However, Edward still hadn't made his Pokémon selection right away. For someone like him, he preferred to let fate decide which Pokémon he would bond with. After all, with his status and position, there was no urgency or desperation to acquire any particular Pokémon.
Besides, Edward never really had plans to become a professional Pokémon trainer, so naturally, he wasn't in any rush to make his selection.
Steven had no objections to his younger brother's thinking. He simply reminded Edward to be cautious: if he managed to locate Team Aqua's hideout, he must not act alone and should instead inform the League to handle the matter properly.
Edward naturally had no objections to that. In fact, even if Steven hadn't said anything, Edward had already planned to do exactly that.
Though Team Magma and Team Aqua were like chronic skin conditions in the Hoenn region, Edward figured that treating such conditions was best left to the professionals.
"Oh, right. Brotjer, have you ever seen a stone like this before?" Edward asked, just as Steven was about to head back to rest. The thought suddenly struck him, and he rushed back to his room to retrieve the mysterious stone he had picked up before.
Steven's eyes went wide the moment he saw it. He stared intently at the stone in Edward's arms.
As the eldest son of the Stone family, Steven had inherited their father Joseph's obsession with rocks in its entirety—if not taken it to even greater heights. When not busy, Steven could spend an entire day in caves and rocky tunnels searching for rare stones.
He had seen plenty of unique stones in his lifetime, but the one his little brother was holding now… was truly something else.
Steven leaned in, examining the strange glow and intricate, almost otherworldly shape of the stone. It had an unusual aesthetic—an exotic beauty that drew the eye and seemed to enchant the mind.
"Where did you find this?" Steven asked, visibly envious. He'd scoured so many places in search of remarkable stones, and yet this one, in his opinion, easily ranked in the top three of any he'd ever encountered.
"I don't know. I just picked it up randomly in a forest," Edward said with a scratch of his head. He never had any plans to collect stones—seemed a bit too niche of a hobby for him. Still, he had no idea what the stone was for, but figured there was no harm in keeping it around.
"You picked it up?" Steven looked like he was about to faint.
His expression turned complicated as he glanced at Edward, then focused again on the stone. As a seasoned stone enthusiast, Steven could say with confidence that this one was unlike anything he'd ever seen. He even took out a professional device to examine it—and found that it emitted no radioactivity.
That only made the situation more puzzling. How could a stone that emitted no radiation still glow?
"I don't know either. You could bring it to Dad's company. I remember he has a special lab just for analyzing stones," Steven said, shaking his head. As much as he wanted the stone for himself, he wouldn't dream of taking it from his little brother.
But just as he was about to hand it back, whether due to Steven spacing out and letting go too early or Edward not paying enough attention, the stone slipped and fell to the floor.
"…"
Edward and Steven stared at each other in silence.
"Good thing Dad got those ridiculously thick carpets," Edward said, unbothered. The Stone family estate might be lacking in many things, but plush carpets weren't one of them. Their father had specifically commissioned custom-made ones thick enough to be mistaken for mattresses—just to prevent situations like this where a stone might fall and break.
Steven, on the other hand, looked a bit pained. But before he could say anything, Edward bent down to pick up the stone.
Just as he did, something unexpectedly pricked his finger. Blood trickled from the wound and dripped onto the stone.
"Hss—" Edward instinctively withdrew his hand. But then, something strange happened.
The stone began to transform.
It started shedding layers—except for the area where Edward's blood had touched. That spot remained unchanged.
Before their astonished eyes, the stone rapidly morphed into an unusual shape.
"Is that…" Edward's pupils shrank.
Steven stared in disbelief.
What they saw was unmistakable—a miniature version of Groudon. And Edward's blood had landed directly on the statue's eyes, making them appear as though they were alive.
A stone had fallen to the ground, pricked Edward's hand, and then transformed into a statue of Groudon? What's more, the glow it emitted shifted from a white light to a red one.
The entire scene was unnerving.
Without another word, Steven grabbed Edward and rushed him to the Rustboro Center Hospital, where he underwent a full medical evaluation. The costs were astronomical, especially since they included genetic sequencing to make sure Edward's DNA hadn't been altered.
Their father, Joseph, upon receiving Steven's call, immediately dropped everything at the company and raced to the hospital.
He arrived to see his youngest son looking helpless as he endured one test after another—and his eldest son carrying a sealed box protectively.
Inside the box, Joseph laid eyes on the stone that had caused all this chaos. Now it looked almost exactly like a miniature version of Groudon. If it weren't for the clearly unnatural material, Joseph might have assumed it was a luxury figurine handcrafted by Agustine, the high-end collectibles brand.
"What's going on with this stone?" Joseph asked, shooting a worried glance at Edward before turning to Steven.
"Dad, this stone…" Steven began to explain. Joseph only grew more perplexed.
He had seen countless rare stones in his lifetime, even having an entire exhibit dedicated to them—open only to the Stone family. But he had never seen anything quite like this.
"Was it analyzed?" Joseph asked. While the stone was certainly strange, what mattered more to him right now was his son's health.
"Yes. No anomalies detected—no viruses, bacteria, or radioactive materials," Steven said with a helpless shrug. After sending Edward in for medical tests, he'd submitted the stone for analysis as well. But even the hospital's best equipment couldn't detect anything out of the ordinary.
But Steven knew—this stone was anything but ordinary.
Because his brother's blood had seeped into the stone… and no matter what they tried, it wouldn't come out. Washing didn't help. Nothing did.
He had no idea what that meant.
Meanwhile, deep within Mt. Chimney, in the remnants of Team Magma's secret base, the Groudon that slept beneath the magma stirred ever so slightly—its eyelids twitching.
And in that moment, the surrounding temperature rose by a full degree.
(End of Chapter)