Pokemon Ascendance: Origins of Holon

29

By now it had been almost a week since Skye had disappeared and even with following his scent trail, there seemed to be no sign of him. With each passing day, Elsie became more and more worried about her Rockruff. Should she go to police officials and report a missing pokemon? Would that even work? Part of her doubted that it would assuming that the people of Alola already know how Rockruff act when they're getting ready to evolve. They would probably just tell her to be patient and wait for her pokemon to come back.

'What if he got lost and doesn't know where we are? What if he's stuck somewhere? What if he's been kidnapped!?'

Elsie couldn't stop the storm of negative thoughts rushing through her mind. Having no idea where Skye was along with the fact that she would have little help was torture. Probably just as torturous as sitting in her room during the usual family arguments. This situation was quickly getting to the point where Elsie wouldn't sleep unless Sapphire forced her to by using Sing.

Seeing her trainer like this, Prism couldn't help but wonder if she was partially to blame for Skye being gone for so long. After all, she wouldn't allow him to get anywhere near Elsie after the bite incident. He probably only tried to get close in order to apologize. Did her protectiveness potentially drive away a good friend that Elsie had?

Elsie hadn't realized that Hau and Lillie had come in until Raichu flew over, tapping her shoulder.

"Hey, how about the three of us go and get something to eat?" Hau suggested.

"I don't know if I can even think about eating malasadas at a time like this." Elsie sighed.

"We know you're worried about Skye but he wouldn't want you neglecting your own well-being for his sake." Lillie pointed out. "You've shut yourself inside for a few days now. Being in the dark all day won't help your mood, even with all your other pokemon with you."

Elsie supposed Lillie had a point there. Not like just sitting her worried was going to make Skye come back any sooner. Having a feeling that they were going to keep trying to convince her if she refused, Elsie nodded, allowing the two to lead her outside.

"Being outside for a little bit will do you some good. You'll probably be a little more energized than you've been recently." Lillie said.

"Yeah and who knows; maybe today will be the day that Skye comes back." Hau added. "Maybe even during this lunch."

The three of them made their way to the malasada shop, Elsie saving a table for all of them outside while Hau and Lillie went inside to order. Sighing, Elsie sat down.

"I just have to be a little more patient." she said mostly to herself. "Skye will come back... I'm sure of it."

"With how incompetent of a trainer you are, I highly doubt that your Rockruff is going to come back." a familiar voice said. Elsie turned around to see Evan.

'I haven't seen him in a while... from the looks of it he's just finished his grand trial.'

She didn't really respond to his little comment. Even if she wanted to, she wasn't sure how. Oddly she had gotten used to the word incompetent being thrown at her when it came to this boy. From all the previous interactions they've had, it was the only thing that she really expected out of Evan when it came to her.

"I-I'm sure he's just taking his time..." she finally managed to say, though like last time, it was mainly muttered to herself.

"Oh really? Then I guess you haven't looked over the Pokedex entry for a Lycanroc have you?" Evan questioned. It wasn't long until Elsie heard the voice of a Pokedex next to her.

"Lycanroc, the Wolf Pokemon. When properly raised from a young age, it will become a trustworthy partner that will never betray its trainer."

Elsie wasn't quite sure what the boy was trying to get at. Her facial expression must've conveyed that to him since he continued.

"You can only get a chance for a Rockruff to return as a Lycanroc if you trained it properly. Just being nice to it isn't enough. Lycanroc want a trainer that's able to bring forth their true potential. Your Rockruff is never going to get that as long as it stays with you and its probably realized that by now and just abandoned you." he explained.

The words felt like a jab to her chest and tears threatened to spill from her eyes but she refused to let it show.

"You can keep believing in false hope if you want but they're only gone for a few days at most. If you're saying he's taking his time then it's safe to assume that it's been longer than that since he was gone."

With that he walked off. Elsie took a shaky breath as she clenched her fists. She didn't wanna believe that Skye would just up and leave.

'But... what if he did find someone else that he liked better?'

Suddenly whatever little appetite that the girl had completely vanished by the time her two friends appeared. She had to force herself to eat to avoid any suspicion. She would just do what she normally did when she couldn't retreat to her room back at home when things got bad; bottle everything in a cry when she knew she was alone.

.............

The next day came and there still seemed to be no sign of Skye. Seeing that, Elsie hung her head in defeat, what remained of her headache last night making itself known again.

'Maybe.... maybe he did find something better. If that's the case then who am I to try to get Skye to come back.'

The only good thing that came from last night was the news of the Milotic she encountered before making a quick recovery and was in Aether Paradise. The workers that she had met were at the resort, ready to take her to see the pokemon.

Sighing, Elsie got ready for that. Not speaking a word to anyone, including Prism and Sapphire. The Eevee and Swablu had only seen this look on her only a handful of times but they knew what it meant.

Their trainer was on the verge of giving up. That or she had given up on the hope that Skye would come back.

Rubbing her eyes, Elsie reread the directions to the resort before heading over there. The trip there was uneventful and quiet. Once at the Grand Hano Resort, one of the Aether Foundation workers saw her and smiled.

"Ah, there you are. Are you ready to go see Milotic?"

"Yeah... ready as I'll ever be?"

"Are you alright? You look really tired."

"I-I'm fine... no need to worry."

"Wait. Just one second before you go." a voice called out. Elsie turned to see Olivia walking towards them, with two Lycanroc at her side. One she immediately recognized as the Midnight form she battled during her grand trial but the other one, the one in its Midday form she had never seen.

The Midday Lycanroc stared at Elsie for a few moments before taking a step forward. Elsie blinked and took a step forward as well, trying to get a better look at it.

'Something about its eyes seems familiar.... they match the color of the-'

Her eyes widened. "S-Skye?"

The Midday Lycanroc's tail wagged at hearing his name before he trotted over to Elsie, who fell to her knees and hugged him tightly, despite the rocks in his fur cutting her arms. Seeing the reunion, Olivia smiled.

"The poor thing was looking all over Akala for you with a thorn stuck in his paw I brought him here."

"I can't believe that I was about to leave without you. I'm so sorry Skye!"

Skye licked away his trainer's tears who couldn't help but giggle at the gesture. Recovering from the shock, she then pulled out his Pokeball.

"Well, we're on our way to meet a new friend. Ready to go?"

Skye nudged the ball, going in without a second thought.