ET06

Misty suggests going to Stone Town, a town on Dream Island where all of the Evolution stones come from. She wants to buy a Water Stone to evolve her Poliwhirl into Poliwrath. However, Misty could not afford any of the stones available, remarking that an inexpensive stone might make an evolution go bad.

On their way out of the shop, a young boy gives Misty an Evolution stone set. A lady at the Pokémon Center explains that it is a gift set from an exclusive fellowship called The Knights of the E Stone, which requires all members to own a Pokémon evolved by an Evolution stone.

Meanwhile, at a restaurant named The Machop Grill, a meeting of the Knights of the E Stone is underway, with Ash, Misty and Brock spying from afar. They are about to induct the boy from earlier, Mikey, but Mikey has chosen not to evolve his Eevee, saying that he likes it the way it already is and doesn't want to change it. Mikey's older brothers are ashamed, and the entire fellowship pressures him to evolve his Eevee immediately.

Unable to hold back any longer, Ash jumps down and tells the fellowship leader that unevolved Pokémon are not worthless. The members of the fellowship protest, and Brock suggests having Eevee battle each of its evolved forms to prove its worth. The fellowship leader agrees, and allows Ash and Mikey to battle against Mikey's brothers, the three representatives of the fellowship. Back at Mikey's house, his brothers nag him about his decision, insisting that joining The Knights of the E Stone is a family tradition. Misty protests, saying that Mikey should be able to make whatever decision he wants.

The next day, Ash begins the first round against Rainer's Vaporeon. Pikachu quickly defeats Vaporeon with an Electric-type attack and moves on to the next opponent, Pyro. After Pikachu defeats Pyro's Flareon just as quickly, the fellowship leader realizes that only Ash has battled, not Mikey.

Mikey faces off against his brother Sparky's Jolteon. After finding out that Eevee's Tackle is ineffective against Jolteon, Ash asks for a time out to use a Technical Machine on Eevee. Eevee defends itself with Reflect until Jolteon uses Pin Missile, at which point Eevee uses the new move it just learned: Mimic. Eevee uses Pin Missile back at Jolteon, which defeats it. Mikey is inducted into The Knights of the E Stone and his brothers are overjoyed.

Later, Misty bathes in the Evolution Hot Springs with Pikachu floating near her. She goes up to some running water and expresses for her breasts to evolve as well. She suddenly notices Ash, Brock, and Mikey standing next to her with perverted grins on their faces. Mortified, Misty runs away while the other three continue bathing with Pikachu.

• Ash and his friends meet Mikey.
• Mikey and Ash are challenged to a battle against Mikey's brothers when Mikey refuses to evolve his Eevee for The Knights of the E Stone.
• Mikey and Ash win the battle.
• Mikey and Ash are accepted into The Knights of the E Stone, although Ash refuses the offer.

Debuts

Humans

• Mikey
• Eevee brothers

Pokémon debuts

• Eevee
• Vaporeon
• Jolteon
• Flareon

Humans

• Ash Ketchum
• Brock
• Misty
• Eevee brothers
• Mikey

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Poliwhirl (Misty's)
• Eevee (Mikey's)
• Vaporeon (Rainer's)
• Jolteon (Sparky's)
• Flareon (Pyro's)
• Poliwhirl (fantasy)
• Poliwrath (fantasy)
• Raichu (fantasy)

Cover for the mini comic sampler

• Much later in Pokémon the Series, Misty's Poliwhirl evolves into Politoed, not Poliwrath.
• The English title is a reference to a famous phrase To be, or not to be, that is the question from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet.
• A sampler of this chapter was included in the original series DVD release titled "The Great Race."
• Originally, the magazine version of this chapter had some scenes that were edited in the volume version:
  • The outfits of the Pocket Monsters Information Center women originally had Poké Ball designs over their breasts. In the volume version, they were removed.
  • When Brock was bathing in the hot springs, he was accompanied by one of Mikey's maids, who was wearing nothing but an apron. In the volume version, she was completely removed from the panel.
  • When Misty was washing her breasts under the running water, she was originally completely naked. In the volume version, a towel was added to cover some of her body.

Translation edits

Several edits were made to this chapter, presumably for their adult nature.

• When Ash tried to list the five known Evolution stones, he forgot the Water Stone. Instead, he mistakenly said "Rolling Stone" in English, or "Sea Stone" (海の石(うみのいし)) in Japanese.
• The skirt Misty was wearing at the beginning was made slightly longer and lines outlining Misty's buttocks were erased.
• The second outfit Misty wears is made much longer and a lot less revealing.
• The outfits of the Pocket Monsters Information Center women were altered to make them look less revealing.
• The last two pages of this chapter were completely removed in VIZ Media's translation.
  • In Chuang Yi's publication of this volume, which is based on VIZ Media's translation and contains all of the above edits, the final two pages of this chapter were restored. As VIZ Media did not translate these pages, they were translated by Chuang Yi themselves, despite that the rest of their publication used VIZ Media's translation.

• 

  Page 1 of 2

• 

  Page 2 of 2

• 

  Chuang Yi's translation

This article is part of Project Manga, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each series of Pokémon manga.