So I've been looking at the pages for the second forms of the alolan starters, and they all have one thing in common:
an affection sentence
what I mean by this is that there is the general description of the pokemon, their lore and stuff, and then, towards the end, it talks about the trainer himself. If you, as a trainer, spend time with it in this new pokemon refresh, it will show it's true feelings? Could this be the key to the split evos? A certain amount of hearts or points from pokemon refresh could switch the evolution from one normal-ish evolution to something cooler or different at least.
This is just a theory, but it seems like it's worth sharing due to it's conspicuous addition to the entries on the pokemon
Post YFW the starters evolve by reaching a certain number of hearts on Amie
or just ugly battle bond forms like greninja. maybe the higher affection in amie changes their abilities.
>>28953412
I don't know if you've noticed but the flavor text for all Pokemon this gen has gotten a lot more involved, and discusses the Pokemon's personality. It's not just the starters
>>28953412
Maybe it just means that they all evolve through friendship or the SM variant of Amie Hearts. Maybe that's the secret they share with Rockruff.
Sounds simpler and more believable to me.
kill yourself
>>28953454
In the second stage? I dunno man