Pokemon Ascendance: Origins of Holon

22

"Vee." Prism pawed at Elsie's nose the next morning. The tired trainer turned her head before opening one eye. Right next to her Eevee she saw Lucien, his tongue sticking out.

'So Prism had a backup plan if she couldn't get me to wake up.' she thought before sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"Alright, I'm awake. Let's go get your breakfasts ready."

After stretching, Elsie got up and began preparing breakfast for her team. While cooking, she briefly glanced at Skye.

'He seems to be acting normal. Maybe the little pre-evolution phase is over.' she thought. 'Or at the very least I hope the worst part is over with.'

Once the meals were served, Elsie sat down to have her own breakfast. It wasn't long until Lillie walked in with Snowy.

"Morning Lillie." Elsie greeted. "I'm guessing that Hau left."

"Yes. He said he had to go back to Melemele for a bit." Lillie explained. "According to what I heard from Professor Kukui, Hau's working on taking Hala's place as Kahuna eventually."

"Hau's trying to become a Kahuna?" It was then that she realized that she hadn't seen Hau battle before. But then again everyone did say that he finished up all the trials in Alola. But if it was to the point where there was a chance that even the island guardians could recognize his strength then she couldn't help but be a little curious. "That'll be interesting to see. Hope everything goes well for him."

'I wonder what type he would choose to specialize in if he has to narrow his team down to one type...'

Lucien was the first to finish his meal. At that moment, he ran towards the door, his tail wagging rapidly.

Elsie giggled at her partner's reaction. "I know I know. You're excited to take part in today's trial and can't wait another second. We'll leave as soon as everyone is done eating."

Lillie held in a giggle of her own. "Aw, he's so happy."

"Yeah. It's been a while since he's had the chance to really participate in the trials so Lucien has been excited ever since we came back from the Fire Trial."

"Well I'm sure with his energy, I'm sure that you'll have no problem getting through the Grass Trial. Before you know it, you'll be moving onto Ula'Ula Island."

Elsie nodded, finishing her food before standing up. "Well, no time like the present. Everyone ready?"

...........

"Hey Lillie, you said that you weren't quite done with your Island Challenge right?" Elsie asked as she and Lillie walked along the next route. "Are you taking a break or something?"

"I guess in a way I am," Lillie replied. "Without giving you any major details, the trial in Poni Island requires me to visit all the previous islands so I've just decided to travel the islands with you while I do that."

Suddenly, Elsie got a little worried. "O-Oh... I'm not slowing you down or anything am I?"

"N-No of course not. Uh... how should I explain this..." she paused for a moment. "I guess after hearing what you've been through in your home region, you kinda remind me of myself when I first started on a journey. Whenever I was down or in trouble, I had friends helping me through those tough times. I want to do the same for you, now that I'm stronger than back then."

"Oh." Elsie felt both relieved and happy, briefly wondering if this is what Alice and the others meant when it came to good friends. "Well, thank you. It's... nice to know that someone wants to be there for support."

"Blu!" Sapphire suddenly landed on Elsie's head, which caused her to laugh.

"Yeah, yeah I know I have you for support too. You and Prism don't need to worry about me forgetting that."

Prism, who was walking ahead to keep up with Lucien briefly looked back, mostly at her name being called. The only thing she saw was her trainer and Lillie talking without a care in the world. The Eevee couldn't help but smile at that. Seeing her trainer slowly gain the confidence that she desperately wanted her to have was one of the best sights she witnessed. The only thing that would make this even better was if or when they show everyone who tried to bring Elsie down just how wrong they were about her. But there was always a time to pursue those goals later. Right now, their main concern was just enjoying their journey.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Lucien started to bark, getting everyone's attention. Elsie was about to ask what was wrong until she saw what the Growlithe was looking at. Up ahead, was what looked like a dense forest.

"Looks like we're here already," Lillie said.

"So this is Lush Jungle?" Elsie pondered aloud. 'Doesn't look like it would have that place that I keep seeing in my dreams. I guess the former guardians of Holon really don't have anything to do with Alola.'

She took a deep breath before entering, Lucien trotting ahead and Prism walking at her side.

Upon entering, Elsie saw a girl with green hair and wearing overalls standing there, an assortment of cooking tools scattered around her. She seemed to have been a little distracted, only noticing her and Lillie until after a few moments.

"Oh hi, Lillie! And you must be Elsie right?" the girl asked. "I'm Mallow, the trial captain of Lush Jungle."

Elsie nodded. "Nice to meet you. I'm ready to start the trial whenever you are."

"Great! Everything on my end is pretty much set up. We're going to lure the Totem Pokemon out with my famous Mallow Special. What I need you to do is go around Lush Jungle and gather all the ingredients in this bag." Mallow pulled out a small forage bag, giving it to Elsie, along with a small slip of paper.

"So all we need to do is get everything that's on this list?"

"Yep. But just a warning, there may be some spots where wild pokemon are. If you're not careful, they might think that you're taking something that belongs to them and they'll come back to try and take it."

"Okay, get all the ingredients while making sure I don't get them in a spot that wild pokemon are...got it. Ready Lucien?"

Lucien nodded.

"I'll wait for you with Mallow here," Lillie said. "Good luck out there Elsie."

The trial-goer nodded and ventured deeper into Lush Jungle.