Pokemon Ascendance: Origins of Holon

24

Before Elsie could call out a command, the Lurantis dashed forward and used X-Scissor, immediately knocking Lucien back. The Growlithe quickly recovered, looking back at Elsie and nodding, letting her know that he was alright.

"Let's start this off with Flame Wheel!"

Lucien howled, surrounding himself with fire before barrelling toward the Totem Pokemon. Once the attack made contact, Lurantis skidded back, grunting in pain due to the flames. It then knocked Lucien back and called its ally.

A few moments later, a Castform appeared at the Totem Lurantis' side which confused Elsie.

'All the other allies of the totem pokemon have been either the pre-evolution of that pokemon or at least the same type. What's a Castform going to do? I don't think it has a grass-type form.'

Her question was soon answered when the Castform used Sunny Day, which transformed it into its fire-type form. In response, Lurantis raised one of its arms, charging up an attack that Elsie couldn't recognize. To her, it looked like Solar Beam in the shape of a sword. The attack then came crashing down, which Lucien was just barely able to dodge.

"What was that move?"

"That was Lurantis' strongest move Solar Blade," Rotom explained. "It usually takes a while to charge up but the light from Castform's Sunny Day is shortening that charge-up time."

Elsie nodded in understanding. 'The Castform ally is starting to make a lot more sense now. So the pokemon the Totem Pokemon call to help them don't necessarily have to share a type with them as long as they make a good support.'

"Well, the sun also powers up fire-type moves so we'll use that to our advantage. Lucien use Flame Wheel again!"

The Lurantis once again took a direct hit from the Growlithe's Flame Wheel. It stumbled back but then used Synthesis as Castform dashed forward to use Headbutt. Once Lucien had recovered from the attack, Lurantis was full of energy, almost as if it hadn't even started battling yet.

'So it has a way to heal itself too. That means waiting for it to run out of strength isn't going to work. As long as the sun is up, it can recover really well. We're gonna have to find a way to overwhelm the healing, or take it out before it has a chance to use Synthesis again.'

Elsie then glanced at the Firium-Z. 'Didn't think I would be using this so soon but it might be the only way without Lucien being drained.'

"Lucien get ready!" she called out, placing the Z Crystal on her ring and allowing it to glow brightly. Lucien got into a fighting stance, preparing for what was about to happen.

Elsie took a breath as she did the dance, the feeling of power surging not taking her off guard like last time. Though it would still take some getting used to. It wasn't long until Lucien was surrounded by the Z-move's energy.

"Use Inferno Overdrive!"

Lucien howled as a giant ball of fire formed above him before it flew toward Lurantis. The Totem Pokemon tried to counteract it with Solar Blade but it was easily overtaken by the flames. Elsie soon noticed that the Castform had flown behind Lucien, getting ready to use Weather Ball when Inferno Overdrive had crashed into Lurantis.

"Quick hop on top of Lurantis!"

When the flames cleared, Lucien hopped on top of the Totem Pokemon's head, who at this point was struggling to stand. Castform had only realized its mistake after it had released its Weather Ball. As it flew towards, Lucien and Totem Lurantis, Weather Ball turned into a fire-type attack. Lucien simply jumped out of the way at the last second, letting the Weather Ball hit Lurantis. After that last attack, the harsh sunlight had faded and the Totem Lurantis had fallen. Both Elsie and Lucien had released a sigh of relief before turning their attention to the Castform.

The ally pokemon panicked and used Water Gun. Lucien jumped out of the way and ran forward.

"Use Bite!" Elsie called out.

Lucien jumped up and used Bite, bringing the Castform closer to the ground. It struggled within the Growlithe's jaws.

"Now use Ember!"

Lucien released the Castform only for it to take the last attack almost at point-blank range. The Castform shook away the soot the fire-type attack covered it in before retreating.

Elsie stood there almost in disbelief as she saw what was a battlefield just being an empty space.

"We did it... we finished the last trial of Akala Island..."

Before she could react, Lucien jumped in her arms and began licking her face. Elsie stumbled back and fell, but was laughing the whole time. Matching her Growlithe's excitement, she hugged him tightly.

"You were awesome Lucien! Thanks to you we defeated the last trial!"

Lucien yipped, his tail wagging a mile a minute.

It was then that the other two trial captains came through the entrance to Lush Jungle, catching Elsie off guard.

"You two just missed it," Mallow said. "Elsie here had no trouble at all defeating Lurantis."

"Just what I'd expect from the one who passed my trial," Kiawe responded with a smile. "The Marowak I had trained was no match for her."

"And neither was the Araquanid that I trained," Lana added. "This trial-goer is a lot stronger than she looks."

Mallow then looked down at the bowl with her special recipe. "Hey, looks like Lurantis didn't finish the meal that we prepared for it. Do you wanna have some, Elsie? I bet you'll like it."

"Well... I guess if a Totem Pokemon is willing to fight for it then-"

"Actually I think it's about time that Elsie heads to her Grand Trial." Kiawe quickly said. Elsie couldn't really understand why he suddenly sounded a bit panicked. "What do you think Lana? How about we show her the way to Olivia?"

"Yeah, let's do that."

Before Elsie could react, she was quickly picked up by Kiawe who immediately began running out of Lush Jungle along with Lana.

"Hey, you two! Don't ruin other people's chances cause you have no taste!" Mallow shouted, running after them. Snowy and Lillie sighed before following the trial captains that had taken their friend.