Pokemon Ascendance: Origins of Holon

41

Elsie took another deep breath trying to calm herself. Despite not expecting to be shoved into a haunted supermarket, she was technically ready to begin the next trial.

"Alright, all we have to do is look for ghost type pokemon and take their picture." she said under her breath, reminding herself of the instructions. "Do that enough times and then the Totem Pokemon should reveal itself."

She let Skye and Ico out alongside her. 'Skye's Crunch and Ico's Astonish should allow us to handle any ghost types pretty well.'

With her two pokemon next to her, Elsie began venturing into the abandoned supermarket.

"It's pretty dark in here." she mused. "I hope we don't end up running into anything..."

"Dartrix!"

"Hm?"

Ico pointed to a conveyer belt that had somehow been turned on.

"I thought there wasn't any kind of power in here. How is it sable to work... unless... Rotom?"

At her request, Rotom came out of her bag. "Already on it!"

Activating the Pokefinder, Rotom flew over to the conveyer belt. On its screen it showed a Gastly flying about.

'So that's what going to help us find the ghost types around here.' she thought. 'Look out for anything that shouldn't be moving on its own.'

Quickly she took the picture and the Gastly suddenly became visible without the Pokefinder and flew towards them. Leaping into action, Ico flew up to counter the Gastly.

"Use Astonish!"

The battle seemed to have ended as soon as it began. One Astonish from the Dartrix was enough to force the Gastly to flee. As soon as it disappeared, the conveyer belt had ceased moving.

"Great job Ico." Elsie praised. "Let's all keep up the good work."

Ico nodded, standing up tall and proud at the praise that he had just gotten. It wasn't long after that the Dartrix suddenly was enveloped in a blinding light. One that Elsie was getting quite familiar with at this point in her journey.

'He's evolving.'

When the light died down, the final evolution of Rowlet stood before Elsie. As if on cue, Rotom began reciting the Pokedex entry for this new pokemon.

"Decidueye, the Arrow Quill Pokemon. A grass and ghost type. Decidueye is able to move about while completely masking its presence from others. Once an opponent has lost sight of it, Decidueye seizes the chance to attack it unawares. In a tenth of a second, Decidueye plucks an arrow quill from within its wings and sends it hurtling towards its target."

"So you're a ghost type now. You'll have to be more careful then when it comes to the rest of this trial." Elsie said. "I heard that when a Dartrix evolves into a Decidueye, they learn a move called Spirit Shackle. I'm sure you wanna try out your new move but we don't want you overexerting yourself."

The newly evolved Decidueye nodded. Seconds after, Skye began growling, glaring at something behind Elsie and Ico.

"Something wrong Skye?" Elsie asked. "Do you see another ghost pokemon around?"

She turned to see what her Lycanroc was growling at only to see a Pikachu watching them. The moment all eyes were on it however, it ran off deeper into the supermarket.

"What's a Pikachu doing in here? Did it get in by accident and is now lost? We should find it and figure out what's going on."

The little trio began following the fleeing Pikachu, only to be stopped by sudden rattling. A shopping cart had rolled in front of them and started shaking. Rotom flew over and activated the Pokefinder, revealing a Haunter on its screen. Knowing what must be done, Elsie took a picture of the Haunter, getting its attention. 

This time, Skye stepped up to battle as the Haunter flew towards them. Already knowing what his trainer was going to call out he used Crunch. It went just as quick as Ico's battle, the pokemon fleeing after just one attack.

Soon the Pikachu was in their sights again.

"Looks like its headed into that back room over there." Elsie noted. "At least we won't be chasing it for much longer now."

Once again they were one the trail of the Electric Mouse Pokemon. But just like a few minutes ago, they were abruptly stopped in their tracks. Pokemon plushies were now airborne, dancing above their heads.

'Each time we're close to catching up to that Pikachu something happens. Is the Pikachu... somehow helping out with the trial.'

Elsie glanced at Rotom and nodded who fired up the Pokefinder again. This time the screen revealed a Gengar as the one responsible for the floating plushies. Right before she could take a picture, Ico stepped forward, looking back at Elsie and nodding.

"I'm guessing you want to try out Spirit Shackle on this last one. Alright, the moment you see a chance, strike."

She took a picture of the Gengar, which quickly revealed itself without the need of the Pokefinder. The Gengar grinned at the trainer and flew over, only to be stopped by the Decidueye. Immediately Ico pulled out an arrow from its wing. The arrow was soon covered in what Elsie could only describe as a ghostly aura before it was fired right at the Gengar which seemed to have thrown a bit of a fit when it was hit and then disappeared.

"I guess it was pretty disappointed that it lost whatever game it thought we were playing." Elsie commented. "Anyway, the door is right over there so let's find that Pikachu."

The two pokemon nodded and with their trainer, approached the door that they saw the Pikachu run into. Before they could enter though, someone was standing right at the door.

Elsie blinked in confusion, staring at the girl who was standing before her. They were the exact same height, had the same hair color, and although shadows were covering her face, Elsie could've sworn that she saw a glint of purple where her eyes would've been. Aside from the old medieval-like clothes, Elsie felt like she was looking into a mirror as she stared at the girl.

"Was... that Pikachu we keep seeing yours?" Elsie asked slowly.

"The road ahead of you will be a difficult one." the girl said. "Are you still willing to continue as a trainer knowing that fact?"

"W-What do you mean by that?"

"Gaining any form of strength is both a blessing and a curse. You are growing strong but that means in the future, many are going to try to weaken you in any way they can. Will you be able to withstand that and continue being a pokemon trainer?"

'Do I have to answer this person's question in order to continue? Definitely seems like it.'

Elsie thought for a moment. "Well, at least for me I've already had a fair share of hardships. Some seemed impossible to get through... and maybe they would've been if it wasn't for all the friends I've made... and the team that I have now. Even if there's going to be people who will try to make me weak, I have the support of everyone I care about to regain that strength. So to answer your question... yes. I will continue being a pokemon trainer knowing whatever road I'm on now is going to be hard."

The girl smiled at her answer. "Then maybe my dear friends can see the good in people once again. You should go now... the end of this trial awaits you."

The girl then vanished before anyone could react.