Pokemon Ascendance: Origins of Holon

56

"And who might you be?"

Lillie looked over her shoulder to see her friend standing there. "Oh, Elsie. You already finished Mina's trial?"

Elsie nodded. "Yeah. Was directed to come here the moment my team was ready to go."

It was then that Hapu walked over to ger. "Elsie? As in the one who Hau and Lillie has been telling me about?"

"Y-Yeah. It was Hau that brought me here to the Alola Region in the first place." Elsie explained. "I'm from a small region called Holon. Not a lot of people get to have a pokemon journey of their own so after I'm done with all my trials, I'm planning on returning to my home region and make it to where everyone in Holon can have a pokemon journey of their own."

"Well, that's a pretty noble goal you got there," Hapu said with a smile. "Since you're here that means that I'm the only one left that you need to face."

Elsie nodded. "Yes. Whenever you're ready, I'd like to start my grand trial with you."

.........

The moment Hapu was ready, she and Elsie stood face to face. Elsie took a breath, mentally preparing herself for the final grand trial.

'Since I've seen the last bit of her battle with Lillie, I'm pretty sure that Hapu uses ground-type pokemon.' Elsie thought. 'That means I'll be relying on Ico and Aquaria mostly for this battle. But I guess I won't know fur sure until the battle starts.'

Hapu pulled out a Pokeball as she looked at Elsie. "Are you ready? Your grand trial is about to begin."

"I'm ready," Elsie answered. "Ico, come on out!"

Her Decidueye appeared, calmly waiting for his opponent to appear. It was then that the Kahuna sent out a Golurk.

'Golurk is a ghost type too.' Elsie thought. 'I'll have to be careful so Ico doesn't take much damage from any ghost-type moves it could have.'

Ico looked back at Elsie and nodded, signaling to her that he was ready to take on this challenge.

"Ico use Razor Leaf!"

"Golurk use Stealth Rock!"

Right after the Automaton Pokemon had endured the super effective grass-type attack, it retaliated by summoning pointed rocks around the area that would cover anywhere Elsie's pokemon would appear.

'Looks like now it's best to keep Ico in as long as he's able to handle it. Just switching out pokemon recklessly will make them take unnecessary damage.'

"Use Leaf Blade." she then called out.

Ico then dashed forward, a green blade materializing in his hand.

Hapu then gave her pokemon the next course of action. "Golurk use Shadow Punch."

Golurk met Ico's blade with his fist, which was now covered in shadows. There was a power struggle between the two pokemon.

'Come on Ico, I know you can break through...' Elsie silently prayed.

As if he heard her thoughts, the Decidueye suddenly swung his sword upward, causing Golurk to lose his balance and stumble backward. Taking the new opportunity, Ico swung his Leaf Blade again, landing a direct hit of Golurk's chest. The Kahuna's first pokemon landed on his back, now unable to battle.

'One down. We're doing good.'

Hapu returned her exhausted pokemon, nodding to Elsie. "You're a pretty strong trainer. I'm glad that your journey in Alola has gotten you this far."

"I'm glad too."

It was then that Hapu sent out her second pokemon. A Gastrodon.

'That's a water and ground type...' Elsie thought. 'I better be on the lookout for any ice-type moves that could seriously hurt Ico.'

"Ico use Spirit Shackle!"

"Gastrodon, use Recover."

Right as Ico's arrow hit its target, Gastrodon immediately reversed all the damage that was dealt to him.

'So she's gonna try to use Recover to tire Ico out. In that case, I gotta finish this fast.'

"Ico use Razor Leaf and don't let up. We'll make this round a battle of endurance."

And so, the endurance battle began. Elsie's Decidueye constantly using Razor Leaf while Gastrodon attempts to heal itself with Recover throughout the barrage.

'Razor Leaf has a high chance for a critical hit so hopefully, that happens before Ico gets tired out.'

Whether they got the critical hit she was hoping for or their opponent was just tired out, the Sea Slug pokemon couldn't keep up with the constant healing it had to do, Ico eventually became the winner of the endurance battle, trying to catch his breath as Gastrodon fell.

'What's her next pokemon going to be?'

It wasn't long until she got her answer. The next opponent they were facing was a Flygon. Elsie quickly studied her Decidueye's condition.

'I shouldn't keep pushing him like this. Two battles in a row are kind of intense for any pokemon. But I still have to be mindful of the Stealth Rock. What pokemon do I have that has a good chance of dealing with both this Flygon and her Mudsdale?'

Coming up with a conclusion, she returned Ico.

"Thanks for all your hard work. Take a nice long rest."

It was then that Elsie brought Aquaria to the battlefield. As the Milotic appeared, pointed rocks showed themselves before piercing into Aquaria, causing her to flinch.

"So that's your next pokemon. Let's see what the two of you can do. Flygon use Dragon Breath!"

"Aquaria use Aqua Ring!"

A veil of water surrounded the Milotic as the Dragon Breath shot towards her, immediately undoing any damage that was dealt from both the first attack and the Stealth Rocks.

'Unlike Recover, Aqua Ring will keep healing any damage as the battle goes on so I can focus on doing other attacks.' Elsie thought. 'This battle is nearing its end so I'll need to be on the lookout for her Z-move.'

"Flygon use Earth Power!"

"Aquaria use Ice Beam!"

Both pokemon took damage as the attacks were exchanged. Flygon landed roughly on the ground when he was hit with the Ice Beam, frost appearing on its wings.

"Let's finish this with Twister."

One last supereffective attack was enough to defeat the Flygon. Aquaria took that extra time to catch her breath as Aqua Ring continued to tend to her wounds.

'This is it. She's gonna send out Mudsdale.'

"Looks like it all comes down to this," Hapu said, pulling out one last pokeball. "We'll settle this with one final attack."

Elsie immediately knew what she meant by that. "So soon?"

"You've come this far. That alone tells me that you're strong. There's no need to keep prolonging this battle."

Elsie slowly nodded, her heart hammering in her chest as she knew her last grand trial was going to end soon.

As soon as Mudsdale appeared on the field, Elsie equipped her Z-ring just as Hapu did the same.

'This is it... the final stretch of the first part of my journey.'

The final attacks were called out.

"Use Tectonic Rage!"

"Use Hydro Vortex!"

Mudsdale was trapped within a whirlpool as the ground beneath Aquaria cracked and crumbled away. When the chaos died down both pokemon were exhausted and laying on the ground.

A few moments later, Aquaria slowly sat up. The grand trial was over.