Lisa the Legend: Chapter 82 - Last Night on Earth now up! (24th June 2013)

[Gavin Luper]

Here 'tis!


Lisa the Legend


Table of Contents


Lisa the Legend I: Legendaries. (Book 1 Synopsis (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=404188#post404188))

Chapter 1 - Adventure in the Burned Tower. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=8#post8)
Chapter 2 - Lisa's Quest Begins. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=10#post10)
Chapter 3 - The Contest. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=11#post11)
Chapter 4 - Friends and Rivals. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=12#post12)
Chapter 5 - Inside the Radio Tower. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=13#post13)
Chapter 6 - Recovery. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=59#post59)
Chapter 7 - Journey for Cianwood. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=147#post147)
Chapter 8 - Suicune's Return. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=149#post149)
Chapter 9 - Battle on the Coral Reef. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=231#post231)
Chapter 10 - Fighting the Ocean. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=365#post365)
Chapter 11 - The Ungrateful Sailor. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=366#post366)
Chapter 12 - Psychics. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=367#post367)
Chapter 13 - The Colosseum. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=368#post368)
Chapter 14 - The Water Washout. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=369#post369)
Chapter 15 - Watered-Down Revenge. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=370#post370)
Chapter 16 - Whirlpool Champion - Part I. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=372#post372)
Chapter 17 - Whirlpool Champion - Part II. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=525#post525)
Chapter 18 - Legendaries. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=574#post574)
Chapter 19 - Sacred Suicune. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=624#post624)
Chapter 20 - Animal Magnetism. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=744#post744)

Lisa the Legend II: Night Falls. (Book 2 Synopsis - Part I (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=405525#post405525) ; Part II (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=409050#post409050))

Chapter 21 - Diverse Destinies. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=1074#post1074)
Chapter 22 - Ultimate Confrontation. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=1171#post1171)
Chapter 23 - Repercussions. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=1624#post1624)
Chapter 24 - Homeward Bound. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=1776#post1776)
Chapter 25 - A Ghost of a Chance. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=1977#post1977)
Chapter 26 - The Engagement. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=3150#post3150)
Chapter 27 - Aquatics. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=3767#post3767)
Chapter 28 - The Meetings and the Mystery. [EBTV Crossover I - Part 1.] (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=5946#post5946)
Chapter 29 - Showdown in Port Valeo. [EBTV Crossover I - Part 2.] (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=12474#post12474)
Chapter 30 - Juxtaposition. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=13848#post13848)
Chapter 31 - Friends. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=14908#post14908)
Chapter 32 - Tin Tower Terror. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=15875#post15875)
Chapter 33 - Icy Inferno. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=16867#post16867)
Chapter 34 - The Flight of the Phoenix. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=17479#post17479)
Chapter 35 - Welcome to Mt. Silver. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=19578#post19578)
Chapter 36 - The League Final. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=20796#post20796)
Chapter 37 - More than a Battle. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=22718#post22718)
Chapter 38 - Tyler versus Hiro versus Kristal. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=33227#post33227)
Chapter 39 - Christmas Crush. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=56785#post56785)
Chapter 40 - Missing. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=60705#post60705)
Chapter 41 - Waterfalls and Warnings. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=64735#post64735)
Chapter 42 - Invasion from the Inside. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=73250#post73250)
Chapter 43 - Return to Port Valeo. [EBTV Crossover II - Part 1.] (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=91892#post91892)
Chapter 44 - Gavin's Tale. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=104797#post104797)
Chapter 45 - The Court Case. [EBTV Crossover II - Part 2.] (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=122936#post122936)
Chapter 46 - Intuition. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=131049#post131049)
Chapter 47 - Night Falls. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=140282#post140282)
Chapter 48 - The Union. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=146010#post146010)
Chapter 49 - Golden Horizons. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=157131#post157131)
Chapter 50 - The Informant. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=173459#post173459)
Chapter 51 - The Dream. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=180329#post180329)
Chapter 52 - Mount Fairfax. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=197821#post197821)
Chapter 53 - The Defector. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=222119#post222119)
Chapter 54 - The Professor's Tale. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=223257#post223257)
Chapter 55 - The Deceiver. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=229308#post229308)
Chapter 56 - The First Battle. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=231061#post231061)
Chapter 57 - The Beginning. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=235375#post235375)
Chapter 58 - Behind the Glass. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=302606#post302606)
Chapter 59 - Burnt Sunset. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=306807#post306807)

Lisa the Legend III: Rogue. (Book 3 Synopsis (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=414219#post414219))

Chapter 60 - Letters. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=309979#post309979)
Chapter 61 - The Promise. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=335752#post335752)
Chapter 62 - Union Supremacy. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=359159#post359159)
Chapter 63 - Submission. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=360388#post360388)
Chapter 64 - Heart of Ice. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=371988#post371988)
Chapter 65 - Rogue. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=430895#post430895)
Chapter 66 - Parity. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=434715#post434715)
Chapter 67 - No Such Thing. (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=447928#post447928)
Chapter 68 - The Colosseum by Night. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=450332#post450332)
Chapter 69 - The Awakening. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=472743#post472743)
Chapter 70 - Island of Lost Souls. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=495531#post495531)
Chapter 71 - Scars. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=514231#post514231)
Chapter 72 - Lotus Lake. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=516174#post516174)
Chapter 73 - The Sepulchre of Suicune. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=521897#post521897)
Chapter 74 - The Diary. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=526584#post526584)
Chapter 75 - Destiny Fulfilled. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showpost.php?p=540650&postcount=1022)
Chapter 76 - Run Like Hell. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=542678#post542678)
Chapter 77 - Council of War. (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=546070#post546070)
Chapter 78 - Underneath. (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=550583#post550583)
Chapter 79 - The Gathering. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=553544#post553544)
Chapter 80 - The Midnight Armada. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=558896#post558896)
Chapter 81 - Lance Hudson versus Joseph Sterling. (http://pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?p=559856#post559856)


Lisa the Legend I: Legendaries.


Chapter 1 - Adventure in the Burned Tower.

"And a 12 year old boy reported sighting the mysterious pokémon Suicune today. The boy and his friend were training pokémon outside the Burned Tower. They are the third this week to report seeing the legendary pokémon. Police in Ecruteak are treating the reporting as possible but have declined any confirmation. In other news a man has pleaded not guilty to mistreating a Magmar at the ..."

Sitting at the bar stool at the kitchen bench, Lisa Walters craned her neck to the side to see the large television set in the carpeted lounge room. She munched on her cereal as she watched, interested. And at the same time, she murmured quietly to herself, "Could the legendary pokémon ... be so near?"

Tom, Lisa's older brother, entered the cramped kitchen, a scuffed grey backpack slung over his broad shoulders. Tom was meant to be babysitting Lisa and her younger siblings, Wesley and Jean, while their parents travelled around Kanto for two months, studying Omanyte fossils or something like that. Lisa didn't see the sense of it, but all the same, it brought in good money for the family. Lisa's parents had already got enough money from the job they began not three weeks ago that they had bought Lisa an Aipom - her very own pokémon!

"You kids are alright for today," Tom stated casually, casting an eye over the kitchen. "I'm going to the gym for some training."

Tom was a gym trainer at the Ecruteak Gym. Now that he was eighteen, he no longer lived at home; for several weeks, he had been sharing an apartment with his girlfriend Miki, on the other side of town. Since the children's parents left for Kanto, however, Tom had been staying at home until his younger siblings became accustomed to living without their parents, then he was required to check on them twice a day.

Lisa sighed as she finished her cereal and drained her glass of orange juice. Finally she turned to Tom and said, in a rather bitter voice, "OK then, have fun."

Her bitterness was as could be expected from a young, budding trainer who had a poor way of accepting defeat. Lisa had attempted to fight the gym trainers many times, but her Aipom was unable to leave even a scratch on the Ghost-type pokémon in the gym, no matter what attacks she used.

So why didn't she catch more pokémon? Lisa's parents were quite strict, and no matter how much Lisa pleaded, they were not going to let their fourteen-year-old daughter roam the cities and fields of Johto, a wide and vastly unexplored county. Although she greatly wished she could, her moral restraints drilled into her from birth seems to tug her back each time her mind wandered. But she often longed to roam the fields, forests and oceans of the country.

"Lisa, are you listening to me?" Tom broke into Lisa's thoughts.

"Sorry, Tom. Go on," Lisa said, standing up and clattering her bowl and glass into the sink, and absent-mindedly turning the taps on heavily. She rolled up her sleeves, brushed a tendril of shiny ebony hair from her eyes and plunged her hands into the warm water.

"I said could you take care of the kids today?" Tom said, impatiently. He was obviously itching to battle trainers at the Gym. "After you wash the dishes, of course."

"Sure," replied Lisa, vaguely at first before realising what she had just agreed to. "I'll look after 'em for you."

"Thanks, Leese," Tom said in a rushed voice. "Seeya at lunch time."

Tom raced through the kitchen, to the entrance in a blur. The front door slammed shut. The second Lisa heard Tom's car pull out of the drive, a thought fluttered into her mind. By the time she had washed two plates, an excited smile had spread across her face.

Drying her hands on a clean handtowel, Lisa tied her favourite red bandana onto her head and ran upstairs to her room, forgetting about the dishes. Her bedroom was a large, airy room, the source of light being a sliding door which led onto a balcony. Lisa ignored the beauty of her room, as her mind rejected the thought of babysitting her younger siblings.

"Wes! Jean!" Lisa bellowed, slipping her sneakers onto her feet. She took her pokégear from atop her unusually tidy desk and hung it around her neck, like a necklace. It was a substitute for a necklace she had lost a few days ago, and because it was so large and cumbersome, she had yet to use it. But now, for the first time, she both wanted and needed to.

Lisa had a plan.


*

Wesley, a cheeky, twelve-year-old boy, and Jean, an even cheekier ten-year-old girl stormed into Lisa’s bedroom.

“Yeah, what is it?” snapped Wesley in his husky, pre-adolescent voice. “Hurry up Lisa, an elite four battle is on TV now.”

Lisa ignored him. “Nanna’s coming to look after you today.”

“That old bat?” Jean laughed, picturing her ancient, wrinkly grandmother who lived in a elderly home on Tower Street. “Since when has she been looking after us?”

“Since now,” Lisa said firmly. “I’m going for a - walk.”

“Where to?” Wesley asked. “Come on, Leese, Koga could be on his last Pokemon by now!”

“ OK, OK,” Lisa said. “I’m going to the Burned Tower to do a little training with Aipo-”

“Ah-ma!” Jean called in a childish voice, her pale brown eyes alight at the thought that she would be able to get her older sister into trouble - one of her favourite pastimes. “I’m telling!”

“Who are you gonna tell?” Lisa demanded, feeling her temper rise slightly as she always did when Jean gave her grief, but she tried to look as smug as possible on the outside. She was sure her plan was watertight. “Nanna won’t mind at all, she'd love an excuse to come and visit you two. And Tom's busy at the gym until lunch time - he'd be more angry at you than me if you tried to call him at work to dob."

Jean paused for a moment. “I’ll ring Mum and Dad,” she answered finally, her eyes still bright.

Wesley nodded in agreement, then strained his ears to hear any noise from the Elite Four battle on the downstairs TV.

“One step ahead of ya,” Lisa said, once again making sure her chin was jutting forward confidently. “Right now they’re in Mt Moon: no mobile phone coverage. They’re probably knee deep in Omanyte by now, anyway.”

Jean's eyes lost their fiendish glow. She knew she was beaten, and it seemed that she had little support from Wesley - it did not seem that he much cared who watched over him, as long as his anticipated television viewing wasn't interrupted.

"It's not fair!" Jean spat childishly, and she tramped very loudly to her bedroom, whining under her breath about how much she hated listening to her grandmother's boring war stories. Wesley, meanwhile, made a hasty retreat to the lounge room to watch his programme.

Lisa watched them leave her room before turning to survey the view of Ecruteak City through the glass doors that led onto the balcony. In the distance, on a slight crest above the red roofs and fawn-barked trees that defined the city's western suburbs, nestled among a thicket of shadowy foliage, stood the dark ruins of the Burned Tower. The place had sprung into Lisa's mind quite unexpectedly as she washed the dishes - but where better to go for a day's training than at the place where, according to the news, there might be a chance of glimpsing the legendary pokémon Suicune?

Excitement flooded through Lisa at the thought. Most of her training sessions with Aipom had been mundane to say the least, merely half-hour visits to the nearby park, where they were occasionally lucky enough to battle a low-level Rattata or Caterpie. Lisa usually spent the time conversing with her Aipom, wondering if he could actually understand what she said or not. But the prospect of training at the Burned Tower was infinitely more exciting than anything she had done before. It offered, at the very least, encounters with different kinds of pokémon, and quite possibly a battle with an actual trainer. And, at best, it could result in Lisa seeing that notoriously elusive beast, Suicune.

"Alright!" she thought, excited by her prospects. "Nothing stands in my way now, except maybe getting Nanna to come …"


*

One hour later, Lisa was strolling up the windy gravel road that led to the Burned Tower. That tower has a really odd past, Lisa thought, as she threw Aipom’s pokéball up and down in her hands.

Almost 750 years ago, two towers had been built in Ecruteak City, to signify the importance of the bond between humans and pokémon in Johto. One tower was in the west, The Brass Tower, and one in the East, the Tin Tower. Two majestic, flying pokémon lived at the top of the towers. They were rarely ever seen by humans, and one was rumoured to be a glittery phoenix pokémon known only as “ Ho-oh”. Six centuries after the construction of the towers, the Brass Tower was caught in a blaze of fire that burned the tower and reduced it to almost rubble. The pokémon at the top had flown away, never seen again.

Lisa brought her mind back to the present day. She had finally reached the end of the road: behind her, Ecruteak City was spread out, an enormous patchwork of green parklands, red house roofs, straight, well-trafficked grey roads and, in the centre, a cluster of white and grey office buildings.

Lisa turned back to the structure before her: the Burned Tower. She was standing in the shadow of the building, and the day seemed suddenly colder than it had a moment ago. Lisa glanced down at the red-and-white pokéball in her hand.

“Alright, Aipom! Come out!”

She opened the ball in a flash of light. Aipom, a small, purple and cream-furred monkey, appeared in mid-air with an enthusiastic cry of "Ai!". He landed on the gravel quite clumsily, scraping his foot, but he confidently shook the injury off and climbed up Lisa's leg, establishing a perch on her right shoulder.

“That's better,” Lisa said quietly. “It was almost scary standing next to this tower alone."

Lisa glanced up the height of tower. Even though most of its levels had been destroyed by the inferno decades ago, it was still an imposing edifice. Even an Onix would probably be dwarfed by the tower, Lisa estimated. She felt like some form of bug in comparison. The bushes around the sides of the tower rustled suddenly. Lisa shivered. Her initial excitement at training here was beginning to wear off.

“Ai!” Aipom said impatiently, tugging at her hair and pointing toward the entrance.

Lisa steeled herself. “You’re right," she said, making her own interpretation as to Aipom's words. “Let’s just go in.”

The girl placed her hand on the splintered wooden door gingerly; it creaked open, revealing the insides of the tower. It looked extremely dark and dreary within.

“Um ... maybe we should go back out,” Lisa said slowly.

“Ai!” Aipom shook his head firmly.

Lisa regarded her companion curiously. He had a certain bravado and determination that she had often envied in her friends at school. Perhaps this would be a good time to learn a lesson from her pokémon.

“Alright,” Lisa said in her strongest voice. “ Let’s keep going.”

She pushed the door open fully, and they entered into the gloom within. After a minute or two of fossicking around, Lisa's fears ebbed. After all, there was nothing scary about the piles of debris, wooden planks, pieces of tarp and cloth and general litter that covered the floor of the Burned Tower.

“I hope we find a pokémon soon," Lisa said eagerly, as she negotiated her way past a collection of rotten planks. "Maybe we’ll see Suicune, the legendary pokémon ..." she added quietly. She knew it was a bit childish, but she couldn't help but hope to stumble across the water-type legendary while she was here.

Aipom scurrying behind her, Lisa finally made her way past the rotten boards and found herself behind a flimsy, ancient wall - she had entered an annexe of the tower's main chamber. And, just a few metres ahead, a bright light was apparently suspended in mid-air.

“Suicune?” Lisa said, without thinking; the annexe had an air of mystery about it.

There was a derisive chuckle somewhere ahead. “Nope,” a male voice said loudly. "Unless you think I’m legendary, too.”

A bald, portly man stepped out of the gloom. He had an unfortunately egg-shaped head, and his ugly red T-shirt did nothing to hide his enormous gut. “I’m a fire breather,” he said. “Name’s Ray.”

"Um - I'm Lisa,” Lisa said after a long pause, shaking hands with the man. She had imagined any trainer she might meet to be perhaps her age, maybe even someone she might make friends with, but she supposed she couldn't be too picky about who she battled. “Do you train Pokemon?”

“Sure do,” Ray boomed, producing two Great Balls from the pocket of his slacks. “I have a Charmeleon and a Koffing.”

“Cool," said Lisa, feeling it was probably proper battling etiquette in this kind of random encounter to offer some kind of initial compliment. "Would you like to battle me and Aipom with them, then? We came here to train.”

“Alrighty then,” Ray said, and without further ado he set down the torch he had been carrying on the blackened floorboards and threw one of the Great Balls to the ground. “I choose Koffing.”

“Go Aipom!” Lisa cried, quickly pointing out at the wood-panelled floor before her.

“Ai po!” Aipom leapt out to face Ray’s Koffing, which had appeared in a flash before them, a foul-looking, gormless thing, hovering in mid-air.

“Koffing – Tackle attack.”

“How pathetic,” Lisa said, without even thinking. “Oops … did I say that aloud?”

“Uh huh,” said Ray, with an annoyed look. “Um … you’d better tell your Aipom to do something, kid.”

“Huh?” Lisa said, turning her attention to the battle. Koffing, for all its weak looks, had slammed its entire mass against Aipom, and was recoiling to have a second shot.

“Aaah!” Lisa cried, annoyed at the loss of battle time. “Aipom, Doubleslap attack.”

“ Ai!” Aipom squealed.

Koffing, displaying a relentless battling ethic, had just launched into a third tackle when Aipom's tail swung around before him. Aipom cried out enthusiastically as he first blocked the offensive with his odd, hand-shaped tail, and then slapped Koffing into a spin.

“Now Swift!” Lisa cried, feeling the excitement of a new, unknown battle coursing through her.

“Pom!” Aipom cried, launching dozens of luminescent stars at Koffing, who fell onto the wooden floor with a thud, instantly defeated.

“Aah! Koffing!” Ray yelled, his belly wobbling as he jumped up and down in frustration. “Return!”

As Koffing was snuffled up into it’s pokeball, Lisa shot a broad grin at Aipom. “Great job!” she called to him, her voice ringing with the hitherto unexperienced feeling of victory. “We finally won a round!”

“ Ai pom!” echoed Aipom, dusting himself off nearby. His smile was even wider than usual.

“You’ve won the round, but you haven’t won the battle yet!” Ray called to Lisa. “Koffing was my weakest Pokemon – so now here’s my strongest. Go Charmeleon!”

Lisa cringed, her joy somewhat diminished, as the crimson lizard-like pokemon jumped onto the wooden floor and leered overbearingly at the comparatively small Aipom.

“Come on Aipom – use your Agility.”

“Pom!” Aipom cried, running swiftly in circles around Charmeleon, who quickly became confused.

“Charmeleon, close your eyes. Don’t try to watch it!” Ray ordered sharply. He suddenly seemed determined to win; perhaps he had taken Lisa for an easy win at first. If he had, he was now regretting it.

“Char!” Charmeleon said in a deep voice. The fire lizard closed its eyelids and soon got its sense back.

“Aipom, stop with the agility, and try Swift!” Lisa ordered, keen to maintain her lead.

“Pom!” Aipom skidded to a halt and launched another series of stars, which slammed into the unsuspecting Charmeleon.

“Mee!” Charmeleon cried in pain.

“Charmeleon, Flamethrower!” Ray cried. “Full power!”

“Char!” Charmeleon roared, opening its mouth and absorbing fire from the inner parts of its body. A huge fireball began to form within its jaws.

“Aipom – Quick attack!” Lisa commanded, flustered. If the flamethrower hit Aipom, the battle would probably be over.

Aipom sprinted on all fours at the powerful Charmeleon, slamming with considerable force into its weak belly just before the flames were launched. However, as Charmeleon tumbled over, it opened its mouth and the flamethrower poured out in a gush, bowling Aipom over, before an explosion of ash and smoke obscured the battle from the trainers’ view.

“Aipom!” Lisa cried. Aipom had been so good. Lisa couldn’t stand losing in anything, especially not a battle.

“Charmeleon!” Ray cried.

The smoke cleared, revealing a fainted Charmeleon, and – miraculously – a weak, but conscious, Aipom.

“Aipom - you're alright!" Lisa cried, relieved. Then a greater rush of elation shot through her. "Aipom - we won! We won a battle!”

“Ai!” Aipom cried, running up to Lisa and hugging her.

Ray recalled his Charmeleon and picked his torch up from the ground.

“You’re not a bad trainer,” he said slowly, as though struggling to congratulate her. “I hope you two win a lot more battles.”

His tone was unenthused at best, but Lisa appreciated his sportsmanship nonetheless. “Thanks Ray, good luck to you, too,” she called after the man as he walked out of the tower.

“Ta,” Ray called back, his sizeable stomach giving him some difficulty as he squeezed through the narrow gap between the annexe and the rest of the chamber. There was a temporary burst of light from outside that lit the tower up for a second, before the ancient door closed again and they were plunged into darkness again.

Lisa looked around and knew there was nothing more to be gained by training in here. “Well, Aipom, I don’t think there are any more pokémon or trainers in here,” she said, taking a few steps toward where the door was; something creaked beneath her foot. “Let’s go … oh!”

The section of floor beneath Lisa and Aipom suddenly gave way and disappeared beneath them. Lisa didn't have time to do anything; before she knew it, she was plummeting downward, pieces of rotten wood beside her and Aipom in their sudden descent. She screamed all the way down until, with a painful thud, they landed in what appeared to be the basement.

“Oww,” Lisa moaned, checking herself for injuries, but she had landed on her backside, and she was thankfully not in very much pain. She had not even begun to think of a way back upstairs, however, when something utterly astonishing caught her eye.

“Oh my God ... Aipom, look!”

Aipom and Lisa fixed their eyes on a mysterious glow coming from a platform only a few metres away. There were what appeared to be three strange pokémon there. One was yellow, one red and one blue; all three were staring at the source of this sudden intrusion. Lisa immediately recognised the blue pokémon from the news report earlier that morning, and she gasped in shock, surprise and awe.

“Suicune!” Lisa gasped. “It’s the three legendary pokémon!”

The three creatures stared at Lisa, giving her such an odd look that Lisa felt like her feet were rooted to the spot. Suddenly, the yellow creature dashed away to the left, and the red one to the right. Suicune looked right at Lisa for a moment, right into her golden-brown eyes, and then appeared to prepare himself to run away.

“No, Suicune!” Lisa called. The excitement and rarity of seeing the legendary pokémon had dawned on her, and she realised that this could be her only chance to ever do so. “ I can’t let you get away!"

Lisa stood up and leapt at Suicune, as Aipom ran slightly ahead of her. She managed to grab hold of Suicune's glowing aurora fur. “Aipom, come on!” Lisa yelled, pulling her feet off the ground and leaping onto Suicune’s back. A second later she noticed that Aipom had already joined her on the legendary pokémon's back ... And then, with speed Lisa had never witnessed before, Suicune bounded upward, through the hole in the floor, charging through the ancient wooden door of the Burned Tower and south – out of Ecruteak.

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 2 - Lisa's Quest Begins.


“ Aipom, hang on!” Lisa yelled, as the wind blew her bandana off and released her long black hair into her face, obscuring her eyes.

“ Ai!” Aipom called back, it’s tense tail holding onto Suicune for dear life.

Suicune was faster than any car on the Ecruteak Expressway. Lisa was sure that it never became tired at all, and it hadn’t stopped once in the whole hour Lisa had been on the mysterious creature’s back.

“ We must be half way to Azalea by now.” Lisa thought to herself. “ Well, at least I can say I’ve seen Suicune. This is pretty exciting I spose.”

Suicune raced along through the forest, not actually wanting to shake off his passengers. He needed them … he just needed to see what to do about them. His mouth was drying up after the hour-long pelt, and he veered away from the dense growth, and leapt into a nearby murky lake, and screeched to a halt. Lisa felt her body lurch forwards as she tumbled into the muck.

“ Ew!” she cried, wiping mud off of her clothes. “ This is gross.”

“ Ai.” Aipom nodded.

Suicune was at the shallower part of the lake, drinking extremely fast. All of a sudden, the brown water glowed and shimmered, and became crystal clear, and pure.

“ What.. was that?” Lisa wondered as her jaw dropped in awe.

“ Pom?” Aipom asked, watching as the water bubbled around him, turning from a deep, green-brown, to a pure, clear-blue hue.

“ This is really amazing.” Lisa said, slowly. “ Suicune has the ability to… cleanse water.” The 14 year old girl cupped her hands, let them slowly fill with the clear water, and drank gratefully. Aipom swam around playfully.

A few feet away from Lisa, where the water was still frothing, a tiny Pokemon appeared. It was a shiny blue colour and had no arms visible. Short grey spikes pointed from the sides of it’s oval head.

“ Woop?” It said in a squeaky voice.

“ Hey, that’s a Wooper.” Lisa told Aipom, who was glaring suspiciously at the newcomer.

Suicune was still drinking rapidly at the shore. Suddenly it looked up, and in the same instant Wooper used Water Gun, spraying the legendary; not damaging it in any way, if anything it was revitalising Suicune’s strength, but Suicune was still annoyed at an invader of it’s territory.

The Suicune opened it’s mouth and a silver orb appeared.

“ Uh oh.” Lisa said, wading over to Wooper and Aipom. “ It’s Ice Beam!”

“ Woop!”

Aipom was peering from behind Lisa’s shoulder, but Wooper was a very territorial Pokemon. It paddled over a few metres away from Suicune and let out another Water Gun. Suicune was even madder, and released a huge beam of Ice which engulfed Wooper in seconds. The tiny pokemon gave a frightened squeal, and sank into the lake.

“ Wooper!” Lisa yelled. “ Suicune! What were you thinking?”

Suicune was now in no mood to be told off. It glared up at Lisa before firing an Ice Beam that narrowly missed Lisa’s head. Then it began firing Ice beams every few seconds. One hit Wooper and knocked it out. Then, after one extremely inaccurate beam, Suicune leapt up into the air.

“ No, Suicune, don’t go!” Lisa yelled. In a last, desperate attempt to keep Suicune with her, Lisa threw a Pokeball at the legendary aurora Pokemon. The water type shrugged it off, and the pokeball fell down onto tiny Wooper, who turned red and dematerialised into the ball.

“ Hey…” Lisa said slowly, as the ball wobbled to and fro, and finally came to a halt, and rolled onto it’s inverse.

“ Ai?” Aipom said.

“ I … caught Wooper.” Lisa said, in a shaky voice that sounded nothing like her usual one. “ I caught another Pokemon!”

Lisa and Aipom jumped up and down, as Suicune’s aurora form glowed one last time, than dissolved into the lake.

“ Alright! What an easy catch!” Lisa said, reaching to pick up the pokeball, which was floating in the crystal lake. Lisa clipped the ball to her belt, made sure Aipom was on her shoulder, and began wading back to the shoreline. Then she turned back to where she last sighted Suicune, and realised he was gone. “ I’ll see you again, Suicune.” Lisa muttered to herself, barely conscious of what she was vowing. “ I didn’t know much about you before, and I still don’t. But I want to – I, I vow to find the secret of the you, and one day I WILL catch you, Suicune.”

“ Pom?” Aipom looked at Lisa strangely, and then began to laugh.

“ Quiet Aipom.” Lisa sighed, flicking playfully at it. “ You just ruined my dramatic moment.”

The two friends soon came to the shore.

“ We’d better go heal you guys at a Pokemon centre.” Lisa said, gleeful at having two Pokemon and vaguely reminding herself of a young male TV actor who once starred in a series ‘To Be a Master.’

Lisa flipped out her Pokegear and watched as the tiny screen said ‘Connecting to satellite’. Then a map appeared and Lisa discovered that she and Aipom were in fact only a few miles east of Goldenrod City: there would be a Pokemon Centre there. Equally importantly, from Goldenrod City she would be able to make contact with her brother, Tom, and let him know that she was no longer in Ecruteak City. She knew he would want her to come home - it was their parents' wish that she not train too far from home - but deep down she hoped that, somehow, she would be allowed to continue on her next journey. It was new and exciting: a real adventure.

“ Alright, Aipom!” Lisa cried enthusiastically. “ We’re off to Goldenrod!”


*

“ Aipom, Doubleslap!”

“ Ai! Ai! Ai!” Aipom yelled, using it’s tail to slap the opposing trainer’s Psyduck.

“ Psyduck – Water Gun.” Anna, the trainer of Psyduck, cried. “ Don’t relent.”

“ Aipom, block it with Swift.” Lisa called.

Psyduck prepared for a Water Gun, but as the Pokemon’s speed was pretty pathetic, Aipom’s attack got in first, and knocked Psyduck of it’s feet. The Psychic Pokemon slowly recovered, and spurted a blast of Water at Aipom, who swiftly dodged.

“ Now finish this with Tackle.” Lisa ordered.

“ Aipom!” Aipom cried, throwing it’s body straight at Psyduck and fainting it, winning Lisa’s second battle.

“ Lisa, you’re really strong for a new trainer.” Anna said as she recalled Psyduck.

“ Thanks, Anna.” Lisa replied. “ Aipom and I used to train with wild Pokemon near Ecruteak.”

“ Ecruteak? You’ve come a long way.” Anna said, brushing burgundy hair from her eyes. “ How many badges do you have?”

“ None.” Lisa said. “ I’m not really on that sort of quest.. I’m actually more of a…. um…. Legendary pokemon Researcher.”

At this, Anna laughed. “ Legendary Pokemon aren’t real.” She said in a rather snobbish voice.

“ Sure they are.” Lisa said. “ I’ve seen three.”

“ Whatever.” Anna said. “ Well, take my advice; you should just earn badges. It’s easier and a lot more fun.”

The girl walked off into the forest with her nose in the air.

“ WHAT A SNOB!” Lisa yelled. “ Well, then, I’ll do the opposite of what she said. I’m going to not only find out about Suicune, but about every Legendary Pokemon there is.”


*

Minutes later, Lisa came across a couple of trainers at a fork in the road. A young boy and girl, perhaps a couple of years younger than herself.

“ Excuse me!” the girl called to Lisa. “ Sorry, could you help us? Are we on the right track to Goldenrod?”

Lisa walked over to them. The girl had pale aqua hair, and wore pokegear around her neck, like Lisa. The boy wore black and gold clothing, and a cap to match. He had messy black hair, and also had pokegear around his wrist.

“ Nope.” Lisa said, looking at the way they had been going. “ The right way is the path I’m taking.”

“ Thanks!” the girl replied thankfully. “ Now if some of us knew how to read a simple map … not mentioning any names … HIRO!”

“ Sorry!” the boy said. “ Well, Kris, it’s not my fault the Pokegear’s wrong.”

“ It’s not wrong, you’re wrong!” Kris yelled.

“ Um.. hello?” Lisa said, not keen on witnessing an argument between two strangers.

Hiro and Kris turned to look at her. “ Oh, sorry,” Kris said, blushing slightly. “ We tend to lose our temper with each other sometimes, travelling together and all ..." She sighed. "I’m Kris, anyway, short for Kristal. Me and Hiro here are from New Bark Town.”

“ Lisa.” Lisa shook hands with Hiro and Kris. “ From Ecruteak.”

“ Lisa.” Kris began. “ Um ... would you like to come with us to Goldenrod? We’ll probably get lost again soon …”

“ Gee ... I’d like to,” Lisa began. “ But I’m kinda on my own quest right now … to find legendary Pokemon.”

Kris looked at Lisa, an inquiring look on her face, but she did not ridicule Lisa for her interests the way Anna had. Finally, she said, “ Lisa, I’ll tell ya what. Why don't we battle? If you beat me, then we go our separate ways. If I win, you come with us to Goldenrod - if you want to, of course. Fair or what?”

Lisa looked from Kris’ pleading face to Hiro’s; surely a couple of travelling companions would be a great addition to her quest?

“ Alright,” Lisa said. “ One on one.”

Kris took twenty paces back. Lisa did the same.

“ Let the battle begin!” Hiro called.

“ Chompy, go!” Kris yelled.

“ I choose Aipom.” Lisa yelled.

FLASH! Aipom and Totodile appeared at once. The deep blue Totodile had a berry hanging from it’s neck.

“ Chompy – Rage attack.” Kris called.

“ Aipom – Sand Attack.” Lisa commanded.

Chompy charged at Aipom, kicking up sand from the ground and leaving a small furrow in it’s wake. Just before the Rage attack hit, Aipom kicked up a cloud of dust from the ground. Chompy was unable to see, and the attack missed completely.

“ Good Job, Aipom, Now use Swift.”

“ Counter with Water Gun.”

Aipom shot out a stream of stars, which all slammed into Chompy’s Water Gun. Both Pokemon were hit with their own attack, as they collided and rebounded.

“ Chompy, Whirlpool!”

“ To---to---.” Chompy breathed out a stream of water, which formed into a Whirlpool as soon as it was out of Chompy’s mouth. Aipom was knocked out by the blast, and promptly fainted.

“ Aipom!” Lisa cried, preparing it’s pokeball. She felt torn between two emotions: sympathy for Aipom being knocked out, and disappointment at losing a battle. She always hated losing: for some reason, she always felt embarrassed after a loss, as if she had been shown up in front of people as incapable, as a weakling. “ Well - return.”

Aipom disappeared in a flash of light.

“ You’re really good Kris.” Lisa said, fiddling with her pokegear and not looking directly into Kris’ eyes.

“ Thanks Lisa.” Kris said. “ C’mon, we’re not that bad!" she said cheerfully, apparently taking Lisa's downcast face for lack of enthusiasm at having to join her and Hiro. " We’re off to Goldenrod, and that’s where you were headed anyway, right?"

“ Yeah.” Lisa said gloomily, her annoyance at losing still lingering over her.

“ Well, then, show us the way!” Kris cried, taking Lisa’s hand and speeding off down the road.

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 3 - The Contest.


“ Cheer up, Lisa,” Kris said, a few minutes later, as Lisa and Hiro followed her along the serene trail which supposedly led to Goldenrod City, “ we’ll still help you find legendary pokemon.”

“ Yeah,” Lisa said, slightly depressed. “ It’s not that I don’t want to travel with you guys … It’s just … well, I hate losing. Anything. Especially Pokemon battles.”

Aipom gnawed on her ear pointlessly.

Kris laughed. “ Lisa, surely you know you can’t always win.”

“ Yeah,” Hiro added. “ You’re just a rookie, and so are me and Kris. Each time you win, you get better. Each time you lose, you learn a little. Losing is a part of Pokemon. If a trainer never lost, they wouldn’t get as close to their Pokemon. And if a battle was never challenging, there would be no fun in Pokemon.”

Lisa blinked as she prised Aipom’s teeth from her poor ear. “ I can’t believe those words just came from your mouth!” she laughed. "You sound all wise and professional."

“ Uh … well, living near Professor Elm all the time we kinda learn this stuff,” Kris replied, answering for Hiro, who looked deflated after giving a knowledgeable speech and being laughed at for it. “ Take Hiro’s advice Lisa, it’s good.”

Lisa nodded: despite laughing at Hiro's short speech, she had a feeling he was right, and she resolved to remember his words of wisdom and take them with her on her quest.

The trio walked onward. As they forged their way along the gravel road through the woods, they all eagerly shared their stories. Hiro and Kris, it transpired, had been friends for most of their childhood, and were now on a journey together, having received their starting pokemon from Professor Elm in New Bark Town just weeks ago. They seemed like very close friends, and even though they tended to argue at the simplest things, they always seemed to make up instantly, and with good humour. Lisa found herself hoping she would find her own friend like this - someone she could travel and share her journey with.

Lisa, meanwhile, told the other two about her past, about how she had grown up in Ecruteak City and had just finished High School a couple of weeks ago. She was still unsure if she would return next year, for advanced studies, or get a job instead: she thought she was too young to decide on her future just yet. She also told Hiro and Kris about her parents and how they had given her Aipom; about her siblings, Tom, Wes and Jean; and about her best friends Tuscany and Charmaine. She had gone to school with Charmaine and the three of them had played basketball on the same team, forging a very strong friendship, especially over the last year. But with the end of the school year, they had not kept in touch quite as well as usual. Both Charmaine and Tuscany had been talking about taking their own separate trips - maybe backpacking over the summer or the following year. Lisa's envy of them being able to travel while her own parents wouldn't allow her to was partly the reason she had not been so inclined to stay in touch.

"But you're travelling, too, now," said Kris, with a grin, as Lisa explained about her old friends' plans. "That's gotta be better than nothing!"

"It is," said Lisa. "But when my parents find out, they'll make me come home ..."

Kris opened her mouth to reply, but before she said anything, Hiro cut her off.

“ C’mon! Goldenrod’s just up ahead, I think,” he cried suddenly, as they crested a low hill. “ Check your pokegear, Lisa.”

Lisa checked the satellite map, while Aipom ran on ahead and began conversing with some tree borne Pidgeys. “ We’re about ten minutes away from the Bug catching contest.” She read off the map.

“ Alright!” Hiro yelled excitedly. “ It’s a Thursday too, which means we can compete!”

Hiro ran up ahead to see more clearly over the hill.

“ What’s with him?” Lisa whispered to Kris.

“ He has a thing for bugs.” She whispered back, rolling her eyes slightly. “ He has two already. One is a Venonat, and his other one ...”

“ Look! There it is!” yelled Hiro excitedly. “ The Bug Catching Contest. And I can definitely see Goldenrod from here!”

At the mention of Goldenrod, the girls sped up, and finally joined Hiro at the hilltop. Below was an absolutely massive plain, although to the three new companions it seemed more like a valley. Their small party had barely infringed upon it’s boundaries. The bug catching contest was close by, a large collection of tents and a couple of buildings near acres and acres of greenery which was the national park.

“ Whoa!” Lisa breathed. “ Goldenrod isn’t really that far away.”

Beyond the Park was a huge, misty mass of buildings and skyscrapers, which stretched for a long way. Beyond it, Lisa could make out a thin, hazy stretch of blue – the ocean.

“ Goldenrod’s just beyond the national park,” added Kris, glancing around. “ And there’s a whole bunch of stalls and stuff near the gatehouse; today must be a special festival.”

Hiro started running again. “ I can’t wait!” he yelled, wind rushing through his hair and excitement surging through his body. “ I can see the crowds, cheering as I hold up my prize bug Pokemon.”

“ What’s so great about bugs?” Lisa asked, rolling her eyes slightly.

Kris sighed and slapped her own face. “ Now you’ve done it, Lisa.” She mouthed behind Hiro’s back.

Hiro stared at Lisa. “ What’s so great about bugs? Everything! They have some of the coolest attacks, and they’re so buggy. They hide in places and they’re small. Some, like my Venonat, can even use a form of Radar to track people down. And as for other bug pokemon…”

Hiro went on and on. Just when Lisa was trying to think of a way to tell him to shut up, without hurting the boy’s feelings about bug pokemon, a man appeared on the road and approached them calmly. Hiro silenced as he approached them, but Lisa could tell almost instantly he wasn’t a threat to them.

“ Will you three be entering the bug catching competition?” he asked, twirling a grey moustache the same colour as his hair.

“ I will!” Hiro yelled instantly.

“ I might as well.” Lisa said, thinking suddenly. “ I’ll be able to get more pokemon!”

“ I guess I’ll join you.” Kristal nodded slowly.

“ Well, meet me inside the east gatehouse of the National Park in ten minutes.” The man said. “ And don’t be even a minute late. We don’t allow any latecomers in once the contest has begun.”

The man walked back to the gatehouse and stalls. The girls, ignoring Hiro’s requests to go straight to the gatehouse in case the contest started early, began to browse the stalls.

“ There’s a pokemon healing centre.” Lisa said. “ We’ll have to go there to heal all our pokemon before the contest.”

“ Hey, look over here.” Kris called to Lisa. “ Pokegear repair shop.”

“ Uh, my Pokegear’s working alright.” Lisa said.

“ Yeah, but mine isn’t,” Kris grinned. “ Come on, let’s take it in. They might be able to fix it before the contest.”

“ Alright.” Lisa said, enjoying the downgraded shopping spree.

“ Wait!” Hiro yelled. “ The contest begins in eight minutes. What if they start eight minutes early?”

Lisa and Kris entered the store, which Lisa thought was an overrated tent.

“ Excuse me?” Kris said in a soft voice, waiting at the counter. The space behind the counter was vacated.

“ Hello?”

The girls waited about five minutes before a woman popped up. Her red hair was very frizzy and seemed to be shaped like a circle around her head.

“ Good morning, kids. Sorry about the wait. How may I help you?”

“ My Pokegear’s not working.” Kris said quickly, fumbling with the catch at the back of her pokegear. “ Ah, there we go.”

Kris pulled her pokegear off and handed it to the lady.

“ Hmm… this is a simple problem.” She said. “ I should be able to fix this in about two sec-”

There was a loud click, and the pokegear turned back on.

“ Just a slight problem with the wires at the back,” the woman said. “ That’ll be three hundred dollars.”

“ Um ... you must mean three dollars, right?” Kris said.

The lady blinked. “ Yes… right…”

Kris placed the money on the counter. “ Thanks for fixing my ‘gear.”

The girls came back onto the path and saw Hiro waiting grumpily on a bench. A Cyndaquil and Venonat were beside him. He was juggling another pokeball. “ I hate shopping.” Hiro fumed. “ You were in there for five minutes … there’s only another minute or two before the contest begins.”

“ It’s alright.” Kris said. “ We’re done. Although, we need to heal our pokemon. Chompy's tired and Aipom's pretty exhausted too.”

As if to emphasise her statement, Aipom dropped to the ground and rolled in the dirt as though it were in pain.

A bell echoed throughout the area. “ Could all competitors in the bug catching contest please make their way to the eastern gatehouse. The contest begins in one minute precisely.”

Hiro stared at Kris and Lisa with a smug look.

“ No time to heal pokemon!” he cried. “ Let’s go.”

“ But Aipom’s got barely any health!” Lisa protested, as the trio rushed into the gatehouse, Hiro in the lead.

A small crowd was gathered around a platform, where the man from outside was standing, a microphone to his mouth. “ Welcome, all trainers.” He boomed. “ As you should all know, today we have our three times consecutive champion here to tutor some bug catchers at the end of the contest. The better pokemon you get, the more likely you are to win a whole day with … Kipp Anderson!”

A tall, teenage boy entered the gatehouse from inside the park. He was fair-haired, good-looking, tanned and was extremely well-built, muscles bulging out of his shirt as he looked out at the small crowd. Lisa looked at him and rolled her eyes at the boy who seemed to love himself.

“ Hello, everybody.” Kipp said in a deep voice. “ Good morning, girls!”

A gathering of girls in the front row all screamed in a pathetic way.

“ He smiled at meeee!” One girl shrieked.

“ Well he WINKED at me.” Another girl cried.

Kipp heard all of this but looked completely unfazed; if anything, Lisa thought, the girl's cries seemed to inflate his ego further. Lisa and Kristal exchanged glances; what was so great about this guy? Hiro, meanwhile, looked downright sickened by Kipp's self-involvement.

“ Alright, now, pokeballs ready?” the Manager cried, reaching over to the doors. “ Please give all your pokeballs to Kipp and I, except the one you wish to use.”

All the trainers did so.

“ Now receive your twenty Park Balls.”

Every trainer received the green, odd pokeballs.

“ Now, let’s begin!”

The Manager opened the glass doors wide, and trainers spilled out into the vast, grassy national park. Hiro ran off immediately, to the path on the left, but Kris and Lisa stood together.

“ I’ll go right then.” Lisa said slowly.

“ That means I get to go straight forward.” Kris said, after a moment’s hesitation.

Suddenly the sound of a pokegear phone ringing penetrated the area.

“ Hello?” Lisa and Kris said in unison, both snatching up the pokegear.

“ It’s me!” Lisa yelled. “ Mine, I mean.”

Kris waved to Lisa silently as she tramped off through the knee-deep grass. “Yeah, hello?” Lisa asked, holding the pokegear close to her face.

“ Lisa, is that you?” Tom asked. He sounded panicky.

“ Of course it’s me, who else would answer my phone?” Lisa said, stopping herself from giggling in a childish way.

“ Lisa, where the hell are you?” Tom’s voice changed promptly from panicky to furious.

“ The National Park,” Lisa replied, struggling to keep her voice calm and steady.

“ LISA!” Tom thundered. “ You should know better. Running away from home, leaving the kids alone …”

“ OY!” Lisa cried. “ I did not run away. I had no choice.” She almost had herself convinced of this - but how could she have simply allowed Suicune to escape?

“ Oh, cut the crap.” Tom retorted. “ You left home and left Wes and Jean by themselves.”

“ I didn't mean to go this far away! Besides, Nanna’s there!” Lisa argued, her face growing hotter.

Tom lowered his voice. “ She doesn’t count. If the kids asked to go to the Burned Tower she’d probably let ‘em.”

Lisa smiled at the thought of her amusing, rather carefree old grandmother. “ What’s so bad about that?” Lisa cried. “ I’m on a pokemon journey, and lots of kids younger than me are, too.”

Tom snorted in disgust, and Lisa could picture his face as though he was standing there before her. “ A Journey? Lisa, you only have one pokemon, that pathetic little Aipom that’s never been able to beat a trainer.”

Lisa felt anger welling up inside her like a ball of hateful fire.

“ DON’T EVER INSULT AIPOM! EVER!”

There was such rage in her voice that it was several seconds before either of them spoke again. After a lengthy, awkward silence, Tom’s voice came through the pokegear.

“ Lisa…. If you really think you didn’t run away, then what did happen?”

Tom’s voice was calm and almost soothing now. Lisa felt the redness drain from her cheeks as she explained the entire tale, from when she first decided to leave the house to when she battled Kris. Tom listened patiently, sounding astonished when Lisa told of Suicune and the other legendary pokemon - but he believed her. As a trainer at Ecruteak's ghost type gym, he was more inclined to believe strange tales involving supernatural and unusual things.

“So … what is your quest.. or journey?” Tom asked, when Lisa had finished.

“ I want to find the secrets behind all the legendary pokemon, but especially Suicune,” Lisa calmly replied.

“ Lisa … I know I shouldn’t really be doing this, but ..." Tom seemed to be suffering some kind of internal stuggle - his voice was strangled.

"But what?" asked Lisa.

" Well - this is amazing, what's happened to you. And I always thought Mum and Dad were being too restrictive, they should've let you go on a pokemon journey like this ages ago ... there's kids a lot younger than you doing it, have been for years ..."

"I know," said Lisa, thinking of Hiro and Kris.

" So I’ll let you go along on your quest … on one condition.”

“ What’s that?” Lisa's heart had leapt up in her chest.

“ That you come back to Ecruteak two days before Mum and Dad are due back. That way you’ll be there to explain everything, and I won’t get the blame.”

Lisa nodded, then remembered that Tom couldn’t see her. “ Yeah, of course Tom, that sounds fair.” It was all she could do not to hug herself with glee.

“ Be careful, Lisa; stay attentive, but also have fun,” Tom said, nearly whispering his final words. “ Ring me tomorrow, and keep in touch, you know, every day or two. Good luck, Leese.”


*

Lisa wandered around the park, oddly silent as she traipsed through the long overgrowth. Aipom ran alongside her, playfully calling out “ Lisa!” - the only English word he could speak.

Lisa suddenly found her path blocked by a Heracross, who had leapt out from the grass. “ It’s quite cute.” Lisa said to herself. “ But it’s not something I’d want.” She kept on walking, but the combination bug/fighting pokemon leapt out in front of her and blocked her way again.

“ Excuse me.” Lisa said, lightly, pushing past the bug.

“ Heracroo!” Heracross yelled.

“ Well, there’s no reason to get angry.” Lisa said, astonished at the Pokemon’s odd behaviour.

“ Ai, Aipom!” yelled Aipom.

A group of Heracross suddenly emerged from the grass, joining up with the first Heracross. Then they all ran to a tree and began headbutting it.

“ What’s their problem?” Lisa wondered aloud, confused.

Suddenly, dozens of Caterpie and Metapod began toppling out of the tree. Lisa realised at last what the Heracross were doing.

“ Stop that right now!” Lisa ordered.

“ AI!” Aipom agreed.

The Heracross ignored Lisa. She felt helpless. The Heracross were pokemon bullies, and they were injuring pathetic pokemon that couldn’t even attempt to stand up to them. They were knocking the littler bugs from their home.

“ Aipom, go!” Lisa yelled, feeling she had to at least try something.

One Heracross turned to fight, but suddenly a collection of Butterfree flew out from the highest boughs in the tree. They had been waiting for a distraction so they could take the Heracross off guard.

“ Alright, Butterfree!” called Lisa.

The Butterfrees all used Whirlwind, injuring the Heracross greatly and almost knocking them out. Then, with a final group Gust, the Heracross blew away; they were knocked out and had learned a lesson.

“ Now, Butterfree is mine.” Lisa said, choosing a huge butterfree. “ Go!”

Lisa tossed a ball at Butterfree, who unfortunately spotted the impending Park Ball, and created a gust that blew the ball backward, onto a sleeping Metapod. The Park Ball zapped open, and the cocoon Pokemon disappeared inside.

“ No!” Lisa cried, picking up Metapod’s Park Ball and opening it. Metapod appeared.

“ Sorry, Metapod, but I’m going to have to release you.” Lisa tossed Metapod up into the tree again, and prepared a new ball. Butterfree had its back to Lisa now. The girl picked up the ball, and tossed it. However, a freak breezy wind set the ball off course, and on course for a Caterpie.

“ Not again!” Lisa cried, as Caterpie was sucked into the ball and it latched closed. Lisa picked the ball up to release the bug, when suddenly a bell sounded.

“ BING, BONG. The Bug catching tournament is now officially over. The service attendants will now take you to the Western Gatehouse.”

Lisa couldn’t see any attendants nearby, so she threw Caterpie’s pokeball to release it. Just before the Park Ball hit the ground, an Abra teleported next to her, and caught it.

“ Thank you.” It gurgled, taking hold of Lisa’s hand. “ Now we will judge your pokemon.”

“ An Abra that can talk?” Lisa cried. “ What the ...”

But the next thing Lisa knew, she was in a gatehouse identical to the Eastern one; the Abra had teleported her back. All the Park Balls were being judged by the manager, who stood up on the platform. Abra released Lisa's hand and handed Caterpie up. Lisa met up with Kris and Hiro.

“ Hiro thinks he might win,” Kris whispered to Lisa.

After a few more minutes, the Manager stepped up to the platform. “ The winner of Thursday the 24th of October Bug Contest is …" He paused suspensefully. " Hiro Ferguson, from New Bark Town, with a Heracross! Runners up were Josh McMahon and Kristal Williams.”

Lisa applauded as her two friends received a Sun Stone and Gold Berry from the manager; she was not particularly fussed about not winning, and besides, with a small Caterpie, she hadn't had much chance.

Hiro and Kris came back; Kris looked elated at the berry for some reason, but Hiro didn’t look very happy.

“ What’s wrong, Hiro?” Lisa asked.

Hiro sighed. “ My prize is the rest of the day with that boring Kipp guy.”

Lisa and Kris couldn’t help but to laugh at him.

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 4 - Friends and Rivals.


“ Here we are: Goldenrod City Centre.” Lisa said, as she weaved in between the citizens of Goldenrod. Hiro and Kris walked behind her, dodging other people, while trying to take in the breathtaking sights – Goldenrod City was a complete maze of skyscrapers and tall office buildings.

It was the day after the Bug Catching Contest; a Friday Morning. Lisa, Kris and Hiro had survived the lecture filled lesson with Kipp, and were recovering slowly. They slowly made their way to Goldenrod the previous evening and stopped off at an inn owned by a man with a Marill.

Lisa’s Aipom was on her shoulder, calling out playfully to every trainer who walked by, when Kris spoke up.

“ This is the centre.” Kris said, coming to a halt behind Lisa and Hiro. “ Finally we can heal our pokemon.”

They all stood facing a three-story building with a large pokeball atop the roof. The glass doors slid open as the small party of pokemon trainers entered. The Pokemon Centre was very busy, and Lisa was shocked to see two Nurse Joy’s at the counter. Assisting them were two Chanseys and a Blissey. Trainers filled the small building.

“ Whoa! This is so packed!” Lisa remarked, as she and her companions sat down on a chair … three to a seat, after handing their collective pokeballs to one of the Chanseys. They were extremely cramped.

“ What’s the big rush?” Kris asked a young boy next to her.

“ Haven’t you heard? Whitney, the gym leader, made her boyfriend a joint gym leader with her. In celebration, they’re giving away a Technical Machine to any trainer who can beat them.”

“ Everyone’s healing their pokemon to prepare for the fight.” A girl opposite Hiro told them. “ The queue outside the gym stretches all the way to the pokemart.”

Hiro gasped. “ I gotta go battle her.”

“ I think you’d probably win, Hiro.” Kris said slowly but sounded truthful. “ Your Cyndaquil is really strong.”

At that moment, a young trainer entered. He had fiery red hair and his attitude seemed to match from the moment he walked in, with a strong, confident step and a darkened face, and he refused to make eye contact with anybody.

“ I wonder who that guy -” Lisa began to Hiro and Kris, but they were staring at the ground which all of a sudden had become interesting to them.

“ What the prob?” Lisa asked curiously.

“ Quiet, Leese.” Hiro hissed. “ We’ll explain later.”

“ Alrighty then.” Lisa said, puzzled, and staring around the pokemon centre. Lisa shifted uncomfortably in the seat which she shared with both Hiro and Kris.

Nurse Joy walked up to the group at that moment and handed Hiro three pokeballs.

“ Pokemon fully healed.” She remarked, looking frazzled.

“ Thanks.” Hiro said.

“ You girls’ Pokemon will be a while longer.” Joy said. “ The machine just broke down.”

The boy who had just entered, with the red hair, looked up at that moment and saw Hiro’s black and yellow cap.

“ Well, well, well.” He said, in a mean, superior voice. “ Look what we have here. Two junior trainers who don’t have any badges.”

At this remark, Hiro looked up and directly into the boy’s eyes; something which the newcomer did not seem to enjoy. He turned away. Hiro grinned in a childish way.

“ So what are you here for, Tyler?” Hiro asked the redhead. “ Are they running gyms for freaks now?”

“ That’s funny, coming from a freak himself.” Tyler spat.

Kris looked up, and Lisa whispered in her ear.

“ Those two hate each other,” she explained. “ Tyler grew up in New Bark with us, and him and Hiro were like best friends. But then Tyler got a Pokemon from his dad a year before Hiro did, and they began arguing like this, until they finally couldn’t stand each other.”

Lisa nodded thoughtfully, remembering her best friend in Grade 4, Casey, had gradually become her enemy over a few years. “ Hmm … have they ever battled?”

“ Twice.” Kris said. “ Hiro lost both times. Tyler’s pokemon are just too strong.”

Lisa turned back to Tyler and Hiro, who were now having a heated argument.

“ Three Pokemon each.” Hiro spat at Tyler.

“ Sounds good,” Tyler said overconfidently. “ My Pokemon could use a little exercise… although I doubt you can provide much of a challenge.”

“ C’mon then!” Hiro yelled, wrenching a pokeball off his belt.

Nurse Joy came along at that moment. “ Pokemon Centres are NOT for battles!” she said shrilly. “ Outside, you two, now!”

Sullenly, Hiro trailed out of the centre via the side door, and onto the red pavement path where there was a small area of green lawn which looked almost designed to be battled on.

“ I’ll wait here.” Kris said. “ You go watch the battle, Lisa. I’ll wait here for our pokemon. Besides, I’ve seen them fight before. Nothing new there.”

Lisa nodded, and left Kris sighing. It wasn’t until Lisa left that she realised: Kris now had the chair all to herself.

She wandered outside, to see the two ex-friends facing each other on opposite ends of the lawn. Shutting the door behind her, she could no longer hear the hustle and bustle of the pokemon centre.

Hiro was holding a Pokeball. Tyler faced him, glaring at the young trainer.

“ I choose Heracross!” Hiro yelled, throwing the ball at the grass. Lisa perched herself on the wooden bench, prepared to witness a great battle.

“ Go … … Pokeball.” Tyler called, almost in a bored voice.

“ Why don’t you just say the pokemon’s Name?!” Hiro cried. Lisa sighed, and guessed that this was something Tyler did to infuriate Hiro.

Two pokemon materialised on the front lawn. A Heracross – Lisa had seen that in the National Park; and a very odd pokemon, which had flames on it’s back and all over it’s body.

“ What the …?” Hiro wondered, taking out a red electronic device.

“ Save your batteries, wimp.” Tyler sneered. “ My pokemon is a Magmar.”

Hiro slapped himself on the forehead. “ A fire type!” he cried. “ No fair.”

“ Who ever said battles were fair?” Tyler said impatiently.

“ Heracross – Horn Attack!” Hiro yelled in response.

“ Magmar – Smokescreen.” Tyler yawned.

Heracross charged at the flame pokemon, kicking up tiny bugs from the lawn as it ran, it’s horn, which was divided at the tip, protruding toward Magmar. At the last moment Magmar breathed out a stream of smoke that clouded up Heracross’ eyes and stopped it in it’s tracks.

Lisa could scarcely see through the black smog, but slowly it cleared, and the battle continued.

“ Heracross – recover and use Leer!” Hiro yelled.

“ Magmar – Ember.” Tyler called.

Before Heracross reacted to Hiro’s calls, Magmar had blasted it with a stream of boiling scarlet fire. The bug type was fell down immediately, it’s normally greenish body now charred black.

“ Return, Heracross.” Hiro growled. “ That was just pure luck, Tyler.”

“ Whatever Kid.” Tyler laughed. “ C’mon, choose a Pokemon.”

“ Venonat, go! Use Leech Life!” Hiro yelled. A Speed Ball flew down onto the turf, and sprang open. Hiro was making an obvious mistake. His battling techniques were falling due to his anger.

Lisa spotted this at once. “ Hiro – think about your attacks!” she called. “ Don’t let anger blind you!”

Hiro looked at her for a moment, and nodded slowly, trying to blot out Tyler’s taunts and jeers from across the lawns. “ Venonat – new plan. Use… Supersonic.”

“ Veno!” Venonat cried. It squinted it’s eyes almost shut, and supersonic waves emitted from it’s antennae. They slammed into Magmar’s head, making it sway around confused.

“ Magmar – Take Down!” cried Tyler.

However, Magmar was too confused to respond. It began to beat itself with it’s arms, until it fell over in a muddled heap of flames.

“ Gaah! Magmar – return..”

Hiro leapt up and down. “ Venonat, you did it! Great!”

Then he turned to Lisa, who was smiling with her friend. “ Thanks, Lisa. I couldn’t have won that round without you.”

“ No worries.” Lisa laughed.

“ Hmpf.” Tyler snapped, glaring at Lisa in annoyance. “ You might’ve had some luck just then, but you’ll need more than that to win. I choose Golbat.”

Hiro sneered. “ A Golbat, eh? Venonat, Tackle attack.”

“ Golbat – Take Down.”

Venonat leapt out, eager to prove how good it was to it’s loving trainer. The bug type slammed into the bat pokemon, and blocked the Take Down attack before it could get started.

“ Alright, Venonat!” Hiro called. “ Gee, Lisa, Venonat’s really getting strong.”

Venonat was extremely happy. It’s trainer was proud of it, and it felt great. Almost too great, actually, as though a bubble of joy was about to explode inside it …

“ Oy, what’s with Venonat?” Hiro wondered aloud. “ It keeps jumping up and… oh!”

Venonat began to shine with a blinding white light which washed over it’s entire being. The pokemon was hardly recognisable, as it’s body began to grow upwards, and change shape, as it’s molecular structure was magically rearranged.

“ Golbat, Bite it while it evolves!” Tyler called, not wanting to lose a moment of the battle time.

Golbat flew headfirst at Venonat. However, the newly evolved creature glowed with a browny-gold orb, and Golbat slammed into the protecting orb, throwing it onto the ground. Hiro grinned, glad that Tyler’s underhanded attack had backfired – in battles, trainers were generally fair enough to wait for a pokemon to finish evolving before attacking.

The new Venomoth took flight into the air, appearing refreshed from the evolution process. This new event was exactly what Hiro needed for another victory.

“ Alright, Venomoth.” Hiro cried, positively delighted at the bug’s evolution. “ Quick Attack!”

“ Moooth!” chimed Venomoth, flying through the air speedily and slamming into Golbat, knocking the poison type out.

“ Yeah!” Hiro cried. “ Alright, Venomoth!”

Lisa laughed along with Hiro as Tyler recalled his Golbat.

“ Last pokemon, Tyler.” Hiro crowed, almost leaping around in joy.

“ Well, you’re about to face my toughest Pokemon yet.” Tyler said with an evil grin. “ So, I choose … Golem!”

A huge rock pokemon appeared. It’s bouldered body was browny grey, and it appeared to be impermeable.

“ TACKLE!” yelled Tyler instantly.

Before Hiro’s Venomoth could react, it was crushed by the megaton pokemon, knocking it out. The bug flapped it’s wings weakly under the sheer mass of Golem, before passing out, after an incredibly profitable battle.

“ Aaah! Return, Venomoth!” Hiro cried. He recovered from the loss quickly as he chose his final pokemon. “ I choose Cyndaquil!”

Cyndaquil popped out of it’s pokeball, and immediately it’s fire on it’s back raised up in a warm heap.

“ Golem – rollout!” Tyler called.

“ Ember Cyndaquil!”

Before Cyndaquil could follow it’s master’s command, Golem curled in it’s battle-scarred limbs, and tucked it’s head in, creating a rocky sphere, before rolling across the dug up lawn. Cyndaquil watched with rising trepidation and shot out a blast of fire – it’s ember. However, the fire barely charred the rocky skin of Golem, and Cyndaquil ducked onto the grass as the greater pokemon squashed it into a defeat.

“ No way!” Hiro cried. “ I was winning … and Venonat evolved … no way.”

Tyler was recalling Golem. “ Bye bye baby … thanks for the exercise – and the fifth victory of mine today.” Tyler departed into the Pokemon Centre abruptly, and neither Lisa nor Hiro heard of him again that day. Hiro began to sulk over his third defeat by his enemy and rival, Tyler.

“ It’s alright, Hiro,” Lisa said kindly. “ Remember what you told me yesterday? Not to worry about losing, because you learn something. That’s true.”

Hiro looked up at her. “ What did I learn just then?”

Lisa pondered over this for a moment. “ That Tyler’s stronger.”

Hiro fell to the ground beside his flattened Cyndaquil, half laughing, half crying.


*

One hour later, Kris, Hiro and Lisa stood outside the Pokemon Centre. All their pokemon were now healed, and they were ready to go on their separate paths.

“ Well, we’re off to challenge Whitney.” Kris said.

Lisa sighed heavily. “ I’m off to the Radio Tower. I hear there’s some people there with knowledge about legendaries, so that’s where I’m headed.”

Each trainer looked into the others eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Then, finally, Lisa said; “ Guys, I know we only met yesterday, but you’re real friends. You helped me, and you taught me.”

Kris nodded slowly. “ Thanks Lisa. Ditto. I hope we’ll all meet up again sometime.”

“ I hope I’ll see you too,” said Lisa, as Hiro nodded at Kris’ suggestion.

There was a rapid exchanging of Pokegear Mobile Phone numbers, before Hiro was itching to move on.

“ G’bye, Lisa!” Kris called.

“ Yeah, maybe we’ll cross paths again soon,” Hiro called.
“ I hope so,” Lisa said sincerely. Finally, she said it: “ Goodbye.”

Lisa left the friends she had made, feeling as though a large part of her was just left behind with her friends. Lisa reached to her shoulder to pat Aipom … then suddenly, she knew what it was.

“ Kris! Wait!” she yelled, chasing after Hiro and Kris along the footpath. “ You have my pokeballs!”

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 5 - Inside the Radio Tower.


It was Saturday. Lisa had spent the planned to spend the previous day at the Radio Tower, but it was closed. The radios all over town were turned off, also. A few townspeople had been confused by the event.

"It's not normal at all," the Innkeeper with the Marill said to Lisa with a confused frown on Friday night. "The radio tower's closed, radio transmission's stopped ... there's something wrong."

Nevertheless, Lisa had shrugged off the bizarre happening, and spent the day training with Aipom, Wooper and Caterpie, who all had had a very tough battle each, and Lisa was extremely pleased when Caterpie grew a level and learned Smokescreen after a fight with a Drowzee, and had subsequently evolved. Lisa was very proud of her Metapod, weak or not.

Lisa strolled up Goldenrod Avenue and crossed the road on the pedestrian path, finally reaching the Radio Tower, which, black and shining, rose up steadily above all other buildings in the city. The tower was situated on a slight escarpment, and when Lisa looked behind her she could see the Pokemon Centre, and the small bed-and-breakfast she had stayed in overnight.

“ Here we are again.” Lisa said to Aipom, who was swinging on her shoulder. “ The Radio Tower. Hopefully there’s a lot of people in here who know about Legendary Pokemon … especially Suicune.”

Just before Lisa could enter the tower’s sliding glass doors, a man in black appeared from behind a corner building, and pushed her roughly over. She stumbled but recovered, and then turned to face him. He was clothed totally in black, and had a menacing look on his face. “ Oy, kid. Watch out where you’re going.”

“ Me? You ran into me!” Lisa argued quickly, as Aipom spat out at the man. However, the girl was slowly backing towards the doors of the Tower.

The man shrugged angrily. “ Just stop snooping around, kid. We’ve got enough problems without you.” He began to leave, when suddenly, a very odd look crossed his face – something like stunned surprise. But when he turned, Lisa was gone.

She had thought the man’s behaviour was pretty bizarre, so she sidestepped swiftly and sprinted through the electronic glass doors, and entered the busy radio station tower, escaping the shady character before he got any closer or any more annoyed.

“ Welcome to the Radio Tower.” A young woman said abruptly, as Lisa walked past a desk near the entrance.

“ Thanks.” Lisa replied, turning to look around the enormous foyer of the tower. “ Um, could you please tell me where I can find information on the Legendary Pokemon?”

“ Floor Four,” the receptionist said. “ It’s a cluster of bookshelves to your right as soon as you enter.”

“ Thanks again,” Lisa said, rushing off.

Lisa walked up to the fourth floor, and looked to her right. There was a huge collection of shelves immediately there, all of which rose up to the high ceiling which Lisa felt would surely accommodate for a Steelix. Aipom forgot to be hyperactive while they were entering the room, which was crammed full of all kinds of books. Lisa wandered over to one lower shelf and flicked through a thin book … she looked at the cover – Habitats of North South African Snails – and hastily threw it back on the shelf.

She perused the aisle slowly until she found a book about Pokemon habitats … she was on the right type of creature, at least. Suddenly, somebody tapped her shoulder, and she spun around.

“ May I help you?”

A boy about Lisa’s own age stood behind her. Lisa looked him over, and quickly decided he would be very good looking if he wasn’t wearing those clothes. He stood behind her wearing a fake grin, glasses which looked far too big, an officy shirt, a tie which looked as though it were strangling him and too-shiny shoes.

Lisa wrinkled her nose up instinctively and frowned. “ No thanks Eugene," she said bluntly, without even thinking.

The boy snorted suddenly, and began chuckling. “ You think I’m a nerd?”

“ Oh no ... well ...” Lisa muttered, embarrassed that she had not held her tongue.

The boy laughed again and Lisa stared at him as though he was a retarded Mr Mime. He gave out furtive glances up and down the aisle of books, and then suddenly pulled off his glasses and loosened his tie. He wiped the salesman grin off and Lisa noted he now looked human.

“ They make me dress up in 'costume' for work,” he sighed, rolling his eyes, and refitting his uniform. “ Except the glasses – they’re my friend Dave’s – I use them to keep all the dust out of my eyes. Except they give me headaches like all the time. So if I look nerdy then sorr-eee.”

Lisa blinked. “ You work here?”

“ Of course. Why else would I ask if I could help you?”

She blinked again. “ Dunno. Anyway, I’m Lisa. Could you please direct me to the legendary pokemon books?”

“ It’d be a pleasure Lisa. By the way, my name’s Wayne.”

“ Wayne what?”

“ King.”

“ Wayne King, that’s diff – oy!!” Lisa’s jaw dropped as the boy went off into fits of laughter and she realised she had been tricked easily. "That's just juvenile," she said flatly, looking at the boy with distate. It was such an immature joke. Once the boy had stopped laughing at his own weak joke, he lead Lisa into another aisle of towering books.

“ My name’s Gavin. Gavin Luper.”

“ That’s your real one, right?.” Lisa shook his hand slowly, taking a liking to the boy who surely couldn’t be much older than herself. “ My name’s Lisa Walters.”

“ Pleased to meet you," Gavin said politely. " The legendary Pokemon books are this way, I think.” he continued, his brown hair messy as he led Lisa along the aisle towards . “ You see, I’ve only worked here for a week. I’m still getting used to the location of the books.”

“ I wish I had a job.” Lisa said. “ I don’t exactly have much money.” She jingled the pockets of her jeans, and reached inside them to produce barely fifty dollars. She wished she had taken her wallet to the Burned Tower two days ago, but who knew she would be swept away by Suicune?

“ There’s an opening on the fourth floor,” offered Gavin eagerly. “ Er … I think.”

Lisa laughed. “ I’m alright, really. I’m really on kind of a journey.” She paused. " Anyway, you do have any books here about Suicune?"

Gavin opened his mouth to say something, then closed it, and instead reached up to a high shelf and pulled down a fairly thin book. He opened it, and revealed pictures of Suicune, taken from many people over the last few years, including a picture of a Suicune statue in Ecruteak, which Lisa had seen many times before in the Floramenda Square, and an ancient drawing of the legendary beast which dated back 600 years.

“ So what do you need this for?” asked Gavin slowly, as he flipped through the pages. “ Essay for school?”

“ No.” Lisa laughed. “ I’m on a journey, remember? I’m a Legendary Pokemon Researcher.”

“ Really?” Gavin said, apparently interested. “ My Uncle’s a researcher too. Have you ever seen a Legendary?”

“ Yeah, two days ago. In fact, I actually rode one.” Lisa became suddenly quiet, thinking about Suicune and how it had been sighted so often lately in Ecruteak, and had now swept down south with her atop him.

“ Wow!” Gavin said, grinning, the pages of the thin book unturned as the two new acquaintances chatted. Lisa looked at him curiously; he didn't even doubt her. Most people would laugh or say "yeah, right", but Gavin just didn't.

His face turned dark. “ I hate people that don’t believe in Legendaries.”

“ Me too.” Lisa said, recalling Anna back on Route 36. “ They’re real, some have even been caught on TV for documentaries.”

“ Speaking of Documentaries, we have some videos of them in the video vault. I think. But most of out valuable videos have gone missing lately; nobody knows where they are. Someone might have stolen some, I dunno.” Gavin took a deep breath, looking concerned, presumably about the stolen - or missing - videos. “ Anyway, wanna rent one out?”

“ Sounds good,” Lisa agreed. She shoved the Suicune book back among the various other dusty volumes, and the two people set off behind the desk to a narrow door. Aipom perched itself tensely on Lisa’s left shoulder, as Gavin hauled the door open.

A musty stench arose from the flight of stairs behind the door. Lisa guessed the video vault had not been opened in a long while.

“ God – It stinks down here!” Lisa cried, pinching her nose and breathing in short, shallow gasps.

“ Ai!” Aipom agreed.

“ It didn’t smell like this on Wednesday.” Gavin said slowly. “ That’s when I last came here …”

Lisa sighed – her guess had apparently been wrong. “ How far down do these steps go?”

“ A fair way.” Gavin replied, a smirk on his face. “ Come on, you’ll really like this video I found, called ‘Sacred Suicune’.”

Lisa decided to distract herself by changing the subject, as they walked down the grey concrete steps. Aipom dropped from Lisa’s shoulder to the ground, and began sniffing around as he scampered ahead into the gloomy depths of the Video Vault.

“ So, Gavin, what do you do apart from work here? Do you live in Goldenrod?”

“ Yep.” Gavin said, still walking. “ I’ve lived here for about a year. My family live in Ecruteak still, but I came here to stay with my friend Dave – he’s fifteen too.”

“ Really? I’m fourteen!” Lisa cried, excited for no apparent reason. “ But … whoa, your parents must be really lenient to let you move cities when you’re only a year older than me. My parents wouldn’t even let me go training outside of Ecruteak.”

Gavin looked at her, and looked like he was about to open his mouth to talk when he seemed to think better of it. Moments later, he said something different.

“ So how many Pokemon do you have?” he asked, a slight shake to his voice.

“ Three.” Lisa said. “ A Wooper, a Metapod, and of course, Aipom.”

“ I train psychic pokemon.” Gavin told her. “ I’m kind of a weak psychic myself, but my abilities are too weak, because I never really had the time to practice them. I only have a Natu.”

“ Gee… why don’t you travel around to train it up, as well as train yourself?” Lisa was shocked to hear that her new friend was an actual psychic, but oddly enough she found herself believing him like he had believed her– usually people were cynical of psychics – she was too, usually – but she felt she could distinguish already between Gavin’s jokes and his seriousness. And it was proven that some psychics really could harness the power of their minds. " What can you do then? Do you perform telekinesis or what??"

" Just ... you know, uh ... premonitions," Gavin shrugged. “ But I don't really want to travel away. I like Goldenrod, y’know?”

“ Yeah, but travelling’s fun.” Lisa said, while they continued down the spiralling stairway, their steps echoing. Aipom crept around the corner rapidly, and Lisa suddenly lost sight of him. “ Don’t you have a dream Gavin? Like entering the Pokemon League?”

“ Well..” Gavin began. “ I guess I do. My dream is … uh … to be a great Psychic trainer; and have my own gym here in Goldenrod. Or my own really big company. Or a writer. Or even be an actor." He paused, and Lisa grinned - he had a lot of ambitions. " That’d be awesome!” he finished, and there was a broad, genuine smile on his face.

“ Have you ever even battled, though?” Lisa asked curiously. “ Once you do, it’s really fun, you get interested in Pokemon training. I tell you, it’s addictive – I never would've thought I'd be this into them until I got Aipom a month or so ago.”

Gavin shook his head. “ I haven't really done much battling ... Natus aren’t exactly the strongest battlers.”

“ Either are Caterpies, but I manage fine,” Lisa said slowly. “ Listen, I’ll tell you what. When we get into the Video Vault, you find me the video and in return I’ll battle Natu with Metapod for you, just to give it some experience.”

“ I can’t battle in here. I’m at work. I'll get in trouble.”

“ When do you get off?”

“ Five.”

“ It’s a date then," Lisa said in a final tone. " Meet me outside the Pokemon Centre, on the grassed area to the side.”

Gavin gave another genuine smile, apparently chuffed that he had made a friend so quickly. He opened his mouth to say something, when there was a sudden clatter from below. As as they rounded the stairway, Lisa and Gavin emerged into a vast, low-roofed room, stacked with Videos. Gavin explained that the video vault was kept on the ground floor, because they were actually too heavy to be kept on the weak fourth floor’s floor. Lisa was about to point out the floor managed to hold up with all the books, but suddenly she shivered, as there was another clatter. “ Hey, there’s someone in here.”

“ Yeah, us,” Gavin said.

“ No, I mean … someone else. In the Video Vault.”

The room was smelly and damp, not to mention gloomy. Lisa brushed Spinarak webs away from her face as Gavin led the way along the dark corridor. Aipom was standing still at the foot of the stairs still, not making any movement, except for sniffing the air with a sense of danger.

“ I don’t see any ...” Gavin began.

Suddenly an ear-piercing screech filled the corridor an echoed around the entire chamber.

“ Ow!” Lisa yelled, clasping her hands over her ears. The chilling screech echoed and rebounded within Lisa’s head, and she screamed too.

“ Lisa?” Gavin asked. Then he looked over her head, and leapt out swiftly in front of her, thrusting her down onto the concrete floor before leaping down himself.

There was a blast of green light which whooshed past Lisa’s head; it only missed because Gavin had pushed her head down two seconds before. There was a sudden silence. Gavin was on top of Lisa, who was now laying on the ground, mouth open and jaw dropped down.

“ You … risked yourself...” she muttered. She found her body shaking with fear and panic. “ You risked your own life ... Oh my God, What WAS that?”

Gavin blushed a deep red, and opened his mouth to say something when he, yet again, thought better of it, and shut his mouth. Then he said something different again.

“ Y’know – there’s a pokemon in here. That was a Pokemon.”

Lisa thought about it. “ You mean – it’s still here? But… I can’t see anything.”

“ WE can’t.” Gavin told her, his voice very strong and definite. “ But I know who can.”

“ Who?”

“ Natu, go.” Gavin called, throwing a Moon Ball into the air. “ Natu – Radar Eye now. See if you can pick up any form of other Pokemon in this room.”

“ Tu!” Natu called, zapping out of the odd pokeball in a flash of radiant light and opening it’s small eyes as wide as possible. Suddenly, it leapt up and down on Gavin’s shoulder.

“ Natu – show us where the pokemon is!” Gavin cried urgently. There was a strange look on his face, as if he were staring off into another world.

“ Tu!” Natu flapped it’s tiny wings while Lisa thought Natu should hardly be classified as a flying type pokemon; it could barely get five feet up off the ground.

After what seemed like an eternity, Natu came to a rest ten feet up in the air.

“ What’s Natu sitting on?” Lisa cried, confused.

“ A Pokemon!” Gavin cried, his face breaking out into a grin. “ And now I know where it is ... I can catch it!”

Gavin threw another pokeball; this one had a large “U” engraved into it. It headed for the mysterious invisible Pokemon, when suddenly there was a whoosh, Natu fell out of the air, and the Ultra Ball landed on the ground and shattered into a hundred, splintery pieces.

“ What the hell was ..?” Gavin began, panicking.

Suddenly, on the other side of the video vault, a shelf of videos toppled over. And then, beneath Natu, a huge, black pokemon appeared out of nowhere; it was at least 10 feet tall – yet it was similar to the legendary beasts; it had four legs and was growling. It had a head which looked too big in proportion with it’s body, and an enormous orb of green light was forming within it’s sharp jaws, growing rapidly, aimed for Lisa and Gavin, who stood there, unprotected and vulnerable.

“ Holy CRAP!” Lisa screeched, more as a conscious reaction than a reflex of fear. Then she figured, in an abrupt moment of realisation; this was a legendary Pokemon …

[Blastiose007]

its good being back on the old UBB and as before great job with lisa the legend

[Gavin Luper]

Blastoise007: Thanks to one of my most loyal readers! I hope you keep reading in future! I'll get the other chapters up later!

[Blastiose007]

i will keep reading as long as you keep writing chapters to lisa the legend and the crystal league

[Gavin Luper]

Blastoise007: Thanks. The only time I'll stop posting LTL is when it is completely finished. So it's always going to be around, at least until the start of next year. And TCL will be up again soon (ie tomorrow). Cheers!

[Blastiose007]

back on the UBB and Gavin's fanfics what a happy day and i contiue reading the crystal league as well

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

Ah, yes, it feels good to be back at the real TPM.
So, Gavin, you're here too? Well, I'm ready to reread what I've read on Lisa the Legend.

It's weird, they had EVERYTHING i had before. I wonder if it has all my posts. It said I'm a Senior Member. Heh, I feel old.

And my old sig. Wow, i have to add all those WHO AM I? things...

well, Gavin, let's have the next chapter!

EDIT: Fixed my sig, 1528 posts (YES!!!) Advanced Trainer, now I just need to make my avatar smaller to fit, add some catchy thing with the gender and age, and SuperSonicMewtwo will have truly returned!!!!!

*thunder and lightning flashes around as evil laughter fills everyones ears*

[Master Kirby]

I'm glad to be back on the old UBB. Yea! No pop-ups!

I wonder what trainers Lisa will meet in the semi-finals? They must be more powerful than any she has gone against yet.

[Gavin Luper]

Blastoise007: Heh heh ... i feel honoured!

SSM: Hello hello hello! You don't have to reread the old chapters you know, they're just for any new readers! Of course, I'm not stopping you, you can if you want to! But Chapter 16 will be up today! Woohoo!

Master Kirby: Yeah! No popups! It's so much more relaxed and relieving!! The semi-final trainer will be tougher than Anna, and Alicia (for Gavin) but I'm debating whether to write the battle or just have Lisa recount it mentally.

Chapter 6 up in a few minutes guys!

[Last Exile]

Hey hey! Good to see this up again Gavin! Hope all's well! Rock on, my friend!

[Gavin Luper]

HEY CCC! Ello!

Nice to have you back. Thanks for returning to read this! I'll put chapter 6 up soon, eh?

Cheers mate!

[Andrew]

Hey Gavin! Looks like you're going great guns already!

I guess you'll continue re-vamping as such and I guess we'll get to the crossover again soon! But well this Pokemon fic (Can I call it trainer?) is way better than mine when I started out!

Good work mate!

[Gavin Luper]

Oz: Ah, I was wondering when the guilt would take over you and you'd be forced to come crawling back here.

JK!

Yeah, the later chapters still need to be renovated and have their titles changed. No title is safe! You can call this a trainer if you REALLY must, but otherwise, no.

And besides, this has been edited once or twice, so of course it's better than the original version of it. And as for EBTV, it's better than LTL!

Seeya mate!

As promised!

------------------------------

Chapter 6 - Recovery.


Lisa’s heart was in her throat, thumping loudly and seemingly trying to move right up into her mouth. She turned to Gavin; sweat was pouring down his face in long channels. Lisa knew how he felt, although she had only met him barely fifteen minutes ago.

The black beast was still absorbing energy, and Lisa was almost certain it was a new, undiscovered type of pokemon. She also knew there was no form of escape. The black Beast had circled around then, and was now standing next to the steep flight of stone steps which was the only exit.

Lisa reached for her pokegear. She began fiddling with it, not knowing what to do to save herself. Natu fluttered to Gavin’s shoulder again. Lisa saw the whole scene in slow motion, and her eyes seemed very hazy. The green orb of light was almost blinding her now, and the beast was growling ferociously. Gavin suddenly clasped both hands onto his head, and screamed.

“ Gavin?” Lisa asked, as Natu glowed purple, along with Gavin. “ Gavin, what’s wrong?!”

Gavin screamed again, and suddenly a huge blast of purple light emitted from his head; at that same moment, the beast’s green energy launched at them, and collided with the purple blast. Lisa was absolutely dumbfounded, but she had no time to think. There was suddenly a huge explosion, and Lisa felt as though everything was wiped from her mind in one swift blast. The walls of the Radio tower were no match for the attacks combined; they snapped, crushed and splintered as easily as walls of flimsy wood.

Lisa watched in horror as the ceiling gave way and the upper floors began to collapse down on top of them. Desks from the above offices crashed down onto Lisa, as she shielded Aipom with her arms. Natu, seemingly unaware of the disaster and looking very calm and relaxed, turned blue and suddenly began to vanish. Lisa watched in surprise as her body disappeared, and Aipom and Gavin’s. The last thing Lisa saw was a huge bookshelf falling down to crush her to death.


*

Lisa opened her eyes slowly and carefully. Her whole body was aching, as though she had just been crushed by a Snorlax. A soft wind blew through the trees; she was outside. What had just happened? Lisa scanned her mind but could find nothing; no trace of any recent happenings. Lisa lay still for a long time, staring up, hypnotised, at the cloud-covered sky. Where was she? Lisa again attempted to recall the recent happenings, but her mind couldn’t draw any events from the depths of her memory.

Someone laying on the ground near Lisa groaned, and Lisa suddenly recalled something. A blast of green light; an explosion. Everything came flooding back, the Radio Tower, Gavin, The Video Vault; and the legendary Pokemon. What WAS that thing? But Lisa still could not remember what had happened exactly. The last thing she recalled was the black dog pokemon absorbing energy, and then a great deal of pain.

Lisa pulled her body up to a sitting position, and her back cracked loudly in several different positions. However, she shrugged the slight pain off, and crawled over to Gavin, who was laying a few feet away. He had landed on a hard area of flat dirt, and when Lisa looked back behind her, she realised she had landed on a fluffy-looking patch of deep green clover, which had cushioned her fall.

Gavin was still out cold. Lisa had no idea what to do; what could she do with a knocked out boy? The girl brushed her hair with her fingers and sighed. She still had no bandana; it had blown off during that sprint with Suicune. She’d have to buy a new one from Goldenrod – but where was she now?

“ Ai?” Aipom’s voice sliced through the silent air. Lisa twirled around to see a battered and beaten up Aipom on the dirt, taking small, dizzy steps every few seconds.
“ Aipom!” Lisa called, hearing her voice for the first time in what seemed like an age. “ Are you alright?”
In response, Aipom breathed out, and collapsed in a muddled, fainted heap on the sandy ground.

Lisa held out Aipom’s pokeball, tears welling up in her eyes as she recalled it. Where was she? What should she do with Gavin and Aipom? And how did she get here? A bird pokemon screeched loudly in the background, but Lisa shrugged it off. She had to remember everything else, like what happened


*

Officer Jenny came roaring down Route 34 on her shiny motorbike; there had been a reporting of trainers in distress – a short phone call with little information whatsoever. Jenny rode on, hoping not to run into any of the roadblocks that had been set up –seemingly in vain – to stop the mystery Pokemon that had destroyed the Radio Tower, killing 20 people.

The young female officer screeched to a halt at the end of a small country road which led to the sea. There she saw two trainers laying down on the dirt, along with a tiny flying pokemon – Jenny squinted her eyes to make out what Pokemon it was, but failed.

“ Wake Up!” Jenny yelled frantically, as she dismounted her motorbike and raced down towards the people; off the gravel road and onto the flat, dry plain.

Lisa’s eyes flickered open, and then she sat up, seemingly wide awake.
“ Officer.” She gasped. “ I’m lost.”

Officer Jenny looked at her with an inquisitive stare, and then her face showed some form of recognition.
“ Oh.. no.” she said, holding her head in her hands. “ You were in the Radio Tower when it collapsed.”
“ That’s right.” Lisa said. “ And so was Gavin.”

Jenny sighed deeply, and looked at Lisa with watery eyes.
“ 20 people were killed in the tragedy.” Jenny explained. “ You were the last person to enter the building.. according to the Security cameras.. and everyone presumed that you were..”
“ Killed?” Lisa said. “ Oh.. no. I’m alright, but I feel so confused.”
“ You look confused.” Jenny admitted. “ And extremely tired. Why don’t you take a rest in Goldenrod.”

Lisa sighed. “ If we can take Gavin…”
“ Of course!” Officer Jenny cried. “ I’ll call the Hospital right away.”


*

Four hours later, Lisa found herself laying in a soft, comfortable bed in the Goldenrod District Hospital. She and Gavin were in the same room, and Gavin had been awake for a short while. They had spoken few words to each other, but they were both feeling better; Lisa’s back was, anyway.

Doctor Roberts entered the room, ducking a bit to avoid hitting her head on the door frame, which was poorly painted and gave Lisa splinters when she attempted to close the door. Dr. Roberts had a thick mess of flaming orange hair on her small head, and she had a problem when she said the letter ‘p’; she sprayed spit everywhere which really annoyed the recovering Lisa.

“ Good morning, Lisa.” She said. “ Oh, hello … er …” Dr. Roberts looked at her clipboard and grinned. “ Hello, Gavin. We have some people here to see you.”

Gavin sat up against his high, white pillow. “ Who? What? When? Whe-”

His question was answered without any words. A man walked in at that moment. He had brown hair and wore a funny looking purple cape. His eyebrows curved inwards mysteriously, and he had an odd look on his face; Lisa couldn’t decide if it was a look of disappointment or intrigue.

The man walked over to Gavin.

“ Uncle Eusine.” Gavin said, in surprise. “ What are you doing all the way over here, in Goldenrod?”

“ I came here as soon as I heard about the Radio tower collapse on two days ago.”

Lisa shook her head. Did he say TWO days ago? Surely she and Gavin hadn’t been laying on the dirt on Route 34 for two days? Gavin was thinking the same thing. Lisa could tell by his expression, but he didn’t say it. “ Uncle, why did you come?”

“ To see the legendary Pokemon, of course. It left within seconds. In fact, in just disappeared into thin air. Nobody has ever seen a Pokemon like it before.”

“ But how did you know I was here?”

“ It’s all over the news. You two are the only survivors of the disaster.”

Gavin still had many questions to ask. “ So why aren’t my parents here?”
“ In one word, roadblocks.” Eusine answered, his face looking rather grim. “ In my opinion they’re pointless. That Pokemon would be long gone by now. Everyone saw it running out of the city.”

“ So nobody’s allowed into the city?” Gavin asked, sighing heavily and looking disappointed. “ How long are the roadblocks up for?”

“ Don’t know.” Eusine said, looking out of the open window. “ But I do know that the Black Beast is a long, long way away by now.”

Lisa, who had been listening intently to hear any info on the legendary pokemon, sighed. She began to fiddle with Aipom’s pokeball on her neck, feeling strangely depressed. Doctor Roberts smiled at her, and left the room, promising to return with a cup of tea.

As soon as Dr. Roberts had left the wide, airy room, Eusine lowered his voice and began to talk to Gavin in a harsh whisper. Lisa strained to overhear, but she couldn’t make out any words at all. In the end, she reached out of her bed and pushed her plastic cup and plate off the table, and they clattered to the ground making Eusine and Gavin look up in surprise.

“ Oh, sorry Lisa.” Gavin said, guessing at once what Lisa was getting at. “ This is my Uncle Eusine, who I told you about. He’s kinda like an expert on Suicune, and knows a fair bit about other legendaries, too.”

“ Pleased to meet you.” Lisa shook hands with the man, who had a strong handshake, and looked at Lisa oddly.

“ Are you a Pokemon trainer?” he asked, sternly. Lisa had no idea why he was speaking so harshly, but she managed to reply with a timid “ Yes”.

“ Ah, good.” Eusine said, sitting down on Lisa’s clean white bedsheets with a smile. “ Um.. could you maybe do me a favour?”

Lisa nodded, then shook her head also. It wasn’t every day a stranger asked you abruptly to do a favour for them. “ I suppose; but tell me the favour before I promise.”

Eusine laughed. “ Oh, it’s quite a simple delivery job.” The man pulled out two pokeballs from behind Lisa’s ear.

“ Hey, where’d they come..” Lisa began, snatching the pokeballs from Eusine’s hand in surprise.

Gavin laughed. “ Lisa, he’s a magician too. I should have mentioned that.”

“ Oh, right.” Lisa said, blushing stupidly. “ So what do I do with the pokeballs?”

“ You have to deliver them to my friend Jack Criddle in Cianwood Town on the island.” Eusine said, placing the pokeballs on the bedside table. “ That is, if you will do it for me. I’m too busy with my research. The Black Beast’s appearance has made my office increasingly busy.”

Lisa nodded again. “ Alright, so I take them to Jack. Got it.”

“ He’ll be in the house at the top part of the town.” Eusine said, then he shook his head. “ No, actually, I’ll phone him and tell him to meet you at the Pokemon Centre. Will you be there soon? It may take a while – a week?”

“ Sounds good. You can count on me, I’ll get those pokeballs delivered before you can say ‘Aipom’!”

“ Aipom!” cried Gavin, stupidly. Eusine slapped his head, then, seeing Dr. Roberts arrive back with a metal tray which looked very flimsy, loaded with a teapot, two tea cups and cakes, he winked at them and left.

“ Wonder why he didn’t give them to me?” Gavin wondered.

“ Maybe he didn’t know you HAD pokemon.” Lisa said, taking the cup from Dr. Roberts with a smile and pulled the rickety wooden table in front of her. She placed the saucer and a cake next to the two Pokeballs Eusine had left her when suddenly Gavin yelled out.

“ My Pokemon!” he yelled. “ Natu!”

“ What is it?” Lisa cried, spilling hot tea all down her shirt.
Gavin breathed in slowly. “ Natu… it’s not here. I didn’t notice before … oh no ... it’s still in the Radio Tower.”

Lisa gasped. Her mind flashed back to the scene when she had first awoke on Route 34. Natu was there – she had heard him for sure! Suddenly a few things fitted into place, like a puzzle.

“ Natu teleported us to Route 34.” she said slowly, as more information slotted into place. “ I remember it screeching.”

“ Really?” Gavin asked. “ But where is it now?”

“ I guess it’s still there. We must have left it behind when we were taken here.”

Gavin breathed deeply, but when he spoke again his voice still shook. “ If it’s safe, that’s alright. But if someone catches it…”

Lisa continued slowly, ignoring Gavin’s mumbling. “ I remember what happened now.”

“ What?” Gavin said. “ Oh, yeah. I don’t remember much … an explosion, green light …”

“ Gavin, you saved us.” Lisa said. “ I don’t know what happened, but you screamed, and you fired like a Hyper Beam or something, from your head.”

Gavin stared at her with a quizzical look. “ Pull the other one.”

Lisa let her mouth hang open as she gaped. “ What, you don’t believe me?”

“ Lisa, I may be psychic, but the most I ever did was predict a Pokemon would evolve, ok? If you seriously think I’m a great Psychic, fine, but I’m not. Don’t pressure me, either, I get enough of that from my family.” Gavin turned his back to her and looked out the window. Lisa felt sad that he wouldn’t believe her.

“ It’s true.” Lisa said. “ I saw it. Your beam countered the beasts’ and saved both of our lives.”

“ Lisa I said not to say that. Look, I could try now.”

“ Go on, then, really focus.” Lisa told him.

Gavin turned and simply stared at her with an icy look; the stare was so penetrating Lisa had to turn away.

“ Gavin, why are you so touchy on this subje-”

“ LISA, look, I don’t want to talk about this stuff to you yet, I hardly know you. Maybe when we become closer I can tell you, but seriously not now. Don’t push it.”

“ Get closer? What?! Gavin -” Lisa, for once, just didn’t know when to stop.

Gavin finally cracked, his voice also jumping up and down as emotion crept stealthily into his tone of voice.
“ LISA! SHUT UP OK? YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT, AND I DO. JUST LEAVE ME ALONE AND MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS! SERIOUSLY. IF WHAT YOU SAY IS TRUE, THEN SOMETHING TERR – LOOK, THE POINT IS … JUST … GO AWAY!!”

Lisa could feel the tension and emotion from the other side of the room; the air was so thick with feeling Lisa felt she could take out a knife and slice through it. “ Gavin – Sorry.” Lisa said, as the boy turned back to the window angrily, his face bright scarlet.

Lisa slipped under her sheets and sighed. Gavin really was touchy about the whole Psychic thing. She silently decided to ‘forget’ he was Psychic, and take a good long sleep.

“ Goodnight, Gavin.” Lisa whispered to herself, before drifting off to a deep sleep once again.

[AquaBabe727]

Wow, you two are great! ^_^ I have to say, you can't really compare the two fics. They have completely different themes and feel to them. I like both. This is a really great fic, Gavin. Just letting you know i'm standing by. What about the Crystal League? You gots to post both! ^_^ Peace!

[Gavin Luper]

Aquababe727: OK, i'll accept a draw for the best then!

I suppose both fics are really different, aren't they? EBTV is very ... much better. OK, OK, very differently written - for one, it's in first person. Anyway, thanks!

Stand by Aquababe, more IS on the way. And the Crystal League will be up in a second!

Cheers!

[Blastiose007]

very well written gavin and glad crystal league is going to be up

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

That was always the weird chapter.
So, hurry up with the old ones! I'd like to read something new!

[Gavin Luper]

Blastoise007: Thanks, as usual. TCL is back up as you can see!

SSM: New chapters coming before next weekend, the forums change has set the chapters back slightly. Expect 7 + 8 tomorrow!\

Cheers!

[Andrew]

Hey Gavin, only two more exams and its all over! You know, some people might be kinda disterbed by the whole crashing building Sept 11 and all...

But well I think Lisa negotiated her way to Quaggie better this time, I was able to sympathise with the big blue thingie...

But well I like Gavin's Natu and Giraferig *Cannot spell that God forsaken name for the life of me ;) *

But could perhaps you could explain how exactly would a Gym Badge help control her Pokemon? *Is clueless ^^; *

Good work Gav!

[Last Exile]

Good stuff, Gavin! ;) I'm currently watching a 9/11 doco, so Chapter 6 gave me the chills. Chapter 7 was a good one. Loved how Aipom smacked up that reporter! Quagsire's temporary departure in 8 was touching. Lisa didn't mean to leave it on the beach, but seeing it from Quagsire's point, of course it makes sense why it left her.

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

Oh no, how sad!
So, hurry up! BOREDOM IS EVIL!

[Gavin Luper]

Blastoise007: One of my most loyal readers ever! Thanks!

Oz Andrew: Two more exams? Woohoo! Oh, freedom is just so close! Cool! And yeah, i thought the whole sept 11, crashy building thing could be a bit controversial at first, but it was something i really couldn't edit out.

I'm gonna give Natu and Girafarig a bit more attention this time I think. Maybe not straight away, but soon I will give them more coverage. We'll see them battle, I think. And one of them might be ... special? :P

CCC: Hey! Yeah, like I said to Oz, the whole Radio Tower thing was a bit dodgy I thought, especially at this point in time. But hey, what could I do? And Aipom just has that effect on peopel i spose. heh heh! I wonder what'll happen to Quaggie? Chapter 9 shortly!

SSM: Eeep! OK, OK. I know, boredom is really evil. I'll get the next chapter up soon!

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 9 - Battle on the Coral Reef.


Lisa stared out at the still, clear ocean. Not a ripple disturbed it’s calm surface. Tears welled up in her eyes, and one gradually spilled over, trickling down her cheek. Quagsire had abandoned her; that was virtually unheard of in Pokemon Training.

Lisa waded slowly back to shore from the knee deep water she had been standing in, her soaking shoes picking up large amounts of mud on the way. She straightened her face and made it into a would-be-determined expression, but inside she was burning with shame. Gavin stood, dumbfounded, as Lisa walked straight past him.

“ Lisa, go find it,” he murmured, half-hoping his friend wouldn’t hear him. Lisa looked up, and, although she was trying to put up a rather brave face considering the circumstances, Gavin could see in her eyes that she was deeply hurt by Quagsire’s quick getaway.

“ How?” Lisa inquired, saying the word slowly as though it hurt her to speak. Gavin pointed to his Staryu, swimming leisurely around in a rocky pool twenty metres up the beach. “ Take Staryu. Surf on it, and try to find Quagsire.”

Lisa’s sadness and shame vanished, and the space it left within her was replaced instantly with determination and hope; as though she had just been given a new lease on Pokemon Training. “ Thank you, Gavin.”

“ You’re welcome,” Gavin winked. “ Go on, get going. But don’t sit on his gem, it’s still a little fragile.”

Gavin and Lisa raced up the beach together, as the cool morning sea breeze blew on their faces, cooling the two friends down from their run when they finally reached Staryu.

“ Staryu.” Gavin panted. “ Go … with Lisa … obey her.”

“ Hi yaah!?” Staryu cried, ‘looking’ at the newcomer trainer to whom it was unfamiliar with.

“ Obey her, Staryu.” Gavin repeated firmly to Staryu. The water Pokemon agreed; it was either that or return to the pokeball … and Staryu detested it’s pokeball!

Staryu wobbled over to Lisa, looking very unbalanced as it used two legs to walk and the other three flailed around, more of a hindrance than a help to Staryu. Finally, it staggered to it’s position in the shallow water behind Lisa.

“ Alright, Lisa. I’ll wait here for ya,” Gavin called, as Lisa clasped her hands around one of Staryu’s points. “ Good Luck with your Quagsire Search! And be quick, it’s cold out here.”

“ Thanks, Gavin.” Lisa called back. Aipom leapt up onto her shoulder once again, and Lisa was ready to go. “ Alright, Staryu, full speed ahead, out to sea!”

Staryu pushed it’s body off the bottom of the shallow water, and surfed out to the clear sea. Lisa looked over her shoulder back at the beach, watching as Gavin shrank to a small speck. Then she turned to the front, and felt the cool seaspray blow in her face.

“ Ai! Pom!” Aipom laughed, thoroughly enjoying the ride. Staryu pelted on, slicing through the sea like a Pidgeot sliced through the air. After a good half hour, when Lisa was rapidly becoming bored, a small island came into sight.

“ Slow down, Staryu.” Lisa ordered her temporary Pokemon. The trainer and two pokemon approached the island sluggishly, and a closer inspection revealed that the island was in fact not an Island, but a surfaced reef. Staryu stopped a couple of metres away from the reef, and Lisa dismounted the pokemon and paddled awkwardly to shore, avoiding sharp pieces of coral on the way.

The reef was quite sharp and fairly small; it was about 5 metres long and 2 metres wide. Lisa scanned the island in a few seconds, seeing no Quagsire anywhere. Lisa sighed, disappointed, and began to walk back to Staryu, when suddenly she heard an odd squeak behind her.

“ What was that?” Lisa said aloud.

“ AI Aipom?” Aipom called out, swivelling around on Lisa’s shoulder. Lisa copied her Pokemon’s actions, making Aipom face the opposite way again. After some confusion, both Aipom and Lisa found themselves facing a tiny pink pokemon, standing next to a shallow and empty rock pool.

“ Ooh!” Lisa breathed, taking cautious steps toward the pokemon. “ A Corsola!”

“ Cree!” Corsola squeaked shrilly, grinning mischievously. It’s pink, coral-like body shone in the sunlight and it was quite large for a Corsola.

“ Alright, this thing is mine.” Lisa said, moving her hand down to her belt. “ Butterfree, go!”

Butterfree popped out of the ball, flapping it’s wide, regal wings hard to stay in the air. Corsola looked mildly amused, as though it knew nothing could happen to it. “ Sleep Powder.” Lisa ordered, despite the looks from Corsola. Butterfree flapped it’s wings again, and this time a fine blue powder drifted down upon Corsola, who, as soon as it felt the sleep powder taking effect, jumped into the rock pool and washed it off.

“ Dammit,” Lisa cursed, infuriated that her attempts had not worked. “ Butterfree, try Gusting it!”
“ Free! Reee!” Butterfree flapped it’s wings yet again, the wind blowing Corsola out of the pool and back onto the reef. Lisa hoped this had done some damage, however Corsola looked only mildly injured.

“ Pokeball, go.” Lisa threw a pokeball, hoping that she could catch a new Pokemon; she hadn’t really had one since Girafarig, and that was with Gavin now. The ball flew towards Corsola, but one second before it hit Corsola, a blast of water knocked the ball into the rock pool and out of the way.

“ What?!” Lisa cried, looking up in the direction of the blast. Standing there was a young girl of about 12 years old. She had a bright aqua shirt on, along with pink and orange shorts. Lisa thought she looked very vibrant, especially since she had purple hair. She was quite tall for her age, and her eyes were so blue they looked fake. But very soon, Lisa didn’t care what the girl looked like; she had noticed the girl’s pokemon.

“ Quagsire?” Lisa asked, sighting the large, upright, cerulean-blue water pokemon standing just behind the girl’s left leg. “ Hey, when did you get that Quagsire?”

“ Caught it today.” The girl said. “ Oh, my name’s Irene. I’m a water Pokemon trainer.”

“ Lisa.” Lisa began, but she couldn’t help not to ask questions … “ Where’d you get the Quagsire?”

“ It swam up to me and my Lapras while we were surfing. I spose near the Shellder Beach …”

Lisa had heard all she needed to. “ That Quagsire is mine!” she cried. “ I know it!”

Irene glared at her. “ Don’t be stupid.” She said. “ This Quagsire is MINE.”

Lisa gaped, the situation seemed so unreal.

Irene gasped. “ Look, kid, I caught this Quagsire in the wild. It’s mine, OK?”

“ It’s mine, I tell ya.” Lisa said. “ I can just tell by it’s smile, and it’s shiny coat…”

“ Lots of Quagsire have shiny coats!” argued Irene.

“ Well, mine was REALLY shiny.” Lisa cried.

Before either girl could say anything again, both received a sharp, stinging slap to the face. They both shut up at once, and began rubbing their faces. “ What was that for, Aipom?” Lisa moaned, massaging her cheek.

“ AI Aipom!” Aipom called. “ Pom!” Aipom gestured along with it’s speech, punching wildly at the air.

“ Translation please?” Irene asked impatiently.

“ Aipom says we should have a battle to see who should keep it.” Lisa said truthfully.

Irene snorted. “ You expect me to believe that?”

“ Well, if you’re too weak to accept..” Lisa said, putting on a superior voice.

The two-year-younger Irene fell for the trap immediately. “ I’m not too weak! I accept your challenge!”

“ One on one then.” Lisa set the rules. “ I choose Aipom!”

“ Well I choose Quagsire!” Irene said smugly.

Quagsire waddled out onto the reefy field, and Aipom leapt off Lisa’s shoulder to face it. Both Pokemon tensed their muscles. Aipom stared at Quagsire; it knew this Quagsire was Lisa’s, but the Quagsire was showing no recognition of Aipom or Lisa.

“ Begin!” Lisa called. “ Aipom, start off with your Swift attack.”

“ Quagsire, dodge it, then go in for an Ice Beam.” Irene said.

Lisa laughed. “ You’ll find it hard to dodge a Swift attack.”

Lisa was proved to be correct. Aipom curled up in a small, purple and white ball, and launched an array of bright, stinging stars directly at Quagsire’s wobbly body. Quagsire sat patiently as possible until the last moment, when the stars were nearly upon it. Quagsire jumped up into the air to avoid the attack, but Swift was the most accurate attack known to man. The stars averted course, curving upwards and stinging Quagsire’s large, floppy feet, knocking it down to the ground.

“ Take that.” Lisa called, although actually feeling slightly sorry for Quagsire.

“ Quagsire, get up now! Use Ice Beam.” Irene ordered sternly.

“ Aipom, try Agility.”

After issuing the commands, Lisa and Irene stood back to overview the outcomes of their orders. Quagsire absorbed energy in it’s mouth, while Aipom stood poised on the ground, ready to spring away at any moment. ‘ It won’t really attack ME, will it?’ Aipom thought to itself. ‘ I’m it’s friend…’


*

Lock the bug catcher sat quietly, his chubby frame hidden securely behind a thick bush. His wary, sly-looking eyes scanned around over the spiky leaves of the bush, onto the route to Shellder Beach. The Weedle he had been stalking for so long was waddling around, apparently unaware of Lock. The boy prepared the pokeball for it, and stealthily crept around the bush and peered out onto the gravel road, approaching his target with confidence, until …

A black shape shot out of a tree branch high above, dropping down with a whoosh onto Weedle. There was a flash of light as Weedle disappeared and Lock leapt out, enraged, at the person who had captured his Weedle.

“ That’s mine!” Lock demanded furiously, running at the man who stood there, clothed in black. He sent out Growlithe immediately, but the man held out a hand and produced a Great Ball, and threw it with a placid air onto the road. Opposing Growlithe was an evil-eyed Rhyhorn, it’s grey rocky horn pointed at the fire dog with ease. Lock recoiled as he realised Growlithe stood no chance, and recalled him angrily.

“ Excuse me!” Lock was still annoyed, and spat at the man, whose Rhyhorn was plodding menacingly towards Lock. “ What was that for?!”

The man grinned fiendishly, and ignored him. “ I believe you can help me with something … I’m sure I might be able to offer you something in return for a favour …” he held out Weedle’s pokeball to Lock, and the boy knew what he wanted.

After a few hasty minutes of talking between each other, Lock pointed a chubby finger down the road to Shellder Beach. “ She went THAT way!”


*

Quagsire wasted no time in idling – it fired the cerulean beam, catching Aipom off guard as it whispered to itself. Aipom was flung back toward Lisa, and landed on the hard, rocky reef, knocked out. Aipom had lost.

“ Alright, Quagsire.” Irene rejoiced. “ Looks like you lose, Lisa.”

“ Yeah, I guess.” Lisa said, trying to swallow a lump that was swelling up in her throat. Her first loss since fighting Kris, and this came with worse sideaffects. ‘ That Quagsire was mine, I know it.’ She thought angrily to herself.

Irene jumped on Quagsire’s back, even though they were both about the same size, and sped off. “ Sorry, Lisa.” Sounding completely like she didn’t mean it one little bit.

Lisa sat on the reef, dejected, all alone with her knocked out Aipom. All alone? “ Wait a sec!” Lisa yelled out. “ Staryu, where are you?” Lisa combed the entire reef, and finally sighted Staryu, floating in the sea, fainted. Lisa could not believe her eyes.

“ Staryu, what happened?” she cried, as she pulled the starshape Pokemon onto the shore. However, asking an unconscious Staryu a question is one of the dumbest things to do … so Lisa sat down with Staryu and Aipom and sighed deeply. She suddenly felt an urge of stubbornness within, and knew she wanted … she needed … to find Quagsire and Irene again, but how?

“ Now how am I meant to get away from here?” Lisa muttered, voicing her thoughts. “ I’m stuck on this tiny reef and I can’t get off!”

“ Tini!”

“ What was that?”

Lisa peered over the low, coral ridge which bordered the reef island. Behind it, in the clear saltwater of the Cianwood Sea, splashed a tiny blue Pokemon; which Lisa recognised as a Dratini.

“ Hey, maybe that Dratini can help me out.”

Lisa crawled slowly up over the edge of the ridge, and landed with a splash, scaring the Dratini away. Her clothes were saturated straight away, and the cold water froze her body. However, Lisa managed to tread water long enough to see Dratini slowly edging back toward her.

“ Hey, little Dratini.” Lisa said in a sickly sweet voice. Her voice charmed the dragon pokemon, and Dratini swam up so close that Lisa could touch it. Lisa stroked the smooth, silky body of Dratini before turning it’s face to hers.
“ Dratini, I have a problem …” Lisa began.


*

Five minutes later, Lisa was clinging to Dratini’s back, riding the cool waves and enjoying the sea breeze to it’s full extent. They were following the scent of Quagsire; Aipom was now awake and could sniff out it’s Pokemon friend for miles across the sea.

“ Land ahead!” Lisa cried, more to herself than to Aipom or Dratini. She sighed; finally she would see Quagsire again, and hopefully he would return to her. Lisa’s belt was feeling empty without Quagsire, even though she currently had six pokemon on the belt – she had recalled Staryu for Gavin and kept it with her – however, Quagsire was the first pokemon she actually CAUGHT, and she was sad without it.

Dratini finally arrived at a flat reef again, but this one was at least twice the size of the previous one. Lisa felt the last of the powerful wind whipping her hair back and then quickly brushed her hair through with her fingers. Dratini came to a complete halt, and Lisa dismounted the dragon. “ Thanks, Dratini.” She said, “ Wait here for me … I think Irene is here with my Quagsire.”

Dratini looked sadly at Lisa, it felt lonely all over again. Having been rejected from most of the other Dratini in its Deep Sea Colony for many months, it had learned to keep to itself. But now a human had opened up to it, and treated it with kindness, even told it to wait. However, Dratini wasn’t wanting to be left behind for even a moment … how could it stay with the human the whole time?

“ Tini! Dra ti neee!” Dratini called after Lisa, trying to jump out of the water at her. Lisa, who was walking slowly away, turned around at once . Aipom was confused by Dratini … it apparently wanted something, from what Aipom had heard.

“ Ai?”

“ Tini!!!”

“ What’s up, Aipom?” Lisa asked, curious about the conversation going on between the two Pokemon.

Aipom ignored Lisa, which was nothing new to the trainer. Instead, the Monkey like Pokemon reached down to Lisa’s belt with it’s arm-like tail, and pulled off an empty Pokeball. “ Hey, Aipom, that’s mine!” Lisa protested. Aipom continued to ignore her, as he threw the ball at Dratini, who called out a final, happy “ Dra!” and smiled as the ball hit it on the head, and snuffled it up in a swift movement. Lisa was stunned.

“ Did you just catch Dratini for me, Aipom?” Lisa questioned her Pokemon.

“ Pom!” Aipom nodded. “ AI ai pom!”

Lisa reached down to the water and picked up the ball. “ Dratini, I hope you like being on my Pokemon team. And Aipom …” She reached down to the purple monkey and picked him up, hugging him tightly. “ Thank you very much.”

Aipom clambered back onto it’s owner’s shoulder, suddenly feeling satisfied by the praise from Lisa, and the two friends continued along the reef, where on the far side they spotted Irene and Quagsire, eating some pizza. Lisa briefly wondered where they got the pizza, but she put that thought out of her mind. Sneaking up on them, Lisa called to Quagsire “ Oy, Quagsire.”

Quagsire turned around instantly, and saw Lisa. It almost ran up to her, then recalled that it had abandoned her. Quagsire glared at Lisa again, as Irene turned around.

“ Back again?”

“ Sure am.” Lisa said. “ I’m back for a rematch … 3 on 3.”

“ Let me see … alright,” Irene said. “ Winner keeps Quagsire.”

Irene took two paces back, and Lisa mirrored her foe’s actions. “ First up, I choose Poliwhirl.”

“ Whirl.” Poliwhirl gurgled, popping out of the pokeball that Irene threw. The large, purply froglike Pokemon had a large, swirling circle on it’s belly.

“ Go, Aipom.” Lisa called, sending out her best pokemon. Aipom jumped onto the flat reef, and growled at Poliwhirl.

“ Poliwhirl – start with Water gun.”

“ Aipom, begin with Sand Attack.”

Poliwhirl fired off a blast of water from his swirl, which Aipom just managed to dodge. Then the monkey-like creature turned it’s back on Poliwhirl and started trying to kick up sand. However, Lisa had made a critical error; there was no sand on the reef! Aipom kept trying, and ended up burning it’s feet on the warm, dry coral. Poliwhirl took advantage of the situation, and aimed a Water gun at Aipom’s back, knocking it over. Lisa, determined not to miss this time, ordered a Swift attack, while Irene called for a … Hyper Beam!?

Poliwhirl powered up for a Hyper Beam, slowly absorbing energy. It began to spin around very slowly at first, then more and more rapidly until it was barely distinguishable as a Poliwhirl. Aipom fired off the beam of stars, and as usual they hit right on target. Unfortunately, Poliwhirl was spinning too fast for the attack to damage it. Lisa was shocked. “ Aipom, agility! Jump into the air just before Poliwhirl fires the beam!”

“ AI!” Aipom sprinted around the small island, picking up speed and getting ready to jump. Poliwhirl had a large circle of bright white light around it now, and was ready to fire. “NOW!” cried Lisa. Aipom jumped up, and Poliwhirl fired. The beam was right on target, and somehow managed to hit Aipom in the air, knocking him directly. He fell into the surrounding ocean, knocked out, and slowly sank down into the icy, deep, swirly ocean currents …

[Master Kirby]

AIPOM! NOOOOOOOO!

Keep Posting. We're reading!

[Master Kirby]

Where is everyone? Am I the only one still reading this story?

[AquaBabe727]

No, i'm just waiting for it to catch up where it left off. Where are ya, Gavin?

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

Oh no, what is going to happen?

...

ooh, Lisa now has a Dratini.
I want some REAL new chapters, not these old ones! HURRY UP, YA FOO'!

[Gavin Luper]

Seriously sorry everyone. I've been inundated with homework for a couple of weeks so time on the net has been limited. For your patience, i'll repost as much as i can in one go (hopefully, to chapter16)

-------------------
Chapter 10 - Fighting the Ocean.


“ Aipom!” Lisa yelled, racing to the reef’s edge and throwing herself in the water after Aipom, ignorant of Irene’s smug face. Irene didn’t care if her opponent’s pokemon was cruelly drowned … she just wanted to win. Usually speaking, pokemon battles never resulted in death, but battling on a water-based field with a non-water type pokemon was really an accident waiting to happen.

Lisa forced air out of her mouth in order to sink down deeper. Trying to recall the swimming lessons she had taken in the Ecru Lake back home earlier in her life, Lisa used Breastroke to slowly catch up to Aipom. Being unconscious already, Aipom was sinking and drowning at the same time – unable to save himself from he cruel fate which Irene and Poliwhirl had bestowed upon him. Lisa strained her lungs, swimming deeper into the murky depths of the ocean … reaching desperately for Aipom’s tail.

She grasped her left hand around Aipom’s tail, and breathed … or bubbled … a sigh of relief. Placing Aipom underneath her arm, Lisa used her right arm to slowly swim upwards, towards the surface. She had been underwater for quite a long time now, and her lungs were bursting, begging for air … Lisa looked up to see the water lightening and the surface glimmering only a few feet away …

Lisa’s head broke through the surface, as she gulped down oxygen at last. Aipom, however, was seriously injured. He had swallowed a lot of water, and was hardly breathing. “ Aipom!” Lisa cried, clambering onto the shore and dragging her Pokemon onto the reef, trying to block out Irene’s “ Hah! Your pokemon can’t even swim!”, and concentrating on the matter at hand; reviving Aipom.

Quagsire, behind Irene, looked steadily on as his former friend was suffering. ‘ If it wasn’t for me, this wouldn’t have happened.’ Quagsire felt a tear of sorrow spill out of his eye and onto his cheek. ‘ After all, I caused Aipom to…’ Quagsire couldn’t bring himself to say, or even think, the word. There might still be hope … but only if he hurried. Would he be able to revive his friend?

“ Quag!” Quagsire called, running over to Lisa and Aipom on all fours. His buttocks wobbled slightly as he ran, and it slowed him down, but the Water type Pokemon dismissed the minor hindrance and ran on. He had to save his friend! Lisa glanced up from Aipom and suddenly saw Quagsire leaping onto Aipom’s middle section, forcing Aipom’s mouth to open and a small blast of water to escape. Lisa watched as Quagsire slowly drained all the fluid out of Aipom’s lungs, and after a short silence, the monkey opened it’s eyes.

“ Aipom, you’re alright!” Lisa rejoiced, scooping Aipom back into her arms and smiling. “ Thank god you’re OK.”
Quagsire smiled too, it had saved Aipom. Even though abandoning Lisa had eventually caused this to happen, Quagsire had fixed the conflict … although there was one more problem to be settled.

“ Oy, Lisa!” Irene called, Poliwhirl still standing patiently before her. “ Are you gonna finish this battle or what?”

Lisa was infuriated by the question; was Irene for real? Lisa’s first pokemon had nearly been killed by an attack from Poliwhirl, and Irene hadn’t even given Lisa to recover physically or emotionally. Just as Lisa went to yell out “No Way” Quagsire jumped in front of her. “ Quag!”

“ Quagsire … a-a-are you going t-to battle … for m-me?” Lisa stuttered, partly due to pleasant surprise and partly due to her teeth chattering; the ocean had been surprisingly cold for a warm day. Quagsire was ready to fight for it’s true trainer again … even if she had abandoned him, Lisa had been willing to fight for him – twice! The Loyal Quagsire was ready to fight for Lisa in return.

“ What are you doing, fighting for HER?” Irene spat at Quagsire. “ You’re MY pokemon, remember?”

“ I think Quagsire has returned to ME.” Lisa smiled a sickly sweet smile. “ Sorry, Irene.”

“ Traitor.” Irene was in no mood to end a battle half way through. Spoilt as a child, everything had always gone her way. Having a pathetic novice trainer – even if she was older - order her around infuriated her beyond Lisa’s perspectives. “ We’ll finish this battle NOW.”

“ But I already won back Quagsire.” Lisa gloated, still overjoyed that she had regained Quagsire.

Irene had to think of a new scheme – and she had the perfect one ready. “ Alright, we’ll finish this battle off, using only one Pokemon each. But if you win – you get a badge.” Irene pulled out a pink badge from nowhere and showed it to her new enemy.

“ No way – what? A badge?” Lisa asked, suddenly wondering whether she should have been so hasty about cancelling the fight. “ What are you on about? Does that mean you’re a Gym Leader?”

“ Yeah,” yawned Irene, seeing that her trick had worked. It was true, she was a gym leader, for the Whirlpool Cup. But she was sure she could beat anything this novice threw out.

“ So what’s the catch?” Lisa asked her opponent, unsure whether or not to believe her Gym leader story.

“ Well, if you win you earn a Coral Reef badge, if I win, I get to keep Quagsire.” Irene’s eyes flashed evilly.
Lisa sighed. A badge would prove to her pokemon that she was a worthy trainer, and may persuade them to obey her. But the risk of losing Quagsire was too great – Poliwhirl had already beaten Aipom without much effort.

“ Sorry,” Lisa said firmly. “ No badge is worth losing Quagsire again. Besides, I don’t need a badge to make my pokemon obey me … they judge me myself, not my level of experience.”

“ You’re been watching too much Sleepless in Saffron,” Irene’s eyes flashed again. She had felt sure Lisa would be foolish enough to accept. “ Why don’t you battle? Afraid of losing?”

“ Reverse Psychology won’t work on me. I’m a bit too old for that,” Lisa chuckled. “ C’mon Quagsire, let’s go.”

Quagsire held it’s ground, not moving an inch. “ Quagsire, c’mon.” Lisa said. “ You came back to me, remember. You can’t go back to that cow.”

“ Quag! Quag si!” Quagsire resisted the pull of Lisa’s hand on his arm. He shrugged her off.

“ Quagsire … you want revenge, don’t you?” Lisa muttered to her friend, interpreting his outburst. “ You want to finish the fight for Aipom.”

“ Quag.” Quagsire nodded, glad that Lisa was catching on.

“ Well, if that’s really what you want …” Lisa said, rather reluctantly. Then she raised her voice and turned back to Irene. “ I accept the challenge. What Pokemon will you use?”

Irene grinned. “ I’ll stick with my Poliwhirl.”

“ Well, I’m using Quagsire.” Lisa said, as Quagsire wobbled over to face Poliwhirl, who only minutes ago had been it’s battle partner was now it’s adversary.

“ Tackle it, Quagsire.” Lisa called, to begin with.

“ Poliwhirl, use technique C.” Irene called.

Lisa and Quagsire alike were puzzled by this command. Technique C? “ What does that mean?” Lisa cried angrily.

“ Gym Leader’s secret strategy.” Irene put on a smug face. “ Top secret.”

“ Well, in that case, Quagsire, dive into the water.” Lisa called.

Irene laughed to herself, and said under her breath, so that Lisa couldn’t hear. “ Well, that’ll just save us the trouble of having to get you in there ourselves.”

Quagsire jumped swiftly off the reef and into the icy water. Water was Quagsire’s home ground. It was safer and more adept at it’s attacks in the water than on land. Poliwhirl, who had begun to charge at Quagsire on land, now averted course and jumped right in to face Quagsire. Poliwhirl swam a few quick strokes of breastroke before diving underwater and away from where Quagsire could keep track of it. Lisa shuddered. Now Poliwhirl had an advantage; it could see Quagsire, but Quagsire could not see it.

“ Quagsire – just wait there.” Lisa cried, deciding none of Quagsire’s attacks would be able to find or damage Poliwhirl where it currently was hiding. Lisa and Quagsire both waited in a nervous silence, waiting for Poliwhirl to make a move. Just when Lisa’s nervousness was beginning to turn to boredom, a blast of light from deep below began to soar up towards the surface. Lisa spotted it at once. “ Quagsire – um … DOUBLE TEAM!”

Quagsire wondered why Lisa was ordering an attack when they had been awaiting Poliwhirl’s move, but it had just regained it’s trust for her; it had to obey. With shocking speed, Quagsire created a dozen holograms; shadowy images of itself, then switched into one of those clones, kind of teleporting into another’s position. The light from below barrelled on, closer and closer. The light was of rainbow colours, and Lisa recognised it as an Aurora Beam, seconds before it broke through the surface and shattered one of Quagsire’s doubles.

“ Great going Quagsire.” Lisa called to her Pokemon, as he realised he had just moved in time. Thank god he was listening to Lisa now. Poliwhirl broke through the surface a few seconds later, looking for a fainted Quagsire, but instead seeing a ring of Quagsire, strong and healthy, and viciously glaring at the opponent.

“ Poliwhirl – Hyper Beam.” Irene called, seeing her strategies failing. Poliwhirl began to spin around, powering up for the devastating beam, which would be fired out while Poliwhirl spun - Lisa realised that all the Quagsire, including her real one, would be hit. She had to act fast.

Lisa thought quickly about the details. Any physical attack would be useless; Quagsire would take more damage than Poliwhirl. Any elemental attack would do little – from the side. Lisa looked up – maybe Quagsire could attack from the top of Poliwhirl – it was much less defensive on it’s head. Lisa wondered how until the answer came to her.

“ Quagsire – listen carefully - Water Gun the ocean! Make it really a high pressure blast!” Lisa called.

Quagsire’s doubles disappeared, and Quagsire himself breathed in deeply, filling his lungs and hydrogen chamber with oxygen. The hydrogen and oxygen mixed strangely, and when Quagsire exhaled, a jet of water blasted into the surrounding sea, propelling Quagsire into the air, where he floated above Poliwhirl. “ Ice Beam!” Lisa called. Quagsire prepared it’s quickest ever ball of energy, and fired it within seconds, aimed right for Poliwhirl’s head. The attack hit home right as Quagsire landed back in the water. Poliwhirl froze over, into a solid block of ice, just as the Hyper Beam was fired. A large chunk of ice exploded from the block, and landed on Quagsire’s head, delivering the damage of a Tackle.

Irene and Lisa both surveyed the scene. A frozen Poliwhirl, a headachy but hardly damaged Quagsire. The winner was obvious. “ We won, Quagsire!” Lisa rejoiced, diving back into the water and hugging her pokemon, regardless of the temperature. “ You did it!”

“ Quag!” Quagsire called, happy to win a fight.

Lisa expected Irene to ‘chuck a psyche’, however, she took the whole thing rather calmly. “ Dammit Lisa. You beat me.”

Lisa smiled as she clambered onto the reef again, as Quagsire grinned. “ You put up a really tough fight, if that’s any consolation. Your Poliwhirl is trained very well. I can’t believe you only had to say two words to order an entire strategy.”

Irene enjoyed the words of praise, but she was still unable to be happy about her defeat. “ Here Lisa. The Coral Reef badge. It makes Pokemon below level 25 obey you.” She paused. “ But you’re right. Badges are just there to show a pokemon who’s boss. If you have a real connection with your pokemon, a badge isn’t needed.

“ It’s also one of the badges required to get into the Whirlpool Cup.”

Lisa took the Pink badge which slightly resembled a Corsola. “ The Whirlpool Cup? I thought it was for Johto? The Whirlpool Cup – what’s that?”

“ It’s a mini-pokemon league held in the Whirl Archipelago.” Irene explained, returning Poliwhirl.

“ Go on …” Lisa said, placing the badge carefully in her pocket. It would be safe there.

“ The Whirlpool Cup is held very soon – the first round is in a week or so … Wednesday the 6th ,” Irene told her. “ Water Pokemon only are allowed. You can sign up at Red Rock Island.”

Lisa thought about it. She was on the way to Cianwood Island anyway, so why not compete? The Whirl Islands were close by, and might have some rare legendary Pokemon there. “ I might check this Whirlpool Cup out.” Lisa said.

“ Thanks for telling me, Irene. And thanks for giving Quagsire back.”

“ Pleasure.” snapped Irene, not sounding at all as though it WAS a pleasure. Lisa waved to the young gym leader, as she walked across the reef and threw a pokeball.

“ Dratini – I choose you!”


*

Lisa cruised along on Dratini, the late afternoon breeze blowing her hair back over her face continually. Gavin, five feet away, was cruising along on his Staryu, sitting on one of Staryu’s strong and sturdy arms, and grasping tightly onto it’s top point, still not totally trusting his pokemon not to accidentally throw him off into the ocean.

It was a warm Saturday afternoon. Lisa and Gavin were on their way to Cianwood Island, now only an hour away from their destination after two days of almost constant surfing, stopping nightly on occasional reefs. Lisa fumbled with Granbull and Mankey’s pokeballs as Dratini progressed through the water. She had six pokemon already, but now she could give Granbull and Mankey to their Sailor trainer, Jack, somewhere on Cianwood. It seemed like a long time ago that Lisa had received the two Pokemon from Gavin’s Uncle Eusine, but in reality it was only a mere 5 days. Lisa sighed, contented. Although she had nearly lost Quagsire to Irene, and Aipom had nearly drowned, it would all be worth it when she handed Jack Criddle his pokeballs and he thanked her. Maybe even a reward would be given, since Lisa had gone out of her way to deliver pokemon to a stranger?

After that, Lisa and Gavin would finally be on a new adventure. To the Whirlpool Cup. Gavin was going to compete with his Staryu, hopefully he could get far enough for Staryu to evolve into Starmie. Lisa knew Quagsire had already reached it’s final form, unless it could evolve again somehow, but maybe Dratini could evolve if she used it instead.

“ Ai ai pom!” Aipom called, tugging at Lisa’s wavy black hair.

“ Yeah, this is fun.” Lisa agreed.

“ AI POM!!” Aipom screamed, seemingly frantic.

Lisa guessed she was misinterpreting Aipom’s words. “ Tell me Aipom, what’s wrong?!”

“ Ai … Ai Pom. Po a ai pom!” Aipom said, obviously straining to stop itself screaming.

Lisa tried to translate what Aipom was saying. “ Coming up … what’s coming up?”

“ Um.. Lisa?” Gavin called, from her left.

“ Hang on, I’m trying to understand Aipom.” Lisa said impatiently and ignorantly, as Aipom repeated itself. “ Let’s see… something’s coming up on my right…no, my left. What’s that, Aipom? Whirlpool? No, you can’t compete in the Whirlpool Cup, it’s only for water…”

“ THERE’S A WHIRLPOOL TO YOUR LEFT!” Gavin yelled at Lisa. Finally, she turned towards Gavin where she watched him and Staryu become pulled into the swirling fury of the whirlpool, which was very deep but not too large. Lisa began to panic as Gavin was swept away into the swirling water, not knowing how to save him. Gavin was gradually being pulled in further, and finally Lisa realised what had to be done.

“ Dratini – use your Whirlpool attack!” Lisa cried, nearing the whirlpool as close as possible without being pulled in. Dratini had to be very close to the Whirlpool for the technique to be pulled off. Once they were close enough, Dratini turned it’s neck, opened it’s mouth and let out a stream of powerful water, rushing against the flow of the whirlpool. Gavin, meanwhile, was trying to keep calm while his Staryu also attempted to conquer the currents with a Whirlpool attack.

But the two pokemon were not enough. Even after Lisa released her Quagsire into the sea to battle the whirlpool, the pool still raged on, sucking Gavin and Staryu in further by the second. Just when the trainers and their pokemon were ready to give up and give in, three creatures popped their heads up out of the water and began spurting water out from their mouths. The creatures were in fact three Lanturns, but there was something odd about them. They, instead of being yellow and blue, were yellow and green. Floating next to each other, their whirlpool attacks were strong enough to combat the force of water, and drive it backwards into itself, until the whirlpool all of a sudden ceased to exist.

Lisa blinked, and when she again opened her eyes, the ocean was flat once again. Gavin and Staryu were floating, cheering weakly, a few metres away, drenched but glad to be saved from one of the whirlpools which frequently occurred in the Cianwood Sea. Quagsire was panting, as was Dratini. But the Green Lanturns were grinning – as though they had enjoyed the experience. “ Thank you!” Lisa called to the Lanturns, but Gavin seemed much more interested.

“ Oy, you Lanturns, come over here!” Gavin called, drifting towards them on Staryu’s aching right arm. Two of the Lanturn flinched, and began to swim away, but one Lanturn stretched out one of it’s antennae and shook Gavin’s hand in a sign of peace.

“ Lanturn, would you like you come in here?” Gavin pulled out a pokeball.

Lanturn shook it’s head mischievously, then it’s antenna crackled with sparks seconds before in thundershocked Gavin. The electricity shocked Staryu, and weakened it. Suddenly, Gavin became extremely angry. “ Oy, don’t do that to my Staryu!” he cried indignantly.

The Green Lanturn grinned cheekily, and shocked Gavin again. Gavin cried out, and threw an Ultra Ball, which appeared in his hand as if from nowhere. The ball flew at Lanturn, snuffling it up in a swift movement and catching it, the ball flying through the air to Gavin. Lisa stared, stunned.


*

It was late Saturday night, or early Sunday morning - about 3am, when Lisa and Gavin finally arrived on Cianwood Island. Lisa’s Quagsire and Dratini were both exhausted, so Lisa swam through the pitch black water of the ocean for about 100 metres before arriving at the shore, so as to give both of them, who had taken turns in carrying Lisa, a good rest. As for Gavin, his Staryu was pooped, and Lanturn was of no use for surfing. Apart from the fact that it was a bit undersized small, it was very disobedient. Gavin had tried to ride the Pokemon twice during the journey – both times Gavin and Staryu had ended up fried from a Thundershock.

Lisa recalled Quagsire and Dratini, and Gavin recalled Staryu as the duo trudged slowly up towards the beach in the dark. Lisa was finding it hard to see, but the pale moonlight which reflected off the ankle-deep water gave her some vague direction. Finally, Lisa half walked, half-dragged herself and Gavin’s cold, dripping forms up onto the sandy beach. Gavin let out a weak groan as he flopped down on the damp sand, and Lisa reached to her belt for a Pokeball to return him with when she remembered; Gavin wasn’t a Pokemon. Lisa slapped herself on the forehead, clipped the ball back on her belt, and shook Gavin awake.

“ C’mon, we have to go now,” Lisa whispered softly in Gavin’s ear. “ I think we’re both ready for a good night’s sleep at the Pokemon Centre.” Gavin mumbled something and heaved his dripping body up. He threw an arm over Lisa’s shoulder, Aipom barely dodging the limb as it scampered over to Lisa’s other shoulder. Lisa hauled her friend up to a standing position and dragged him along the beach, Aipom attempting to pull Gavin’s arm off Lisa’s shoulder but not succeeding. “ Leave him there, Aipom,” Lisa said, approaching the Town of Cianwood slowly, where a few weak lights indicated the small port town. “ Just help me drag this idiot to the Pokemon Centre.”

“ Ai ai pom?”

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 11 - The Ungrateful Sailor.


Sunlight streamed through the open window of the pokemon Centre. Lisa stirred slightly on the uncomfortable futon. The sofa was too small for a bed, and it was torn. The material a had irritated her skin overnight. Then, a gnawing on her ear made her sit bolt upright. Laying upon her pillow was Aipom, chomping on Lisa’s ear playfully. Lisa pulled her Pokemon off, and surveyed her surroundings. The Cianwood Pokemon Centre – Trainer’s Lounge. It was very light an airy – sunlight pouring though a large raised window. Lisa pulled herself up, feeling well rested. She dared a quick glance at her pokegear clock; 6am. Lisa wondered why she felt so alive and awake after such a short sleep, then she checked the date and her eyes popped out of her head.

Monday the 5th of November! She and Gavin had arrived on a Saturday Night!

Nurse Joy walked into the room. “ Lisa?”

Lisa vaguely remembered giving Nurse Joy her and Gavin’s names as they struggled into the Pokemon centre at about 4am. “ Yes?”

“ There’s somebody here to see you,” Nurse Joy told Lisa impatiently as though it was obvious.

“ What day is it?” Lisa asked, unsure whether to believe her Pokegear.

“ Monday, of course. Gosh, what do I look like, a question answerer?”

“ What?” Lisa burst into giggles – Nurse Joy seemed very crabby and not making any sense at all – her attempted sarcasm just seemed lame. However, after laughing Lisa returned to her groggy, confused state. “ What happened to Sunday?”

“ It died,” Nurse Joy replied in a sarcastic tone. Lisa thought that this was the crabbiest Nurse Joy she had ever seen, and decided she hadn’t got enough sleep. Just at that moment, a young man, about twenty years of age, strode into the small trainer’s lounge. He looked Lisa up and down slowly, before deciding to talk to her.

“ Excuse me? Lisa Walters?” the man asked. He towered over Lisa; she guessed he must be around 1.8 metres tall. Lisa appeared a midget to him. The man’s breath was fresh; his teeth were white and shiny. He had fair, dusty golden hair, and a muscular body. After Lisa nodded, almost shyly, he began chatting like a friend.

“ Jack - Jack Criddle.” The man shook Lisa’s hand in his, his grip so powerful that Lisa felt her whole body move around at his will.

“ Oh, I know what you want.” Lisa said, suddenly. She reached down to her magnetic Pokeball belt, and pulled off two shiny pokeballs. “ Are these your Pokemon?”

Jack opened his mouth to reply, but suddenly a thump sounded out from nearby. Lisa looked over to her left and laughed; Gavin had rolled off a nearby sofa. He looked puzzled. “ Um … g’morning.” He muttered vaguely before closing his eyes and pretending to sleep on the light blue carpet.

Lisa laughed again, then turned back to the burly sailor Jack, who had already taken his pokeballs back, and plunged them into his hip pocket. Lisa waited for something; a reward or at least a word of thanks. Jack didn’t seem to care, and began to stride out of the room after nodding to Lisa.

“ HOW RUDE!” Lisa grunted behind his back, her face turning bright red.

“ Looks like somebody woke up on the wrong side of the futon.” chuckled Gavin, rubbing his eyes and narrowly avoiding a slap delivered to his mouth.

“ He didn’t even thank me,” Lisa said. “ I came all the way to Cianwood, almost losing Quagsire and getting Aipom drowned to death, to deliver two Pokeballs to a guy I don’t even know, and he can’t even say thanks.”

“ AI AI POM!” Aipom screamed, hating to relive the awful battle with Irene, and the drowning incident.

Gavin was about to remark about smoke pouring out from Lisa’s ears, but stopped his quick tongue just in time. “ Well, go after him and MAKE him say thanks.”

Lisa’s eyes flashed dangerously, a hint of revenge glimmering in the deep brown. “ I’ll do more than that.” She growled, and stalked off to find Jack the Sailor. Gavin shrugged, and started walking along the corridor behind his companion, shouldering his and her backpacks, both growing heavier each second as he followed.

“ Jack! Jack Criddle!! Come here!” Lisa bellowed, calling down the dingy hallway which led to the main foyer of the pokemon Centre. “ Come here right now!” Jack was nowhere in sight, when Lisa arrived at the front desk. Apparently he didn’t wish to deal with Lisa in her current temperament, and had abandoned the centre while he still could. However, Lisa was in no mood to give in – she had almost lost her two most precious Pokemon thanks to him, and she wasn’t going to let him get away without a thanks. Her temper had well and truly flared up, and when she became angry, she became stubborn and obstinate.

Gavin raced out into the foyer after Lisa and Aipom, just in time to sight them storming out, past the clear glass doors and into the peaceful town of Cianwood. She was going to find Jack. “ Lisa wait!” he cried, dragging her pack on the ground, and struggling to stand upright. “ Why are you being so stub …” There was a slight thump as Gavin slammed into the transparent sliding doors. “ born?” he finished, slumping to the ground.

Lisa raced out to the right of the Pokemon Centre. Towards the sea … if Jack was a sailor he’d surely head for the ocean. After running along the footpath which ran alongside a seaward street, Lisa weaved in and out of the early morning fishermen, and finally arrived at the misty-aired jetty. The jetty was wooden, splintered and ancient. However, Lisa wasn’t taking in any details at that time – all she cared about was catching Jack – wherever he was. Lisa scanned the busy Cianwood Port with difficulty – already there were many fishermen and boats around; where could Jack have gone? Lisa suddenly spied, out of the corner of her eye, Jack climbing onto a small pleasure boat. A Sailor on a pleasure boat? Lisa didn’t care how strange that was – but she wanted thanks.

Gavin wobbled after Lisa, approaching the shoreline at the pace of a slow Caterpie. He now had obtained a large red mark on his forehead, but was determined to keep Lisa in sight – or at least know roughly where she was. The teen sighted his friend leaping angrily onto a small, rusty (Gavin could see the rust from a distance) pleasure boat. The boy sped up to Squirtle Speed – he had to catch up – but why was Lisa so damn stubborn about manners? Sure, she almost had Aipom killed, but wasn’t that in the past? Apparently not. Gavin’s feet began to ache as he raced down the jetty where the boat containing an angry Lisa and petrified Jack was departing – and jumped onto the pleasure boat at the last second, landing with a loud thump on the floor.

“ Ow.”

Lisa stared down at the heavy-breathing lump at her feet. What an idiot … Lisa ignored the boy, and looked around the boat, until finally her gaze fell upon Jack the Sailor glaring at her, almost scared of her vicious temper. He didn’t glance twice at the teenage boy on the deck - not actually recognising Gavin as a fellow human. The boat suddenly took off, and slowly set sail. The captain wasn’t Jack, but somebody else that neither Lisa nor Gavin could see currently.

“ Um … excuse me Jack.” Lisa muttered, all her confidence dissolving into thin air as her anger left her. “ Um … back when I gave you Granbull and Mankey … you didn’t …” Lisa suddenly realised how pointless her cause was, but she had come this far; it wouldn’t be any good to just jump off back onto the jetty and confuse Jack even more; she had to finish what she had so stupidly started. “… say thank you to me.”

Jack laughed, a hearty, deep stomach laugh that many men seemed to have. “ Sorry, little girly. Thank you.”

Lisa felt like throwing herself overboard. “ Just Thankyou?” she groaned, as Gavin slowly began to raise himself back up into a sitting position. “ Just to inform you, one of my pokemon nearly died because I agreed to help you out, even though I had never met you.”

Jack blinked.

“ Another of my Pokemon abandoned me because I had set out into the sea to deliver two pokeballs.” Lisa fumed, glad to at last get it all out of her system. Jack blinked again. “ And you couldn’t even manage a thank you until I demanded it? Well, that’s gratitude!” Lisa cried.

“ Er … sorry.” Jack said, clenching his fists and not acting at all like he meant it.

“ That’s it!” Lisa cried, beyond any apology or explanation. “ I challenge you to a battle! And I’ll win!”

Jack looked mildly amused. “ Kid, if it’s what you really want …”

“ I choose Butterfree.” Lisa cried, throwing a pokeball down at the deck with great force. It zapped open, revealing Butterfree, as well as a slight dent in the deck.

“ Is one on one alright with you?” Jack asked.

“ Yeah, yeah, just send out a pokemon.”

“ Go Poliwrath.” snapped Jack, opening a heavy ball, and showing off a large, purple-blue Poliwrath.

“ Butterfree – start off with Gust attack.” Lisa called. “ Then go in for a Quick Attack, and Fly up.”

“ Free!” Butterfree called obediently.

“ Poliwrath – try an Ice Beam, followed up by a Water Gun. Then go in for Tidal Wave attack.”

“ Wrath.” Gurgled Poliwrath, just as eager to battle as Butterfree.

The battle began. Butterfree flew right up high, up further than Poliwrath could reach. Then it flapped it’s wings, pushing down the air currents and blowing Poliwrath around, until the frog-like Pokemon finally toppled over onto the deck with a thump. Butterfree took it’s chance and flew speedily at the upset Poliwrath, aiming for it’s swirl. Butterfree slammed hard into Poliwrath, taking advantage of it’s momentary confusion and slow speed to deliver maximum damage. Poliwrath pulled itself up; the battle had only just begun!

Poliwrath held it’s gloved fists together and formed a large, glowing orb between them. Then he stared up to Butterfree, who was tensing her body, ready to avoid the Ice Beam. Poliwrath shot out a beam of azure light, which blasted Butterfree to the ground. Butterfree wasn’t as agile as it thought. While Lisa called out instructions for Butterfree, Poliwrath blasted it repeatedly with Water Gun. Just when it looked like Butterfree was trapped, the butterfly like Pokemon flapped it’s large Wings and lifted off into the sky, as high as easily possible.

Lisa flinched. Now Jack had ordered a Tidal Wave attack from Poliwrath – she had never heard of it before. Lisa guessed she’d have to do her best. “ Butterfree – Sleep Powder, then Swift!” Lisa called, not having any strategy to her battle techniques. Butterfree flapped her wings lightly and released a light blue, shimmery powder. Just as the powder descended upon Poliwrath, Poliwrath’s eyes glowed blue. The sea surrounding the boat, rose and swished around, until a huge wave rose out of the sea and crashed down onto the old boat, taking Butterfree down with it. The boat rocked, and Lisa felt her stomach lurch.

The water washed away, revealing a soggy Butterfree and a sleeping Poliwrath. Lisa wondered why the water hadn’t washed the powder off, but then she guessed the powder had taken effect before the Tidal Wave hit. Now, although Butterfree was more injured, Lisa had a great advantage. Poliwrath was asleep – meaning it couldn’t counter or intercept any incoming attacks.

“ Butterfree – get up!” Lisa cried, hoping she could win the fight.

“ Free!” Butterfree struggled to raise itself up into the air much more than about four feet. It’s efforts failed, but Lisa didn’t mind – it was high enough. “ Now attack!” Lisa called, while Jack the Sailor desperately tried to awaken Poliwrath. Butterfree launched an array of shining stars from nowhere, and shot them at Poliwrath. They all slammed into Poliwrath’s back, which injured it very little.

“ Butterfree – try to use Razor Wind!” Lisa yelled, hoping to finish the fight.
“ Poliwrath – wake up and use Surf!” cried Jack.

Butterfree, originally puzzled over the new move, guessed how to perform it, and flapped it’s wings shortly and sharply. The wind was so quick and sharp that it injured Poliwrath twice as much as a regular Gust. Butterfree continued the attack, unmercifully, not even letting Poliwrath move. Finally, Butterfree needed a small rest, and Poliwrath chose that time to awaken. It’s eyes glowed azure once more, and another, slightly smaller, wave rose out from the ocean and onto the boat. Poliwrath, this time, seemed able to direct the wave, and sent it in Butterfree’s direction. Butterfree was drenched again, but it was still an able fighter, hardly even half damaged yet.

“ Butterfree, use your Giga Drain.” Lisa cried.
“Water Gun, followed up by a Dynamic punch to finish it off.”

Lisa was furious that Jack had ordered two attack in a row, but she felt Butterfree could handle the punch easily. Poliwrath spun around, emitting a spray of high pressure water directly at Butterfree, who easily evaded the attack, and swept down to the purple pokemon, trying to suck it’s energy but the attempt proved pointless; Poliwrath wouldn’t stay still for long enough. Poliwrath’s fist suddenly glowed white, powering up for the Dynamic Punch.

“ Butterfree – fly up high again!” yelled Lisa.

“ Free!” Butterfree flew up microseconds before Poliwrath’s devastating attack hit. Poliwrath’s gaze moved slowly up, following Butterfree’s movements with it’s eyes exactly. Then Butterfree swooped down, before the slow Poliwrath could respond, and flew directly into it, finally knocking it out and rendering it unconscious, ending the LONG one on one battle.

Jack, stunned, recalled his strong Poliwrath. “ Lisa … I’m speechless. You beat me with a … Butterfree.” He shuddered at being defeated by a girly pokemon. Lisa was glad. The battle had not only been good for Butterfree, but had calmed her down.

“ Thanks Jack.” Lisa said. “ Um … I’m sorry about going psycho.”

“ No, I’m sorry.” Jack said. “ I didn’t thank you, and I also underestimated you. Here Lisa, I have something for you.”

Jack fished around in his pocket, until finally he produced a pokeball. “ Lisa - take this.” He said.

“ But I just delivered that to you …?” began Lisa, confused.

“ It’s a different one. Just open it.” Jack said abruptly. “ It has a pokemon that’s a bit weak for a sailor like me – you might like it though.”

Lisa was about to remark that she was actually stronger than Jack at battling, but suddenly the boat gave a lurch, and the captain yelled out from somewhere on the boat. “ Jack, c’mere.”

“ Hang on!” Jack called.

“ No seriously!!” the Old Captain cried, frantic. “ We’re … in this HUGE Whirlpool.”

Lisa looked over the edge of the boat to see an enormous whirlpool, at least twice as large as the one she and Gavin had battled before, swirling next to the boat, rapidly pulling it in, never slowing down …

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 12 - Psychics.


Lisa watched, her stomach swirling along like the whirlpool. Lisa had underestimated it’s size earlier … now that the boat was further in, the treacherous spinning water looked somehow magnified. The whirlpool was easily as large as a house … and at least as deep as the Radio Tower, back in Goldenrod city, it seemed.

Lisa’s Dratini and Quagsire were swimming alongside the boat but in the opposite direction, combatting the water with their Whirlpool attacks. Gavin’s Staryu and Jack’s Poliwrath were in there too, but the four Pokemon didn’t have enough strength. Gavin had suggested releasing Lanturn, but Lisa quickly blocked him. Releasing Lanturn would be like swimming in a thunderstorm – they would all end up electrified.

Lisa looked up in desperation, clasping the rusty steel side rail while Gavin and the other two men raced around, accomplishing nothing at all. The whirlpool had such a great force pulling it that Lisa thought even if they had twenty or more pokemon whirlpooling it still would be no use. Aipom suddenly raced up to Lisa from the cabin and pulled a pokeball off her waist. Lisa looked at it, and then at Aipom. It wasn’t Butterfree’s pokeball. It wasn’t Aipom empty Pokeball either. It was the Pokemon that Jack had given Lisa just moments ago. Maybe it could fight the whirlpool?

Lisa wound up her arm; this was her only shot. The pokeball had to land right near Quagsire and the other water types. Any further and it would disappear into the murky depths – any closer and the pokeball would hit the port side of the boat –and probably shatter. Lisa had to aim exactly. She threw the ball finally, and it flew right on target for Quagsire until a freak gust of wind blew it over, deeper into the ocean. Lisa cried out – the ball finally landed across the Whirlpool – that was a VERY strong wind.

Quagsire spotted the ball, and stopped it’s ongoing blast of water for a moment. Lisa took notice, and looked at Quagsire. Their eyes locked for a moment, until Quagsire finally made a move. The large, wobbly water pokemon took a deep breath, and dived down through the whirlpool’s many levels. Lisa gasped, but couldn’t speak – either because of shock or because the salty air was drying out her throat.

Gavin walked over beside her, leaving Jack and the captain to fuss around pointlessly, and surveyed the catastrophe unfolding before him in the water. “ What a way to go …” he sighed jokingly, trying to quickly dodge a slap to the head from Lisa – but not fast enough. The slap hit him square on the forehead, and knocked him temporarily off balance. Taking a step behind himself to stay standing, Gavin trod on Lisa’s backpack, tripping him and finally toppling him over. Gavin landed hard, hitting his head against the steel rail, and slumped out of consciousness.

Lisa sighed, but then turned back to the tragedy at hand – Gavin’s injuries could wait.

Quagsire had succeeded, by now, in getting himself caught up in a lot of trouble. He had miraculously managed to splash over to the Pokeball but now had no strength remaining to swim back against the flow of the water. His only chance was to use his own Whirlpool attack – but even in a group with three others he had been unable to even effect the currents – how was he meant to succeed on his own?

The water pokemon was in trouble, and both he and his trainer knew it. Lisa, fretting for her Pokemon’s safety, whipped out his pokeball and pressed the button. The boat lurched moments before a crimson beam shot across the pool, with a diametre of incredible measures. The light was just a few metres off course; Quagsire was still floating helplessly in the water. Lisa tried and tried, but to no avail. The boat was too wobbly for Lisa to aim an accurate beam – it was hopeless. Lisa sighed, and called out to Quagsire.

“ Swim with the whirlpool’s flow!” she cried. “ Save your energy.” Quagsire didn’t see how doing what it’s master ordered would help it get to safety, but it obeyed. The water pokemon swam with the whirlpool’s currents, pulling itself down faster but conserving it’s energy. Lisa, content that Quagsire had a long way to go before the matter of reaching the bottom was a problem, looked up and saw that the boat was almost half way down the whirlpool. The inside of the pool was dull, and elongated shadows enveloped the miniscule pleasure craft and it’s occupants.

Lisa stepped back from the rail – it was beginning to creak and she felt it might break off if she leaned on it with her full body weight. Lisa felt her foot come across something bumpy as she stepped back, and she looked down to see Gavin – now awakened. The teenage boy suddenly screamed with pain, and Lisa took a step back towards the rail.

Quagsire, now able to see the bottom of the watery trap, had given up hope now. He grabbed the shiny, slippery pokeball between his hands, and tried to hold it firm, when suddenly an odd azure aura surrounded his entire being. The heavy Pokemon’s body was lifted into the thick, damp air, and suddenly flew at the boat’s deck with astonishing speed and force. All the pokemon in the water; Dratini, Staryu and Poliwrath, who still hadn’t given up on fighting the water’s currents, suddenly lifted up into the air, with the same azure light surrounding them. The three water pokemon slammed down upon the deck, next to Quagsire, and Gavin. Lisa suddenly realised that Gavin, too, had a strong blue tinge to his natural colourings. It didn’t take Lisa very long to guess what was going on – Gavin was Psychic. This was the second time in a week or so that Lisa had seen him use his powers – and they were amazing.

“ Gavin – do you have any ide..?” Lisa began, but she was cut off by yet another mysterious event. The entire boat, now almost at the bottom of the whirlpool, lifted up slowly, and rose up, higher and higher until the minute pleasure boat splashed up, out of the whirlpool and into pure daylight; Lisa, Jack and the Captain had to shield their eyes with curved hands for a moment until their eyes adjusted. Finally, they became used to the conditions, and removed their sweaty palms – and all three let out a cry of confused joy, thanks and relief.

*

Aipom sat on the rusty railing – his mischievous tail entwined around it, squeezing out all traces of moisture, wringing out all traces of the recent whirlpool. The captain was down in the cabin; Lisa hadn’t heard from him since they had set course for Red-Rock Island, the island in the Whirlpool Archipelago where the league would be held. Jack had found a comfortable position on the upper deck, and had parked there, sipping from a can of icy lemonade. Gavin was resting down below, the psychic blast had left him extremely weak. Lisa lay on the lower deck, stroking the new pokeball she had been given and daring herself to open it, unsure whether to open it immediately or leave it for a while. She was unsure.

However, soon Lisa didn’t have any choice. Before she could make a final decision, Jack called out from above “ Red Rock Island, dead ahead!” Lisa had only ever heard the words used before on TV shows, so it was exciting for her to actually be there. Climbing up onto the upper deck, Lisa felt the cool sea breeze blowing through her hair. Jack laughed and pointed to a tiny, red spot on the horizon. It was gradually becoming dark; night was falling.

“ Thank you for letting us come with you on this cruise.” Lisa thanked the man, as the captain sailed the tiny boat closer towards the island. They were approaching at a steady speed, and even in the few minutes Lisa had been standing up there the island looked closer already – only about fifteen minutes away.

“ You’re welcome.” Jack said. “ Although I didn’t really have much choice, the way you charged up here.”

Lisa laughed, embarrassed at remembering her actions earlier that day. “ I got a little carried away.”

They sat in silence for some minutes, then Jack started a new conversation. “ Did you open the pokeball I gave you?”

“ No, not yet.” Lisa told him, actually almost regretfully. She now really wanted to see what the pokemon was, and suddenly couldn’t understand her previous idling. The teenage girl wrenched the ball off her belt and held it up. “ Maybe I will now.”

“ Go ahead.” Jack urged. “ I wanna see what ya think of it. It’s not much, mind, but still … just open it.”

Lisa held the ball out, and pushed the button upon it’s centre, enlarging it. The pokeball shone in the daylight as Lisa prolonged the moment she would discover her new Pokemon, she almost felt she didn’t want to know but inside she really did. The ebony-haired girl took a breath, and opened the ball out on it’s hinge, holding it firmly in her hands as it opened. The pokeball zapped open, literally. Sparks flew everywhere, crackling around as a small golden pokemon formed. The low, stubby pokemon had tiny electric conductors upon it’s head, where sparks still crackled every few moments. Thick, black stripes covered the Pokemon’s body on an angle.

“ Ooh! An Elekid!” Lisa squealed, in a voice that was extremely unlike her usual one. Jack stared at her with a puzzled expression, and Lisa mumbled. “ Heh heh … um, it’s cool. I like Elekid.”

“ Great!” Jack nodded, with a look of content.

“ Thanks very much,” said Lisa to Jack, then she turned to her new Pokemon. “ Come inside your ball, little Elekid. Ooh you’re so cute.”

Lisa shot out a jet of crimson light from the ball and Elekid disappeared in a flash. Jack climbed down to the lower deck, and Lisa clattered down after him. Aipom jumped down, and landed with a small, mischievous “Ai!”. Jack called out to the Captain. “ Frank, how long ‘til we dock?”

“ About twenty minutes.” The Captain croaked his reply. Lisa brightened up. Twenty minutes until she got to Red Rock Island. Twenty minutes until she finally got to sign up for the Whirlpool Cup. At last, she could begin the tournament.

“ Yeah, me an’ Frank might jus’ stay at the Pokemon Centre t’night.” Jack told Lisa. “ Is that where you’re stayin’?”

“ Um, probably.” Lisa said, remembering that she’d have to wait until tomorrow to sign up, the sky had already turned from umber to deep royal blue, with no sign of the crescent moon. “ Me and Gavin, that is.”

“ Oh yeah, him …” Jack said. “ Hey, what’s with his psychic thing again?”

Lisa sighed heavily. “ Jack, I told you before - forget it. He doesn’t believe he’s psychic.”

“ But the … the thing with the floatin’ …”

“ Forget it.” Lisa tried to add a tone of finality in her voice this time, just to make Jack shut up. Jack finally got the message, and shrugged. Lisa strode back to the other side of the boat, where Gavin sat now awake, rubbing his head rapidly. The legendary-loving girl pulled at her hair rapidly as she began to speak to him. “ Gavin, listen to me …”

The black-haired boy looked up at her. “ It’s real … Lisa you’re right … my telekinesis …”

Lisa was a little more than surprised to hear Gavin admit his abilities, but she tried to stay calm. “ Why didn’t you believe me before? Surely you knew it, Gavin, I mean, we could both remember the Radio Tower incident clearly.”

“ I know …” Gavin stuttered slowly. “ I just … well, look Lisa, I’ll tell you the truth, but in the end you’ll just think I’m a cuckoo with a cuckoo family.”

“ I promise I won’t,” assured Lisa. “ Go on.”

“ Lisa, my whole family is Psychic. Every single member of my family has developed their powers a little – most of them just deal with clairvoyancy and stuff. Only a couple of them – my cousin Sabrina, for instance, and my Uncle Will, have ever really concentrated their abilities. The Luper family goes through generations of Psychics. And they all have great lives – but short ones.”

“ What?!” Lisa demanded.

“ It’s an ancient curse that was placed on my great-great-great-great-infinitygreat-grandfather by a really strong Giant Gengar. It basically said that all psychics who stem from his family would be strong psychics – but sooner or later be tested by a GREAT PSYCHIC LEGEND when they neared their peak. As in, they would have to battle with a Psychic legendary pokemon.

"My mum told me about the curse when I was twelve," he muttered, bitterly.

Lisa didn’t reply, unsure whether or not to believe Gavin, as he was prone to making stupid jokes, but his face was serious, and as she had promised not to think of him disrespectfully, she nodded along. “ I see …”

“ Lisa, my Dad died when I was three years old,” Gavin replied. “ You might have noticed I’ve never even mentioned my family – my Mum died just over a year ago, but I had already … seen it coming.”

Her heart beating rapidly, rising in her chest, Lisa beckoned Gavin to continue his bizarre story.

“ She went out one night to behind the Tin Tower, to collect some herbs – she was the secondary supplier of potions to the Ecruteak Pokemart at the time. That’s the last I ever saw of her.”

Gavin’s face was miserable, but his voice remained steady. “ So I moved to Goldenrod to start fresh – nobody came after me. My Uncle Eusine is only twenty five, he’s still alive and kicking, but I know his time is close. And then – my powers were released, and the thought occurred to me that – well – my time might be up. And now …”

Lisa didn’t want to hear any more. She raised a shaking finger to her lips, and Gavin nodded silently, and went off into a pensive staring session. Lisa walked dazedly to where Aipom swung from the rails and stood there for some minutes as the boat entered the Red Rock Harbour, recovering from the bizarre conversation with Gavin, but strangely believed him.

A few seconds later, all travellers felt a light bump, and Lisa looked over the side of the craft. They were at a small port; docked next to a tiny wooden jetty. Lisa cheered weakly; finally! Then she looked up to the sky, and caught sight of the moon, surrounded by a golden white aura. I’m going to win the Whirlpool Cup. I have to.

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 13 - The Colosseum.


Lisa’s eyes slowly fluttered open. First, she wondered where she was, pale green walls surrounded her four ways – wallpaper was peeling off them irregularly. The girl sat up, slowly taking in more of the room. She had fallen asleep on the wooden-panelled floor, which explained the stabbing pain in the crook of her back. In the corner of the almost empty chamber lay messed up sheets and rugs – someone had awoken before her. Lisa patted around the area beside her and found no moving, playful bump – where was Aipom?

Standing up, Lisa strolled over to the door and pushed it open as it creaked. Feeling almost afraid of the dark, unknown place, she found herself in a dingy hallway, but from somewhere she could make out distinct voices; familiar ones at that. Lisa walked past various other splintering doors until finally she came to a large, airy room. At a table there sat Gavin, Jack, Aipom, Frank the captain and a middle-aged man Lisa had never seen before. Lisa vaguely recalled the house from the night before – she had wearily traipsed in with Jack and the others after finding that the Pokemon Centre was temporarily closed.

“ Ah, G’mornin’ Leese.” Jack called, as Lisa pulled up a deck chair and sat down next to the captain, relaxing herself at once. “ Care for some toast?” Jack pushed a grubby china plate onto the table before Lisa, and the girl wrinkled her nose up at the stench wafting up from the blackened, burnt toast that sat there. “ No thanks – not hungry.” Lisa managed to say between clenched teeth, trying not to even breath in the air that emitted from the toast. Gavin, across the table from her, grinned stupidly and showed her a half-eaten slice of toast – he had eaten it himself.

“ Aw, sorry Leese.” Jack muttered, leaning back in his chair. “ Yeh prob’ly dunno where we are. We’re at me good mate Jake’s place.” The middle-aged man Lisa had seen before stood up slowly, and shook hands with the girl, who cringed as she felt the man’s sweat cover her hands. Gavin snorted, and tried to cover it with a ridiculous coughing fit. Idiot, Lisa thought.

Lisa patted Aipom’s tail, as he scarfed down the last of the toast Jack had offered around. At least he was enjoying his breakfast, unlike Lisa herself, whose stomach felt like an awful, empty abyss. She hadn’t eaten anything since the night before, and before that she had spent almost two days sleeping. Lisa checked her pokegear and found that it was Tuesday the 6th … only another month or so until she returned home again, to Tom. But first came the Whirlpool Cup, the medley of water pokemon battles …

“ Oh no.” Lisa muttered, unable to think of anything else to say. She checked her watch – 10am already! The Whirlpool Cup! She had to sign up before it began – otherwise she’d miss out! The girl stood up abruptly, thanked Jake for his hospitality, thanked Frank for his boating, thanked Jack for Elekid, pulled Aipom onto her shoulder, wrenched Gavin out of his chair and sped out the front door, dragging behind Gavin.

“ Kids,” muttered Jack.


*

“ Lisa, what’s the prob?” Gavin called, as Lisa barrelled down a narrow street, dragging Gavin behind unmercifully. Her shining brown eyes glinted, as she let go of Gavin, who managed to find his feet quickly and race up alongside her. Aipom was clinging on for dear life, as the two teens raced towards the huge colosseum, which Lisa was confident was the location of the tournaments.

“ The Whirlpool Cup!” Lisa shot back, keeping up perfectly with Gavin, who didn’t seem to even be breaking a sweat yet. Suddenly Gavin sped up. He, too, was hoping to compete. Missing the Tournament would be awful – his Staryu and Lanturn would do great, if only the Green Lanturn would obey him. Running like a single character, the two quickly exchanged all the information they had.

“ When does it begin?” Gavin panted, racing along with his utmost ability, straining to keep going with each step. He had to make it.

“ Today.” Lisa called, as they rounded a corner, coming one step closer to the colosseum. However, the building itself was still a LONG way away, all the way over the other side of the island. “ Dunno when exactly, but definitely today sometime. Irene didn’t tell me much. Oh, and I only have one badge … dammit!”

Gavin slowed – if she didn’t know exactly, and if badges were needed, then what was the point? But slowing down didn’t benefit the boy – Lisa raced on, oblivious to the local shoppers, carrying paper bags of groceries. Gavin felt awful about knocking over one frail lady’s flower stand, but there was no time for sympathy. He HAD to make it …

Lisa rounded yet another corner, as Aipom cautiously crept down, and zapped into it’s pokeball. Lisa laughed, but sweat began trickling in the corners of her mouth, so she quickly shut her mouth up tightly, and continued running, drowned in sweat. Gavin, meanwhile, was having trouble dodging everyone. Eventually, smothered in his own sweat, the boy tripped on a small pebble on the road, causing him to flip over and slam his head hard against the cement.

Lisa stopped, and ran back. “ Gavin! You OK?”

Gavin slowly pulled himself up, and crawled to the roadside. “ Um..yeah I think s … NO!” Gavin clasped his head and winced with utter pain – it truly hurt, almost like that splitting headache he had experienced back in the radio tower … aha! Gavin suddenly realised his true inner power – psychic power, the power of his soul, and how he could harness it. The first time he had really used psychic power, pain had struck him, with the headache back in the radio tower. Being to close to the brain, the blast had been phenomenal. Second time; Lisa had stood on his head … and Gavin had saved the boat and the pokemon from a whirlpool. Third time … well, he would just have to try this time. Gavin knew he was going to use up a lot of Psychic Fuel at any moment, so he might as well try something he had attempted futilely a few days back, and focused all his thoughts on one thing; arriving at the colosseum. He and Lisa standing outside … teleporting …

“ GAVIN, listen!” Lisa cried, distraught. “ Are you alright?!”

Gavin opened his eyes, his head still throbbing unbearably, but he had to focus. He could no longer see out of his eyes – was the pain blinding him, or was it the mental energy that was blocking off his vision? Either way, the boy screamed once, and suddenly blackness washed over him.


*

Lisa and Gavin opened their eyes. Lisa was laying on the cool, plain cement outside the front entrance to the Water Colosseum. A wide veranda propped up on ivory marble columns spread shade over the weary duo. Lisa shook Gavin, until the boy opened his eyes, and stood up beside her. Together, they faced the enormous doorway. Lisa spoke slowly, as though it hurt to say each word. “ Gavin – you know you just teleported us here, right?”

“ Course I did,” Gavin winked at her, raised a shaking finger to his lips and ended the possibly lengthy discussion with a single move. “ C’mon, let’s go register.”

Lisa nodded blankly, and the duo entered the high-ceilinged structure. It was all very ancient roman looking, but somehow had a new, modern feel to it. At a small desk sat a bespectacled woman, who had red hair sticking out at completely odd angles. “ Good morning.” She greeted, very clear and properly spoken. “ Are you, perchance, here to register in the Whirlpool Cup?”

“ Yeah, we are,” Lisa nodded, brushing her hair away from her eyes. “ Are we here in time?”

“ Oh, very much so.” The woman laughed, her forehead creasing up in a look of interest at Gavin, who had been wearing the same clothes since that Saturday night on Cianwood Beach, and looked absolutely awful to say the least (Lisa had been wearing her clothes since then too, but the absence of mud and dirt made her look a little more presentable). The woman glared at him suddenly. “ Is this … er … thing … also participating?”

Lisa smirked, but forced herself not to laugh just yet. “ Um, you had better ask it yourself.” She replied, inwardly laughing her head off. Gavin mouthed ‘very funny’ in a sarcastic manner, before quickly saying “ Yeah, I’m entering.”

The woman typed for a few moments on her keyboard, and quickly dealt with the two friends. “ Alright, the qualifying rounds begin in one hour precisely. I suggest you prepare your Pokemon, and have a shower.” She screwed her nose up at Gavin, but went on suddenly. “ Do either of you have badges?”

Gavin shook his head, but Lisa spoke up. “ Yeah, I have one –” The girl fished around in her jeans pockets before promptly producing a small ruby-coloured badge, which had spikes sticking out of it at odd angles, possibly to look like a Corsola, or a reef, or maybe even both. “ - but I need to ask something. What are the badges for exactly, if their not actually required to enter?”

Lisa handed the badge to the receptionist, who quickly scanned it with a machine similar to those used in department stores, and handed it back to Lisa. “ One badge pulls you through to the second round of the tournament.” The woman said quickly, angrily changing her schedules on the computer. Lisa’s heart leapt. One less battle was good – in a way. Quagsire wouldn’t get as much experience, but it would give Lisa more free time to train. “ Now then, off you go.” The crabby woman waved them on. “ There are some public showers to your left as you pass the gate, by the way.” She added, with a stern glance at Gavin, who laughed abruptly.


*

It was eleven o’clock. Gavin’s first battle began in only five minutes. Lisa had forced the boy to have a thorough shower, leaving him clean and looking smart for his battle. Lisa attempted to brush his messy hair, and succeeded until the boy quickly ruffled it up again to it’s usual, lopsided state. Gavin wore new clothes that Lisa had never seen before; jeans as usual, and a green shirt that Gavin hated, but was his only clean shirt. Lisa fussed about the boy, and he soon became annoyed.

“ OK, now you go out there and knock ‘em down!” Lisa called, feeling almost like a mother sending out her child to be a Pokemon trainer – only a child who was two inches taller than her.

“ Yes, Mummy.” Gavin groaned, putting Lisa’s thoughts into real life. She laughed suddenly, and leaned over, patting the boy on the head like a real mother. Gavin walked out into the battlefield in a daze, now nervous about battling before hundreds of spectators. He entered and accidentally walked in the opposite direction to the competitor’s platform. Lisa laughed at him, and then sighed. Boys … what idiots. Women were so definitely the smarter sex, she thought.


*

Lisa sat in the grandstand, looking down upon the battle about to unfold. Gavin stood there, in the left trainer box, opposing a girl called Alicia. She had green hair, which contrasted awfully with Gavin’s clothing. Lisa looked from trainer to trainer, trying to ignore the oversize woman next to her, who kept yelling out “ Go, Alicia! Hey look, George, there’s Alicia – can you see her there …” … and so it went on like that. The woman continually elbowed Lisa’s rib cage, which not only hurt but annoyed Lisa.

A large pool separated Alicia and Gavin, full of sparkling clear water which contained a vague azure hue. The battle was ready to begin – Lisa looked up to the referee, and then back at Gavin, realising she had never seen him battle or even use his pokemon before, except for when they first met in the Radio Tower. The bell rang, and the fight began.
Gavin sent out Staryu, his only real choice, since the Green Lanturn was still refusing to obey. Alicia released a Mantine into the water; the heavy, stingray-like pokemon delving into the deepest water the pool had to offer. Staryu ‘looked’ around nervously – it’s first ever battle, apart from on a couple of wild Sentret Gavin had trained it upon back on the Johto Mainland. The star pokemon floated perfectly still, until it’s master called out the command “ Light Screen, then Rapid Spin.”

Staryu quickly projected a glass-like screen to shield itself from Mantine’s attack, which Alicia had ordered be a Bubblebeam. Mantine surfaced moments after Staryu created the screen, and shot out a lengthy jet of cerulean bubbles, which hit the light screen and caused no damage to Staryu. The brown pokemon then began to spin rapidly sideways on it’s axis, creating a small whirlpool, which caught Mantine off-guard and hit him square in the head, as well as shattering the screen into many glass pieces.

“ Mantine – use your Wing Attack!” Alicia called, her curly blonde hair jumping on her shoulders.

“ Staryu – try a Psybeam.” Gavin called in his deep voice.

Lisa gasped. A Psybeam? Surely Gavin hadn’t trained it up that well? Then Lisa found the meaning behind Gavin’s words – he said TRY a Psybeam. Evidently, he hadn’t taught Staryu yet, but was hoping he could work it out. Staryu didn’t know exactly what a Psybeam was, but it improvised, concentrating all it’s mental energy in one point – it’s circular gem. The normally ruby-coloured gem slowly filled with mauve energy, and suddenly blasted out from within. Mantine, meanwhile, was swimming slowly towards Staryu, waiting for the perfect moment to speed up and attack. However, for Mantine, that moment didn’t come. The blast hit him directly in the head, as he came up for a brief peek on Staryu’s progress. Mantine barely survived the blast, and just as Alicia ordered another bubblebeam, he began furiously slapping himself with his wings – confusion!

Alicia fell down to her knees suddenly – confusion was NOT good in a battle, especially an important one. She decided to keep fighting, hoping to still pull off a victory.

“ Mantine, Water Gun!”

Gavin had expected Alicia to react by withdrawing her Mantine, but he quickly improvised. “ Staryu – Double-Edge and Tackle!”

As Mantine ceased berating itself with it’s own wings, it listened to Alicia and prepared to obey. Staryu, the swifter of the two, got in first, and slammed sideways into the stingray pokemon. It breathed in for a Water Gun, but Staryu was relentless, and slammed it’s body into Mantine with Tackle, the ultimate finishing move.

Alicia looked sad, however, as a good Pokemon trainer, she stood up, and took the bad news bravely, pulling out a pokeball and recalling her pokemon.

The crowd went wild, Lisa among them. Ignorant of the woman beside her’s “ Look, George, see her there? That’s our Alicia, she tried very hard!”, she cheered loudly, watching as Gavin patted his Staryu’s top point with a look of satisfaction. The boy then looked up, scanned the rows of cheering people, and found Lisa’s familiar face. He mouthed two words, “ Too Easy.” and Lisa chuckled to herself.

Lisa felt great for Gavin – he had been taken through to the next round now, and soon Lisa would join him in battling for the Whirlpool Cup Trophy, as well as a couple of other prizes she had heard about. Lisa smiled – her battle was tomorrow – she would have to be prepared. Time for some Quagsire training …

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 14 - The Water Washout.


“ Quagsire, try to use Aurora Beam!” Lisa cried to her Pokemon, as it jumped around at all kinds of angles, dodging the small flames coming from the opposing wild Vulpix, which had strayed from it’s inland home to the beach for a bath. Quagsire stopped dodging small ember shots, and landed on a flat, vermilion rock situated in the shallow water. He opened his mouth, and let loose a huge jet of rainbow light, which washed over Vulpix in a flash. The fire dog pokemon struggled under the intense radiance of the attack, and finally, unable to withstand the light any longer, closed it eyes and floated limply in the water.

“ Alright, Quagsire!” Lisa rejoiced, splashing into the knee-deep water to congratulate her water pokemon. Quagsire jumped into the water just as Lisa arrived, soaking the girl from head to foot. Lisa laughed, but inside she was actually quite annoyed – it was a fairly cold evening, she didn’t want to get sick or anything. Putting her feelings aside for a moment, Lisa hugged Quagsire. “ Your Aurora Beam is really strengthening.”

“ Quag.” Quagsire agreed, and Lisa thought back to only five hours ago, when she and Quagsire first began training on the beach for the whirlpool cup. Quagsire’s Aurora Beam hadn’t even knocked out a Pidgey, but now it could faint a higher levelled Vulpix with only two strikes.

Lisa stared at the floating Vulpix, and decided that she really couldn’t leave it floating there – it could be severely injured. It would be irresponsible to do anything else, she thought, preparing the pokeball to catch the creature with. The pokeball lightly landed and snuffled Vulpix to safety. Lisa rejoiced at catching her fifth pokemon, before realising how chilly it now was. “ C’mon, Quagsire.” Lisa muttered abruptly, shivering in the cool breeze. Her wet clothing emphasised the crisp air, freezing Lisa down to her bones. The girl waded back to shore, and took out Quagsire’s pokeball, recalling him quickly. Trudging slowly up the dunes, Lisa scanned the row of Norfolk island pines lining the carpark. No sign of Gavin yet … where was he? It was cold, and frankly she couldn’t stand another minute out in the cold. Her sigh carried on the bleak, now quite fast-paced, wind. Further down the beach, a large blast of yellow caught Lisa’s attention. Turning, she squinted and managed to make out a trainer on the beach, as well as a pokemon swimming in the water. Lisa quickly guessed; Gavin, Staryu and Lanturn. “ Oy, Gavin!” Lisa called, raising her voice as loud as she could. “ C’mon, you idiot it’s FREEZING!”

Gavin slowly approached, recalling his pokemon and sprinting up the beach. Lisa watched as he turned from a tiny speck on the beach to a tall teenage boy, looking down on her as he arrived underneath the pine tree. Lisa placed her hands on his shoulders, before delivering a swift, stinging slap to his jaw.

“ C’mon, you idiot!” she called, yanking his arm and pulling him along as a loud clap of thunder roared and lightning split the sky. Then the heavens opened, and rain poured down, drenching both friends. Lisa pulled Gavin along as they both raced for shelter under the wooden beach house.

Lisa wrenched the creaking door open, and leapt into the beach house, solely built for trainers without accommodation. Gavin jumped in behind her, and slammed the door, leaving the two in silence for a moment. Then thunder roared again, and Lisa jumped.

“ What was that?” Gavin asked in a daze, shaking his head. “ All I remember is a lot of water – oh yeah, and someone SLAPPING ME FOR NO REASON!” Lisa could hear him over the thunder, and sighed heavily. She was still freezing cold. “ Well, I was cold out there.”

Gavin shrugged it off, shivering uncontrollably himself. Lanturn had been particularly disobedient today – it hadn’t even partially listened. It even refused at first to return to it’s pokeball. Gavin sat, dripping wet, on the wooden floorboards of the hut, listening to the soft melody of the evening rain, as it mellowed from a raging torrent to a gentle sprinkle. Lisa, tired out from a long day of cheering and training, yawned loudly, her mouth becoming abnormally large, and curled up into a ball. As soon as he was sure she was asleep, Gavin yanked Green Lanturn’s pokeball off his belt and stared determinedly out of the window.


*

During midnight’s pitch-dark rule, across the Cianwood Sea, a young girl awoke with a start. Her hut rattled with the violent outside winds, though above the racket she could still hear the persistent snores of her sisters. All three sisters lived together in a small beach hut south of Goldenrod, on a cape to the south west of Shellder Beach. There were many of these huts, all very similar, situated across the Whirl Islands and their surrounds, for any trainers who were passing by during the night.

Irene was struggling to return to her sleep among the stormy winds, battering at the wooden walls and and shaking the frames of the specked windows, when the sound of the wind suddenly increased in volume, and there was a large slam somewhere beyond the three sisters’ shared room. Irene sat up in shock from her uncomfortable position in her sleeping bag on the floor, as a chilly breeze swept through the bedroom, bringing rain in with it. She stood up and stifled a scream, guessing the door had been blown open. The twelve-year-old sighed and rolled her eyes – she knew staying overnight in the ‘shack’ after a long day’s battling was stupid, but Kate, her sister, had insisted, along with Laura.

She crept to the doorframe of the bedroom, deciding not to wake her sisters as they were all incredibly crabby after awakening. Her slippers padded softly on the wooden panelling as she entered the other room of the hut, which contained only an ancient stove and oven, and a door which led to the bathroom. But once in the main room, she saw the problem. The door was blown right off it’s hinges, and it had landed on the ground. Rain was belting inside, making the floor slippery. Irene hesitated at the sight of the forbidding blackness beyond the doorway and into the seaside night.

To her shock, there was a sudden shuffling sound from the bathroom. Before she knew what had happened, a person clothed solely in black had darted from the toilet door across to her, and had grabbed her arm, twisting it behind her back. She gasped in pain and tried to yell out to her sisters – and if possible, their pokemon, to help her, but the cold blade of steel touched her neck, and she was silenced. Irene’s heart was racing as she waited silently and patiently while her attacker spoke.

“ You have heard of Lisa Walters?” he asked the holidaying gym leader in a raspy voice. Irene could feel his foul breath on her ear and he hissed venomously into them.

It was a moment before her mind registered. Then it ticked into action. “ Lisa … I battled a girl called Lisa a week or so ago.”

“ Tell me … where is she?” The man was getting straight down to the bare questions.

“ She was … going to the Whirlpool Cup.” Irene breathed hastily, eager to keep her own life at all costs.

Without a sound, without recognition that he had even heard her, the man shoved her roughly down onto the slippery floor, and sprinted out, half-sliding, through the door and into the dark, rainy night. Irene slowly pulled herself back up, heart racing and mind throbbing with numbness, and sprinted into her bedroom, screaming to awaken her sisters with accelerated panic.


*

Trainers chatted endlessly among Lisa and Gavin as they entered the modern, airy room at the Whirlpool Colosseum the next morning. The two trainers walked around pointlessly, not really having any aim, listening into other’s conversation every so often. Aipom was overjoyed to be out of his pokeball again – although he didn’t mind being held inside the ball he truly enjoyed being out in the open. There were 16 trainers overall remaining, of all different sizes, ages and sexes, to compete in the competition. Lisa was gradually becoming nervous – she was yet to battle in a big competition, and the very idea of having a crowd staring down and judging her pokemon was almost too much to bear.

However, after slowly watching the others dwindle away for their battles, watching them live on the Plasma screen TV in the trainer’s lounge, and then seeing four come back victorious (not to mention four very depressed losers), Lisa realised it was her turn. Gavin wished her good luck as she entered the stadium, which looked twice as large as it did up it the grandstands or on TV. Lisa approached the trainer’s box, merely a slightly raised, painted rectangle opposing another trainer in her trainer box across the pool, glimmering in the sunlight.

Platforms lay idle in the pool, straddled out in an irregular pattern, providing the battling pokemon with a few places to stand upon. Lisa tensed unwillingly, nervous to her very core. Somewhere in the colosseum, a bell rang out, and Lisa pulled off a pokeball for the one – on – one pokemon battle. Her opponent looked somewhat familiar, and when a Psyduck appeared, Lisa suddenly found her brain click back into motion, and recalled something from her very first day of her Quest.

----------
“ Psyduck – Water Gun.” Anna, the trainer of Psyduck, cried. “ Don’t relent.”
“ Aipom, block it with Swift.” Lisa called.

Psyduck prepared for a Water Gun, but as the Pokemon’s speed was pretty pathetic, Aipom’s attack got in first, and knocked Psyduck of it’s feet. The Psychic Pokemon slowly recovered, and spurted a blast of Water at Aipom, who swiftly dodged.

“ Now finish this with Tackle.” Lisa ordered.
“ Aipom!” Aipom cried, throwing it’s body straight at Psyduck and fainting it, winning Lisa’s second battle.

“ Lisa, you’re really strong for a new trainer,” Anna said as she recalled Psyduck.
“ Thanks, Anna.” Lisa replied. “ Aipom and I used to train with wild Pokemon near Ecruteak.”
“ Ecruteak? You’ve come a loooong way.” Anna said, brushing burgundy hair from her eyes. “ How many badges do you have?”
“ None.” Lisa said. “ I’m not really on that sort of quest.. I’m actually more of a…. um…. Legendary pokemon Researcher.”

At this, Anna laughed and her face became smug. “ Legendary Pokemon aren’t REAL.” She said in a rather snobbish voice.
----------

“ Anna!?” Lisa cried, suddenly recognising the burgundy-haired teen. Anna looked up from her trainers box, and laughed. “ Well well, Ms. Legendary.”

Lisa was slightly amused by her pathetic attempt at a joke, but then reminded herself that Anna was a rival: she didn’t believe in legendary Pokemon. “ Very funny, but this time I’m gonna flog you.”

“ Whatever kid.” Anna snapped, tossing her lengthy hair behind her shoulders. “ Let’s find out who’s better this time.”

Lisa tossed the pokeball into the arena and it zapped open. Lisa had chosen her elegant Dratini for the match against Anna – Quagsire, although strong, was slow, and would probably fall victim quickly to Psyduck’s Confusion attack, whereas the nimble Dratini could possibly set up a Whirlpool fast enough, or even a Twister, blocking off the psychic energy. Dratini zapped out into the water, ignoring the platforms, as it didn’t need them, and swam in and out of the water, trying to unnerve the stupid Psyduck.

The bell rang again, signifying the start of the attacks.

“ Dratini – start off with Thunderwave, and then Water Gun.” Lisa chose two ranged attacks – psychic pokemon were fairly dangerous, and since Dratini had never really fought before, apart from a few wild pokemon - it was best to keep him at a safe distance.

“ Psyduck – Defense Curl attack, then go in for an Ice Beam.” Anna snapped so fiercely she reminded Lisa of the vicious Irene.

The fight was on. Lisa glimpsed up at the cheering mass of people in the grandstand, and after a few moments discovered Jack the sailor, cheering for her. Lisa grinned, full of renewed spirit, and turned her attention back to the showdown. Dratini had swam around in a circle swiftly, building up kinetic energy, which he then transformed into electric energy. Leaping up into the air and splattering Psyduck with water, Dratini’s entire body glowed cobalt before firing off a critical thunderwave. Psyduck watched the blast zoom towards him, and began to curl into a ball when the electrical blast hit him full on, shocking his system. “ Too slow!” Lisa laughed, as Psyduck slowly recovered and curled into a sphere – a bit too late.

Next round. Dratini opened it’s mouth, breathing in sharply and then firing out a few quick jets of water directly at Psyduck – hitting the stupid duck just as it emerged from the Defense Curl. Enraged, the Psyduck seemed to gain some intelligence, and formed an orb of azure light within it’s mouth. Dratini readied itself, not idling in any sense. Preparing to dodge the threatening blast, Dratini flitted around in the pool, sparkling in the warm sunlight. Psyduck opened it’s mouth as wide as possible, and fired the beam, which could potentially knock out Dratini.

However, the dragon pokemon had been well-chosen. It nimbly dodged the blast, which rocketed into the pool and froze a small radius. Dratini had easily evaded the attack. Anna gasped, as though in pain. “ Psyduck – get in there and use Tidal Wave!”

Lisa knew the outcomes of this attack, thanks to her battle with Jack earlier on that week. Dratini would easily be able to avoid it – if it knew how to move strategically. “ Dratini – swim over to Psyduck!”

Anna looked remotely disturbed, but Lisa guessed she had just foiled her most powerful technique. Dratini swam over to Psyduck, on the floating platform, in a few seconds, and circled the platform, waiting for Tidal Wave to come into effect. Psyduck’s eyes glowed bright cerulean, and Lisa watched, as the wave she had predicted rose out among the pool, rising above both pokemon. Soon, Psyduck’s mental energy kicked in, and the wave took a vicious turn towards Psyduck, Dratini and Anna. Lisa waited, her entire body tensed, until moments before the strike, suddenly calling out; “ Dive!!”

Dratini swiftly took to the water, swimming directly underneath the incoming wave, which slammed down on Psyduck at once, causing the duck to fall back off the platform. Lisa scanned the vast pool urgently for a few moments, before Dratini’s blue head popped out of the clear waters. Lisa gasped with relief, then winked at Dratini.

Meanwhile, the water had flowed back into the pool, revealing a bare platform. Psyduck was drifting around a few metres away, critically injured, but somehow still in fine condition for completing the battle. The duck flapped over to the platform, pulled itself back up, and turned to face the gleeful Dratini, with a glint of determinedness in it’s eyes.

“ Ice Beam!” Anna cried.
“ Ice Beam!” Lisa shot back.

Dratini and Psyduck both quickly prepared a radiant sphere of cobalt light – Psyduck within it’s hands and Dratini in his mouth, opened wide, ready to shoot the blast out at a moment’s notice. Soon, the orbs had built up so much energy they were threatening to merge – Dratini’s, although far brighter, was visibly smaller, and and soon Psyduck appeared to have the advantage. “ Now!” Lisa cried. Dratini wailed, and shot out the beam towards Psyduck, readying it’s own beam. This’ll be over now,[I] Lisa thought.

However, in a quick display of Psychic Power, Psyduck suddenly showed Lisa a lesson in battling – Dratini’s beam of ice energy had literally slammed into Psyduck’s ball of azure, merging the two together, and threatening to spin out of control. However, Psyduck’s eyes quickly glowed, and the orb returned before Psyduck, shocking Lisa to her core. An attack was now wasted, and she had actually provided the enemy with ammo!

“ Now Psyduck!” Anna cried, and the yellow duck let go of the energy, seemingly glad to unburden it’s mind of the pulsating globe. The titanic ball rolled along the pool’s surface, heading for Dratini. In a swift movement, Dratini ducked underwater again, and rapidly appeared on the opposing side. However, it’s psychic opponent was still well in the game. In another impressive show of psychic, Psyduck took control of the still pulsating sphere, turned it around, and managed to lift the entire orb up with it’s psychic energy, until it floated 50 metres above the stadium. At a single command, Psyduck could drop the ball, and freeze Dratini in the pool – even the nimble Dratini would never find a way to escape the boulder of intense light.

“ Drop it.” The words hissed from Anna’s cherry lips.

Lisa watched in horror, her mouth frozen in position, her entire being taken over by a feeling commonly experienced in dreams – complete helplessness. Dratini itself seemed struck by awe, and in fact even Anna seemed shocked, as the massive globe plummeted into the pool, slamming Dratini down at once. The entire crowd went silent…not even the commentator dared to even attempt describing the philosophical magnitude of the attack.

Lisa finally felt her brain churn back into action, and she rapidly regained consciousness of her body. However, any commands to Dratini would be, at that moment, utterly wasted, as the poor creature was buried somewhere within the depths of the pool. Lisa deeply wanted to dive in and save her Dratini, but from somewhere she found a restraint. [i]Dratini can save itself.

However, the voice was suddenly proved wrong as the glowing of the submerged orb ceased, and proceeded to freeze over the water, icing up Dratini’s only way out. Small, rippling waves gradually evolved into large ones, as suddenly Psyduck’s platform rocked so much, the yellow duck, incredibly weakened by the sheer power of it’s final attack, toppled into the wavy pool, knocking the pokemon out for the match. Then things turned from bad to worse for Anna, as the water Psyduck had sank into promptly froze over entirely – shutting both Dratini and Psyduck inside an icy, airless chamber, with no escape …

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 15 - Watered-Down Revenge.


Lisa and Anna stared on, dumbfounded and horrified at the indirect result of two simple Ice Beams. The crowd collectively held their breath, not daring to cheer for either side. Lisa glimpsed, from the corner of her eye, Jack the sailor, actually biting his nails like a petite school girl, acting the complete reverse of what his physical appearance suggested – big, tan man, bulging muscles, tall and broad shouldered – and he was biting his nails. Lisa would have found the trivial humour funny, if one of her few pokemon hadn’t been in a dire predicament. She turned back to the desperate situation at hand.

“ No … this just … it can’t have even happened …” murmured Lisa, unable to accept what she saw. The entire pool had been turned into a massive chunk of ice. Every drop of water had been frozen as it was when the ice-ball took effect – there were waves, still made from Psyduck’s splashdown, but they were solid, curved icicles.

On the barren, icy landscape before her, Lisa watched as the referee cautiously stepped out onto the rough, uneven freeze. The waves at the time of freezing had created a very hard to enter environment - the referee constantly was tripping over undetected ripples or heaving himself over larger waves. Lisa, tired of the slow pace, quickly formulated a plan and a strategy – quickly glancing around the glacier-ridden field, she discovered a virtually clear route into the centre of the pool, where both pokemon had roughly been at the time of freezing.

“ Go!” Lisa tossed out a pokeball onto the ice, which hit the slippery substance and zapped open, when slowly a Quagsire materialised. The crowd finally breathed out at once, and the commentator suddenly swung back into action, acting as though nothing had happened, and treating the absurd situation as an average battle.

“ The blue trainer, Lisa Walters, sends out her magnificent Quagsire out of it’s pokeball for the first time in this colosseum. Quagsire, the mud pokemon, has strange arms, which could determine the reasoning behind Lisa’s plan. From what I can make out, Lisa’s plan is to use Quagsire’s clumsy flippers to her advantage – sliding along the ice. But as of yet I am not sure why …”

“ Alright, keep sliding, Quagsire!” Lisa urged to her pokemon, as Quagsire propelled itself along the glazed, icy surface, approaching the centre very slowly. Lisa clung to Quagsire as he barrelled past a tall, pointy glacier.

“ Careful, Quag.” Lisa breathed, as they skidded to a halt near the pool’s centre, where Dratini was buried. “ Now go … Elekid! Go, Butterfree! You too, Vulpix!”

Lisa tossed out three more pokeballs, and in blasts of ivory, petite but fiesty Elekid, sweet, gentle Butterfree and loving but determined Vulpix appeared. The crowd exhaled as one over the new pokemon, and the commentator was speechless, puzzled over Lisa’s plan. “ Elekid, please use thunder wave to chip through the ice. Vulpix – you’ll be my best bet, so please use your Ember attack! Butterfree – Psybeam the ice NOW!” Lisa knew she would have to be more polite to Elekid and Vulpix, as they had never fought for her before.

“ Bi bi!”
“ Vul! Pix!”
“ Freeeh!”

Elekid glowed with fiery eyes and a transparent yellow hue, then the electricity was absorbed up through his ‘thunder conductors’. The gold/black striped pokemon made slow but constant progress, chipping a small hole after about a minute. Butterfree, however, was faring better, although it depended what aspect Lisa was judging on. The psybeams were far more effective, in terms of depth, but they were gradually wearing Butterfree down, as were very stop-start, stop-start, rather than the consistent attacks from Elekid. As for Vulpix, she was making excellent work, embering the ice and burning away large areas at a time. Quagsire was making short-lived Water Guns at the ice, sizzling them in a sense, but not making very much more progress than Elekid and Butterfree. Aipom leapt from Lisa’s shoulder and began furiously digging. Lisa looked on, feebly kicking the ice every so often in a fruitless attempt to help. Dratini and Psyduck were probably not going to live – if they did they’d probably get frostbite, of hypothermia. Lisa wasn’t exactly sure if that could happen to pokemon, but the fact remained that they could get seriously hurt in there. Lisa didn’t want to see them … dead.

Anna, still standing on her platform at the edge of which the ice reared up at stared at the scene. She looked from Elekid, to Butterfree, to Vulpix, to Aipom, and then to Lisa, who had now let go of her stiff feelings about Dratini and was kneeling down over the ice, scraping at it in a futile attempt to regain her pokemon. Her hands were rapidly becoming raw. Anna struggled inside herself. Psyduck … her first and strongest pokemon … she couldn’t simply stand by and watch as he was trapped – and maybe killed even.

As Lisa and her pokemon continued to dig through the ice, now having succeeded in making an oval crater about 20 feet wide and 3 feet deep, a pokeball popped open in the crater. Lisa looked up and saw Anna there, a Scizor next to her. Lisa grinned, and Anna reflected her smile. Their eyes twinkling, each girl somehow knew – they were no longer bitter enemies, but they were allies.

Scizor made a remarkable help to the team. Butterfree had been utterly exhausted now, and even Elekid was getting run-down. Aipom, Lisa realised, wasn’t in the crater. Standing up, she saw Aipom outside the crater on the surface – digging a tiny hole of his own. “ Idiot.” Lisa scoffed, picking Aipom up by his tail, and fighting down the urge to grin, despite her Dratini’s bleak horizon. She became serious for a moment. Turning back, she saw another figure sliding across the icy surface, from the trainer’s box many metres away. “ Gavin?!” Lisa cried, as the tall boy flipped over on the ice, and skidded to a halt at the edge of the crater.

“ Present.” Gavin muttered, stupidly.

Lisa hauled him up. “ Why are you here?”

“ We were watching the battle in the trainer’s room.” Gavin replied, his voice shaking slightly. “ When I saw, I came. It took a LONG time to get past the ref, though, he didn’t want to let me in.”

“ So … you’re here to help?”

“ Does THIS answer your question?” Gavin asked, waving his hand to his left, when Girafarig, Staryu, Lanturn and Natu were perched, ready for action.

“ GO!”

Now with 8 pokemon and 3 people on the scene, the hole was enlarging at a rapid pace. Seeing a fellow Psychic pokemon, Butterfree was filled with renewed spirit, and began fluttering into the air, Psybeaming all the way, next to Girafarig. Lanturn, however, seemed the only being not helping the situation. It flopped on the ice, sliding every so often, but utterly refusing to give a hand. “ Just help, dammit.” Gavin spat at Lanturn, whose green and yellow appearance was making some of the audience ‘oooh’ and ‘aaah’. This somehow seemed to annoy Lanturn, and Lisa actually felt agitated too - those idiots were looking at a Pokemon’s appearance when two Pokemon’s lives were at risk.

But now, the two pokemon had been trapped for at least fifteen minutes, and Lisa was sure that they were going to die.

Suddenly, a cry rang out from the stands, and a dozen or so people pushed past the patrolling security guards and slid onto the icy grounds. Lisa, Gavin and Anna were all amazed, although still afraid of the entrapment’s outcome, until it sank in; these people were defying the law to help them! It took a couple of minutes until the small party of people arrived and quintupled the group. With many shouts, they assembled around the tiny crater, and each sent out one or two or even six pokemon, who all began scraping at the ice furiously. Lisa had tears in her eyes as a couple of girls comforted her and Anna, saying that they would all find the trapped pokemon and save their lives. And Lisa was nodding, saying yes; they WOULD find her Dratini, and Anna was agreeing.

It was so heartwarming to think that these people cared.

Lisa looked at the crater – it was massive now, and she thought for half a moment that she could see Dratini’s tail. It DID turn out to be a Dratini – belonging to a volunteer trainer. There were many pokemon excavating now – many water ones in particular, but she also spotted a Granbull and a Mankey, and …

“ You alright, Leese?” Jack Criddle asked her, while his Granbull chomped through the solid water and Mankey swiped at it.

Lisa nodded at her old enemy-turned-friend, a huge lump swelling in her throat. For her pokemon had now been stuck underneath the ice, with no air, for almost twenty five minutes. If there was still some water down below, there was some hope, because Dratini could stay underwater for long periods of time. The commentator was still speaking, but Lisa happened to catch the words ‘Ambulance’ amongst his rantings.

It was definitely some peace for Lisa’s troubled and anxious mind, as well as Anna’s, to have so many helping hands. However, their effect was felt more emotionally than physically, because barely ten minutes after they entered, their efforts were halted. It happened when every singled pokemon was helping to dig.

Except Lanturn.

“ C’mon, you lump o’ blubber, help us,” Gavin persisted with the stubborn Lanturn, trying to drag it along the ice next to Elekid, who had an apprehensive look on his face, and another trainer’s Arbok. “ Dammit, help us, just use your thunder -” The next thing Gavin knew, his entire body was vibrating with electricity, making his jaw freeze and his entire movements cease. Lanturn’s antennae were shaking with the sheer voltage, but persisted in giving it’s master a full-on attack. Lisa watched in horror. Lanturn was worse than ever – it was relentlessly attacking it’s trainer. Gavin was going to be knocked out soon, surely, It couldn’t be healthy to be shocked for so long. Almost everyone looked towards Gavin, but luckily, for the future events might have been catastrophic, the trainers and pokemon prevented the crowd, expect those very high up, from seeing this happen.

“ Cuh ih ow!” Gavin spluttered, trying to talk without moving his tongue or mouth at all. Suddenly, Gavin’s entire body took on a new, enveloping aura. Instead of the intense yellow glare from Lanturn, Gavin was suddenly surrounded by the new azure aura. Lisa guessed at once, and in a nano-second braced herself mentally, as Gavin clutched his hands to his head, and beads of cerulean light appeared from nowhere on his forehead.

BOOM!!!

An immense beam of cerulean light emitted from Gavin’s head, Lanturn flopping about directly in it’s path, and ripped through the pool of ice. The flopping fish was sent flying into the air – the crowd was no longer admiring it – but Gavin’s psychic travelled further. It tunnelled into the solid prism of ice beneath them all, making a fissure in the surface right to the bottom of the pool. It was a few seconds until the beam stopped, and Gavin fell over – into the fissure he had made, amongst panicked screams from the volunteers, who had seen it all and had barely dodged the beam, and the crowd, who had not seen where the beam had come from, but just that it created a chasm and that a human had actually fallen into it!

Natu flapped it’s minute wings, and swiftly flew down after Gavin into the crevice, and Lisa surveyed the scene with a look of heavy sorrow, fighting back tears which welled up in her eyes. Lanturn – flopping helplessly on the point of a glacier, Lisa saw, and also brutally wounded. Dratini and Psyduck – lost within the icy chamber below, possibly forever. Gavin – fallen metres down into a crevice, electrified and injured – dead?


*

“ Morning Gavin.” Lisa murmured, as Gavin’s eyes flickered open. He sat up in shock, unaware of his surroundings, but Lisa rubbed his arm, and pushed him back down.

“ Where am I?” he muttered.

“ Red Rock Island Hospital.” Lisa informed him. “ You were seriously hurt by that last psychic thingy, not to mention the electric shock, and the fall. I’m surprised you were … alright.”

Lisa had been about to say alive, but she really didn’t want to stress Gavin out any more than he was – the teen was very confused. It was Thursday now, the 8th. Gavin had actually been unconscious for a day or so – stable but unconscious - and Lisa had been extremely worried about him – crying and fretting. Jack had been great – he had stopped by to see Gavin – and Anna had also come to check how he was doing.

“ Gavin, you do remember doing that Psybeam, don’t you?”

He nodded, but then became concerned. “ What … happened to the pokemon? Drati -” Gavin asked slowly.

Lisa had been ready for this. “ Dratini and Psyduck were frozen – where your Psybeam hit, actually, but much deeper down. As Natu fluttered to see what happened to you, he saw Psyduck’s tail sticking out. Dratini was there too. They’re still in the Pokemon Centre, though, recovering.”

“ That’s good … what about the battle?”

“ Draw.” Lisa said. “ Me and Anna drew.”

“ So … ?”

“ We have a rematch again – tomorrow. It’s counted as my next fight in sequence – that is, it’s counted as my fight for round three, so there’s going to be an extra person competing in the overall tournament – dunno how that’ll work.”

“ What about … my battle?”

“ Taken care of.” Lisa smiled. “ You’re scheduled for noon on Saturday. You’ll be fine by then.”

“ But the Whirlpool Cup … ”

“ … has been postponed.” Lisa said, calmly. “ You’ll fight on Saturday, and I’ll fight tomorrow – me for round three and you for round two. Then you’ll fight again on Monday for round three, and if we both win the whole way – well, we’ll be in the semi finals. No other battles will take place, except the last four competitors who were supposed to battle after you.”

Gavin grinned slowly, trying to sit again, but Lisa pushed him down, and spoke again in a very serious tone.

“ Gavin – these Psychic things are becoming – worse.”

“ I know.” He said in an almost complaining voice. “ I can’t help it, though.”

“ The ghost gym leader from Ecruteak is coming here to talk to you later on.” Lisa explained, and Gavin’s face creased in worry. “ He says your attacks, from what I told him, are becoming much more frequent, and it could mean something serious. Don’t get too worried, but you should just be careful about getting into pain – especially with Lanturn.”

“ Yeah well – that thing deserves to be released. Dunno why I caught it.”

“ Gavin – he must be a good pokemon in SOME way. You just have to persevere – you only caught him a few days ago.”

“ I know – but I just thought … that he’d obey. Staryu does, Natu does, Girafarig does.”

“ Well, at first Aipom didn’t obey me at all.” Lisa said, a smile creeping up onto her face despite Gavin’s problems and Dratini still being in the Pokemon Centre. “ When I first got him.”

Gavin looked mildly interested. “ When did you catch Aipom?”

“ Well – I didn’t.” Lisa admitted.

“ Oh – you traded?”

“ Not quite.”

“ So – you got GIVEN Aipom?”

“ Yeah – my parents gave him to me.”

“ Explain?” a smile crept onto Gavin’s face too.

“ My parents got a job a few weeks ago – about a month ago, actually.” Lisa began, sitting down on Gavin’s white bedsheets, and suddenly recalling the Black Beast fiasco back in Goldenrod. Shrugging it off, she continued.

“ Mum and Dad got a job with a huge company over east last September. Dad was already interested in Fossils – he studied them all day and night, like a collector – and Mum was employed at the Ecru Lake as a Marine Expert. She knew all there was to know about the contents of the lake, like Salvao weed, and of course, fossils. She taught groups of other fossil experts through a tour of the lake – one particular company, Sterling and Son, or something like that, thought she was good for a job opening in Mt Moon.”

“ And then?” Gavin asked, listening intently as though the story was vital to his existence.

“ Then Mum said she’d only go if Dad went too – he had been looking for a job like that for AGES. It was about a week before the company agreed – and about a week later they left.”

“ To Kanto?”

“ Uh huh.” Lisa replied flatly. “ They left us at home.”

“ Who’s us?”

“ Me and my little brother and sister, and my older brother Tom, who stayed for about a week before he left. Then he just checked on us every morning and night – he trains at the gym.”

“ So where does Aipom come in?”

“ He came in a padded box about a week after Mum and Dad left,” Lisa swallowed her laughter. “ Bouncing off the walls … they sent him over for me. At first he wouldn’t listen to me at all – but after a while he got used to me and I really liked him.”

Gavin nodded, and felt a great surge of tiredness coming on. He yawned heavily, and then turned over. “ G’night – seeya in the morning.”

“ G’night Gavin,” Lisa sighed, then spoke in what was barely a whisper, scarcely a breath. “ I hope that psychic legend is wrong after all – it’d be a shame if you died now. I’m just getting to like you.”


*

Lisa entered the colosseum, the wind blowing back her hair into Aipom’s face, as she tossed Dratini’s pokeball up and down in her hand. The sun shone brightly as always – not a cloud in sight. Lisa was ready now – Dratini had been fully healed now – as had all the others. It was time for the rematch.

The crowd cheered on as Anna entered from the opposite side, stepping into the trainer’s box. Lisa entered hers. The water in the pool had been refilled over the past two days, and it reflected the radiant sunlight. The referee blew on his whistle, and called out “ One on one battle – start … now!”

Somewhere, a bell rang out, and Lisa grinned, arching her arm out to throw Dratini’s pokeball, then in a swift move of deception snatched up Quagsire’s from her belt, and threw it out. Anna dropped Psyduck’s pokeball into the water, and noticed Lisa’s different Pokemon. “ Not against the rules, is it?” Lisa smirked. Anna scowled, but only for a moment – she felt a little differently towards Lisa now. The battle began.

“ Psyduck – full on Aurora Beam.” Anna cried. “ Lisa, this time there’s going to be no ice beams, fair enough?”

“ I don’t see how Aurora Beam is much different,” called Lisa.

“ It’s a dilute version.”

“ Alright. Double Team, Quagsire.” Lisa ordered.

Both battlers took immediate action, Quagsire closed his eyes and squinted – rapidly producing replicas of himself – however, they were only images, not solid beings. Then the mischievous mud pokemon switched itself with one of the copies, in such a fast, obscured move that even Lisa couldn’t pick it. Psyduck, the slower of the two adversaries, was preparing an orb of azure light, forming it between it’s short, stubby arms as it grew larger – although nothing like the enormous proportions of the last one.

When the globe of cerulean brightness had grown to the size of an orange, he shot out the rainbow-coloured aurora from it, quickly releasing it off at Quagsire’s ring of copies – all of them were standing still, their eyes all glinting slightly, and their mouths curved upwards slightly in a child-like grin. The rainbow light raced at the Quagsires, who made no action to save themselves – only one was real, after all. The icy beam shot through two Quagsires and they dissolved immediately. Lisa clenched her fist – as a small sign of triumph.


*

“ Gavin – the ghost expert will see you now.” A nurse popped her head around the door of Gavin’s room. Gavin nodded, and sat up slowly, piling up his pillows to prop him up.

“ Alright then.”

As soon as the nurse vacated, a young man of about 18 years entered. He had light brown hair, cut short, and deep chestnut eyes. Gavin looked at him – he didn’t seem like Morty, the gym leader – although he did seem like the right age. “ You’re not Morty.” Gavin muttered, as the man, dressed in black pants and a blue shirt, sat down in the comfortable seat next to the bed.

“ No – Morty couldn’t leave Ecruteak.” The man said. “ He had some urgent business regarding legendary pokemon –” his voice lowered and he muttered under his breath to himself. “ My sister would like that.” But Gavin’s ears heard and his mind ticked into action. Sister? Legendaries? Gavin shook his head, and kept quiet.

“ So who ARE you?”

“ Hm?” the man said. “ Oh right … I’m a trainer at the gym. My name’s Tom Walters.”

Gavin let his jaw drop freely. “ Walters?” he spluttered. “ As in – Lisa’s … brother?!”

“ Wassat?” His eyes were suddenly sharp and glaring at Gavin as though he had just killed an innocent Cleffa. “ You know Lisa?”

“ She’s like – my best friend!” Gavin cried instantly. “ We travel together.” He added, in case Tom got at all suspicious.

“ Hm … small world … so she’s on the island?” Tom kept his shock fairly well this time.

“ Yeah – we’re both competing in the Whirlpool Cup. She’s battling right now, actually.”

Tom appeared deep in thought. “ I might see her later on today. But for now let’s get on with the reason that I’m here – your psychic – um – problem.”


[continued in next post ...]

[Gavin Luper]

“ Aurora Beam! ”
“ Psyduck – Psybeam.”

The battle in the Water Colosseum was well and truly underway. Lisa and Quagsire seemed to have the advantage – after Quagsire had hit Psyduck with a well-aimed Water Gun, however, that meant Psyduck had discovered the true Quagsire, and the Double Team was, in effect, foiled. Now Lisa had entered a new round of battling – and this time she was hoping for a success.

Quagsire immediately opened his wide mouth and formed a sphere of rainbow light within his jaws, firing it off at once. Lisa inwardly thanked herself for taking five hours a couple of days ago to train Quagsire. The beam hit Psyduck at once, while it was still glowing with ever-changing light. The clumsy-footed duck was not only hit, but fell off the platform and into the water. However, the Psybeam it had begun slowly creating was so overpowering, he slowly rose out of the water and back onto the platform due to his sheer build up of Psychic energy. Then he fired a beam of mauve light from his mouth, and hit Quagsire square in the head. Quagsire began staring dazedly.

Lisa heard the commentator’s voice booming over the colosseum. “ Anna’s Psyduck manages to effectively use it’s Psybeam even when being toppled into the pool and it delivered Lisa’s Quagsire a highly devastating side-effect of confusion which could cost Lisa the battle!”

“ Damn you, Anna. That was a pretty good move though!” Lisa said, but she now realised that the confusion might indeed cost her the match, and her chances of Semi-finals. “ Quagsire – Whirlpool!”

“ Thanks Lisa,” Anna smiled. “ Disable, Psyduck.”

Quagsire’s confusion, Lisa thought, might have helped in forming the whirlpool – he was spinning dizzily anyway, so he might as well put some use into it. It worked. Quagsire spun his confusion away, but soon had formed instead of a below-surface whirlpool, a small waterspout, which rose into the air about 10 feet, twisting wildly and thrashing as though thinking for itself.

Psyduck glowed with a sapphire hue, and concentrated his energy towards Quagsire, in the centre of the waterspout. However, his attack was deflected immediately – even strong psychic energy couldn’t reach through the spinning walls of water. Lisa, again seeing an advantage, called out for a strong, and hopefully final move.

“ Quagsire – win this round for us with … Tidal Wave!”


*

“ So you haven’t had these experiences before you came to Goldenrod?” Tom asked, sitting in the chair beside his client’s bed.

“ Well, once, before actually,” Gavin admitted sheepishly. “ When I was still living at home I did have a … thing … when I broke my arm. But that was when I was like – 13. The next one was that incident at the Radio Tower. And then the Whirlpool thing that I told you about. And then in the town on this island. And then – yesterday.”

Tom nodded thoughtfully. “ They only happen when you’re in pain.”

“ It seems that way.” Gavin said. “ Why is that?”

Tom shrugged. “ I really don’t know. I’ve had only a little experience with stuff like this – some trainers at work get premonitions – but they kinda just premonitionise -” Gavin snorted as Tom said this “ whenever they want to. Your case is different. What was that legend thingy again?”

“ That the great Psychic legend will attack when I reach my full psychic power?” Gavin said, unsure now whether he should have even told Tom that after all. Then he convinced himself he should have – he was Lisa’s family, it wasn’t a total stranger. “ That was just an old legend – a family one, actually. I don’t even know what Pokemon it is – but apparently it’ll attack me for the greater psychic being.”

“ It may have some substance,” Tom muttered. “ I’m gonna ask Morty when I get back to Ecruteak. In the meantime, just keep out of trouble, and don’t use Lanturn AT ALL.”


*

An enormous wave slowly rose out of the pool, and flung down upon Psyduck. Instantly, Psyduck was hit, and Lisa’s face lit up with excitement. She had originally doubted if Quagsire could pull it off – the Tidal Wave attack required SOME psychic ability, but Quagsire had succeeded. The wave missed Quagsire, and washed over Psyduck. When the water had washed away, the mustard-yellow duck was seen, floating in the water, cross-eyes. Lisa felt a leap of hope within her, but at the same time a rush of sorrow for Anna.

The referee blew his whistle. “ The winner is the blue trainer – Lisa Walters – and her Quagsire!” Lisa waved up at the crowd, Jack in particular, as they cheered for her as one being. She grinned – now she was in the semi-finals!

-------------------
*exhaustion* - the chapter was too big, it had to be split up!

New chappie in 30 seconds

[Gavin Luper]

WOOHOO! The 'new' chapter is here! It's new because it wasn't posted on the exboard, but was on the old TPM.

YAY!! This is the last update for the day. with a little cliffhanger!

-------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 16 - Whirlpool Champion - Part I.


“ Staryu – Take Down!” Gavin cried, legs spread slightly as he struggled to stay balanced on the platform. In the pool, Staryu speedily tackled it’s opponent, a rubbery, slippery Azumarill, which was trying to Bubblebeam unsuccessfully.

Azumarill was certainly almost at the end of it’s line. After taking a fierce beating from the opposing Staryu, blasted down by countless beams of rainbow light and forced underwater by a couple of mauve jets of energy, Azumarill was ready to faint. It’s female trainer, however, the young Nurse Joy, daughter of the Joy in the Island’s Pokemon Centre, was not prepared to give up.

“ Azumarill – Water Gun!” she cried breathlessly, and Azumarill slowly mustered it’s strength to pull back to an upright floating position and breathed in, filling it’s hydrogen chambers with oxygen. A large amount of water formed within it, and Azumarill swiftly exhaled out the blast, as Gavin called out “ Mirage!”

Staryu once again came out on top – disappearing in a hazy blue mist, as the water gun shot right through it, and a yell echoed across the water from the crowd – it appeared the attack had actually hit an innocent bystander. Gavin was undisturbed – this battle was HIS, and one more quick move would finish it off. Ordering a Psybeam, Gavin looked on in delight as Staryu formed a mass of lilac energy before firing it off at the bouncy Azumarill, who looked like it had now had all the spring taken out of it. As the lavender light hit home, the rabbit-like pokemon was flung back at Joy, who quickly pulled out a Lure Ball and recalled it.

“ Go, Octillery.”

The ugly saffron pokemon appeared not in the water but on the platform, it’s tentacles moving slowly and oozing out from beneath it as Joy gave it a nudge with her shoe to remind it was in battle. The slow Pokemon flopped with a splash into the pool, and it’s heavy, unbalanced head floated it to the top. Staryu, although having no eyes, Psy-scanned the opponent, and saw a big ugly octopus. Even Staryu shuddered slightly, but Gavin was determined to win this – if he did … the boy shivered with the prospect.

It was Wednesday the 14th November – five days since Gavin had been discharged from the local Hospital. Tom had left shortly after talking with Gavin – he never actually got to talk to Lisa, but had wished them both luck via Gavin. Lisa had easily passed through her semi-final match, although it had been close. She had fought a highly-skilled water trainer, Aqua, but eventually Dratini managed to faint Aqua’s Politoed with a well-placed Ice Beam. Gavin, also, had had great luck – defeating an aged fisherman in his first match after recovering, and then beating a swimmer called Simon, who fought with a couple of Tentacool. Gavin was now playing his semi-final match, but if he won, both he, Lisa and another mystery trainer would fight (due to Lisa and Anna’s draw) – he supposed they would somehow make a mini tournament out of it.

Due to some rotten luck on both their parts, neither Gavin nor Lisa had actually watched each other battle since Gavin’s first match, which Lisa had hardly been able to concentrate on, let alone hear, due to her very high, very distant seat. However, if things kept going Gavin’s way, he and Lisa would be battling in the Grand Final – something he had inwardly been hoping to avoid in one way, but in another way he truly hoped to win the Cup – his brother had always been bringing home trophies and medals when they were alive. But Gavin, being younger by about 2 years, was always smaller and less experienced – and when he left Ecruteak to start a career in Goldenrod, he was working towards a Degree of Experienced Pokemon Research, and had a part time job at the Radio Tower.

Then Lisa came along. His part time job was ruined, and when Lisa left for Cianwood, Gavin had felt suddenly lonely. So he rushed back to Goldenrod, abandoning his University course the next day, and leaving his friend Dave and their apartment …

“ Oy!”

Gavin was stirred from his long memories by a call from the other side of the battlefield. Joy was standing on the platform, tapping her foot impatiently. “ Are you gonna battle or not?”

Apparently Gavin had been thinking for far too long. In the stands, the crowd was looking down, some with puzzled expressions and others calling out and jeering things like ‘we paid to see a battle’ and ‘I want my money back’. Gavin blushed scarlet when he spied Lisa, rushing into the stands with Aipom on her shoulder – apparently she was late as usual. The boy swallowed once, and continued with the battle.

“ Staryu – Psychic attack, followed by a Barrier.”
“ Octillery – Octazooka, then Wrap.”

Staryu quickly charged up a small and rather pitiful globe of rich plum light – the long battle seemed to be wearing it down a fair bit, and reducing it’s usual abilities. Despite it’s slight weakness, Staryu shot out the purple light, hitting Octillery square in the jelly-like head. The orange THING, covered in odd squelchy suckers, was very slow, but made up for it’s speed by it’s excellent health conditions. It was looking shiny and happy too, although Gavin thought it was too hard to tell with such a creature.

It certainly was slow. By the time Staryu was preparing a large wall of reflective transparency, Octillery finally managed to perform the Octazooka – a large blast of what appeared to Gavin as electricity, but what surely must have been light, which barrelled at Staryu. The starshape pokemon was in no mood to give in or show any signs of weakness or mercy. It dodged the blast, which had been very inaccurate anyway, and the octazooka blared off into the barrier, which was now behind Staryu, and effectively useless unless the Star pokemon was behind it.

“ Staryu, get back behind the barrier.” Gavin ordered, and Staryu pushed it’s way through the shimmery cerulean water towards the reflective screen. However, Octillery was now into the full swing of things. It came at Staryu while it had it’s back turned, and coiled it’s heavy, slimy tentacles around Staryu’s limbs. Gavin’s jaw dropped for a moment before he grinned. “ Teleport.”

Staryu easily slipped out of the coils and reappeared a few metres away, now fully aware of Octillery’s power – although fairly slow, it’s tentacles contained great power – Staryu realised that much longer within it’s grasp and his limbs would have had the circulation cut off – Octillery had excellent crushing power.

“ Try Octazooka again.” Joy called.
“ Staryu – finish up with Bubblebeam.”

Staryu fired out a string of bubbles at Octillery. The bubbles looked not at all threatening – in fact, they looked pleasant and peaceful, floating towards Octillery, however Gavin knew that when they popped they stung like crazy – actually he knew from experience due to an accident with a Poliwag a few years back. Octillery, already weakened by the Psychic, was fainted by the bubblebeam – Gavin guessed because of the sheer numbers of bubbles. A few bubbles did sting, but being bombarded by bubbles would have been quite difficult to come through.

A bell clanged, and the crowd roared for Gavin – through to the Grand Final. Joy sadly returned Octillery, as Gavin dived off the side of the platform into the cool water to hug Staryu. They had come through to the Grand Final – against Lisa and another talented water pokemon trainer. Lisa cheered as a soggy Gavin and a tired but rejoicing Staryu swam back to the platform.


*

The kettle whistled away noisily, steam pouring from it’s worn and slightly rusted spout. Gavin looked up from over his newspaper lazily, but it was Lisa who actually took action – she jumped up from her chair and poured boiling water into two mugs of coffee.

“ Why did we have to get the economy unit?” Lisa asked, as she flicked a small water beetle from the edge of the sink. “ It’s so…ugh.”
“ I like it.” Gavin muttered. “ Besides, it was the only accommodation left on the island.”
“ We coulda stayed with Jake.”
“ Lisa – his parents were coming to stay.”
“ We coulda slept in the – uh – kitchen?”
“ Lisa.” Gavin said, with a note of warning. “ He was nice enough to let us stay for a few days.”
“ Whatever.” Lisa sighed, handing Gavin a cup of boiling coffee.

Things between the two had been tense ever since the Grand Final competition was announced. Knowing that they were soon to fight each other they both became very edgy and stand-offish. Although they still trained together since that Wednesday, the previous day, they both felt like they didn’t want to fight each other – even if it was friendly competition.

On Wednesday afternoon, Jack had informed them that Jake’s parents were coming to stay. The elderly couple required a bedroom – and since Jake was already housing Jack, Frank and himself, Lisa and Gavin had been, in a way, kicked out. They had quickly found an ancient little hut near the beach – similar to the empty one Lisa and Gavin had stayed in that rainy night after Gavin’s first fight – except this one was furnished. Consisting of four rooms – a kitchen, living area, bedroom and bathroom, the unit was poorly furnished with a drab, plain sheeted bed in the bedroom, an awful bench coloured with a murky shade of mustard, splintery, wooden planks that meant shoes were a must, and a couple of ancient couches, facing a TV set whose reception was almost as bad as Lanturn’s disobedience.

“ C’mon, we gotta go.” Lisa snapped, drinking down her coffee. “ The match starts in half an hour.”

Gavin sculled as much coffee as he could without spurting it back up, and stood up, reaching for his pack.
“ The referee said we wouldn’t need anything except two pokemon.” Lisa reminded him snappily. Gavin nodded, but as he turned to take his belt from his pack, he scowled. Both Lisa and Gavin were very irritable – the slightest thing could set them off. Gavin would be glad when the match was over…


*********

As usual, the stadium was packed with people of all different sizes and ages. Jack was in the crowds, winking good luck to both of them. But still Lisa and Gavin were clueless to how the Final round would work. The referee hadn’t told them anything – they only knew that two pokemon were to be used. Gavin had reluctantly taken Lanturn’s pokeball from his pack that morning – he would be necessary if Staryu lost, but Gavin hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Another shock might trigger off another psychic blast – and he did not want that. Maybe if Staryu went down, he would simply have to wimp out?

Lisa and Gavin congregated with the referee and another teenage girl whose hair was a bright shade of ultramarine in a corner of the battlefield. There were three floating platforms near the edge and another six floating in no order in the central pool area. “ This match will be a three-way fight.” The referee announced, cramming his black cap onto his head. “ All three pokemon will fight at once, meaning each pokemon will be constantly battling down two other opponents. Once one trainer’s pokemon is down, number two is to be sent in immediately.”

Lisa, Gavin and the other girl gaped – none of them had ever experienced a three-way battle before. It would be VERY challenging – not just for them to keep track of all the attacks and order their fighter around, but for the pokemon themselves. Looking up at the crowd, Lisa noted that they already seemed to be informed of this prior to the match – maybe that was why it was so full of people?

“ Lisa, Marina, Gavin, I wish you all the best of luck.” The ref said. “ Now please move to the trainer positions.”

At this, he strode to the sidelines of the stadium floor, equipping himself with a hands-free microphone. Lisa and Gavin nodded to the other girl, Marina, for good luck, and then did the same with each other. All the tension seemed to have dissolved as they entered the stadium – now it wasn’t like a bitter rivalry at all – they had too much on their minds to even be concerned with such petty matters anyway.

Lisa stepped onto her own floating platform, heart thumping wildly. This was it – she was in the grand final – she had been waiting for this FOREVER.

Then a voice in the back of Lisa’s mind spoke up. “ Not forever.” It reminded her. “ You actually started with a very different goal.” Lisa thought back to her vow to find out all she could about Suicune and the legendaries. That had been short-lived after Eusine’s request, and then Irene’s prompt to enter the Whirlpool Cup League. Lisa suddenly felt ashamed. She had given up on her quest – maybe not GIVEN up, but been majorly sidetracked.
“ After this fight,” she told herself, “ Aipom and I are gonna find out more about legendaries, and we’ll never get distracted again.”

Somehow Lisa managed to do all this soulsearching in the time it took for the ref to turn on his microphone. It occurred to her that if she did lose, it would no longer matter – her true goal was indeed to capture legendary Pokemon.

The ref blew his whistle, and the commentator at once began talking. Lisa tuned out – she had to concentrate on the fight – she needed full attention if she was going to win this thing. Marina sent out a Golduck, a turquoise duck-like pokemon who stood upright. Golduck stood for a moment on the edge of his platform, before diving gracefully in, his smooth body flowing along as though it too was water. Lisa pulled out a pokeball, using her strongest pokemon first. “ Quagsire!”

After a few seconds, a Quagsire, Golduck and Staryu all floated in the water, eyeing each other off. Lisa was unsure how to fight in a three way battle, so she tried treating it as a normal one. “ Quagsire – start off with an Aurora Beam!”

It didn’t work.

Marina ordered a whirlpool from Golduck and Gavin called for a reflect. Not only would the Aurora Beam be unable to hit either opponent, Quagsire was unsure which enemy to aim for. In the end, he got so confused, the attack was just cancelled out.

Meanwhile, Staryu had formed a shimmery forcefield around itself, protecting from most attacks. The star then simply floated while Golduck kicked up a spiralling mass of water into a waterspout, charging for both Staryu and Quagsire, who were relatively close together.

“ Psybeam!”
“ Double Team!”

Staryu fired off a beam of mauve light at the waterspout, which entwined around the greater attack and began spinning as one, if anything now more powerful. Quagsire, on the other hand, swiftly made shadowy reflections of itself and exchanged it’s own body for one of the images. The real Quagsire gave Lisa a wink, showing that he was out of harm’s way. The Waterspout was on course for one of the images. Lisa gave a sigh of relief.

But not for long. Soon, Gavin was enlightened by Staryu’s last failed attack. Still in the path of the water cyclone, Staryu cowered in it’s reflecting shell, however the shell couldn’t hold through something of THAT mass and pressure. Gavin used his only and possibly pointless idea. “ Staryu – Psyspin.”

Staryu was utterly confused by the order. Psyspin? Was there such an attack? He had to give it a go. First up – psy was Psychic, so EASY, use a Psybeam – but spin?

Then Staryu clicked. He fired a mass of lilac energy into the air, just metres away from the whirlpool, but instead of hitting the cyclone straight on, it curved and aimed back at Gavin. But just before hitting Staryu itself, the beam curved again and looped back on itself. Lisa saw the idea, and smirked. After a few moments, an immense psy-cyclone was spinning with destructive fury VERY close to the slow but dangerous waterspout. But the Psyspin proved faster. In a blast which made all three trainers and the ref look to the side, the purple cyclone connected with the water, overpowering it with utter and overwhelming force, suddenly changing course…

…for Quagsire…

[Gavin Luper]

Lisa the Legend just had a major update - chapters 10 to 16 all at once - for all my readers, we're back to where we left off at the ezboard! And it's the 18th September!

http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/s...15&pagenumber=1

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

ah, new chapters, that's what i've wanted.

GO GAVIN!!!! BOO OtHER GIRL!!!! LISA, DO SOMEWHAT OKAY!!!!!!

NEXT ChAPTER!!!!!

[Master Kirby]

Yea! You got back up to the new chapters!

More new attacks! Maybe Quagsire can make a new attack to deflect all of these enormous cyclone/whirlpools.

To bad he isn't psychic. Then he might have a chance of controling the attacks' path.

[Gavin Luper]

SSM: I hoped you'd be happy that we finally got a new chapter! Yay! Oh, and you're cheering for Gavin instead of Lisa? Cool!!!

Master Kirby: WOOHOO! New chapters at last! It's actually old chapters for me, we have another 10 chapters to go until the actual new ones come out. Yay! I dunno if quaggie will be able to deflect that cyclone, it looks like he'll just have to face it. Or will he? Find out next chapter!

[Mew Trainer Rose]

Yayness, a "new" chappie! :) This is a new development, the 3-way battle. That'd be really tricky.
It's nice that Lisa finally remembered what she started out to do. And i look forward to seeing who wins!

[Gavin Luper]

MTR: Hi!!!! Yeah, finally something 'new' to read. I personally don't think I created the 3-way battle to it's full potential the first time around, so I will be editing a little bit!

I think it's good that Lisa remembered her original goal. After the Whirlpool Cup finishes, the plot really deepens and begins to get a bit more serious. Much of the first book is just getting to know Lisa, Gavin, etc, and building up to the real stuff!

Only 4 chapters til the end of the book!

[AquaBabe727]

Alright!!! New chapters! ^_^ I really like this fic. But there's only four chapters left? It still seems like it's just starting to me. How many books are there? Can't wait to read more! :P

[Gavin Luper]

Aquababe727: Hey! Yeah, only four more chapters (17,18,19,20) but the new book will be posted in this topic straight away. As of yet, there are only and will only ewver be 2 books, but it depends how i feel at the end of the book.

So far, I am up to chapter 10 of book 2. The amount of chapters in that book will be between 15 and 20 (most likely 20!)

Oh, and the story really is JUST starting. Chapter 18 is really like the start. The first 17 are to build up, drop hints, etc etc!

Thanks! :D Cheers!

- Gavin.

[Last Exile]

Yay Gavin and Lisa! It would be sacrilegous not to cheer them both! And nice idea on Psyspin! Sounds pretty cool. But it won't be if it messes up Quagsire. Poor guy. All the crazy crap ahs to always happen to him! Cheers, Gavin! PS. Which state do you live in? I get the impression you're on the east coast, but all three of those states are pretty different. I know Ozzy's a Queenslander and that Misty is a Sydneysider, but I didn't know about you.

PS. I hope you're not a Collingwood fan. BECAUSE I HOPE BRISBANE ABSOLUTELY MURDER THEM IN THE GRAND FINAL! ;) Damn them for denying Adelaide the chance to play in another grand final! Damn them for making Port Adelaide play Brisbane! Damn that overexposed knobhead Eddie McGuire!

[Gavin Luper]

CCC: Hey!! Yes, we must cheer them both on, it's the only fair thing to do. Unless you'd prefer one of them to win. I didn't ... the result of the battle was a tough one for me to make!

Quagsire gets better soon!

I'm from Western Australia, actually, and for some reason I always think you are from South Australia but maybe not. Although if you were from Victoria I would know a person from each eastern state (Mist, Oz).

Funny you should mention the footy. I AM actually a Collingwood fan. Lol - almost everyone i know wants them to lose!! But it's their first grand final in 12 years, i think they deserve to win!!

Cheers!

Finally, the conclusion to The Whirlpool Cup. I hope you all appreciate the winner, and understand why they won. After this chapter ... the real story begins!

Cheers!

-------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 17 - Whirlpool Champion - Part II.


The water/psychic mass of energy spiralled wildly across the pool, it’s diameter booming, it’s volume increasing with each metre it forced along. Quagsire, originally not sighting the cyclone, had now turned to view it in all its spinning glory.

And he panicked.

Quagsire’s first thought was to dive under the cyclone and swim underneath. Obviously, the pokemon had some common sense, and he quickly abandoned his original instinctive strategy, instead opting to swim to the side. This soon proved impossible – the waterspout had such width now that it took up almost the entire diameter of the pool – threatening to break through the sides with its amassed psychic and water powers. Quagsire found himself in a blackening shadow seconds before the tornado crashed onto him, picking him up and throwing him mercilessly. The strange pokemon was flung around while Lisa buried her head in her hands, until a sudden blast of mauve light from the other side reduced the attack instantly to a tiny whirlpool, which eventually spun itself out. Lisa pried her hands away.

Over the other side of the pool, Gavin was looking proud, winking at Lisa, while Marina slowly looked out of her hands and gave a sigh of relief. But Quagsire was brutally injured – knocked out. Eyes crossed, the celeste pokemon drifted in the wake of the blast. Lisa put two and two together – Staryu has Psychiced the waterspout to neutralise the psybeam and end the water attack, which on it’s own would have disappeared after a few seconds – knocking Quagsire out in the process.

Lisa nodded a quick sarcastic ‘thanks’ to Gavin, and regretfully returned Quagsire, who was definitely not going to come to. She pulled out the new pokeball, and swiftly released Dratini, her final hope to win the Cup. She glimpsed up at the crowd, trying to find Jack again in case he was biting his nails again – that always made her laugh. But Marina and Gavin promptly began again and Lisa had to turn her attention back to the battle.

“ Golduck – set up a Safeguard against both of them!” Marina called.

“ Staryu – try Water Gun on Golduck! Wait for Lisa to call her move before attacking!” Gavin ordered. And then a brilliant scheme popped into his head, something he had never tried and had never really thought of much. However, it was worth a try, so quickly he balled his sweaty palms into fists and punched his head twice. Marina looked at him as though he had just sprouted wings and turned into a Pidgeot, but Lisa gave him a sidewards glance, cautious of his actions. What game was he playing at? Gavin took control of the slight pain immediately, and thought at Staryu – telepathy. Staryu, disregard what I told you to do! Pretend to aim for Golduck, then make a quick Ice Beam at Dratini!

Staryu turned to face its trainer in confusion, but Gavin made a subtle nod to it. Staryu cried out “ hyaah!” and waited for Lisa to order her move. “ Dratini – Thunderbolt – both of ‘em!” Dratini squeaked back at Lisa in a tone of confidence that only Lisa could understand. And then the round went into play.

Golduck waved its clumsy hands in an oval around him, and instantly a bright golden aura appeared in its wake. Tiny golden stars were spinning around the duck, keeping him protected from such things as Paralysis and confusion – both of which were possible with Dratini and Staryu out. At the same time over the other side, facing the Golduck, Dratini quickly set to work. His normally curvy, serpent-like body became erect, and small azure light began wavering between his ears. Staryu looked at Gavin, and he again gave a subtle flick of his head, which signified the beginning of the attack on Dratini. Evidently, Gavin thought it best to remove one opponent from the fight as quickly as possible – regretfully Lisa was the one to be eliminated.

“ Ti!!!” Dratini fired off the electric-blue light which was his greatest thunderbolt. The light cut silently through the air until it reached the middle of the pool in midair, where it forked and sent two branches at Staryu and Golduck. Golduck shrieked at contact, and his body went into horrible convulsions. Staryu took the attack a little better – it didn’t go into fits anyhow. But in a brief moment, Staryu broke through the pain and Gavin cried “ Now!” Lisa whipped her head around to see the effects of the Water Gun on Golduck, but suddenly a blast of crystalline whiteness with a tinge of cerulean whizzed in front of her, her hair blowing into her face from the wind picked up by the blast. She glanced quickly to where the beam had been headed, and found a dazed Dratini, almost KO’ed by the surprise attack.

Anger welling up inside, she flicked her gaze to Gavin, who had a mixed expression of regretfulness and triumph. Lisa felt rage inside, spiralling up her body and eventually into her mouth like a long, snaky Gyarados, promising destruction wherever it travelled. Lisa herself felt like a Gyarados. Seething inwardly, she yelled out “ Dratini – Ice Beam back!” opting for the most powerful attack they had really tried to build up, all those days ago after Gavin’s first fight at the Qualifying Finals.

“ Staryu, counter with Bubblebeam.” Gavin ordered, at once.

Marina watched on, with her nose screwed up at the sight of the angry friends. Golduck mirrored its trainer, wondering if it should interfere or just sit back and spectate at a safe distance. After some silent musing, it crept up onto the platform that its trainer was on, and decided to stay back.

Its choice was safest, and may have, in effect, decided the entire battle result.

The commentator was rattling off the attacks so fast that Lisa promptly tuned out. No point trying to listen, she just had to watch. It was like an ordinary two-on-two battle, with Marina and Golduck not attacking. Dratini and Staryu continually exchanged attacks, often the blows doing virtually nothing, since they were both becoming so aggressive that they became extremely inaccurate. Finally, Lisa was fed up with the petty exchanges of beams, and called for something more powerful, of which she hoped Dratini would manage.

“ Hyper Beam.”

Gavin shook slightly at the words, but smirked to himself, saying at once to Staryu “ Thunderbeam”. Staryu spun wildly, and began converting all it’s energy to electricity. Gavin had been biding his time since that night on the beach, when he had taught Staryu the fatal attack. Although likely to damage both pokemon, Thunderbeam was Gavin’s secret weapon against all the water pokemon in the tournament, but he had yet to use it. Things were rough, though, especially with a Hyper Beam.

Finally, Dratini, who had been progressively building up light within its mouth, formed it into a dense globe of energy. Lisa thought the time was ripe, and made her move. “ Now!” Both trainers called out at exactly the same time, and two beams, one intensely white and one a bright, flavescent hue, shot out, this time deadly accurate, each one whistling through the air and slicing through the heavy atmosphere, cutting the tension. As the beams reached the centrepoint of the pool, at the same moment, Lisa picked up an error, just a little too late.

They were too accurate.

Two jets of light collided at once, each one still streaming from it’s source. Lisa thought she saw a red spark, but moments later all thoughts were wiped from her mind, as an explosion thundered around the stadium. Lisa was deafened, unable to hear girls in the crowd scream, men and boys swear, and parents clap their hands over the children’s eyes. Lisa would have done the same, except she saw something that stopped her in her tracks. A mushroom cloud of thick smoke was billowing from the epicentre of the attacks, covering both Dratini and Staryu. It took Lisa a moment to realise that the smoke was tinged with scarlet – tiny sparks were drifting in the wake of the explosion, showering down over the pokemon. Dratini gave a shrill cry which pierced the cloudy air, now enveloping both pokemon. Just before Dratini was swallowed up, Lisa saw it writhing around in pain from the sparks, and stop moving abruptly.

She gasped, and felt the cloud expand over her. But there were no longer bright red sparks raining down, instead a fine blue dust lingered, as the cloud cleared away gradually. The blue dust landed on her with a tingly sensation, which made her feel suddenly fresh and cool. Lisa let a smile break out over her face, despite the recent happenings. The crowd was opening their eyes now, as the cloud cleared completely and the fine blue dust rained down, although now more sparsely. And she noticed each one of their mouths curve upwards, in a peaceful smile.

Across the other side, Marina was grinning too, and Gavin was smiling half-sheepishly. But Lisa shook the feeling off and set her mouth in a straight line. Time to see the devastation.

Dratini was lying lifelessly in the pool, which was rippling slightly, affected only slightly by the mid-air explosion. Staryu was lying face-down, mimicking Dratini. Gavin and Lisa were equally devastated, though for different reasons. Gavin’s only real fighter was down – that meant Lanturn was his only hope, if it could be called a hope. Lanturn was, without a shadow of a doubt, more of a hindrance than help. But Lisa was goggling at the sight, and, although she had confirmed with herself that it no longer mattered whether she won or not, it was still a shock to the system.

Stunned and reluctant, Lisa pulled out the empty pokeball pertaining to Dratini and sent out a crimson beam to recover him back, safely. Gavin did the same, and the pool was instantly back to it’s usual empty self. Lisa clipped the pokeball sadly back onto her belt, salty tears springing to her eyes – she hated losing, although had tried to overcome her problem. But when she looked back up she winked at Gavin and Marina and began walking to the front row, where a team of journalists and TV reporters sat at a wooden row of desks, taking notes and filming the action. Lisa then took a shiny, almost unused pokeball and released the pokemon inside it. A purple monkey leapt out and landed on her shoulder, grinning brightly and clinging on as Lisa arrived at the foot of the commentary tower, and opened the glass door to go inside. Once the door shut behind her, all the noise was blocked out from the outside, and Lisa sat miserably on the first step in the flight of blue-carpeted stairs.

“ We lost, Aipom.” Lisa broke the news abruptly, but Aipom just patted her back with it’s odd tail and comforted her. Lisa sat for awhile, for once glad to be alone with her thoughts and her first Pokemon.


*

Back at the battlefield, Gavin felt like he had lost the match, too. He slowly, with a sweaty, trembling hand, reached down to his belt and pulled off his final, uncertain hope. He enlarged the pokeball slowly, and suddenly, spurred on by the cheering crowd, zapped it open, revealing the half-green, half-yellow Lanturn. The crowd oooh-ed, and even Marina looked over inquisitively. But Gavin cringed slightly at his own daring. He was going to be fried, he knew it.

“ Golduck, use Safeguard again.” Marina called, speaking for the first time since Gavin’s order for Thunderbeam, which now seemed eons ago. She had noticed Golduck’s defensive aura was losing it’s shine, and looking rather worn out, so she decided to replenish it. Gavin thought now was as good a time as any to let her win, so he called out “ Thundershock.” In a timid voice.

Lanturn flapped angrily in the water, and frowned at Gavin in a way only a Lanturn could. The boy cringed, and ducked his head to ready himself for the attack. Shutting his eyes, he heard Lanturn cry out, and electricity spark through the air. He cried out, and waited for the electricity to come. He suddenly heard a thump, and looked up, confused. Golduck had toppled over on the platform, next to Marina. Unconscious.

Gavin felt like he was in a dream. No way – why now? How? Why?

Lanturn had obeyed.

It was as though the last few weeks since Gavin actually caught the little guy had never happened. The merciless shocks and attacks – gone suddenly, taken from Gavin’s memory. Lanturn had obeyed – obeyed! The electric fish had a grin spread wide across it’s face, exultantly. Gavin gaped, and wondered what could have possibly made Lanturn obey since last time, when he shocked Gavin so hard that…

“ Oh.” Gavin muttered, recalling that he had psychiced Lanturn away and knocked it out himself. Apparently Lanturn had been impressed with this. He was going to use this to his advantage. He still had a chance!

Marina had recalled Golduck, and was preparing her final pokemon. Gavin felt adrenaline rush through his body. This was the final new pokemon to be sent out this Season. He had to win, Lanturn was on his side now, he HAD to win.

“ Go Tentacraw!”

A pokeball zapped out in mid-air and a grey pokemon appeared at once, landing in the water with a tremendous splash. Gavin’s first impression was that he had never seen anything so ugly. His second impression was that he had no idea what that thing was, so he did the smart thing and quickly tuned into the commentator’s speech. “…wisely sends out the Tentacruel evolution, Tentacraw, who has properties of not only water but Ghost and…” Gavin tuned out; A Ghost type – hard to injur, but he still had a chance. Electricity would still be of use, possibly water too.

Gavin looked the creature over. It looked semi-transparent, but that was only it’s outer layer of body. It’s inner layer was a pale blue, but the ghostly grey cover obscured this almost totally. The thing had two large, jelly-like eyes, both as wide as saucers. However – Gavin was surprised to see this – the thing had only two grey tentacles, many less than it’s unevolved form. Easy work for Lanturn, only a bit of evasive skills needed here.

“ Tentacraw – Wrap, then Acid.”
“ Lanturn – use Agility to dodge the tentacles and then thunderbolt it!”

Lanturn immediately began swimming faster to evade the incoming tentacles from Tentacraw, who towered above it six feet out of the water, it’s ghostly outline flickering every so often, like some form of hologram. The Tentacraw was large and strong, but Lanturn had the speed. Gavin watched gleefully as the fish swam straight past the larger opponent. What a stroke of luck that it was now obeying. Gavin turned back to the jellyfish, and noticed even more gleefully that Tentacraw had tangled it’s two tentacles in a knot. Even more luck.

Panting after the long, painful swim, Lanturn glowed bright yellow and shot out a beam of electricity which contacted it’s adversary and shocked it, making it shake. Lanturn looked like the victor, and Tentacraw seemed to have forgotten it’s orders. Just as Lanturn was beginning to gloat, two more tentacles shot out of the jellyfish’s side and struck it, first slapping it cruelly and then tying it up! Gavin noticed that the tentacles were almost transparent, and they were flickery and ghostly – as though something made up from nowhere. Gavin suddenly guessed, correctly, that the creature could make up tentacles whenever it wanted – that was part of it’s ghost element coming through. No wonder it only had two to begin with.

“ Lanturn, try to struggle free!” yelled Gavin, while trying to think of the next move.

Marina grinned. She now had the advantage. “ Get a good grip, Tentacraw!”

More and more tentacles shot out, until fourteen of them snaked out, entwined around the tiny Lanturn, and eventually lifting it up. Now the Green Lanturn was unable to move. Tentacraw spat out a venomous-looking acid from it’s mouth, which globbed onto Lanturn’s back and seemed to put it in great pain. It squealed, and Gavin, although having been put into pain many time by the thing before, suddenly felt sympathy. He had a sudden urge to end it’s pain and pulled out the pokeball without thinking.

“ Stop!” he muttered to himself. “ There’s still hope – I just gotta figure out a way to beat it. I know it’s water and that means it can use Ice attacks – no, that won’t help. It’s a ghost and apparently also poison type like it’s pre-evolutions, but I don’t think anything there will help me. So – I guess I’m just gonna have to try something really stupid and really risky.”

It was very risky. “ Lanturn – shock yourself!”

Lanturn shook it’s head absently in the pain, but came to his senses. He was obeying his master now – and he was in pain anyway. Not much more could go wrong anyway. The green/yellow thing powered up, and thundershocked, sending mega voltage though his body, coursing all around …

… through the tentacles, as Gavin predicted. They travelled down and shocked Tentacraw violently. Suddenly, twelve tentacles evaporated, as though they had never been there. The other two dropped limply, and hung by Tentacraw’s side as Lanturn dropped back into the water. Instantly, the acid washed off and Lanturn was back where it belonged – in the water.

Marina was taken aback by the technique, but suddenly her eyes glinted with delight. “ Tentacraw – Shadow Ball.”

Gavin shook with fear – Lanturn probably couldn’t counter this, but he had to try. What could block a Shadow Ball? He realised very suddenly - “ Water Barrier!”

Both strong attacks went into action. Tentacraw’s eyes turned pure black, and shot out black energy, which netted itself into a sphere about two feet in diameter and shot at Lanturn. Lanturn’s attack worked also, and water rose out in a huge, protective wall between Lanturn and Tentacraw. The Wave fell suddenly, but straight away a new one washed in to take it’s place, and this happened repeatedly. Gavin grinned – Lanturn was well trained after all. He might just win this thing yet…

“ Good logic, but Tentacraw is really strong!” yelled Marina to Gavin. “ Sorry, Gavin; Tentacraw, summon all your ghost energy and force the Shadow Ball into the wave!!”

“ We’ll just see!”

Suddenly, the black ball hit the tidal wave, slamming into it with great force. Gavin smiled, despite Marina’s threat – this was it – now Lanturn could force the waves onto Tentacraw. But things suddenly went awry. The ball blasted directly through the heavy wall of water, and contacted almost instantaneously with Lanturn, knocking the viridian and yellow pokemon through the water, a deep furrow left behind until the water reclaimed the space. Gavin caught a glimpse of Lanturn’s eyes – crosseyed.

KNOCKED OUT.

Gavin felt his stomach turn to ice.

Lanturn was out.

He had lost.

Failed.

The crowd erupted in a roar, and Gavin hung his head reproachfully. Marina cried out in joy, and leapt into the water, swimming with Tentacraw. Lisa, still on the footstep of the carpeted stairs with Aipom, saw, rather than heard, the events, and stood up, a determined look on her face. Time to face facts, and discover the verdict. Who was the Whirlpool Champion?

She opened the door and heard a blast of sound coming from outside. She saw Gavin recalling Lanturn, and walking around the pool to shake hands with Marina. Marina was splashing around joyfully, laughing in the cool water with her Tentacraw as the referee threw her a huge, golden trophy with engraved letters. Marina read it, and laughed again. Lisa squared her shoulders, tried to look happy for her opponent, and went to do the right thing. Approaching the edge of the pool, she called;

“ Congratulations, Marina!”

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

BAH HUMBUG!

Darn it, you mayed it good, then bad! HOW COULD YOU! GAVIN SHOULD HAVE WON!!!!!

Grrrr.

Evil Luper, you shall pay!

*shadow ball forms in right hand*

[Master Kirby]

That was Good and Bad. It was good that now Lisa and Gavin are equal, so they won't feel bad about the other one winning. It was Bad that niether of them won.

At least now Gavin knows that Lanturn will obey him. If Staryu hadn't been knocked out, than Gavin wouldn't have found this out.

Tentacraw! That was interesting. There should be more triple type pokemon( tentacraw was Water/Poison/Ghost). Lisa should catch a Steel/Psychic type or a Dragon/Scizor (adding the Dragon type to a Scizor would take the Fire weekness from 4x to 2x)!

[Gavin Luper]

SSM: Uh oh! Lol, don't get too angry, I wanted Gavin to win, too. But you've got to see the logical side - it's more likely, and fitting, that a water-type pokemon trainer would win the Tournament. Lisa and Gavin's defeat shows not only that they have a way to go, but it helps set them back to their real journey!

Master Kirby: Good and bad? Ah well. Read what I said to SSM above to see why Gavin and Lisa both lost. I think it's good that they are equal.

Yes, if Staryu had remained alive and kicking, Gavin would never have realised that Lanturn could obey him!

I hope you liked Tentacraw. From now on, a few new pokemon are introduced into the story, so I hope you like them. Remember the autumn/fall Fanfic awards will be coming soon (next month I think ...).

Cheers!

[Last Exile]

Both of them are out?! Aw!!!!

Well, don't sweat it about Collingwood. I'm more vengeful when it comes to North Melbourne, Carlton, Western Bulldogs and Essendon. They're my grudge sides. Our state is still reeling from the fact your side beat both our sides, so we're a little miffed. And we think that Cloke deserved to miss the grand final, considering he mashed Tyson Edwards's nose!

[Gavin Luper]

Ryan: Lol! Both of the people you were going for lost the championship, eh? Gavin and Lisa. And I spose it's just too familiar with Adelaide and Port ...

OK OK, I'll stop rubbing it in. Anyway, thanks for reading.

I don't mind North Melbourne, Western Bulldogs I don't really like, but I hate Essendon and Carlton! Carlton naturally, but Essendon are the most arrogant team ever, so stuck up!

LOL. I had no control over that nose incident!!

[Andrew]

Hello old, chap, how's your monacle today? Still clean I hope! And your cane and top hat?

Oh well, good to see this is progressing along again! I still find it funny that Gavin and Lisa fought eachother and let Marina get away with winning! Why didn't they make a deal beforehand to take down that lady and then eachother?

And Staryu seems to be Gavin's most Powereful doesn't it! Will we see more natu and Giraffe?

Oh well, keep going and talk to you later!

[Gavin Luper]

Hello, Andrew old chap! Care for a round of cucumber sandwiches?

Why didn't you tell me about that idea of Gavin and Lisa making a pact? It would've been perfect for building their rela - er - friendship. LOL. They should have killed her off first I suppose, but what the heck. What's done is done.

Yeah, the truth is that Staryu is the strongest at this point in time. But i will be building on Natu and Girafarig (you know about Girafarig, you've seen chapter 9 ...)

Hope to speak some time today, ok? Cheerio old chap!

[Gavin Luper]

I've decided to edit Chapter 18 today and post it a little earlier than planned. Since I'm on holidays now, I'll be online a lot more, and by the end of this holidays ... *dum dum dum* I should be able to finish posting the book!!

HOORAY!

And then, the real stuff begins ...

Just gotta edit some stuff. Expect the chapter up in a minute!

Here it is ... this chapter had to be broken into two parts because it was too long, sorry for the inconvenience!

Cheers!
-------------------------------------

Chapter 18 - Legendaries.


“Leeeeesa!” squealed Aipom, swinging from the jarrah rafters in the high ceiling. “ Leeesa!”

“Ssh!” Gavin muttered, emerging from his couch, with a backpack on his back and all four full pokeballs on his belt. He held in his hand a tiny silver medal and a fast ball – runner up prizes from the Whirlpool Cup the previous day. He still felt sore from losing when the cup was within his grasp: he felt like just being alone for now. He was going to go to the mysterious caves in the island nearby for the day – maybe try to catch a new pokemon. That would give him something to be happy about.

Gavin sat at the murky-mustard bench, and pulled out a notebook from his pocket, only slightly crumpled. He quickly wrote a note to Lisa in his untidy scrawl, and folded it, placing it on the fridge-top, where Lisa was sure to go first. Whispering to Aipom to be quiet, he opened the door, which creaked very slightly, and shut it, with a much louder squeak.

Gavin plunged his notebook into his backpack, and slipped it onto his back, turning to face the beach before him. Stumbling in the beach sand and making slow progress, he approached the wet sand, on which waves were calmly lapping up against the shell which littered the otherwise plain beach. Gavin felt his sneakers sink in the muddy earth, and so decided to idle no more. “Staryu, c’mon!”

Staryu popped quietly out of it’s captivating home, the pokeball. It’s protrusive limbs stuck firmly in the sand at the floor of the shallow water where it had landed. Gavin admired the entire day – a typical summer’s day, and a perfect Friday. The steady breeze carried a hint of adventure for Gavin, he sniffed it eagerly, and grinned, hopping aboard Staryu’s right arm and pointing out directly east.

“Head that way.” He told his pokemon. “It’s not gonna be very far.”


*

“Quag!” Quagsire cried, firing a hyper-triple-mega-ice beam at Marina’s golduck. It was shot down in one go, and fainted. Marina fell down and began to cry, and Lisa joyfully recalled Quagsire after a high five. A Golden Trophy and Staff appeared in her arms. Then Aipom came up, and did a little dance on her shoulder, which made Marina bawl even more. But then Aipom began gnawing…

Lisa’s eyes fluttered open, and realised it had just been a dream. She grinned to herself – a good one, too, except for the end part, when Aipom bit her ear. Still, it was said that dreams were a distorted reflection of emotions, views and real life …

The girl felt a flash of pain in her ear.

“Aipom!” she squealed, pulling the cheeky monkey off her ear and sitting bolt upright. She rubbed her eyes and yawned uncontrollably for a few seconds. Friday the 15th … about a month until she returned home. Lisa rolled over, wondering why her lower back pained her so much until she actually pulled the bedsheets off to reveal a belt of six pokeballs, one empty, five filled, still on. She forgot to take them off, even after that party last night at the Entertainment centre, where she had been given a Friend Ball, and a tiny copper medallion, which hung now from her neck, along with her pokegear.

She opened the door, and saw an empty hut. Aipom leapt onto the TV, and then jumped up to the rafters in the roof. Lisa glanced around - there was no Gavin, lying like a deadweight on the sofa as usual. Lisa groaned, wondering only slightly where he had gone, and entered the cramped kitchen, the splinters collecting on her thick socks. She opened the fridge while Aipom carelessly destroyed the table next to the sofa as he dropped down – and Lisa couldn’t have cared less – it was their final day in the shack, and frankly, she had had enough anyway.

Pouring milk into a china bowl of Coco’s Crunch, she screwed the cap back on, sighing to herself as she gradually awoke, and returned to the fridge. This time, however, she noticed a tiny sheet of paper folded carefully atop the fridge. Replacing the milk, she picked up the note, sat down at the barstool at the bench and read. It was unmistakeably a note from Gavin.

[I]Dear Lisa,
Hopefully you find this straight away before you get worried or anything. I’m going to do some training on a nearby island – Silver-Rock – all day probably, so don’t worry. I’ll be back at about 4, so just wait for me, OK? Thanks, I’ll seeya later, hopefully with a new Pokemon. – Gavin.[I]

Short and sweet, Lisa noted, taking a few spoonfuls of Coco’s crunch at once and cramming them into her mouth. She felt really relaxed after last night, as though all the tension between her and Gavin had been dissolved by the battle. In a way, she felt relieved that Gavin finished her off first, so they didn’t have to fight each other, one-on-one, which might have been dangerous. However, she was a little peeved at him for the sneak attack in the fight – she had felt really angry about that, although tried to hide it. She sighed … “Just as I was getting to li…”

She broke off from talking to herself, as Aipom crashed a lamp beside the TV, and she sternly warned him. “ Aipom, that’s enough. We have to leave this place intact!”

After Aipom had solemnly promised to behave, Lisa turned back to her cereal while the purple monkey began gnawing on the sofa edge. Lisa felt slightly empty after the match – it felt like her whole life had been building up to the Whirlpool Cup Final Battle, and now that it was all over, she felt undirected in her pokemon quest. Sure, she had been going to find out about Suicune and the other legendaries, but now the task seemed tougher than ever. Where was she meant to start? Back in October she had been to the Radio Tower’s library – there was no hope of returning, in light of the destruction.

She sighed. Legendary pokemon hunting WAS hard work, after all. It wasn’t as if opportunities came knocking on the door, or appearing on the road to various places, or ringing on the phone …

On cue, Lisa’s pokegear phone purred loudly, and she jolted around, shocked at how coincidental it was. As she washed the now empty bowl of Coco’s crunch, she pressed the side button and said “ Hello?”

“Good Morning … am I speaking to Lisa Walters, of Ecruteak City?” a man’s voice said.

Lisa was startled. “Yes … you are … do I know you?”

“Most likely, no.” the man replied.

Lisa’s jaw dropped. “OH MY GOD, you’re a STALKER!”

“No no!” insisted the voice on the other end. “ I am most certainly not. I am Professor Westwood the fifth, and I am seeking your help. I was attending to my Pokedex files a day or two ago and realised some files are incomplete – files you may know of.”

The girl felt still suspicious, but was positive she had heard the name of the professor before, so continued. “What kind of help?”

“ Information on the legendary Black Beast - please can you help me?”

“ I don’t know…” stuttered Lisa, recalling the Black Beast suddenly. “ I can’t really remember much…”

“ Of course you can.” Westwood cried. “ Please, come to visit me at my holiday lab.”

Lisa stayed silent for a moment, and the Professor interpreted this correctly. “ I assure you, I am no stalker. Bring a team of Officer Jennies with you if you like …”

Lisa thought for a moment, and then nodded. She suddenly realised he couldn’t see her, and so she agreed. “ OK, tell me the address.”

After a few more minutes of conversation, Lisa hung up, and quickly wrote a note to Gavin in her neat printing, in case he returned before she. The note basically said that if he came home first, to quickly tidy up, and meet Lisa at Westwood’s mansion. Lisa quickly placed it on the TV top, where Gavin was sure to see it first, as there was no remote. Then she called Aipom, hoisted her backpack on, and left.


*

Mud stuck to Gavin’s shoes as he trudged up the short beach to the caves which covered almost the entire landscape of silver rock island. Gavin thought it was spectacular – an uninhabited Island which was littered with caves and crumbly brown rocks. However, all the caves were made from a much more solid looking, silvery rock, which looked fake at first, but was actually very real.

Gavin recalled Staryu, and set out, Fast Ball in hand, ready to be used at a moment’s notice. He had actually landed a little off course – possibly 200 metres, actually. This side of the island was obscured from view from the direction in which he had approached, but a quick gust of wind had driven him away, and off course.

Gavin shrugged – he was here now anyway, so he would make the most of his visit. It was already 10am, and the sun was becoming progressively stronger, or so it seemed, heating the island. Gavin began walking to a cave to his left, but found that this trail was too rocky, so he about faced and travelled for about five minutes before he came to a glittery silver cave, which didn’t face directly onto the beach, and it’s entrance was very narrow – unlikely to fit anybody much larger than Gavin himself. He gave a furtive glance around, before pushing himself through the cleft.

Inside, the cave was almost pitch black; light from outside barely penetrated the darkness. Distantly, what sounded like a voice was echoing in short bursts. Gavin pulled his backpack off, and dumped it on the ground. After a moment’s fishing around, he produced his torch, and flicked it on (just in case Lanturn had turned back to disobedience after it’s defeat the previous day, and in case it refused to use Flash technique). The beam pierced the blackness better than the sliver of light coming from outside, and, scanning the walls, Gavin soon found an opening to an adjacent chamber – very low, but quite wide. He slipped his pack back on and continued on into the chamber.


*

The mansion sat atop the cliff on the northernmost point of Red Rock Island. Marble pillars outlined the surroundings of the wide, glass-made structure, hoisting up long, shaded terraces bordered with new palms and lush green lawns.

Lisa rapped loudly on the door, and heard a scuttling sound inside. Aipom began to get excited, and started swinging off the door handle. Lisa yanked him off immediately, just as the door swung open.

“ Lisa Walters? Please come in!”

In was definitely the same man from the phone – Lisa recognised the voice – but he looked so … odd! Professor Westwood was a squat, balding man in a white lab coat. His buttons, Lisa noticed at first glance, looked ready to explode any second. The man had large, pale-blue, watery eyes and walked so strangely Lisa really considered it waddling.

“ I heard about you on the news a long time ago. I met your brother Thomas by chance last week, and he explained you were on the island.” He paused, and Lisa looked up – things were being explained. Although Gavin had told her Tom was on the island, he had been urgently called back to Ecruteak, and Lisa had failed to meet him.

“ In case you didn’t know, my lifelong study is the Pokedex.” Westwood continued. “ I study every pokemon there is known to exist, and my workers and I create names, and study them to discover what moves they use, how skilled they are, and what they evolve into. One pokemon I know almost nothing about is the black Beast. I believe you can help me.”

“ O – Ok.” Lisa breathed.

“ Follow me.”

The inside of his hybrid mansion/lab was very tempting for Aipom. Through the entrance hall, protrusive, ugly ornaments or various materials were placed neatly on short columns of marble, mostly pewter statues of heads of very noble-looking men, or colourful, fragile-looking vases. Lisa held Aipom’s tail close to her chest, incase he got any ideas. Westwood led Lisa and Aipom through the mansion until they came to a spacious, airy conservatory. The sunroom was filled with exotic-looking plants and palms, which sat in heavy terracotta pots on the green tiles.

“ Sit.” Westwood ordered, as he placed himself in a deckchair under a palm. Lisa pulled one up, and sat next to him, although she was cautious to keep the chair a good foot or two away from the flustered man.

“ Oh, don’t worry about that.” Westwood muttered, gesturing at Aipom, struggling to wriggle free of Lisa’s grasp. “ Let him go – he can make friends with Slowbro is he wants.” Westwood gestured to a bright pink creature over in the corner of the sunroom, and Lisa reluctantly released Aipom’s tail.

“ So – you called me here about the black –”

“ Yes, about that…” Westwood began, taking a sip from a lemonade can which Lisa hadn’t seen sitting next to the deckchair. “ I need your help.”

Lisa almost laughed aloud. Help from her? She looked the man up and down … he was the creator of an entire documentation of every known pokemon … and he needed her help?

“ Well, I don’t know…” Lisa said carefully. “ I don’t really think I can help you.”

“ I assure you it’s not difficult at all.” Westwood said hastily.

“ What would I have to do if I accepted your request?” Lisa enquired, choosing her words carefully.

“ Fill in a pokedex entry on the Black Beast.”

“ An entire thing?!”

“ Only a description, picture and name –”

“ Stats, right? I suppose I make them up?”

Westwood stopped abruptly. “ Is there a problem with that?” he said harshly, in a voice not unlike a cruel teacher at school.

Lisa shook, and timidly answered. “ No … but …”

“ I’m kidding!” Westwood boomed, and Lisa quickly decided he had a problem after all – a mental one. But she smiled politely, and then went on to say: “ No, I don’t think I can make up the stats – speed and all that –”

“ We’ll take care of that.” Westwood interrupted. “ Hardly anybody has ever seen the Black Beast – it’s still yet to be identified with a real name – I’d like to give that honour to you, Lisa. Stats will be discarded for now.”

Lisa thought for a moment, before blurting out. “ Sure.”


*

Gavin ducked as he walked past a cavern wall with horizontal stalactites sticking out from the wall – a very odd sight to see, made from when movements in the earth’s crust and changing of the rocks over millions of years caused the stalactites to grow on an angle. He walked past and continued through the chamber, the fourth one now since leaving the light of the outside world. Gavin was on the brink of simply giving up – his only finds so far had been a Magikarp out of water.

Just as Gavin turned the corner, Natu fluttering ahead, there was a squeaking cry, and a Psyduck came waddling out from nowhere, approaching Gavin. He would have let it run on by, but it glared at him oddly, and with barely a second of consideration, water gunned the boy. Within moments it had stopped, but Gavin was soaking, caked in mud and lying on the ground.

“ What was THAT?!” he muttered. Natu, still drifting along the tunnel, turned back to see the Psyduck preparing another watergun, and it shot out a thin beam of lavender light in retaliation. The beam slammed into Psyduck’s head, and it suddenly raced down the tunnel, towards the direction of the entrance.

Gavin shrugged the odd experience off, but thanked Natu first. Then followed a very long period of dark nothingness.

“ That’s it.” Gavin told himself, as Natu fluttered along behind his left shoulder, and the torchbeam ahead barely showed any light. “ If there’s nothing in the next cavern, I’m turning back!”

Natu hooted in agreement, as it and Gavin reached the end of the chamber, and found the only thing that could annoy Gavin more – a fork in the tunnels.

Instinct and common sense told Gavin to turn back immediately, but a raspy, heaving breath from beyond the left tunnel entrance told him a creature – a big one at that – was somewhere through that tunnel. Gavin, torn between the possibility of a pokemon and his own safety, was about to turn back when Natu squealed and fluttered into the inky blackness of the tunnel. Gavin gave one deep sigh, and stepped into the tunnel, ducking his head along the way.

His torch was almost no use. It the chambers, it had glittered on the silvery rocks and reflected, making the entire chamber that little bit lighter, though still dull. But this tunnel was composed of ordinary rocks, not gleaming silver ones. Gavin sprinted down, his torch locating a rock wall at the end of the tunnel – a dead end, he would generally presume, but Natu had disappeared. Gavin trudged to the end, and felt the wall – solid, a complete barrier. However, as he turned back in confusion, he noticed there was a wide cleft to his left through which a little light shone out of. Curiously, he stepped through, ducking so low his back was hunched well over.

This cave was actually quite bright compared to the last, so Gavin promptly turned off his torch and squinted his eyes so he could see without being dazzled by the apparent resplendent beauty of the cave. Inside, the breathing sound was even heavier, and this cave was composed primarily of silver boulders – and the light came both from them and from a huge opening above. Gavin opened his eyes fully now, and saw Natu, squawking loudly on a row of well-placed boulders. Gavin shushed him, but Natu insisted, so he walked over to investigate, and was very glad he did.

Behind the row of boulders, an enormous white creature lay, breathing heavily with its indigo eyelids closed – undoubtedly asleep. Gavin rubbed his eyes as he took it the huge bulk, the white wings and body, and the indigo strips on it’s back – definitely a mythical Lugia.


*

Westwood and Lisa walked down an aisle of shelves piled high towards the roof – Westwood was searching for a fact file on the Black Beast – all the information that had been collected from the few times it had been seen. Lisa was having her doubts now, as Westwood handed her a thin file from a collection of much, much fatter ones.

“ This is it?” she groaned, taking out a couple of sheets of paper, and one or two photographs, which she noted were black-and-white.

“ Very good, considering the Black Beast has been only seen a few times,” Westwood said, his chest swelling proudly. Lisa nodded, but then a new worry came into her mind.

“ Excuse me, Professor, my friend and I were meant to leave our accommodation tonight, there’s some new occupants staying for a while …”

Westwood answered almost automatically. “ I have a guest room at the back. You’re welcome to stay here – your friend too.”

“ Why, thank you,” Lisa said, thinking that people were very hospitable, and wondering whether she should first consult Gavin or not. She nodded, taking the file, and said. “ OK, show me the guest room.”

[Gavin Luper]

*

Gavin breathed almost as heavily as the Lugia before him – he guessed it was a baby, for although it was much larger than Gavin himself, real Lugias, or the ones in movies anyway, were enormous, 6 metres in length.

Natu squawked again, and Gavin clapped his hand over it’s pointed beak, then yelped himself with pain as the bird drilled it’s beak into his palms, which were sweaty. He wiped them on his shorts, and then remembered he had a Fast Ball on him.

He breathed excitedly – it was common knowledge that a sleeping Pokemon was easily captured, and this opportunity was too hard to miss. However, if the mother came home while he was still in the vicinity, or if the baby woke up … maybe it wasn’t too safe at all.

However, as Gavin began to tiptoe away, Natu screeched and awakened the beast – with a soft roar Lugia took to the air. Gavin cringed, but now he had gotten himself into the situation, he had better finish it. Besides – a sudden thought shook him – his family legend of the Psychic Pokemon challenging Gavin himself to a fight might be true – the mother Lugia – was THAT the pokemon spoken of in the legend?

Gavin shook the thoughts from his head, and ordered a quick Night Shade from Natu. Before Lugia could attack in a rage from the rude awakening, Natu had psychically dulled the entire chamber, and a blast of what Gavin could only describe as shadow wavered across the cavern and hit the Lugia hard. It looked weak – although large, it was quite a young baby. Gavin pulled out the Fast Ball – he didn’t truthfully think he had a good chance, but he had learnt by his training to try all the time, so he promptly threw the ball. It zapped open on impact with Lugia, and sucked in all the darkness around in the cave, also turning Lugia into light transparency, gobbling it up into the Fast Ball, which clicked shut and hit the ground, wobbling.

Unexpectedly, it stilled.


*

Lisa bounced rapidly on her double bed, laughing as Aipom joined in. Quagsire and Elekid sat on Gavin’s bed, in the same room but at the opposite end, drinking lemonade from tall glasses with a lemon slice fitted onto the rim. Butterfree was outside stretching her wings, and Dratini was in the bath which was situated in the gold ensuite. Lisa’s Vulpix was socialising for the first time, darting around to meet each of Lisa’s pokemon. It took to Butterfree mainly, and Elekid seemed to make a good friend too.

The door opened noiselessly, and Professor Westwood entered, looking around at the pokemon before turning to Lisa.

“ I’m going out to the town to pick up some groceries,” he noted. “ I’ll be a few hours, so use your time well.” He glanced at the unopened file lying on Lisa’s bedside table, and Lisa abruptly stopped bouncing and looked guilty.

“ Yeah, I’ll try to work on that.” She muttered.

“ Good.” Westwood stated. “ My cook is in the kitchens if you need anything, and if your friend comes, the key is on the hook next to the statue of Charles Druos in the hall. Alright, bye.”

Lisa blinked.

Moments later, the heavy front oak door slammed, and it was within seconds that Lisa had the radio blaring and had called the cook for some shipments of potato chips. Elekid and Vulpix seemed to be enjoying the relaxing day more than the others, mainly because they had been caught during the course of the Whirlpool Cup and had been quite neglected, whereas Dratini and Quagsire were constantly used, and Butterfree had had a very big battle against Jack.

However, after a few minutes, Lisa felt a flash of guilt, and turned the radio down, finally reaching over to the dusty file given to her by Westwood and opened it.

Inside, the file contained a small collection of photographs, ranging greatly in age. The oldest, Lisa thought, was one which had yellowed greatly and frayed on the edges. The picture was of two girls – about Lisa’s age – standing in front of a bush. Behind them, Lisa could make out the black Beast prowling around in the shrubbery. Turning the photograph over, Lisa read the scrawly writing of Westwood; ‘1902 @ Lake of Rage. Earliest proven sighting of B.B.’

1902 … over a century ago. Lisa looked through the other two photos, which both showed the beast in some way, lurking around, or sprinting away. Then Lisa discovered a few sheets of notes from Westwood – or maybe his predecessor – noting that the beast was a type of beast similar to Suicune, Raikou and Entei.

The work Lisa had to do was cut out for her, although she would have to do a bit of investigating. She read through recounts from the people who had experienced the Black Beast, and analyses of the beast’s type – all of which seemed to point toward it being a Dark Type. However, Lisa had to find a suitable name, and from her memories of that day in the Radio Tower, determine it’s type and if possible, attacks.

She quickly settled down to work, scrawling down everything that might help, while the Pokemon bounced on the beds.


*

“ She’d better be here,” Gavin muttered to Natu, who was hopping excitedly on his shoulder, as he knocked loudly on the door. He had rushed back to the beach hut immediately after catching Lugia, only to discover Lisa wasn’t there, and she had left a note for him (incidentally, the place he went to first). So he had sprinted over to the landlord’s to return the key before finally coming to the mansion. So it wasn’t surprising that he snapped first at Lisa when she opened the door.

“ Bout time.” He quipped, and Lisa wondered what on earth he was talking about; she had rushed straight downstairs when she heard the knock on the door, and quickly found the key next to a statue of a very posh-looking man, Charles Druos. But Gavin didn’t stay irritated for long, within seconds he was hopping madly as Natu was. “ Leese, you’ll never guess what happened!”

Lisa shrugged. “ What?”

Gavin jumped excitedly and pulled out the Fast Ball containing Lugia. “ I caught a pokemon – a Lugia.”

Lisa blinked. “ Sure.”

“ Serious!!” Gavin cried. “ I have it in here for proof, although I probably shouldn’t open it here –” he glanced nervously at the statues, and then at Aipom who was attacking a vase. Lisa pried him off, before leading Gavin to the sunroom.

“ OK, show me,” she said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Gavin put on a loud, deep voice very different compared to his own. “ I present … Lugia!”

The Fast Ball popped open, and in a swirl of light, a pokemon appeared. Aipom and the others, Slowbro included, gathered around, as the light subsided, and the pokemon, huge as it was, was almost visible. Suddenly, the light flared back up, and washed all over it again, and the pokemon’s glowing indefinable shape began to shrink, until it was so small it was dwarfed even by Aipom.

The light finally disappeared, and Aipom, Butterfree, Elekid, Slowbro, Dratini, Quagsire, Natu, Gavin and Lisa gathered around the tiny, pink blob on the floor, and Lisa burst into giggles, while Gavin’s mouth opened and closed constantly like a fish.

“ Nice to see you caught a Ditto,” Lisa chuckled, as Gavin stared wordlessly at the shrivelled lump on the tiled floor. Gavin slapped his head, and Lisa laughed more. She guessed easily what had happened – Gavin was trying to impress her. But then she realised the Ditto had first been large when the pokeball opened – maybe it HAD been a Lugia? Which meant it had recently seen one…?

“ C’mon Gavin, I’ll show you our bedroom.”

“ Oh, OUR bedroom, hey?” Gavin said in a different voice again.

“ It’s separate beds Gavin, get over yourself,” Lisa flicked him away, and mouthed to herself. ‘ Boys.’


*

The dinner that night was quite like a feast, and Lisa indulged in the Greek salad, and the macaroni medley made uniquely by the cook. Gavin told Westwood his Ditto/Lugia story, and the Professor seemed quite interested. However, he seemed much more interested in hearing of the Black Beast’s Pokedex entry development. Lisa admitted she had written out all the known sightings as Background Info, and had given an estimated height based on the photographs and her own experience. She had even tried to confirm a few attacks, and decided from looking at these that it was not only Dark type, but Psychic, too. But she had yet to conclude a name.

Professor Westwood, however, said he didn’t need the entry until the morning, and he was thoroughly pleased with Lisa’s efforts so far. Lisa went to bed that night oblivious to Gavin’s heavy, rapid breathing not too far away, but her mind seemed so clogged with other things that a name that was going to go down in history just didn’t seem to be an easy task.

In the morning, Lisa felt as though she had had no sleep whatsoever. But thankfully, she had concocted a name, which she wrote down on the fact file and handed to Professor Westwood at Breakfast.

“ Very good.” He mused. “ I’m impressed with he name – it flows, even if the structure IS a little unoriginal.”

“ What is it?” Gavin asked, curious.

Westwood told him. “ Lunanine.” He said. “ Lunanine is the Black Beast.”

“ It comes from Lunar Canine.” Lisa told Gavin. “ So, in effect its name is Moon Dog.”

After breakfast, Westwood announced that he was off to Silver Rock Island to search for a Lugia. If what Gavin had told him held true, the Lugia was recently in the area, and it wasn’t to be missed. Westwood invited Lisa, and she briefly thought it would be a great opportunity. But then she recalled her TRUE quest for Suicune, and politely declined.

“ At least take this.” Westwood said, fishing around in his pockets for something. He handed Lisa a small pair of clear, crystal bells. “ Take them. I think they’ll help you on your quest.”

“ Thanks … but how?” Lisa wondered aloud, taking the bells and putting them in her pack.

“ You’ll see.” Westwood grinned. “ Thanks again for the entry – It’ll be programmed into all pokedexes within days!”

“ Welcome! And thank you so very much for your hospitality!” Lisa called.

“ Yeah,” Gavin put in pointlessly.

“ G’bye!”

With that, the front door slammed, and Lisa and Gavin were left on the trail downhill, back into the town, and the ferry. “ So – back to the mainland.” Gavin noted. “ It seems like forever since we left. It was heaps of fun in the tropics, though.”

“ Yeah.” Lisa said, rubbing Aipom’s furry tail, which coiled kindly around her neck. “ But I can’t wait to get back.”

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

That doesn't make sense; previous POkedex entries state that Ditto's turn into rocks while they sleep, not Lugia's.

Westwood! I remember him! I don't think he's THAT fat...

Well, Gavin got close. Why didn't he go with Westwood back to the island cave place? I would.

So close. Lugia. Gavin should have probably opened the Pokeball before he returned, to stare at his magnificent Pokemon, before realising it was a Ditto. Stupid Gavin. Luper, *snort*, what a weird name.


NEXT CHAPTER PLEASE!

[Last Exile]

Well, that was an interesting turn of events! Knew it couldn't have been a Lugia! ;) And our dear Lisa is into the pages of history at last! Hopefully she makes even grander entries! Good stuff, Gavin!

PS. I'd like to be sympathetic with you about Collingwood losing the Grand Final, but you know I'd be lying. So therefore, I won't! ;)

[Gavin Luper]

SSM: hi there! I know Ditto is supposed to turn into a rock, but what the hell? It didn't say they ALWAYS do. Maybe that was just one stupid Ditto?

Westwood's podgy, but not huge. I think he's really just clumsy and that makes him seem big for some reason./ By the way, Gavin might have gone with Westwood, but he didn't. I wonder why ...

Yeah yeah, new chapter in a few days!

Ryan: Yeah, it should have been pretty obvious that it wasn't actually Lugia ... as if it could be caught so easily. Even if it was a little baby! We'll be hearing from Westwood again sometime, and Lisa will be put on the map of Pokemon pokedex studiers! Lol ... maybe. Thanks mate!

Oh, I'm over the Collingwood thing. But I still think we played VERY well, don't you? Lol.

Cheers!

[Last Exile]

Yeah, they did play well. I'm more of a fan of free-flowing footy rather than dirty and pushy. But then again, North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs play that style all the time, and I really don't like them! My main quibble with Collingwood is Eddie McGuire. He has helped that club a lot, but that doesn't disguise the fact that he's a wanker and he's an overexposed knobhead! Still, that beats being John Elloit, the redneck boofhead in charge of Carlton, but hopefully he'll be extinct soon! ;)

[Gavin Luper]

Ryan: Eddie ... is er, OKish! I can't say he's that good. But I agree he's way too overexposed!!!!!

I like it when they start fights. It was really typical when the camera zoomed in on some pushing, and while we watched them pushing each other around, someone scored a goal. That was cool. But I usually prefer it to be nice and normal!

Chapter 19 up in a few days! Cheers!

[Last Exile]

At least he isn't Sam Newman! Now there's a real wanker! He's actually better behaved drunk than sober! ;) Have you seen how many times ladies flash him, morons do burnouts for him, the innuedo that follows him? *pukes*

[Andrew]

Oh my Gavin old chap did you hear our close Friend Princess Margret is being taken to court over her Corgi's nipping on people's heels!

My goodness, what is happening to society these days... I remember when Corgis had bellies that scraped the ground and devoured as many people as they wanted, but those were the days.

But poor Gavin AWwwww... What a let-down for him. Vulpix seems Ok, but a tiny bit Hyper, doesn't it have any emotions against Lisa for catching it?

And will we see DJ Aipom? Floatie Kiddie Lisa? Or Shopkeeper Gavin? Only time will tell. My to post in 2 parts that means its very long!

Talk to you later. Good work!

[X-Wing]

Hi guys (basically CCC, Gavin and OzAndrew... and all the others)

I'm using this fic just to signal that I finally got to install myself correctly enough in my new house to finally have the time to use the internet again to comme and say hello to you and of course read your fics... Being a full time teacher also means that I have less time to be here but I still did not forget you so by now I should poke my head from around a corner every once in a while...

Anyway time to go before someone warns me for spamming!

Good to see you still around here...!

X-Wing

P.S. Isn't it good to use that ol' nick again ??? 8)

[Gavin Luper]

Ryan: LMAO! ... I don't really have anything more to say!

Andrew: LMAO again! I say, my readers are quite humerous peoples, are they not?

Damn, why do you always pick out things that I don't see? Vulpix needs to have emotions ... of course ... why did you have to point that out??? Ugh. Lol. And all that stuff you mentioned will/may come soon! Oh, and it was 5 100 words or something I think!

X-Wing: Hey!! Long time, no see! I was just wondering where you went the other day. Nice to see that you're "back". I suppose once we get back to the crossover you will be replying more regularly? I certainly hope so.

Cheers!!

[Snakes N' Legends]

Interesting story!! A quest for legendaries!! When I was reading this, I was wondering when Eusine was going to show. Eusine is a Suicune expert. Hmmm ... that gives me idea to incorporate Rockets, Legendary Researchers and Legendaries.

Well, keep up the good job. Well, I say that to any fanfic author. It is what I do.

[Gavin Luper]

Tyranitar Master: I liekd the plot myself ... it's something a little different than what you might usually see.

LOL don't you dare make a fic of rockets, legendary researchers and legendaries! What do you think this is? Lol!

I hope you keep reading the future chapters! Seeya!!

[Snakes N' Legends]

No, what I meant is to incorporate those three items into my fanfic "The Twin Terrors." By the way, what Rockets? Are they in the future chapters to come?

[Gavin Luper]

Tyranitar Master: Yes, there are members of Team rocket still coming in this story! I just meant that if you had legendaries, rockets and legendary researchers in a fic it would be too similar to mine!


Cheers! Chapter 19 up soon!

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 19 - Sacred Suicune.


Pidgeys shrieked in the tall oak trees which bordered the long, gravel road to Moo Moo Farm. Lisa and Gavin trailed wearily behind Aipom, who raced in front, squealing almost as often as the wild Pidgeys. The December morning was dawning bright and warm, and Lisa was sweltering in the rising heat of summer. Her bag weighed heavily on her bag and she reminded herself to buy a new one. Inside, something was jingling and clanging.

“ Are we there yet?” Gavin complained stupidly.

“ Does it look like it?” Lisa snapped, without turning to face him. The path had worn on for over two weeks now since Olivine and for the first time on her journey Lisa realised how lucky she had been to hitch a ride with Suicune on her first day. She had saved herself a LOT of time instead of walking endlessly.

As they arrived on the crest of a hill, Lisa heard some rustling in the bushes – not a common rustling that signified a weak wild pokemon, but a continuous rustling accompanied by a deep growl.

“ Oy, listen,” she muttered to Gavin, who stopped immediately. The growling grew still louder, until, in a flash of ultramarine, a creature bounded out from the bushes alongside the oaks. Lisa gaped, but her previous experiences with legendaries had taught her not to idle. Gavin gaped also, and Aipom halted in it’s tracks.

Suicune prowled menacingly on the path, teeth bared and saliva dripping continuously from it’s fangs. Lisa moved her hands to her belt and quickly sent out Dratini, who floated in awe for a moment before landing on the ground, more tense than usual. Suicune looked up at Lisa for the fourth time in it’s life, and the girl willed it to stay still, not to pelt away and escape like last time. And somehow, it worked, and Suicune accepted the challenge of the tiny Dragon, however, Lisa thought she noticed it’s eyes dart swiftly towards Gavin and linger on him for a moment, before turning back to the fight.

“ Ice Beam!” Lisa ordered at once. Gavin and Aipom both took a quick sidestep to avoid any inaccurate attacks. Dratini powered up, and fired an azure beam from it’s mouth directly at Suicune’s head – no orb of energy this time, just a beam. Suicune stood and bore the brunt of the beam, barely moving except to shake it’s head. But it inwardly gasped, although kept the same menacing look on it’s face. This girl … she had improved since last time … maybe improved a bit too much; that beam actually hurt a little …

“ Full Power Thunderbolt!” Lisa cried, and Suicune saw danger at once. While Ice Beam he was resistant against, a Thunderbolt could really hurt, especially since Lisa’s improvement. Taking a human or Dratini’s view. Lisa ceased fire at once.

“ Hang on Dratini,” she muttered sadly. “ He’s gone…”

Recalling Dratini, Lisa travelled over the hill and into a vast valley in subdued silence. Her flicker of hope had been extinguished immediately. Gavin, however, seemed to think it amazing how Suicune had simply endured the attack before calmly disappearing.

“ Seriously, Leese, that was hell cool. The way he just let you attack him … whoa! And he didn’t even strike back or anything. I wonder why he appeared anyway? I’ll have to tell Uncle Eusine that we’ve seen him twice since Goldenrod.”

For some reason, seeing Suicune again seemed to awaken Lisa from a sort of haze. The past few weeks since the ferry had landed them in Olivine and then they had trekked through the land had been fruitless attempts for legendary recognition – no pokemon had been seen except common ones which Lisa would rather give to Wes and Jean than catch for herself.

After about half an hour of silence, Lisa spotted something up ahead, gleaming in the sunlight. Gavin spoke first, however.

“ Look up there, Lisa, a lake!”

“ Is it a lake, though?”

“ Dunno … looks like it comes from the mountain … maybe a stream?”

“ River – it’s quite wide.”

“ OK – hey I don’t think there’s a bridge.”

“ Oh … we’ll just surf …”

“ Damn … I just got used to NOT swimming around everywhere.”

“ Grow up.”

However, as they came to the river, both were surprised. Aipom raced forwards, and as they arrived in a cluster at the water’s edge, they noticed a tiny hut a few hundred metres west, where a bridge arced over the water, which indeed was very wide. Lisa thought maybe it was just one long lake, until she remembered they had seen water gushing into it from up in the tall, purple-capped mountains. Gavin and Lisa followed Aipom to the hut, where Lisa was shocked suddenly by a familiar figure.

“ Lisa?” cried a girl’s voice from the door, as they approached.

“ Huh? Kris!” Lisa cried, shocked as she noticed her good friend Kristal Williams from way back in Goldenrod.

Gavin looked on as the two greeted and reunited before him. Kris looked a couple of years younger than himself – maybe she was 13 – and she had aqua hair separated into two parts. Her pokegear hung in a similar fashion to Lisa’s, like a necklace. Gavin soon gave up on waiting, and cried; “ OK, OK, Introduce us!”

Lisa laughed. “ Sorry ‘bout that. Kris, meet Gavin; Gavin, this is Kris.”

Kris held up a petite hand and waved in a way that Gavin thought only a girl would – she held her hand firm and twinkled her fingers along in a smooth ripple. Gavin nodded and muttered hello, as Lisa began chatting a top speed to her friend.

“ It’s been so long … a month anyway … where’s Hiro?”

“ He … left. I wanted to go to Olivine, he wanted to go to Mahogany, so we separated.”

“ Oh right. So have you spoken to him?”

“ We kinda left on bad terms,” Kris muttered, her mouth set in a grim line. “ I didn’t get his number.”

“ Oh,” Lisa said, quite subdued. “ So – how’s your pokemon? They’ve probably all changed by now.”

“ Great, I got a Jigglypuff just the other day.”

“ Great!”

“ And Ledyba evolved too.”

“ What about Chompy?”

“ Not yet – how about your pokemon? I see Aipom is fine.”

“ Oh yeah, he’s great, a little pesky, but fine I got some new ones too!”

While the girls chatted, they gradually walked from the hut towards the long, regal bridge. Gavin stared dejectedly after them as Lisa released Quagsire and Dratini into the river and Elekid and Vulpix to walk beside the river, and a Totodile emerged from one of Kris’ pokeballs. “ I’ll just wait here then?” he questioned, throwing down his backpack against the side of the wooden hut and sitting down on the overgrown grass which ran from the edge of the bushes to the glimmering cerulean water’s edge. One thing that struck Gavin most about the river was the clarity, and from this came the possibility of seeing wild pokemon without them being disturbed. Crawling closer to the water while Lisa and Kris admired each other’s pokemon, Gavin noticed that it wasn’t an average river. It was more like a canal of some form – the bank was an upper edging, which the water came almost level with. The edge of the canal beneath the water sloped immeasurably steeply down, Gavin guessed about four metres by the looks of certain distorted shapes of the sandy floor.

Apart from the occasional Krabby, the canal floor was littered with Totodiles of various shapes and sizes, all playing about underwater in their quiet world. Gavin watched them, his curiousity growing with each moment, as they chased, ran, hid, jumped, skipped and frolicked. The water magnified the sun’s light, it seemed, but not the heat, which would have made an ideal habitat.

Gavin checked for the girls, and found them bickering about a TV show while Quagsire, Dratini and Totodile looked on, either puzzled or amused expressions on their faces. Gavin stripped off his shirt, throwing it in the direction of his backpack and the hut, and slipped easily into the water, rippling it ever so slightly. The water was cool and soothing on his tired muscles, after walking fruitlessly until now. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs to bursting point, and ducked his head under the surface with a small splash.

His shorts clung to his legs, hindering him in his swim, but Gavin was too curious. The Totodile below seemed so – undisturbed, as if they were completely cut off from any form of civilisation.

Gavin reminded himself they probably WERE.

He dived down deeper, finding that the river was not only clear but quite calm, and serene. The Totodiles were much closer now, only a few metres away, to his right, and he was almost level with them, when a thought jolted him. What if the Totodile had never seen a human before? What if they swam away when he arrived, abandoning their home?

All these very fair thoughts raced through Gavin’s head in a split second, and he promptly sought a solution. He so much wanted to watch the creatures; underwater they were much clearer than the wavering, distorted figures he had glimpsed from above. A sudden fleck of green to Gavin’s left indicated a large clump of Salvao bushes – long and snaky, the reedy plants waved around in the water, and Gavin quickly ducked for cover beneath them, hiding behind it’s thick threads.

However, the Totodile’s hadn’t seen him. They suddenly, after a moment, pricked their ears as though something could be heard, and swam off in a cluster, about fifteen of them acting as one. Gavin seized the opportunity and let himself rise upwards to the surface, his head breaking through after a few seconds, for a breath of air. It was like the breath of a Meganium over deadened lawn; Gavin’s previously almost deflated lungs were regenerated with new oxygen, and he was ready for another dive. He hurriedly ducked his head under and began pursuing the school of Totodile.

In the few moments it had taken Gavin to take a breath, the Totodiles had swam out of sight, which Gavin inferred must have been a long way away because the water was so clear he could see for ages. He quickly swam after them, when suddenly his head slammed into a solid, hard wall of some sort, and he fell down.

‘ What?’ he thought inwardly, rubbing his head and looking up. Before him lay the usual river floor he had been swimming along, but for some reason, Gavin found it impossible to get past. The reason was abruptly made apparent, as Suicune crept slowly out of a cleft in the rock wall to Gavin’s right. It’s cobalt fur was glowing seemingly brighter than ever underwater, and it’s mouth was set in a grim line, which Gavin would have previously thought impossible. However, Gavin’s attention was taken by his lungs deciding to empty at that point. He struggled suddenly, trying to swim for the surface, but suddenly, after his lungs were ready to burst, Suicune opened it’s mouth and a jet of lilac energy issued from within it’s jaws. The beam rushed at Gavin, and hit him at once.

Moments later, Gavin found himself incased in an enormous air bubble. Inside the bubble, the sounds of the quiet underwater world were muffled and he was in his silent world. Suicune remained unfazed outside the bubble, and Gavin yelled out at it “ Oy, what are YOU doing here?!”. Gavin hadn’t really expected an answer, but all that happened was that the sound of his own voice merely echoed around the air bubble, until it had been repeated so many times it faded out. However, Suicune grinned menacingly as usual, and Gavin heard words in his head. An odd sensation washed over him, he was hearing the words, but somehow no voice, just the words were played back to him inside his own head. //Human – I have arrived – to help you//

“ What?” Gavin burst out again, hearing the words rebound of the bubble walls and watch them wobble and quiver slightly. Suicune calmly floated in the cool outside water and a radiance emerged from it’s eyes, greater than it’s aurora fur. The azure light was blinding Gavin, and he turned away slightly to view it on an angle, but Suicune seemed undisturbed. //Take this, keep it. It will help you// Gavin wondered what the legendary pokemon was on about, but watched carefully through squinted eyes at the transformation occurring. At first, he thought Suicune was evolving, as the light washed over his body, filling the clear water with azure light. The all the light seemed to form into droplets, beads of power, of energy. Gavin watched in awe, and the droplets all ran down Suicune’s body, and merged with each other, tricking down into the water, which they stained blue. All the blue beads of light now came together, and shaped themselves into a spherical form. Gavin was shaking slightly, despite trying to keep calm and stand still. Suicune watched, completely calm, as the blue shone and turned amazingly into some form of ball – pokeball? The ball was half golden, half indigo. Gavin thought it was a horrible combination, but somehow it managed to shine and look impressive still. Suicune nudged the ball, which was drifting in the water before it’s face, and the ball slowly floated forward and touched the bubble, pressing insistently on the edge. There was a soft ‘pop’ sound, and the ball broke through the bubble, and the water somehow remained outside as the bubble closed back over. Gavin felt the pokeball – it was half smooth, and half rough, but both halves were sparkling in the light. Gavin opened it, and his stomach fell suddenly as the pokeball revealed nothing at all. Empty. But as soon as the ball opened, the bubble popped, and Suicune cried //Keep it!//. Gavin closed it and pocketed it, before he rose upwards. Suicune thought out a final //Good Luck, Human//, before evaporating into the water.

Gavin floated swiftly upwards, until …

“ Lisa!!” Gavin yelled, his head breaking abruptly through the surface. “ You’ll never guess what …”

He looked around, and Lisa and Kris had both vacated the grassed area around the hut. For a moment he thought he saw them on the bridge, for there were a couple of people there, but as he watched, a few others joined those people, so he decided they couldn’t be Lisa and Kris.

The bridge was a about fifty metres away, so Gavin thought he must have floated a fair way. He hauled himself over the edge of the river, and sprawled out, exhausted, on the lawn. Deciding to wait until Lisa and Kris returned from wherever they might be, he pulled the empty pokeball out of his pocket and turned it around slowly in his hands. Suicune’s process of creating it had seemed so – magical – how could it be such a dud, apart from it’s look? It was such a let down, after watching it appear from Suicune’s tears – were they even tears, or were they just … power?

Maybe he could just try it again. It couldn’t hurt, surely? Gavin pulled himself to a sitting position and felt his breakfast slosh around in his stomach. He took the blue/gold ball, and threw it up into the air. A freak gust of wind blew past at that moment, and blew it over to the edge of the bushes and trees which rose everywhere, halting at an invisible line for the neat grass to grow. The ball landed, and a faint popping sound emitted, although again, nothing appeared. Gavin’s stomach fell a little more. It really was a dud. A sudden thud just beyond the beginning of the trees caught Gavin’s attention. The leaves rustled heavily, and suddenly a branch snapped off a tree just visible through the shade given by other trees. Gavin stood up abruptly, and approached the trees near the edge of the hut, pushing past the thickset shrubbery and into the dingy forest. Through all the undergrowth there was a rough path of destruction about a metre or so wide. Pitiful plants and bushed were trampled down into the forest floor, and Gavin felt suddenly as though - he thought this was very typical - there was somebody watching him.

To Gavin’s right, from the direction of the back of the wooden hut which backed onto the forest area, Gavin was sure he saw a flash of light – his first thought was a camera, but then he thought maybe it had been a pokemon’s beam? He averted course to investigate. Suddenly a growl sounded out from his left this time, as he made his way along a very under-used path. He suddenly came to a clearing, where pools of dappled sunlight fell on the ground, and everything was suddenly made clear.

A Raichu was laying on the ground, it’s eyes crossed, looking injured and confused. It was laying very close to the fallen branch, which was spread across the clearing. Gavin realised what had happened – Raichu had been in the tree when the branch fell off and had been virtually knocked out. It used the last of it’s strength to pointlessly use thundershock, or a similar attack. Gavin ran over the details in his mind, and everything fitted, but it seemed like such an anticlimax. He had expected there to be something interesting – maybe something mysterious, even. Disappointed, he about-faced and trudged back to the grassed area beyond the line of shrubbery. Another flash suddenly radiated from the grassed area, and Gavin sprinted back down the path of destruction until he emerged back into the light of the outside world. His special pokeball was laying on the ground, and he picked it up. The source of the second flash was suddenly made apparent.

Lisa and Kris were battling on the grassed lawn. Kris’ Chompy was glowing brightly, as a white light washed over it’s body. It grew taller, and wider. Lisa stood back, recalling her Elekid. The evolution process finished, and before the girls stood a Croconaw. Gavin took that time to clear his throat, and they noticed him.

“ Gavin, there you are,” Lisa said. “ Oy, guess what. If I win this, Kris is coming with us to Moo Moo Farm.”

He smiled. “ What if you don’t?”

Kris grinned light-heartedly. “ I’ll come anyway.”

Gavin nodded, interested, and watched as the girls sent out their last pokemon. Kris took a little longer, as she was rejoicing over her Totodile’s evolution. Finally, Lisa’s Vulpix appeared for it’s first trainer battle, and Lisa wondered if the training she had given it against wild pokemon had been enough.

Kris sent out her Jigglypuff, the bouncy, fluffy, inflatable pink pokemon. It squeaked out various syllables of it’s name and poked out it’s tongue at Vulpix. The crimson fox looked offended, and it waved it’s six tails in a way of showing how distinguished it was. Lisa quickly ordered a Flame Wheel, as well as a wish of luck, as Vulpix had been in few trainer battles before. Vulpix nodded, Kris ordered Jigglypuff’s attack, Jigglypuff nodded, and Gavin smiled as he settled down on the grass to watch the fight.

Vulpix, being the more agile of the two, took command and attacked first. Flames whooshed out of it’s mouth in a circular formation, spiralling at Jigglypuff in a scarlet pulsating form of energy and fire. Jigglypuff had seemingly been idling, but now it’s inactive appearance was revealed. It had been waiting to dodge Vulpix’s attack. It did so almost perfectly, leaping up above the spiralling fire and only just singeing it’s rubbery feet. It landed well away from the wheel of flame, which quickly burned out. Jigglypuff and Kris looked smug and pleased, Lisa and Vulpix (and Gavin too) appeared agitated. Vulpix shot out a burst of enraged embers, which caught Jigglypuff off-guard.

“ Oy, that’s not nice!” Kris protested.

“ Sorry about that!” Lisa cried, but she was actually pleased to have got an attack in.

“ It’s alright. Jigglypuff, use Rollout!”

“ Try agility, then Quick Attack!” yelled Lisa in desperation. Rollout might manage to take out her Vulpix after a couple of turns – she needed it not to hit.

Vulpix purred softly, and readied it’s body for any abrupt movement at any flinch or attempt at attack from Jigglypuff. The crimson fox waited, as Jigglypuff curled into a rubbery orb, and came careering down the grassy slope towards it. Vulpix stayed still until Jigglypuff had nearly careered into her, then leapt up and actually soared over the top of the pink pokemon. Landing on the grass, Vulpix saw the back of Jigglypuff and charged at it with all the strength it could muster. The Quick attack hit accurately, and Jigglypuff, who was slowing down after the exhausting Rollout, slammed into the ground.

“ Sing it to sleep, Jiggly!”

“ Perfect, Vulpix! Now use Safeguard before the song takes effect!”

Lisa’s Vulpix got the pre-emptive strike, and Vulpix breathed out a short stream of golden mist, which began orbiting the air around it’s head. Jigglypuff began singing a sweet-sounding song moments later, but luckily it had no effect.

“ Ember! Finish it off!” shouted Lisa.

Kris was looking in despair, and throughout her earning of her five badges, no battle had been this intense. And she was beginning to realise that Vulpix was at a much higher level. “ Jiggly, use Doubleslap!”

The Jigglypuff tensed it’s tiny hands, waiting for the Fire Fox to get within range of it’s powerful slaps. Vulpix, however, was at an advantage yet again, as it’s ranged attack meant it didn’t need to come in contact with Jigglypuff. The orange embers burst out in a stream of hot sparks, which rained down on Jigglypuff fiercely. The sparks burned it, and the pokemon shrivelled up into an unconscious heap.

Kris looked sadly at her Jigglypuff, and Lisa smiled. “ You won it this time!” Kris said, not sounding at all sad OR happy. “ I guess I’m coming with you to Moo Moo Farm!”

------------------

Suicune sprinted across the vast plains near Ecruteak. He entered the outskirts, and quickly became invisible again, as an extra precaution, although the inky blackness of night-time was acting as a shield. He raced into the Burned tower, and automatically fell down the hole in the first storey’s floor – but did so purposely. His speed was incredible – he had made the voyage easily in a few hours.

//About time// Entei greeted, it’s face hardly visible in the darkness of the basement, lit only by a flame fixed onto a bracket in the wall. Suicune made itself appear, and nodded to the tall, wide form of Entei, standing erect in the centre of the basement, and Raikou, pacing slowly in the corner.

//Did you -// began Raikou, it’s yellow fur sparking slightly with static electricity.

//Yes// Suicune informed, and the other two breathed deeply.

//All done, then? They didn’t work anything out, did they? Suicune?// enquired Entei, now curling up by the flickering vermilion flames which he conjured into the air. //You DID take all the precautions? Invisibility?//

//I’m fine, I did all that. I’ll check again in a few days// Suicune told them. //Don’t worry Entei, he should be safe for a while//

All three sat down together, in silence, and then, as though magic, invisibility fell over them, hiding them all from view. Atop the Tin Tower, a majestic phoenix heard Suicune’s last words in his head. // … should be safe for a while// The phoenix nodded to itself, and gazed slowly out to the stars, which barely lighted the night.

[Gavin Luper]

Lisa the Legend has just been updated with Chapter 19: Sacred Suicune on 2 - 10 - 02.

Link: Lisa the Legend (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2313&perpage=15&pagenumber=1)

[Mew Trainer Rose]

So the Legendaries (or at least the Legendary Dogs) are in League to keep Gavin safe. I wonder why....

...and i know you won't tell me, because that would be a major spoiler. :)

The name you came up with for the Black Beast is nice. Since the way you described it, it seemed more evil and stuff, so i expected a name that sounded more evil. Lunanine is kinda pretty. Meh, maybe teh Black Beast will turn out to be not so bad after all, and the name will fit better. :)

[Snakes N' Legends]

Interesting, this story is getting more curious by the second.

Oh, my fanfic isn't like yours. Take Ash, Misty and Brock. Throw in the help of Jessie, James, Meowth, Cassidy, Butch and Domino and mix it in with the greatest threat to the pokemon world. Then you get my fanfic, The Twin Terrors. I was just saying maybe I ought to add Legendaries to my story with Eusine of course.

Well, you story is doing great and maybe you could read mine. Unless you already have read mine. Anyways, you are doing a great job so keep it up.

[Last Exile]

What a bunch of sneaky bastards those legendary dogs are! Guess it beats creaming each other like the legendary birds did in Movie 2! Good stuff, Gavin!

[Gavin Luper]

Mew Trainer Rose: Hi there! Long time no see (not since yesterday when I replied after you in the Road Trip)! Well yes, they are in league with each other. Very evil, no? Like I said, these chapters are where the story really begins. By the way, you're right, no way can I tell anyone what's going on!

You're right, Lunanine isn't really a name associated with evil and destruction, but I couldn't exactly call it 'destructor'. It'll all work out, I know. ;) I'd better stop now before I give away any more secrets!

Tyranitar Master: Ah yes, very curious indeed. It just starts building up the suspense from her onwards, and always the reader wants to know what the hell is going on!

It's OK. I wouldn't really mind if your fanfic WAS like mine, but since it isn't that's even better. :) I might get around to reading it, it depends. I like anything with legendaries (generally).

Ryan: Hey! Yes, they're evil those guys, they are. Lol. Sneeeaky. It's all a bit mysterious at the moment, and will keep going like that for another couple of chapters. Then we'll have a break. Then more SUSPENSE chapters! WOOHOO!

Lol ... I don't like the legendary birds. All they do is kill each other.

Everyone: remember that the next chapter (chapter 20) will be ... dum dum dum ... the final chapter for the book!

YAY!

Cheers guys!

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

MORE CHAPTERS!

Hmm. It seems that the legendary beasts and Ho-oh need Gavin for something. Perhaps the Black beast, Lunanine, or Lugia, is going to come and kill him? But this Raichu he caught (he did catch it didn't he? it didn't say specificly what happened) will probably be super powerful now, or something.

[Gavin Luper]

SSM: Well, the legendaries might need Gavin ... I suppose you can put it that way ... depends how you look at it. As for the Raichu, no he didn't catch it at all ... I don't know how you interpreted it that way. But no, the Raichu just stayed there on the ground!

Cheers!

[Master Kirby]

LUGIA! That sure would have been amazing if Gavin really caught Lugia. Maybe he could get his Ditto to remember Lugia to transform again.

Why do Dittos always have to see a pokemon to transform into it? You would think that they would remember how to change into a specific pokemon the same way any other kind of pokemon remembers how to do regular attacks. They must be pretty dumb to be able to transform into something, and then forget how to do it again.

How could Gavin leave that Raichu laying there? All he had to do was throw a pokeball, and he would have caught it. Raichus can be pretty strong pokemon.

I wonder what the legendaries are up to? Maybe they have some use for Gavin's Psychic power?

[Gavin Luper]

Kirby: I was wondering where you had got to, you hadn't replied for AGES. Yeah, if Gavin had really caught Lugia ... well, that just wouldn't happen I suppose, as it is technically impossible to catch a legendary(Except for those evil Lawrence III, Bishasu and Giovanni). But Gavin should really have known better than to actually catch a Lugia - especially when it appeared to be a baby! He's a stupid bloke sometimes!

No idea about the Ditto thing ... I guess it's just what they do.

The Raichu ... I would have made Gavin catch it, except remember this fic isn't a trainer (it does have aspects of trainer to keep the readers happy) so the characters aren't hell bent on catching pokemon. Also, most of Gavin's pokemon aren't developing character-wise. I have to take care of that ... and Lisa's pokes too.

Cheers!

[Master Kirby]

I hadn't replied for a while because I had A LOT of homework. Whenever I don't reply for a while, that is usually the reason.

I will always be back again when I have the time.

[Gavin Luper]

Kirby: That's cool! Homework can be veeerrry evil! Aaargh!

I'll put the new chapter up in my next post ... in a few minutes!

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

Part 1 of the final chapter!

--------------------------------------------

Chapter 20 - Animal Magnetism.


Paw-like feet pelted over a tall, browning hill, kicking up piles of dust in their wake. The glowing creature leapt into the valley below, accompanied by his two friends, and family, Entei and Raikou, the beasts of Fire and Thunder. Suicune had been hoping to make it without being seen. Entei seemed to pick up on his thoughts.

//It was unavoidable// he told Suicune in a firm voice, as the three arrived in the vast valley below, heading for a large collection of houses, sheds and paddocks a few kilometres away. Already some people were crowding at the entrance gate of the Farm.

//Don’t worry too much// Raikou added. //Most people won’t believe him. Trust me, he’s in no condition for people to take him seriously. Although I wish we hadn’t had to do that …//

//Still …// Suicune muttered, in an uneasy tone. //Some people will, no matter what … other professors//

Entei grunted. //He’s right//

//We’ll take care of him then?// suggested Raikou, dodging a large oak tree in the middle of the road. //… speak of the devil …//

Suicune nodded. //I’ll go on to check on him – you two, make sure nobody else finds out//

Raikou and Entei grunted agreement, and curved their course silently to the left. Suicune pelted on.


*

“ Kris, you should be a chef,” Gavin burped, spreading himself out on the grass.

“ Thanks,” Kris noted happily, emptying remains of Meat Pies into a nearby rubbish bin. “ But all I did was heat them in the Pokecentre micro –”

Lisa shushed her. “ He’s a guy – he’s probably not even listening - he couldn’t care less anyway.”

Lisa actually was right, but not for the right reason. Gavin’s mind was preoccupied with the odd pokeball Suicune had created a few days ago. His curious side had got the better of him, and whenever topics of conversation were scarce on the way to Moo-moo farm, his mind would wander to the mysterious globe in his backpack. Kris and Lisa had seen it, and although Kris seemed doubtful, Lisa believed Gavin. Suicune, she was sure, was readily able to create something powerful. But when Gavin opened the ball for them, nothing appeared, as usual.

“ C’mon guys,” Kris urged, returning from the bin. She hoisted her backpack on, and her pokeballs jangled on her belt – she now had five; Chompy, Jigglypuff, Ledyba, Misdreavus and a Growlithe which she caught luckily the previous day. “ The farm is VERY close.”

“ I know, but it’s been taking for ever,” Lisa whined, standing up, hoisting her pack on, and calling Aipom over from it’s conversation with a wild Rattata. “ But I suppose we won’t get anywhere by just sitting and complaining. Let’s go Aipom.”

“ Leesaa!” squealed Aipom, jumping onto her shoulder and leaving the Rattata looking offended.

“ You too Gavin.” Lisa muttered, as she stepped past him. “ Moo-Moo Farm is very close.”

Gavin pulled himself from his wonderings, and stood up. “ Hooray! Let’s go too a farm to see a bunch of Miltank and Tauros run around doing nothing at all, and get a free bottle of milk that’s probably sour anyway. Sounds like great fun!”

“ You’ll like it,” Kris hinted. “ I’ve been there before – it’s not just little kid stuff,” she added, seeing Gavin roll his eyes.

“ It’s a place to meet other people anyway,” Lisa interrupted, trying to keep the peace. “ We’ve met practically no human beings since Olivine.”

“ What am I then, a Caterpie?” demanded Kris jokingly.

Lisa giggled. But Gavin looked like he needed some convincing. “ And who knows –” Lisa went on, talking to Gavin. “ there might be – oh, I dunno – CONTESTS.”

Gavin’s ears pricked up automatically, but he kept the same flat expression, and tone of voice. “ What sort?” he muttered at last, annoyed at his curiousity.

“ Pokemon ones,” teased Kris, truthfully, grinning at Lisa.

“ What – sorts?” Gavin questioned through clenched teeth. He knew the girls were teasing him and thoroughly enjoying it, but he wanted to know. He wanted to win something.

“ Maybe if we started walking, my memory would be refreshed …”

Ten minutes later, Gavin was dragging his feet through the sand, trailing after Kris, who was still teasing him along, and Lisa, who had been overcome by girly giggles. The landscape had changed dramatically over the last few minutes of uphill hiking. Instead of trees dotting the landscape irregularly and green grass, the grass was browned and dead-looking, and the only plant life was the odd clump of weeds of the very rare oak tree, which looked out of place in the plain surroundings.

“ Tell me or I’m not going any further!” Gavin cried at last, slumping down onto the side of a lifeless oak tree which had grown in it’s living years directly in the centre of the road. Lisa and Kris walked either side of him, both wearing teasing grins.

“ I really can’t remember.” Kris cried, finally, and Lisa was again overcome by giggles. Gavin stared icily at her, trying to work out if she was kidding or not.

“ Alright, there’s three,” Kris burst out at last. “ Three contests. They are held every month, on a Sunday like today. And they feature a particular element of pokemon each month.”

While Kris calmed the very tense Gavin, Lisa wandered past the oak and reached the crest of the dusty hill easily. The view onlooked an enormous valley, and Lisa grinned triumphantly. “ Hey – guys.” Kris and Gavin approached quickly, Gavin looking contented for once. Then his contentedness changed to utter delight.

“ There it is!!” he cried, seeing the farm in the distance, crowds congregated near one building. Kris smiled and Lisa let her face break into a grin. With Kris returned, and a contest awaiting, and for once no Whirlpool Cup, or mission to Cianwood, or Suicune to distract her, Lisa couldn’t help feeling as though she was back at the very start of her journey.


*

Dazed and confused, the old man stumbled clumsily across the bumpy terrain near Ecruteak. His normally neat brown-grey hair was messed up and fell onto his face. The sun blazed down onto him, dazing him further. His normally white, neat lab coat was now frayed, dirty and ripped. Not altogether the result of being stranded out in the middle of nowhere …

He continued on hiking, trying to keep his head up to check his direction, but the sun dazzled him and temporarily blinded him, blocking the very distant Tin Tower of Ecruteak, which was partially shrouded in morning mist, from view.

“ Got to … warn them …”

Abruptly, he collapsed onto his knees in a crumpled heap, and didn’t try to pull himself back up.


*

Psyduck waddled slowly beside Anna as she charged along the foresty path. The loser of the Preliminary Round in the Whirlpool Cup was slowly making her way towards Ecruteak City, where she was hoping to earn a Fog Badge. Since her loss in the Whirlpool Cup, she had decided to prove her pokemon’s strength by competing in the Johto League.

“ Ecruteak’s not too far now, Psyduck, keep going,” Anna urged her first and strongest pokemon. Psyduck had helped her win the Mineral Badge in Olivine City just over two weeks ago, and it had improved amazingly since the Whirlpool Cup.

As Anna and her pokemon trundled through the bushy growth, Anna wondered where Lisa, her friend and rival, was now. They had met each other at the party of all the trainers in the Whirlpool Cup, and Lisa announced she was going to head north to Moo Moo Farm, just for some fun, before training a bit in the province north of Johto – Kohtu. Anna held in her hands a large wooden key – similar to a key given on a person’s 21st birthday – and opened it. Inside was written messages from many people – her first opponent, Angela, then Lisa, and all the friends she had made in between.

“ ‘You did a really great job in our battles,’ ” Anna read out the message from Lisa. “ ‘I think your Psyduck is really strong, and I’m glad we’re friends now. Maybe we’ll meet again one day. At least we can keep in touch. Do you have an email address? Mine is aipom_chick02@ecru.net . Email me!!! I f you want, visit me in Ecruteak one time. I live at 23 Woodrow Avenue. Buh Bye! – Lisa.’ She was nice, wasn’t she, Psyd-”

Abruptly, there was a loud thud nearby, and Anna instantly whipped her head around to see what had happened. Behind her, the path was bare, but Psyduck was pointing urgently to the shrubbery on the roadside. Anna gasped loudly. A man dressed all in black was struggling through the undergrowth, a large crimson R on his black shirt. Anna recognised it as the international symbol of evil – Team Rocket.

“ Good morning, miss …” he said, smiling cheerfully. Anna was not taken in for a millisecond. The smile didn’t reach his eyes, which were black and shadowed. “ Are you a pokemon trainer?”

There was no point in lying, Anna thought, because Psyduck was a blatant symbol of her hobby. “ Yeah, but sorry … I don’t want to battle right now … gotta run, bye!!” Anna sprinted, flipping the key shut. But she halted in her tracks moments later. Standing, blocking her way, was a massive Rhydon. But Anna was not too worried, and Psyduck reacted without command.

The Rhydon shied back after being blasted with a Water Gun, crashing into the bushes and leaving a free path – temporarily – for Anna and Psyduck. Just as they were running away, the Rocket came speeding up behind them, closing in rapidly, and Anna panicked. She reached to her waist, and withdrew her Scizor’s pokeball. With a flash of crimson streak, she was on its back, and Psyduck had been rapidly recalled.

There was a faint yell from below her, as Anna rose up into the sky on Scizor, and she realised with dismay that she had dropped her key back on the path. “ No time now,” she muttered aloud. “ Fly higher, Scizor!”

Down below, the Rocket was grinning. The key was held open between his grubby hands, and he stabbed his finger at the scrawled message written in a corner.

“ Look out, Lisa, you interfering brat.”


*

Lisa checked her surroundings. A large, cool enclosure of exotic palms and trees, tiny electric pokemon littered the ground, however, that was not her purpose.

Once Lisa, Kris and Gavin had arrived at the long-awaited Moo-Moo farm, they had each separated. Kris opted for a contest which involved a bunch of Pokemon races, and even a battle to conclude. She had taken Aipom with her, as Lisa was only allowed one pokemon in the enclosure, and as Lisa was hoping to catch another pokemon she gave her Vulpix to Kris to keep, after a sad farewell. Kris had been very thankful. Gavin went for the Knowledge Test on Pokemon, as Lanturn wasn’t fit for racing, battling, or really for use on land at all. Lisa had chosen the Pokemon treasure hunt.

Every week, an array of contests were held at the farm, each week bringing a new element pokemon to the spotlight. This week happened to be electric types. Lisa inwardly thanked herself for chasing Jack back in November – it had earned her Elekid, which gave her a great advantage for the contest. Firstly, the contestants had to travel through the enclosure and, if they didn’t already own an electric type, had to capture one. All those who didn’t succeed in the first part were eliminated, and then only the remaining ones could compete. The enclosure would be altered, and the pokemon and trainers had to head in and use electricity to attract the hidden Magnemites – whoever had the strongest electricity would win.

So Lisa trudged through the forest, dodging cute, bouncing Pichus and energetic Voltorbs, who rolled out of every other nook. Pleased, Lisa pushed past a tall fern to reveal a small door, one of five scattered around the enclosure to exit. Lisa pushed the metal door, and ascended a brief flight of stairs before entering a large, hi-tech room. Her footsteps echoed as she approached a man on the other side, looking gleefully out of a huge, many-paned window which took up the entire left wall. A group of other trainers, all looking worried about something, were clustered around a TV set in the corner. They ranged from old to young, one looked like a thirty-year-old man, but next to him was a school-girl with pigtails.

“ Your pokemon please?” the man requested as she arrived at his standing spot, where he still kept his eyes fixated on the large window. Lisa looked up, and received a shock. The panes weren’t panes of simply glass – each one was a flattened TV screen, and all showed some sort of trainer traipsing through the shrubbery of the enclosure. Seven screens had flickered off, and Lisa noted that seven other trainers were clustered around the TV in the corner.

“ Your pokemon please?” the man repeated, tearing his gaze from the numerous screens. Lisa nodded, and pulled out Elekid’s pokeball. In a brief flash, and with a popping sound, Elekid jumped out, looking overly excited and ready for a battle. “ I already owned him.” Lisa added, and the manager ticked off a list on his clipboard.

“ Name?”

“ Lisa Walters.”

“ Take your Elekid and wait over there.” He snapped, turning back to the screen. Lisa felt the manager of the bug contest had been much kinder.

As Lisa’s screen was switched off, she headed for the congregation nearby. Elekid followed eagerly – Lisa didn’t bother to recall him. Her eyes were now travelling over the TV Screen, which displayed a picture of an old man and a live picture of a burgundy-haired woman sobbing. Lisa wasn’t sure, but she thought she knew her from somewhere.

The report, an article on the news, concluded, and all the trainers talked to each other in hushed tones.

“ That’s so odd … I wonder what happened.” A young boy mused.

“ Yeah, even his assistant hasn’t seen him for a couple of days.” said another, older boy.

“ And poor Delia Ketchum.” Added a young woman. The name rang a bell in Lisa’s memory, and she tried to recall why…

“ Alright, time up!” cried the manager, breaking into Lisa’s thoughts. He pushed a green button mounted upon a wall just as a very scruffy boy burst through the door. All the screens flickered to a halt, and Lisa heard a voice over a loudspeaker echoing outside in the enclosure. However, the manager ignored the voice outside and checked the newcomer’s pokemon. It was a Pichu, jumping excitedly as though it had been cooped up in a pokeball for weeks on end. But when the boy spoke, it turned out he only just caught the Pichu, so it was merely hyperactive.

“ In a few moments, you will all be released back into the enclosure.” The manager announced. “ You will use your pokemon to attract Magnemites from hidden locations. Your electric pokemon will do this for you using a thunderwave. After thirty minutes, the time will expire, and the winner shall be the trainer with the most attracted Magnemite.”

He abruptly glanced at his watch.

“ Alright … three … two … one … go!”

[Gavin Luper]

Gavin sat impatiently in the waiting lounge. The knowledge test seemed to be the dud contest. He wished he had gone for the racing contest with Kris, because for one thing, it seemed more fun. Kris had a Growlithe, and Lisa’s Vulpix, so she intended on giving them some exercise, and Gavin would have loved to test out Ditto, or Girafarig, who hadn’t been out of his pokeball for a long time. But he had applied for the knowledge Test now, and it had seemingly attracted a lot of nerds. About 10 nerds, plus a very nervous looking bunch of girls, and Gavin were the contestants.

“ Alright, round one,” a blonde woman stood up on a platform to get everybody’s attention. “ First up is Gavin Luper and Ian Yudsbury.”

Gavin s******ed at the odd name, but stood up the front before the tiny crowd and faced his opponent, a boy with his shorts pulled up to his stomach and hanging about five inches above the knee (Gavin’s were about five below), and spoke in a very squeaky voice.

“ Question one –” the woman began. “ What pokemon of the electric rodent family is usually found near apple orchards near Goldenrod and Ecruteak cities and knows Charm and Thunderwave as it’s first techniques?”

“ Pichu.” Ian answered automatically before Gavin had even comprehended the long question. He goggled as the crowd clapped and Ian looked smug.

“ Correct.” The host said. “ Second Question – Generally speaking, what attack is common to both Jynx and Hitmonlee?”

“ Meditate.” Replied Ian, without hesitation. Gavin’s jaw slammed into the tiled floor, as the host replied with a pleased “ Correct also. Ian on twenty points, Gavin on zero.”

Gavin was fuming now – he had thought the test was on electric types, anyway - but he tried to keep his cool.

“ Third Question – what kind of sport are the ‘Machops’ competitors in?”

Gavin knew this one. “ Soccer!” he burst out before Ian could say a thing. The host said it was correct, and Gavin found the only people cheering were the group of girls. They clapped and one even waved to him. He waved back, and the girls began chattering.

“ Question Four – what is the latest discovered pokemon?”

“ Lunanine!” burst out Gavin, hoping that Professor Westwood had updated the global pokedex listings. The host nodded. All the nerds in the crowd looked sullen; Ian looked mutinous. Meanwhile, all the girls were squealing to Gavin. He grinned briefly in their direction, and the girls began chattering and giggling again. Gavin puffed out his chest and stood up straighter.

“ Tied scores, final question – Which of the following is not considered a Psychic attack: Meditate, Psybeam, Light Screen or Psych Up?”

Gavin couldn’t honestly say he had heard of Psych Up, but Ian looked almost ready to blurt out the answer, so he answered swiftly on instinct. “ Psych Up!” Gavin said in a deeper voice than his usual one.

“ Psych Up!” called Ian at the same time.

“ Correct – but Gavin got in first!” the host cried. “ The round one winner is Gavin!”

All the girls and the host clapped while Ian descended the platform to all his nerd-friends.

“ Next?” called the host, expecting the nerds to come forward. But oddly enough, they all stayed as a group, and followed Ian out the door, leaving only the four girls.

The host looked offended. “ Fine then – girls, will you be –”

They shook their heads in unison.

The host sighed. “ Alright, then Gavin wins the contest by default.”

She handed a small, golden medal to Gavin, which fitted in his palm It read “ Pokemaniac of December 2002.” He took it, and again the other five clapped.

“ Congratulations.” The host muttered, wandering off and leaving the girls and Gavin there. As Gavin came down from the platform, the girls waved him over.

“ Hey, cutie!” giggled one, who looked about thirteen. Gavin shivered – she was about a foot shorter than he, and definitely much younger. He nodded nervously, but then an older girl came over. She was only a few inches shorter, and probably fifteen or so.

“ You put up a really good fight.” She muttered, her chestnut hair smooth and long down her back. Gavin nodded, trying to find words, but found his eyes drift down to her chest – then in an instant back up. His legs became rubbery jelly, struggling to stay together. Just as he thought it would be nice to collapse, the girl spoke again.

“ I like guys who are smart …”

Gavin nodded, subconsciously sweating, as she began walking. “ Really?” He stumbled along, regaining control of his legs and walked after the girl as the other three giggled and watched. The girl walked outside and Gavin followed. Sure, she looked nice. But she was very – bold. “ I’m not that smart,” he said at last, regaining his usual sense of mind after a few seconds’ blank. “ In fact, that was just luck that I won.”

He emerged outside onto the path where grass grew on the side. The girl stood there.

“ Sorry about that. My name’s Julia.”

“ Nice name – I’m Gavin.”

“ I know.” Julia said abruptly.

“ Right – sorry.” Gavin felt calmer now that she had become more casual. Maybe she just wanted to get to know him? Gavin couldn’t help but feel his face become scarlet and his body temperature rocket.

“ Hm… it’s quite warm today.” Remarked Julia.

“ Yeah.” Gavin said, feeling numb. “ Hey – would you like a drink or something? There’s a café just down near the farm…”

“ I thought you’d never ask – show me the way.”

Gavin took her hand uncomfortably, and led the way towards the path. But he kept thinking how bold she was, and how abrupt it seemed. Sure, it was nothing, only as serious as he wanted. But still, he thought, am I actually attracted to her? What is going on? What the hell is happening anyway?


*

Lisa trudged through the overgrown path, Elekid at her side, giving off yellow sparks every few seconds to sense any lurking Magnemite. Two of the magnet-like creatures were already hovering behind Lisa and Elekid, attracted by the electricity. This counted as two for Lisa, although she had had three until the scruffy boy’s Pichu thunderwaved and pulled one away. This wasn’t cheating, but Lisa still thought it mean.

As they walked, aware of time growing ever shorter, Lisa heard a rustle in the bushes, and Elekid too, seemed very erect and alert.

“ Thundershock Elekid.” Lisa said quickly.

Elekid nodded, and sent out a series of sparks which fired around in the air, and actually hit a nearby palm. An odd squeak sounded out, and a tiny Magnemite emerged. It hovered dangerously near the other bushes, which faced onto an adjacent path, where Lisa knew the boy and his Pichu were trekking. But Elekid wasn’t one to give up, and intensified the electricity, and Magnemite floated across to join the other two, floated happily behind Lisa and Elekid.

“ Not bad.” Lisa commented, and Elekid grinned. But through the noises of the jungle-like atmosphere came a beeping sound, one that Lisa hadn’t heard for a long time.

“ Hello, Lisa Walters speaking.” She greeted the other person, as she picked up her pokegear and stopped in her tracks.

“ Lisa?” said a voice Lisa hadn’t heard for well over a month.

“ Tom!” she breathed, surprised at his call. “ Tom – wow! Hi!”

“ Hi Lisa – listen, where are you?”

“ Mandarin Island,” she lied.

“ WHAT?! Ugh, Damn.”

“ Just kidding, I’m at Moo-Moo farm. At a contest in fact. Why, what’s up?”

“ Well, just that something’s come up – I’d really like you to come back home to Ecruteak.”

“ Now? As in, straight away?”

“ Well…” Tom stuttered. “ Yeah…”

Lisa thought hard. It seemed very abrupt, especially since she had Kris and Gavin with her. Not to mention Ecruteak was a good few days away. Elekid was trying to run ahead, and the Magnemites followed his electricity, while Lisa stumbled blindly after them.

“ I … dunno. I have a couple of friends with me. I’ll have to talk it over with them.”

There was a long, awkward silence. “ Well, alright then.” Tom said. “ Talk it over please. And ring me back as soon as you make your choice. It’s urgent.”

“ Alright then.” Lisa said back. “ I’ll go find them as soon as the contest-”

The buzzer echoed around the stadium. “-finishes.” Lisa sighed, flopping down to the ground. “ Look, I’ll call you back in a couple of hours, OK?”

“ Yep.” Tom replied. “ Speak again soon.”


*

Gavin smiled at Julia, unsure of what to talk about. Over the milkshake, she had already poured out everything she deemed worthy of conversation – music and her hair. Gavin couldn’t help but think she was very attractive, but he just felt uncomfortable around her, as though he had been drawn into something he really didn’t feel like doing at that moment. He knew a first date – however abrupt – wasn’t meant to be uncomfortable.

“ How’s your milkshake?”

“ Not bad,” Julia sipped away. “ You can really tell how pure the Miltank’s milk is in this drink … and you know it’s really good for you. The nutrients can enhance the sleek look of your hair by up to 20% after one drink.”

“ Yum. I mean … cool.”

She drained the remnants of the milkshake. “ Do you have any pokemon?”

“ Hm … me?”

“ No, the guy behind you.” Julia muttered, rolling her eyes.

Gavin turned to look behind him, pretending that he was stupid, and in the blink of an eye Julia's hand whipped over to his exposed belt and whipped off two of the pokeballs. By the time Gavin had looked back to her, she had already grabbed her bag, and was leaving the cafe.

" Oy, what are you doing?!" yelled Gavin, automatically standing up, leaving his backpack behind and weaving through the tables to chase her. " What did you do that for? Come back!"

Julia had already vacated the cafe, but Gavin was in close pursuit, hot in the face and wondering what exactly was going on. Was Julia just a thief - a common pokemon theif - or was she playing a game?

The girl raced ahead, Gavin stunned at how fast she was. Even he couldn't keep up with her to any length. While he was running, he tried to get any bystanders to help him. " Stop! Thief - she's a thief! Somebody stop her!"

Just as Julia was fading into the distance, around the corner of one of the many almost-identical stalls, there was a flash, and a Rapidash appeared in front of a nearby Officer Jenny.

" Leave this to me," she said, mouth set in a determined line.


*

“ How complicating,” remarked Lisa, as she walked wearily to catch up with Elekid and her Magnemite catches. The contest had finished and she had surely lost. She rose over a hill, and saw Elekid shielding it’s eyes from a bright speck floating in midair. Lisa wondered what it could possibly be – and then she realised with a shock.

“ The Magnemites – are evolving!” she grinned, overcome with surprise.

The brightness receded, and where the three magnets had previously been now hovered one large one, really just combined. “ Magneton…” breathed Lisa.

They walked in silence until they arrived at the gatehouse. Lisa entered, and saw before her eight others all congregated on chairs. The manager was standing on a platform, with a clipboard in his hand. All the trainers had a pokemon suspending their Magnemites. Most had at least four, and Lisa was alarmed to see the scruffy boy with six!

All heads swivelled as Lisa walked in, with Elekid working overtime to keep Magneton in it's control. It appeared that they had just been about to announce the winner. The manager stared at Magneton oddly. The other trainers began whispering to each other. The scruffy boy looked smug.

“ It evolved.” Lisa said quietly. “ I had three, and they evolved into Magneton.”

The manager seemed to be thinking it over. Obviously this wasn’t a good sign for the boy with six Magnemites, and he became suddenly red in the face.

“ This has never happened before.” The manager announced. “ But the Magnemites must have all been at the right level. As Magneton is far harder to control than a bunch of Magnemite, I am glad to announce that the winner is … Lisa!”

There were a few polite claps, although it was obvious nobody was happy about the newcomer. The boy was beyond words – he had gone purple in the face. Lisa grinned to herself, then to Elekid. “ Good job, Elekid.”

“ Bi bi!” cried Elekid.

The manager spoke a few more words. “ All of you must return the Magnemites to the enclosure.” He gestured to the door, and all the other traipsed out, the scruffy-looking boy looking like he was about to kill Lisa. The manager then stopped Lisa as she followed the boy.

“ The enclosure is made for Magnemites.” He explained. “ There’s nowhere big enough for a Magneton to hide.”

“ What are you saying?” Lisa questioned.

“ Keep Magneton.” The manager offered. “ Please, go on, it’s no loss to us.”

Lisa grinned at Elekid. “ Sure. I’d be happy to.”

Lisa emerged a few minutes later, her pokeball belt that she had picked up from the manager full now with six pokemon. She smiled, and went hunting for Kris and Gavin.


*

Gavin saw Lisa approaching from a good hundred metres away. He slumped down onto the café table, his head narrowly missing Julia’s lonely, half-empty milkshake. He still felt the sting the malicious slaps she had given him. Lisa still saw him, and ran up.

“ Hi Gavin. Listen – we need to – what’s wrong?”

Gavin was very weak-looking, and pathetic. He launched into how Julia had come to the café with him, and then he found she had been trying to use him – only a few minutes into their date she had requested to see his pokemon, and made a savage attempt to take Girafarig and Lanturn for herself. Luckily, the Rapidash of Officer Jenny's had been able to catch her and she was apprehended.

“ Oh well ... rejeeeected,” Lisa jeered, but she quickly noticed Gavin was actually serious. She sighed, pushed Julia’s empty milkshake aside, pulled her chair around next to Gavin’s, and sat next to him, patting him on the back in a comforting way. She smiled as Gavin’s tense muscles relaxed, and he soon sat up.

“ Sorry bout that.” He muttered, his face red, partly with embarrassment. “ Um, you see, I was just…”

“ Don’t worry.” Lisa cooed, and Gavin nodded, swallowing a large, growing lump in his throat. He opened his mouth to say something, when ...

“BEEP! BEEEP!” a small buggy came cruising down the gravel road, and heads swivelled to see it. The horn beeped again, and Lisa and Gavin turned.

Kris sat in the driver’s seat, driving slowly down the road. Lisa and Gavin grinned at once.

“ What’s all this?” Lisa asked, as Kris stopped the buggy, which was very low to the ground, had no doors and a very odd roof, which was currently slid back, with what looked like a solar panel on top.

“ It’s my prize!” she cried. “ Growlithe and Vulpix won the races, and battles! Thanks to you, partially, Lisa. I fyou hadn't given Vulpix to me I never would have won! Oh, it’s a buggy, one of the ones they have in Olivine that you can hire out! And look what else we got! It’s really cool …”

Kris fished in her backpack, and pulled out a bottle of Moo-Moo Milk. Lisa snorted and Gavin guffawed. Kris grinned too. Lisa abruptly remembered Tom’s phone call, and thought that maybe the buggy was the answer to her problem. They could all go together – but …

Lisa sighed. The buggy was a two-seater. “ Guys …” she began, and Gavin and Kris, who were now both seated at the café table, staring at the buggy, turned around. “ Yeah?”

Lisa took a deep breath. “ We need to talk.”

All three friends sat at the table, and Lisa launched into the predicament. Kris and Gavin listened attentively, and understood. From up upon a nearby hill, Suicune stood proudly, glowing cobalt, and smirked to itself. They were fine, even better – they were returning to Ecruteak. That was all he needed to know – for now.

Suicune about-faced, leaving the Moo-Moo Farm behind him. //Time to go check on the others// he said to himself, springing off into a pelt, disappearing in a magical haze of invisibility. As he sprinted towards Ecruteak, Suicune continued it’s triumphant smile. The sun rose high up in the sky, glowing like a warming, friendly globe of light and life, perfectly framed against the celeste sky, with only a hint of fluffy clouds to the west. And above it all, a phoenix soared, radiating power and life, like the sun. It too smiled to itself, before giving one almighty flap of it’s wings, and bursting into the afternoon zephyr.

//Lisa, you will be a Legend// said Ho-oh.


END OF BOOK I

[Mew Trainer Rose]

"//Lisa, you will be a Legend// "?
I wonder if that's intended to be a good thing.

The conetsts were kinda nice, a little short but still good.

Now the next book gets started. :D I can't wait!

[Snakes N' Legends]

Why is a Rocket after Lisa and what is going on in Ecruteak City? The Contest part was nice and it was nice to see Lisa get a Magneton but she no longer has Vulpix. That is kind of sad. Well, keep it up. I can't wait to see how this story ends.

[Last Exile]

So ends the first part of the saga. What will become of dear Lisa? And of ol' ambling Gavin?

Good stuff, Gavin! And did you hear both our hometowns were in the top 10 of best places to live in the world in the Economist report?! Perth (yours) came 3rd and Adelaide (mine) came equal 8th! Apprently Melbourne tied with Vancouver for 1st. *laughs!* Oh well, rock on, mate!

[Gavin Luper]

MTR: Lol!!! I was supposed to change that last line! Oh well, too late now. Dammit. And I'm not really sure if it's a good or a bad thing ...

I would have liked to include Kris' contest as well and expand on the others' but the chapter was already well over 5200 words, making it (I think) my longest chapter.

TM: It's about time I explained who that guy is, isn't it? I mean, he's been stalking her earlier, too. WHY is the question. I'd suggest reading earlier chapters to figure it out a bit, but it's really not explained until the next book.

Personally I prefer Vulpix over Magneton but hey I'm the writer so I must be really stupid to put myself out. Thanks, I hope you stick with this story til the end.

Ryan: Hi there!! Ah yes, the first half of the saga is over, and what WILL happen to Lisa. I know. Oz Andrew is practically the only other person who knows on this planet - only because we wrote the C/O together.

Yes, I heard about Melbourne winning the title of best city in the world. Isn't that absolute crapola or what??!! Perth is like SOOO much better, and although I've never been there I'm sure Adelaide is too (just to be biased against Melbourne).

Everyone: Now that the "final" chapter is over, I'm taking a small break of posting (not much, just maybe a week or so, don't panic). The second book will be posted in this topic of course.

Cheers!

[Snakes N' Legends]

Wait!!! You are writing a second book?????. This whole fanfic is really a book??? You know I would think of that. Boy, is my face red? I have read this whole fanfic but never thought of it as a novel or a book. Silly me!!!!!

[AquaBabe727]

Gavin, you rock! I haven't replied since like three chapters ago, soo... Yeah, i really like it! You're doing a great job with this. I wonder what the motives are for the legendaries, tho? Suicune seems a little shifty to me.. ^_^ K, i'll shut up now.

[Gavin Luper]

TM: Wow don't sound so surprised. I don't really know what the difference is exactly ... I mean, any long collection of chapters which all feature the same characters or place and run smoothly after each other would technically be a book, no? It's a fanfic and a BOOK. I don't quite understand what you're saying ... could you be a bit more clear?

Aquababe727: Hey!!! Long time no see! You really like it hey? That's excellent. I like to see people being at least interested in my book. It's one of the best feelings though when people get really worked up about an event in the book. It shows they are really into it and that makes me so HAPPY!

By the way, everyone, I decided to take a 2 week break of actually WRITING Lisa the legend (i will still be writing The Crystal League and I will also still be online and posting regularly) for no real reason apart from to take a rest (aaah, there's SO much work to be done!) lol. By the time I get back, I SHOULD have all the chapters of book 2 (up to chapter 26) ready to go!

Cheers!

[Snakes N' Legends]

Okay, maybe that wasn't the clearest message ever. What I meant was that reading this awesome fanfic, I didn't consider that it was a book. I thought it was a fanfic. I never heard of anybody writing fanfiction as a book. I hope that clears it up. If it doesn't, I will keep on trying to find out a way for it to make sense.

[Gavin Luper]

TM: A little better ... I spose you just saw this as a fanfic, but still I'm just trying to say that a fanfic is a book if it goes for long enough. Look around, many of the multi-chaptered fics around here are book sized, doesn't mean they can't be considered a book.

What are you defining a book as? I'm basically saying a book is a collection of chapters all about a particular person, place or event. Can you reply saying why a fanfic as a book is strange?

Cheers!

PS: Post 100 for Lisa the Legend!!

[Master Kirby]

And the story deepens! Lisa gets a Magneton, Gavin gets robbed, and Kris gets a car! I can't wait for Book Two.

What can the mysterious pokeball be for? Maybe it is somewhere between an Ultra Ball and a Master Ball. Can he use it to catch the lengendary Psychic pokemon of the prophesies?

The car has only two seats. Maybe Gavin can teleport while the girls drive.

You won't update for TWO WEEKS? :( Don't wait too long. The topic might get pushed back past page four, and then it may disappear!

Two weeks? I am going to have to find some more things to read. Is The Crystal League good?

[Gavin Luper]

Kirby: Yew, the plot thickens rapidly now, doesn't it. I discovered a plothole last week but because I myself am so similar to Gavin in the story I forgot what it was and now I can't remember. Anyhow, nice way of summing up the chapter; but lucky Gavin got his pokes back, eh? I was almost tempted to let them go but of course I'm too nice. *coughcough*

Interesting thoughts about the MYSTERIOUS pokeball ... unfortunately I can't tell you, as I'm the writer :P . It'll all be revealed shortly. And nice idea about Gavin teleporting but ... well, you'll see when i post chapter 21!

About the two week break, don't be fooled. I say that just the same as I did when i originally finished book 1, but after a week I was desperate to post more, so I did. I said 2 weeks to give me a while extra in case I can't post for a while, which is very possible.

The Crystal League is quite good if I do say so myself, it's a trainer fic as the title suggests and also it is a bit lighter than this story. Still, check it out, I'd be pleased if you did!

Cheers, and thanks for the nice long reply!

[Gavin Luper]

Well since I'm taking a short break, I thought I'd put this up in the mean time. It's a preview of what's to come in the next book ... actually, more of a preview of the next few chapters ... enjoy!

--------------------------------------
When we left, Lisa, Gavin and Kris had all competed in the contest at Moomoo Farm. Lisa's brother Tom had urged her to return to Ecruteak City.


" I’m at Moo-Moo farm. At a contest in fact. Why, what’s up?” Lisa asked.

“ Well, just that something’s come up – I’d really like you to come back home to Ecruteak.”

“ Now? As in, straight away?”

“ Well…” Tom stuttered. “ Yeah … it's urgent.”


And now, Lisa must race back to Ecruteak City to meet Tom ... but something happens on the way that throws a spanner in the works...


Lisa and Gavin were driving along. Gavin whipped his head around to check on the pokemon, who were tiring gradually, and suddenly saw, in the distance, about fifteen kilometres west, a large column of slate-grey smoke. He shivered, and suddenly got a very odd feeling within him.

“ Lisa, turn around.”

“ WHAT? Gavin, what do you-”

“ Fire! A bushfire! Turn back, quickly, we have to help.”


And meanwhile, what has happened to the legendary dogs?


//Human, you cannot return to your people// Entei boomed, with the merest tint of threat in his tone.

“ What?” the man muttered, now feeling, if very slightly, revived.

//We must take you-// began Entei, but Raikou now interrupted.

//Must we, Entei? The human heard through no real fault of his own, he merely-//

//Silence!// Entei overruled his companion. //Raikou, don’t be soft. It is what we must do, if they found out too soon-//



The matters have to be resolved in an ultimate confrontation


Lisa the Legend II: Revelation

The Quest for the Legendary Pokemon Continues...

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

I'm back!
I missed alot!
But I read it all!
So MORE CHAPTERS PLEASE!

[Gavin Luper]

SSM: There you are!! Hi there! I'm not surprised that you read and caught up again. Thank you, you're one of my most dedicated readers.

I'm taking a wee break, read the posts above. Something like a week or so.

*don't kill me!*

[Blastiose007]

reading the crystal league and lisa the legend makes for a good day need more chapters

[Gavin Luper]

Blastoise: Hi!!! You're back! Have you caught up with all the chapters since you've been gone? I hope so. Thanks for the compliments, that always makes a writer feel good!

New chapter next week!

Cheers!

[Andrew]

Ah well Gavin, we've come to the end of another Lisa chapter! Or the same one many times...
Anywho, I like Vulpix, although I'm sad to see it go, it was a nice Pokemon and its battle with Jigglypuff was excellent! Kudos for that Mr Luper! But seeing more Natu or Girrawhatever and Ditto's cool too!

But back to whinging about Vulpix, did I mention I liked it. But perhaps seeing some more Magneton would be funny... like having it install windows and breaking or falling apart from rust ect... And DJ Aipom! We need DJ Aipom! And Lisa in a whirlpool! With floaties!

But the revamps are very good and that vapid whore who tried to steal Gavin's Pokemon needs a slap-down from Lisa! Bring it on!

But very good work Gavin, look forward to more work soon!

[Gavin Luper]

Hey Oz!

Lol... more like the same one many times I spose. I liked Vulpix a lot too, but frankly I couldn't work it into the story enough, since it was added in as I re-edited. That caused some problems. And the battle with Jigglypuff was added in to remind us all that Vulpix existed.

Rusty Magneton, DJ Aipom, Lisa in floaties, Lisa and Julia slapping each other ... I just LOVE Epilogues :D

Be careful what you wish for!

Cheers!

[Pichu Luver]

Yippee! It's getting closer to where you left on the last board. Can't wait for it to catch up(wants to see what happens, then again who doesn't?), but I guess I have to wait... You and your short break and all hehe. Story is as good as ever of course. Hope to see new stuff soon in both stories, :)

~Pichu:

[Gavin Luper]

Pichu Luver: Hey, you dropped in! Thanks so much! Yes, I left off at Chapter 26, but this time will be different. I have already written up to chapter 29, and chapter 30 is partly done (it's pretty cool).

I hope you keep reading, and reply sometimes so I know you're still there. All will be REVEALED in book 2.

Cheers!

[Last Exile]

I remember you actually did start Book 2 and the crossover with OzAndrew, but then the move happened. Well, hope it lives up to expectations! ;)

PS. Are you alright, Gavin? Haven't seen you online for around a week!

[Gavin Luper]

Thanks Ryan. I'm fine, I hope you weren't too worried about me or anything like that. Just lack of time!

Yeah, I was up to chapter 26 when the move happened.

I'll be posting chapter 21 any day now, ok?

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

Lisa the Legend II: Night Falls.


Chapter 21 - Diverse Destinies.


Still weak, the ancient man stumbled, his vision blurry, past a massive pewter boulder. It had been three days now, without nourishment and very limited water. He slumped down beside a shady tree, and relaxed his frail muscles. His body was telling him to give up, to lay in the shade and die quietly, relaxing himself and enjoying his last few moments. But inside, the knowledge of what could happen if he didn’t make it on time somehow kept him safe. He had to keep going, for not only the sake of those destined ones he had overheard about, but for the sake of many humans, and pokemon, alike.

He bent his head down and lay against his side, but before sleep washed over him, a thunder of heavy footfalls was heard, approaching powerfully. The ground shook slightly as an orange-furred Entei, it’s long mane and mask-like face appearing first, followed by sturdy body and legs, and Raikou, yellow and purple coat sparking dangerously, landed from the sky.

“ Oh … no,” the man muttered, as Entei set his mouth in a grim line and Raikou winced.

//You know far too much, human// Entei muttered, and Oak shivered.

“ I won’t tell – I prom-” he croaked, mouth dry from lack of water. Raikou clicked his tongue, and the tree began emitting popping noises, apples bursting from nowhere to the ground, rolling into one another.

Oak let a weak grin spread over his face. “ Thank –” He crunched into a moist apple, letting the cool juice run down his croaking throat, soothing it. He swallowed a good collection of drops, and his dry throat moistened. He then began chewing the apple relentlessly, but Raikou and Entei’s kindness seemed very limited.

After two life-giving bites, the apple dissolved into thin air, and with a sound like a whip cracking, all the uneaten ones did too. Entei glared down while Raikou looked on; the electric beast had a flicker of doubt apparent on his face.

//Human, you cannot return to your people// Entei boomed, with the merest tint of threat in his tone.

“ What?” Oak muttered, now feeling, if very slightly, revived.

//We must take you-// began Entei, but Raikou now interrupted.

//Must we, Entei? The human heard through no real fault of his own, he merely-//

//Silence!// Entei overruled his companion. //Raikou, don’t be soft. It is what we must do, if they found out too soon-//

//Maybe they should find out sooner than we planned. Everything will work out if we just take everything slowly and assess it, right?!// Raikou said, now defiantly, dropping all pretences of power and seriousness. //Entei, do we really need to do all this?//

//Don’t contradict me, Raikou. Just let me finish this off-//

//NO!//

Both legendaries were glaring each other in the face now, while Oak sheltered himself with a thin arm covering his face, eyes peering nervously out. Entei had by no means forgotten him, but Raikou seemed determined to continue.

//All these years, Entei. All this waiting, for what?//

//You are fully aware what for!// roared Entei, it’s body temperature soaring and flames beginning to curl from the edges of it’s gaping mouth. //Raikou, listen to reason-//

The sparks zapping on Raikou’s coat were pooling into thin bolts of electricity. Entei and Raikou’s eyes were now locked in place, and the flames than had been sneaking into Entei’s mouth now pooled as the electricity was doing, and filled his mouth with flame.

Oak slipped cautiously away, using his shaky arms to crawl away while Entei’s back was partially turned, and he was occupied with Raikou. Raikou noticed the attempt at escape, and devised a quick plan.

//Entei, if you are blinded by-//

//I am NOT blinded by anything, human or otherwise!//

//Of course you are, brother. If you would just remember our true cause …//

Oak had now crawled behind the wide trunk of the tree, and pulled himself up to a standing position. He had broken into a cold sweat, but was now determined again, and began walking as fast as possible after being stranded in the Ecruteak Plains for three hot days. While Raikou spoke almost stupidly, Oak made good progress, and it wasn’t until Oak was almost out of sight from the tree that Entei gestured towards Oak’s previous position, only to see that he wasn’t there.

//What the??// Entei turned frantically, and spied Oak near the crest of a distant hill, stumbling along near a bush. Enraged, he turned back to Raikou. //You…//

//I did nothing, brother// Raikou said, his mouth curling upwards into a grin.

Entei turned and positioned himself for a sprint when Raikou’s eyes glowed mauve. Nothing appeared to happen, but when Entei turned to run, he found his body frozen in place. Raikou grinned – he had succeeded in the Disable Attack. Entei glared, his eyes rolling towards Raikou, before he glowed scarlet and broke free of the Disable.

//Shadow Pull// remarked Raikou sullenly.

//Impressive, eh?// Entei gloated. //I suppose you forgot we were created with equal powers?//

//Oh we were, were we?// Raikou hissed, sparking evilly.

Both creatures broke into a full-on pelt at once, racing for the crest on the hill. They made it almost instantly, neck and neck, when three blasts of water whooshed out of the bush nearby, washing over Entei and making him reel backwards, weakened by the water. Raikou smirked.

//Equal powers, huh?//

A burgundy-haired teenager stepped out from the bush, followed by a weak and pathetic looking Professor Oak. The pokemon in the bushes stopped abruptly with their water gun as they were swiftly disabled by a growling, menacing Entei. Raikou flinched, and the girl put up her hand to her mouth in shock.

“ Uh oh,” whispered Anna.


*

Along the route to Ecruteak, a solar-powered buggy drove swiftly east. Lisa sat behind the wheel, her hands firmly clenched onto the wheel, her knuckles white as she strained her ears to listen to the afternoon news on the buggy’s radio. The Saturday sun was slowly sinking in the east, and the light in her eyes lessened. Aipom snoozed peacefully on Gavin’s lap, arm wrapped tightly around his seatbelt in case he was swept away by the wind.

“ Turn it up, Gavin,” Lisa muttered, focusing on the road ahead, in case any Rattatas dared to leap out from the multiple bushes. Gavin sat next to Lisa, cradling his right arm, which was partly obscured from the wrist to the elbow with a heavy bandage and sling. “ Why don’t you? I’m the one with the broken arm …”

“ I’m the one who isn’t stupid enough to fall out of the buggy while it’s going,” Lisa snapped. “ Besides that, I’m driving.”

Gavin sighed, and reached across to the radio, nudging the dial with his finger and putting on a fake expression of pain, and Lisa rolled her eyes. The volume abruptly increased, and Lisa’s ears pricked up, and she listened to the report:

‘ Naomi Baxter with that report on Team Rocket’s current workings in the Goldenrod Underground. We’ll keep you updated with that story, and on the location of Joseph Sterling. In national news …’

Lisa began to tune out, having missed the interesting report, but Gavin shushed her as she began to discuss the last one. She quietened down and listened:

‘… still no more information on the whereabouts of renowned Pokemon Specialist Professor Samuel Oak of Pallet Town. He was last seen on the evening of Wednesday the 5th near the wreckage site of the old radio tower, which collapsed in October after an explosion believed to be a sort of Pokemon conflict. On Wednesday evening, Oak was with his pet Slowking. His close friend Delia Ketchum called the police after Professor Oak failed to return to their hotel that night.’

Lisa’s memory struggled with the mention of the name, until she clicked. Not long after leaving Goldenrod she had fought a boy called Ash Ketchum, and Entei had appeared in the area. Delia was Ash’s mother – she had been taken by Entei briefly … it was all coming back now.

‘ “ I wasn’t sure where Sam went to.” ’ came Delia’s voice over the radio. ‘ “ Then he … never came back …” ’ Lisa felt sorry for Delia, but the report wasn’t over.

‘ Professor Oak is the world’s leading expert on Pokemon, especially in their evolution. In Pallet Town, Professor Oak’s assistant Tracey Sketchitt says he didn’t telephone him or leave any messages. Rumours are circulating that the Professor was kidnapped by Team Rocket agents, who are rumoured to have a hideout hidden in Goldenrod City. The Goldenrod Game Corner is under suspicion following the revelations of a Team Rocket Base hidden in the Celadon Game Corner back in 1998. Officer Jenny and her crew insist they will check around as soon as possible. Aaron Linvale, Mahogany Town.’

The news concluded with brief, annoying music, and Gavin obediently turned the dial down to almost no volume. Silence filled the buggy, a rather subdued one. Lisa drove steadily onwards, while Gavin resisted the urge to rub his arm, which ached continuously. Finally, Gavin opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it, and said something completely off-subject.

“ Wonder where Kris is now?” he mused, as Aipom awoke, and stretched it’s tiny arms.

“ Probably still near Moo-Moo Farm,” Lisa guessed, trying to shrug of the feeling of mystery that had overcome her since listening to the report. In both articles, Team Rocket had been mentioned – what did it all mean? And who was Joseph Sterling?

“ It was really nice of her to let us go together.” Gavin remarked, seemingly unaffected by the wind now battering at his face.

Lisa nodded absently. “ Well, yeah, but I let her – you know.”

Lisa felt horrible when she had given Butterfree’s pokeball to Kris, but she knew it was fair enough. Kris would mind Butterfree until they met again. When Lisa first spoke to her companions, it was decided that Lisa and Kris would go in the buggy, and Gavin go on foot to Ecruteak, and arrive after the girls. However, when Gavin took the buggy for a spin, without a seatbelt, he had fallen out the gap where a door would usually be located, and crushed his arm. A boy with a broken arm wouldn’t exactly be very able, and in the end Kris volunteered to stay behind, and meet them later on in Ecruteak, provided Gavin didn’t drive. Lisa had felt like repaying her, and Kris suggested a battle. When they fought, Kris won again, and Lisa noticed both Kris and Butterfree took a liking to each other. In the end, Lisa said Kris could keep Butterfree until Ecruteak, which seemed fair.

Suddenly Gavin moaned, as the buggy slowed considerably, and Lisa’s eyes darted around. The sun had almost completely sunk below the horizon, and the buggy had nearly halted. She put the brakes on, and parked the buggy in the middle of the wide gravel road.

“ Alrighty, Aipom, get up,” Gavin urged, pushed Aipom off his lap, but Aipom clung desperately, wanting to snooze some more. Gavin slipped out of the car himself, and left Aipom on the seat, who mischievously curled into a ball. Gavin took Lisa’s Elekid and Magneton’s pokeball from his pocket, as well as his Lanturn.

“ Go!” he cried, releasing them onto the ground. Gavin laughed as he noted the differences between the three. Elekid stood as tall as he could, about two feet in all, to look important and show he was ready. Magneton hovered with a buzzing noise, sadly repeating it’s name over and over. Lisa hadn’t used it at all except for powering the buggy at night. And finally Lanturn, flopping dismally on the gravel. Gavin looked wearily at him, and then fairly recalled him.

Magneton hovered close to the solar panel, and Elekid clung onto the magnet’s back, stuck to it by static electricity. Gavin checked they were ready, and he sat back into his seat, screamed, and sat bolt upright.

“ Aipom!” he growled, turning to face the monkey-like creature, who had a small chunk of Gavin’s pants hanging from his teeth. Lisa giggled, and removed Aipom from the seat, wrapping him around her head with his tail.

“ Aipom, the living turban,” Gavin jeered, and Aipom poked out it’s tongue. Gavin sat down, rubbing his backside and inspecting the damage.

Lisa laughed again, and swivelled her head to Magneton and Elekid, Elekid who had sparks firing off him already, and Magneton, who had all three eyes half shut in a look of excruciating boredom.

“ Ok, let’s go!” Lisa started the buggy up. Elekid powered up, and with a bright “ Bi bi!” began sending electricity from it’s body’s supply down to the panel and battery. Magneton did the same, although much less enthusiastically.

The buggy resumed it’s long drive, the Tin Tower and various skyscrapers of Ecruteak now lighting up for the night and coming into ever-so-distant view.


*

Night had fallen long ago, and Kris was tired out. Chompy looked it, too, he hadn’t had a swim since the river where she met Lisa and Gavin.

Kris sighed as she plopped her backpack down, and Chompy sprawled out over the cool, wet grass. Kris yanked her magnetic pokeball belt off, which contained Ledian, Vulpix, Growlithe, Misdreavus, her new, temporary Butterfree, and Chompy’s empty ball. She wondered abruptly if her Jigglypuff was getting along with Professor Elm at his laboratory in New Bark Town. Kris had sent her there while taking Butterfree aboard for a short time.

She pulled her sleeping bag out, and threw out all her pokeballs, instantly making six pokemon surround her. Whenever Kris slept alone, she liked to have pokemon company. And she especially felt safe with Growlithe around.

Chompy was snoring within seconds, and Ledian seemed tired out. Misdreavus didn’t really sleep, so it fluttered up to a nearby tree and made itself at home in the branch, watching out over the quiet plains. Vulpix curled up next to Kris, like a teddy bear of sorts, and murmured goodnight, with a loveable squeak. Kris said goodnight, and Butterfree flapped it’s wings over her, with a silvery blue sleep powder, and she was out to it within seconds. Butterfree landed with a slight thud next to Growlithe, who seemed very alert and watchful.

While Kris, Jigglypuff, Ledian and Chompy snoozed, the other three stayed awake. Butterfree couldn’t sleep, her mind filled with thoughts of Lisa. For although she had chosen to travel with Kris, she missed her old trainer, and the conversations she had with the other pokemon, especially Gavin’s pokemon, who all seemed to have a friendly attraction with Butterfree.

Growlithe tossed and turned in it’s sleep. It felt as though something horrible was going to happen, something truly terrible, just over the horizon. He tried to shake the feeling off, but it wouldn’t go. Finally, very frustrated, he stood up and prowled around the campsite, where many motionless forms were slumped on the wet grass.

‘ Wet grass?’ wondered Growlithe. He cautiously prodded the grass. It was still swimming with water. It wasn’t just damp from the evening dew or the brief rain from much earlier that day – no, it was something else. Artificial source?

Growlithe scampered around the site, searching for somebody awake. In the end, he heard a hiss from above his head, and turned to see Misdreavus, floating just above a browned bough, high up in a tree. Growlithe’s brow furrowed, and he spoke to Misdreavus in his own language.

“ Misdreavus – the grass is wet. Too wet.”

“ Water is the giver of life,” replied Misdreavus blankly, it’s black form almost transparent against the midnight sky.

“ What? Listen, it’s a pokemon that’s been here – something bad has happened.”

“ Go back to sleep.”

“ Misdreavus!!”

Butterfree stirred suddenly, and heard the two arguing. “ Who’s there?” she requested, timidly.

“ Us.” Growlithe muttered. “ Growlithe and Big Black Stupid Ghost.”

“ Misdreavus,” corrected Misdreavus.

“ What’s happening?” enquired Butterfree.

“ Growly over here’s having a panic attack because of the wet grass.”

“ I noticed that,” Butterfree said, rising to the air, and joining Misdreavus, landing on the thick bough.

“ So what? I was trying to sleep, and then this guy-”

“ You don’t sleep, you’re dead,” interrupted Growlithe.

Butterfree stifled a yawn, which took great strength in her overtired and worried state, but she continued. “ Even I can feel the weird presence here,” she explained. “ It has an eerie feel to it.”

Growlithe nodded. “ It’s horrible. Oy, can you guys help me up there? I’m lonely down -”

Two snorts punctuated his speech. “ Too heavy for me.” Butterfree smirked.

“ Dogs can’t climb trees,” said Misdreavus in a sarcastic way, though truthfully.

The three sat or hovered in silence for a while, and suddenly a blast of light from somewhere distant on the horizon caught Butterfree and Misdreavus’ attention.

“ What the …” Misdreavus drawled.

“ Oh my God …” Butterfree stuttered.

“ What is it?” called Growlithe, from the tree’s foot.

Misdreavus kept her eyes fixed on the horizon, but Butterfree hissed “ Explosion” before turning back to stare.

On the horizon, which was only distinguishable by the moonlight, there was thick smoke billowing out of what appeared to be a tree. There was a scarlet flame, visible by even their great distance, licking at the tree’s trunk. Then a blast of silvery celeste shot out of nowhere, followed by more flames, and then a spark of bright yellow electricity. Growlithe kept questioning the others, who were watching intently.

Meanwhile, at the tree in question, Entei raged, anger filling him like a fluid in it’s container, to the very brim, while Suicune and Raikou stood slightly back. He glared venomously at Raikou, before his mouth filled with fire, anger’s most powerful form. He grinned viciously, and laughed an extremely hollow laugh, no hint of mirth hidden within it. Then he fired out the fire at the tree’s trunk. Screams echoed through the endless plains, from the trees. Anna and frail Professor Oak were hanging from the branches, Oak grasping for life while Anna strained to keep herself and him safe. Her Psyduck clumsily fired out pathetic water guns, which barely doused the flames.

//Stop, Entei! Or we will be forced to overpower you for the good of the World// roared Suicune, beaming out a powerful string of aqua bubbles at the flames, which hissed and dissolved, at the same time sending out more smoke. Raikou shot a Spark at Entei to weaken him and make him understand it wasn’t funny at all – they were serious.

While the torture continued, Lisa and Gavin were still driving along. Gavin whipped his head around to check on the pokemon, who were tiring gradually, and suddenly saw, about fifteen kilometres west, a large column of slate-grey smoke. He shivered, and suddenly got a very odd feeling within him.

“ Lisa, turn around.”

“ WHAT? Gavin, what do you-”

“ Fire! A bushfire! Turn back, quickly, we have to help.”

Lisa swiftly checked, and obediently turned the buggy and headed back the same way they had come before. Aipom swung on her head, slowly coming off. Gavin would have said something about being a turban, but the feeling inside him stirred him. Something was telling him he would be needed for something …

Inside Gavin’s backpack, the special pokeball clicked, and the deep royal blue became a deep blue-turquoise.

[Master Kirby]

Yay! The story continues. What happened to Gavin's Pokeball? Is there something in it now? Or is it not really a pokeball as much as a Legendary detecting device? This is getting more interesting. Will they get to the tree in time to help save Oak and Anna?

How can Jigglypuff curl up like a teddy bear next to Kris at night when it had been sent to Professor Elm?

[Snakes N' Legends]

Looks like the Legendary beasts seem to disagree with each other. So we finally meet the Rocket. Professor Oak huh? Also, nice touch on the talking pokemon part. Reminds me of the Episode Island of the Giant Pokemon.

Well, keep up the good work.

[Gavin Luper]

Kirby: Hi! Finally, the story continues. Hmm...Gavin's special pokeball is quite evil, and a lot of what happens to it won't make much sense at this point in the story. The same with a lot of events and appearances. My advice to you is to just keep your ears and eyes open during these chapters.

Nice cliffhanger, no?

Oh, and that Jigglypuff thing was a big mistake, I edited it now. It was meant to be Vulpix!

TM: Yes, they are arguing a wee bit, no? Tsk tsk. The talking pokemon was one of my fave bits, but I wish I had been able to do that with Lisa's pokemon, as it adds characterisation. Still, it's not too bad.

More coming soon!

[Andrew]

Hey Gavin, just reading over this, I was surprised to see that well Jigglypuff was sent to Elm *Blinks* I thought that was one of her favourite Pokemon? And so she now has two fire Pokemon eh? Oh well!

I loved the further characterisation of the Pokemon, with Growlithe being a loyal smart alec! And Butterfree missing Gavin and Lisa, as well as the stalwart Missy! But a pet Slowking! LOL!

Also, Aipom, the living Turban, another great touch! Good work! And another nail into Magneton's patheticness! Hee hee! Can't wait to get further on!

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

Great job! Another chapter of perfection.
You're writing is comparable to that of a profesional. I recommend posting it at a place like Fanfiction.net or something, to allow even more people to read it.
MORE CHAPTERS PLEASE!!!
...Go Raikou!

[AquaBabe727]

Wargh!! Keel the Entei! Keel the Entei!!! Mwarharharhar!!! Very nice, Gavin! ^_^ Poor Kris. I'm beginning to wonder if Gavin fell out on purpose... *snicker*

Who's Anna? Is that somebody from the anime, or somebody from previous in the fic that i just can't remember? I'm glad she stepped up; the good proffessor doesn't deserve to die.

I like Raiku! And Suicune! But...keel the Entei! He's so evil, man... Anyway, i've done enough ranting, so i think i'll shutup now. Oh yeah, i'm going to post chapter 6 sometime in the near future, so stop by when you have the time, Gavin! As usual, nice work. :P

[Gavin Luper]

Oz Andrew: Thanks for doing your rounds and replying :D. Don't feel too pressured though. Nah, Jiggly isn't her fave - yet. She likes her Ledian and Misdreavus. Jiggly will be back.

I liked chaarcterising Kris' pokemon and butterfree, it was fun. Normally I don't do that, so that was kinda cool for a change. OMG a pet Slowking would be so BORING!

:D Well, it's true, Aipom IS like a living turban! And Magneton has sucked from the beginning. Oh well.

SSM: I'd like to think your compliments were justified, but that chapter could have ben much better and however good a writer I might seem to be, I have a VERY long way to go before being professional. A LONG way. But thank you anyway, it makes me feel good :D

More coming soon.

Aquababe: Ah, nobody likes Entei, he's so evil. So cryptic too. Ah well, we'll see what happens to him soon enough. Kris is a bit lonely riht now ... although you have to admit it was very nice of her to give her buggy away to a friend.

Look back to chapters 2, 14 and 15. That should answer your question. No, the prof doesn't deserve to die.

Suicune is cool, Raikou is a good guy now, it seems. Yep, I'll read chapter 6 when you post it. Thanks!

Chapter 22 up soon!

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 7 of The Crystal League has been posted. It's a new chapter - that is, it hasn't been posted at all on TPM!

Cheers!

[pokemasterfrank]

WOW! An hour's worth of reading...I've finally finished LTL (at least up to the part you've added. The Next chapter is coming...cant' wait...very nice story. It's so long that if started typing about it...my hands would fall off so...I'll just say nice job!

[Gavin Luper]

pokemasterfrank: Hi! Well, you've read both my stories now, haven't you? Cool. Thanks for reading. Which do you prefer, TCL or Lisa the Legend? Lol lucky I didn't write the wholke story at once ... otherwise my entire ARM would fall off. :d Those chapters took about three or four months to be completed, though.

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

This chapter is a must read.

*choke**sniff*

Turning point in the story. And the first chapter ever that made me feel emotion for my characters.

-------------------------------------------------

Chapter 22 - Ultimate Confrontation.


Lisa’s knuckles were whiter than ever on the wheel, looking like they were ready to pop out of their sockets. Gavin was keeping steady watch on the fire which drew ever closer. Lisa kept her foot hard on the accelerator, but wondered within if the buggy was made for high speeds. When there was an abrupt explosion from beneath them, in the buggy’s machinery, Lisa guessed not, but Gavin urged her to keep going fast.

“ It won’t work, Gavin!” she yelled, as the wind whipped Aipom off her head and thrust him into the horizontal pole at the rear end of the buggy. He swiftly wrapped his tail around the slippery black pole, and held on tightly.
“ The motor doesn’t have enough power, and it wasn’t built to go fast anyway!”

“ Just keep going!” Gavin shouted back again, still trying to keep an eye on the fire as it was revived and extinguished continually by the arguing legendaries. Elekid and Magneton worked overtime, but their electicity was failing, and soon, utterly exhausted, they collapsed, the buggy’s life remaining just a few seconds more before it halted, 500 metres from the burning tree.

Gavin instantly leapt out of the buggy and sprinted towards the tree, where he knew, just somehow knew, that somebody was up, cowering in the charred branches. It was then, for the first time since the Whirlpool Cup, that Gavin considered his Psychic – maybe it was helping him? He continued to run, his broken arm not hindering him at all, for a change. Although he only knew there was a fire, somewhere in his mind he felt that there was trouble in the air – serious trouble, involving Entei, Suicune and Raikou.

Entei looked up from the tree, and, while flamethrowering it, spotted Gavin sprinting up. He sighed heavily, and then roared loudly to scare him off. Gavin kept running, bowing his head as though running through heavy rain, and Entei shook slightly. Alright, he thought. Game time.

Gavin kept running, and Lisa ran behind, panting but drawing on her inner strength to keep up. Elekid and Magneton lounged in the broken-down buggy, while Aipom unravelled itself and ran after Lisa. Entei glared on, while Gavin approached, beginning to power up a beam of some sort.

//Oh, no you don’t, Entei// snapped Suicune, darting out in front of the enraged Entei and watergunning him – a weak attack to show he meant business, but didn’t want a fight - while simultaneously trying to put out the fire in the tree. Anna screamed from the tree, and Oak slumped against a thick, blackened branch.

//Out of the way// Entei boomed, staring at Suicune with eyes of intense fire. //Suicune, don’t you see. The secrets we have held for years … they are not ready//

Gavin sprinted up at that moment, before Suicune could utter a reply, and Entei looked down on him as though he was some pathetic Caterpie he was battling against. His eyes flashed a poisonous crimson, and a shimmering wall of sheer psychic energy appeared between the tree and the legendaries, and Gavin, rushing headlong. The wall was completely transparent, totally invisible apart from the occasional shimmer. Gavin suddenly slowed, and Entei grinned maliciously.

//See?// Entei concluded to Suicune. //They AREN’T ready//

Raikou gave a snarl, edging towards the tree, where Anna was supporting the weak, grubby Professor. //Leave it, Raikou// he added in a spiteful tone, breathing out a stream of powerful fire and driving Raikou back, Anna screaming again.

Lisa reached Gavin, and goggled at the devastating situation before them. Looking up in the burning tree, which even Suicune was not now attempting to extinguish, leaving it absent mindedly to the clumsy Psyduck, Lisa noticed that she knew both weak and frightened characters. Anna, she knew from the Whirlpool Cup, and Professor Oak she had met in Greenfield, along with Delia Ketchum in October …

When things seemed as bad as this, Lisa thought.

She took in the entire horrible scene, the tree, scarlet flames licking at it’s already charred bark with a evil hiss. Psyduck, now given up and struggling in despair to climd higher, as flames lapped up the trunk, destroying it in heated fury. Anna, her face pale and her cherry red lips quivering. Oak, weak, lab coat covered in mud, his eyes unfocused. Raikou, standing well back from the fire, trying to figure a way of rescuing the captives. Suicune, a look of fury, yet some form of hope. And Entei, utter anger in the flesh.

Quagsire and Dratini automatically popped out from their pokeballs at Lisa’s side, and together began watergunning at the flames. But the transparent barrier simply absorbed the water. Lisa buried her face in her hands, horror subduing her. But a small question sprung into her befuddled mind, before spritely leaping out from her head. Why didn’t Suicune and Raikou DO something? Why couldn’t they overpower Entei?? WHY?

Suddenly, Oak slipped from the charred branch towards the flames. As if reflex, Anna’s arm shot out and grasped the falling professor’s hands. Maybe it was lucky that he had been starved, then, as he was lighter than usual and Anna, although she struggled greatly, could hold him.

The shimmering barrier between the tree, and Lisa, Gavin and now the tiny Aipom, who approached warily, reflected the light from the blaze, and Anna suddenly burst into tears as the heat flared into their faces. Professor Oak had been dangling from her grasp like it was the one element he needed to live, and as Anna sobbed, her grip loosened.

Suicune seemed unable to do anything, as though it was waiting for something to happen, Raikou still nervously standing back. Entei was rooted to the spot, in pure evil delight, his mouth curving at the ends, but the smile didn’t make it all the way to his glittering black eyes.

In the silence that followed, apart from the low crackling of the fire, Anna’s sweaty palms lost their strength.

The body of Oak slipped more, so that Anna was holding his life in her single weak hand. Lisa screamed, but it was as though a mute had been placed inside her throat, trapping all verbal emotion, bottling it up so that it was silenced completely. Gavin watched in horror, knowing nothing could be done … or …

In that split second, Gavin seemed to decide. It was as though everything happened in a rush, crammed into a millisecond of the few minutes they had been at the site of the horrendous disaster. Gavin summed up all his inner strength, summoning it upwards, willing it to consolidate in the centre of his mind. He grasped at Lisa’s hand, as another finger of both Oak and Anna’s separated. Lisa looked despairingly at him for a moment, but he held her hand firmly, with such intense concentration he had never experienced. He felt Lisa’s emotions, her true power, flooding into his body, surging through his veins like an electric current. Lisa felt an odd, floating sensation overcome her, but there was no time to worry or ponder over it. She squeezed Gavin’s hand tighter, feeling the sensation overcome her.

Another two fingers sepatated, and the hands divided. It would have taken a nanosecond for Oak to plummet into the ground, and the raging blaze, but at that precise moment in time, Gavin’s body was washed over with radiant, turquoise light, all flooding to a central point on his brow, confining the energy into one small bead of crystalline light. And then, as though he had planned it all along, Gavin relaxed his mind, and the bead of power shot out from his head like a bullet from a gun, an enormous beam of energy issuing from his inner soul.

Lisa gasped, but the tiny sigh was silenced by the whooshing of Gavin’s blue beam, which easily penetrated the shimmering barrier, then rocketed to Oak, spearing his thin torso as he fell, then overcoming his body with light, and in moments, evaporating him, his weak body disappearing from sight.

And then, quite abruptly, Gavin crumpled to his knees, not in pain but in pure shock of his actions. He wheezed heavily for a moment, leaning weakly against the transparent wall, and then a faint glow appeared beside him, followed by the appearance of a fragile old man who sprawled out on the grass. The weak Professor Samuel Oak. Lisa bent down next to him, and looked over him closely – he was alive, though barely. She had no idea what was going on here, why was Entei physically flaming Anna, an innocent trainer, and Professor Oak? What motive did he have?

The silence that had settled upon the dazed group shattered with Entei leaping up onto a nearby rock, and roaring.

//Suicune, Raikou, stop you foolishness this instant!// he cried, in a very dark tone. //I’ll end this now, myself, if you do not cease. These two -// he glanced at Lisa and Gavin //must wait. The others must be killed. You know why//

Lisa was even more confused now, Gavin wasn’t even listening, marvelling still over his psychic attack. Oak seemed unconscious, knocked out but saved by Gavin’s inner power. Anna seemed to have given up on escaping now, and she propped herself up on the thick tree trunk, trying to stay calm and not interfere. Quagsire and Dratini seemed to be chatting rapidly while still attempting to water down the flames – they were trying to form a plan to rescue Anna and Psyduck.

Suicune and Raikou were the only ones to actually understand Entei’s behaviour, or at least his words. They silently mused things over, until Raikou bravely spoke up.

//Entei, I’m sure we can talk things over// he began in a calming voice. //This is merely a difference of opinion – you believe nobody should ever know what we were discussing -// Raikou shot a glance at Oak, and then up to the tree at Anna, before turning back. // - but there is no need to kill them for it. Lisa and Gavin here need more time, as I am sure you are aware of by that beam just then, to develop and take control of their destinies//

Gavin’s ears had pricked up at the mention of his name, and he turned his gaze quickly to where Entei’s head was turned, facing the smaller Raikou, who was confronting him with a very brave face. Had they just mentioned something about destinies?

//I believe, and Suicune agrees with me, that Oak and the other girl should be forbidden to tell, and I know Suicune has many methods of doing this// Raikou continued. //As for the others, they should continue training and begin becoming stronger.//

Entei looked enraged, as though he had just been stabbed in the back by his closest companion, which seemed in his eyes to be the case.

//I also believe that, when signalled, Lunanine should return// Suicune broke in loudly, sounding very out of place.

Instantly, Gavin felt very vulnerable, as though all his pokemon had deserted him in a pit of venomous Arbok. He reached with a shaking hand for pokeballs, and produced quickly Girafarig, Staryu, Natu and Ditto. Lisa took a sidelong glance at him, and was about to speak up to the legendaries when Entei broke in powerfully.

//If you two are too weak…// began Entei, turning to face Anna in the tree. //Then that is your downfall//

He lashed out instantly, and an orb of intense crimson fire formed within his drooling jaws. //Goodbye, human// he bellowed, shooting out the ball directly at Anna, whose mouth opened in shock seconds before the ball was fired. But as it raced at her, a thick blast of blackness shot out from her right, shielding her like a dark blanket of power, holding the attack from Entei back, and it hovered at the edge.

Lisa, Gavin, Raikou, Suicune and Entei all looked toward the direction of the black shield, and not too far from the tree hovered a deep grey Misdreavus, flanked by a timid Butterfree to her left and an indignant Growlithe below, on the ground. Lisa recognised the Butterfree, and soonafter the Misdreavus.

“ Hey – that’s my Butterfree!” she exclaimed, breaking some of the tension. Butterfree squinted through the night, and discovered it’s previous trainer, cowering by the barrier. Lisa, her friend. “ And that’s Kris’ Misdreavus!”

Entei seemed further infuriated by the arrival of the newcomers. His large ivory glowing orb was still shining close by the black, cloaking attack from Misdreavus, but it was ever so gradually dimming, as though the blanket was sucking the life from the ball. Then Entei felt greater fury, stronger indignation; their centuries of secrecy were about to be torn to shreds.

//NO!// he roared, opening his jaws again and firing off a spiral of smaller white orbs, which travelled rapidly at the tree, and magically pierced Misdreavus’ black protection, diminishing it and heading straight for Anna. Lisa foresaw devastation, heard Anna scream, and screwed her eyes shut tightly.

Three small balls of power ripped through the forcefield, and tore directly through Anna’s heart. Her shrieks abruptly silenced, the body of Anna dropped to the foot of the tree, and into the orange flames, which began furiously burning her.

Suicune and Raikou’s faces both showed mingled horror and anger, Gavin’s throat closed over, the pokemon all squealed, and Lisa dared to open her eyes. She screamed, louder than anybody. Anna’s dead body was laying in the blaze, overcome completely and beyond return. Anna – Lisa couldn’t comprehend –

Anna was dead.

As Lisa stared at the flames which obscured her friend’s body, tears gushed from her eyes down her face. As she screamed with horror, there was a cry from the blaze – not Anna’s cry of grief, pain, anguish, but a soothing cry. A call from some sort of friend. A spirit. But not Anna’s …

Lisa’s eyes bulged as she saw what looked like a massive rainbow bird – a phoenix – streaking through the air. Lisa blinked to see better, but her eyes were misted with tears, and the phoenix dissolved into thin air. But the calm, refreshing cry gave something to Lisa. She felt a new sense of anger, something that ceased her screams and sobs and forced her to stand up from Oak’s frail form beside her. She stood tall, and faced Entei.

“ You killed an innocent person, Entei,” cried Lisa, choking back sobs, her eyes rapidly clearing up. She saw gavin staring on, amazed, as she spoke to the legendaries for the first time directly – ever. “ You killed her to protect yourself – or me and Gavin, maybe, who knows? But you will pay.”

Gavin blinked twice, and searched for something to yell out to the legendaries too, but failed, his voice box choking up as the full realisation of what had happened hit him.

Suicune and Raikou had lingered at the sidelines for long enough now. They knew it was time to step in, no matter what they needed to keep a secret, they had to break the rules at this point.

Lisa immediately called Dratini and Quagsire to join her. Both prepared Ice Beams, along with Gavin’s Staryu. Aipom conjured up a swift attack, bright stars ready to fly out. Girafarig sent out a beam of rainbow light, along with Natu. Ditto looked on, helpless. While Growlithe forced a torrent of fire to belch from his mouth, Butterfree opted for a Gust, and Misdreavus creating a large mauve Shadow Ball. Finally, both Suicune and Raikou powered up beams of light.

“ Entei, this is from Anna.”

Eleven combined ranged attacks sliced the crisp night air, each one’s power magnified by the combination of all the attacks. Instantly, the strong glass-like barrier shattered to the ground as the beams combined to form a rainbow, and Entei roared one more time before he was pummelled with the outrage of Pokemon.

Entei dropped to the ground with a loud thud, which vibrated through the earth, before shimmering intensely. Then, with a blast bright enough to blind, it disappeared.


*

Lisa blinked at the devastation before her, unsure of what to do next. The entire area around the tree was blackened and looking worn and tired. Professor Oak’s unconscious form lay at her feet. All the pokemon were panting on the ground, weakened by their own attacks. Anna’s Psyduck was nowhere to be seen. Possibly in was buried in the ashes of the tree where Anna had died. The tree had collapsed ten minutes after the pokemon had subdued the flames, in a pile of ashes.

Suicune and Raikou had both disappeared, leaving Lisa and Gavin to cope with the overwhelming situation alone. Lisa sat for fifteen minutes in the late night, on the dirt and ashes which had cooled, staring blankly ahead, as though wishing for the entire night to reverse, wishing for something to come along and slot into the empty chasm within her.

Gavin scuffed his feet in the dirt as he came back to Lisa’s blank, emotionally shattered form, and sat down slowly, stirring up some dirt as he did so, and put a shaking arm around Lisa.

Lisa sobbed silently. Anna was dead – DEAD. And Entei … Entei was searching for her, going to kill her. She felt it. But what could she do for now?

Nothing, she thought bitterly, her head resting on Gavin’s shoulder, as he rocked her gently, tears trickling from his own eyes, unseen by Lisa.

Absolutely nothing.

[Andrew]

Hey Gavin, just read it all, much to your dismay much too fast! Hee! But anyway, this revised chapter was so much better than the original, it added so much to it, with Anna's death being much better drawn out, Oak surviving peeved me off. And how will Psyduck cope with it?

Will we see a ghostly Anna talk to Lisa from beyond the grave? But the tension held so well till Gavin detached us from it with his "Yeah!" and his teleportation was good!

Was Entei turned to Entashes or something? But Raioku seems to be kinda on the sidelines, what part does he have to play? Will he secretly talk to Lisa and Gavin and let them in on the goss? But Poor Anna, she was so brave... she deserves to kick someone's shins...

Great work Gavin!

[Gavin Luper]

Oz Andrew: Hey there!

So many people read really really fast it's virtually impossible! Also, it almost makes it feel like a hours and hours of work for like 30 seconds of a nother person reading it. Lol ... it's alright, I'm jk.

This revised version was more realistic and even I can tell the massive improvement from the last version. Before, they were like "Hm, Anna died, oh well, oooh look let's go eat grapes." This is better. The whole situation will be more realistic than even the Radio Tower tragedy (which was quite poorly executed).

Lol ... no freaky ghost stuff in this story.

Entei ... we'll see. Raikou is on Suicune's side of the argument of course, that chapter would have proven that, but he will be seen more also. Anna was petrified, I know you wanted her to run over and kick Entei's shins but she was up in a burning tree, I mean, come on what chance did she have?

More coming soon!

Cheers!

[pokemasterfrank]

Chilling...the death of a close friend...how will Lisa cope with it...especially with Entei on her tail (if I read it right...)

[Snakes N' Legends]

I never knew a pokemon could kill. That makes Entei look really evil. I hope that Entei is not going to be the true villian of this book.

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

I never really liked those other trainers anyway... Only Lisa and Gavin.
Still, none the less, sad, but not much, really. Like I haven't read a fanfic where an important character dies... *remembers reading The Greater Evil*
I didn't completely understand the Gavin thing, though. Why does everything shoot from his head? Maybe mouth, or eyes, but you keep doing like his forhead or something. So weird...
Well, how about some more, HAPPY chapters?

[Mew Trainer Rose]

Wow, that was an intense chapter. Entie killing Anna was a big shock. I wonder why Gavin saved just Prof. Oak and not Anna too.
it was great that Gavin and Lisa and all the pokemon were able to stand up against him.
there was so much suspense! and there still is! and i can't wait to see what's next! :D

[Gavin Luper]

Pokemasterfrank: Yes, scary indeed. Chilling. This time around, Lisa and Gavin will both be affected differently, and Entei will be seen again soon, as will the others.

TM: Ah, of course pokemon can kill. Only very strong ones, mind. You don't see caterpies killing fully-grown humans. Entei isn't exactly the main villain in this book ... kinda, but not exactly. You'll have to read on to see what I mean.

SSM: I couldn't have cared less last time around but this time it was harder to kill her. Also, Psychic energy comes from the mind, and the soul. Coming from the eyes would be weird. FREAKY.

KINDA happy chapters soon... next chapter is a short one.

MTR: Intense indeed. I didn't see it coming myself at first. I actually can't remember why I added it in there, but this time it has some meaning. It's hard for me to explain, but basically Gavin can't really control when he has bursts of Psychic energy, he can only sometimes harness them.

Ah, suspense! :D a great thing to have in a story.

[Last Exile]

Now that was intense! Anna's death came as a real shock. From the first half of that chapter I already felt Entei was a scumbag but by the end I felt like killing Entei myself. Just because it's a damn legendary doesn't make it the judge of who's to live and die and how the future must proceed. I feel for Lisa. Such a decent person who's now been drowned in horiffic loss. Hopefully she and Gavin will whoop Entei's sorry carcass eight ways from Sunday! ;) Nice return, mate!

[Karania]

Keep it up. I can hardly wait to see what the next chapter is and where the story goes from here.

[100FangCroconaw]

Can't wait for the new chappies, and btw, I was reading your fics before I was a member.

[Master Kirby]

Wow! You were right when you said that the second book was where the story really begins. Entei sure is evil. :mad: No care for Human life.

It looks like Gavin is getting better at controlling his powers. Mabey he should get some pointers from an Alakazam. That sure was some ending. It sounds like Entei got away just in time. That was a lot of attacks at once.

[M1ND G4ME]

Man this fic is sweet! just read the whole thing its awesome and the part about anna dieing i can see it now gavins a psychic(actually not psychic telekinetic(spelling?) for what ive seen )so thatd be easy for anna to get back at entei (through gavin)but im sorry i think ahead at what can happen to much =/ oh well great fan fic cant wait to see the new chapters

[Gavin Luper]

Long time, no reply. Sorry everyone! Chapter 23 will be posted in a minute!

Ryan: Yeah, it's nice to see some action-packed chapters for a while. I love it when we get to the chapters after the whirlpool cup, they are so much more interesting (less pokemon realated, which is a good thing as I lost interest in Pokemon a LONG time ago). Anyhow, I feel like killing Entei but I just can't. I have my reasons, I'm sure you'll understand.

Ah, Lisa and Gavin will get their revenge. I think. If not ... then ... erm ...

Karania: Hi! New reader? If so, welcome to Lisa the Legend! That chapter ending wasn't a cliffhanger, but it stil makes you really want to read more. Hmmm ...

100FangCroconaw: Hi! Yeah, more coming soon, and thanks for reading my fics for so long!

Kirby: Yes, this is exactly what I meant. The next couple of chapters will be a bit of a break from all this, but then it will all return in full force. Entei is eeeevil indeed. But is he the overall evil in the story? Or are their two? Or three?

Gavin is getting a wee bit better at harnessing his powers but not at strengthening them. Entei was lucky. It wasn't knocked out even, just dazed. He quickly teleported away after stirring. I liked the ending too.

gamewizard007: Thanks! Anna's death was a bit uncalled for but I suppose that's how things happen sometimes in the real world, no? Lol you're thinking ahead a lot. But Gavin's psychic might have something to do with it!

Chapter 23 up now! Cheers!

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Chapter 23 - Repercussions.


Lisa sat up very cautiously. She appeared to be in some kind of hospital ward; her bed was only crisp white bedsheets on a white mattress. Beeps sounded behind her, from some complicated looking equipment on the wall that was not connected to her. Her head was propped up on a mountain of pillows, and for a second she thought she was back in the Goldenrod Hospital after the Radio Tower Collapse. But when the door swung open, it wasn’t Doctor Roberts who walked through.

“ Doctor Parker,” a tall, red-haired woman in pale blue clothes greeted Lisa, striding over to her bed and checking small readout screens from the electronic equipment behind Lisa. Lisa turned her head slightly to see Gavin on the bed beside her, all the equipment linked to him. It seemed he had rebroken his arm.

“ What’s happened?” Lisa murmured, partly to herself and partly to Doctor Parker.

“ You and your friend were found a yesterday morning. There seemed to have been a fire …” Parker replied, finishing her checks and facing Lisa, who was feeling very befuddled. “ Well, you and your many friends. Yourself, your boy-friend. NOT boyfriend, I just mean your friend who is a boy,” she added, seeing Lisa’s annoyed facade. “ Then there was a whole collection of fainted pokemon, as well as the missing Professor Oak. Some charred bones were found near the tree …”

Images flashed through Lisa’s mind. The night sky, a broken down buggy … all three legendary dogs … the burning tree … Gavin, Gavin’s psychic beam …

“ Anna …” Lisa whispered sadly, looking down at her sheets and smoothing wrinkles out of them pointlessly. She felt like a hole had been ripped through her heart and left a gaping abyss of nothingness at the thought of her dead friend. She could feel tears burning just behind her eyes, but they would not surface. Lisa choked down a burning lump in her throat, and cleared her thoughts for a moment.

“ Doctor, were there legendary pokemon there?”

Parker shook her head. “ There were very large footprints there, in the wet mud near some grass, but no sign of any pokemon to have made them.”

“ What happened to Professor Oak?” Lisa asked anxiously, feeling as though her mind was far too full, and the burning lump in her throat had risen again. She was almost expecting Parker to say he had died, but her spirits were risen slightly by what the Doctor replied.

“ He is alive, only just,” Parker said in a very miserable voice. “ He is in intensive care.”

She began checking Gavin, who had a large cut across his cheek, and hair completely messed up, but apart from that and his right arm, Lisa couldn’t see any harm done to him. She also couldn’t for the life of her recall him obtaining the cut.

“ You really need to rest now.” Doctor Parker said firmly, now moving on to checking Gavin’s electronic equipment, and musing over his broken arm.

“ Are we alright? Is Gavin …” Lisa questioned rapidly, ignoring the doctor’s orders.

Parker sighed. “ You should both be fine. You’re very shocked, you’ve both been through an ordeal, I believe, the Police explained that you witnessed a very serious battle in which humans were involved and somebody was killed. I’m sure you can elaborate on that story when the police arrive for questioning tomorrow.”

“ Oh, OK.” Lisa muttered, sighing.

“ Go back to sleep now.” Parker said, now in a more stern voice. “ I’ll wake you up for dinner.”

“ What day is it?” Lisa asked, determined to keep awake and find out as much as she could.

Parker clicked her tongue impatiently. “ Sunday. Now go back to sleep.”

But Lisa still had one more question to ask before she closed her eyes and obediently drifted back off to sleep again. She simply had to get all the facts, or as many as she could from Doctor Parker, before she could relax.

“ Where are we?”

Doctor Parker strode across to Lisa’s bed, pulled her sheets up higher, fluffed up her pillow pile, and then flicked a switch on the wall, and all the lights were turned off. Then, standing by the door, ready to close it to blot out all the panicked noise from outside, she called in a softer voice to Lisa.

“ Lakey Heights Public Hospital,” she answered, and Lisa felt her stomach squirm. “ In Ecruteak.”


*

“ Really, I’m alright!” Lisa insisted, pushing Tom away from her bed. “ You don’t need to tell Mum and Dad!”

It was Monday, and Tom had arrived at the Hospital to visit Lisa and Gavin, along with Wes and Jean, who were as bratty as ever, and his girlfriend Miki. He said he heard about the Entei incident on the TV News, and had to make heaps of phone calls to find out which hospital they were in. Lisa and Gavin had been sorrowful in their stay in the hospital since the event. After the police questioning by Officer James and Jenny on Sunday, they realised how much Anna’s death had impacted upon them. Although their friendship with her had been limited, it was devastating to know somebody they knew had been killed so tragically and meaninglessly. Her funeral had been earlier that morning, and Lisa and Gavin had attended, Lisa sobbing despite her inner strength and Gavin looking very grave, wishing he could have prevented the disaster. It turned out Anna only had a father, and no other family still alive. Apparently they had all passed away in an accident a few years ago. Lisa had burst into tears when Anna’s coffin was buried, with only her bones and some ashes and dirt from the ground around the fateful tree. Saying it was a bad day was a tragic understatement.

But now Lisa and Gavin were trying to move on, to forget the tragedy. But the events and discussion amongst the legendaries still nagged at them.

Lisa’s brother Tom seemed petrified about the incident, and was threatening to tell the Walters; Lisa was thankful that Miki was there too. Miki had shoulder-length black hair, which was usually tied up in a neat bun for her dance classes, but today was in a ponytail with a round pokeball-clip holding it. She had large, water-like black eyes. Tom had been seeing her for over two years – since he was sixteen; he was now almost nineteen.

Anyhow, Miki calmed Tom down and he quickly sat down on the chair. Lisa felt warm gratitude to Miki; Lisa really liked her Brother’s girlfriend and they usually got along quite well.

Lisa had proceeded to retell the entire story, including everything occurring after Tom rang her back at the Moo Moo Farm, and had to put up with Tom questioning every other detail, and Gavin interrupting to correct her slightest mistakes. In the end, the whole story came out, and Lisa flopped down onto her hospital bed, exhausted. On an empty bed across the ward, she saw Wes and jean bouncing rapidly, and grinned.

“ So Gavin – you used a Psychic power again?” Tom asked Gavin, who had managed to hobble from his bed to the spare bed beside Lisa’s in the ward. He was currently lazing on the thin mattress, attempting to eat plump purple grapes with his toes. The events of the past few days seemed now to breeze over his head.

“ Yep,” Gavin replied, quite calmly compared to the time Lisa had asked him about the Psychic incident at the Radio Tower. He dropped a grape from his grubby toes, missing his mouth by twenty inches and dropping the grape onto the vinyl floor. “ I dunno what happened – it seemed like the obvious thing to do.”

Tom nodded thoughtfully, while Miki moved onto the armrest of Tom’s chair, and began conversing with Lisa. The normalcy did Lisa good.

“ How’ve you been, Lisa?” she asked, speaking to her for the first time since she and Tom of them burst into the ward and yelled out to her. “ I mean, last time I saw you was back in October; how’s Aipom?”

“ He’s … alright,” Lisa hesitated. “ He’s strong and everything, but he’s getting a bit fickle here and there.”

“ Luni does that sometimes,” Miki replied, as Tom pulled her down from the armrest and she plopped into his lap, hugging her while still talking fluently to Gavin (about Psychic powers, and about a seer who was said to live on Cianwood Island). Lisa noted what a perfect couple Tom and Miki made.

Miki sat back up, brushing hair from her face and pushing Tom away, grinning. “ She likes to use the wrong attack when I order a different one,” she continued, referring to her Umbreon, Luni. “ I always find that a long, exhausting dancing session is able to deter her.”

Lisa chuckled, and at that moment, Doctor Parker came swishing through the doorway.

“ Lisa, Gav – oh, I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware you had company,” she muttered awkwardly. Then she ran a sweaty hand through her fringe and continued. “ We just had some news from the intensive care unit – it appears Professor Oak will live.” She paused for this to sink in.

Both Lisa and Gavin’s faces broke into grins, and they breathed heavy sighs of relief – or at least, Lisa did – she noticed Gavin had sat up on the bed and was desperately kicking the lone grape beneath it.

“ So he’s going to be perfectly fine again?” Lisa asked. “ Able to continue his profession?” Parker nodded, and Lisa breathed relief. “ Thank God – that’s great …”

“ Yes it is,” Parker replied crisply – she had noticed Gavin’s grape only a few inches beneath the bed, and frowned. “ And for some even more good news, both of you may return home today.”

This news had a very positive effect on Lisa, who was longing to return to her home and really talk with her family – she felt as though her weeks away from them, roaming the plains, seas and forests of Johto had really separated them, and she really wanted to become close again, and fill that gap. Gavin also grinned, not only did he want to return to his normal routine life, but also wanted to get away from Doctor Parker’s stern scrutiny – she was eyeing the grape beneath the bed as though it was an intruder.

“ Well, I’ll be seeing you later on,” Parker replied, turning from the room, her eyes flashing dangerously. “ Oh, and Gavin, clean up that grape or I’ll set the Jynxes onto you!”

She swished out, while Lisa giggled. The Jynxes were the Hospital Cleaners – she had heard from a plump night-shift nurse that they had been known to Kiss those patients who made a total mess in their wards. As Doctor Parker vacated, Gavin hastily slipped down off the bed and scooped the slightly squished grape up, and threw it into his bedside bin.

“ Well, let’s go,” Lisa began, heaving herself up from the bed. “ But after we leave here, we have to visit the Pokemon Centre to get our Poke’s back.”

Wesley moaned. “ The TV Battle starts in half an hour – I’m gonna miss iiiit!!”

[M1ND G4ME]

hey great chapter!!!
for a filler

but let me guess Fake Gavin?
i meen thats what it looks like to me of course i always think something like that gonna happen
*has an over active imagination huh*?

~GW7~
Call Me Hunter

[Gavin Luper]

GW7: Hi, quick reply. Yeah, it was a short filler chapter, not originally a separate chapter but it was really big enough to be independent from chapter 3, which is still 4000+ words anyway.

Fake Gavin? I have no idea what you mean. But I'll clarify - in this story there are two gavins - myself (the author) and Gavin Luper (Lisa's friend).

Cheers!

[Master Kirby]

Yay! Professor Oak will be OK! Now maybe he can tell them all why he was being attacked by Entei.

Are they going to Cianwood Island? Maybe Gavin can learn more about his powers.

Now we need a new chapter.

[pokemasterfrank]

Let me guess...they're going to go to that Seer at Cianwood.

Very nice filler...

I'll be here, waiting for the next chapter. :yes:

[Snakes N' Legends]

Professor Oak is okay and Lisa finally gets to see her brother again. Not very much to say, but keep up the good work.

[Gavin Luper]

Kirby: Oak will be OK ... but will he be able to tell them? Who knows? Maybe he'll have amnesia?

Why Cianwood Island? The Seer was just something Tom was talking about. They were already on Cianwood earlier anyway.

Pokemasterfrank: Hm, I wonder why everyone thinks they are going to the Seer. Well, let me just say they will be going somewhere VERY interesting soon ...

TM: Prof Oak lives, and Lisa and Tom reunite. Nice chapter, no? Even for a filler. I liked it myself, not too long either.

Everyone: In case you haven't all noticed yet, my other fic, The Crystal League, was abandoned a short while ago. I also won't be reading many other fics now except a few which I am very loyal to! I made an announcement in the TCL topic which you can all read if you want. Lisa the Legend will be my only fic now. And when that finishes ... well ...

Let's just say there are events in life which make you realise how important life is, and that you need to live not in a virtual world but in reality.

[Last Exile]

Well, that explains some things! Decent linking chapter Gavin! Hopefully things will be on the up again for our heroes.

[100FangCroconaw]

COOL!4000+ words!Now thats a chapter I want to read.

[Gavin Luper]

Ryan: Thanks. I liked having that little linking chapter put in this time, it adds a chapter to the story, kinda. I'll post chapter 24 later today probably. It's just kinda semi-tying off loose ends - for now anyway - and setting the scene for some cool stuff to happen.

Battle in the next chapter, too.

100FangCroconaw: Length doesn't always mean it will be good. Although in my opinion chapter 24 is pretty cool!

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 24 - Homeward Bound.


The Nurse Joy at the Ecruteak Pokemon Centre greeted Lisa and Gavin happily, although she seemed to disapprove of them bringing a sulky Wesley and bored but still cheeky Jean into the shop. Many of the baby pokemon in the back had recently hatched from eggs, she told them, and had just got to sleep when they all arrived talking, and then had awakened.

Lisa had been surprised when they entered, and approached the counter, because this Nurse Joy had her scarlet-orange hair grown out quite long, and she was much younger than the usual Nurse Joy – she appeared to be only sixteen or so.

“ I’m filling in for my Mum,” she explained, when Lisa enquired. “ She’s gone to some Island way up north in Kohtu for some sort of research – I think it’s pointless myself,” she added, with a slightly annoyed expression. Lisa smiled when she spotted how similar the Nurse’s situation was to her own when her parents had left for Kanto, to study Omanytes.

“ So – are our Pokemon alright?” Lisa asked, as she felt Jean’s finger poking her in the back impatiently.

“ I think so,” Nurse Joy said, an indistinct trace of doubt in her voice. “ They all seem to have taken a very hard blow, every single one of them seems very injured, but there’s no physical trace of an attack on them at all. Do you have any idea what happened to them?”

“ No, sorry,” muttered Lisa, reminding herself very much of the conversation she had had with Officer James earlier that morning, when most of the answers to his question’s were “ No, sorry, I don’t know” or “ I really don’t remember”.

“ Come and collect them, then,” Joy lead Gavin, Lisa, and Jean down the hallway. Wesley had discovered a TV set, with the Pokemon Battle he had been dying to watch being broadcast live, and Tom and Miki had sat down to watch him, although Lisa suspected they wanted some time ‘alone’.

The corridor was tiled and quite dingy compared to the rest of the centre. As they continued, passing many open doors where small amounts of light seeped in, Joy explained. “ Sorry about the bad lighting. The corridor is the only, um – room – in the centre that doesn’t have a window. Normally we provide the lights with some electric pokemon, but all our Magnemites are still at a Farm west of the city doing some promotional thing. Our electricity supply is only existent due to a couple of volunteers.”

She gestured into a small room, where three Raichu, an Elekid and a Magneton were standing on a conveyor belt, all of them panting. Wires were strapped to them, carrying electric currents to a large generator in the centre of the room. There was another, thinner set of wires attached to them as well – Joy explained that a small percentage of the electricity was fed back to the pokemon to keep them going over long periods of endurance.

Jean looked utterly bored, and looked like she was going to turn back, when Lisa looked closer at the pokemon and squealed. “ Hey – that Elekid, and that Magneton –”

She didn’t need to say anymore, Joy blushed a bright shade of scarlet, and gave a timid but sheepish grin.
“ When I said volunteer, I kinda meant pokemon that stay here overnight to heal.”

Lisa was fuming. “ But they’re injured!” she protested.

“ I assure you they’ll be fine!” cried Joy hastily, seizing Lisa’s hand and dragging her along before any more could be said. “ They’ll be given back to you immediately.”

Jean tapped Lisa’s shoulder, and she whipped around, only to see her young sister poking out her tongue in a very juvenile manner and for no apparent reason. Lisa delivered a quick kick to the shins to shut Jean up.

Finally, Joy turned into an enormous room, so very reminiscent of Lisa’s hospital ward that Lisa couldn’t speak for a moment. There were two long rows of white beds, most of them only about four feet long, and many of them wider than a usual bed, to cater for oversize pokemon. Along one side of the ward were Lisa’s pokemon; Dratini, Quagsire, and Aipom, Gavin’s pokemon; Natu, Staryu, Girafarig (looking very awkward) and Ditto, and finally Kris’ pokemon; Growlithe, Misdreavus and Butterfree. Lisa wondered where Kris was now, and if she would arrive in Ecruteak and be able to retrieve her pokemon.

“ Sorry if your pokemon are all looking a bit weak still,” Joy smiled. “ When the police brought them in the other day, they were very tired. Some of them still are.”

“ As long as they’re healthy, I’m happy,” said Lisa.

“ Yeah.” Gavin said.

“ Just place your pokeballs here,” Joy instructed, as she surveyed the room. Gavin and Lisa pulled off all their empty pokeballs and put them on a low wooden bench.

Along the opposite side of the ward were a Sandshrew, a very weak-looking Caterpie, and a very strange pokemon Lisa had never seen before. It had large, buggy eyes, a vibrant saffron head, with no ears but a small nozzle that appeared to be a form of sucker. Its body was very odd – it was bright azure, but had glistenings of what looked like snowflakes, constantly appearing and melting, then trickling away and making way for new ones.

The mattress was completely soaked with water.

“ Oh, nooo! Not again!” Joy cried, sprinting over to the bed. Gavin raised an eyebrow, and even Lisa had a hunch that this Nurse wasn’t exactly the most experienced she had met. Jean s******ed behind her hands, but Lisa silenced her, and, slightly reluctantly, jogged across the ward to help Joy.

“ Ugh, Issechu!” yelled Joy, reaching up and pushing the Bug-like creature right off the bed and onto the floor.

“ Bless you,” Gavin said, as the thing landed with a thud, although looked unaffected. Lisa helped Joy wrench the sheets off and pull the mattress onto the ground. Joy began dragging the mattress through a nearby door, then, as an afterthought, flipped it over and replaced it.

“ What IS that?” Gavin asked, from across the room, eyeing the bug as though it was an alien.

“ Issechu,” Joy replied impatiently, heaving the thing back onto the bed. “ Now, Issechu, no more sweating! Just relax, you’ll be free again very soon!”

She turned to Lisa. “ Could you just calm him down for a second while I find some new sheets?”

Lisa wondered if it really needed sheets, but she nodded, and turned awkwardly to the bug like thing, Issechu. Its body was looking very misty, and soon drops of sweat-like water appeared all over it. Lisa reached her hand out and touched it. It was freezing – like ice. She wiped the sweat away, then stroked it’s body. “ Er – it’s OK … good Issechu, you’re doing great.”

Gavin and Jean both burst into fits of snorts as Joy re-entered the room, carrying pale yellow sheets. At the same moment, Issechu’s nozzle vibrated and emitted a loud, buzzing squeak. It then rubbed its large orange head on Lisa’s arm, who flinched back.

“ It likes you,” commented Joy, slapping the sheets down on the nearby trolley.

Gavin and Jean snorted again, and Lisa glared reprovingly at them.

Joy ignored them, and turned back to Issechu. “ Alright, get up buddy, come on!” she urged, pushing his body. Lisa wondered what she was doing, when suddenly she felt a brief gust of air in her face. Two parts of Issechu’s body had broken off into wings, which were glistening in the light from the large window at the far end of the ward. It hovered up, while Joy hurriedly spread out the sheets. Lisa watched numbed, before regaining sense and assisting Joy in completing the task.

Issechu landed, and gave a kind of half-smile, while made it’s eyes look happy and it’s nozzle twist slightly. Gavin looked slightly impressed, but Jean looked nothing less than disgusted by the mere sight of the creature. She sighed and faced outside the door, looking like she wished she hadn’t come.

“ Thanks, Lisa,” Joy sighed, staring oddly at Issechu. Lisa suddenly remembered the Ward was for injured pokemon, and Issechu appeared fine.

“ What’s wrong with Issechu?” Lisa asked, as Joy moved on to check the Sandshrew’s temperature. The shrew looked very weak and it was sweating profusely.

Joy looked up abruptly, upsetting the Sandshrew. She patted him until he was calm, then faced Lisa. “ Issechu is a new pokemon, my Mum found it injured a week or so ago. It’s all better now, but it doesn’t want to go back into the wild. It gets really nervous and upset sometimes – it only shows it by sweating. That’s why you have to calm it down.”

Lisa nodded knowingly, as Issechu kept grinning at her.

“ It needs a good trainer to take care of it now,” said Joy, very indiscreetly. Lisa shuddered, wrinkling her nose up at the sight of Issechu, with it’s pleading buggy eyes.

“ Well I hope it finds a good trainer soon –” Lisa edged away from that part of the ward, walking backwards until she bumped into Gavin. “ Well thanks Joy, I really enjoyed meeting you. Oh, look – a door!”

Lisa sprinted nervously into the hallway, and Jean, despite herself, giggled. Gavin looked warily around.

“ I’ll take Issechu in a pokeball for her, if you want,” he said bravely and mischievously, s******ing to himself, knowing that Lisa would rather lose Aipom than capture Issechu. “ I’m sure that, deep down, she really wants to keep it.” Then he turned to Jean as Joy laughed, and Issechu buzzed happily at the potential of a new trainer. “ C’mon, Jean, help me get all these pokemon back into their pokeballs.”

Nurse Joy smiled as Gavin walked over to Issechu’s bed. “ Just take it for a while to see how it goes, OK? Bring it back in a week for a check-up.”


*

Half an hour later, all six of them were piled into Tom’s very unreliable car. Wes and Jean were sharing a seatbelt, and both looked incredibly annoyed at this, although Wesley much more than Jean – he was missing the conclusion of his TV show. Jean, however, had gained the possession of Kris’ Butterfree, Growlithe and Misdreavus until Kris arrived in Ecruteak, and she was slightly cheerier.

Lisa felt as though she had something to complain about. Issechu sat inside a Friend Ball on her belt. She glared at Gavin while he glanced unknowingly outside the dirty car window, watching pizza shops, shopping arcades, parks and finally suburban houses whoosh past.

“ Home now?” Wesley snapped in a strangled voice, as though he was speaking but at the same time trying not to.

“ Not just yet,” replied Tom, who was promptly answered with assorted groans, and a smirk from Miki. “ First we have to go to my work – I just have to check something with Morty. I left the cokes out of the fridge and I think he said he was letting Haunter and Gastly free today. I wanna make sure they don’t drink them or anything.”

Gavin smirked, and Wes and Jean both now looked murderous. But Lisa felt her heart lift – the last time she had been to Tom’s work, the Main Ecruteak Gym, she had been trying for a Badge. That was before her journey began, before her fateful meeting with Suicune.

Maybe – maybe? Lisa mused things over in her head. Hopefully this time, if the ghosts had succeeded in spilling coke all over the gym, she would be able to ditch Tom and find Morty. The idea seemed very appealing.

“ Isn’t there a new gym or something?” Gavin asked, as Tom swivelled the ancient car down a side street, his idea of a short cut. Tom frowned.

“ Yeah, a new one,” he drawled slowly. “ They only made it a couple of months ago.”

Miki looked infuriated. “ They built it right next to the Dance Studio,” she whined, brushing hair indignantly out of her eyes. “ And now we can’t get five minutes peace without some psycho kids having a stupid battle!! Half the time we get thunderbolts striking out theatre!!”

Gavin blinked, and decided not to pursue the subject. Miki relaxed slightly, her face flushed pink.

The car slowed, and Tom drove over the low kerbing to the car park. Lisa cringed slightly as she viewed the building she had fruitlessly battled at for weeks. Ecruteak Gym.

It was made mainly of stone, which was as grey as the clouds, which haunted its pointed spire, which rose steadily from the ground floor up into the sky. Lisa had often wondered why the tower was constructed, but at the moment her mind was clogged with prospects of winning a battle. This time, she felt she could succeed – she no longer had just Aipom, but now Elekid, Magneton, Dratini, Quagsire, and – Lisa shuddered slightly – Issechu, the nervy, icy bug which appeared to be in love with her.

Tom parked the car with a jolt, and leapt out instantly. Miki followed closely, and this automatically decided that everybody was entering the structure. Gavin looked interested slightly, but Wes and Jean remained stubbornly inside the humid car. Tom shrugged as he turned, and locked them in with the remote central locking. They didn’t even flinch.

The inside of the Ecruteak Gym was nicer than Lisa remembered it – she was expecting an entire gym of semi-darkness, wooden panelled floor which was suspended above the basement, and stone walls, hardly visible by the candles which were fixed to brackets in the wall. She expected Morty, the red-haired gym leader, to be standing alone at the far end of the gym. But reality vastly contrasted Lisa’s recollections.

There were countless more candles and torches fixed to the wall this time, making the winding wooden path to Morty’s battlefield quite easy to distinguish from the dark pits around it. Tom explained the gym had been sued in October for poor lighting, when an elderly challenger fell and broke a hip, and they had had to replace the lighting.

As the four of them walked briskly down the path, Lisa noticed there were no gym trainers standing by at regular intervals along the path, waiting to challenge the badge seekers. Tom seemed as puzzled as Lisa was at this, and he sped up. Finally they arrived at the large concrete battlefield, where Morty was nowhere to be seen.

“ What now?” Lisa questioned dully, surveying the room disappointedly. So much for a battle.

“ C’mon, he should be in here,” Tom began, striding across the room quickly and promptly wrenching open a nearby door. When it opened, it was as though Lisa had been deaf forever, and was now hearing things for the first time.

The moment the door was opened, a loud collection of crashes and shouts were heard by all of them. Tom gasped and sprinted through the doors, and Lisa suppressed a giggle as she glimpsed the action inside.

Beyond the door was a small room, the Trainer Lounge. There was a large, slightly rusting fridge in one corner, open, and a table near the other corner. But Lisa didn’t even really notice these – she was taken by the commotion in the centre of the room.

Morty, the young leader, was bent over two pokeballs on the floor, breathing heavily. Around the room, four Haunter and seven Gastly flew wildly around the room. The fridge was hanging open, and Lisa noticed for the first time that the white-tiled floor was covered in a fizzy brown liquid. The rogue ghosts, flying carelessly around the room, had opened over twenty cans of Cola drink, and as Lisa watched a particularly mischievous Haunter held a can to it’s mouth and tipped it up. As ghosts were unable to eat or drink anything physical, the coke slipped straight through it and spattered onto the cringing Morty below.

Tom was sprinting towards Morty, and helped him up, cautious of the slippery floor. Without asking any questions, Tom prepared to throw two pokeballs, but Morty’s strong arm shot out to stop him.

“ Don’t!” he shouted, above the raucous yelling and laughing of the ghosts above. “ Your pokemon are ghosts – they’ll join in!”

Tom obeyed, and lowered his arm down. Miki, who had been standing next to Lisa and Gavin just inside the doorway, suddenly stepped further into the room, and pulled a Pokeball from her hair – her clip was actually a real pokeball.

“ Luni!” she cried instantly, then, while the pokemon appeared in a flash, whispered to Lisa and Gavin. “ Help me out here – use Psychic pokemon if you can –”

Lisa wasn’t sure that she could help, but Gavin’s eyes brightened up at the mention of Psychic. He produced Girafarig, Natu and Staryu in quick succession, and then, as an afterthought, added Ditto to the group.

Morty and Tom were now tottering to the door, wary of the brown mess below and the hyperactive crowd above. Morty looked pleased to see Gavin and Miki stepping up to face the ghosts, and Lisa felt very pathetic, as though everyone else was a pokemon trainer but she was too young. She helped Tom to the doorway rather bitterly, and tried to smile as she assisted Morty, Now the room contained only the Gastly, Haunter and Miki and Gavin.

Miki stood next to Gavin, Luni, her umbreon, baring it’s teeth before her.

“ Night Shade!” she bellowed, as Gavin shouted out commands to his team.

“ Psychics – Psybeam. Ditto – you transform!” he yelled quickly, almost feeling like he was in an unorganised battle.

Natu perched itself onto Girafarig’s head, so that it was high enough to reach the crazy ghosts. Staryu stood at the ready, before, without any hesitation, all three blasted beams of mauve light at a few particular ghosts. Three Gastly were struck down, falling like rubber balls to the floor, then abruptly falling right through the floor, and disappearing.

Luni had shot out a ray of blackness from her mouth, which began very thin but gradually expanded through the air, enveloping two Haunter and a further Gastly. Miki grinned, as she yelled to Luni to complete the fight with a powerful Bite.

Ditto had successfully transformed into a Haunter and was now having a wild battle, Gavin shouting out attacks that he could only guess at. The true Haunter was retaliating with lavender spheres which sparked with ebony energy – a petite version of Shadow Ball. Ditto had floated upwards and was relentlessly spitting out poisonous purple acid at Haunter, which would have been effective if Haunter had have been solid.

The Ditto/Haunter battle was suddenly ended when a powerful Psybeam from Natu intervened and KO’ed Haunter, dropping it quickly to the ground. Ditto grinned, squeaked, and with a bright flash transformed into it’s blobby self.


*

Five minutes later, Miki, Gavin and Lisa were perched wearily at the wooden table in the corner of the Trainer’s Lounge, half-heartedly watching Tom plop an ancient mop into a bucket of murky brown water, and begin washing the floor.

“ Ask him, go on,” urged Gavin, while Miki and Morty were deep in a contempted conversation about the New Gym, and Lisa was nervously fiddling with her pokegear-necklace.

“ I dunno, it’d be rude to interrupt –” Lisa excused pathetically.

On cue, both Miki and Morty ran out of conversation matter. Gavin smirked.

“ He might not feel like battling – he probably has better things to do here anyway.”

Morty sighed angrily as Tom’s mopping continued. “ This is soooo boring, Tom, waiting for you, I’ve got nothing to do except wait to inspect it – don’t want you messing things up. I’d rather be battling.”

Tom frowned, and Gavin nudged Lisa. Somehow she found the courage.

“ Excuse me, Morty?” she asked very timidly, as though Morty was an intimidating man in a suit and she was a three year old girl with a lollipop hanging from her mouth.

“ What?” grunted Morty.

“ Um, would you mind battling me? For a badge. I mean, you’re here anyway, so I though maybe it would be OK…”

Morty originally looked as though he was about to double his teeth’s size and bite Lisa’s head off, but he stopped with an open mouth, as Gavin had so-often done, and changed his mind. “ Well … I suppose I could. But it’ll have to be a one-on-one match, OK? I’m not letting Haunter and Gast-”

But Lisa was no longer listening. Her heart had leapt. A one-on-one battle – she would have to pick just one pokemon to fight Morty’s ghost pokemon – she presumed a Gengar or Misdreavus.

The upcoming battle had an effect of everyone. Tom looked very annoyed, as Lisa followed his boss to the main gym room, and Morty left with a comment of “ This’d better be finished when I get back.” Gavin grinned as though Christmas had come early, and Miki looked pleased with Lisa for some reason or other. Lisa could imagine Wes and Jean’s reactions – “ Can’t we go HOME yet??”

A moment later, Lisa had a pokeball clenched firmly in her hand, facing Morty fifty metres away, where he stood holding a great Ball. Gavin and Miki clustered in the doorway, Miki torn between the interest of a battle and comforting Tom before he became outraged at Morty’s treatment of him.

Lisa scanned over her already-decided choice in her mind – it was probably her best bet. Aipom she wanted to rest still, tucked safely in his pokeball. She was hoping never to have to use Issechu until the week was up. And Magneton and Elekid were quite inexperienced. Quagsire and Dratini were the only competitors, so she chose …

“ Quagsire!” Lisa yelled, throwing the ball swiftly onto the wooden floor, where it made a clicking sound and in a vibrant flash released it’s captive – a plump, shiny, pale blue fish-like creature. Morty didn’t sneer, as some would have, instead he obediently threw out his Great Ball, and revealed his battler. His fighter was tall and wide, black except for a tint of violet on the edges. He had stubby black arms and even stubbier black legs. The creature had wide, mischievous eyes, which bordered on downright evil, and his upturned mouth looked like a nasty grin, as though the pokemon had just killed somebody and was pleased about it.

“ Gengar!” Morty yelled, beginning the fight. “ Begin with Shadow Ball, then Hypnosis.”

“ Quagsire – Aurora Beam, then Double Team!” Lisa cried, completely prepared, launching into her first real battle for weeks.

Quagsire subtly nodded to Lisa, and began rapidly forming a globe of rainbow light in its mouth. Gengar seemed to be mimicking it, only it was creating a black, shadowy orb within its clumsy-looking hands. Quagsire then shot a thick jet of light from the orb directly at Gengar’s head area, but the dark ghost was prepared for the strike – it fired off the ball of Shadows, which barrelled at Quagsire. Both attacks whipped past each other in mid air, but neither hit, both to Lisa’s dismay and delight. Quagsire flattened itself to the ground, while the Shadow Ball swished above it, while Gengar leapt up, displaying it’s agility, and the beam shot past and sliced through the cement wall on the far side of the indoor battlefield.

The multiple candles on the walls quivered and flickered on impact, and the ones near the area where the beam and ball hit were instantly extinguished. Much of the gym was affected by this, and the Pokemon and trainers were plunged into thick semi-darkness. Lisa breathed heavily – round two.

Gengar’s eyes glowed an acid-like crimson, and Quagsire looked like it was about to faint. But then it recalled it’s orders, and pulled it’s gaze away from it’s enemy’s, keeping its eyes low and squinting – not to block out Gengar’s gaze but to create over a dozen mirror images of itself, which formed a ring. Quagsire then magically switched itself with another of its ‘clones’ while Morty cried orders again.

“ Gengar, intensify the Hypnosis!”

The real Quagsire looked up for orders, and the images followed suit. Lisa wasn’t sure what to do to combat Hypnosis – Gengar’s hypnosis was widespread, and she suddenly realised the Double Team was pointless.

The sleep waves coming from Gengar were rolling out now, visible even in the dull light. They rolled out continuously from the Gengar’s eyes, slightly illuminating the match. They rolled relentlessly over the Quagsires, and they all dropped instantly to the ground, eleven of them diminishing on impact. Lisa’s Quagsire was now lying on the floor, very vulnerable.

“ Wake up!” cried Lisa, instinctively.

“ Now, Dream Eater!” yelled Morty in a confident voice. Lisa shuddered, and Gengar’s mouth opened wide, and countless drops of lilac energy spiralled out from it, spinning in ever-growing circles towards Quagsire, who snoozed ignorantly on. When the circle had grown large enough, the tiny spherical drops tore into Quagsire, each one taking more and more energy and life away from it, chipping viciously at it’s health.

It looked like the end of the match already – Quagsire’s nerves were twitching and flinching with each drops impact, but Gengar’s ambush didn’t end, it just kept on coming. And just when Lisa was preparing to sacrifice her attempt at the badge to protect Quagsire, there was a sudden, unexpected blast of whiteness from Quagsire – Gengar and Lisa were both thrust backwards abruptly.

Lisa nervously turned her eyes back to the place where Quagsire was sleeping – only suddenly he was awake. White light filled his being, and Lisa heard Miki mutter “ No way…” and Gavin swear quietly to himself.

Quagsire was evolving.

[pokemasterfrank]

Quagsire is evolving! Very nice. For a second there...I thought Lisa was going to lose for sure....but I guess I was wrong. Very nice.

[100FangCroconaw]

Could you pleeeease describe how Quagsire's evolved form looks like in the next chappy?

[Snakes N' Legends]

The Evolution of Quagsire? Now that is interesting. Lisa gains two new pokemon in one day (so to speak). I can't wait to see what Quagsire's next form is?

[Karania]

WHat will Quagsire look like in its new form? Come on, don't keep us in suspense!

[Gavin Luper]

Pokemasterfrank: Hi! i couldn't let Lisa lose, she deserved to win after her loss in the Whirlpool Cup. Besides, I couldn't help but do a traditional 'evolution cliffhanger'. Ah, they're so much fun! :D

100FangCroconaw: Of course I will! He's not invisible! The rest of the battle will be pretty cool too, some new moves and so on!

TM: Yes, two new fanmade pokemon in one day. That's a total of about 4 pokemon in this fic that I have made up on my own (Lunanine, Tentacraw, Issechu, and ...). Coolish, no? More coming soon!

Karania: He'll look a little bit similar ... but in some ways he's very different. It's hard to explain, I haven't QUITE finalised things yet. Chapter 25 still needs a bit of revising.

Cheers!

[Master Kirby]

Quagsire is evolving! Yea! :D

He is already one of her most powerfull pokemon. Now what is he going to be like?

It would be interesting if he turned into a Pokemon with three types. Ground/Water/Psychic?

I'm glad that he isn't beaten. I agree that Lisa needs to win a battle.

[Mew Trainer Rose]

neat chappy. :) it's kinda hard to picture Issechu, tho. where'd you get the name from, anyway?

[Gavin Luper]

Kirby: Yep, roll on ... the next evolution! Yes, he is one of her most powerful, even in his middle-evolved form. What will he be like next?

The three type thing ... I didn't consider that, and I haven't really given that concept a thought since I wrote that chapter with Tentacraw in it.

Yay for Lisa! Win win win!

MTR: Thanks! Long time no see! Anyhoo, I tried describing Issechu the best I could ... but oh well. As for the name, Iss was kinda like Ice (Issechu is bug/ice) and i couldn't think of anything so i just added the last bit of Pikachu onto it.

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

Hi guys!

I will be posting chapter 25 in a minute.

Just wanted to let you guys all know that the reader count for LTL is 14, which I think is really great. Thanks for reading guys!

Cheers!

----------------------------------------------

Chapter 25 - A Ghost of a Chance.


Morty and Lisa looked on in shock as the previous plump form of Quagsire grew rapidly, rising about thirty centimetres and widening considerably. Once the glowing had subsided, Lisa stared slightly reluctantly at her new pokemon.

It was a pastel blue pokemon with large flipper-legs. It had a large floppy tail and odd cobalt stuff – probably a form of hair – spiking out from his head. The spiky hair ran down his back to the start of his tail. He wore a cheeky grin not unlike Quagsire’s, and his eyes were small and beady. It now looked much more male, and when it spoke Lisa was both shocked and pleased to hear it’s voice was more masculine also.

“ Fiss! Fisssk!” he muttered, in a deepish voice. Lisa regarded her new pokemon curiously. What exactly was it?

Gavin and Miki were in silent awe of the new being, but with the evolution process over, Morty was back into battle mode. Lisa thought it was rude to continue immediately when her pokemon had just changed into a new, presumably undiscovered Pokemon, but she supposed she had to begin sooner or later.

“ Gengar, try Lunar Punch!” bellowed Morty at once, and the dark form of Gengar moved quickly towards ex-Quagsire’s end of the gym in response.

“ Quaggy thingy, use uh –” Lisa was unsure not only of her newfound Pokemon’s name, but also if it’s moves had changed.

“ Fisk!!” cried the creature, deciding to go on alone. It squinted it’s tiny, smiling eyes, which glowed lavender, and the raging Gengar, which was hurriedly approaching, halted in his tracks.

“ Disable …” Lisa noted. “ Cool! Go, thingy!!”

“ Fisk!”

“ You’re name’s Fisk?”

“ Fiskmire!” corrected the thing.

Lisa nodded. “ Fiskmire – now hit him with a Water Gun!”

Gengar’s shadowy form was still suspended in the field, unable to move a millimetre, it’s deep eyes wavering. Then it closed it’s eyes and glowed scarlet; the result was that Fiskmire was propelled backwards a few feet onto his inverse side, and Gengar was promptly freed of the Disable.

“ Nice Shadow Pull, Gengar,” remarked Morty, grinning lucidly.

Lisa frowned, then turned to Fiskmire. “ Use your Water Gun still, but whatever happens, dodge any attacks that come your way.” She paused. “ Retaliate if you need to.”

Fiskmire nodded, and the rally of attacks began. Fiskmire took an enormous breath in, and Lisa watched in awe as his Spiky Hairlike things swelled up. They could be used as a water-sac! Fiskmire grinned as it’s entire body swelled, and then with what looked like suppressed pain, he breathed out a powerful torrent of water, which spiralled out from it’s insides, splattering heavily onto the enemy ghost and making it look very shaken by the end.

Gavin, in the Trainer Lounge’s doorway, breathed out deeply. “ That’s not Water Gun,” he said rapidly. “ It’s Hydro Pump.”

Lisa let out a pleased gasp. “ Go, Fiskmire!”

Fiskmire whistled exultantly, turning it’s face to the sky and making a small fountain of water bubble into the air.

Morty didn’t look nearly as impressed as Fiskmire, Lisa and Gavin. “ Gengar – use Psybeam.” Then he added in an undertone. “ Retaliate if you need to.”

Fiskmire hadn’t noticed Gengar’s recovery, and was still showing off to Lisa when a jet of mauve blasted into it, knocking it over at once. Now Gengar had the chance to look proud, but he was intensely trained and wasn’t in any sense arrogant. He grinned, but stayed focused on the ensuing battle. Fiskmire had pulled itself up and was glaring loathingly towards Gengar. Without commands from Lisa it launched a jet of golden bright stars in quick succession, all zooming at Gengar, who promptly leapt into the air and missed all but three stars, which passed through him and slammed into the concrete wall on the other side.

“ I thought Swift was meant to be dead accurate?” Lisa wailed.

Miki looked on with interest. “ Gengar’s ghostly abilities must prevent it from working properly!”

From then on, the fight was similar to any wild pokemon battle – it was as though Lisa and Morty were muted, and the pokemon were duelling to the death. Gengar was shooting out beams of ebony energy, which ripped into Fiskmire, who, despite his best efforts, failed to evade them. Lisa’s eyes scanned the fight apprehensively, unsure of what might happen if one or both of the trainer’s didn’t intervene, but if she recalled Fiskmire it would automatically be a loss on her part.

Fiskmire now had his chubby hands held close together, where an orb was forming slowly. But, unlike the usual globe of light, this one was dull and brown. Lisa quickly recognised it as a spherical collection of mud. Gengar regarded the orb uneasily – in his experience, appearances could be very deceiving.

The mud bomb was promptly fired off from Fiskmire, and Gengar was hit in the mouth, getting a gobful of oozy brown mud. The ghostly black creature looked utterly disgusted with the strike made upon it, and began launching off Shadow Balls everywhere.

But Fiskmire was ready, in it’s evolved state it was marginally faster than Quagsire, and it’s legs, although flipper-like, were well-adapted for use on land. It leapt into the air, dodging beams and weaving through them as countless ones were fired off. Gengar halted abruptly, exhausted. Fiskmire took advantage of the time, and within seconds had blasted out a vast jet of whiteness, which engulfed Gengar instantly, and with a thud it landed on the wooden panelled floor, fainted.

Morty shrugged as though it didn’t affect him, but Gavin, Miki and now Tom, who stood with a mop in his arms next to the others, cheered kindly for Lisa. Fiskmire looked worn and tired, and Lisa felt tears spring to her eyes.

She had won.


*

Lisa stared happily at the tiny, metallic badge within her palm. The Fog Badge. At last.

Her daydreams were suddenly shattered by a roaring sound downstairs. She clapped the badge into a small red-velvet case on her dresser, and ran downstairs to see the cause of the commotion. She arrived in the airy little kitchen, and saw Gavin curled into a ball on the tiled floor, his hands over his head. Above him, the Food Processor was spurting out chunks of banana onto the floor, spraying the mush all over the room.

She raced into the kitchen, braved the barrier of intense banana chunks splattering at her, and flicked off the switch. Then she turned to Gavin impatiently. “ You need this!” she snapped, holding up the lid which Gavin had placed aside on the bench.

“ It attacked me!” Gavin gasped in protest.

Tom and Miki appeared at that moment, coming down the stairs and hurling past the dining table into the kitchen, narrowly missing the bench stools. “ What’s goin’ on?” Tom burst out, but didn’t ask further questions. He saw both teens with banana spread over their clothes – and bodies. Gavin’s brown hair was smeared with banana paste – it looked awful.

Miki began to giggle. “ Gavin, you need the lid.”

“ That’s what I said,” Lisa muttered. “ Why were you making a banana smoothie anyway?”

“ For us,” Tom said, intervening. “ Me and Miki. We were just about to call you, Lisa. We were about to tell you why I called and asked for you to come home …”

“ Oh yeah …” said Lisa vaguely. Tom calling her home had almost been wiped from her mind after the entire Entei incident.

“ Then I said I’d make us all drinks while we talked it over,” Miki continued. “ Then HE-” she gestured to Gavin, standing next to Lisa with a stupid grin. “ Said he could do it. Now we all get to drink Banana Chunkies off the floor.”

“ Oh, crap!” Tom cried, as he inspected the damage. “ The food Processor’s broken – Mum’ll kill me!”

But Lisa didn’t care about the mess, or Gavin, or the food processor or anything. For the first time since Moo Moo Farm, she recalled that Tom had asked her to return there urgently. Why? She knew any minute they’d be finding out.


*

“ Oh my GOD!” squealed Lisa, leaning across the table and bumping her glass of milk interspersed with banana chunks. “ Oh – Oh my God!”

Tom smiled and Miki and Lisa hugged again, Miki showing Lisa the glittery ring on her finger. It was gold and plain, except for two leaves on the front, filled with tiny sparkling diamonds. “ I know …” Miki said slowly. “ We were gonna wait for Tom’s parents, but they’re ages away. So we told you now.”

“ Wow, you’ll be my sister in law!” screeched Lisa.

Tom and Miki had just made the announcement that they were going to be married, and Lisa was ecstatic. Miki and her were to be sisters-in-law, and both seemed delighted. Gavin and Tom were shaking hands very calmly, and Lisa wondered how they could be so formal and calm. But Tom usually wasn’t one to get over excited about things, and Gavin didn’t know them very well.

After the excitement had subsided, Tom began to talk again. “ We managed to send a letter to Mum and Dad. They’re back in Cerulean City now, so they can take a bus to Saffron and then take the Magnet Train to Goldenrod. Then another bus back here.

“ The Engagement Party is in a couple of days,” he continued. “ Mum and Dad should be back by then. You guys can come too, of course. And the kids.” He added, referring to Wes and Jean.

“ When’s the wedding?” questioned Lisa.

“ Well … very soon, actually,” Tom said. “ Mum and Dad have to go to the Ruins of Alph in January, and Miki’s parents are going to be on holidays then too … so early January sounds about right.”

Later on, in her bedroom upon her double bed, Lisa sat gazing at her dresser across the large room. She heard the distant sounds from the backyard – Wes and Jean were playing with all her pokemon, plus Kris’.

Lisa shook suddenly in her bed. Kris – where was she? She suddenly remembered – Kris’ Pokemon had been at the scene of the Entei/Anna disaster a few days ago, so she couldn’t have been far away. Lisa wildly wondered why she had never wondered this before, she had somehow taken for granted that Kris’ pokemon were found. How stupid she had been!!

There were quick footsteps, and Gavin entered, his hair dripping with water from the swimming pool outside, his board shorts creating a soaking patch on the soft peach carpet. But Lisa noticed his arms and body were dry – because of his plaster cast on his arm, she presumed. It appeared he had been dangling his legs in the pool, then stuck his head in stupidly.

“ Oh, hi, Gavin,” Lisa murmured vaguely, sitting up. “ What’s up?”

Gavin looked pleased that she had asked for a second, and his features lit up with his stupid grin he often gave, which Lisa thought made him look like a very irresponsible teen. Which he was, most of the time.

“ You want the good news, or the bad?”

“ Bad,” Lisa said quickly, hoping to have a downfall, then something good to make up for it. She briefly wondered what Gavin could possibly be going to tell her.

“ Alright …” Gavin hesitated. “ Let’s see … um … OK, um …”

“ Spit it out,” cried Lisa.

“ We kinda lost … Magneton,” mumbled Gavin.

“ What? You lost it? How – wha?” Lisa yelled, glancing around in a search for something to throw. Her eyes fell on Aipom’s sleeping form, and she picked him up instantly, as he awoke with a start, and shoved him violently through the air. Gavin ducked to the soaked carpet, and Aipom, screaming wildly, whistled past his head and with a resounding thump collided with the wall. Lisa pressed her hands to her mouth, but her sympathy for Aipom was quickly overtaken by her anger at Gavin. Her eyes darted swiftly towards the next thing – her heavy china vase that her Mother had given to her long ago.

After many yells, broken vases, and broken bones being re-injured, Lisa calmed down gradually enough to ask exactly what happened – her quick, flaring temper had subsided and left her feeling flushed and almost weak.

“ Well, we were using Magneton as a volleyball,” explained Gavin, cringing at Lisa’s piercing glare. “ Me and Wes – that is. And I spiked a bit too hard, and then at the same time Jean decided to show off Butterfree’s Gust attack, and Magneton kinda – blew away.”

Normally, Lisa would have flared up again, but she didn’t. For one, she was too exhausted from her previous outburst, and two, she had never actually been able to connect with Magneton anyhow. Had it have been Dratini who was lost, or Quagsire, or Elekid – especially Aipom – who had been lost, she would have been angry for days, and miserable for probably weeks. The only other pokemon she wouldn’t have minded about so much was the annoying, buggy Issechu.

“ I suppose it’ll be OK? In the wild, I mean?” Lisa said aloud, forgetting to be angry with Gavin. Even though she had never really liked Magneton, nor owned it for long, she still felt mysteriously empty. Gavin sat down on the bed beside her, dripping chlorinated water all over it, but she was too preoccupied to notice.

“ It’ll be fine,” he reassured her, then jolted away uncomfortably as she placed an arm around his soaked neck. He shifted away quickly, uncomfortable and feeling very awkward, suddenly very aware that he had no shirt on.
“ Wanna hear the good news?” he murmured quickly, becoming gradually redder.

Lisa nodded, sitting up and trying to forget about her ‘loss’.

“ Your Mum and Dad rang from Goldenrod – They’ll be here in a couple of days.” He said. Lisa sat up, feeling suddenly very cheerful. It had been almost two months since she had seen her parents, and she was really happy at the prospect of seeing them again.

“ That’s really great –” she began, but Gavin broke in loudly.

“ There’s more – Kris just rang on your Pokegear. I answered – sorry – but she said she’s at the Pokemon Centre downtown, and wants to know if you’ll come and see her. The trainee Nurse there said we came and picked up her pokemon.”

“ Jean has them –”

“ I know. We need to get down to the centre straight away.”

“ But Tom and Miki are out, and they have the car -”

“ I know. I kinda have an idea …”


*

Lisa and Gavin landed with a heavy thud on the cement outside the Ecruteak Pokemon centre. Lisa was breathless, and Gavin looked incredibly excited. Butterfree and Issechu, both looking proud and pleased, dropped carefully to the ground.

“ That was really well flown, Butterfree,” Lisa commented, patting it’s bright wings gently.

“ You too,” Gavin said stiffly to Issechu very unconvincingly. Lisa had insisted that if they were to fly to the Pokemon centre, she would take the dependable Butterfree, while Gavin clung for dear life onto the somewhat ‘dizzy’ Issechu.

“ LISA! GAVIN!” Kris sprinted out from the glass doors of the centre, followed by a nervous-looking Nurse Joy. Kris sighted Butterfree upon the ground, and hugged it tightly, before turning to Lisa. “ Thank God you’re here! I was going crazy without half my pokemon. And then the buggy broke down again.” She pointed fifty metres down the street, where the unreliable Solar Powered Buggy was parked crookedly on the roadside, looked very beaten up. “ I found it on the route to Ecruteak.” Kris continued.

Lisa finally managed to get a word in. “ Hi!”

Kris stared at her curiously. Gavin stood staring down at the three-foot-high Issechu, it’s ugly orange head looking far too big in proportion with it’s cerulean-tinged body, no longer forming ice crystals. It’s wings beat steadily against it’s side, and it’s small feet were clinging firmly to the ground.

“ Come in, then,” insisted Joy, bustling the three humans and two pokemon inside. The indoors of the building appeared identical to how it had earlier that morning – no new customers, it seemed. Lisa released Aipom, who had been very afraid of the flight. The monkey-like creature appeared and began chasing Issechu, who instantly began sweating.

While Kris and Lisa chattered almost violently, a young red-haired boy entered the room, a surly look upon his face. Kris ducked, and Lisa suddenly recognised him as Tyler, the boy who had fought Hiro long ago in Goldenrod City.

Tyler pushed Gavin roughly as he approached the counter. Joy looked extremely nervous, and Lisa instinctively crossed the foyer to assist her. She sneaked past Tyler and slid into place next to Joy.

“ Heal my pokemon!” demanded Tyler with a smug look. Joy looked instantly indignant, but Lisa got in first.

“ Alright, Tyler,” she said sharply, using his name to bring his attention to her. He glared at her with loathing as he slowly recalled who she was, and what she had done.

------------------------------
“ Venonat, go! Use Leech Life!” Hiro yelled. A Speed Ball flew down onto the turf, and sprang open. Hiro was making an obvious mistake. His battling techniques were falling due to his anger.

Lisa spotted this at once. “ Hiro – think about your attacks!” she called. “ Don’t let anger blind you!”

Hiro looked at her for a moment, and nodded slowly, trying to blot out Tyler’s taunts and jeers from across the lawns. “ Venonat – new plan. Use… Supersonic.”

“ Veno!” Venonat cried. It squinted it’s eyes almost shut, and supersonic waves emitted from it’s antennae. They slammed into Magmar’s head, making it sway around confused.
“ Magmar – Take Down!” cried Tyler.

However, Magmar was too confused to respond. It began to beat itself with it’s arms, until it fell over in a muddled heap of flames.
“ Gaah! Magmar – return..”

Hiro leapt up and down. “ Venonat, you did it! Great!”

Then he turned to Lisa, who was smiling with her friend. “ Thanks, Lisa. I couldn’t have won that round without you.”
-----------------------------

“ You made me lose that round with Hiro!” Tyler spat, his annoyance intensifying. “ I nearly lost that entire battle.”

“ Pokemon please, weakling,” said Lisa patiently and smiling, revelling in Tyler’s fury. His face purpled, as he thrust six pokeballs into Lisa’s hands. Lisa grinned graciously, and Joy looked happily bewildered. “ They’ll be ready in ten minutes. Oh, and I suggest you do something about that rage – it can’t be good for your health.”

She grinned at him in a mock-sweet way, and he scowled at her before turning away.

Lisa strolled off to the back quarters, sure that Joy wouldn’t mind her intervening. It appeared that she didn’t, as the young teenage nurse came scuttling in after Lisa into the quick-heal room. “ That was incredible, Lisa!” she breathed, marvelling the girl as she swiftly popped the six pokeballs into the slots in the machine. She pressed a green button, and the hatch closed over the red and white balls.

“ The lesson there is to know your enemies,” Lisa grinned, realising she had quickly conquered another past conflict in one day – firstly she had triumphed finally over Morty, a thing she had been unable to do for months, and now Tyler had been almost defeated by himself. Lisa was incredibly pleased. “ Tyler is the kinda of person who can insult all he wants – but can’t stand being insulted back.”

Joy grinned back at her. “ Lisa, listen, my Mum probably won’t be back for a few weeks yet, and since I’m really struggling with this work …” she paused, and Lisa felt she knew what was coming. “ Would you like to work with me, as my assistant – or partner, more like? Don’t feel obliged, it’s just that you seem to be able to bond and get along with pokemon so much better than I do. Please say yes. Please, my career as a future nurse may depend on this.”

Lisa was tempted to point out that she was making her feel obligated by implying her entire career rested on her shoulders, but she didn’t. She thought instead, about the prospect of the offer. It didn’t take long to work it out. Slowly, but surely, she nodded, and smiled.

“ Say hi to Nurse Lisa!”


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next up on Lisa the Legend

Lisa might have just begun her job as a part-time nurse, but already things are becoming weird.

The man grinned, and his thin eyebrows rose. “ Oh, I’ll see you soon …” he said in a menacing tone. Lisa shivered at the threat in his voice.

Something is amiss in Ecruteak.

Miki was apprehensive. “ Listen, Joy, are you sure she’s not there?”

And everybody realises something really is wrong.

"What’s wrong Miki?” Tom asked, seeing her vague stare. “ What’s happened?”

A tingle inside Gavin’s mind … the psychic part … told him something was very wrong.

Miki rushed it out, almost frantic now. “ Lisa’s not here. Lisa’s not at the Pokemon Centre. Tom … Gavin … Lisa’s missing.”

Chapter 26 – Urgency.

[Snakes N' Legends]

The battle was cool and the evolution for Quagsire was awesome. Nice name though. Check out Lawrence's Journey and see one of my pokemon creations, Adnocana. It is a Dark/Poison type. The name is not original but neither is reversing the words snake and cobra or kobra in the pokemon world. Kris is back and Lisa is a assistant to the pokemon center? I didn't see that coming. Keep up the work (and oh, sorry for the advertisment. I seem to keep on doing that and make it up by apologizing.

[Gavin Luper]

TM: Hi. I'm glad you liked that battle. There won't be many battles from now on, though, especially since I stopped writing The Crystal League simply because it was too pokemon-related (and it is nearly impossible to write about something you're not interested in).

Fiskmire is cool, no? I liked him. Yeah, Kris is back, we'll see more of her later on. I thought it would be good if Lisa got a job sometime - even if it was only for a while.

:wave: Cheers!

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

I'm back!
and'll probably be gone just as quick!
good chapters.. so she finally got that Fog badge... and she get's a sister in law...

Nurse Lisa. That doesn't sound right.

Oh well. Keep it up Gavin! I'll try to get on as much as possible, but seeing as I'm not exactly allowed on (this is an exception), you may not hear from me soon.

But I want more chapters, none the less!

[Gavin Luper]

SSM: Hi there you are!

Thanks, yeah she finally got the badge. Although there isn't really much point in her having it, as she isn't really competing with it to get into the league. And yeah, Miki will be her sister in law.

Oh well, Nurse Lisa still stands.

Alright, then. Seeya soon!

Cheers!

[Master Kirby]

Homework Homework Homework,
No time to play,
I guess I'll have to read,
This story another day.

[Gavin Luper]

Kirby: Ah, homework is a pain.

I spose you'll read another day :D>

Cheers!

[Andrew]

Well sorry I haven't replied earlier Gavin ^^ I had a job interview and a heap of other things ^^; But well I have to be happy that the Voltenteers are back ^^; As well as the Buggy Isswhatever... I'll call him Icicle for easier reference. But I have to simply laugh at Jean and Wes, comic relief, they really need a scene where they try and battle :P I would so laugh at that.

But Anna's demise was handled a lot better in this I feel as the feelings conveyed are those I would've expected from poor old Lisa and Gavin. I wish there was more info about Anna's Dad at the funeral, poor guy, he must've been shattered. And what happened to Anna's Pokemon? And Psyduck!

Gavin's Pokemon are sure nice, I like Ditto and Natu and Staryu and Girrafersomething or other, and I liked their battle how they helped eachother out, and the fact that the ghosts were so like Casper's Trio of evil or something.

But the Gym Battle between Quaggie and Gengar so was excellent, and I'd still like to get some person to draw a piccie of Fiskmire, which would be entertaining ^^'

I also loved that good old Banana Smoothie Part, you simply had to, because I'm sure we've all had a disaster in the kitchen, from breaking glasses, to dropping a bottle of cordial everywhere none of which I've never done! Go the realism of lack of Kitchen Co-ordination!

And another YAY for the loss of Magneton. But poor Aipom for being Projectile Monkey :( Personally I'd find it funny if Magneton hunted down Lisa and Co or Jean and Wes and trying to exact revenge, or start crying and rusting or something!

Oh well GREAT WORK I can't wait to see more of Lisa the Legend!

[Gavin Luper]

Oz Andrew: Hey!!

Will you be able to reply a bit more from now on? I hope so, as we have urgent ********* business to attend to.

Don't worry about not replying for so long. Job interviews are a good enough excuse, however if you didn't have a good excuse it would be detention for you!

Yay! Your Volteneers are back at last! And we kinda got rid of Issechu, but he'll keep. Lol call him icicle if you want to! Wes and Jean will be in a few more chapters, there is a 'two-parter', so to speak, coming up near the end of the entire book, we'll see them a lot then. Those will be the least pokemon-related chapters.

Yes, Anna's death was much better, the emotional effects I tried to handle better. However, I couldn't keep them sad for long. After all, that would make the story too depressing! And, well, although it's not in writing, Psyduck is dead, and Scizor and the others ... we'll see.

Lol nice that you compared the Gastly and Haunters to the Casper ghost thingies. I'll be trying to develop the pokemon character-wise soon!

Maybe somebody can draw a picture of Fiskmire. I keep holding off actually asking somebody, because if it looked different to my mental picture, I wouldn't be able to use it and I would feel really mean refusing somebody's artwork.

Ah yes, the Banana Chunkies! Wooo! Yay!

I always hated Magneton. But at the time, I thought "hm, Lisa can get another pokemon" and now I am like "Why would I give her a stupid Magneton??" LMAO ah yes, I loved Lisa throwing Aipom into the wall, one of my faves bits! I like your ideas for Magneton, although personally I'm so glad to be rid of it I think we'll just keep it away.

More chapters will be coming soon. I'll post chapter 26 on Sunday (Special 1 - year anniversary) along with a notice about YOU-KNOW-WHAT!!

Cheers!

[mistysakura]

Hi, I'm surprised I didn't manage to catch onto this fic earlier! Took me 3 days to read all this, but I guess it was worth it. It's very good, I like your style and it's a nice plot too. The only problem is (why the heck am I criticising people the first time I post?) is that you can't tell much about the characters. I mean, you can tell who's good and who's evil, but that's about it. Waiting for the next chapter !

[Gavin Luper]

Misty Sakura: Hi!

Lol well the important thing is that you have caught onto the fic now. I can't wait for Sunday, that day will be the 1-year anniversary of Lisa the Legend being posted.

I'm still working out the bugs in the plot, there are some thing I should have added in much earlier, so there are a few creases and plotholes still to be discovered. LMAO a few months ago I discovered a MAJOR plot hole, but, Me being Me, I forgot what it was. So I can't even fix it.

Don't be worried about criticising this! It's not perfect, it's barely OK, it'sa crap really! Criticise as much as you can. Most writers like to know what's wrong so they can fix it.

As for what you pointed out, it's been blatantly obvious to me for awhile now. But I am yet to fix it. I presume you mean the lack of characterisation for Lisa and Gavin? I'm working on it from now on. And their history and some of their life ... will be coming soon.dn't manage to catch onto this fic earlier!

Cheers!

[100FangCroconaw]

Hi! Sorry I wasn't able to reply earlier.In my mental picture, Fiskmire looks cool.Banana chunkies on the floor?That must be what Gavin is bad at!Magneton bye-bye.And Issechu is a reeeeeeal problem for Lisa.And I wonder how nurse Lisa disappears.

[Gavin Luper]

100Fang Croconaw: Hi. That's alright, as long as you did manage to read the new chapter at some point. I'm very excited now, we are nearly back up to where I left off in June when TPM went down. Anyhow, I hope you like the way you invisage Fiskmire. What does he look like to you? Can you describe him to me at all?

Yes, Gavin is a bad chef. Nevertheless, he can still cook! Yes, off goes Magneton, and Issechu has evaporated! Lisa's disappearance will be made evident on Sunday!

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

Well just a quick note to say ...

HOORAY! Lisa the Legend is 1 year old today!

:D :D :D :D 8) 8) 8) 8)

However, I also can't put the next chapter up at the moment due to some technical difficulties. It'll be up ASAP!

Also, I have to let everybody know that from now on I will only be reading two fics - Lapras Valley High and Electric Buggy to Victory - and apart from posting and replying to Lisa the Legend, I will not be online on TPM at all. Also, I have decided that once I complete LTL (about chapter 40) I will be leaving TPM.

So ...

Cheers! :yes:

[Master Kirby]

You are leaving?:( That means that you won't be making any more stories.

I guess if you aren't interested in something anymore, then it is harder to write about it. At least you are finishing the story before you leave.

[Gavin Luper]

Kirby: Don't be too upset. I won't be leaving until I finish this - which is like chapter 40 or more. This could take me until about January or February! I'll be here for a while yet.

Cheers!

Thanks, everyone, for being so patient! By the way, after deciding to add in previews after each chapter, I also altered the chapter title format from now on.

Here we go, after two weeks' wait:

----------------------------------------

Chapter 26 - The Engagement.


“ Thank you very much sir, please visit us again,” Lisa called cheerily, waving politely after a man in a rather dingy suit. He looked out of place in the picturesque, modern Pokemon Centre.

The man grinned, and his thin eyebrows raised. “ Oh, I’ll see you soon …” he said in a menacing tone. Lisa shivered at the threat in his voice, but moments later he was grinning casually. “ Thanks again.” He called, vacating the building.

Lisa sighed; they got a few weirdos in the centre from time to time. She strolled to the back section of the centre where Nurse Joy stood fussing over a couple of Voltorbs who refused to keep up the power supply. Elekid, Lisa’s, was also there, having taken up a full-time position as a volt-eneer, as Lisa had affectionately dubbed the group of pokemon who provided energy for the building which was her workplace and had been for two days now.

“ Joy, I’m ready to go now,” she said to the very stressed looking girl. “ Don’t worry too much about them, we don’t have any Pokemon on the life support machine.” She added jokingly. Joy nodded, and left the Voltorbs inside the room, while Elekid jumped to the floor beside Lisa.

“ Thanks Lisa,” she said. “ I’ll seeya tomorrow morning, OK?”

Lisa faltered. “ Joy, tomorrow is Sunday.”

The red-haired girl looked concerned and pensive for a second. “ Oh, right, so it is. I guess I’m on my own. There’s no pokemon out back except the Voltorbs and that little Sandshrew …”

“ And Issechu!” corrected Lisa, glad that she no longer claimed ownership of the icy bug. She had handed him back into the custody of the Apprentice Nurse Joy, somewhat happier than when he left. Joy looked unimpressed.

“ Lisa, you can always take him back for a while …” she said in a pleading way, running a hand through her messy hair.

Lisa laughed. “ Have fun, Joy.” She bent to the floor and grabbed her backpack, throwing it lightly over one shoulder. Elekid trouped after her happily, knowing that he would be, on Monday, rewarded for his generous transaction. Probably with a Rare candy … Elekid licked hungrily at his lips. Rare candies were, in his opinion, the most delicious delicacy on earth.

“ Bye,” Joy called morosely from back inside, staring glumly at the peeling wallpaper. Lisa shook with silent pleasure as she thought delightedly of the upcoming events of that night. She closed the silent door of the centre, and strolled into the street. The moonlight fell in a pool nearby a vibrant green tree surrounded by low, circular brick wall which did a double act as a bench. Lisa noticed a family of furry pidgeys up in a strong brown bough, the two tiny caramel Pidgeys were snuggled beneath the sturdy, protective wings of her parent Pidgeottos.

Elekid seemed more interested in a sign at a Pizza Place a few blocks ahead, but Lisa was enraptured by the family scene. Her heart ached suddenly – it had been a long time since she could remember being embraced by her mother and father like that, all cosily at home. But in her dark worryings a bright spark suddenly lightened her mind, a spark which grew and enveloped her.

Her parents were coming home tonight …

Lisa hugged her knowledge joyfully, while Elekid jumped along happily towards the Pizza Place. He crossed the road easily, the heavy rush hour traffic had already faded away. Lisa wandered slowly behind him, picturing her mother’s warm, hazel eyes and resplendant hair; her father’s smiling face and big, strong arms. She couldn’t wait until she arrived at the train station, just near the Pizza Place, where the Fast Train would take her almost instantly to her suburb of Lavender Lake. The train station was very near her house.

Crossing the street, Lisa suddenly became aware of three things. The cold, the time, and the dark. Deciding how to remedy them all, she called Elekid, who was a good fifty metres ahead, staring greedily at the distant luminous sign. Reaching the footpath on the adverse side of the road, Lisa dropped her pack on the ground and fished around for her pokegear. She located it, and pushed the light-up button.

Six-thirty! What had happened to the time? Lisa wondered, slamming the gear back into her bag and pulling out a cobalt blue jumper. She zipped the pack up, and pulled the jumper over her head. She fitted it neatly on, glad of having fixed two problems. She glanced up the street. Elekid had vanished into the night. She mumbled angrily, hoisting her bag up again and hugging her arms to her chest.

It was dark, and she wasn’t exactly in the cosy part of town. Not that there really WAS anything to worry about, she reassured herself half-heartedly, hastening in her steps. Things didn’t actually happen in real life …

Annoyingly, Lisa knew she was only a nearly-fifteen-year-old girl, with no pokemon beside her. She wished vehemently that Aipom and the others weren’t at Miki’s dance theatre for an exercise regime. Elekid had been able to worm himself out of that one, but now he too had gone far ahead, and Lisa felt oddly vulnerable. And then a tingling thought came to her.

There were no side streets. And the street was flat, no hills to obscure her vision. Lisa’s pace quickened, as she strolled by closed shops and a house on her right. She shivered. Where had Elekid gone? It wasn’t like him to play about with disappearing acts … who knew what might happen? In big cities, no matter where, you never knew who you might see …

Something in Lisa’s memory stirred. She didn’t know why, but something at the back of her mind moved around disturbingly. Something she couldn’t quite grasp, something that had happened only minutes before … Lisa tried to take hold of the fleeting memory, but failed. She walked a few paces backwards, and then forwards again. And still she couldn’t recall.

Up ahead, there was a wide alleyway. Lisa shivered, and her mind tingled violently, willing her to remember. She halted, and gasped.

No side streets, but an alleyway.

Elekid had disappeared.

Lisa shuddered, and began walking past the alley leaving a wide berth. Then her mind clicked. “ Oh, I’ll see you soon …” he had said in a menacing voice. That was it … her memory …

Halfway across the span of the alleyway, Lisa glanced furtively down to see if Elekid was hiding, crouching behind a dumpster or anything. There was a sudden swish, and a thud. Lisa’s eyes goggled as a strong hand grabbed her arm, the other approaching her throat, but she was too late to save herself.

Her shriek reverberated into the night.


*

“ She’d better be here soon,” moaned Gavin, sitting bored on the couch, no longer interested in the elite four battle, live, on the Lounge room TV, in which an obese boy was duelling with Will. Wes still seemed rapt, his eyes fixed on the constant footage of Xatu and Persian countering attacks. Gavin scratched fruitlessly at the plaster cast on his arm, and wished the next four weeks were already behind him. His arm was feeling weaker now, and using his left hand for everything made him even more clumsy than usual.

“ I reckon,” Tom said numbly, watching even more bored as Xatu pummelled Persian with a psychic. “ Although,” he added slyly, glancing sidelong at Gavin. “ Why do you care?”

Gavin’s ears pricked up, sensing Tom’s slyness and the way in which he said it. “ What?” then, without waiting for a reply. “ I’m bored. When she gets here we can go. I THINK.”

Tom grinned, revelling in Gavin’s awkward response. “ I’m not stupid …”

“ Me either,” replied Gavin testily.

“ Then we’re both OK.” Tom said slowly. Both whipped their faces to the TV, then both boys turned slowly back to face each other. Tom spoke. “ I can see it.”

“ You can’t,” Gavin said automatically. Then, he slapped his head in annoyance. “ Um … what can you see?”

“ That you’re in l–”

“ TOM!” bellowed Miki from the kitchen. Tom turned at once, and raced obediently into the kitchen. Gavin sunk, sweating, into his chair. Thank God that hadn’t gone any further …

Tom arrived with a screeching halt into the kitchen, to see Miki standing, almost overbalancing, with Aipom coiled around her arms, shoulders and head. He held a bottle of Maple Syrup in one hand, and Miki’s hair with the other. She had a pained expression on her face. Tom stared in astonishment and amusement as Aipom drank slowly from the bottle.

“ Get off!” he snapped, aiming a backhanded slap at the purple monkey. At that moment, the syrup bottle dropped to the ground, and Aipom released Miki totally. She wobbled, relieved and shocked, as Aipom suddenly gained the ability to fly, and began bouncing off the walls, literally, leaping from the bench to the table to the wall to the door to another wall and finally out of sight into the Lounge Room.

The betrothed couple breathed relief in unison, as a shout echoed from Gavin. “ Get off, you damn monkey! Stop – ow! That’s my ear!! Aaargh!”

Tom rushed off to sort things out. Miki turned back to the kitchen, and at her half-cooked roast in the oven. “ Hurry,” she willed it, as the phone began to ring shrilly. Miki turned to pick up, but there was a quick “hello” near her shoulder, and Jean the 10 year old stood there. After a moment, she clattered the receiver onto the benchtop.

“ Who is it?” hissed Miki.

“ Nurse Joy,” Jean said vaguely, suddenly walking away from the phone and back into the hallway near her bedroom. “ She wants Lisa, and Lisa isn’t here, so …”

Jean left uncaringly, and Miki picked the phone up. “ Hi – Joy?”

“ Lisa? No that’s not –”

“ This is Lisa’s sister-in-law to be,” replied Miki. “ Lisa isn’t here right now.”

There was an abrupt silence on the phone, broken only by the shouting of both Gavin and Tom, who were whining at the hyperactive Aipom about ears, noses, broken arms and certain unmentionable things …

“ She isn’t?” asked Joy.

“ No,” Miki replied firmly. “ And she’s not there either, is she? So she must be on her way …”

“ It must take a long time then,” began Joy. “ Oh, hang on …” Miki waited patiently on the other end of the line, and after a few seconds there came yells of “ No, Issechu!” and “ Sandshrew, stop that!” and “ Ugh, I need a coffee.” After a minute or two, Joy returned. “ Where was I?” there was a moment’s silence. “ Oh yeah, Lisa left at about twenty past.”

“ It’s almost seven now!” exclaimed Miki, checking the wall clock. “ She’s been gone for almost forty minutes.” She paused. “ It takes ten minutes to the train, three minutes on the train, then five minutes home …” she added up in her head. “ So she’s done something with her extra twenty two minutes.”

“ Any seconds with that?” Joy replied with much sarcasm.

“ Thirteen,” shot back Miki. “ Listen, Joy, are you sure she’s not there?”

“ Yeah, I’m not stupid,” she replied. “ Oh, damn, I spilt the coffee …”

After yet another pause, Joy returned online. “ Well, I hope she’s OK,” she said, annoyed at Miki but genuinely concerned about Lisa. “ Tell her to call me when she’s home. Don’t worry, she probably just stopped for Pizza or something. Seeya.”

“ Bye,” said Miki, hanging up.

She entered the lounge to break the news. Tom and Gavin were on the floor, their faces screwed up in pain. Gavin was looking almost dead.

“ What’s wrong Miki?” Tom asked, seeing her vague stare. “ What’s happened?”

A tingle inside Gavin’s mind … the psychic part … told him something was very wrong.

Miki rushed it out, almost frantic now. “ Lisa’s not here. Lisa’s not at the Pokemon Centre. Tom … Gavin … Lisa’s missing.”


*

Lisa’s fearful eyes blinked as the strong man stood before her, a black, swirling cloak swimming at his ankles. She now recognised him as the man she had offered service to that same evening at work. She suddenly found herself wishing Gavin was with her, or Aipom. Even Kris would have been welcome, for companionship rather than to help Lisa escape the terrifying situation.

The man stared at her with a cold, piercing glare, one filled with evil. Lisa noticed hatred glimmering in his eyes. While he glared at her evilly, Elekid struggled in his rubber cage. Furious at being trapped so easily, he wished his eyes had been focused on what he was doing rather than where he was going.

After a long silence in the dark room which led off the alleyway, their capturer spoke in a menacing voice. “ You probably won’t remember me,” he said slowly, walking slowly.

Lisa strained fruitlessly against her bonds against her wrists and ankles. She didn’t know why. “ I do remember you, idiot! - you came in to the centre a few minutes ago!”

He clicked his tongue impatiently. “ I didn’t think you would remember.” He crossed the dingy room, cloak trailing behind, rippling fluidly. “ And I was right.”

Elekid’s plugs sizzled furiously, as Lisa regarded the black-clothed man curiously. What was he on about? She mused, observing his calm, unruffled appearance. She had just said she did remember him, what was he playing at? He grinned, enjoying her confusion. He allowed the confoundation to draw out before he took hold of his cloak and ripped it away, throwing the black garment onto the concrete floor.

Lisa, crouched on the floor, gasped, her wrists throbbing but her astonishment overpowering her pain. Before her stood a man clothed entirely in black , except for a scarlet ‘R’ emblazoned on his shirt.

“ Oh, how original, a Team Rocket member,” drawled Lisa, unable to communicate her shock any other way.

The man swept over to her and grinned. “ Still don’t remember me?” he asked. “ Well, I’m here for a very good reason. Namely, to kill you.”

Lisa was blank with shock.

“ You might as well know everything then,” he began. “ You ran into me once, in Goldenrod City.”

At these words, dozens of images shot through Lisa’s mind as she remembered Goldenrod City. A troupe of stubborn Heracross, a weak Caterpie, a couple of friends, Hiro and Kris, Aipom going hyperactive back in a café, Gavin, the receptionist, the radio tower, Lunanine, at that time the ‘black beast’. And then, in between these pictures, Lisa recalled …

-------------------------------------

“ Here we are again.” Lisa said to Aipom, who was swinging on her shoulder. “ The Radio Tower. Hopefully there’s a lot of people in here who know about Legendary Pokemon … especially Suicune.”

Just before Lisa could enter the tower’s sliding glass doors, a man in black appeared from behind a corner building, and pushed her roughly over. She stumbled but recovered, and then turned to face him. He was clothed totally in black, and had a menacing look on his face. “ Oy, kid. Watch out where you’re going.”

“ Me? You ran into me!” Lisa argued quickly, as Aipom spat out at the man. However, the girl was slowly backing towards the doors of the Tower.

The man shrugged angrily. “ Just stop snooping around, kid. We’ve got enough problems without you.” He began to leave, when suddenly, a very odd look crossed his face – something like stunned surprise. But when he turned, Lisa was gone.

She had thought the man’s behaviour was pretty bizarre, so she sidestepped swiftly and sprinted through the electronic glass doors, and entered the busy radio station tower, escaping the shady character before he got any closer or any more annoyed.

-------------------------------------

“ I remember now …” she said slowly. Then her stunned, dopey state faded away, leaving a frowning, indignant girl. “ You’re part of Team Rocket. I should have known then.”

“ Yes, well, you may or may not know, but I’ve been tracking you down for a while. For the first few weeks I was unable to do much …” he paused. “ Then, in November, a friend of mine – my boss, actually - Joseph Sterling, I doubt you would have heard of him … he heard from a ‘friend’ of his of you. I met his friend, and thanks to some notes he had, I learned some things about you. Other things that were useless … I didn’t care what the Professor had to say about Pokemon …”

Lisa’s mind was whirling. Was she hearing all this? It seemed so … she sighed, confused, petrified and lonely, her pack pressing into her back, something hard poking into her. Abruptly, she thought something had fitted into place. “ Professor Oak?”

“ Oak? God no. This man was blustering and stupid. He went by the name of Westwood.”

Lisa shivered. Suddenly, things really did slot into place. More images and people whirled through her mind. She had told Westwood a lot. He had notes with him on her – and of course, the notes on Lunanine. They were the notes mentioned by the Rocket. Joseph – she had heard it before, but where?

Seemingly thousands of questions bounced on the walls of Lisa’s mind, rebounding and inflicting the notion for basis of countless more questions. The questions seemed to make a web of confusion for Lisa. Nothing was making sense anymore, none of it. Lisa wanted the Rocket to go on, to explain things more. She had to understand, her thirst for knowing grew ravenously.

Then, suddenly, the man appeared bored. “ That’s all. Or shall I say, that’s all you will ever know.”

He reached into a pocket, and produced a small, but very deadly, shiny black gun. He raised it slowly, until it was pointing at her heart. At the back of her mind, Lisa was reminded of Anna’s death, one which she had narrowly avoided seeing, thank God. And now, she would be joining her, unless …

She had to play for time. “ Why are you killing me?” she asked. It sounded so stupid, so unreal, that if the situation had not been more serious and life-altering she may have laughed, or at least deigned a smile. But the rocket looked amused.

“ Well … I actually should not have come.” the man replied. “ But I suppose it is for the best anyway. You knew, even before now, that Westwood was in the Whirl Islands with his supposed friend Joseph. The same Joseph of Team Rocket. Through Westwood, we learned that he had already told you where he was going. And I thought you would soon connect the Joseph Sterling, executive Team Rocket member, who was suddenly being mention on news programs over the country, with the same one as Westwood’s friend. We had to be sure that our activities were never discovered …”

“ Activities?” Lisa questioned, trying to shuffle so as to remove or dislodge the item in her pack. It was inside the bag, and was very hard and solid, poking through to discomfort her. She shuffled again. “ But I didn’t work it out, any of it. Why are you trying to kill me?? You say you were looking for me before that.”

“ I was,” the Rocket said. “ But I can’t tell you why. Not yet. I wouldn’t be allowed to. He’d kill me…”

“ Who?” began Lisa, playing for time again.

“ Nevermind. You will be killed now,” smirked the Rocket impassively. “ However, your Elekid may prove useful for us. We shall keep it.”

His finger travelled towards the trigger, as though in slow motion. Lisa watched, terrified to her very soul, and cringed, curling up in the fetal position. Suddenly, the uncomfortable item in her bag dislodged, and fell to the bottom of the pack. There was a small tinkling sound, and Lisa suddenly knew what it was. She had a feeling she knew it’s purpose, but was unsure.

The Rocket had dropped the gun to his side. “ What was that?”

Lisa knew what to do now – it might save her. She jiggled stupidly on the floor as much as her restraints allowed her to, the Crystal Bells clinking together, volume increasing. But somehow Lisa was sure that they would be heard no matter how quietly they rang.

She sensed help coming, she felt a sudden brightness nearby. The Rocket sensed something wrong too, and knew help was coming for the girl. He raised the gun, and pulled the trigger …

… as an incredible, enormous, life-giving beam of energy shot through the wall, blasting through the Rocket backwards and knocking the gun away. The bullet, only a foot away from the cringing, terrified Lisa, halted suddenly, as an intense radience of azure overcame the weapon, making it spin . The rocket shook his head as he lay dying on the concrete, blood beginning to spurt out.

In the gap behind Lisa in the wall, Suicune shone, a powerful aura glowing around him. Lisa stared in utter relief. He nodded to her, and her roped bonds melted away as though an acid was breaking them down. Deep marks remained in Lisa’s wrist, but she didn’t mind. She was alive.

Lisa could hear people’s voices … Gavin’s, Tom’s, Miki’s, others’. Coming closer … but not quite near her.

In extreme relief, Lisa passed out, inky blackness enclosing her. But somehow, she didn’t totally lose consciousness. Or maybe she did? Somehow, either way, Suicune’s voice came to her, calm and reassuring.

//Lisa Walters, relax now. I have stopped the danger – for now. You must rest. I will take care of all that matters. I shall see to it. My friend Raikou will help me. As for you, you will be perfectly safe.// There was a pause in the godlike voice. // I will most likely see you again soon … tomorrow …//


*

When Lisa arrived home, escorted by many police officers and the newspapers and TV News, all of whom had managed to write up a report on the incident – as much as Lisa could tell them anyway. Tom, Miki, Wes, Jean and Gavin had all questioned her rapidly and looked very concerned. After an hour or so of talking, they decided not to tell their parents about it all upon their arrival. However, Lisa fell asleep, exhausted, and her mind cluttered, before her parents returned.

After a thorough sleep, Lisa awoke at 11am, to find her parents in the household. She hugged them, and chattered non-stop to them for half an hour or so. From the way her mother hugged her more tightly than usual and by the steely glint in her father’s eye, Lisa could tell that they had been told, via Tom’s excessively large mouth, about last night. They greeted Aipom happily, who seemed to recognise them. Mum explained that they found him in Mt. Moon a few days into their expedition. So they sent him to Lisa.

Kris visited later that day and was introduced to the entire Walters Family. She explained that she had found a way to pay Lisa and Gavin back for returning Growlithe, Misdreavus and Butterfree safely.

“ My buggy’s right outside,” she had said with a grin. “ Feel free to use it. It’s yours now, for good.”

She hadn’t stayed much longer, but said she really didn’t mind giving them the buggy. Lisa, though, in turn said she could of course keep possession of Vulpix, and Kris thanked her profusely. But afterwards, Lisa thought she had seen a glimmer of relief in Kris’ shining eyes after she gave her buggy to them, but Kris never said anymore about her prize from a couple of weeks ago. She then announced that she was heading east of the city, to Mt Silver. She announced that she was to compete in the Johto League in a week or so.

“ I didn’t know you had collected badges!” Lisa cried, after Kris had explained she had eight.

Kris smiled. “ I liked to keep quiet about it,” she grinned, pulling a pouch from her pocket. She tipped the eight badges into her hand and grinned. “ I’m going to evolve Jigglypuff before my battles.”

“ Good luck, I wish I could see you battle,” Lisa smiled.

“ Me too, I hope you win,” Gavin winked, trying to shake Kris’ hand with his unbroken left arm. After a tangle of arms, Lisa and Gavin said their goodbyes, and Lisa bid her ex-pokemon, Butterfree and Vulpix, farewell. Then, Kris was gone.

That night was the night of Tom and Miki’s engagement party. Both disappeared to Tom’s room after five o’clock that afternoon, and Gavin and Lisa spoke with Lisa’s parents for an hour or so while waiting for the guests to arrive. The day was mainly filled with lazing around the house, laughter and talking. Gavin took a liking to Lisa’s parents, they seemed very natural and relaxed.

At six, Lisa’s Dad and Gavin went outside and set up a few tables. Tom and Miki had invited a few relatives and quite a few friends from the gym, and dance theatre, over for an engagement dinner in the family’s immaculate garden. Mum left Lisa in the kitchen, preparing countless dishes, no thanks to Jean, who spoilt the quiche, while the 40-year-old woman bustled outside re-re-raking the smooth green lawn.

Lisa found herself, at eight, sitting under the stars that night at a small table, where Gavin, Wes, Jean and herself were meant to be seated. Wes had disappeared up a tree to spy on Tom talking to his mates, while Jean eyed the plastic-iced cake on a separate table hungrily.

“ I don’t know any of these people,” Gavin moaned at Lisa, dropping pasta over his clothes and trying to manouver his fork with his unskilful left hand.

“ You aren’t meant to,” replied Lisa, spearing a couple of Tortellini and placing them neatly in her mouth.

Gavin watched in near-admiration. “ How do you do that? I keep messing things up – they always fall down … your Mum won’t mind about a couple of Tortellini on the grass, will she?”

“ Better pick it up anyway,” Lisa said, throwing a sidelong glance at her mother, who was hastily scooping up insignificant pieces of pastry that had broken off a mini-sausage roll much earlier. “ And anyway, I’m eating with my right hand … yours is covered in plaster.”

Gavin made another futile attempt to eat the sauce-covered stuff with his left hand – he dropped it onto the grass again. Lisa rolled her eyes, wondering how somebody could be such an idiot, and stood up. She crossed to the other side of the table, and picked up the fork. “ I’ll do it,” she sighed, poking a couple of the small pasta onto the fork. “ Open up, spoonfed baby.”

Gavin opened his mouth, and after a couple of stabs in the gum on Lisa’s part, he managed to eat the Tortellini. “ Thanks.” He wiped his mouth. “ That’s basically the first thing I’ve eaten since … the remains of the quiche.”

Lisa giggled, and searched around for Aipom, doing her routine check for him. He was swinging up in Wes’ tree, attacking the spying boy vehemently. She left him to it, and turned back to Gavin, who was pleading for more food. She ‘forked’ over some more pasta, and he munched gratefully.

“ Thanks again Lisa.”

“ Welcome …” Lisa looked into his eyes. “ Although you don’t deserve it,” she teased, jolting the next forkful of tortellini away from his mouth as he went in for the kill. “ Um, want a drink?”

“ Wine would be nice.”

“ There’s some wine over on the other table. We weren’t given any – I don’t think Mum and Dad want Wes and Jean to get hold of it. Be right back.”

Lisa slipped off furtively, returning stealthily after a minute or so with a large bottle of wine, half-empty. She took hold of Gavin’s glass, poured some, then poured a small amount for herself.

Before either could speak again, there was an enormous crash from near the tree. Lisa and Gavin’s heads both swivelled, expecting to see Wes and Aipom landed on the ground, exposed to Tom and his mates. But as they looked, they found that Wes and Aipom were still woven in the branches, although looking terrified. Everyone in the garden was staring at an overturned table, paralyzed with fear. There was a sudden sparkle, and Suicune appeared within the depths of the garden.

Lisa and Gavin exchanged serious looks, but only Lisa thought she should have expected this. Suicune had said so.

Some people ran towards the household, but suddenly Suicune breathed out a heavy blue mist, and it engulfed the garden rapidly. Lisa and Gavin ducked under the table, as the mist washed past them, inches above their heads. When they were sure it had passed, they stood up.

Everybody was still standing, frozen in time. It was a chilling experience. All around the garden, people were frozen in the exact position of when Suicune’s Mist had overtaken them. One of Tom’s drunk friends was in mid-air, diving fully-clothed into the pool. In the midst of it all, Suicune spied Lisa and Gavin.

//I am not surprised you two were able to escape this// Suicune said, telepathising thoughts into their minds. // You are much more experienced//

“ We are?” Gavin said loudly. “ Suicune, what have you done?”

Suicune seemed unsurprised at this outburst, too. //It’s just a diversion//

“ What?” Lisa cried.

//I’m sorry, but we had to do something. You weren’t as ready for what you were needed for, obviously. Last night showed that neither of you … hm, anyway …// Suicune said all this calmly, his coat rippling fluidly, bright as ever. //You won’t notice a difference after this.//

Lisa was feeling quite afraid now, but Gavin looked determined. Suddenly, there was a clatter from the house, and Gavin’s own backpack went sailing though the air, arcing over the entire scene. Lisa, Gavin and even Suicune stared at it in wonder. It plopped neatly into the pool, which seemed unaffected by the timefreeze, and sank instantly, all the pokeballs – and the Sacred Ball – floated outwards.

Gavin went to snatch the pokeballs up, and ran to the poolside, as all pokeballs opened. He shut his eyes against the flashes, and then re-opened them, seeing Natu, Staryu, Girafarig, Ditto and Lanturn all paddling around. The Sacred Ball had drifted a fair way.

Before Gavin could grasp it, the ball flew out of reach, and back to Suicune. He stared at it with glowing eyes, and suddenly a beam of blue shot out from his eyes to the ball. As Lisa and Gavin watched, it was sucked into his eyes, and then, the ball shot back out again, looking exactly the same. The Sacred Ball rolled over the grass, and Suicune spoke. //Goodbye// and dissolved into thin air.

Instantly, as though the magic miasma had shattered, the life drew back into the people and guests at the party. There was a splash and a drunked cry, and everyone continued with the party as it had been left off before the crashing of the table.

Lisa and Gavin exchanged deep, nervous glances.


*

“ We’ll be back soon.” Lisa promised, hugging her mother again. “ A couple of days, that’s all. I just really want to get to the bottom of all this Suicune stuff.” She faltered, choosing her words carefully. Her parents still, luckily, did not know about Lisa travelling the country while they were away. Lisa had managed to convice them she had caught all her pokemon in parks and lakes around the city. “ I saw it one day in the park, and last night, and again today. I just want to find out more about it.”

“ Are you sure you want to go?” Mum asked, her eyes welling with tears at having to farewell her daughter the day after re-meeting her.

“ Positive. Gavin and Aipom will keep me company.”

Lisa jumped into the driver’s seat of the rickety buggy. The early morning sun teetered behind a foothill to the east. Lisa strapped herself in, detached Aipom from her head and made him hang from the horizontal bar behind her, and waved goodbye. She started the motor, and backed out of the driveway. Gavin sat next to her, waving violently with his left arm.

“ Goodbye guys!” called Tom and Miki in unison, snuggling together.

“ Seeya!” Wes called. “ Bring me back a pokemon!”

“ Seeya!” Jean echoed. “ Bring me back some chocolate!”

Mum and Dad looked on, proud. “ Bye Lisa. Bye Gavin. Have fun!”

Lisa floored the accelerator, and the buggy of Kris’ sped off with a bang. She was off, with Gavin and Aipom, to a peninsula north of Ecruteak, where there was an ancient library. There she would find books on Suicune, and find exactly, if possible, what was going on with her life in the past couple of months. She took a deep breath, and left the house.

“ Bye everyone!!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next up on Lisa the Legend

Lisa and Gavin are on the way to the Peninsula north of Ecruteak, where Lisa can find books about Legendaries.

Finally, Lisa spoke. “ D’you think this’ll finally help us work out WHY Suicune keeps following us, Gavin?” she asked, sweat pouring down her face and her hands sticking to the wheel.

He grunted slightly. “ I hope so. Weird things have been going on lately. I’d like to know why.”

But not everything is going to plan.

Setting her mouth into a determined line, she spoke. “ We’ll have to walk.” Lisa declared bravely.

In fact, things are, on the whole, becoming a bit too repetitive.

Suddenly, Lisa heard a rush of footsteps behind her. Before she could whip around and see, a hand was clapped firmly over her mouth.

Chapter 27 – Aquatics.

[pokemasterfrank]

Wow...nice chapter...hmm...something happened to that special ball...but what...oh well.

Lisa gets the buggy huh? In exchange for Vulpix, hmm...not bad...except for the fact that she doesn't get to use the buggy that much. Why does TR want her dead...

Anyway, I probably find out in the next few chapters or something...

Your leaving?!? Oh well...everyone will at somepoint...

[Gavin Luper]

Pokemasterfrank: Yeah, it wasn't too bad though it was my longest chapter yet ... something like 5 600 words which is a LOT but ah well still a good chapter? Excellent. Yes, the Sacred Ball ihas had some sort of alteration done to it, in a sense. You'll find out more as the book progresses ... it's only about two thirds of the way through the book! (the entire fic is one book!).

Yeah, Lisa gets given the buggy again, much to the annoyance of Oz Andrew (well, he was annoyed the first time around, weren't you Oz?) Yeah, Kris already had Vulpix so I let her keep her. And TR's motives will be revealed gradually throughout the rest of the book. The climax is building up not TOO far away.

Yeah, I'll leave, but it's a while away, so let's enjoy it while it lasts.

By the way, for everybody who wants to know, I have completely written the next chapter, which, incidentally, is where we left off in June! But things have changed, since this has been edited ... Also I have not really done much on Chapter 28 yet, but Chapter 29, 30 and 31 are fully completed!

Cheers!

[Snakes N' Legends]

Since when did Lisa get the Crystal bells and when did Gavin get the Sacred ball? Imitating Mist are we by using a preview of the next episode, are we?? Well, keep up the work, Gavin.

[Karania]

Geez, you really need to pay more attention to the things you're reading.

[Gavin Luper]

TM: Hi! Yes, but Mist said she didn't mind at all if I used the previews. Copying is the highest form of flattery (supposedly). Anyhow, I wouldn't have been surprised if you had forgotten about the Crystal bells, as they haven't been very major (see the end of chapter 18 to find out when Lisa got them). But the Sacred Ball has been around for as long as the bells and much more prominent. Half of chapter 19 was about it!

Karania: Yeah. Lol, thanks for that. Did you read the new chapter, though? What did you think of it?

Cheers!

[Karania]

Yea I read it. I really liked it. I can hardly wait for the next chapter.

[Snakes N' Legends]

You know when you are caught up in a story or a fanfic in this case, you tend to miss things.

[Karania]

true, but it gets annoying sometimes when some people don't know the crucial details or some minor details as well.

[Gavin Luper]

Karania: I can hardly wait either! I'm itching to write more, the climax is getting closer now, the next couple of chapters will be a bit of a lull, so to speak, but chapters 29, 30, and 31 begin to get interesting. And from thereon, thing begin to happen!

TM: I suppose. Oh well, doesn't matter, I don't mind at all if you forget stuff!

Karania2: Hi again! You two seem to be my only readers for this chapter. Never mind. I'll get some more replies soon I'm sure.

Cheers!

[Karania]

Post next chapter soon!

[100FangCroconaw]

Hi! I knew how Gavin got the sacred ball but Lisa getting the crystal bells? I guess that I'll have to go back to chappy 18 now. Anyway, nice chapter. I loved it when Aipom was fighting Jean for Tom's privacy.Keep up the good work!

[Dragon_Knight]

*grin*
missed me?

I just finished it lol (actually yesterday nite :P)

anyway I opened about 8 windows and read 'em all in one night

phew, I must say, your writing has improved tremendously since your... whats that fic again? (:P)

faster! faster! faster!

me want more!!

now look what you've done... you've gotten me addicted again...
*waggles finger*

[Master Kirby]

Hi! I got around to reading everything. Is the Sacred Ball going to ever contain anything?

It sounds like Lisa is going to get attacked again. She needs to watch her back. That first time was a close call. Hopefully Gavin can save her next time. That was a good chapter. Nice and long.

This is Finals week at my college. Hopefully I will be able to read the next chapter.

[Gavin Luper]

Karania: it will be, coming right up!

100fangcroconaw: Yeah, well I spose Lisa getting the crystal bells was a wee bit obscure, considering they weren't given much attention. The Sacred Balll has been the focus of a chapter and has been seen in many others. Glad you liked the chapter!

Dragon King: I'm going to call you by your old name because it's better OK? Good. Yes, I have missed having one of my very first readers. Glad you're finally back! You read it all in one night? How long did it take you? Fifteen seconds? :D

Yeah, I hate to sound egotistical but my writing is a LOT better than when i started ... oh, you mean Pokemon: Kohtu? Yeah lol ... it was VERY poor.

Yes! I count that as a great victory - I got you re addicted to Lisa the Legend.

Kirby: Hello! Yeah, you read it! Good chapter/s? Is the Sacred Ball ever going to contain anything ... that's a trick question. I think. I've confused myself now.

yeah, the preview gives you an idea of what will happen, and things aren't going too great. Lisa should be cautious ... but can Gavin save her this time?

Yes, the next chapter is very long too, as is chapter 28. After that, they return to around 3000 words. (Thank God!!)

Good luck with everything at college!

Cheers mate!

[Karania]

Exactly how soon is soon?

[Gavin Luper]

Karania: Soon as in, I'm-editing-it-now-so-I-can-post-it-in-a-minute-soon.

:D

---------------------------------

Chapter 27 - Aquatics.


Lisa and Gavin sat in the Solar-Powered Buggy, feeling the cool sea-breeze ever-closer, feeling their stomachs rumbling, and feeling sweat pouring in rivers from their necks, armpits, and anywhere else. Lisa’s hands were slipping off the vibrating steering wheel, and Gavin’s unbroken arm was stretched above him, holding his undersize but still quite large Staryu atop his head, his other arm placed firmly upon his lap. The starfish-like marine creature was bubbling foamy water onto Gavin’s bare chest. Aipom seemed the only one unaffected by the tropical heat, as he swung freely in the breeze, tail clinging to the rail as his body whooshed behind. The buggy rose over a steady crest, and began to slow considerably. Neither Lisa, nor Gavin, nor the immature Aipom spoke a word – they had caved in to the heat hours ago, unable to concentrate on conversation.

Finally, Lisa spoke. “ D’you think this’ll finally help us work out WHY Suicune keeps following us, Gavin?” she asked, sweat pouring down her face and her hands sticking to the wheel.

He grunted slightly. “ I hope so. Weird things have been going on lately. I’d like to know why.”

The buggy was failing now, as it puffed slowly up the hill in desperation. Its weak engine purred loudly, drowning out the sounds of the static radio. As the speed reduced to barely a Aipom’s walking pace, Gavin moaned, his dry throat making his voice crack slightly. He leapt from the car, and pushed the buggy’s rear end for the fifth time on their long northbound journey to the Peninsula where a large library was located. His arm barely worked, and his right arm was surprisingly useful, for although he couldn’t push with it, he leant on it and the plaster prevented it hurting from pressure against the car. Gavin sighed again, he had long ago worked out why Kris had so willingly left them with the buggy – as had Lisa. He groaned loudly with exhaustion as the buggy emitted a loud roar, and with a squeaking sound absorbed more sunlight on its solar cells. With one final spur of determination, Gavin leaned heavily against the back of the buggy, and it reached the crest of the hill.

Both Lisa and Gavin breathed in awe as the view beyond the hill appeared. The dirt road widened, and became a sealed, kerbed road. The dry scrub before the hill was not here, instead there were plentiful green trees, even fields full of flowers in the distance. Only a few kilometres away, there was a tiny town, which Lisa supposed must be the peninsula town, because right beside it, near lighthouse-looking building, which was distinguishable even at this distance, lay the sparkling cornflower ocean.

Aipom swung wildly on the black metal pole which was situated on the rear end of the buggy, and thwacked Lisa’s head, as Gavin clambered back into the front passenger’s seat, picking up the awkward Staryu from the otherwise empty seat. Before he could click his seatbelt back on, Lisa gave a sudden hoarse cry, and the buggy began to move.

As Aipom had slammed into Lisa’s head, she had jolted in pain and released her foot from the brake. The buggy began to roll down the hill, and Gavin’s eyes bulged in fear as the buggy picked up speed. Lisa squealed as Aipom hung in the breeze, his ear blowing as wildly as Gavin’s hair. But the havoc had only begun to ensue.

Staryu was only connected to the speeding party by one of Gavin’s hands, and as the vehicle sped up it panicked. And, in an Issechu fashion, it began sweating in trepidation. And Gavin’s palm began to become moist and clammy. And then the moisture pooled, and the hands began to slip. Even then, while Lisa recovered herself from her shock, the situation might still have been saved. But as Lisa’s foot closed in on the brake, the buggy rolled over a bump in the road, and her foot jumped –

- onto the accelerator.

The buggy roared instantly along the path; Lisa screamed, Gavin cried out, Aipom squealed, and Staryu sweated more. Gavin’s hand slipped off again, and then Staryu let go, and spun into a vertical position, then began rolling, spiralling down the hill. Gavin yelled out, and reached to grab Staryu as the buggy sped up to catch it, but suddenly Lisa’s foot, which had beet constantly groping for the brake, discovered it’s lost home, and slammed down, causing the buggy to come to an instant halt. The effect was instant upon everybody – Staryu rolled out of sight, Lisa sighed in relief, Aipom swung in a full circle and Gavin’s body was jolted into midair, out of the buggy. His unused seatbelt flapped in the wind, as his body and Staryu’s reeled into the distance.

Lisa cringed, but her shock and instant apprehension lasted only moments. She yanked the handbrake, set the buggy into park, as it groaned away, and raced after Gavin and the speeding Staryu, uneasy for their safety.


*

Much later, Lisa and Gavin travelled wearily along the seaside path. Gavin sighed as his arm felt ready to snap off, and Lisa clicked her tongue loudly, as they shot over a bump in the path and her pokegear jolted off and landed on the buggy’s floor.

Lisa had been surprised that the buggy had lasted as long as it did. Given, its solar panels were beyond repair and they now used Elekid’s plug to power the vehicle, but the engine was still making it. Aipom bounced hyperactively on Lisa’s head while Gavin took the steering wheel with his good left arm. Lisa ducked down to find her necklace, while keeping a firm foot on the accelerator. The buggy sped up, and suddenly there was a whooshing sound as another car went past. Gavin waved, and the buggy shook wildly.

It was a second before Lisa took control, but they veered off to the left and down a narrow beach track. Lisa took the steering wheel as they approached the beach rapidly.

“ See them?” Gavin asked as the buggy wobbled over a few sandy bumps. “ The people we drove past?”

Lisa grunted as she veered the buggy over a couple of broken branches straddled across the road. “ No, but I bet they saw my arse.”

Gavin laughed. “ There were a couple of guys – one was this punky guy – and a girl who looked really posh. They had a heap of pokemon, an Electabuzz and a Dragonair, and a –”

“ Weird,” noted Lisa. “ I have the two unevolved forms of them.”

The buggy jolted over the final bump in the boggy track and settled down with a groaning sound on the soft beach sand. Lisa had been trying to get it onto a flatter track so it could be parked, but now it seemed completely out of life. It gave an enormous splutter, and Lisa, Gavin and Aipom quickly abandoned the vehicle; Lisa stepped out quickly and carefully, Gavin tripping over his feet as he leapt out, and Aipom headfirst.

They all lay on the soft beach sand as the buggy gave another shudder. It vibrated heavily, and suddenly there was an explosion, as poor Elekid jumped off, reacting slowly. Finally, Kris’ old buggy broke. The floor suddenly slipped out and landed on the sand, the seats both dropping down a foot or so. The pole swung and clunked onto the boot which clattered and dented easily. The solar panels snapped in half, almost cleanly, and the steering wheel popped out of its socket.

Lisa looked on in suppressed shock. “ Whoa … good thing we got out when we did …”

“ I knew that wasn’t a first-rate prize,” remarked Gavin, referring to the Electric Pokemon Event back at Moo Moo Farm. Lisa nodded, recalling her seemingly useless (apart from powering the buggy) Magneton.

They sat in silence for a minute, Elekid rubbing it’s plug, Aipom crawling into a nearby bush to investigate a bug, Lisa sitting quietly, thinking about Suicune and the library which contained a legendary-pokemon book. Gavin sat perfectly still, thinking about food.

Finally, as the lengthy silence began to buzz in Lisa’s ears, Gavin spoke. “ Oy, what are we gonna do now?”

“ We’re stuffed,” said Lisa, standing up and trying to look in control.

“ I reckon. We have no idea where we are, and we don’t have any way to get there even if we did know the way. Good one, Lisa, it’s all your fault.”

Lisa glared at him, ready to launch into a vehement speech about Gavin’s idiocy, when the taunting thought of the Suicune Book averted her attention. She became more practical and calm minded. “ Firstly, we can try looking around us. If we saw those people in their car then the town can’t be too far in.”

“ It could be,” Gavin pointed out, but nonetheless had turned to look to their west, in search of the town. Lisa suddenly noticed their surroundings for the first time. The beach was quite narrow, only about twenty metres from the cool water lapping the muddy shore to the barrier of saltbush which declared their territory with small spikes interspersed with leaves. Lisa mimicked Gavin, and looked in the direction of the town. However, all they could see was shoreline.

Aipom and Elekid were both bouncing around with small squeaks and twitters, pointing wildly to the east. Lisa and Gavin both turned, and saw, with shining, relieved eyes, beyond the buggy’s wreckage, in the distance on a peninsula, the resort.

Both friends breathed out relief in unison, but their relief soon metamorphed into annoyance. How were they meant to reach the town-resort? It looked galaxies away. Lisa sighed. Setting her mouth into a determined line, she spoke. “ We’ll have to walk.” Lisa declared bravely.

Two minutes later, Lisa and Gavin lay sprawled on the sand, a hundred metres from the buggy’s wreckage, feeling exhausted, unfit and overweight. The truth was they were only unfit – having had used the buggy for a long time had dimmed their walking skills. Gavin was staring up, mesmerised, at the periwinkle blue sky. Lisa had her eyes closed, softly humming a song she had heard on the buggy’s radio.

Aipom snorted with disgust at the two of them, and Elekid frowned. He had seriously considered shocking them, but decided he was too mature and well-trained to even think of such a thing. So he nudged Lisa’s arm casually. Lisa stirred, and saw Elekid with a lazy stare. “ What is it?” she asked wearily.

Elekid pointed excitedly over his shoulder, and there was Aipom, staring over a hole in the beach sand. Sand and dirt were flying up from inside the tiny hole, and as Lisa sat up in curiosity, so did Gavin. They both peered into the hole as more dirt flew out, landing with a clump on Elekid’s head and toppling him like the Radio Tower to the ground.

Abruptly, a large rock flew out of the ground and slammed into Elekid, who was getting up. He wheezed, and toppled back into the sand.

Lisa, Gavin and Aipom were all too curious about the creature in the tiny pit to care much. Gavin reached for a pokeball, then groaned in annoyance as he realised he had no spares. Then a sudden thought came to him, and he reached down into his pack, which he had previously deposited on the fine sand, and fished out the Sacred Ball … no use in wasting it, he thought …

He picked up the turquoise-gold sphere and enlarged it. Cautiously, so as not to be attacked by a chunk of soil (he was apprehensive after Elekid’s knockout), he crawled over to the hole while Aipom watched from afar and Lisa watched with bated breath. As Gavin approached the hole where more dirt was flying, she stole a glance at its contents, just in time. As Gavin threw the Sacred Ball, she flung out her arm. The ball slapped into it, and rolled away to Aipom, who stared curiously at it.

Gavin flared up at once. “ Oy, Lisa, what the hell do you think you’re doing?! I nearly caught it, you idiot! Why’d you stop me!?”

Lisa clicked her tongue smugly. “ I just saved you from a life of shame and embarrassment.”

Gavin stared wonderingly at her. “ What?”

“ Imagine if you had used a once-in-a-lifetime special pokeball which was specially made and crafted from the energy tears of a mystical Suicune to catch a –” she plunged her hand into the hole, found what she was looking for, and held it up.

“ A Magikarp!” cried Gavin, stunned.

“ Not just any Magikarp …” Lisa replied. “ It was the EVIL MAGIKARP OF DOOM!”

Gavin grinned his stupid-faced grin. Lisa brandished the flailing, pathetic Magikarp in her hand, waving it around as though it was a non-living object. The tiny thing was all scales and bones, and looked very dry. Gavin morphed his face into a serious-looking line. Lisa noted how handsome he seemed in her eyes. She was glad nobody else could see what she could.

“ Now say thanks to Nurse Lisa.”

“ Thank you very much Nurse Lisa.”

“ And …”

“ And I’m sorry that I acted arrogantly.”

“ And you are a spasticated loser.”

“ And I am a spasticated loser.”


*

They continued along the beach, the resort on the peninsula drawing nearer. They had rounded a wide bend and the buggy was out of sight. Gavin had, with great difficulty, ripped off the number plate and allowed Elekid to mutilate it to a melted blob before throwing it into the ocean. They decided the Officers wouldn’t be able to trace the buggy if it was found.

The resort was ever closer now and Lisa and Gavin had re-adapted to the walking lifestyle, and were now keeping up well with the energy-filled Aipom and Elekid, both of whom seemed to get along quite well. Slightly tired, but glad to be walking with a sea breeze cooling them, for a change of the inland areas. Lisa felt slightly reminded of the surfing days they had had back before the Whirlpool Cup, and voiced her feelings by releasing Dratini and Fiskmire to swim in the shallows. Gavin agreed with this, and actually sent out all his pokemon. Lanturn and Staryu leapt into the water. Girafarig trotted alongside Gavin, and Natu hovered happily. Ditto sat in a blob on Girafarig’s back. Now that they had all their pokemon out, Lisa and Gavin felt competitive, and decided to have a full-on race – in the water. Just as they had waded out into the shallows, and were clambering upon Fiskmire and the Green Lanturn’s back, Gavin had an idea.

“ Why don’t we race by our own means, Lisa?” he grinned.

“ What’s that?” Lisa muttered, curiously.

Gavin smiled. “ We’ll swim alongside our pokemon and see who is the best. It’ll be fun! Besides, we came to this place to have fun anyway!”

“ Actually,” said Lisa. “ We came to find my book on the legendary pokemon so I can do some more research.” She paused suddenly, seeing Gavin put on an expression of patheticness, his deep watery puppy eyes and a drooping lip. “ But what the hell.”

“ OK then,” Gavin said. “ Everyone, on the count of three then, we all race to the peninsula and the resort town as fast as we can, OK?”

Lisa tensed her legs under the clear blue-tinged water, and tried to remember how to swim, and recall all her lessons at the Ecru Lake, and also all the times she had swum back at her home pool.

“ Ready? 1 … 2 … 3! GO!”

---------------

1992, January.

“ Mummy, look! Tom can go down all the way to the bottom!” Lisa called, floral floaties placed high on her chubby three-year-old arms.

“ Mum, watch me!” Tom yelled, his skinny little frame somersaulting over into the water and disappearing for a moment with a small splash. Beneath the clear water, Tom drifted right down to the bottom. Lisa watched on in awe.

“ Mum, are you watching?”

Tom exploded back through the surface at that moment, looking very proud. “ See Mum, I did it!”

Their father, young and strong, waded over to Lisa and Tom, at the very shallow end of the pool – only about 80 centimetres deep. Tom was swimming a bit deeper than Lisa, to the 1-metre section. “ Tom and Lisa, I know you want to show Mum how clever you are, but maybe another day, alright?”

“ Aww, why??” moaned Tom.

“ Well, the baby in Mum’s tummy is nearly ready to come out. It’s very big and Mum could have the baby soon. She needs to get lots of rest before she has the baby.”

“ Will it be a girl??” asked Lisa inquisitively, as all three-year-olds did. She looked up through the pool fence to where her mother sat under the veranda, reading a book and nursing Wesley.

“ Maybe.”

Lisa’s young mind soon forgot about the baby of course, and she grinned. “ Daddy, watch me!”

But her Dad had just spotted that the pool gate had been left open – and if Wesley happened to get away from his Mum, she would be unable to chase him in her pregnant state.

“ Daddy!”

“ Hang on, Lisa. I’ll watch you in a minute.”

“ No! Not in a minute! Now!” cried Lisa, ‘spitting the dummy’. She slapped her arms down in childish anger, and, quite unexpectedly, her flowery floaties slipped off in one fluid motion, and Lisa plopped directly into the water.

She screamed, but bubbles shot out and she suddenly felt sick. Her tummy and chest were hurting, and she couldn’t see, her head was hurting, all the water was bubbling around her, she was dizzy … dizzy …

Just when Lisa’s mind was panicking and on the verge of shutting down, there was a flash of blue, and something shimmered past her. A soft blue glow enveloped her, and her golden brown eyes opened. Before was a mysterious cobalt creature – Lisa thought it looked like a very nice puppy. Further in the pool, behind it, she could see some other blurred shapes, but she couldn’t make them out.

Somehow, Lisa’s body was suddenly propelled out of the water and to the surface, directly into Tom’s little arms. Dad had just dived into the pool to rescue her, and now he was resurfacing, and grabbing her, hauling her out of the pool.

“ Lisa, are you alright?! Lisa!?”

---------------

Lisa was losing the swimming race horribly. An odd dream she had had as a child was coming back to her as she swam alongside Fiskmire, the second slowest of them all. The memory haunted her, but as she tried to grab a hold of it, it slipped away. Unable to go any further, Gavin turned, gripping Lanturn’s slippery antennae with his good hand, while Lisa balanced on Fiskmire and also turned. Standing near Girafarig, Aipom, Elekid, Ditto and Natu was a tall girl of about their age. She wore a short skirt, and very summery clothes. Beside her stood a Politoed, which was grinning and rapidly conversing with the hovering Natu.

“ What is it?” Gavin called to the girl, who had mid-back length brown hair, and even from the twenty-metre distance Gavin could see she had a pretty face and bright emerald eyes.

“ Would you like to battle?” she called out, loudly and lucidly to the awaiting Lisa and Gavin. Lanturn seemed impatient to get going, and Fiskmire was becoming restless, but both of them brightened at the sound of a battle, for even if they weren’t to be used a fight was excitement.

Within seconds Lisa and Gavin were back on land, their shoes off and their feet muddy. The water dwellers looked on in anticipation, while Lisa spoke.

“ I’ll be glad to battle you,” she said quickly, gesturing to Aipom and Elekid. “ These two are mine, plus Dratini and Fiskmire.”

“ Me too,” Gavin pointed to his three land-dwellers, and the others.

The girl grinned, although her smile quavered slightly when she took in the large, floating lump that was the spiky-backed, evolved Quagsire. “ How’s a one on one sound?” Both Lisa and Gavin nodded. “ By the way, my name’s Angela.”

“ Lisa.”

“ Gavin.”

“ So, let’s battle then.” Angela suggested, pointing at the water nearby, glowing in the sun. “ We’ll fight in the water if you’d like.”

“ OK.” Lisa and Gavin said in unison.

“ Then go!” Angela pulled out a Lure Ball from her belt, and threw it as far as she could towards the shallow water. It spiralled through the air and plopped into the sea near Dratini. With a graceful light, a bright cobalt creature jumped out joyfully from the Lure Ball and landed with a plop into the water. Dratini looked curious, and the other marine creatures floated over at the newcomer. It had a mainly blue body, with a white front, shiny black eyes and a buoyant tail.

Lisa and Gavin ran to the waterside, and began wading towards their pokemon and the Azumarill. Then a problem cropped up – Angela mentioned it first. “ So which of you am I actually battling?”

“ ME.”

“ ME.”

Lisa and Gavin’s eyes locked in confusion and annoyance. “ What?” they both said.

Angela giggled, and her Politoed chuckled next to the Natu.

“ I should, of course,” Lisa said, regaining her sanity. “ After all, I am a better trainer than you. You don’t have any badges, and I have two. The Fog Badge and the Coral Reef Badge -” Lisa fished out the two badges, which she had always kept with her – “ one from Morty, and one from Irene.”

“ Well you shouldn’t have lost in the Whirlpool Cup then, should you?” Gavin retorted. “ I came second at least, your Quagsire and Dratini didn’t stand a chance.”

“ Well of course you won, you had more experience back then!” Lisa cried, as Angela stood back in disgust.

“ If you two are gonna fight between each other, I don’t really mind,” she muttered, quite taken aback by their abrupt argument. “ I just wanted a battle, and if you guys are going to argue so much about it then I don’t think I’ll bother.”

Lisa blinked. “ Well … alright, Gavin, you fight. After all, you haven’t had a battle since November, and you probably need the practice.”


*

Five minutes later, Gavin and Angela both stood knee-deep in the water, cooling down from the heat, facing each other. Azumarill and Staryu were ready to go, and Lisa had perched herself in the shade of a particularly high bush, where she was munching on some chips she had located in her backpack. Angela’s Azumarill shrilly whistled, and the match began!

“ Azumarill, Bubblebeam attack!”
“ Psybeam Staryu!”

The orders’ effects were instant. Azumarill’s eyes sparkled a dangerous-looking ultramarine as it breathed in deeply to fill up its hydrogen chamber. Staryu’s ruby red centre reflected the glow, which swelled up suddenly in Azumarill, who held her small hands to her mouth as she exhaled heavily, releasing a stringy cloud of opaque azure bubbles in Staryu’s direction. The star didn’t move, and with a short, confident “ Ayaah!” bowed it’s uppermost point and took the brunt of the attack as countless bubbles deluged from Azumarill’s mouth in a powerful torrent. They pelted relentlessly into Staryu, who seemed only minimally affected by the sting.

After a minute Azumarill was out of breath and, luckily, winded. Staryu stood up and floated tall in the water, rising just higher than the coughing Azumarill’s head. It’s gem reflected shafts of sunlight at Azumarill, and it closed its eyes to prevent hurting them. Then Staryu made its move.

Lightning fast, Staryu’s jewel glowed lilac instead of its usual ruby, and a mist inside it began to swirl as though obscuring something within. After a moment, the gem seemed to fill with the swilling lavender mist, and began to bulge into a bulbous hemisphere. As Azumarill recovered from it’s eye damage and looked up, Staryu’s thick gem wall split, and a thin jet of psychic power issued out in a straight, buzzing line, and made contact with Azumarill, knocking it back down into the sparkling clear water with a splash and stirring the clear, foamy, silvery sands.

Nearby, Dratini, Politoed, Fiskmire and Lanturn drifted around, dodging a stray shaft of Psybeam and grinning for their teammate. Lisa and the land pokemon watched interestedly, while Gavin rejoiced internally, although he stayed quiet outside because he didn’t want to appear over exultant or arrogant. He merely nodded proudly, thanking himself that he had caught Staryu back in October, he was so glad to have a powerful fighter on his team.

Angela wasn’t looking very pleased with her aqua rabbit’s performance, and she voiced it. “ Azumarill, c’mon, get back up! It’s not like you have another pokemon to take your place after this, it’s a One On One battle, so c’mon, keep trying. You have to fight, and win this for me!”

Azumarill slowly resurfaced and bubbled back to a standing position. Soon, she had recovered from the Psybeam, and was readily facing off against her adversary, the powerful Staryu.

Taking control again, and careful not to ruffle her beauty, Angela grinned again. “ Azumarill – use Rollout.”

Gavin was prepared for something like this to happen. Quickly, he went into action. “ Reflect.”

Azumarill curled up into a blue and white ball, but before she could begin rolling through the water’s surface and slam into Staryu five times, relentlessly, the Psychic Star broke in, and with another loud cry its jewel shimmered, and this time instead of filling with a purple mist of power, it produced a shimmering orb of transparent protection encasing it. Safely held within its Reflect defence technique, Staryu relaxed slightly, and waiting for the time to make its move.

Azumarill rolled then, oblivious to the defence that had just been carefully set up. It approached Staryu as a rolling ball which skimmed the water’s surface, leaving a furrowing dent momentarily in its wake. Just before the rabbit could slam powerfully into Staryu’s body, the reflect kicked in. Azumarill slammed into the glass-like barrier, and reeled backwards. She dropped into the water and for a moment only her tail could be seen, before the buoyancy effect took hold and the aqua rabbit sprang back up to the surface.

Staryu and Gavin both grunted exultantly, and this process repeated itself two more times as Azumarill attempted ramming the reflecting ‘membrane’ with steadily damage-increasing Rollouts. Lisa watched along with the others on land, enthralled. Gavin’s exultant mood strengthened as Angela’s face purpled slightly.

Finally, on the fourth Rollout attack, Azumarill hit the Reflecting protection especially hard, and the wall shattered leaving fine shards of dust scattered, floating on the choppy water’s surface. Gavin was only slightly affected – there was only one hit left in the Rollout, and although it was certain to hit, it was only once.

Angela knew this too, but she also was confident. The Rollout had built up considerable steam now, and she knew that the fifth strike would be the heaviest blow to the Staryu’s system. For what appeared to be the final attack of the match, Azumarill wound up, curled up, and rolled swiftly at the slow-moving star, leaving a churning passage in its wake. The Fifth Rollout was well-aimed, and Staryu was knocked for the battle’s first time into the sea.

It appeared Gavin had lost, but Staryu mustered strength and pulled himself back up. It had been a heavy blow, but Azumarill had already been Psybeamed heavily and the damage count was almost equalised. Gavin knew he had to act quickly or he would lose his first fight in weeks.

“ Staryu, Thunderbeam!”

Before Angela’s ruby red lips had opened and barked out an order, Staryu had begun twirling furiously, spinning so rapidly that it soon became a buff-blur in the midst of sparkling celeste seas and clear periwinkle skies. Lisa sat up, intently, and Elekid watched eagerly as the spinning Staryu converted kinetic energy into electric – Elekid himself might pick up some pointers from it!

“ Aurora Beam!” cried Angela hastily, obviously having saved the icy attack for last. Azumarill’s palms joined and a tiny azure orb began to form within them, but it was obvious the attack was too late now. Staryu had spun so fast water was beginning to churn upwards around it in a waterspout wannabe. Suddenly, the water collecting on Staryu made a cracking sound, and disappeared into a medley of fine gases. Staryu’s limbs crackled and sparked, and when Gavin yelled out “ NOW!” Staryu’s limbs all glowed electric yellow for a second before pooling in the jewel, which strangely seemed to be at the centre of all Staryu’s best attacks.

Gavin knew before the attack hit that he had defeated Angela.


*

“ Damn!” Lisa cried, leaning against the doors of the Ancient Library weakly, while the brilliant yellow sun slipped behind a cerise sky, casting shadows upon the tiny would-be-town. She slumped down and sat annoyedly on the concrete steps which led to the glass library doors.

“ What is it?” asked Gavin, as he came up the steps carrying both backpacks. Lisa had tired earlier, as they arrived at the resort-peninsula-village, and insisted Gavin wouldn’t be a gentleman if he didn’t carry her bag for her. Gavin pointed out he didn’t want to be a gentleman, but he was promptly loaded up like a dumb Ponyta with bags.

“ See for yourself,” moaned the Aipom-owning girl, as the purple monkey screeched happily on her shoulder.

Gavin’s brown eyes scanned the sign which was pasted on the inside of the door. “ NOW CLOSED; Opening hours 9am – 5pm Mon - Sat. Sunday – 10am – 4pm.” He grunted more annoyedly than Lisa. “ Bugger.” But his heart wasn’t truly in it, he was still elated over his victory over Angela earlier that day. He had bragged all afternoon to Lisa about it until he tired at around 4 o’clock.

“ Well, what should we do?” moaned Lisa hopelessly.

“ Come back tomorrow morning.” Gavin suggested wearily.

“ It’ll have to be at ten o’clock though,” said Lisa. “ Tomorrow’s Sunday.”

Exhausted, the two friends and hyperactive Aipom strode down the library steps, and emerged onto the deserted footpath. After walking around the town for a few minutes in search of a place to stay the night, they found a very new resort on the outskirts, near a beach.

They went inside. It was very neat and clean, not to mention spacious. Lisa strode up to the receptionist.

" We'd like a room for two please," she said, without preamble.

The receptionist blinked. " Um ... alright ... would you like a beach-view or mountain-view apartment?"

" Mountain," said Lisa and Gavin in unison, itching to find a place to stay.

After the receptionist had tapped on the keyboard a few times, she smiled to them. " Our nightly rates are $90 per person."

" Bull!" Burst out Gavin accidentally.

Lisa suppressed a smile. " Sorry, we can't afford that ... um ... thanks anyway."

The two friends walked out of the foyer, Gavin looking angry that a hotel could be so expensive. But Lisa explained to him that it WAS the Christmas season, so rates were bound to be higher.

As they left the foyer, they walked past the same three people they had driven past in the buggy earlier that day. Gavin nodded his head to the punkish guy, and Lisa smiled at the girl who turned her nose up at her.

Stepping out onto the footpath, they began the journey to the outskirts of the village, where they could make camp for the night somewhere nice.


*

At midnight, Lisa sat up in her sleeping bag, watching the moonlit shadows flicker through the flimsy tent walls. The waves only metres away now lapped hungrily at the beach, near their shared tent. Lisa and Gavin had discovered a tiny cove only a couple of kilometres out of town, and they set up camp there, on a slight rise where some soft cushiony grass grew plentifully, before the infertile beach sand took over. They had a nice view of the ocean and a nearby, deserted island, which had a now abandoned observatory upon it.

Gavin’s heavy breathing broke into Lisa’s readings of Houen, Johto, Kanto; a Chronology + history which she had bought at a tourist store in the village. It turned out they had left behind the province of Johto as they travelled through a mountain range north of Ecruteak, and were now in Houen, a new province.

Lisa heard sudden steps outside, although they were almost muted by the soft grass and the rolling waves slapping against the shore. Could it be Aipom back from his fossicking in the saltbushes, prickly though they were?

The footsteps came again, and Lisa thought she heard a voice accompany them. She nudged the sleeping Gavin next to her, but he grunted and turned over sighing. Nervous now, she pulled her bandana on, and slipped on a baggy T-shirt of Gavin’s, the nearest item of clothing she could find, over her crop top. She stood up, grabbed her pokemon belt, and stepped outside cautiously, while attaching the belt to her waist.

The outside of the tent was noisy and quite cool. She shivered, although more with nervousness, hoping to find Aipom or at any rate another pokemon. But there was nothing.

Suddenly, Lisa heard a rush of footsteps behind her. Before she could whip around and see, a hand was clapped firmly over her mouth. She, in a flash, recalled her self-defence lessons from school, and went for the attacker’s instep with her shoe. But the capturer seemed prepared and dodged.

Lisa suddenly winced with slight pain as something cold and sharp was jabbed into her arm. The attacker’s hand immediately moved, and Lisa went to scream, but suddenly her voice seemed to dissolve, her fighting arms and flailing legs became limp, and her world clouded over. Her body dropped to the ground at once, and the attacker grinned to herself, and began dragging her victim away.

Inside the tent, Gavin slept ignorantly. But inside the prickly saltbushes, with spikes poking into it, a loyal creature and friend watched with trepidation …

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next up on Lisa the Legend

Strange things are in the air, and Lisa’s latest disappearance won’t go unnoticed for long.

Gavin was stunned as his hand landed on an empty bed and deserted pillow. He sat up, and looked around the cramped, low-roofed tent. Lisa’s sleeping bag, beside his, was empty.

And what connection does Gavin’s new friend Andrew have to do with Lisa’s kidnapping?

“ Hi, I’m Andrew,” the guy said, his forehead sweaty and creased with concern. A faint smile darted elusively around his mouth as he spoke. “ Why are you here? The usual – Murder, Arson or Drugs?”

Gavin almost laughed, but the result was a bitter, half-hearted chuckle. He chose his words carefully, realising that Andrew’s appearance didn’t really match his personality, either. He seemed very normal, and looked like he could be funny. “ Hi I’m Gavin, and I’m here for fraud.”

Luckily, this time, Lisa’s not alone.

“ It seems we’ve been kidnapped, obviously,” Lisa said quickly to Jessica, plans formulating in her head.

Chapter 28 – EBTV Crossover - Part 1: Kidnap!

[Master Kirby]

Interesting. Gavin wins a battle and they finaly arrive town to find the Library closed. The attacker is a she! :o Is this a town filled with run away criminals?


“ Hi, I’m Andrew,” the guy said, his forehead sweaty and creased with concern. A faint smile darted elusively around his mouth as he spoke. “ Why are you here? The usual – Murder, Arson or Drugs?”...........or does Gavin go to Jail? Either way, there is going to be trouble.

I liked the part when Suicune saved Lisa from drowning. He must have known then that she would have some importance in the future.
:o

[Snakes N' Legends]

Good chapter, Gavin. The buggy is useless. It was funny to see Lisa and Gavin fight over who should battle. Aipom slapping Lisa was funny too. Keep up the good work.

[Chris 2.1]

Hey Gavin! i read the EBTV part, and thought i should see this part, too. I love it, really i do! I liked the battle with Angela, it was great to see Gavin's Staryu beat an evolved (and now a 3rd stage) Pokemon!

The description is excellent; the words, conjunctions and such give me inspiration to compel my own story! it's really very unique. I also liked how Lisa and Gavin had such difficulty coping by walking on the land; just goes to show that Lisa wasn't as healthy and fit as she was in the 3rd Pkmn movie ;)

Keep it up! i love the spoilers for the next chapter; Jess and Lisa working together? count me in :)

[mistysakura]

Hi! Another great chapter, and things are starting to get interesting. I loved that battle, it's been sometime since one. I think. Lisa thinking Gavin's handsoem? Now that one was expected sooner or later. Predictability...

Lisa’s hands were slipping off the vibrating steering wheel
Next paragraph:

she asked, sweat pouring down her face and her hands sticking to the wheel.
What the?

Keep it up, it's great!

[MetaKnight89]

great story gavin! I wouldnt mind if u put a cross over to my story:D

[Mew Trainer Rose]

I noticed a wistake:
"recalling her seemingly useless (apart from powering the buggy) Magneton."

she got rid of that a chapter or two ago! :P

crossover chap! :D and more coming! :)

i noticed a couple other mistakes, still minor ones only a dediacted fan would notice :P

when Azumarril used Bubblebeam, you said a bunch of little stars hit Strayu, not bubbles. and when Lisa was reading the booklet, you said the book was about Jhoto, kanto amd some new place (Hanto?), then said they entered Houen.

anywho, those don't matter and the chap was great! :) i liked teh scene w/the Magikarp of Doom!

[Andrew]

Ooh ooh ooh! Gavin Gavin! Yay! I loved the Buggy Crashing Scene again, lots of fun, and Staryu being like IcyBug ^^ Hee, and Lisa's comments ^^;

And the Evil Magikarp of Doom ^^ And the Spasticated Loser... lol excellent. But I think the shining light of this episode was the Floaties part! OMG BEST PART EVER! Can I say that was excellent, the emotions conveyed, the 3 year old attitude, the imagery, EXCELLENT I loved it, and then the mysterious thing saving her... EXCELLENT! Now DJ Aipom and Gavin's Psychic Hotline!

Plus Azumarril vs Staryu, ooh it got hammered from Staryu's wide range of devistating attacks! It got TAKEN DOWN! Booyah! But so did Lisa! At least she put up a little fight... poor thing...

Great work Gav, I LOVED The floaties part! Frikken awesome!

[Gavin Luper]

Lots of replies! Whoa!

Before I start, I urge everyone who read this chapter to read the latest chapter of Electric Buggy to Victory (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2304) by Oz Andrew. This last chapter was like a semi-crossover between the two fics, and it'll be best, even if you don't read EBTV normally, to read this Semi-crossover, as it will provide some better knowledge for the crossover next chapter. This will be when the characters from both stories' lives intertwine. Very cool stuff.

Kirby: Yay, Gavin battled for a change. Ah well, they'll live. The library will be open soon - but will they both be there to get the book? And yes, the attacker is a she. Dum dum dum ... evil.

Well interpreted ... there will be trouble. But what else can you expect? And yep, Suicune saving Lisa was a new edit that I threw in at the last minute (to Oz Andrew's great delight). Yes, he did know something, even ten years ago.

TM: Thanks! The buggy is and always will be absolutely useless. Well, kinda! LOL. Lisa and Gavin's arguing, I liked that. And Aipom is just a pest, isn't he?

Shiny Marill: Hi! Yeah, that's a good idea to read both sides of the story as it gives you a better understanding of what's going on and how the two stories are going to link up. Yeah, Gavin's Staryu is cool!

Why thank you, I enjoy writing it as much as you like reading it. I think it's a very unique story too. Yeah, well Lisa and Gavin have been kinda just hanging around lately in Ecruteak or using the buggy, so they are unfit. Don't worry, a few more chapters will turn things around a bit I think. Well, kinda.

I'm keeping the spoilers, I like them now, and I only ever did them once in the old version of LTL.

Misty Sakura: Hi there! You liked it? Excellent. Things are going to begin developing a lot more now. Things are really drawing into the climax more, ever since about chapter 18.The battle was well overdue, and yes, Lisa and Gavin's - friendship - is going to develop more now. After all, they're only human!

LOL that mistake kinda slipped through! Thanks for pointing it out!

Metaknight89: Thanks but not thanks, one crossover is enough for now. Besides, it took months to prepare this one. Sorry.

MTR: LOL! That's not a mistake, you interpreted the word in the pokemonish way rather than the words actual meaning. Recalling as in REMEMBERING. Glad I could clear that up.

Yeah, crossover chapter next!

And yeah, those were mistakes, I'll edit them out after this post!

Oz Andrew: HI!! Yes, the buggy crashing was lots of fun as always. Yay go staryu. Lisa comments? Specify!

Yes, I liked writing in the Evil Magikarp of Doom and the Spasticated Loser part. Ah yes, here we go, someone's ranting and raving. Yes, I added in that part that you have been urging me to add in since practically day 1. I'm very glad it was as good as you think it is, of course the bit with Suicune had to be in there for it to be relevent. Your other requests ... I'll think about it.

Yeah well Azumarill lost because it was fat and ugly and pointless and Staryu isn't. Yeah, Lisa would've been a great Karateist. Hmmm ... ideas, ideas ...

Great work by you too, I'll reply tomorrow to yours, OK? Cheers Oz!!!Electric Buggy to Victory (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2304)

[Andrew]

Hey Gavin, I loved your Staryu getting some personality with the Buggy Crash! And Lisa's comments about them seeing her butt lol, so Aussie. And the Floaties Part was done above and beyond what I expected. Congrats.

But DJ Aipom of Gavin's Psychic Hotline would be cool ^^ Or maybe even Gavin competing in a "I can shoot stuff from my head" competition ;) Or Elekid getting addicted to eating electricity.. lol .. bad ideas...

Oh well Azumarril is fat isn't it ^^; lol Staryu kicked butt though ^^ OMG I got post 199! Go me!

[Gavin Luper]

Well well, post 200! Lisa the Legend's bicentennial post! Yay!

Well, even though we got to 350 at this stage last time, I'm not fazed as much as I used to be with postcount.

Oz: Yeah, I get what you mean about the comment now. Very Aussie, I agree. Lisa is Aussie I spose, as is Gavin ... I don't know how that works but they just ARE, ok?

LOL somehow I might be able to incorporate some of your ideas into the story at some point.

Thanks for the reply!

Cheers!

[Karania]

TOtally cool. Next chapter please!

[Chris 2.1]

some great chapters her Gav; i spent all of today reading chapters, finding out all the essential stuff.

when is the 2nd part of the crossover out? *sings: I'm so excited*

[Madelyn151]

wow... i just read this whole thing at once. it was that good. it started out kind of typical, but then got far far better. it's excellent excellent excellent. it's really a good fanfic... and i really want to know what happens next. :)

[Gavin Luper]

Karania: The next chapter will be a few days coming, mainly due to the fact that I haven't written it yet.

Shiny Marill: Thanks. I'm glad you read some of the other stuff as it will help you understand the next chapter. The next part will be a few days, possibly up to a week.

Madelyn151: Hi! Thanks for stepping into the world of Lisa the Legend. I hope you continue to read in future. Yes, when I first wrote it I was a very beginner-ish kind of writer, so excuse the cliche in the first few chapters.

Everyone: I can't wait to post the next chapter. It will be the first new one since ... June, when TPM went down. It took from june til september to get back to chapter 15, but then TPM came back, so I started all over again. It's taken over 3 months to get back to where we left off, but I'm so glad to be back.

Cheers!

[Karania]

Okay I know what you mean. I still have a story I'm working on that I'm still not pleased with yet. I like the plot I've come up with, but I don't like the setting or storyline. Well back to the drawing board.

[Gavin Luper]

I do that with a lot of my chapters. I might write a bit, then not be happy with it so I delete a heap of it. It's just a matter of time until I get it just right.

[Karania]

okay, that sounds like something I do.

[Gavin Luper]

Karania: LOL ... yes, it's a very frustrating job sometimes, isn't it, when you can't get it exactly right.

Sorry everyone for the delay, but the chapter is still in process of being written. It's a lot shorter than last chapter, and is about 2/3 completed.

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

Just a quick update to everyone, I have almost completed the first c/o chapter.

Oz Andrew and I have decided to have 2 Crossover chapters as well as the semi-crossover (Chapter 27).

It should be posted here and in EBTV tomorrow.

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

Hey!

It's been a week since the last chapter, and so, here is the First Installment of the two-part Electric Buggy to Victory & Lisa the Legend Crossover!

Link to EBTV: Electric Buggy to Victory (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=100824#post100824)

----------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 28 - The Meetings and the Mystery.


Gavin stirred, and rolled onto his stomach, subconsciously missing his broken right arm. Rays of sunlight pierced the tent’s canvas and lit it up. Outside, waves rolled up, eating up the damp beach sand. Aipom leapt through the flapping tent door, squealing, while the ignorant fifteen-year-old slept on as the morning sun rose to its ten o’clock position.

The purple, hyperactive monkey jumped on Gavin’s head, bit his ears twice, then took off outside again, to run around excitedly. Gavin moaned, now wide awake, and threw a heavy, over-proportioned, bandaged and healing arm out to slap Lisa to consciousness and tell her to deal with Aipom.

Gavin was stunned as his hand landed on an empty bed and deserted pillow.

He sat up, and looked around the cramped, low-roofed tent. Lisa’s sleeping bag, beside his, was empty. He looked around in rising desperation and found her pokeball belt was gone too. He stood, ducking his head, to go outside and as he emerged into the rising daylight, he saw Aipom sprinting in circles around a deep impacted mark in the dew-burdened grass. There were three sets of footprints, somehow left in the long grass, but curiously only one pair left the area. Gavin suddenly noticed two lengthy tracks which dragged through the grassed area and onto the beach sand below the tiny cliff, where two long furrows were half filled with sea water.

Dashing back inside the tent for a moment, Gavin produced his camera from his backpack, and quickly took a few hurried shots of the crime scene. The camera immediately began developing the photos. He almost hoped something amiss had happened last night, something evil, something sinister – just so he could be like a detective. But he definitely didn’t want Lisa hurt, or in danger. Gavin pondered for a minute before working out what to do – he’d check his assumptions first. Lisa wouldn’t go somewhere without leaving a note – or taking Aipom – so where was she?

He slung the camera over his neck, where it hung heavily, and ran back into the tent to throw a shirt on over his shorts. Emerging, he called to Aipom, and, abandoning the tent site, he rushed back up to the road which stretched into town, and pelted down it, heading for the Library.


*

Lisa stirred slightly, her mind throbbing with confusion. Thousands of questions cluttered her confounded mind. Where was she? What had happened to her? She didn’t know, and she began to worry. Painfully, she tried to sit up and failed, her body refusing to move and of its limbs. She tried to cry out for help, but no voice came, just a feeble wisp of speech escaped her ruby lips. She began trying to struggle, but all that happened was that she began shaking slightly. Her body refused to work.

‘ Don’t panic,’ she told herself, her panic subsiding slightly. ‘ Just breathe in and think rationally.’

As the ebony-haired girl took ten deep breaths slowly, she acknowledged her surroundings. She had been deposited inside a room, with a low ceiling and filthy baby-poo-brown carpet which was torn, and in some places seemed blackened – charred? The walls were wooden panelled and very old looking, but apart from a couple of misused chairs and desks – and herself - Lisa couldn’t see anything else …

Her heart thudded. Laying next to her, moaning and sighing, was another girl. Her bright green eyes were wide open, and she was throwing her head about slightly, a long mass of blonde hair messed onto the carpet beside. Her hand was inside her handbag which Lisa thought looked very barbieish, and her eyes showed pure shock. Lisa half-wished she could help her out, but as it was her own limbs wouldn’t work, or her voice. By now, she felt her brain starting to master its control over her body. She rolled over and breathed slowly.

A scuffle from the girl’s direction made her look around again. The other girl had pulled herself across the surprisingly well-lit room and was hauling at the doorknob of a heavy metal door, probably soundproof. The girl slammed her fist on the door in a rage, and dropped to the floor sulkily. At this point, she seemed to notice Lisa there, and she wrinkled up her nose at her. She straightened up her hair and began to recompose her looks when her face turned to a look of horror.

The girl turned to Lisa’s unmoving form and shook her, and as Lisa tried again to speak, the girl slapped her across the face.

“ What was that for?” Lisa yelled, her voice returning. In anger, she slapped the girl back.

Before any more slapping took place, a sudden thought darted into Lisa’s mind. Her eyes widened as she panicked, and checked her pokeball belt. It was empty, completely stripped of the four pokemon it had previously held.


*

Gavin stood listlessly at the police station reception. The library hadn’t been open yet – so Lisa wasn’t there. He had done a quick glance inside all the street cafés he passed on his mad dash to the Police Station, and no Lisa was there to be found.

So, at eleven o’clock, Gavin found himself pacing before an incredibly slow receptionist, who, after about ten minutes, told him to wait for an Officer to arrive on the scene. He moaned as Aipom bounced dangerously close to a potplant which sat on the tiled floor. Not wanting to get into any more trouble, Gavin released Natu from its Moon Ball, and it hovered around Aipom’s face swiftly, distracting the naturally hyperactive monkey.

The door swung open and three people entered – two were an aged couple who looked rather worried, and the third was the punkish guy Gavin had seen the day before on the buggy. He was about his height, maybe a little taller, and had spiked, bleached hair. He wore a leather jacket and scruffy jeans, and looked far too different from the couple to be related to them closely.

The punk held out his hand as he entered, and Gavin noted that despite his physical appearance, his face looked almost as worried as he himself was feeling. Then Gavin stretched out his unbroken left hand and shook the newcomer’s hand with difficulty.

“ Hi, I’m Andrew,” the guy said, his forehead sweaty and creased with concern. A faint smile darted elusively around his mouth as he spoke. “ Why are you here? The usual – Murder, Arson or Drugs?”

Gavin almost laughed, but the result was a bitter, half-hearted chuckle. He chose his words carefully, realising that Andrew’s appearance didn’t really match his personality, either. He seemed very normal, and looked like he could be funny. “ Hi I’m Gavin, and I’m here for fraud.” He joked, grinning. Then he remembered to be serious, and sighed. “ I’m actually here to get some help, my friend’s disappeared and well … she left behind someone,” Gavin said, pointing at Aipom who was snapping his teeth at Natu. “ So I think she’s in trouble.”

Before Andrew could reply or introduce his elderly companions, an Officer came up to them all.

“ How can I help you?”


*

The girl didn’t hesitate once Lisa had abruptly checked her pokeball belt. She slapped her back at once, with an angered cry. “ How DARE you! I’m trying to save us here!”

Lisa took the last slap across the cheek, and although she was burning with revenge inside she forced it back down with difficulty and tried to be cool, calm and collected. “ Well sorree, I don’t comprehend things too well when I try to save someone in my pyjamas and get jabbed in the arm for it!” Lisa replied, rubbing the spot on her arm where her attacker had jabbed a needle of some sort.

Something flickered across the girl’s face, and suddenly, she smiled sweetly at Lisa. “ So sorry about that, I’m Jessica, nice to meet you.” Lisa smiled vaguely, and began staring around the room while the girl – Jessica – kept talking. There were no windows in the room, so Lisa couldn’t tell if it was morning or still night. The only light came from a dim lightbulb fixed into the wall, looking out of place.

“ I love your bandana,” smiled Jessica, apparently unaware that they had both been seemingly kidnapped.

Lisa glanced down to her pokemon belt again, as though hoping her pokemon had mysteriously reappeared. Evidently, they hadn’t, and she turned to Jessica.

“ I guess my pokemon ARE gone, eh?” she muttered disappointedly. “ Oh … sorry, I’m Lisa. Nice to meet you, Jessica. But … right now it looks like we’ve been kidnapped.”

Something like triumph glittered in Jessica’s eyes. “ Well, let’s fix your hair up, we can’t go anywhere with people looking like this! What will people think?!” she said, reaching into her handbag.

“ I really don’t think we have time for this,” Lisa was stunned that Jessica could even suggest anything like hairstyles at a time like this. What was going on? How long had they been trapped in this dingy room? What was going on outside? Lisa had a terrible, vivid flash of Gavin reporting his case to the police, Aipom, confused and alone, and a search party, unable to ever find her. She shook her head firmly. She didn’t mean for that to happen – she still could overcome this problem. Against Jessica’s protests, she stood up and tried the steel door – locked, of course.

Smiling, Jessica produced an entire cosmetics kit from her handbag. “ I already tried that. Come ON, sit down and I’ll fix you up. It looks like we’ve been kidnapped, obviously…”

Unfortunately, Lisa couldn’t find anything more useful to do at that moment – so she sat down in a rickety chair, trying to formulate a plan while Jessica pulled and shaped her hair, which was admittedly not very well kept since Lisa had been on her journey. While Jessica clicked her tongue over the state of Lisa’s hair, Lisa began talking.

“ There’s no point yelling for help, because for one thing, they’ll have us isolated and soundproofed if they were professional criminals,” she said, while Jessica pulled her hair into a kind of bun with a fringe and strands of strategically-placed hair. “ - which I think they are cause they had the forethought to use an anaesthetic to knock us out without much struggle – and for another thing, they’d know we’re awake and we’d lose our element of surprise.”

“ Hm,” said Jessica blankly, sounding like she was thinking of shopping.

Lisa moaned under her breath but continued. “ I already decided that the walls – although they look like flimsy wood – must be brick underneath – otherwise it’d be too easy to get out and the steel door would have no purpose.”

Jessica made “hmms” and “mmms” while she began putting light make up on Lisa. “ I’ll just check, but I’m quite sure …” Lisa stood up the moment Jessica had released her from the makeover, and tapped lightly on the wooden panelled wall. Then, mustering all her strength, she slammed her clenched fist into the wall – but on a thirty degree angle, so she barely splintered the wood. After some pulling and tugging, she revealed a solid – not brick but METAL – wall behind.

She smiled grimly. “ Anyone who tried punching their way out through here would have a VERY sore fist,” she stated, as Jessica packed away her handbag, looking satisfied. But now even Jessica seemed to be becoming serious.

“ Well, we should escape now,” Jessica said. “ We’re both ready.”

Lisa was still puzzling over how to escape from the tiny room, when a flash of a scene from a movie she had once seen – Shockdown – shot into her mind and back out. And her eyes shot rapidly to the ceiling where, yes, there was an air-conditioning vent in the far left corner of the room, farthest the door.

“ The vent!” Lisa cried. “ We can escape through the ceiling!”

Instead of seeming vague and shopping/fashion-minded, Jessica responded quickly by grabbing a couple of chairs and dragging them underneath the vent. Lisa obliged by stepping up onto the chairs and pulling at the cover on the vent, yanking it until there was a loud thud and the cover swung off, hanging from one side of the hole which was now gaping in the ceiling.

“ This seems very cliché … you’d think that if they went to all the trouble of sealing us in metal walls and doors, they’d block off the roof too.” Lisa muttered, grabbing the sides of the ceiling and trying to haul herself up. “ Jess, can you maybe give me a boost?”

Jessica’s reply was a soft mumble before she grabbed Lisa’s feet and pushed as Lisa pulled. Lisa, eventually and with great difficulty, made it into the ventilation, and began pulling Jessica up with her. Once both girls were in the dusty place, they both realised instantaneously that there was no ventilation; that the vent was just a way to escape into the normal ceiling. It was a set up.

Jess was already gingerly crawling onto a section of the ceiling, and it began to creak, it was so flimsy. Before Lisa could pull her newfound-friend back onto the supported section, there was a crack, and the gyprock shattered, Jess plummetting down.

Without thinking, Lisa threw her body down after Jess. She couldn’t allow her to face whatever danger was down there alone.


*

The police said they would help out as much as they could with the disappearance of Lisa, and Andrew’s little sister Jessica, but there was little they could do apart from be on the lookout. The village was only a fairly new one, although the library had been there for many years before, and the police force was less than adequate.

Gavin wanted to wait in the police station, but Andrew had insisted that would achieve nothing, and they would be better off to relax as much as possible. He suggested an ocean cruise, so Gavin tagged along. Within minutes they were slowly circling in the cool blue waters, searching for any trace of disappearance.

The elderly couple introduced themselves as Glenys and Edward, but Edward told Gavin to call him Ripper, as that was his nickname. They drove the luxury boat out, and said that they hadn’t seen Andrew’s friend.

“ Are you absolutely positive you haven’t seen Phil anywhere today?” Andrew urged, looking not really upset, but concerned all the same.

“ Yes, certain,” replied Glenys quickly, as though she had been replying to Andrew’s whining for a long time. Gavin guessed that maybe she had been doing exactly that.

“ Hang on …” he interrupted suddenly. “ Is Phil the guy who was with you and your sister before? In the hotel?”

Andrew nodded. “ Yeah, that’s him. Why, Gavin, have you seen him?”

Gavin shook his head. “ Not since last night, just when you walked past us in that hotel.” He grinned. “ Speaking of which, how did you manage to afford the rooms?”

A wide grin spread across Andrew’s face. “ What’s wrong with our prices, eh?” Glenys said, with mock-anger, though Gavin didn’t realise. He blushed deep scarlet.

“ Sorry … there’s nothing wrong … er …” Before he could make himself look any MORE stupid, Glenys went up to the front of the boat, chuckling to herself. Gavin’s embarrassment receded and he leaned on the side of the luxury liner.

Andrew laughed and threw out two pokeballs – a Starmie and a Dragonair appeared and began swimming around in the water. Gavin released his pokemon too, Natu fluttered and landed on his shoulder, while Staryu and Lanturn splashed down with Andrew’s pokemon. Aipom was already fidgeting and playing with Gavin’s short black hair, which was really the least of his worries. Ditto also appeared on the deck.

Lanturn was very well behaved this time; Staryu splashed through the sea gracefully, or as graceful as a Staryu could be, accidentally spraying Starmie with foam. Starmie got angry quickly, it’s core glowing redly, and it spat out a blast of water. Staryu replied within seconds with it’s own gun.

Gavin smiled at the two starfish, but Andrew got annoyed. “ Hey, Starmie, stop!” He turned suddenly to Gavin. “ We need to get down to business.”

“ Right,” Gavin replied. “ Guys, you need to search for Lisa, or Jess or Phil. Ditto, you transform into a Natu and search with them.”

Andrew gave his pokemon similar orders and they swam off, along with Staryu and Lanturn, while the two Natus flapped away towards the resort. Gavin could see, somewhere a bit further out, a cluster of boats with people all sending out their own water and flying pokemon, to search. Glenys and Ripper had asked everyone they knew to help out.

“ So, Gavin, what brings you out here?” Andrew asked abruptly.

Gavin actually had to think about that question for a moment, as the last day had been taken up with more important events. “Well Lisa and I were searching for a book on Suicune that we had heard was here,” he said, trying to slap Aipom as he pulled and twisted his hair around.

“ Suicune? You’re joking right? That’s nothing more than an advertising scheme! Just like all those other so called Legendary Pokemon!” cried Andrew, almost bursting out laughing.

Gavin was furious. How could someone be so naïve? Legendary pokemon had been seen by so many people, Lisa and him included. He tried his best to give a death stare at Andrew. “ How could you say that? Honestly, you don’t know the first thing about these Pokemon!” He almost yelled. “ Lisa and I have run into them a few times.”

“ Well for a start you don’t have any proof,” said Andrew disbelievingly.

Nearly exploding, Gavin spat a few hasty words out. “ You’ll see, I’ll get some real proof, that’ll show you!” he declared arrogantly. And then, as Andrew looked quite shocked, he glanced out to sea, at all the searching pokemon, and tried to ignore Aipom’s fidgeting.

“ Yeah …” said Andrew, sounding like he would never be convinced. “So what happened to your arm?” he asked, gesturing to Gavin’s plastered right arm.

Still annoyed at Andrew, Gavin decided to ‘polish up’ the story. Maybe if it sounded good, Andrew would believe in legendaries. “ I don’t know if you’d call this ‘proof’ or not, but I got this from a Legendary Pokemon,” he lied, motioning to his arm before continuing, trying unsuccessfully to keep the annoyance out of his voice. “ And a good friend of mine died from Entei. If this isn’t ‘proof’ enough, then screw you!” He was getting worked up now, and Anna’s death wasn’t a pleasant thought.

“ Sorry Gavin” Andrew said softly, as Gavin stalked away and onto the other side of the boat, annoyed that he had been almost losing his temper completely.


*

Lisa’s body was tensed for landing as she plummetted into a room which looked almost exactly the same as the one they had just been escaping from. Jessica gave a soft squeal and then came a loud moan.

Lisa landed, but it wasn’t too hard, it fact her landing was soft. Another loud moan came through the dust and hazy air, and when it had cleared a bit more both girls exchanged surprised glances. A man was lying there, looking crushed.

“ Gee thanks girls, I think you broke my ribs,” he moaned, trying to stand up, but his eyes crossed and he keeled over again, as there was a loud snap.

“ Oh my god! Phil! Sorry!” Jessica cried, immediately rushing over to help him recover. Lisa recognised him as the guy who had been with Jess and her brother earlier in the hotel. She decided it was best if she introduced herself.

“ Hi I’m Lisa … you made a nice landing. Sorry ‘bout that,” she said, barely suppressing a grin.

Although Jessica seemed to be trying to help, Phil still looked almost unconscious. Lisa was wondering if she could do anything to help, when the massive metal door (identical to the one in the girls’ room) swung open. Lisa let her jaw drop in shock.

A woman stood there, half-silhouetted against the light. She looked about fifty or so, with her grey hair flying back behind her.

She smiled menacingly. “ Well I can see you’re all awake now, we can start the fun!” Lisa suddenly realised this was the woman who had kidnapped her last night, and made motion as to stand up and rush at the door, but the woman broke in. “ Don’t bother trying to escape, my Psychic Pokemon will stop you. Now if you’d like to follow me please.”

She sounded almost peaceful. The woman strode out of the room, Jess and Lisa staring at the Slowbro she had left behind. They had no option; the Slowbro looked very mentally strong. Lisa and Jess helped Phil to the door, while he clutched his ribs in pain. They all followed the woman, who was waiting just outside the room, with Slowbro taking up the rear. Lisa was planning a form of escape when Jess began to whisper to her.

They were all led down a set of stairs, which led into a big circular area, which may have once been a research centre or something. Before the girls could sort something out, Phil was enveloped in a blue aura, and Lisa knew that the Slowbro was controlling his body. Phil floated away to a distant room, where the metal door slammed on him. He was locked in. Alone.

Lisa considered rushing at the Slowbro, along with Jess, but what good would that do? Chances were, the woman would have millions more pokemon at her command. And when the woman pulled out two pokeballs and a belt, Lisa though maybe she was going to attack them, but then she recognised the belt as her own pokemon belt, and from Jessica’s muffled cry, the other pokeballs were hers.

Imagining her poor pokemon stuck in those balls, Lisa burst out, “ Give them back you old HAG!” and rushed at the villainous woman. Before she could attack her with her fists, Lisa felt a her body lift the ground, and knew that, just as Phil had had done to him, she was lifted through the air via Slowbro’s powers, and Lisa was returned to her place, beside a shocked Jessica.

As Lisa was returned, she noticed the woman’s clothing – beneath the swirling white lab coat was a black two piece suit, a red ‘R’ emblazoned upon it … it was painfully obvious now.

“ God Damn Team Rocket! Give me back my Pokemon! NOW!” Lisa screamed, making the realisation that the Woman was a Team Rocket villain, similar to the one who attacked Lisa back in Ecruteak. She heard Jessica snort after this statement, but her mind was on other things. What was it exactly that made Team Rocket come after her?

The woman looked barely flustered. “ Girls, Girls, I’d much more like it if you called me Lenina, its so much nicer,” she insisted, and if Lisa hadn’t been kidnapped by the woman – Lenina – then she would have thought she was a nice person.

Then, out of nowhere, Jessica spoke.

“ Say Lenina, can I please go to the toilet?” she asked in a sickly-sweet voice. Lisa glanced at her in shock; how could she leave her alone? But then … maybe she had a plan?

“ What, I need to go!” defended Jess, a slight glint in her eyes.

Lisa caught the look, and stayed silent, but Lenina either caught the glance or was just not dumb enough to be fooled.

“ No. You may not. Right now you’re going to be battling,” she grinned evilly at the girls.

“ BATTLE!” cried Lisa.

Lenina looked like a child on Christmas Eve, her eyes were filled with excitement. “ Yes; whoever wins gets to live. Simple enough? Here are your Pokemon,” Lenina said quickly, throwing across Jessica’s pokeballs and a belt for Lisa. Lisa’s mind rapidly set to work, thinking of a way to use Elekid, Fiskmire and Dratini to help her out. If only she still had Aipom … he could escape excellently.

“ Don’t you even think of using them to escape,” Lenina said, reading Lisa’s thoughts. “ I have a gun, ready for use on both of you.” Lisa and Jess gulped simultaneously as she revealed the shiny, black, deadly gun.

Lenina had all the bases covered. They couldn’t escape. They had to battle. One of them would die.

This would be the biggest battle in Lisa’s life, but unlike those people who train for League Matches, she had no forewarning or even desire to fight. It was really unfair.

Lisa selected her first pokeball with a sweaty hand, and threw it up and down nervously. If only Suicune were here to save her. But what were the chances?

Jessica held up her pokeball, and made a face of fear. “ Good luck Lisa,” she said shakily.

“ You too Jessica,” Lisa grimaced. With that, one glance at Lenina’s gun was enough to provoke the girls into action.

They both lobbed out their pokeballs, and prepared to face the outcome.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next up on Lisa the Legend

Lisa and Jessica are fighting for their lives … literally. Or are they?

“ Use Bubble attack!” called Lisa. And she willed her faithful pokemon mentally; ‘Go easy on it … this battle has to last!’

Jessica grinned back at Lisa, exchanging the same emotion; they had to go easy on it. “ Use your charm!”

But their battle can’t last forever, before something happens.

“ Hurry it up, girls,” Lenina smirked, handing her metal weapon. “ My gun is getting restless.”

It’s up to Gavin and Andrew … and Aipom, of course.

“ I think Natu found something … back on the mainland,” cried Gavin. Andrew came over to examine with Gavin what it was that Natu had found.

And it’s not just a matter of racing the clock …

“ It still doesn’t explain it,” Andrew exclaimed. “ Who took them both?”

Gavin shrugged. “ At least we know why.”

Chapter 29 – EBTV Crossover – Part 2: FIGHT!

[Chris 2.1]

scary stuff...this thing is really getting exciting...:). excuse me if i say EBTV things here, cos i'm reading both parts at the same time.

I think Lenina is pure evil; you've really captured team rockets personality well. It is a welcome break from the fumbling TR's we see in trainer fics (like the two in FRTC ^^)

I can't wait for the battle; i'm sure that Murkrow helps defeat Slowbro (he is unafected by psychic), and i bet they're on that Island that Phil saw in EBTV. Gavin seems to be getting rather sick of Aipom...i couldn't blame him lol.

Keep it up; any idea when the next part is out?

[Hyperness is a Good Thing]

Just went through the two crossover chapters...
When I have more time I'll probably read all of your other chapters....it sounds interesting...From these two chapters..seems that Lisa has some sort of connection with Suicune?

Anyways....this crossover idea is interesting...^_^

I want the next chapter.... It's sort of a cliffhanger.....

[Gavin Luper]

Shiny Marill: Thanks, I'd comment on your post a bit more but I'm really TIRED! Lenina IS evil and TR in this fic is portrayed as a real evil organistation, not a pathetic couple of people.

The next part could be from a few days to two weeks away, hopefully somewhere in the middle. I have barely begun chapter 29, but chapters 30 - 32 are already complete and 33 is in the works!

Hyperness is a good thing: Hi! I'm glad you decided to read both sides of the crossover, it's beneficial in understanding the story. Yes, Lisa and Gavin have a thing with the legendaries, hence the title " Lisa the Legend.".

I hope you do read the other chapters, and future ones to come.

Cheers!

[Jon UKX]

I think the two crossover chapters were really cool, hope you do other crossover chapters *whispers* like From Rookie to Champion or my upcoming fic Jon:Idol Quest.

[Karania]

Good chapter, I really liked it. Keep it up. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all that other good stuff.

[Gavin Luper]

JonUKX: Hi. Thanks, but NEVER again will I do another crossover, and, no offence to you or ShinyMarill, but especially not From Rookie to Champion, or your fic either. Sorry.

Karania: Hello! Thanks, I really liked them too, some of my fave chapters (although almost all the chapters of my own story are my faves!

Same to you, Merry Christmas! But I'll be online before then.

Cheers!

[Jon UKX]

Originally posted by Gavin Luper
JonUKX: Hi. Thanks, but NEVER again will I do another crossover, and, no offence to you or ShinyMarill, but especially not From Rookie to Champion, or your fic either. Sorry.

I understand Gavin Luper, it is friggin hard to do a crossover chapter as they months of planning and sometimes they might go wrong when you disagree with the person you are doing the crossover with.

[Gavin Luper]

Exactly. That's why it's best to write it with a friend. So we don't disagree, right Oz?

Also, both writers need to be at about the same level of writing experience and ability. Which is why the EBTV - LTL crossover was perfect.

[Trip]

Wow. I haven't read this in a long time, but it has come VERY far.

BTW, I don't think "redly" is a word.

- Mark Ericson

[Gavin Luper]

Trip: HEY!!! Long time no see! In the forums, anyway!

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, this is where we left off. I'm still trying to improve my writing; my goal at the moment is to stop my narration and description sounding so formal and matter-of-fact, and be casual, but descriptive.

Redly ... that was the best word I could get. Oh well.

Thanks, I hope you keep reading!

Cheers!

[The_Missing_Link]

So we're finally on to new chapters. Thank god. You know I love this fic and EBTV so I'll be reading all the way, although I favor Oz's lighter reading, mostly because there's more comedy in it. No offense though, I love this one also *tries not to make a bad impression* ^_^;

btw, is there going to be a summary of TCL at all? I certainly want to know what happens, as does a lot of the other readers although I'm sure you're just busy with the crossover at the moment

[Chris 2.1]

i would never write a crossover anyway; and i havent found anyone i think is at my level of writing. Gavin, you are just too reputable and your fic is so different, i could never crossover. I'll leave the experts to do the expertee stuff.

[Karania]

Please post the next chapter very soon.

[Gavin Luper]

T_M_L: Yeah, we're back! Thanks for the reply, I actually agree with you totally, Oz Andrew's fic is much lighter, yet it has the same description etc. That's what I'm going to be trying to do for the rest of the fic ... make it a bit lighter. Except I really suck at adding Comedy in. And of course a few chapters are going to have to be formal, but oh well.

Lol don't worry you didn't make a bad impression!

I remembered about the summary the other day and i thought I should actually do some of it ... I had only planned out a little of the fic so it may be a LONG time coming. But I should get it posted one day!

Shiny Marill: Thanks, I always thought crossover would be a good idea. It is, but it takes a lot of work and a lot of editing, re-editing and re-re-editing! It's not like you can edit whenever you feel like it, both of you have to be online for at least an hour to work it all out.

Thanks for the flattery!

Karania: I will try, and of course get it posted ASAP. Unfortunately, the fact remains that I haven't really started it yet!

Cheers!

[Mew Trainer Rose]

I'm loving the crossover. :) It's great to be able to see the story from another perspective.

[Karania]

That's fine. Just post it when you finish it.

[Gavin Luper]

MTR: So you're reading EBTV and LTL sides of the crossover? Cool. You'll probably get a better insight into the characters and how they see each other if you read both versions. I'm really thrilled that you like it so far.

Karania: I will post ASAP!

Cheers!

[100FangCroconaw]

So far, the crossover is really good!I think that it's going to be great.

P.S. I read the EBTV part too.

[Chris 2.1]

i liked it when Lisa said 'Jessica was no doubtebly thinking of shopping' on this and on the EBTV Jess said 'I rpelied with hmms and umms, thinking of shopping' LOL

its great seeing both sides of this tale, it's really cool.

[Gavin Luper]

Hi everyone!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

100FangCroconaw: Hi there! i'm very glad that you like it, and it's great to know that you have read both sides of the story.

ShinyMarill: Lol yeah, I synchronised a few things like that. For that part, Oz Andrew wrote it out and I adapted things to the LTL version, so that's why it's the same. Then we edited OVER AND OVER AND OVER ...

[Gavin Luper]

Hi everyone!

Just a very quick update. I'm currently about a fifth of the way through the second crossover chapter. It looks promising so far, and should reach somewhere between 4000 and 5000 words.

Cheers!

[Master Kirby]

That was a good chapter. I liked how Lisa and Jessica got out of the room through the cieling! When Lenina found them in the room with Phil, it seemed that she was expecting to to see them there.

They just need to get that gun away from her. Then they could all gang up on her and Slowbro.

I hope all of you are having a nice holiday.

[Gavin Luper]

Master Kirby: Hi there! Hope you're having a great holiday season and that you enjoyed your Christmas and New Year. I'm happy that you liked that chapter (the first new one! yayyy!).

Lenina WAS expecting to see them in the room, I mean, the ceiling escape, as you might have noticed, was just a test of the girls' thinking and ingenuity. There was an air vent cover, but no duct. Lenina was seeing exactly how smart her captives were.

The next chapter shall reveal all ... well, not really, but ... you know.

Cheers!

PS: I'm almost half-way through the final crossover chapter! Sorry it's taken so long everyone for these last few chapters to come, but I promise the next three will be coming less than a week apart.

[ZeldaFan20]

If these next chapters are taking this long to finish (meaning no disrespect), then they MUST be good. Don't be too long.

[Gavin Luper]

Zeldafan20: hi there! I don't remember seeing you around before! Thanks for reading!

The next chapter is taking so long because we need to be online at the same time to write it with no problems. I am already writing chapter 33.

Oh, and for anyone else who is considering writing a crossover, think really carefully ... it's a headache!

Cheers!

[100FangCroconaw]

Gavin, I remember ZeldaFan from WDC.=/

[EDIT]Oh.

[Gavin Luper]

100FangCroconaw: Hi ... I meant I hadn't seen him/her in Lisa the Legend before.

Crossover coming soon!!

[ZeldaFan20]

:wave: Oh, I've been reading your story since chapter one; really good stuff.
I don't intend to sound like I'm advertising but, if you haven't seen it yet, have a look at MY Fanfic (that is, when you have the time of course).
By the way, just in case anyone is wondering...........I'm a girl.

100FangCroconaw: Oh yeah........I think I've seen your posts somewhere around that thread.

[Gavin Luper]

Zelda Fan20: Hi again! I didn't know you'd been reading since the first chapter! You should have replied! ;)

I might get over to your fic at some stage ... not to sound like i'm stuck up and "I'll see if I can fit it into my schedule"- ish, but I don't really read that many fics anymore, although I do make an effort to.

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

Not much longer to wait everyone! Thanks for all being so patient, it's been a long time! I'm just writing the last part of the crossover now ... it's very long, eventually should be capped at around 7000 words. I'm almost finished, I'll edit this when I do finish altogether. Should be posted today or tomorrow!!

[Chris 2.1]

Gav, did you know that inbetween this next chapter and the previous one, i have celebrated christmas, rung in the new year AND turned 14? Either way, it's worth turning 14 years and two weeks just to see this next chappie.

*fires a pistol in the air* THE NEXT CHAPTER ISNEARLY UP! *bang bang* CHILDREN AND WOMEN READ FIRST!!!!!!!

Nevermind. I'm just a tad weird today.......

[Gavin Luper]

Shiny Marill: Hi! Wow, congrats on turning 14 ... and everything. Yeah, a tad weird.

I hope it's worth waiting for ... I'm up to 7700 words and not quite finished ... it looks to be an 8000 word chapter!!!!

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

Well everyone should be pleased. If not, well ... too bad. *ahem*

I HAVE OFFICIALLY 'FINISHED' THE CROSSOVER!

Very exciting ... it was completed at almost 9000 words which is like the longest chapter ever (that I have written) so I hope it was worth the wait. I spent a good few hours on Saturday and wrote about 4000 words during that time.

There's not much longer to wait at all everyone, it will be up this week for sure, probably before Friday. Possibly tomorrow. Oz just needs to finish his part, then we'll edit, and TA DA!

I'm very happy, in case you can't tell.

Cheers!

- Gavin.

[Jon UKX]

I've been waiting for this for AGES,I know that it'll be excellent due to your quality of writing(I wish I could write like you) and I can't wait for the EBTV side of the chapter as well:D

[AquaBabe727]

*pant pant* I finally caught up! OMG you have no idea how many times i've been in a hurry, or someone else needed to use the pc, or I had to do something else. But I finally did it! If not for the 2-odd weeks in between, I probably never would have! I think the last time I replied was like five chapters ago at least...So yeah. I'm replying again! You're doing a good job so far, Gavin! I'm impressed. The only thing I have to say is that I have no idea where the story is going--you seem to be weaving all over the place. It's interesting, tho, so it's okay. ^_^ I hope you get the next chapter up soon, man. Can't wait!

[Gavin Luper]

JonUKX: I think everyone, including myself and Oz, have been waiting for this for a long time. I still haven't seen Oz online yet but he's probably working on finishing it off!

Aquababe: Hey!! I haven't seen you around for so long, I thought maybe it was because I stopped reading your fic. Maybe I should go back and check how Rhapsody in Red is going ... anyhoo, thanks for the reply after such a long time.

I have been weaving everywhere, this crossover kinda came up right in the middle of things so :S but basically Lisa has returned to Ecruteak to see her family, got a job, gone to Houen for 3 chapters. It's a lull in the story, I spose ... but after the c/o is out of the way it'll hopefully get better ... having the c/o in my way for so many months has been like blocking my writing abilities.

Cheers!

[AquaBabe727]

Hey, yeah, why did you stop reading? I felt abandoned! =(
I didn't mean to stop reading yours, you just got too far ahead of me. But why don't you read what I've got so far? I'm gonna update like right now...when are YOU going to? ;)

[Gavin Luper]

Aquababe: Hey! I'll read some shortly, for sure. I'm sorry i abandoned you, for a while I was like, "I'm leaving TPM soon, so ..." but since then I've decided not to leave ... at least not until April, and even then I will still hover around replying to fics and helping new writers along. I might start posting normal stories instead (I have an interest in pokemon of 3 on a scale of 1 to 100, 100 being the most interested).

Anyway, I'll come read Rhapsody in Red shortly and as for when the Crossover will be posted, very soon. I have finished it and it is ready to be posted, but Oz hasn't had much time lately. If it helps any, Chapters 30 and 31 are ready for posting (apart from previews), and Chapter 32 just needs to be re-edited. I've also begun chapter 33.

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

I'm posting some time this week no matter what, guys. I've got four chapters ready to go now, so ...

yeah.

Once the c/o is done, I'll be posting a chapter every four days or so. Also, I've planned out the rest of this book. There are 41 chapters, and an epilogue. :D

[PancaKe]

Hey Gav! I just finished reading and your side of the crossover is really cool! Also I never got to see the trailer in Oz's topic so now i'm in total suspence! I didn't realise that they were battling against each other. I feel so sorry for them. I don't want Jess to die, I mean, teenyboppers are people too. But I want Lisa to win because she has good fashion sense. Not slutty ^_^

~Mist

[Gavin Luper]

Tara: HEY! LONG TIME NO SEE!

lol except for the last three hours of chatting on and off lol. But you haven't been around in this topic for ages!

Yeah. Thanks for reading of course! It's always great to have another good reader return. Lol, you didn't know they were battling against each other? woops. ah well, you do now.

Well as you know I g2g now so this is a really rushed reply! Lol i agree, Lisa has good fashion sense! i think.

Cheers!!!!!!

- Gavin.

[mistysakura]

Hi everyone, I'm officially back from my holiday! Plenty of fic-reading for me. Anyway, can't wait for the next chapter!

[Gavin Luper]

Mistysakura: Hi! You've returned just in time, the final installment of the crossover is due up any day now. Oz has been very busy writing it, and i've already finished.

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

Oz is approaching the conclusion of the Crossover now, everyone, so it's nearly time. I know I've been saying that for weeks now, but this entire wait is very nearly over, if Oz can finish off in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, if anybody wants to read any of my other work, The Crystal League has been revived as a background project, and I just posted a new, non-pokemon story, "Only Human".

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

The crossover is officially going to be posted at least by Tuesday the 28th. I just posted to relieve everyone from the month-lnog wait. Sorry guys. It's been a very long time.

But, on the good side, I just completed chapter 33, which means there are five ready-wrtten chapters to be posted (including the c/o). I'll post them all within a couple of weeks to make up for this wait.

Cheers!

[AquaBabe727]

Hey, take your time, Gavin~ I'm sure it'll be great when you get it finished. But it's good you have more chapters finished! Can't wait! ^_^

[Chris 2.1]

Well Gavin, while Oz plugs away at his side, i suppose you can always spend more time on your other fics. That's one good thing that came out of it ;)

[ZeldaFan20]

:yes: I'm curious to find out what happens too. It should be interesting.