Evolutionary stones may be used at any time, and cause instant Evolution in the Pokémon they are used on, which cannot be canceled. All evolutionary stones are applied directly to a Pokémon and are consumed upon the Pokémon's Evolution.
Many Pokémon that result from a stone-based evolution have vastly different level-up learnsets than their pre-evolutionary forms, with several learning no moves after Evolution at all.
This is artwork of the items as seen in Pokémon GO. The Sinnoh Stone, an evolutionary stone exclusive to this game, was introduced on November 16, 2018, as a means of evolving certain Pokémon that gained a new evolution in Generation IV. The Unova Stone, introduced on September 16, 2019; is used by all Unova-based evolutions that use any evolutionary stone in the core series, except for the Sun Stone.
The first evolutionary stone to appear in the anime was Moon Stone in Clefairy and the Moon Stone. A giant Moon Stone appeared deep within Mt. Moon, being worshipped by a group of Clefairy who lived there. It was soon stolen by Team Rocket, and ultimately ended up being blown up; the shards from the shattered giant Moon Stone rained down on the Clefairy and caused some of them to evolve into Clefable. In this episode, the characters speculated that the Moon Stone was how various Pokémon—Clefairy in particular—arrived in the Pokémon world. Another giant Moon Stone was later seen in the same location in A Real Cleffa-Hanger.
In Electric Shock Showdown, Nurse Joy gives Ash a Thunderstone so that he could evolve his Pikachu in order to defeat Lt. Surge's Raichu. Pikachu, however, refused the offer. Ash kept the Thunderstone in case Pikachu ever wanted to evolve; however, in Pika and Goliath!, a similar scenario occurred and Pikachu still refused to evolve. Seeing his determination to not evolve, Team Rocket stole the stone, planning to sell it.
The remaining Generation I evolution 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 to evolve their respective Vulpix and Pikachu, though both refused.
In The Grass Route, a set of Leaf Stones was offered as the prize for winning the Grass Tournament. Although Team Rocket tried to steal the stones, they were eventually won by Ephraim. He planned on using to evolve his parents' Pokémon.
A set of Fire Stones played an important role in The Stolen Stones!, where Ramona and Keegan had been tasked with delivering them to be used as prizes for the competitors of a Fire-type Pokémon competition. During the delivery, Team Rocket stole the stones, requiring Ash and his friends to help retrieve them.
In Once in a Mawile, a Water Stone belonging to Samantha appeared, which Brock's Lombre used 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 using a Leaf Stone prior to The Breeding Center Secret.
A Dusk Stone was central to the plot of Try for the Family Stone!, where Rhyanna and Mitchell searched for one to evolve their respective Pokémon. They eventually found one, and decided to have a battle to settle which one of them would get to use it.
Ash had to find a Thunder Stone as part of a scavenger hunt during the Wishing Bell Festival in Climbing the Tower of Success!. He came across a young man in possession of one who tried to toss it to him from a long distance. The Thunder Stone nearly came in contact with Pikachu but he jumped out of the way just in time leaving Ash to catch it.
Mystery on a Deserted Island! featured all evolutionary stones available as of Generation V. Several Eevee were shown to evolve into Jolteon, Flareon and Vaporeon using the required stones.
A Thunder Stone appeared in To Catch a Pokémon Smuggler! as a part of Clemont's explanation of how Pokémon Evolution works, Pikachu's evolution into Raichu working as an example of stone-induced Evolution.
A full set of evolutionary stones was seen on display in a stone shop in Geosenge Town in The Cave of Trials!. In addition, an unnamed Trainer used a Sun Stone purchased from the shop to evolve his Helioptile into Heliolisk. Clemont then revealed that he had also used a Sun Stone to evolve his own Helioptile into Heliolisk.
A Moon Stone appeared in a fantasy in A Dream Encounter!, where it was revealed that Lusamine had used one to evolve her Clefairy into a Clefable.
An Ice Stone was first seen in Not Caving Under Pressure!, where Sophocles's Charjabug found one while helping to fix up a cave inhabited by a group of AlolanSandshrew, revealing that the cave was in fact an Ice Stone mine where Sandshrew gather to evolve. The leader of the Sandshrew pack, a giant Sandshrew, touched the stone and proceeded to evolve into an Alolan Sandslash. Later, after exiting the cave, Charjabug was revealed to have found another Ice Stone, which Sophocles gave to Lillie. She asked Snowy if it wanted to use the stone to evolve, but Snowy didn't feel ready for it yet, so Lillie decided to hold on to the stone in case Snowy ever changed its mind.
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. In addition, Pokémon that evolve via proximity of evolutionary stones apparently seem to control their evolutionary urges and physically touch the stone without evolving, as evidenced by Pikachu whacking away the Thunder Stone when refusing to evolve the first time, as well as a Clefairy holding onto a Moon Stone for prolonged periods of time before delivering it to the larger Moon Stone without evolving.
The focus of the chapter To Evolve or Not to Evolve, That Is the Question! was evolutionary stones. Misty hoped 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 couldn't afford one, remarking that an inexpensive one might make the evolution go bad.
Misty was later given a Water Stone by Mikey, who was 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 proved to the club leaders that Pokémon which have evolved by evolutionary stone are not necessarily superior to their unevolved counterparts.
In The Kindest Tentacruel, the Pokémon Fan Club Chairman told Yellow about a legend of an underwater dome at the bottom of Vermilion Harbor, housing a set of evolutionary stones which, unlike normal stones, did not disappear after making a Pokémon evolve, allowing them to be used repeatedly. The cause of Red's Poliwhirl's evolution had been one of these said stones, proving the legend to be true. Yellow was later led to the dome by a wild Tentacruel, finding a Leaf Stone in it, but the Fire, Thunder, and Water Stones were missing. Later, it was revealed that Giovanni had given them to Red so he could freely evolve and devolve his Eevee.
In Ring Ring Goes Beldum, Steven was shown to have a Leaf Stone and another Moon Stone. In addition, he also found a Sun Stone while he and Ruby escaped from a group of wild Mawile in Granite Cave.
In Omega Alpha Adventure 0, Sapphire's Kirly evolved into a Gallade due to a Dawn Stone hitting him while training with Rara, who had evolved into a Gardevoir. Later, Steven found another Dawn Stone on the ground.
The Moon Stone and Dusk Stone are featured in the Pokémon Trading Card Game on a Trainer card and on Pokémon cards as held items. These held items work in the same fashion as Poké-Bodies, in that the effect the item provides is active whenever the Pokémon is in play. The following is a list of cards named or including Moon Stone or Dusk Stone.
Evolutionary stone cards Cards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format. Cards listed with a green background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats.
The Dawn Stone is the only stone which can only evolve a Pokémon if it is a specific gender, with this requirement applying to both of the Pokémon it can evolve.
Through a glitch in the Generation I games, Pokémon that would normally require an evolutionary stone to evolve can be evolved without it, provided that the Pokémon levels up in the battle and the player has sent out a specific Pokémon in the same battle.
Despite the fact that Oval Stone is sorted along with other evolutionary stones in all core series games since its introduction, it is actually an evolution-inducing held item because the Oval Stone does not trigger Evolution in any Pokémon when it is used on them. It must instead be held on a specific Pokémon with it levelling up during the day to take effect.
This makes Oval Stone the only evolution-inducing item with "Stone" in its English name which is not an evolutionary stone.
The Ice Stone was first revealed by a picture on the official Spanish Pokémon website on October 4, 2016. However, the picture was quickly removed due to the stone not having been previously announced.
No Pokémon that has evolved from exposure to an evolutionary stone is capable of evolving again.
Pyro backed by a Fire Stone in The Battling Eevee Brothers!
Sparky backed by a Thunder Stone in The Battling Eevee Brothers!
Rainer backed by a Water Stone in The Battling Eevee Brothers!
Lombre holding a Water Stone in Once in a Mawile
A Politoed holding a Water Stone in A Faux Oak Finish!
Ash's Thunder Stone in Pika and Goliath!
A Leaf Stone in Pikachu's Rescue Adventure
Seymour inspecting a Moon Stone in Clefairy and the Moon Stone
The Sun Stone that Ash won in The Bug Stops Here
The Dusk Stone in Try for the Family Stone!.
A Fire Stone in Mystery on a Deserted Island!
A Water Stone in Mystery on a Deserted Island!
A Thunder Stone in Mystery on a Deserted Island!
A Leaf Stone in Mystery on a Deserted Island!
A Moon Stone in Mystery on a Deserted Island!
A Sun Stone in Mystery on a Deserted Island!
A Shiny Stone in Mystery on a Deserted Island!
A Dusk Stone in Mystery on a Deserted Island!
A Dawn Stone in Mystery on a Deserted Island!
A Trainer with a Sun Stone in The Cave of Trials!
An Ice Stone in Not Caving Under Pressure!
A Moon Stone in the Red, Green & Blue arc
A Water Stone, Fire Stone, Thunder Stone, and Leaf Stone in the Yellow arc
A Moon Stone in the Ruby & Sapphire arc
A Sun Stone in the Ruby & Sapphire arc
Two Moon Stones in the FireRed & LeafGreen arc
A Shiny Stone and Dawn Stone in the Platinum arc
A Dusk Stone in the HeartGold & SoulSilver arc
A Shiny Stone in the HeartGold & SoulSilver arc
A Dawn Stone in the Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire arc
A Thunder Stone in Pokémon Zensho
