Darkest Day (Pokémon Sw/Sh fanfic - rewrite available and in progress)

Natural Disaster

Where was Eliana this entire time? Well, a certain Champion's brother had asked her if she could teach him how to properly train pokémon. She had followed him into the Galar Mine, demonstrating a perfect one-hit knockout on a wild Rolycoly. Hop watched in awe, soaking in all the information like a sponge to water.

"How do you catch pokémon?" he asked her after she had tracked down an unsuspecting Woobat.

Eliana looked back at him, shrugging. "It depends on what kind of pokémon it is. There's different pokéballs, and every pokémon has its desires. I met Luxray when he was just a Shinx. He'd snuck a couple berries away from Drizzile, so I fed him what he needed."

"You didn't attack him or anything?"

"Friendship should be what matters most. Shinx trusted me after that, so he just tagged along." Eliana let out her Luxray for demonstration, but the electric-type was all too sleepy to really care about anything.

Hop suppressed a giggle. "Do you think you can show me? I do need a new technique," he said, scratching Luxray behind the ears.

Eliana smiled when the lion began purring. The Pokémon leaned into the touch, almost knocking Hop over. Intelleon, who had been brought out for the attack on the Rolycoly, rolled her eyes at her friend's softness towards a stranger.

"I suppose I could catch something," Eliana announced. "But it'd be a while before it would be up to par with the others' strengths."

She thought for a moment, trying to go over the native pokémon in the mine. Besides the common Rolycoly, there were Timburr, Drilbur, Diglett, Roggenrola and Woobat. All of them could evolve into formidable opponents, but they weren't what Eliana would usually accept into her team. In all honesty, she'd rather mess with the Nickits around Postwick.

The two Trainers continued along the mine, Hop ranting about how he trained his own pokémon and the way he caught them. Eliana was only half listening, eyes locked on a dark figure in the far end of the cave they were in. It wasn't human, and it definitely wasn't a pokémon native to the mine.

Eliana put out a hand to stop Hop, putting a finger to her mouth to tell him to be quiet. The younger gave her a confused look, but remained silent nonetheless. Eliana crept forwards, beckoning for Luxray to follow. That was when the shadow moved.

The Pokémon burst from the darkness, a blast of pink waves of energy knocking Luxray to the other end of the cave wall. Now that it was in the light, Eliana could finally make out what it was. It was an Absol, but not ordinary Absol. Instead of blue skin, it was pink.

A shiny.

The Absol growled, taking a defensive stance. The whit fur on its shoulders stood on end. Eliana ceased all movements. This wasn't a territorial pokémon. These were the actions of a pokémon that was protecting something.

"What is that?" Hop asked, voice barely above a whisper. It was apparent that he had never seen, possibly never even heard, of Absol. As far as Eliana knew, this pokémon wasn't even native to Galar at all.

"Sol!" the pokémon hissed. It took a step back, swiveling its head to an unseen enemy. It was then that Eliana noticed the red glowing stones behind it.

"Wishing Stars!" she breathed. They looked just like the legends said they did.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" a new voice said.

Eliana recognized it. She followed Absol's gaze to see Bede, who apparently had been standing there this entire time.

She felt Hop tense beside her. The young Trainer narrowed his eyes, a new anger washing over him that Eliana had never seen on him before. He obviously knew Bede, and it appeared that he didn't like him at all.