Evolution stone

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For the Oval stone, see evolution-inducing held item. For the Eviolite, see in-battle effect item.
Gloom's branched evolution family as demonstrated in the anime: both of Gloom's potential evolutions require an evolutionary stone.

An evolutionary stone (Japanese: 進化の石 Evolution stone) is a stone-like item that radiates a mysterious energy that causes some species of Pokémon to evolve.

Another stone, the Everstone, is different in that radiates a type of energy that prevents evolution in the holders; however, if a Pokémon holding the Everstone has an evolutionary stone used on it, it will still evolve.

Evolutionary stones may be used at any time, and cause instant evolution in the Pokémon they are used on, which cannot be canceled. With the exception of the Everstone, which must be held for its effects to take place, all evolutionary stones are applied directly to the Pokémon. All stones that cause evolution in a Pokémon are consumed upon that Pokémon's evolution.

The use of a stone is seen by many to be "forced" evolution, especially by the main characters of the anime, as the Pokémon is not in charge of its own transformation. Many Pokémon that result from a stone-based evolution also have vastly different level-up learnsets than their pre-evolutionary forms, with several learning no moves after evolution at all.

List of stones

In the anime

A giant Moon Stone.

Evolutionary stones are showcased somewhat rarely in the anime, as only a relative few Pokémon are able to evolve by using them. Despite this, they were among the earliest of items to have been showcased in the anime, appearing as early as Clefairy and the Moon Stone, where a rather large Moon Stone appeared deep within Mt. Moon. It was being worshipped by a group of Clefairy who lived there, and was soon stolen by Team Rocket and ended up being blown up. The shards from it, however, rained down on the Clefairy and caused some of them to evolve.

The second appearance of an evolutionary stone occurred in The Electric Shock Showdown, where the Thunderstone was introduced. This was likewise the first opportunity that a Pokémon belonging to a member of the main cast was given to evolve by stone. Ash's Pikachu, however, refused the offer, intending to beat Lt. Surge's Raichu as a Pikachu.

The remaining Generation I evolutionary stones made their debut in The Battling Eevee Brothers, as part of a collection held by the Eevee brothers. Additionally, two of the Eevee brothers offered a Fire Stone and Thunderstone to Brock and Ash, respectively, to evolve their Vulpix and Pikachu, though both refused.

A forest that appeared in The March of the Exeggutor Squad was a reported hotbed of Leaf Stones, and the radiation from these stones in the forest was so strong as to induce evolution in Melvin's Exeggcute, which proceeded to cause chaos by hypnotizing a horde of other Exeggutor.

A fake Leaf Stone, made by Team Rocket, appeared in Make Room for Gloom, where the discovery of its nature as a fake was central to the episode. A real Leaf Stone finally appeared at the very end of Pikachu's Rescue Adventure. With it, the Exeggcute that had been following Misty's Togepi around evolved into Exeggutor.

Ash won a Sun Stone in the Bug-Catching Contest during The Bug Stops Here, later using it to evolve a Sunkern in Moving Pictures.

Fire Stones played an important role in The Stolen Stones, where they were intended to be delivered to a stadium to be used as a prize for competitors there.

Both the Leaf Stone and Sun Stone appear in Whichever Way the Wind Blows as a demonstration of the branch in Gloom's evolutionary line.

The Water Stone appears in Once in a Mawile and is used by Brock's Lombre to evolve into Ludicolo. This is the first time that a main character's Pokémon evolves via an evolutionary stone on-screen, although it is likely that James's Weepinbell was evolved by way of a Leaf Stone prior to The Breeding Center Secret.

A Moon Stone appeared in a flashback in Delcatty Got Your Tongue? evolving Dr. Abby's Skitty into a Delcatty.

In Stopped in the Name of Love, Dawn gave an Everstone to her Piplup to prevent it from evolving until he wants to.

Professor Oak gave a Water Stone to a wild Lombre in A Faux Oak Finish!, while a Dusk Stone was central to the plot of Try for the Family Stone!.

Ursula used a Fire Stone and a Water Stone to evolve her two Eevee in Last Call, First Round!, making them a Flareon and Vaporeon, for use in the Grand Festival.

Ash keeps a Thunderstone on hand in case Pikachu wants to evolve, as seen in Pika and Goliath!. The stone in question is the same Thunderstone Ash acquired in The Electric Shock Showdown!

Evolutionary stones do not seem to be required for evolution in the anime as they are in the games. James's second Weepinbell evolved without a Leaf Stone in Here's Lookin' At You, Elekid, though this may just be an example of anime physics.

Pokédex entries

Episode Pokémon Source Entry
EP187 Sun Stone Ash's Pokédex The Sun Stone enables evolution in several Pokémon, changing Gloom into Vileplume and Sunkern into Sunflora.

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Gallery

In the manga

In the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga

In Clefairy Tale, Ash, Professor Oak, and Bill witness a Clefairy evolution ceremony involving a large Moon Stone.

The focus of the chapter To Evolve or Not to Evolve, That Is the Question! is evolutionary stones. Misty hopes to buy a Water Stone for her Poliwhirl in Stone Town, a town on Dream Island where all the evolutionary stones in the Pokémon world come from. However, she cannot afford one, remarking that an inexpensive one might make the evolution go bad.

She is later given a Water Stone by Mikey, who is being pressured to join the Knights of the "E" Stone, a club which requires members to own a Pokémon evolved by an evolutionary stone. By battling club members, Ash and Mikey prove to the leaders that Pokémon which have evolved by evolutionary stone are not necessarily superior to their unevolved counterparts.

In the Pokémon Adventures manga

In the Red, Green & Blue arc, a Moon Stone is first mentioned by Professor Oak in Gyarados Splashes In! as a rock with a crescent moon-shaped indentation that boosts a Pokémon's power immensely. In the next round, Raging Rhydon, Team Rocket searches for one in Mt. Moon, however it is Red who finds it. Later on, Red uses this Moon Stone to evolve Green's Clefairy during the Silph Co. catastrophe. Additionally, Red's Poliwhirl was able to evolve into a Poliwrath with the help of a Water Stone when they were thrown in the water.

In the Yellow arc chapter, Yellow finds a Leaf Stone in Vermilion Harbor, but the Fire, Thunder, and Water Stones are missing. Later, it is revealed Giovanni gave them to Red so he could evolve and devolve his Eevee freely.

Much later, Gold's Sunkern evolves into a Sunflora because the sun's energy reflected off of the rocks near Ilex Forest replicated the Sun Stone's effects.

Even later on, Ruby's Skitty evolves into a Delcatty due to being exposed to one of Steven's Moon Stones.

In the TCG

The Moon Stone was featured in the TCG. The following is a list of cards named Moon Stone.

Name Type Rarity Set Set no.
Moon Stone T - Vending Machine cards -

Artwork

These are artwork of the items as seen in the Pokémon Dream World

Dream Fire Stone Sprite.png Dream Water Stone Sprite.png File:Dream Thunderstone Sprite.png Dream Leaf Stone Sprite.png
Fire Stone Water Stone Thunderstone Leaf Stone
Dream Moon Stone Sprite.png Dream Sun Stone Sprite.png Dream Shiny Stone Sprite.png Dream Dusk Stone Sprite.png
Moon Stone Sun Stone Shiny Stone Dusk Stone
Dream Dawn Stone Sprite.png Dream Everstone Sprite.png
Dawn Stone Everstone

Trivia

  • Of all Pokémon that evolve by evolutionary stone, only Eevee and Gloom can use multiple ones; together they can use any of the stones introduced before Generation IV except for the Moon Stone.
  • Only four Pokémon that evolve by stone can evolve using another method: Poliwhirl, Eevee, Kirlia, and Snorunt.
  • Only Grass-type Pokémon evolve using the Leaf Stone and Sun Stone, and all of the Pokémon that evolve using the Sun Stone evolve into pure Grass-types.
  • The Oval Stone is sometimes considered an evolutionary stone, and can even be selected to be used like one. However, unlike other evolutionary stones, the Oval Stone does not evolve any Pokémon when it is used on them. It must instead be held and the Pokémon leveled up, making it an evolution-inducing held item.
  • All Pokémon that evolve with the Fire Stone are in the Field Egg Group, and all the Pokémon that evolve with the Sun Stone are in the Grass Egg Group.
  • Through a glitch in the Generation I games, Pokémon can be evolved without the use of a stone, provided that the player has sent out the correct Pokémon in the same battle that a Pokémon that evolves using a stone levels up.
  • Because of an oversight in the Generation IV games, a Kadabra holding an Everstone will still evolve when traded.
  • The Dawn Stone induces evolution in only two Pokémon species, Kirlia and Snorunt, the least of any stone.
    • This also makes it currently the only stone that only evolves Pokémon introduced in a single generation, as Kirlia and Snorunt were both introduced in Generation III.
    • Both of them only evolve via Dawn Stone if they are a certain gender and can evolve into a different Pokémon using a different method.
    • Both of the evolved forms from the Dawn Stone gain a secondary type.
    • It is also the only stone not to gain a new use in Generation V.
  • As of Generation V, the Fire Stone is the only one not used in a three-stage evolutionary line.
  • The Sun Stone and Moon Stone share their names with actual gemstones.
  • Generation III and Generation V are the only generations where an evolutionary stone is not introduced.
    • Both these generations introduced a new Pokémon to evolve with Leaf Stone, Water Stone, and Moon Stone.

References

  1. ↑ Everstone breeding working on males - PokéCommunity forums
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