Twilight approached. The sun had long since tucked away its brilliance.
By 7:00 PM, the first day of classes for the new semester finally came to an end. After surviving the morning and afternoon training sessions, the seniors dared not harbor any more beautiful illusions about outdoor classes.
Many students who didn't exercise regularly were utterly exhausted; the moment they returned to the classroom, they collapsed at their desks.
"Owen."
Just as Owen was packing his books to go home, Ms. Nina appeared at the classroom door and called out to him.
"Come with me for a moment."
At her words, every boy in the class looked at Owen with envy. During the basic mechanics drills, Owen had clearly been the star performer.
Now that he was being called aside, was she going to give him "private tutoring"? Even though Ms. Nina's training was strict, none of the male students disliked her classes—at this age, it didn't matter what was being taught; if the teacher was likable enough, the subject was beloved by default.
Owen followed her out, feeling a bit puzzled.
In a quiet corner of the hallway, Ms. Nina stood perfectly straight. When her gaze fell upon Owen, he actually felt a hint of pressure.
"Your starter Pokémon is an Eevee... when you get home, you should pay attention to the news coming out of Antarctica lately."
"This news will definitely generate a lot of buzz in the coming days. Following it will only benefit you."
The news?! Owen blinked. What could be happening in Antarctica? And why would following it benefit him? He became instantly curious.
The Fifth Evolution
"What exactly is it?"
The moment Owen stepped foot outside the school gates, he whipped out his phone. He searched for the keyword: Antarctica.
In the next second, Owen's eyes widened.
[New type of rock discovered in a micro-rift in Antarctica; confirmed to be related to Eevee's fifth evolution form.]
Just by reading the headline, Owen realized what it was. Aside from Flareon, Jolteon, Vaporeon, and Leafeon, Glaceon was finally about to make its debut in this world.
Owen rushed home, tossing his backpack and Eevee's Poké Ball onto the sofa. Eevee popped out of the ball and, without even looking at Owen, mechanically began searching for her "three-piece set" (the phone, the game, and the snacks).
Owen, meanwhile, dashed into his bedroom, fired up his computer, and dug for more detailed reports.
The news had broken today, but the discovery had happened earlier. A week ago, a rift had appeared in Antarctica. International Trainer Associations sent professional trainers stationed nearby to explore.
The biggest haul was a very specific, frozen rock. It was different from an Ice Stone, but it contained a mysterious energy.
After brief research, it was confirmed to have a similar "wavelength" to Mossy Rocks.
The so-called Mossy Rock was the magical stone that allowed Eevee to evolve into Leafeon. Following experimental trials, the Ice Rock successfully allowed an Eevee to evolve into Glaceon.
With that, Eevee's new evolution was officially entered into the Pokédex.
"Because of the unique nature of rifts, the internal environment of a rift space doesn't differ much from the Earth environment it merges with," Owen muttered to the screen. "That's probably why the Mossy Rock was found before the Ice Rock."
He scrolled through the comments. As expected, the Glaceon news had the internet erupting into debates about other potential Eevee branches. Many new analytical papers on Eevee's biology were popping up as well.
This was likely what Ms. Nina wanted him to see. In the academic world of Pokémon, Eevee—as the Pokémon with the most known branches—was a major research topic. However, truly breakthrough results were rare.
Aside from Espeon and Umbreon, Sylveon (the Fairy-type) had also not yet been discovered.
Owen could understand why Sylveon remained hidden. To this day, the Fairy type and its moves were not fully understood; only fragments of knowledge existed, and they hadn't been systematically organized into textbooks yet.
It was currently the least understood type on Earth—far more niche than Ghost, Psychic, or Dragon.
Without specialized professional trainers or teaching methods for Fairy moves, there was no way for an Eevee to learn a Fairy-type move to trigger that evolution.
"Wait, hasn't any scholar tried to meticulously raise an Eevee just to solve these evolution mysteries?" Owen wondered aloud. With Earth's massive population, surely someone would have stumbled upon it by luck?
But then, he began to doubt his initial assumptions about Espeon and Umbreon.
"Other Eevee evolutions are triggered by external energy. While Espeon and Umbreon require high friendship, the day and night environments are also specific conditions."
Owen began to suspect that the energy needed for Espeon and Umbreon wasn't just "normal" sunlight or moonlight.
Or rather, Earth's sun and moon might not be "pure" enough. After all, reality was different from the games. For example, evolution stones mined from different rifts varied in energy purity.
The original Pokédex described Umbreon as an Eevee that evolved after bathing in sufficient moonlight. Owen realized that the word "sufficient" might carry a lot of weight in this world.
He felt a slight headache. None of these evolutions were going to be easy to achieve.
"Espeon, Umbreon, or Sylveon are still my first choices. But if those are too difficult, Jolteon is a solid backup," he thought.
Currently, on the International Pokémon League's academic forums, the bounty for solving the mystery of Eevee's evolutions remained sky-high.
If he could successfully evolve his Eevee into one of those three, he would have enough evidence to publish a paper.
That massive reward would land right in his pocket.
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