"Oh, I—yeah, yeah I remember," started Alyssandra, fumbling for the right words, "I was going to say—"
There was a scuffling above. The sound of boots in snow and snowpants swishing against itself started to ricochet off the walls.
Famliar voices echoed through the chasm.
Help was here.
Alyssandra immediately ran to the opening where they had fallen.
"Hello?" she cried up, "Jeremy, Niya, Lucario, is that you?"
"Pikaaaaa?" cried a Pikachu.
It was Jeremy's Pikachu.
They were saved!
"We're down here!" called Sam, pushing his discussion with Alyssandra out of his mind. Now was not the time, if anything, fate had decreed that now was not the time for Sam to know what Alyssandra wanted to say.
Fate would deem the time right when it was, and not a moment sooner.
Still, a part of Sam would be in agony, wondering, and thinking, what Alyssandra could possibly want to say.
Was she going to tell him off? Admit long buried feelings for Sam? Who knew—only Alyssandra really, to be fair.
"Boy are we glad to see you," Sam called up as the Jeremy's face appeared over the side of the ledge, Niya right behind him.
"Lucario told us you fell into a hole. You guys all right down there?" asked Niya.
"Well, we're not hurt, but we're not quite ready to move in just yet so if you wouldn't mind lowering a rope or something," Sam called up sarcastically.
Niya stuck her tongue out and called back to Lucario.
Within moments a rope had been lowered into the chasm, and Alyssandra and Sam made sure they had everything before taking turns tying themselves to the rope and being pulled out of the chasm.
It was an hour over all before they were pulled out and sitting back at base camp, a fire being started by Jeremy.
Sam and Alyssandra explained their ordeal down in the caves, and how they had discovered the Ice Rock.
Niya was impressed, and Jeremy made a note in his journal about the location of the Ice Rock—he said for future use.
Alyssandra and Sam managed to grab a few samples of the Ice Rock for the future, and they brought the Moss Rock back with them as well in case they'd need to evolve Eevee again in the future.
Sam might never know what Alyssandra had to say in that chasm, but as she fell asleep, resting her head against his shoulder as they sat by the fire with their friends, Sam wasn't going to complain.
The increased frequency of this wasn't an issue either.
Alyssandra would tell him when she was ready.
