Pokemon Ascendance: Origins of Holon

36

Elsie looked out the window as she and Lillie rode the bus to the top of the mountain.

"We're getting pretty high up." she noted. "Then again this is the first mountain I've ever been on so I guess anything would feel really high up for me."

Lillie held in a giggle. "Well, Mount Hakulani is the second tallest mountain in all of Alola."

"Second tallest? Then which one is the tallest?"

"I'll show you when we get to the peak."

"Guess you're just like our princess here when she first started out on her journey huh El." Acerola said. "Awed at almost everything that you see."

Elsie tilted her head in confusion. She figured that the trial captain was referring to Lillie but she wasn't sure what she meant by them being the same. After all, Lillie seems just as brave as Hau and her pokemon look very strong.

Pretty soon the bus stopped, signalling to the girls that they were now on the top of the mountain. Quickly scanning her new surroundings, Elsie first noticed the Observatory that was mentioned early, quickly followed by a small fenced area. There she saw a group of pokemon crawling around in the dirt, someone watching over them.

"Charjabug, the Battery Pokemon." Rotom said, immediately pulling up information on the pokemon Elsie was staring at. "A bug and electric type. Charjabug stays perfectly still in preparation for Evolution, and often spends time with its body half-buried in the earth. Charjabug is able to store up electricity. It can store up enough power to run a household for a whole day. The power it stores can be provided to other pokemon, so it can serve as a battery. Charjabug evolves from Grubbin and evolves into Vikavolt."

"Never thought I'd see the day where I would meet electric type pokemon that actually like the dirt." Elsie commented.

Acerola quickly skipped over to the guy watching over the Charjabug, who glanced in her direction and waved.

"Hey there Acerola. Guess things are going well at the Aether House if you made it all the way up here."

"Well the two of us are supposed to head to the League and these two were heading up here already so figured I'd come along for the ride. The little ones wanted to prove that they could watch Aether House on their own."

It was then that the man then turned to Elsie's direction. "Ah, you must be the foreign trial-goer Kukui has been talking about. I'm Molayne, a former trial captain here."

"Nice to meet you." Elsie greeted before stating her name. Though she couldn't help but be a little curious about this Molayne being a former trial captain. He did look a lot older than the others she's must up until this point. Perhaps there was an age limit to who could be a captain.

"Now you can't just leave our guest here with something like that." Acerola pointed out. "Make yourself sound more exciting than I got too old to be a trial captain."

'So there is an age limit. That's interesting. There's never been a said age limit for gym leaders so I figured that trial captains would be more or less the same.'

"Just because we work for the new league doesn't mean that we have to show off our titles. That would just scare some of the newer trainers."

"League? As in Elite Four members?" Elsie asked. "I didn't even know that Alola had a league."

"Guess that leads to our original topic we were talking about on the ride here." Acerola said. Before Elsie knew it, the trial captain had grabbed her hand, taking her to what she assumed to be an edge of the mountain. Through the clouds, she spotted a mountain peak. From the looks of it, the peak was covered in snow.

"I'm guessing... that's the tallest mountain here in Alola."

"Yep. Mount Lanakila, where Kukui created Alola's very own Pokemon League."

Elsie's eyes widened at that. "He... created a Pokemon League? Is such a thing even possible? I-I mean... almost every other region that has a league has had it ever since the beginning."

"Well... it's there so it's possible."

"Before that, it was tradition that those who completed all the trials in Alola would climb up Mount Lanakila and rebattle all the Kahunas." Lillie explained. "But shortly after Kukui visited the Kanto Region, he decided to build a league here in Alola."

"Just one person inspired others to create something Alola didn't have originally? Professor Kukui is more amazing than I thought." Elsie gaped. It wasn't long until her mind immediately went back to Holon.

'Holon doesn't even have gym leaders or trials. Does that mean it's possible for someone to create something like that back home?'

Soon the idea became hard to ignore. Journeys would be just something that young trainers do instead of it being a once in a lifetime opportunity. Also people wouldn't have to travel too far from home just to have a journey if they don't want to. Elsie quickly remembered that there were quite a few of her classmates that preferred one type over others so they could be the new gym leaders of Holon.

She was soon snapped out her thoughts when she felt Molayne tap her shoulder.

"O-Oh sorry. I have a habit of getting lost in my thoughts. Were you saying something?"

"Just wanted to ask if you mind taking the Charjabug back inside to Sophocles. Since you're here on your Island Challenge you'll need those guys for this trial."

"Oh. Sure, I don't mind. I just take them inside the Observatory right?"

Molayne nodded. "Good luck on your trial. Sopphy has been working on something new for his trial and is probably anxiously waiting for someone to come along."

"In the meantime, since we're both here, I wanna see you in action Lillie." Acerola said. "You're still doing your Island Challenge after all."

Elsie was about to ask what Lillie had to do but Acerola shooed her away.

"Now we can't spoil all the fun for you. Go ahead and finish your next trial."

Elsie nodded and headed to the Observatory, the Charjabug following close behind her. Though her mind immediately wandered back to what she was told before.

'If Kukui created a league for Alola, then could I make something like that for Holon?'