Mr. Stone: Devon's Boss, from the PokéNav to the Meteorite

He never battles, and yet the whole Hoenn adventure runs through his office. Mr. Stone runs Devon Corporation, the biggest company in the region, and it's an errand from him — a letter, a package — that puts the player on track. Behind the busy executive lies a far heavier legacy: Devon's fortune rests on an energy drawn from a weapon nearly 3,000 years old.

Contents

• Fifty-two years old, with an entire region in one org chart
• Rustboro City: two deliveries in exchange for a PokéNav
• The president on the other end of the line
• Infinity Energy, a weapon turned into a fortune
• The meteorite, and a late-career admission
• An inventor in the anime, a wounded man in the manga
• Mr. Stone at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Fifty-two years old, with an entire region in one org chart

Mr. Stone is introduced at fifty-two as the president of Devon Corporation, a group whose headquarters stand in Rustboro City. No other company in Hoenn comes close to its size, and the player comes across its products throughout the entire adventure.

The man readily sums himself up in two sentences: he spent his youth buried in work, and, as he admits himself, the latest trends go completely over his head. The calling of a Trainer, in particular, genuinely puzzles him — he wonders why young people all dream of the League.

His family record comes down to a single name: Steven Stone, his son. The region's leading industrial group is therefore also a family business, and the two men will end up working together on the most serious crisis the region has ever faced.

Rustboro City: two deliveries in exchange for a PokéNav

The meeting takes place in Rustboro City once two conditions are met: you've taken the Devon Parts back from the grunt who stole them — a Team Aqua man in some versions, a Team Magma man in others, each version having its own culprit — and you've defeated Roxanne, who runs the city's Gym. The president has heard about the Trainer who saved his company twice in a row.

He takes the opportunity to hand over a double errand: deliver a letter for Steven, who can be found around Dewford Town, and drop off a package with Captain Stern at the Slateport Shipyard. The boss refuses to have anyone work for nothing and gives the player a Pokémon Navigator, the PokéNav, whose map of Hoenn shows exactly where the two destinations are.

Once the letter is delivered, he adds the Exp. Share, which gives a Pokémon a share of the experience points even if it didn't battle. In Pokémon Emerald, he also heals the player's team at their very first meeting before sending them on their way. In another version of the same scene, what he offers in return changes: he upgrades the PokéNav Plus with the BuzzNav feature and has word sent to Mr. Briney, a sailor who lives in a cottage on Route 104, to arrange the crossing.

The president on the other end of the line

The PokéNav isn't a selfless gift: it registers contacts, and Mr. Stone calls back. He congratulates, he follows up when the errand drags on, and he cuts things short because he's a very busy president. He even ends up admitting that he can see the player from his office window.

He follows the journey from afar and keeps himself informed through hearsay. Someone from Petalburg City tells him that Norman is the player's father, and he's then amazed to learn that the kid has beaten their own father. Two of these calls get cut short, the line breaking up at the exact moment a name is spoken.

One conversation sums him up better than the others. Devon was digging Rusturf Tunnel, a project halted to protect the Pokémon living in the area; he feels that bothering with such scruples means never getting anything done. The generous benefactor behind the PokéNav is also an industrialist who finds environmental protection a nuisance.

Infinity Energy, a weapon turned into a fortune

The story he eventually tells goes back nearly thirty centuries and takes place far from Hoenn, in a region ravaged by war. A man there invented a weapon that ended the conflict — a weapon whose power came from the life energy of Pokémon, which many have regarded as an abomination ever since.

His grandfather, who ran Devon before him, turned the problem on its head: what if that power were put to work in everyday life, for humans and Pokémon alike? Out of this reversal came Infinity Energy, the company's pride and joy, and it's on this that the company built first its reputation and then its size.

None of this is theoretical. The famous Devon Parts the player protected turn out to be a submarine engine running on Infinity Energy. The company has even founded a space exploration agency, and the rocket waiting in Mossdeep City runs on the same technology.

The meteorite, and a late-career admission

The reunion comes much later, once the player has become the League Champion, with Steven, who used to hold the title, along for the visit. The old man warns that he isn't as young as he used to be and that details escape him, but his eye is still sharp: he identifies the Pidgeotite the player is carrying as a Mega Stone, and recognizes his son's white Beldum at first glance.

The subject itself is anything but trivial — so much so that he first asks whether the player feels mentally ready to hear it. A meteorite more than ten kilometers in diameter is hurtling toward the planet. Devon has teamed up with the engineers in Mossdeep City to build a defense around the rocket, but one piece is missing: a Meteorite Shard.

The tasks are divided up right away: the player heads to Granite Cave, where research places the shard, while Steven goes off to Mossdeep City to connect the Link Cable. The threat is ultimately averted without a single casualty, and the president draws the conclusion his career had been missing: he believed sacrifices were unavoidable for the progress of science, and he admits he was wrong.

An inventor in the anime, a wounded man in the manga

The episode "Stairway to Devon" first shows him out in the street, busy demonstrating an in-house invention for opening soda cans. He's the one who designed the PokéNav, which comes in handy: Max has just drowned one in fruit juice. The president also explains that he draws his inspiration from children.

The visit turns into a manhunt. A stranger in a company lab coat is roaming the hallways, two capsules capable of bringing prehistoric Pokémon back to life have gone missing, and the chase ends on the roof facing the intruder's Crawdaunt, with Team Rocket barging into the affair. The capsules are recovered on the ground by Max, to whom he quietly hands back his repaired device.

The manga treats him far more harshly. In the Ruby & Sapphire arc, it's Sapphire who saves his Castform from a Team Aqua trap, but the Lombre belonging to Shelly steals the coveted part from him and injures him badly enough to leave him in a coma for the rest of the arc. He just has time to hand over the letter meant for Steven, and readers later learn that he already had a way of dealing with Groudon and Kyogre using Regirock, Regice and Registeel.

🌋 Groudon, Kyogre and the other giants have their own section: browse the Legendary Pokémon.

Mr. Stone at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Mr. Stone in Pokémon?
  He runs Devon Corporation, a company based in Rustboro City that no other company in Hoenn can match in size. The game makes him fifty-two years old and gives him a son, Steven Stone.
• How do you get the PokéNav from Mr. Stone?
  He hands it over in his Rustboro City office once you've recovered the Devon Parts and beaten the city's Gym. In exchange, he gives you a letter for Steven, around Dewford Town, and a package for Captain Stern at the Slateport Shipyard. Once the letter is delivered, he adds the Exp. Share.
• What is Devon Corporation's Infinity Energy?
  It's the company's in-house technology, derived from a weapon nearly 3,000 years old that consumed the life energy of Pokémon. Mr. Stone's grandfather wanted to turn it into something useful; today it powers both the submarine engine hidden in the Devon Parts and the Mossdeep City rocket.
• What role does Mr. Stone play in the meteorite crisis?
  He reveals that a meteorite more than ten kilometers across is hurtling toward the planet, brings Devon together with the Mossdeep Space Center and divides up the roles: the player must find the Meteorite Shard in Granite Cave, while Steven connects the Link Cable. The threat is averted without a single casualty.
• What happens to Mr. Stone in the manga?
  In the Ruby & Sapphire arc, it's Sapphire who saves his Castform from a Team Aqua trap, but Shelly's Lombre steals the coveted part from him and injures him: he stays in a coma until the end of the arc. Readers later discover that he already had the counter to Groudon and Kyogre: Regirock, Regice and Registeel.

In short

Mr. Stone is that rare Pokémon character whose influence is measured in items rather than battles: the PokéNav, the Exp. Share and the Devon Parts all come from his company. Yet the story gives him more than the role of a supplier, revealing that his fortune comes from an ancient weapon and that his final decision is to save the planet without sacrificing anyone. Rustboro City's busy boss ends up as a man who admits he was wrong.