章節 111: C111 - A new evolution

"Hey there," Pete gently greeted as Jasmine's Mega Torterra lumbered over to the two trainers. "You found the perfect spot for the gem?"

The giant continent pokemon that by now stood at the height of a three story building with the small mountain on its tortoise shell gave Pete a serene nod and gently placed one foot on the ground, creating a small altar that rose from the dirt.

"An altar? We're not trying to create a religion here," Pete joked as he walked over to the raised earth. The spot the mega pokemon had chosen was a little outside of the center of the orchard, leaning more toward the farm house where Pete lived. It was also a spot that was somewhat protected from rain by the crown of one of the tallest berry trees in the area.

He used his own, by now vastly trained, ground typing energy and made some changes to the structure. Instead of making it look like anything even remotely worth of worship, Pete stylized the raised ground into looking like a pile of oversized earthen-brown berries.

"Is that alright with you?" Pete asked he looked back to Jasmine, who was gently patting her Torterra's head.

"It's your farm and your gem," Jasmine countered with a shrug but lost her nonchalance when she saw Pete frown. She unsurely asked, "What? Did I say something wrong?"

"Uh, yeah... all of this is as much yours as it is mine. We're married. It should be ours, not mine," Pete sighed and asked again, "So? Objections?"

"Well, robbers will likely think this is just some little art project since we're in an orchard. Definitely better hidden than an ornate altar..." Jasmine pondered out loud after gaining a sweet smile.

"That was my thinking," Pete agreed with a small nod before he held up his hand to reveal the fist-sized, sandy-brown crystal in his hand. "Do you wanna put in the gem?"

Jasmine walked over, and the two placed the gem inside the top-most berry-sculpture together. Flexing his ground energy one last time, Pete closed up the hole and let the gem sink in a little deeper into the sculpture, but still above the surface level compared to the ground they were walking on.

"This will be your new sleeping ground," Pete instructed as he called over the small Eevee he was hopeful could evolve into a ground eeveelution soon.

"Eee~" the little pokemon acknowledged with a determined nod, sniffed around the pile of earthen berries, and hopped on top of it.

"Uhhh, I mean, you can just sleep next to it, no need to balance on top of a round berry," Pete commented in embarrassment. Once more using his influence on the ground, Pete created a small shallow bowl that looked like a seemless addition compared to the rest of the water-melon sized berries. Pointing to it, he suggested to the Eevee, "Try this one if you need to sleep on top of the pile. Just don't come to me for complaints when it rains, and this thing turns into a bird bath."

With a small jump, Eevee landed on the basin, did a few small-stepped turns, and nestled into the bowl. It was a perfect fit for the Eevee. Letting out a content growl, the pokemon led Pete to know that he had done a good job.

"You're sad it didn't immediately evolve, aren't you?" Jasmine whispered into his ear as Pete watched the Eevee fall into a content and deep sleep.

With a sigh, the professor turned around and gave his wife a kiss on top of her head. He cooed, "You know me so well~!"

Jasmine slapped his wandering hands away quickly and admonished in a quiet shout, "We have guests! Behave yourself and wait until we're in the bedroom!"

"Hehe, no take-backs," Pete said as he pumped his eyebrows and took out a small camera.

He went to mount the surveillance gear with a battery that would need to be recharged once a day on the tree with the help of his psychic and grass affinities under the watchful eyes of the pokemon and Jasmine.

Suddenly, Jasmine gasped and pointed at her husband, "You tricked me!"

"Did I?" Pete countered with a sly grin. "Kind of feels like I made sure we're going to have a good time~"

With a huff, Jasmine turned around, pretending to be annoyed. But Pete chased after her, which quickly turned into a small chase among the berry trees, which in turn quickly escalated into a small make-out session under a tree that was only interrupted when Valerie and Courtney were roaming around the orcharc and stumbled upon them.

Valerie, who would have eventually become a fairy type gym leader in Kalos, was making small headway into convincing Pryce into letting her take over his gym in Mahogany town.

Once - by accident - the old grumpart revealed that he would be fine with her not being an ice-type specialist because all he really cared about is getting one over on the 'insufferable muscleheads' over at the neighboring Blackthorn City. That was, of course, where Clair was gym leader of the dragon-type gym and a city with a storied history of dragon pokemon culture.

And since the fairy typing Valerie specialised in was just as effective against dragon as ice, Pryce didn't technically object to her taking the gym from the aging geezer. Of course, he wouldn't be Pryce if was still a pain in the ass about the entire process, but Valerie's dedication so that she could stay in Johto and still pursue her dream - which originally was taking over the Olivine City gym that Jasmine had taken over.

To impress Pryce, Valerie had also bolstered her roster a little and now trained more than her original three pokemon: Sylveon, Mawile, and a Spritzee, which of course evolved with Pete's help before he went to Alola, and was now an Aromatisse.

Now, from among the pokemon living on Pete's farm, she managed to convince a Togepi - which already evolved to become Togetic, a Ralts, a Marill, a Flabébé, a Dedenne, and a Cutiefly into joining her. Already, her fairy affinity was blooming through and helped these pokemon show tremendous training results - and it didn't stop there as the model managed to unlock her electric, flying, and psychic affinity after bonding to the pokemon.

Truly, the girl was meant to be a protagonist with four affinities just like Jasmine and Courtney.

"Hey, Pete~!" Valerie greeted as if she didn't just stumble upon the married couple in an embarrassing situation. "I was wondering if we could use the big pokeball arena for a small fashion show?"

With a sigh, Pete helped Jasmine 'hide the evidence' of their little enjoyment as he smoothed out her clothing and turned to Valerie and Courtney.

"Why are you asking me? I gave the two Conkeldurr the metaphorical keys. They decide what happens there," Pete asked as he held Jasmine's hand and walked over.

"Told you," Courtney mumbled as she decidedly looked away from the couple.

"Yeah, but Sophie and I want to have a few photographers there and your two cuties looked at me like I grew a second head when I asked if the photographers are okay to visit," Valerie argued with a serene smile as Pete looked at her weirdly.

Conkeldurr? Cutie? Did he hear that right?

"Have the guys at Sophie's agency vetted the photographers?" Pete asked and received a nod in return, "Then I have no qualms with them coming to the farm. If Miltank is okay with it, I don't mind if you offer food and drinks either."

Sophie's parents bought out a logistics company specializing in fabrics in Olivine City so that the two sisters could be close to one another around the time Jasmine took over the gym. Over time, Sophie managed to hire a few like-minded girls and roped in Valerie, too.

The twins, Courtney, and Valerie were taking the fashion scene by storm as they regularly posed in outfits created by Sophie and Valerie. All four girls were featured in many magazines, some like Valerie even in TV shows and ads.

While Sophie was more concentrated on 'every day' wear, Valerie created what Pete affectionately called 'outlandish costumes'. But her dresses actually sold at quite the high prices, so none of Pete's quips had any impact on the fairy-type trainer. It was originally supposed to be Sophie's company, but Valerie was starting to work her way to an equal standing in it, even if 'just' for deciding the direction of future products.

Just as Pete wanted to move back to his house and joke around with his friends some more, he felt something tug on his mind. One of his bonds to his pokemon was deepening rapidly.

Someone was evolving.

Looking in the direction of the bond that gave him the feeling, Pete saw a faint white light through the many trees.

Wordlessly, Pete let go of Jasmine's hand and started sprinting toward his evolving pokemon as he dodged past the curious pokemon and towering trees in his way until he stood in front of the berry sculpture he had only just created to house the Ground Gem.

As the light slowly receded, the young professor saw an earthen cocoon lie in the bowl he had created for Eevee. It slowly started to crack, and Pete's breath hitched as he looked up at the camera to see if it was recording this event - but just as quickly, he looked back down.

Tan, thick fur that hung over his pokemon's head like a shaggy blanket. Brown fur covering its body that it made hard to see where it ended and the ground started because it looked like it was made of dirt. Pointy ears and a long, pointy tail that looked like a tan, bent-out-shape-sword were curiously flicking around as the evolved Eevee suddenly looked at Pete... or so he'd like to believe because the pokemon's eyes were mere slits in its fur, and the professor could no longer make out the eyes of the pokemon.

"Eevee?" Pete asked quietly. "How do you feel?"

"Terrr~?"

"Oh? Uhhh, what's your name now?" Pete asked with a small blush as the pokemon looked around curiously.

It jumped off of the berry sculpture, and Pete swore it looked like the ground made way for the pokemon as it landed softly and absolutely soundlessly.

"Terr~!"

"That's... that's not an answer," Pete mumbled with a defeated sigh, though the sparkle never left his eyes.

A new pokemon nobody had ever heard of, nothing could make this day better.

"Is it Terreon? Terraeon? I need an answer... Terrance?"

Eventually, the ground type Eevee had enough and answered him with a resounding 'Terreon' just as the girls managed to catch up to Pete.

They would have been faster, but Courtney wore highheels to train walking in the newly created pair for later... and they were on a farm with uneven terrain.

Jasmine, upon seeing the unfamiliar pokemon, quickly recognized what happened and jumped onto her husband's back.

Elated for his discovery and already making plans to bond to an Eevee to repeat this miracle herself, Jasmine showered Pete in kisses in congratulation.

The unprecented evolution quickly gained the attention of Pete's other pokemon. Espeon, Terreon's father, and the Sylveon that birthed his egg were fussing over their offspring while Mega Reuniclus was translating for Pete.

Instead of merely celebrating the discovery with his wife and friends, Pete was already in research mode. Just by looks alone, Pete ventured that the pokemon might have Sandstorm-related abilities like Sand Veil, boosting evasion, Sand Rush, boosting speed, or Sand Force, boosting the power of Ground, Rock, and Steel type moves.

Terreon acknowledged the possibility but wasn't quite sure. They would test it later while on the beach instead of ruining the space around the berry trees, and Pete couldn't wait.

Literally.

He ordered Reuniclus and Espeon to teleport them to the beach.

Setting up a few machines that Metagross teleported over that tested move power for the MPLR, short for Move Power Leaderboard Ranking.

Terreon himself started the Sandstorm with his newfound mastery over the ground type energy that was massively buffed by his bond to Pete and his enormous ground type affinity.

In no time, they learned that Terreon definitely had Sand Rush ability, but it still had a lot of room for improvement. However, the pokemon didn't have any other Sandstorm related abilities as far as they were aware by the end of the tests.

With a last pondering look, Pete looked at the Terreon and asked, "You know Swift, right? Wanna see if you have the ground-equivalent of Aerilate, Galvanize, Pixilate, and Refrigerate and turn normal type energy into ground type energy?"

The pokemon did as instructed and started using the move in the direction of the lake.

Pete's eyes were shining like stars, and it wasn't because of the move he was seeing. The usually white stars show by Swift had earthen-brown edges!

With a boisterous laugh, Pete looked at his pokemon with a giant grin.

"What do you want to call this new ability that nobody has ever seen before? Terrarize in your honor? Soilate? Dirtification?"

Suddenly, Pete heard three people behind him slap their foreheads.

"Really, Pete?" He heard his wife ask with a sigh. Courtney joined her as she complained, "How can someone so smart have such a naming sense... Please tell me you're naming your kids Jas, not him..."