Lisa the Legend - Chapter 52 up!!
Part 1 of the final chapter!
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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!”
Originally Posted by mr_pikachu
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