PMD 2: A Novelization

Epilogue: Evolution

The next several days were good to Team Long Ears. Everyone recognized them and they were a famous team now, their fame coming from saving the world from time stopping and stopping Darkrai's schemes to cloak the world in darkness. This, along with their undeniable skill as an exploration team, made them very well known and popular. Eve couldn't have been prouder of herself and her partner for their accomplishments.


One day, Team Long Ears was just heading out for another exploration for the day when Chatot intercepted them on their way, looking severely flustered.

"T-Team Long Ears! It-it-it-!" Chatot stammered, in too much of a frenzy to speak clearly.

"Whoa, calm down Chatot! What's the matter?" Alex cut-in, paws raised, trying to get the parrot to settle down.

Chatot breathed in, then out and having calmed down slightly, hopped once, flapping his wings and scattering feathers as he exclaimed:

"It's Manaphy! He's returned!"

"What?" both explorers exclaimed in surprise, which quickly turned to excitement.

"He's at the beach! Waiting for you!" Chatot said, still flustered.

Alex and his partner didn't waste any time and ran straight past Chatot, heading for the beach.

They arrived at the beach quickly enough and there, indeed was their familiar hatchling.

Manaphy had grown while he had been out in the ocean. He was at least twice the size he had been at hatching and was now as big as either Alex or Eve. This aside though, his appearance hadn't changed at all.

"Manaphy?" Eve called.

Manaphy turned his head, his eyes alight with recognition.

"Eve?" he responded his voice considerably more mature than when he had been an infant.

"Manaphy… you… you're big…" Alex said, unable to think of anything else to say right away.

"Alex… Eve…" Manaphy murmured "I…I missed you…"

All three ran (or rather flew in Manaphy's case) and came together in a group-hug.


After a long reunion on the beach, Manaphy asked if they could go to the Bluff.

Inside the Bluff cave, Manaphy looked around.

"I remember this place…" Manaphy said, the fondness reflected in his voice "I hatched here." He said turning to his two friends.

"Yep, that's right. I still remember that day…" Eve said, smiling.

"Mr. Walrein taught me a lot out in the ocean. How to survive… what to eat… he even taught me things about myself." Manaphy said, smiling, "He told me manaphy like me always return to where we hatched once we've matured."

"Um… you aren't going to come down with a fever again, are you?" Alex asked nervously. He didn't want to have to ask the phione again for some dew.

"Nope. I'm all grown up now. I can live on land or in the ocean." Manaphy said cheerfully. Then his eyes widen as he remembered something.

"Oh yeah, I've waiting a long time to ask!" Manaphy said quickly. Alex and Eve looked up, curious to hear the question he had.

"I… I was wondering… could I… could I join your exploration team?" Manaphy said, and his cheeks flushed red the moment he was done as he bashfully looked away. Alex and Eve blinked, staring in silence.

"I know…" Manaphy murmured sadly, stilling looking down "I'm probably too young still… I'll just get in the way… but I thought I'd… y'know… ask…" he said hesitantly.

Alex and Eve burst out laughing. This surprised Manaphy, who blinked, stunned by the reaction.

"Why are you so nervous about asking us something like that?" Eve laughed "Of course you can join! Right, Alex?"

"Whatever made you think we'd refuse to let you join us? We're young ourselves, so that's no excuse." Alex said, managing to subdue his laughter after a minute.

Manaphy's expression immediately brightened to one of immense joy as he realized he had been accepted.

"Really?" he said then bounded into the air, quite overjoyed. Alex and his partner couldn't have been happier to accept the adorable water-type.

They spent the next several minutes celebrating and then they decided to take Manaphy on his first exploration.

They returned from the exploration in high spirits. Manaphy had proven to be excellent at exploring and supported his team well. They had handled a number of jobs and even caught an outlaw, who Manaphy was proud to say, he had practically captured himself which was quite true and Alex and Eve never said otherwise.


Manaphy's return wasn't the only surprise Team Long Ears encountered in the days shortly after their victory over Darkrai.

About three days after Manaphy's return, Alex was quickly going into town to handle a bit of business while Eve and Manaphy were checking jobs, when Alex came across the two Ursaring. They were still having some trouble remembering who was who at times. He had a pleasant conversation there in town with them.

"By the way," one of the Ursaring said, "We've been to Luminous Spring lately. We were just playing out there… and the light's still there…" Ursaring had an odd look on her face.

"Yeah? Something wrong with it?" Alex asked, wondering if there might be a job waiting to be taken here.

"I don't think there's something wrong…" Ursaring said uncertainly, tapping her lip with one nail "It didn't really look different… but… but something definitely seems different about it…"

Alex raised an eyebrow, curious now.

"Different? How?"

Ursaring mulled over how to explain before finally saying:

"I'm not sure… but it seems like something's changed about it. Perhaps you should just go see for yourself." She said with shrug.

They then headed on their way and Alex stood there, thinking about what they had said.

Something's… different? What could be different if it doesn't look different?

Alex started towards the guild to meet with Eve and Manaphy and share this news when a bit of inspiration struck him.

A grin spread across his face and he quickly ran over to Kangaskhan storage.


"Alex… why are we going here? I don't think Manaphy can evolve. And we already know how it worked for us." Eve said somewhat plaintively.

"Just watch." Alex said, his grin from before unchanged "If I'm wrong, I'm sorry. This is just a bit of a wild guess."

Eve sighed and sat down on the grass, Manaphy settling down next to her as they both watched Alex walk out into the shallow pool of the spring and into the light.

"Do you seek evolution?" the mysterious voice echoed from the trees.

"Yes." Alex said, pulling out the Thunder Stone from the treasure bag.

"Do you require an item for evolution?"

"I have it." Alex answered, holding the stone. The voice was quiet for a moment.

"Very well. Let us begin."

Alex breathed in and closed his eyes, praying he wasn't mistaken.

The light on the other side of his eyelids became brighter… he felt a strange tingling energy flow across his skin. He heard Eve gasp and Manaphy murmuring in awe.

It was a strange, yet exciting feeling. He felt his body growing and changing… and none of it hurt even slightly.

There was a final flash. Eve was silent. Alex opened his eyes and looked down at himself.

The Thunder Stone in his paws was now nothing more than a plain rock. Alex had changed dramatically.

His paws and feet now were tipped with brown and his fur was more of a mustard-yellow, darker than before. There were still a couple of stripes (now as brown as his paws) across his back. His floppy ears had been replaced with a pair of triangular ones with a thin membrane of skin and a long, curling hair trailing from each tip. No more of his ears flopping into his eyes. His belly had turned white. His tail whipped around in front of him, startling him somewhat with its new appearance. It was now very long and narrow like a normal mouse's tail; however it also ended with a very large, yellow, bolt-shaped spike as large as (if not bigger than) his own head.

He looked over at Eve and Manaphy staring in startled awe at him. They both suddenly seemed a lot smaller… that was of course, because he had gotten considerably bigger. He stepped out the light, using some caution as his feet were much bigger and it felt a little odd walking with his new body.

"Well? How do I look?" Alex asked, and was a bit startled himself upon hearing his voice, which had gotten slightly deeper. Had he been human again, he might've suddenly have aged from 13 years-old to around 20.

Eve's mouth worked… trying to speak. Manaphy was just continuing to stare in a happy sort of awe.

"H-how?" Eve finally managed to say, "How did you do it?" she said slowly, continuing to stare.

"I think this is the favor Cresselia said she would do for us. I think she went to Palkia and asked him to fix Luminous Spring so it could work past our spatial distortions. She must have known somehow that distortion was the reason we weren't evolved. Eve… we can evolve now." Alex said. He had no way of actually proving this was the case but he was sure of his hunch now. Either way, true or not, he had evolved and if he could… that meant Eve could too.

This finally got across to Eve and she looked around as she considered her various options.

"W-where do I start? Which way should I go?" she murmured, a smile creeping across her face as she started to become excited.

"I've got an idea." Alex said and reached into their treasure bag again… and pulled out the ice-covered rock, presenting it to Eve.

"Where… where did you get that?" Eve said, staring at the rock now. She looked overwhelmed from the surprises Alex had pulled on her, one after another.

"Found it on Blizzard Island… Scizor was holding it…" Alex said simply "That was our first real adventure as a graduated team, remember?"

Eve blinked…

"Yes… I do…" she murmured, astonished "You had it all this time?" she said, sounding touched now.

"I couldn't figure out what to do with it for a long time but I've seen so many evolutions possible for you… I started to wonder if this would also do it. I knew something was special about it. I just needed to figure out what."

"So… you want me to…?" she started.

"I won't force you if you don't want to. But I was thinking it would be a good way to commemorate that first adventure." Alex said, giving his long-time partner a warm smile.

"Alex…" Eve had tears forming and she abruptly charged at him and tackled him in an affectionate hug. Alex knelt down as she came and caught her. She was fairly small in his arms. Manaphy soon came over and flopped playfully on his head.

After a minute, Manaphy got off… and just in time as it turned out.

Alex accidentally shocked Eve; he would've electrocuted Manaphy too if the water-type hadn't gotten off.

"Yowch!" She yelped and jumped away "What was that for?" she cried.

"Sorry!" Alex said quickly, "I didn't do it on purpose… I think I've got a lot more power now. I guess it's a bit harder to control."

Alex noticed his tail was whipping around automatically and he got the feeling his instincts were telling him something. He glanced at the tail… making it hold still with a conscious thought… then, still running on instinct, he swung it down sharply. It sank into the soft soil like a sword with a dull thump. Alex then let the excess electricity flowing through him discharge through his tail harmlessly into the ground.

"Geez… that's a lot of electricity…" Eve muttered, jittering from the shock still.

"Sorry…" Alex apologized again "I guess I'm going to need some time to get used to this now." He chuckled shyly. He then offered the ice-coated rock to Eve again.
She approached him with some apprehension, wary for another sudden electric shock but she finally took the stone from him and nervously approached the spring, sitting herself down in the middle of the light.

"Do you seek evolution?" the voice asked.

Eve swallowed hard, clearly extremely nervous before saying, "Y-yes…"

"Do you require an item for evolution?"

"Um… this one here…" Eve said, placing the icy rock in the water directly in front of her.

The voice was silent a moment again… then "Very well. Let us begin."

Eve shut her eyes tight and her ears flattened against her head, as if bracing herself for a hard hit on the head. The light of the spring became harsh…

Eve started to glow… her form shifted… she grew until she was only slightly smaller than Alex. Alex felt a chilly wind rush in and swirl around Eve. The spring's water started to freeze over.

Then there was the final flash and Eve's transformation was complete.

Eve opened one eye…

"Is it over?" she said nervously. Alex stifled a laugh at her behavior.

"You're beautiful…" he finally said with complete sincerity and a wide smile on his face. "So pretty!" Manaphy chimed in joyfully.

Eve looked down at herself and gasped softly… pleasantly surprised with the beauty that she was seeing for herself now.

Her fur (which was very fine now) was primarily white in color now, tinged an icy and very light shade of blue. There were blue ice-crystals in places on her fur. Her tail had a crystalline point to it and her ears were now the four-sided shape of diamonds. Her legs and paws, the inside of her ears and the fur upon her head was a darker shade of blue, as was two long hanging strands of icy hair going down to her knees, which ended with ice crystals on the ends. If Eve had ever been human, the strands would've likely have been a long pair of braids resting across her front. Alex noticed bits of diamond dust and snow forming in the air around her, melting away as they floated away from her. It all made her look very pretty indeed.

"I don't think I've ever liked ice and cold this much before now." Alex laughed.

Eve blushed, her cheeks turning a darker blue rather than pink.

"Well, I guess I'll need to get used to the new me as well. I'm a glaceon now." Eve said, smiling. Her voice had changed as well… like the embodiment of gently falling snow.

Of course, that could just be the romantic in me. Alex thought to himself.

They headed back to town, Manaphy happy for both of them and enjoying being reminded of the days when he had first hatched (being that Alex and Eve were now bigger than he was again).

With help from Electrivire (who liked Alex's new look) with teaching Eve new attacks she could now use, they headed out on a new exploration, testing out their new abilities.

Eve could blow a very cold gust of wind now and when she wished to strike multiple opponents at once, she was also able to summon a breeze filled with ice, which sometimes froze enemies solid. She had more besides but those were just two of her new abilities. Somehow, as long as he was close to her, Alex did not feel cold at all from her attacks and he felt perfectly warm and comfortable.

Alex meanwhile, found that his excess electricity made his electrical attacks twice as powerful as before. His semi-prehensile tail (he couldn't effectively pick things up with it but it could bend in all directions) was also very easily used as a weapon as the spike on the end was quite hard. A bone was giving the spike its shape, similar to his previous tail. Hitting an enemy with it tended to KO the target quite handily as the entire tail was very strong overall. Alex even found he could sit on it and lift his entire body with his tail, his feet completely off the ground; though Eve commented he was like Spoink when he did that.


When they headed home for the day, they were both amazed at their new strength.

Manaphy settled down to sleep almost immediately. Eve started to lay down but then looked at Alex...


He looked over at his partner… the one pokemon who had been at his side for as far back as his memory stretched… the best friend he'd ever had… truly his one greatest combination as Grovyle had told them.

"Thank you… for everything…" Eve said and then curled up to go to sleep.

Alex sighed, satisfied with the day as he started to lie down. He "plugged" his tail into the ground to be safe and settled down, ready for another good night's sleep.

He couldn't have been happier to be with Eve and Manaphy on an exploration team. He had a long life ahead of him… full of exploration and adventure with his friends.

And he knew he would enjoy every minute of it.

-The End-