Pokemon Ascendance: Origins of Holon

50

Elsie laughed a bit upon seeing the bewildered faces of her two friends the moment they arrived at the pokemon center.

"Looks like we beat you here."

"I didn't even know that we were trying to race," Lillie noted.

"Neither did I until these two decided to make it one, almost giving me a heart attack in the process."

Both Prism and Sapphire flashed confident smirks, all too pleased with themselves about catching Hau off guard.

After the boy recovered from the initial shock, he began to laugh. "Those two are pretty fast if they managed to beat us even without a head start. But now that we're all here, we should start making our way to Melemele. Trial captains keep in touch with each other so I'm sure that Ilima will be expecting a battle with you, Elsie."

Elsie and Lillie nodded, preparing to depart the moment they got the necessary supplies.

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

"Feels... almost nostalgic being back here," Elsie noted. "I don't know why. It hasn't been that long but I still feel nostalgia."

"Probably because your journey officially started here." Lillie guessed.

"Yeah...I met you, met Ico and Skye, had my first pokemon battle, and caught Lucien here," she said, remembering all the events that happened here. "I had my first battle during that little festival and it was with Ilima actually. But I guess I should expect a harder battle since that one was probably more for fun."

During her little rambling sessions, Elsie could've sworn that she saw a streak of a yellow bolt through the sky. But when she looked up she saw nothing.

'What... was that? Or am I just seeing things?'

Based on how Lillie and Hau looked up as well, it definitely wasn't just her imagination. Something had to have been there just a second ago. Hau seemed deep in thought before he turned to his friends.

"There's something that I gotta do. I'll catch you later. Good luck in your battle, Elsie. You'll probably find Ilima somewhere near the trial site."

Before they could react, Hau ran off somewhere, as usual.

"There he goes again..."

"I wonder what he's up to." Lillie pondered aloud.

"I guess we'll find out sooner or later." Elsie looked around, trying to spot the path that lead to Verdant Cavern. Once it was found, she began walking in that direction, Lillie following close behind. It wasn't long until they passed the patch of grass where she had first met her Growlithe, who was now an Arcanine. Then shortly after her first Grand Trial, she had taken in Skye, who was also far from the abandoned Rockruff that she had first encountered.

'Who knew that so much could happen in just a short amount of time...'

When they finally made it to Verdant Cavern, they looked around. But there was no sight of Ilima.

"Do... you think he's here?" Elsie asked.

"He's usually somewhere nearby when he's expecting trainers to battle him for his Orange Petals," Lillie said. "Maybe he's at the cemetery."

Elsie paled a little at the mention of that. "There's a cemetery nearby? How did I not see something like that?"

"It's pretty easy to miss, to be honest. A few visitors never even realize it's there."

"Well if it isn't Lillie and Elsie. How are you?"

They turned to see Ilima walking towards them.

"Oh, there you are, Captain Ilima. We're doing great. I just finished with Mina's Trial and now Elsie is just starting to gather all the petals."

"So I've heard." it was then that the trial captain turned his attention to Elsie. "I suppose you know what this means if you want to obtain a petal right?"

Elsie nodded, pulling out a Pokeball. "Yeah, and I'm ready whenever you are."

Ilima nodded. "Very well then. A short one-on-one battle."

With that, he sent out a Smeargle.

"Lucien, you're up!" Elsie called out, sending out her Arcanine. She wasn't sure why but having a battle with Lucien on the route where they had first met just sounded like the right idea. Maybe she just wanted to reminisce through good memories of Alola before she had to leave.

"Lucien, use Flame Wheel!"

The Arcanine nodded and engulfed himself in flames before barrelling toward the Painter Pokemon.

"Use Water Pulse."

Much to Elsie's surprise, the Smeargle countered the Flame Wheel with Water Pulse. The struggle between the two moves stopped Lucien in his tracks for a few moments before breaking through and landing the hit on the opposing pokemon. Though the attack was less powerful.

Lucien jumped back, panting a little. The surprise water-type attack having an effect on him.

'The only move that Smeargle can learn naturally is Sketch, which lets it learn other moves that were used on it. Since most trainers in Alola start in Melemele for their island challenge, does that mean that his Smeargle has a supereffective move for all the alolan starters? I'll have to watch out for that.'

"Now use Dig."

Smeargle then dove underground. Lucien looked around confusedly, trying to find where the opponent went.

"Lucien, try to feel vibrations in the ground to try and predict where Smeargle might show up," Elsie said.

The Arcanine turned to her and nodded before closing his eyes, concentrating on the ground beneath his feet. This lasted for a few moments before Lucien's eyes shot open as he jumped up in the air, Smeargle emerging from the ground a second after.

"Nice job! Now use Extreme Speed!"

Lucien then bolted towards the opposing Smeargle at blinding speeds. When the two pokemon collided, Smeargle crashed into the ground as Lucien landed safely on his feet. The Painter Pokemon struggled to get to its feet before falling once again.

Ilima returned his exhausted pokemon to its ball as Elsie ran to Lucien's side, scratching him behind his ears.

"Thanks for all your hard work, Lucien. You were great out there."

The Arcanine wagged his fluffy tail as he licked his trainer's face, causing her to giggle. It was then that Ilima approached them, an orange flower petal in his hands.

"You and your pokemon have certainly become stronger." the trial captain noted with a smile. "Far from the shy trainer that I met during that festival."

Elsie blushed out of embarrassment. "T-Thanks. It does feel like a long journey. And there's still so much more that I want to do after I completed all my trials."

"If you're ready, then I can take you to Wela Volcano, where Kiawe is waiting." Ilima offered.

Elsie looked back at Lillie. "Do you think that we should wait for Hau or go on ahead?"

"Knowing him he'll probably find a way to find us so let's keep going."

"Yeah, that's true. He does tend to show up in random places." Elsie turned back to Ilima and nodded. "We'll take you up on that offer. We're ready to go whenever you are."