Pokemon Ascendance: Origins of Holon

37

Elsie wandered into the Observatory, wondering where to go. Deciding that there's no need for her to get lost when she's got a group of pokemon that know where to go, she turns to the Charjabug following her.

"Do you little guys remember where to go?"

One Charjabug nodded and crawled as fast as it could to lead the way. But not wanting it to exert too much energy, Elsie gently picked it up in her hands.

"How about I just carry you and you point to where to go?"

The battery pokemon nodded and tilted its head in the direction to go. It wasn't long until they reached the room where the trial was supposed to be. There Elsie saw a boy tirelessly working on what looked like a giant mechanical Vikavolt. So big that someone could probably ride on it. The boy working on the large machine looked like a smaller version of Molayne. 

'I wonder if this boy and Molayne are related.' she guessed.

Perched on the boy's shoulder was what Elsie could only describe as a larger and more round version of a silver Dedenne.

"Is that an... Alolan Dedenne?" Elsie asked Rotom.

"That would be a Togedemaru. Known as the Roly-Poly Pokemon." Rotom replied. "An electric and steel type. Togedemaru gathers electricity and stores it. The long needle that grows from the back of its head works as a lightning rod to attract electricity. Covering its body is a pattern of fur with strands like needles. On days when lightning strikes, you can sometimes see Togedemaru gather and bristle up their needles, waiting to be struck by lightning."

The pokedex entry seemed to have startled the boy from his work as he yelped and quickly turned to where the sound came from.

"S-Sorry about that." Elsie stammered. "By the way uh... I was asked to bring the Charjabug here."

"O-Oh um... thanks for doing that." the boy said, scrambling over to greet the trial-goer. "I-I'm Sophocles by the way."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Elsie."

"Listen uh... I don't really have a concrete trial yet. I've been trying out different things to see which idea would work best." Sophocles admitted nervously. Elsie could hear him mumbling something about the first time, lights going out and the second time being something along the lines of pokemon almost getting zapped by enormous amounts of electricity. The trial captain then shook his head and spoke up. "L-Long story short, your experience in this trial is going to be different than trainers who have done this before."

'Now that he mentioned that, it probably is hard to find a good idea for a trial for trainers to do.' Elsie thought. 'Guess that's why he's so nervous. I wouldn't even know where to start if I was in his shoes. Hopefully, I can make this as smooth as I can for him.'

"Alright then," she said with a smile. "I'm willing to try out your new idea."

"Okay. This is what you gotta do." Sophocles then pointed to the machine that he was working on. "I'm sure you saw me working on that mechanical Vikavolt. There are spots to place the Charjabug in that machine. All you have to do is place them in there and their electricity will power up that machine. Once that happens you can hop onto it and it'll take you to meet the Totem Pokemon."

'So this time I'm coming to the Totem Pokemon instead of just doing something to summon it.'

Elsie nodded in understanding. "Okay, I think I got it. Place the Charjabug in the spots on there and once that's done, ride the machine to where the Totem Pokemon is."

"Y-Yeah. But just so you know... the machine will slowly start to power up the moment even some of the Charjabug are in place. The power might attract smaller pokemon here so be careful."

She nodded again as she and the group of Charjabug went towards the metal Vikavolt.

'Now... where are the spots the Charjabug are supposed to go in?'

She knelt down and saw something on the bottom of the Vikavolt. From the looks of it, she could only describe it as something you would see where you could insert batteries in a toy but instead of the holes being lined up side by side, they created the shape of a Z.

'Guess this is the place they're supposed to go. Sophocles said that as I put the Charjabug in that pokemon might show up so...'

She let out Prism and Sapphire.

"You two keep watch while I power up the machine alright?"

The Drakeon and Swablu nodded and looked around, making sure nothing could catch them off guard.

'Despite Sapphire being weak to electric-type moves, Prism isn't anymore and they've been working together ever since I've had them so they'll be just fine.'

Elsie then sat down and began placing the Charjabug into the battery-like slots. The moment she put three in, the machine started to hum. Soon after a Grubbin appeared, making its way toward Elsie. Sapphire flew forward to intercept the surprise attack with Peck, which was enough to ward off the Grubbin.

'Guess for every three I put in, a pokemon is likely to appear.' Elsie thought. 'At least we can kinda guess when we should expect a sudden attack now.'

She quickly resumed what she was doing. After the next set of three was placed, the machine hummed a little louder, this time, lights began to power up as well. Expecting something to pop up, she turned just in time to see Prism and Sapphire facing off against a Charjabug. It tried to use Spark against Sapphire but Prism jumped in the way, taking the hit. From there, Sapphire was able to ward off the second pokemon with another Peck.

"Alright, last set of three, and then we'll be able to meet the Totem Pokemon," Elsie said as she took a deep breath and began finishing powering up the mechanical Vikavolt. Once all Charjabug were placed, the wings on the metal Vikavolt seemed to flutter a little bit, as if it was ready to take off at any moment.

As she moved away from underneath the machine. She expected another pokemon to suddenly appear but surprisingly, nothing happened.

"Looks like everything is working just fine," Sophocles said. "Now all you have to do now is hop on and meet the Totem Pokemon."