Now that Davis has managed to win his second badge, our heroes are on their way to Hephas City so that he can earn his third badge. On their way, they got a call from someone that they might be able to assist.

"You see her anywhere?" Imperialdramon questioned.

"She said she was going to be around here." Davis said.

"Keep your eyes open. She might come out and surprise you like she did with me." Terra said.

"You all talking about me?" Tall of them got a little surprised as someone hang upside down from a tree branch.

"Professor Sassafras!" Davis said as they were all glad to see her once again.

I want to be the very best

Like no one ever was

To catch them is my real test

To train them is my cause

(Pokemon!)

Every challenge along the way

With courage I will face

I will battle every day to claim my rightful place

(Yeah!)

Pokemon

Gotta catch'em all

Oh, so true

Our courage will pull us through

You teach me, I'll teach you

Po-ke-mon

Pokémon

(Davis' voice): Zip It, Zipmunk

"Thank you for coming out here to aid me in my research." Professor Sassafras said as she dropped down from the tree. "Terra, it looks like you're doing good."

"I am. So is Pocub, and I managed to catch myself a Misdreavous." Terra said.

"That's good. Davis, what about you? How are your gym battles going?" Professor Sassafras asked.

"Great. I managed to get two badges already." Davis claimed. "Anyway, what are you doing out here? You said you might need our help with something."

"Yes. I'm out here to study the evolution line of Zipmunk." Professor Sassafras claimed. "I heard you can find many of them around here."

"Zipmunk? I'm not familiar with that pokemon." Cletus claimed.

"We'll, there's one right there." Professors Sassafras claimed as she pointed up a tree. All of them looked and saw a white chipmunk-like pokemon with yellow cheeks and a black bolt on its back.

"It looks so cute!" Terra said with Davis using his pokedex.

"Zipmunk, the Chipmunk Pokemon. An electric-type. Zipmunk rub their cheeks with their paws to build static electricity."

"Zipmunk!" Zipmunk took off and ran along the trees. Professor Sassafras followed after it with the others following after her. They followed the Zipmunk through the woods until it came down to the ground and just acted like any chipmunk would with the others watching it.

"So, you're trying to study its evolution? What does it evolve into?" Davis asked.

"Zipmunk has a branch evolution. That means it has two different evolve forms." Professor Sassafras claimed. "It can evolve into Pachirisu or Emolga."

"Pachirisu?" Davis said.

"Emolga?" Terra said. They both used their pokedexes to learn more.

"Emolga, the Sky Squirrel Pokemon. A flying and electric type. While it flies, Emolga crackles electricity in the air. It might be cute, but can cause trouble."

"Pachirisu, the EleSquirrel Pokemon. It makes electricity through the pouches on its cheeks, but can also release it through its tail."

"They're both so cute!" Terra said as she loved them.

"I didn't know those two even had other forms." Davis said. "You're saying they both come from the same pokemon?"

"That's right, and I'm trying to figure out what exactly causes Zipmunk to evolve into those two pokemon." Professor Sassafras claimed.

"Here comes another one." Imperialdramon claimed. They all saw another Zipmunk run down to the first one and that the two rubbed their cheeks together.

"What are they doing?" Cletus questioned.

"That's just how they greet each other." Professor Sassafras claimed.

"Wait. There's something on that other Zipmunk." Terra said as she spotted something red hanging off its ear.

"That's my doing. I tagged that Zipmunk earlier to aid in my research." Professor Sassafras claimed. "That reminds me, I better tag the other one. This way, if they both evolve into different pokemon, I'll be able to tell who is who." She gently walked over to not to scare the Zipmunk. When she was close enough, she put on some gloves and gently lifted one of the Zipmunk. "Don't worry. This isn't going to hurt." She claimed as she placed a green tag right on the other one. "There we go." After that, she put it down and they both just ran around.

"Now what?" Terra asked.

"Now, we just watch." Professor Sassafras claimed. "My theory is that don't require special items to evolve, but they don't evolve by being raised either."

"How do they do it then?" Cletus questioned.

"That's what we're going to find out." Professor Sassafras claimed.

"But there's no way to tell they're going to evolve in both. They could both evolve into the same one." Cletus said. "Evolution can be a little unpredictable. Take Wurmole to evolve. You can't really tell if it will evolve into a Silcoon or a Cascoon. Same with Eevee. It could evolve when it's really happy during the day, night, or knows a fairy-type move. Therefore, you get Umbreon, Sylveon, or Espeon; but you still can't quite predict the evolution."

"Perhaps. There's always unknown variables in research." Professor Sassafras said. "We'll just have to keep our eyes open."

"Looks like it's happening right now! Look!" Terra said as she spotted something. They all noticed the Zipmunk with the green tag jumping across the branches. Then, it started glowing and began to evolve. It jumped into the air and began to fly.

"Emolga!"

"It evolved into Emolga!" Cletus said as it just flew around.

"How did it evolve? All it did was just jump around on the branches." Imperialdramon said.

"Interesting. Maybe jumping like that has something to do with evolving into Emolga since Emolga are capable of flying." Professor Sassafras said.

"What about the other one?" Davis questioned. They looked and saw it didn't even look close to evolving. It just kept running around with it even running up Terra's legs and reached her head.

"It might not be close to evolving, but it's still really cute." Terra said as Zipmunk nuzzled against her face...only to get zapped and have her whole body go numb. "That part wasn't so cute." Terra claimed with her collapsing.

"What happened?" Davis questioned.

"It looks like it just used Nuzzle." Professor Sassafras claimed. "It made an electric shock when it nuzzled against Terra. That attack can cause paralysis."

"Terra, are you going to be okay?" Cletus asked as he helped her stand.

"I think so, but who knew something so small and adorable could pack such an electric shock." Terra said.

"So you need that other Zipmunk to evolve into Pachirisu for your research to be good. Any ideas as to how it can evolve into one?"

"I'm not sure." Professor Sassafras said as she pulled out a tablet and looked over the data. "According to my research, both pokemon are about the same age and follow the same natural order all Zipmunk follow. So I'm not sure why this one hasn't evolved just yet."

"Well, it must be close to evolving." Terra said.

"That isn't exactly true, Terra." Cletus claimed. "Some pokemon that are rather strong don't evolve. All of them are different."

"Maybe all this Zipmunk really needs is to gain some battle experience. A good battle could help it evolve." Davis suggested.

"Maybe..." Professor Saasafras claimed. She looked at Zipmunk and saw it run around as it kept playing with Emolga. "As long as it's still a Zipmunk, the research is still valid, but let's make sure to use a water or a flying-type."

"No problem. Bluja, come on out!" Davis called.

"Bluja!"

"Let's see if we can get that Zipmunk to evolve. Give it a nice tap with Quick Attack!" Davis said.

"Bluja!" Bluja flew right at Zipmunk and gave it a mere tap on it.

"Zipmunk!" Zipmunk fought back as it used Thunder Shock. Bluja got zapped, but was able to shake the attack off and keep going.

"We might need a little more. Bluja, let's use Peck!" Davis called. Bluja flew right at and started pecking away at Zipmunk. Just then, Zipmunk jumped at Bluja and used Nuzzle.

"It just used Nuzzle again!" Cletus said.

"Yeah. It's not as cute as it sounds." Terra said.

"Davis, I don't think this is going to work." Cletus said. "All you're doing is trading blows with Zipmunk and now poor Bluja is paralyzed. Maybe you should stop."

"Maybe you're right." Davis said as it seemed like they weren't getting anywhere like this.

"Wait. Take a look." Imperialdramon said. Just then, they saw the Zipmunk starting to evolve. All of them watched carefully and saw that it evolved into Pachirisu.

"Chipa!"

"It did it! It evolved into Pachirisu!" Terra said. It was perplexing, but that's what happened. Seeing Pachirisu and Emolga play together, they were even more confused as to why they evolved the way they did.

"I don't get it." Davis said as he brought Bluja back in its pokeball. "Why did it evolve now? What happened that made it evolve into Pachirisu?"

"I'm not really sure." Professor Sassafras said. "I didn't really notice anything out of the ordinary.

"So what sets these two apart?" Imperialdramon questioned. "What was different between them that they both evolved into the different evolution lines?"

"Maybe it had something to do with the electricity and all the electric attacks Zipmunk used." Cletus said.

"What do you mean?" Davis questioned.

"Pachirisu is a pure electric-type while Emolga has flying-type capabilities." Cletus said. "Since Zipmunk used a lot of electric-type attacks, it could be why it evolved into Pachirisu."

"So, Zipmunk can evolve into Emolga based on the number of jumps it does while it can evolve into Pachirisu based on the amount of electricity it uses." Professor Sassafras theorized. "I still don't fully understand, but it sounds like it's a step in the right direction."

"Well, maybe it doesn't matter how they evolved." Davis said as he could see how happy both of them were. "They both seem satisfied with how things turned out. That's really all that matters." All of them could certainly agree with that.

...

Later

"There's still much about pokemon we don't know, but that's what my research is for." Professor Sassafras claimed as they were parting ways now. "If you're heading for Hephas City, head down this road. You'll cut through a wide open area known as the Wild Plains, but you'll cutting through there will help you get to the city sooner."

"Thanks a lot, Professor." Davis said.

"Hope to see you again soon." Terra said with all of them on their way.

"Bye, and take care!" Professor Sassafras callers as she waved at them with them now heading for the Wild Plains.

There's still so much about pokemon we don't know or understand, but that's quite fine. Learning about them helps make all of it more fun. With more mysteries awaiting them, there will be so much to see...as the journey continues.

To Be Continued...