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

[Gavin Luper]

***ANNOUNCEMENT***

Next chapter is the beginning of LTL III.

I think it's time to make this announcement - hopefully you guys see it as a good one. Basically, I'm taking a break of posting LTL, for about three or four weeks. For those who don't remember, the end of chapter 20 was the end of LTL I, and LTL II began at Chapter 21. Well, I have reached the third part at last. Chapter 49 is the beginning of Lisa the Legend III: Revelation. (Initially that was the title for II but it was dropped later). So yes ... I'll take a months break before the new book is posted. It will still be in this topic, the same as book II, but I want a good break so that you guys have a reasonable break and so that I have enough time to build up my stocks.

I think I've gotten over the worst of my writer's block all of a sudden, which is awesome. I'll be writing busily over the next month, so keep your eyes on this thread. Any questions or whatever, feel free to ask.

Well, that's about it. Have a good month, everybody, and all the rest. Keep your eyes peeled, cause Lisa the Legend III: Revelation is going to be better than ever!

Cheers!

- Gavin.

PS: Thanks Tara and Karania for your support , and Oz for your reply, I'll get onto it later ^_^.

[Chris 2.1]

Wow! sounds like a corker! Hmm Gav, you should bring this out on DVD. You could add audio commentary and have a free Aipom Plushie when you bought LTL on video. Meh, Disney do it all the time.

Glad you got over writers block!

[PancaKe]

This is where the fic goes KABLAM!!!!!! This is the stuff we been all waiting for, a whole 48 chapters leading up to LTL III. It's gonna rock dude. Cant wait.

Can ya give us a preview?

**PancaKe||

[mr_pikachu]

Revelation, huh? Sounds good. A month's time seems okay, just as long as you don't forget about us. Glad your Writer's Block is gone, and I look forward to seeing what's in store for our heroes next!

Ho - wait... a... second... another TPM fic? Sweet! And... a NOVEL! All right! Remind me to buy it when it comes out! Just get those publishers to print it in the U.S. too, okay? They can be squirrelly when it comes to that sort of thing... ^^;

So you want critical feedback, huh? Well... um... uh... the last chapter was kinda short, I guess... (hard to tell, what with the screwy font junk). Er... I suppose the sentence "He and Miki just got home to the house..." is redundant in a way. Of course, it's a quote, so I guess it isn't much of a problem...

Hey, what can I say? You wanted me to be critical, and this is what I found.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Chapter 49, as well as your new projects!

[Gavin Luper]

Tara/Pancake: That's gotta be the best nickname ever ... anyways, hell yeah I'll give you a preview - when I can, that is, some time in the next few weeks. I'm writing Chapter 50 as we speak, plus other bits of the book and of the final scenes (gasp). But yeah, LTL III is gonna be great, the FIC really will go KABLAM quite shortly, just you wait ...

mr_pikachu: Hey, welcome back! No, I won't forget you guys, I'll still be hanging around here until I start posting again in a month's time. Yeah, I think my writer's block has finally dissolved; just wait until you see what's coming for Lisa and Gavin after chapter 50! Revelation is going to be the most exciting, mysterious and characterised LTL book yet! Oh, and cheers for being critical, I'll keep that sort of stuff in mind! Keep throwing it at me!

And yeah, my writing horizons are looking great, from my point of view anyway. LTL III, the new fic that at this stage is top secret () and of course my novel that i hope to get published.

Anyhoo, enough talking about myself, so yeah - questions, etc, please ask, everyone!

Cheers!

[dragonmage]

I just started to read your story about a week ago and so far I like it. Can't wait for the next chapters.

[Gavin Luper]

dragonmage: Thanks very much for reading Have you finished all the chapters yet or are you still going? What do you like best so far?

Everyone: LTL III is well and truly underway and, if I do say so myself, IT ROCKS! The next chapters are going to be awesome, you guys are gonna love em (I hope). LTL III is where the story gets going full on - as Pancake said, this is where the story explodes. Everything is going to start coming together at last and MANY things will be finally revealed!

Huhuhu ... but what will happen? Who knows? Except me ... I'll be posting a preview soon of the new book which will be heaps cool. There's a few things that are going to really kick LTL up a notch, from novice trainer fic to something huge!

The month's wait is nearly over ...

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

Yes, after a two month wait since the last chapter, I present to you chapter 49 - enjoy!

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

Chapter 49 – Golden Horizons.


A silver, lunate moon was presiding serenely over Goldenrod City. Amongst the footings that were still being laid for the construction of the new Radio Tower, two shadowy figures were hidden. Suicune stood stiffly in a dark alley near the construction site. For a change, the rippling aurora on his back that usually glowed with cobalt light was dimmed, so that it gave no illumination whatsoever. The alley was in total darkness.

Beside Suicune was Raikou, the beast of electricity. His usually stern face, which looked in some ways like an ancient mask, was drawn into an expression of triumph. His back, normally alive with yellow sparks of electricity and thunderwaves, was – like Suicune’s – dormant, in the endeavour of not bringing any attention to himself.

//At last I have something worth telling// Raikou spoke telepathically to his companion in a light tone. Suicune raised a furry azure eyebrow. Raikou went on. //It’s done … everything went to plan – as far as they’re concerned, anyway//

//They found you?// asked Suicune, deeply interested.

Raikou’s mouth curved slightly. //Yes, I made sure they – er – killed me … I have this to say, humans aren’t too bright. Even pokémon have more intelligence than they – except perhaps Magikarp//

Suicune ignored the light joke, his furry brow furrowed in deep consideration of his own thoughts. //You’re sure they are convinced?//

//Positive. Even told their boss. It’s all taken care of, at last. We can come out of hiding//

The water beast allowed a grin. //More than two months have been wasted … I don’t believe it. Still, now we can get on with it. How are the protected ones?//

//Good// noted Raikou //As good as they can be, anyhow. Two months of their lives have been effectively wasted, it’s only now that they will get back on track … hopefully no more keys have been taken …// Raikou paused, unsure of what to say next. He teetered on his next sentence, but Suicune picked up on his thoughts and replied telepathically, before he could say anything.

//Yes// Suicune noted //The return will be made immediately. Everything will go back into action … now we shall see what we shall see//

//And what about the hidden –//

//I’ll take care of it//

Raikou pushed on. //The legend? What about it … will it be found yet, or …//

A black grin stretched across Suicune’s face. //I will do what I must; it will be fine// he said firmly, almost as if he was reassuring himself of the fact. Behind his back, Raikou did not look at all convinced; in fact, he looked afraid.

//What will happen will happen// said Suicune //And it must happen now, we have waited enough// said Suicune, a tiny, glimmering tear tricking out of his eye.

With those words, the aurora on his back began to glow again; slowly it gave off an intense blue, shimmering light to the surrounding area, and then, just as gradually, the cerulean light began to converge as though it were a liquid. The light formed droplets that pooled in the aurora: droplets that were so bright that they could not be fully viewed in all their shimmering, resplendent glory. In time, the pool of droplets that was seemingly coming from the aurora itself spilled over the edge, trickling across Suicune’s body until they all made a beeline for the spot directly above Suicune’s eyes. Each droplet of energy pooled into the centre of Suicune’s forehead, casting a surreal, cobalt glow over the entire area. For a moment, Raikou’s upset face could clearly be seen in the brightness of the light on Suicune’s forehead. And then, just when the light didn’t seem able to get any brighter, there was a loud, swishing sound – a beam of white energy was fired from Suicune at last in a dazzling burst of light, shooting out into the dark night of Goldenrod.

Nine hundred kilometres away, the girl named Lisa Walters awoke with a jolt.

*********

“ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGHHHH!!!”

Not for the first time in her life, Lisa found herself sitting up from her sleep in a state of sudden panic. The room she was in was dark and unfurnished; she scrabbled around for her Buzzball to light the room up but she couldn’t find it. Gavin’s yelling had stopped now, but he was breathing heavily and panting as though he had just been attacked by something.

“ What is it?” Lisa breathed, crawling out of her sleeping bag and over to Gavin’s. As she reached his side her eyes adjusted; Gavin was sitting up and leaning forward. His forehead was glazed with a cold sweat and he was spluttering and coughing.

Lisa patted him on the back and repeated her question. Gavin looked at her uneasily with shaky, wet eyes; Lisa could see he was sick.

With a shaky voice, he said, “ Bad dream ... really bad dream ...”

“ What? Is that all?” Lisa said sleepily. Surely a bad dream couldn't have caused such a major reaction from Gavin. There had to be something more ...

“ No, that's it ... just a really bad dream ...” muttered Gavin, almost trying to reassure himself, it seemed. Lisa tried to look at his eyes but he wouldn't look at her. Just as she was about to question him further, he turned around and looked at her with grey, wet, shaky eyes.

“ My psychic powers are back.”

For some time, Lisa had felt that some of the things Gavin told her were glossed over, not quite truthful - especially whenever he spoke of his time imprisoned by the Union. Ever since his returned she had not completely regarded him as her old friend Gavin, but rather as a stranger, a person who had to be kept in a kind of quarantine; a bad person, blemished for the things he did to escape. But now, for the first time since Gavin's return, Lisa looked at him and saw him for what he actually was: a fifteen year old boy, scared and quite alone, who was unquestionably telling the truth. His psychic powers were back, if he said so. She felt a wave of unease: Gavin had been unable to use his psychic powers at all since he teleported the two of them back to Ecruteak in December. What did the return of the powers mean?

“ How do you know?” Lisa whispered; she didn’t want to wake Marina, who was in the next room. Although Gavin’s yell had probably woken the entire roadhouse, she thought dismally.

“ Because,” breathed Gavin, still sweaty and shaken, “ I just had a dream … before I lost my powers, I used to sometimes get these weird dreams – dreams that I couldn’t see properly or understand. Well, I haven’t had one for two and a half months – until just then.”

The silence left hanging in the air was profound. Gavin shivered and lay back down on his sleeping bag, clearly troubled by what he had just seen with his psychic. Lisa hesitated. “ What did you see?”

Gavin shook his head and wiped the sweat from his brow. Apparently, that was enough of an answer as far as he was concerned; he rolled over onto his side away from Lisa without another word. Lisa frowned to herself, tempted to rebuke him for his rudeness, but stopped herself just short. The last time she had pestered him with questions about his psychic, he had exploded at her and clammed up completely. So, biting back her annoyance with Gavin’s taciturn rudeness, she crawled back to her own sleeping bag and curled up in it.

She checked her watch silently. The red digits told her it was five am. Yawning, Lisa closed her eyes, albeit reluctantly; she would have willingly talked to Gavin about his psychic abilities further. Still, as there was no chance of that, her only option was sleep – and she would need it for the next morning.

Unfortunately, she slept little: all Lisa could think about was Gavin, and how she had been more or less rejecting him lately.

*********

By this time, the old man had become accustomed to the frightening darkness of the cavern, however as he awoke suddenly it still caused him the same panic; he sat up and yelled, thinking for a moment that he was blind, before he remembered where he was. In that cave. Alone.

He groped around for a moment and located the cold object that was his water bottle. Shivering with the cold, and hearing the waves breaking somewhere distant, somewhere above, he drank a few more drops. Just enough to wet his throat. Then he set the bottle back down beneath what he assumed was a dripping stalactite and allowed it to fill with water droplets once more.

Afraid and alone, he lay down once again and began to think.

*********

“ I’d love to come, really,” Marina sighed, putting her empty milkshake glass aside with an air of discontentment. Her white-winged tiny Butterfree – only the size of a fig – was hovering gleefully above her shoulder. Marina went on. “ But I can’t come to Dervine – my family wants me back, and I think it’s fair enough that they do. I’ve been gone from home for nearly two weeks and I want to go back to Tokor. Besides, I’m going to have to explain about the kidnapping to them.”

Lisa tucked her fringe behind her ears and sighed, too. Marina had telephoned her family back home only an hour ago, and they had told her in no uncertain terms that they wanted her back home at once. Her decision to leave wasn’t met with much enthusiasm – Gavin didn’t look overly thrilled, Aipom was already clinging to her leg defiantly and Lisa, especially, didn’t want to say goodbye to Marina so soon after rescuing her.

They all sat in silence at the table. They were sitting again in the restaurant section of the roadhouse they had stopped at last night, after an uncomfortable sleep in the upstairs storage rooms, which were the only remaining accommodation the roadhouse had to offer. Their table was right beside the large glass window though which the morning light was flooding in; Lisa could glance out through it and see, below the exit lanes, the massive Dervine Expressway that was to be their way out.

“ So what’s your plan, then?” asked Gavin presently, running a finger subconsciously along his scar.

Marina patted her pocket. “ Well, the next coach that pulls in to the roadhouse is my ticket out of here, I think. I’ll see if I can pay the driver enough to take me wherever the bus is going, and from there I’ll make my way – eventually – back to Tokor.”

Tokor was the province to the far west of Johto, beyond the sea and past Cianwood Island.

“ And you still have all your money? And your pokemon?” Lisa asked. “ I thought the Union would have taken all that from you straight up.”

Marina nodded. “ That’s what I was expecting, actually, but they never took my money. Never took my pokemon, either – I was allowed to keep all my pokeballs in my pocket. I ended up putting my Guardian Butterfree in my pocket too, in case it tried to harm them and they retaliated. The only thing they ever took from me was my bag, and there was nothing really valuable in there anyway.”

“ It’s weird,” said Lisa. “ They come to my house and trash it however they like, but when they take you, they barely touch you, not even your money. You wouldn’t expect it, would you?”

Neither Marina nor Gavin answered her question, because it was just too difficult to think of an answer to.

The next two hours passed quite pleasantly for Lisa, for the first time in many days. After they finished off breakfast the three friends played a few games of chess with Gavin’s set, while they chatted about things in general – the Union, their Pokemon, their plans. Lisa found that she was much happier than she had been in some time, just talking with her best friends and with Aipom, who (it seemed to her) was becoming less hyperactive. The time passed on by until midday, when Marina glanced out the window and raised an eyebrow.

“ Oh, here’s one at last,” she said, not very enthusiastically.

Lisa and Gavin looked where she was pointing through the glass. A coach had just rolled in to the carpark and pulled to a stop. A cluster of about twenty tourists jumped off and began to walk around the picnic area beside the carpark to stretch their legs. The driver, a sturdy man with an orange cap, was walking towards the roadhouse building.

“ Well, it’s your best chance,” said Lisa, putting down the pawn she had been about to move. “ Go ask him.”

Marina flitted through the glass doors, her Butterfree and ultramarine ponytail both trailing behind her. Lisa and Gavin watched as she caught up with the driver halfway across the bitumen drive and questioned him. After a moment’s discussion, they saw Marina pull out her purse and give the driver a twenty dollar bill. He made some gestures towards the bus and walked to the toilet block.

Marina returned to the restaurant triumphantly. “ For twenty bucks he’s going to take me all the way to Redwood City. It’s north of here, on the coast,” she added, seeing Lisa and Gavin’s vague looks. “ From there I can get a ferry to Tokor, it’s only a couple of hundred k’s across the sea. So …” she paused, then held out her hand. “ I’ll see you guys around, then?”

Gavin took her hand and shook it with a smile. Marina turned and held her and to Lisa who shook her hand very firmly.

“ Keep in touch,” said Marina. “ Oh, one more thing Lisa … I thought I’d give this to you.” She dug in her pocket and produced a small red-and-white pokéball. “ For Aipom,” she said, shoving it at Lisa. “ I know you lost his poképort awhile ago so I thought you could have this, it’s one of my spares.”

“ You didn’t need to –” Lisa began.

“ Take it,” said Marina firmly, pushing the ball into Lisa’s hands and letting go. “ There.”

“ I – thanks Marina,” said Lisa.

Marina smiled. “ Thanks for telling me the truth about, well, everything.”

“ Will we see you again soon?” Lisa asked, sitting down again.

“ I don’t know about soon,” Marina replied with a flick of her hair. “ But you don’t seriously think I would just drive off and never see you guys again, do you?” She picked up her purse and fossicked around in it for a moment, before producing a battered business card. “ This is my mum’s number – it’s the same phone number as our house where I’ll be. Keep in touch.”

“ We will,” Lisa grinned, taking the card. She took a quick look at it: ‘Azura Frost, Managing Director of Frost Companies Inc. Phone – (01) 3489 2710.’

Marina took a look out the window and clicked her tongue. The tourists were getting back on the bus already.

“ I’d better go,” she said quickly. “ Bye, Gavin and Lisa. Seeya Aipom.” She ruffled the purple fur on Aipom’s head, and he gave her a wide, toothy grin in return, accompanied by a loud, “ Ai!”

“ Bye!” Lisa called finally, as Marina ran down the couple of steps, into the convenience store section of the roadhouse, and then through the glass doors into the carpark, her Guardian Butterfree hovering beside her faithfully. They watched her through the window. She jumped onto the bus just before the doors closed, and slowly the driver drove the bus back onto the exit road, and away.

Lisa sipped at her apple juice. “ Well, that’s that, I spose,” she said brightly, “ We should probably go too, really.”

“ I guess – you did tell Tom we’d meet him in four days, and this is the first one, and it’s already half-wasted. We’d better get a move on.”

Lisa smoothed the hair on Aipom’s head. “ You know, I don’t really think taking a car was a good idea. I was really tired, and desperate. I think we can do better than that – it’s not legal, or fair.”

To her mild surprise, Gavin inclined his head in agreeance. “ I was going to talk you out of it anyway,” he admitted with a smirk. “ It’s not like you to do something that mean and unfair to someone.”

“ Well, what do we do now?” she asked. “ If I catch a bird pokemon we could maybe fly, now that Marina’s not coming. Although I doubt they’d be able to fly for THAT long …”

Gavin’s chestnut eyes were not looking at her; he was staring out through the window with a mixed look of delight and astonishment. A smile was creeping up his face and as Lisa looked at his eyes she could almost see the cogs turning behind them.

“ Hello?” she said, waving her hand in front of his face wildly. “ Gavin?”

His grin was almost infectious now. He spoke excitedly. “ Remember when we entered that contest at the Moo Moo Farm?”

“ Uh … yeah …” said Lisa uncertainly. “ Are you alright?”

“ Well, do you remember the first prize at the contest?”

“ Sure, the solar-powered buggy, why?” Slowly, Lisa turned around, a tingling feeling spreading down the back of her neck as she did so. Across the carpark of the roadhouse, beyond the fuel pumps, stretched between two pine trees, was a colourful sign:

Attention All Pokémon Trainers! Do you think you know
all there is to know about how to deal with Pokémon? Well, take
the latest and greatest challenge at Mount Fairfax!
Pit your wits against other trainers and Pokémon alike!
It’s a daring contest and adventure not to be missed!
Admission is free, and the first prize is the latest model of the Solara Buggy,
complete with rear spoiler! Apply for the contest by no later than March 3
at the base of Mt Fairfax – 30 km east of here, on Fairfax Road!

“ You’re saying we enter the contest just to win the buggy?” said Lisa incredulously. Gavin nodded vehemently. She raised an eyebrow. “ Are you kidding? The chances of us winning are hugely unlikely. If we lose – which we probably will – we’ll have wasted our time for nothing. Anyway, the sign ups end by tomorrow. We don’t have time for that.”

“ 30 kilometres isn’t much,” persuaded Gavin, “ If we leave now and do five k’s an hour, we can be there by six or so tonight. That’s in plenty of time.”

“ But –” Lisa said, ready to argue with this; after all, they weren’t machines - thirty kilometres was a long hike in one day, to say the least.

Gavin opened his mouth purposefully. “ Come on, where’s your spirit of adventure? You used to have one …”

Lisa paused, fiery words tingling on the tip of her tongue. She knew he was baiting her but she couldn’t resist. If she said no, he would be teasing her about her lack of spirit for days to come, and that was something she prided herself on. Besides, the contest could be good fun – she could maybe enter Aipom, depending on what kind of contest it was. Then there was the possibility of winning, albeit remote. If they did emerge victorious, they would have a new buggy to boot, which would cut down the trip to Dervine in no time.

“ Alright,” she said, with a fleeting thought of the long walk she was going to have to make. “ Let’s go.”

*********

Lance Hudson, Champion of the Elite Four, held in his quivering hand a tattered piece of parchment. He stared blankly at the wall of his den, overcome with disbelief. Very slowly, the black-haired man lowered the parchment onto his desk and leaned over to his desk telephone. He pushed the intercom button.

“ Sarah,” he said sharply, trying to catch his breath. “ Could you please come in here?”

Lance leaned back in his cushioned, mahogany-backed chair and sighed. He tapped his fingers impatiently on the desktop, trying to orchestrate a good plan while his nerves jittered and his heart thumped heavily. After a few moments, his receptionist entered. She was quite a young girl, with wavy, light-brown hair and eyes the colour of rust. Although she was at her ‘job’, she wore simply a pair of blue jeans and a casual white top.

“ What do you need?” she asked Lance, unnerved by his sharp tone and unprecedented anxiety.

Trying to control his raging heartbeat, to no avail, Lance shifted the parchment across the desk and turned it around to face the girl. With an inquisitive look Sarah bent down to read the scribbled words spread across the paper.

She looked up at her boss with a stubborn look. “ I don’t believe it, that key was definitely secure.”

“ Well, it has happened, I trust the source,” Lance said curtly. “ Now, there is something that I need to ask of you that is of the utmost secrecy. Please sit down.”

Sarah sat down in the chair facing the desk as Lance proceeded to explain his plan.

[PancaKe]

Right - it was confusing. But confusing is good.

It started off nicely, nice and light, just like the first chapter of part III should be. And then it moved into the depths of confusion. The best thing abuot confusion in this story si that it's gonna keep people wanting the answers, and will probably also give you somewhere to write. I personally liked it, didn't understand the bit with Lance very much - but that's just me being weird. My fav bit would've had to be the bit where Marina and them were just hanging out, in a fic filled with action as much as this - you really do need some simple character building scenes.

[mr_pikachu]

Interesting. Not really sure who that guy in the cave was, but it'll be revealed eventually, I guess. Or maybe I've just forgotten. I dunno. But yeah...

As Tara said, this was good. The confusion was good bait for the readers, even though they're already way into the fic, and unlikely to leave now... and as Tara also said, the light-hearted beginning was good.

I did notice a few grammar errors early on, like periods being left off the quotes of Suicune and Raikou, and this one that particularly caught my attention:


They were sitting again in the restaurant section of the roadhouse they had stopped at last night, after an uncomfortable sleep in the upstairs storage rooms, which were the only remaining accommodation the roadhouse had to offer.


You describe the accomodation(s) as both plural and singular in the same sentence. That obviously doesn't work grammatically. It's a minor error, but still, perfection is what we shoot for, right?

Otherwise, this is very good. I'm glad you've finally posted the chapter, and I'm looking forward to the next chapter of Revelation! Until then!

[Karania]

good chapter, continue. This has got to be the best chapter I've read yet. PLease keep up the good work!

[mistysakura]

Karania, consider yourself warned for posting "one-line replies with no substance".

Anyway. That was an okay chapter, I take it you aren't going to fill us in with Lance's plan any time soon. The telepathy was a bit annoying to read, but the contents explain some stuff. Thought a legendary was a bit harder to kill. But of course, with the explanations we get more confusion, more mysteries; the repeated reference to keys I can't make anything of at the moment. If your new fic's anything like this, I'm going to go crazy.

[Gavin Luper]

mistysakura: Lol! Sorry for the confusion, but that was how this chapter was going to be anyway, I thought about it from every angle and this way, it worked out the best! Don't worry, everything will make sense soon, I think there's only a few chapters to go and the truth is revealed at last! And with that revelation there will be no more confusion as a result! Woo hoo!

Sorry bout the telepathy too, but eh well.

Anyways, the bottom line is that there had to be some confusion to introduce all this new stuff in such a way that it would not be recognised. That's why the last few chapters have been, admittedly, odd and confusing. We'll get to the bottom of it soon, I promise!

Thanks for reading!

[SSMGoku]

h: Great CHapter. I can't wait to see what happens next. Update soon.

[PancaKe]

SSMGoku - no one line replies without substance. Ada had to warn another member, only a few posts before you, and so you should have seen that and had more sense. Anyway, thats one warning to ya. Dont make us mods give you any more.

[Gavin Luper]

Thanks everyone for reading I'm writing more at the moment so it'll hopefully be up soon.

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

I've been plotting out the final chapters of this lately, and I was wondering if anyone had any questions about things that I've already posted. Any wonderings or complaints about things that happened or didn't happen in the fic, or what is going to happen. Or what you want to see happen. Anything.

Also, just to note, the end is in sight; it's both happy and sad for me.

Chapter 65 will bring the end of Lisa the Legend at long last, so yes, any questions, suggestions, ANYTHING at all, please post!

Cheers!

[Andrew]

Oooh! So They faked Raiky's death... DAMMIT, it was ugly and needed to die!

And Suicine is the link to Gav's powers..... Good to see Lisa doesn't care ;p Off to bed, Lisa.

The old man, Oak, right? CAN'T HE DIE ALREADY! Sheesh he's annoying.

Sad to see Marina go and little butterfree! But she has to, can't she surf there, or is that too hard? What does her mum do?

LOL! A SPOILER on the buggy, HILLARIOUS! Really, it is. Its like a spoiler on a beetle.

Finally, what is lance up to...

Good chapter, Gavin, some nice little revalations there, setting up the stories...

[Karania]

nothing new? I didn't miss anything? OKay good. Anyways I just got back in from vacation today, we went to Branson, Missouri. I had a ball, but that's not what I came to say. ANyways, I'm really really looking forward to the next chapter. PLease continue!

[Gavin Luper]

Oz: Yeah I know Raikou is ugly but I like him, I always have for some reason. But he will be important soon in the story ...

Hey! Lisa cared about Gavin's psychic returning! He just didn't want to talk about it. She's nice. Leave the poor thing along

Hehehe ... Oak is annoying me too, I wish he'd be a bit less ... well, get lost and confused less often, it would make people like him more. Still, that's the way it's gotta be.

As for Marina, she could surf there I spose but her family doesn't want her to. After being kidnapped by the Union, they'll be wanting to see her as soon as possible, therefore Marina's taking the quickest and safest way home.

XD ... the spoiler.

And finally Lance. Hmmm ... what could he be up to? Something mysterious probably, knowing me. Heh, thanks for reading.

Karania: No, nothing new yet, I'm still struggling along with the next chapter, which should be less confusing. Where is Missouri anyway? I've heard the name before but I've often wondered where it is.

Cheers!

[Karania]

Missouri is in the middle of the U.S. near Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. AKA and/or middle of of U.S. near Mississippi river. Anyways, I'm glad I didn't miss anything. Still looking forward to the next chapter. Oh and btw, our air conditioning gave out in the middle of the summer and it gets really hot in Texas, luckily I was still in MIssouri where it was somewhat cool with air-conditioning. See ya round for the new stuff.

[Gavin Luper]

Cool, thanks for that.

New stuff still coming. I'm having some trouble getting everything to play out perfectly in my head, there's some things in the next few chapters that need to be written just right, so I'm taking my time in doing it.

Just something to ask all of you: does anyone want the Previews of the upcoming chapters to return? For those who don't remember, that's when at the end of each chapter I'd post a preview of the next one. I'm considering starting it again but I don't know what you all think, so please tell me which way you prefer!

Cheers!

[Karania]

ooo, previews! That would be great! I really enjoyed those when you did those a while back, so yes, I think it's a good idea.

[mr_pikachu]

It's up to you. Personally, I think not having them tests your skills as a writer even more, because you have to rely on your writing alone to carry your readers' interest from chapter to chapter. But then again, you could potentially get more input from more readers if you keep them intrigued by previews. I don't really favor either side, because I'll be seeing this one through to the end regardless. So it's really your call here, I think.

[PancaKe]

You so copied them from me!

Um... what mrpika said is definently a good opinion. I'd like to agree.

Actually I only put them in because I sometimes didn't know what I ws going to write for the next chatper, and they sort of gave me some structure. And also because i kept imagining LVH as a tv show

[Gavin Luper]

Thanks Karania and Brian, I'll take it on board! Lol Tara!!! I'm sorry! I think I asked you if I could copy when I first started, so yeah hope ur not offended And yeah, I used them for structure so I knew where I was going, too. Though I can't imagine LTL as a TV show ... people would get confused and rather bored, I reckon. LVH would've made a good one though.

*chants* Bring back LVH! Bring back LVH!

Cheers!

[Karania]

you're right, I can't picture LTL as a tv show, I think it's wonderful as it already is. Keep up the good work, and I'll be back around soon for the next installment, whenever that is.... See ya then, if not sooner.

[Gavin Luper]

Sorry for taking so long on this chapter everyone, it's still nowhere near finished. I have to admit that chapter 50 has given me more problems than any chapter of LTL I've ever written, so for all I know it could be quite some time before I post it. Hopefully it won't be much longer. Just so you know that I AM trying to write, and I'm not neglecting it!

Cheers!

[Karania]

that's okay, we can wait, waiting's all good; it just means that the chapter's even better when it finally is posted. Anxiously awaiting your next chapter, I see you then.

[Gavin Luper]

Just updating.

Chapter 50 is coming along quite well now, though it took weeks to get started. I've got it worked out now though, thankfully. Expect to be reading it soon!

Cheers!

[Karania]

sounds great, I'll be looking forward to this new chapter whenever you post it.

[Gavin Luper]

I am still alive and I am very sorry. STILL no chapter. It's just so hard to write this one, and I can't understand why. You guys have been waiting more than two months for this one, so when I do finally get it posted I hope you like it.

I haven't given up on changing the name of The Risdon League, either ... anyways, hope to see you all here reading soon.

Cheers!

- Gavin.

[Orion]

Hey there, Gavin! I planned on not posting until I got up to date with the current chapter, but... it's pretty long, and I wanted to put in some thoughts.

So far, I'm loving this fanfic. You write so well, and describe stuff VERY well. Also, the flow of the current event isn't lost, which is a huge plus. In only 7 chapters I've read, I'm already in suspense! I wanted to ask some questions about the next events, but guess I'll find out as the story goes on.

The characters are great too. So, Lisa is the girl of the 3rd Pokémon movie? I liked her... Gavin is interesting too, and seems to have more power than he thinks. Also, you used Pokémon that are rarely seen in Fics. It's cool to see an Aipom as the main Pokémon!

Everything is really intriguing... and the story is so good! You know, even the few chapters I've read inspired me to write back my Fanfic. You're an awesome writer!

Keep at it. And don't worry on the delay of the next chapter. It'll give me some time to catch up. So, sorry if this is in some way irrelevant to you, but I just wanted to say it. See you around!

[Gavin Luper]

AT LAST!!!

Orion: Thanks for reading and replying, I'm glad you like this so far, although if you've only read a few chapters, you're really going to like what's coming up (I hope). Oh, and I haven't giving up on reading your fic, I'll read and catch up again ASAP. Anyways, Lisa IS the girl from the 3rd pokémon movie, but that was just the basis for her existence - her activities in the movie are really null-and-void as far as LTL is concerned. But she's cool, and Aipom is too! I'm glad I've inspired you, but I hope YOU are glad that your reply inspired me - to finish chapter 50 at last. I wrote most of it today, in the last couple of hours, and i'm really happy with it.

So, after all these months (2 or so) of waiting, I finally have got over my block - I'm like Austin Powers with his mojo back (so to speak ). Without further ado, here is the squeakily-new, lemony-fresh, Chapter 50 of Lisa the Legend.

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

Chapter 50 – The Informant.


“ And there it is,” Gavin said ceremoniously.

Hardly able to stay on her feet, Lisa forced her legs to keep moving until she finally reached the crest of the hill. Darkness had already settled upon the land and the long day’s walk had taken its toll on her.

“ What, that’s it?” she moaned, shuffling her bag and warding off a mosquito.

She and Gavin were looking up at what they had been constantly been walking towards for the past seven hours: the imposing Mount Fairfax, location of the contest they were about to enter. Lisa couldn’t see much more than a rough outline of the mountain – it was only visible as a jagged peak of black against a backdrop of starry sky. Maybe if she hadn’t been so exhausted, Lisa would have been more impressed by the sight of the mountain; as it was, she struggled to keep her eyes open.

“ Let’s keep going then,” said Gavin, visibly fighting the exhaustion out of his voice.

“ Ugh,” grunted Lisa, slapping another pesty mosquito as she began the descent down the slope. By her judgment, they were now scarcely more than a kilometre from the cluster of lights near the base of the mountain, that was presumably the usual set-up – a hotel or inn, a couple of shops and houses, maybe a dirt battleground. Focusing her thoughts on a clean bed, she trailed after Gavin.

It had been a very dull trip. They had talked a lot at first, but after a few kilometres they grew tired and talked less. Lisa sent Aipom to his new pokéball to make the journey easier; previously, Aipom had been chasing Butterfree up trees, which held up progress considerably.

“ Wonder what the contest is going to be like?” mused Gavin, making a stab at conversation.

Somehow Lisa found that she no longer had the energy to not speak to him. “ Dunno,” she sighed, “ With our luck it will probably be cancelled.”

Fifteen minutes later, aching and sore, they stumbled into the well-lit car park of the Fairfax Inn, which was located at the very end of their trail. The frontage left much to be desired: a garden of what appeared to be bare hedges bordered the car park, while a haphazard path zig-zagged across the bitumen to the front door. A neon sign above the double doorway proclaimed ‘Fairfax Motor Inn – est. 1962’ – at least, that was what Lisa presumed it said, as most of the letters didn’t light up.

Gavin exchanged a dubious glance with her but said nothing; his eyes suggested he didn’t like the look of the place any more than she did, but their weariness prevailed. Lisa took the lead, striding forward to the wooden doors and pushing on through them into the foyer.

Or at least, it could have been a foyer. A pungent grey haze hovered around a dingy, wood-panelled room. A counter with a refrigerator behind it signified an unattended bar, while the rest of the room was kitted out in plastic tables and tattered chairs. An embattled television set was fixed to the wall above the bar. The room was completely deserted.

“ Uh – hello?” said Lisa loudly, expecting to see a tumbleweed rolling past.

Gavin slung his backpack onto the floor and rubbed his neck with a wince. Apparently, he was leaving Lisa to find some sign of human life.

“ Is anybody here?” she called loudly, striding across to a splintery doorway that led to a narrow vestibule. It, too, was deserted, but Lisa thought she could hear some music distantly.

Without warning, a door so well camouflaged that she hadn’t even noticed it flew open, flooding the hall with light. Upbeat country music wafted in the door, as well as several cries and cheers of people. Directly in front of her, Lisa saw a dwarfish man, surely no taller than four and a half feet. He had sparse, spiky grey hair and a bewildered expression.

“ Well, you’ll be a visitor, I’m so sorry Miss, please forgive me,” he said all in a rush, in a clipped accent that Lisa couldn’t quite distinguish. “ You’ll be here for the contest then?”

“ Um, yes, I was hoping to get a suite here,” said Lisa, cloaking her sleepiness.

The tiny man led her briskly back to the bar, where Gavin was still fixing his back. Lisa stifled a giggle; the man’s legs were moving rapidly but he moved very slowly. “ A what?” he said, ducking under the counter and producing a thick leather-bound book, filled with scrawly writing.

“ A suite,” repeated Lisa.

“ Oh, sure, sure, love, forgive me hearing,” he said quickly. He ducked under the counter and produced a metal tin, filled to the brim with brightly-coloured chocolates and assorted sweets.

Lisa hesitated. “ Take any sweet you like, love,” the man said, glancing at her hopefully and sincerely.

Gavin snorted loudly as he understood the man’s mistake; Lisa was torn between bursting into laughter and feeling sorry for the man – he had genuinely misunderstood. “ I’ll take the caramel fudge, thanks,” said Lisa finally, thinking it would be unkind to point out his mistake.

“ Thanks, love,” he said, taking her money. “ Now, would you like a room for the night?”

“ Er – yes please,” said Lisa, smiling sincerely. Gavin was guffawing into the sleeve of his jumper. “ Two separate rooms please. Under the names Lisa Walters and Gavin Luper.” Gavin stopped abruptly and looked at her, apparently highly affronted.

“ No worries, love,” said the man cheerfully. He handed them two keys. “ Your room is Oakabella,” he told Lisa, giving her a key. “ And yours is Smethley. Now,” he said, efficiently dumping the book on the floor behind the counter. “ I’ve signed you up for the contest too, so there’s no worry there. Come join us in the function room when you’re ready. Watch the TV if you like,” he added in a rush, reaching up to the set and trying to push the button. He was on his third jump when Lisa reached up for him and switched channel seven on.

“ Thank you love,” he said happily. “ Well, see you soon. Oh, and the name’s Paddy, by the way,” he added, and with a wink he trotted back to the room filled with music, leaving the two of them alone in the hazy room.

“ Interesting,” remarked Gavin, still smirking.

“ You’re horrible, he can’t help it,” said Lisa, who herself couldn’t help liking Paddy. “ Well, I don’t see why we have to hang around here and watch TV really. Grab your bag and we’ll dump them in our rooms before we join the people in that room. Sounds like they’re having a hoedown.”

Gavin didn’t answer. He didn’t move an inch.

“ Gavin, I said come on,” Lisa said.

“ Look,” he said breathlessly. His eyes were fixed on the silent TV screen. “ It’s us.”

“ What?” demanded Lisa, following his gaze. At once, the wrapped caramel in her hand dropped to the floor. She was staring at a news report, with a photograph of her and Gavin on the screen behind the news presenter.

“ What the hell!” cried Lisa, forgetting her tiredness. At once, Gavin turned the volume up, and they listened with a mix of awe and confusion. A blonde presenter was talking:

Tonight there still remains no word on the whereabouts of missing teenagers Lisa Walters and Gavin Luper. The duo disappeared from the Houen village of Port Valeo last weekend, and despite a thorough manhunt for both persons, police remain baffled. Evidence has come to light that Miss Walters, the last of the duo to be sighted, was taped on a security camera leaving the Valeo Police Station on Saturday morning. Police remain concerned that the teenagers have fallen victims to foul play, as they were witnesses to a high-profile court case only last week.

As with all other evenings, we urge our viewers to contact the investigators on (04) 1800 223 if they have any information on either Lisa Walters or Gavin Luper.

The report ended with a supposedly chilling image of Lisa walking out of the police station on the security tape.

“ Oh. My. God.”

“ I know,” said Gavin, turning the TV off.

“ How did this happen?” Lisa said stupidly, her mind numb.

“ I don’t know, especially since we didn’t go to the police station on Saturday.” Lisa squirmed noticeably and began to edge away from the bar. Gavin picked this up at once. “ I didn’t anyway …” he said, suddenly accusatory.

“ I went there that morning,” Lisa confessed instantly. “ I’m sorry, I should have let you know this before.”

Gavin’s finger traced down his scar, apparently subconsciously. “ What did you go there for that you should be sorry about?” he said suspiciously.

Lisa squirmed again, but she knew she had to tell Gavin before any more confusion occurred.

“ I reported my parents disappearance, as well as Marina’s, and said that I thought Team Rocket had done the attack on my house, well … I thought it was Team Rocket back then … And then the officer told me I had to go into custody, and she left … but I couldn’t stay, because we had to find Professor Oak. So I ran for it.”

It felt much better to have that off her chest. The heavy load on her shoulders had been lightened a little, but there was so much more bogging her down that her relief was only fleeting.

“ So you’ve got us into trouble again,” sighed Gavin, sinking into one of the bar stools. “ What is it with you Lisa, you can’t help but make life harder for yourself.”

“ Me?” said Lisa quietly. “ I made my life difficult?” she murmured. All at once, she felt floodgates within her burst open. “ I’m trying to help Professor Oak out here, I’m doing my best! So what if I broke a rule or a law or whatever, I don’t care anymore! In case you hadn’t noticed, the last week has been the longest week of my life! I’ve been attacked, lost a friend, attacked again, escaped, found a dead legendary, been attacked a third time and then had to walk thirty kilometres to a place that doesn’t even deserve a name! And why? Because I’m trying to get my life back on track somehow, and get to the bottom of this Suicune, Raikou, Entei crap. And then there’s the Union coming after me, you have no idea what that’s like, Gavin … IT’S NOT EASY, YOU KNOW!” She burst out, her eyes prickling with hot, dammed-back tears.

There was a very long pause. Lisa felt her shoulders heaving and her eyes leaking tears down her cheeks; she was dimly aware that Gavin was staring at her oddly, and even more distantly aware that she had just yelled her heart out for no good reason.

“ Yes, I do know what that’s like, actually,” said Gavin stiffly.

Lisa couldn’t be bothered with being sorry for him; she had had enough. “ I’m going to bed,” she announced abruptly. She turned her back on him and stormed off to the hallway. She somehow found a door with ‘Oakabella’ written on it, turned the key and flung the door closed behind her.

She didn’t bother turning the light on or having a look at the room; she collapsed on the bed and allowed herself, for the first time since her ordeal had begun last year, to cry unrestrainedly into her pillow. Her tears carried her to sleep at last.

*

Lisa couldn’t tell how long she had been sleeping for when a loud noise awoke her. She jerked her head up and glanced around the small room for the source of the noise. It had been sharp and abrupt; a kind of clanging that had reverberated through her dreams and forced her into consciousness. But now it was gone.

For all her exhaustion, she felt oddly awake now, so she sat up slowly and attained her first view of the dark room – the Oakabella room. It was not very large but the lack of furniture gave it a spacious touch. Aside from the bed, there was only a small chest of drawers, a desk and an old television.

But no sign of where the noise had come from. Lisa looked around the room. Had she just imagined it? Perhaps the frantic, high-paced experiences of her past week had made her subconsciously nervous.

CLANG!

The sound of something metal on something else metal sounded from the hallway. Without thinking, Lisa began to gravitate toward the door, but suddenly Gavin’s words echoed in her head. “ What is it with you Lisa, you can’t help but make life harder for yourself.” She stopped in mid-step, about a metre from the door that led to the hallway. She watched as a shadow passed along the slit at the bottom of the door, but forced herself not to react. She was torn between curiosity, fear and sensability, but it seemed that finally sensability had prevailed. The shadow was replaced with the weak chink of light beneath the door. The sound of somebody moving passed.

Lisa raised her eyebrows to herself. She realised how stupid it would have been to confront the person in the hall; clearly they had nothing to do with her at all. She would only have, like Gavin said, made life harder for herself.

“ You’re paranoid,” Lisa told herself, stumbling back to bed. The curtains behind her bed rippled slightly in the breeze. She left the window open; it was a warm night. Slipping beneath the covers, she closed her eyes forcefully and tried to sleep.

Seconds later, a few things happened in quick succession. There was a loud ‘click’ sound that surely everyone in the Inn would have heard, followed at once by a massive boom of noise that shook the floorboards and rattled the windowsill; the sounds filled Lisa’s head so greatly that she could barely think. Who had turned the music up so loud at this hour?

She sat up, irritated by the noise. And just as she groped around for her bag, which held her torch, a strong arm appeared from nowhere and grabbed her in a headlock.

In the darkness she could see nothing; with the music up so loud, she could not hear anything either. But a man’s voice barked into her ear, “ Come with me, hurry up, there’s no time to waste!”

Lisa could see no weapon (which she had become somewhat accustomed to over the past week) so she tried to struggle. But the man’s grip was too strong and he began to drag her toward the window, stretching her neck until she had to stop struggling, in fear of breaking her neck.

“ Stop it, girl! Be quick! Just come with me!”

Lisa tried to look at her attacker but his grasp was too firm. Finally, the pressure on her neck became too much and she succumbed; she actually began pushing herself toward the window to help the man. Her head bumped against the windowsill loudly, but the music was still roaring; apparently nobody had turned it off yet.

Finally Lisa felt the frigid night air blowing against her face. She was placed rather roughly on the hard bitumen of what might have been the car park. She noticed broken shreds of wood panelling on the ground but had no time to think where they had come from. The man relinquished his grip around her neck and grabbed her wrist.

“ Come!” he cried, dragging her.

“ Who are you?” bellowed Lisa, finding her voice at last after freeing her throat. “ Stop it, let me go back! Help!”

The large man continued to roughly pull her along, forcing her to stumble after him, this time in fear of breaking her wrist. “ Shut up!” he snapped. “ Just be quiet!”

Lisa cried out for help, for Gavin, for Paddy and for the Police, but even in the car park, the music drowned out most of her screams. It was up painfully loud. Helpless, without even her pokémon to protect her, she could do nothing of any use.

“ Get in!” barked the man.

He gestured to a small red car that they had reached. Lisa did nothing, just stood stock-still beside the car. However, the man twisted her arm slightly, enough to force considerable pain upon her, and she once again relinquished, slumping into the back seat as the bulky man pelted to the front. Without any words, except Lisa’s progressively feeble screams for help, the car lurched down the driveway and onto Fairfax’s main street. Only when they were driving away from the centre of the tiny village did Lisa hear the heavy beat of the loud music finally come to a halt.

“ Help me! Police!” she screamed yet again, hearing her voice as though it was muffled beneath clothing.

Her captor grunted angrily. “ Keep your voice down,” he said. “ I’m not going to hurt you, nobody is, just relax.”

If I’m supposed to believe that after what’s happened to me, Lisa thought, he’s dreaming.

Lisa continued to scream for help, her voice growing hoarser all the time, but her feelings toward the driver began to soften. It was possible that he was telling the truth; perhaps he had no intention of harming her. After all, unlike the Union, he had not brandished a weapon at her, nor had he restrained her except to get her out of the Inn quickly. Lisa found that she had stopped screaming, and was about to talk to the driver rationally when she reminded herself: kidnapping someone in the middle of the night was not generally accepted human behaviour. ‘ Then again,’ she thought, ‘ Lately it seems to be perfectly normal.’

She ended up compromising; she ceased her perpetual screams but said nothing at all to the driver, who had firmly remained silent since they began driving. She would have to wait and see what the man’s motives were before she could do anything more. Despite all her recent experiences, she knew trying to physically resist the man would be futile – their earlier scuffle had proved that.

She decided to occupy her mind by watching the dark bushes flashing past the window. The car was now zooming along the winding road that Lisa and Gavin had following just a few hours before, out into the middle of the forest. The man’s attention remained fixed on the road, even when he happened to glance up at the mirror and see Lisa staring sullenly back at him.

Then, out of the silence, he said sharply, “ Nearly there.”

Lisa resisted replying to him for as long as she could, but as usual her curiosity got the better of her. “ Where are you taking me?”

“ Somewhere safe. Where you won’t be overheard.”

His answer could have been taken a number of ways; Lisa allowed the meaningless words to wash over her as she posed yet another question.

“ Why did you kidnap me?”

The man slowed the car as he rounded a bend and allowed his eyes to lock with hers in the mirror. “ I didn’t kidnap you.”

“ Yes you did!” objected Lisa, keeping her voice level.

“ No. Kidnapping would mean you didn’t want to come with me.”

“ Well, I don’t!”

“ Not now. But when you return you will be very glad that I took you.”

Before Lisa could overcome her surprise at this bold statement and defend her position, the man braked sharply and made a violent swing to the left, careering off the road onto a track that, judging by the crunching sound beneath the tyres, was carpeted with leaves.

What now? thought Lisa.

Without warning, the driver braked again in the middle of the track. “ Get out.” His voice was suddenly harsh and stern again.

“ Why?” said Lisa automatically. If he was going to harm her in any way, she wanted to feel as though she had some control over the situation.

“ Just get out. Stay off the track.”

With a rush of relief, Lisa realised that he was not coming with her outside the car. Somewhat spurred by this, she opened the door and stepped out onto a thick layer of golden leaves; a strong wind slammed the door shut for her. Then the driver, without glancing at her, floored the accelerator and left her alone in the dark forest, a biting wind swirling around her as she watched the tail lights disappear into the distance.

Her first reaction was to run for cover, but there seemed to be little to run for – there were only scores of tall, imperceptibly tall trees surrounding the narrow track. She shivered unstoppably as the chilling wind blew straight through her, freezing her bones, it seemed.

Find your way back.

Lisa glanced around, searching for some help or something to save her. She had left her backpack in the Oakabella room, so there was no assistance there: Aipom, Fiskmire, Electabuzz, Vulpix and Dratini were a long way away from her. Nor did she have her pokégear or buzzball. She was entirely on her own in the middle of the woods.

“ Help me! Somebody help me!” she yelled into the night. The surrounding trees roared in the growing wind; there was no other answer to her plea. The wind lashed at her legs, cutting them with swirling leaves.

And then, very distantly, battling to make itself heard over the roaring gale, a dull throbbing sound began to reach Lisa’s ears. It was very mechanical, low and loud, growing in volume all the time, yet Lisa could not see anything approaching.

“ Stay off the track.”

Lisa remembered the driver’s words, as the noise grew louder; she leapt off the leafy path just as a sleek black limousine pulled up right beside her. It was so black that, against the shadows of the woods, she had not seen it approaching. The lights were all off.

The back window rolled down silently. Lisa no longer cared who or what was inside, or what their intentions were; she had to do anything she could to keep out of the sub-zero wind. Without waiting for the person inside to say anything, she yanked the door open and thrust herself into the depths of the car.

*

“ Haven’t I told you enough times, he hasn’t just wandered off!” Rachel Hudson told her friend Ellie on the telephone. Aware that her temper was rising, she took a deep breath and glanced through the long glass windows that lined the conservatory at the picturesque beach setting below: terraces upon terraces, lined with sweet-smelling citrus trees, that gradually sloped down to the town square; crystalline water glittering in the morning sun as Pelippers playfully skimmed across the water; tourists lazing on the white beach sand. It was one of the most calming sights Rachel knew, which was the main reason she had chosen to base her laboratory in Dervine.

“ I’m just saying,” Ellie’s voice wafted through the phone casually, “ That he’s getting on, old age probably made him senile.”

Rachel massaged her temple. “ He isn’t senile! I’m telling you, I need your help. Every other avenue I’ve tried has been a dead end. The police have practically given up. I need you to come here and help me. With your Sandslash and Persian, if you can. Please! You’re my oldest friend.”

Her reply was just as airy. “ Why don’t you find a younger professor to work with? I hear that really good-looking one, Professor Davison, is in Olivine next week. I might go just to look at him –”

“ Augh!” Rachel fumed. “ Ellie, are you going to help me or not?”

“ Sorry, what? Oh … no, I have to dye my hair.”

Rachel slammed the phone down onto its hook in disgust. Her face red and flushed, she took a pen and crossed ‘Ellie Lambert’ off the list of people she had been calling for assistance. Professor Oak had been missing in action for a week.

“ So much for that,” Rachel sighed, slamming the notepad onto the coffee table and striding off toward the pool. She knew she needed to cool off, but, more importantly, she knew she needed somebody to help her plight.

*

A man with his eyes conveniently covered by a thick fringe peered down at Lisa. He was seated on the same warm sheepskin seat as she was, but on the left hand side of the vehicle. Lisa, meanwhile, had piled into the limousine awkwardly, planting her face into the thick carpet and her legs somehow straddled across the seat.

“ Ah, there you are Lisa, you were dropped off on time,” said the man.

At the unwelcome mention of her name, Lisa disentangled herself from her awkward position and arranged herself on the seat opposite the man who had greeted her. She could not see his eyes through his hair, but his square jaw was vaguely familiar. She looked at him for a moment, studying him. He was clothed in a dark travelling cloak and heavy boots. The lack of lighting in the limousine meant that she could not determine much else about him.

Resisting the urge to ask how he knew her name, Lisa said, “ What do you want?” Her voice was hoarse and she had noticeably lost much of her energy during her few freezing moments in the wind.

The man smiled. “ Drive,” he commanded the driver, and at once the car rolled over the leaves and began to drive away. “ Here, you’re probably cold,” he added briefly, pushing a thick cloak in Lisa’s direction. She took it gladly and furled it around her shivering body.

“ Okay, Lisa, this isn’t so much a matter of what I want – it’s what you want.”

She raised an eyebrow at him as she felt her temperature returning to normal. “ I don’t get it.”

He did not waste any time in explaining. “ Lisa, you have been under siege for four months now, no?”

“ About that, I suppose …” she said in disbelief; how did this mysterious stranger know so much about her, and the Union’s pursuit of her?

“ And can you honestly tell me that you have never wondered why?”

Lisa’s heart paused in mid-beat. His words dripped with suspense. It could not have been clearer that this man, this strange man who had apparently organised for her to be taken from her hotel room, knew the reason why her life had been in turmoil for so long. He had the knowledge.

“ What do you know?” she breathed.

“ I know why you have been attacked by the Union.” Again, he wasted no time in making his knowledge of the secret group available. “ I know why they have been following you – trying to track you down. And I know that you have had several encounters with the legendary pokémon. These two occurrences are not related.”

Her heart was racing once again. “ Why?” she breathed.

The man paused and adjusted his cloak, loosening his legs slightly as the vehicle rolled onwards. Lisa waited as he cleared his throat, agonisingly slowly. He was now drawing it out, quite cruelly, she thought.

“ Okay,” he said (At last, thought Lisa), “ The reason the Union is pursuing you is because they desperately need you. You know the story of the Union?”

“ No … not really …”

He cleared his throat once again and launched into his story. “ Well, about three years ago now, Team Rocket was defeated in Goldenrod City by a squadron of secret government police, by a group of people who had tried to revive the organisation. Joseph Sterling was the leader. When the police stormed the hideout, the result was bittersweet. They destroyed the Team’s resources and captured – and killed – many agents. But some escaped. The most famous was Sterling – he faced up to the police directly – and still, somehow, escaped from them, from right under their nose. But the police were not entirely concerned with this: they had broken Team Rocket’s central base, taken most of the agents out and broken the reign of terror that the Rockets were starting to have over the entire Johto region. Very few people know about this – it was kept as brief as possible. The papers made it sound as though Team Rocket just strolled up to the police station and surrendered their weapons and lives, which definitely could not be further from the truth.

“ The police knew that Sterling was still out there somewhere, but they believed his power to be gone – he had no base, no supporters. But they were wrong. It took him two years to finally regroup and begin setting up a secret base. He formed the group with other old friends and rebel groups that he could align himself with. They called themselves the Union – but whenever they went on a mission, they wore the old Team Rocket uniform. This was to confuse the authorities; to make them focus on tracking down any Rocket activity, when really it was setting them up on a wild goose chase. By about six months ago, the Union was getting more powerful than ever. They have acquired new weapons, new pokémon, new bases – and they have a plan.”

Lisa listened avidly. “ What is their plan?”

He drew a heavy breath. “ The Radio Tower in Goldenrod City collapsed in October last year. You and Gavin were both there; it is the event that drew you together. But the Union had a part to play in the collapse – it was their doing …”

“ No it wasn’t,” Lisa interjected. “ I should know, I saw it. The Black Beast – Lunanine – attacked us when we were in the video vault. It caused the explosion, not the Union.”

Although she could not see the man’s eyebrows, Lisa knew he had raised one. “ Very well. But has it never occurred to you where Lunanine came from?” Lisa paused for a moment, deep in thought. The man went on. “ After all, how does a legendary beast come to be in the video vault of an information centre like the Radio Tower?”

His dark gaze was boring into Lisa. “ I … don’t really know …” she said vacantly. It had never, throughout all her experiences, occurred to her what an absurdity it was to have a legendary beast in a basement – she had assumed, as it was magical, it could do what it liked. But now …

“ I’ll tell you what happened. On that day when you and Gavin went into the Video Vault, somebody from the Union was also there, with Lunanine accompanying them. I have intelligence that tells me what they were doing. They were looking for an old video, and an even older text that accompanied it. Yet this is the biggest problem I have; the question I have been unable to answer for months.”

“ What is it?” Lisa said. She was absolutely baffled by what the man was saying, and yet, piece by piece, things were slotting into place. She remembered back to that day in the Radio Tower – a shelf had toppled over just as Gavin had used Natu to identify Lunanine’s presence. Someone else had been in the vault with them: a Union member.

“ The problem is,” said the man, “ I have no idea what was on the tape, or in the text. I do not know what its contents were. However, what I do know is that, whatever the Union member found, he or she got away with it.”

Something stirred in Lisa’s memory. “ How could they have escaped? The tower collapsed a minute later – they couldn’t have got away in time, we would have seen them going up the stairs.”

Again he raised an eyebrow. “ You and Gavin escaped, didn’t you?” he said. “ That was unexpected – some people from the upper floors made it out, but anyone down in the deep basement would surely have been killed.” His voice had a thinly veiled sarcasm to it. “ But you did survive, surprising everyone.”

Lisa rubbed her forehead. The information was welcome to her, but it did not stop it from being difficult to take in all at once.

“ So – hang on – how is this all relevant to me?”

He smirked. “ I’ll tell you why. A lot more happened in the vault that day than either you or I can understand. Lunanine’s presence was not an accident – I suspect that the Union used it. How they managed to gain control over a legendary is beyond me. But the documents that the Union obtained were very relevant. They concern the legendaries. And they concern you.”

His words rang in Lisa’s ears. How could such an old text relate to her, a fourteen-year-old girl? A thousand thoughts and ideas gushed through her consciousness before she spluttered, “ You mean like a prophecy?”

The eyebrow again. “ Do you believe in prophecies? Do you think that a person six hundred years in the past can foretell exactly what is going to happen to someone in the present, or the future?”

Lisa wavered. “ Well, maybe …”

He smiled as though she was no more than a naïve child. “ No, it is not a prophecy,” he said. “ But I do not know what it is exactly. All I know is that those documents are the reason – or at least, one of many possible reasons – for the Union’s pursuit of you.”

Her head was swimming, but one bitter thought emerged. She had been there as the documents were removed. If only she could have had some way of knowing, so she could have stopped everything from unfolding!

“ So you don’t know the actual reason for the Union’s attacks on me?” Lisa asked slowly.

The man shook his head slowly. “ What I told you now is, more or less, the extent of my knowledge on this matter. But there is much more to worry about. I have told you all this for a reason. Now that you know the Union is indeed, following you, you have to help me out.”

It suddenly occurred to Lisa how odd it was to have some stranger so intensely concerned in both her and the Union. How did he know so much? “ Hang on – who are you?” she accused at once.

“ Someone who wants to help,” he said simply. “ I cannot tell you my name, that would endanger us both. But we have met before,” he added, though Lisa could not, for the life of her, find any recollection of him in her memory.

“ So, okay, assuming you are a good person … what do you want me to do?” Lisa said tentatively, feeling the lurch of the limousine for the first time in what felt like hours.

“ You have signed up for the Fairfax mountain contest, right?” said the man, and she nodded. “ Well, I need you to be on the look-out. I am not sure why yet, but there is a Union member signed up for the contest. I feel they are up to no good, and they may try to harm you. Be very careful, but monitor anyone who looks suspicious. Just don’t let anyone know who you are. I will be seeing you very soon.”

It was only then when Lisa realised they had re-entered the village of Fairfax.

“ Oh, I have a problem,” she told her new friend – if he was in fact a friend – quickly. “ Um, me and Gavin have been reported missing and we’re on the news. If we’re found out we’ll be taken back to the police. You have to help us.”

“ I will take care of it,” the man said. Then, as the limousine pulled up outside the ominously quiet Inn, he leaned over and opened her door for her. “ Do not worry about anything that happened tonight. Climb back into your room and pretend you were asleep the whole time. Just focus on what I told you to do, and don’t tell anyone – even Gavin – that you met me. Promise?”

“ I promise,” said Lisa swiftly.

All at once, the absurd meeting came to an end. The man pushed her gently out the door, and she staggered out into the gusting winds, clutching her cloak to her tighter than ever. He pulled the door closed quietly and, satisfied that everything was taken care of, the limousine purred out of the car park and away into the shadows of the blustery night.

Very tired, Lisa headed back to the Oakabella room, to sleep.

[mr_pikachu]

Chapter 49: 07-08-2004, 04:35 AM
Chapter 50: 09-11-2004, 12:28 AM

Wait between chapters: 2 months, 2 days, 19 hours, 53 minutes
Margin of error: 2 minutes, because the timestamp does not list seconds

mr_pikachu's mood: Damn glad the new chapter's finally here!


Well, it's good to see LtL continuing. This was, indeed, a "Revelation" of sorts. Nicely done, for the most part. Excellent description with the inn; I could see it all quite clearly. The rest wasn't done quite as well, but I don't know if extra description would have helped there. I can understand Lisa's emotions... but Gavin's still strangely cold. What's with you, Gavin? ...Er, I mean the character Gavin... not you. This is confusing. :tongue:

The plot is developing nicely, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it continues.

However... *long, dramatic silence*

In the meantime, if anyone has any questions, musings, wonderings, suggestions, criticisms, comments or more, PLEASE post and ask me. I feel I haven't been getting much critical feedback lately and enough questions, etc ... I think it's the lack of that that has been blocking me (^^ that didn't sound great).

You have asked, and you shall receive! Now that you have reached mod status, and you have asked for as much criticism as you can get, I think it's time to up my reviews to...

*booming voice*

THE NEXT LEVEL.

Yes, now I will be pointing out pretty much anything that strikes me as possibly improvable. If you want me to stop, I will. Just remember, I'm only acting on your command. *points to quote*

Let's begin, shall we?



A pungent grey haze hovered around a dingy, wood-panelled room. A counter with a refrigerator behind it signified an unattended bar, while the rest of the room was kitted out in plastic tables and tattered chairs. An embattled television set was fixed to the wall above the bar. The room was completely deserted.

It's good information to use in description, but to me this seems too much like stating facts in a list. Maybe you could integrate it with some actions, or something? That'd make it more interesting.


“ I didn’t anyway …” he said, suddenly accusatory.

I think you need a comma before "anyway", since it's used as a conclusion word (I don't know what the technical term is... but it needs a comma).


“ I’m trying to help Professor Oak out here, I’m doing my best! So what if I broke a rule or a law or whatever, I don’t care anymore!”

Both commas should be changed to other punctuation marks, since there are complete thoughts on either side of both of the commas, and the thoughts aren't connected with a conjunction. The first one could probably be a period or a semicolon, or perhaps another exclamation mark. I think the second one would probably work well as a question mark. You could probably use other punctuation as well, but I think those would work best. As long as it's grammatically correct, though, I'm fine with it. Even though they are quotes, the punctuation must still make sense, if possible.
Note: There were other sentences like this as well, but these were the first ones I noticed. Just know that these weren't the only ones.


She was torn between curiosity, fear and sensability, but it seemed that finally sensability had prevailed.

The word "sensability" should be "sensibility" in both instances.


Before Lisa could overcome her surprise at this bold statement and defend her position, the man braked sharply and made a violent swing to the left, careering off the road onto a track that, judging by the crunching sound beneath the tyres, was carpeted with leaves.

1. Seems to be a run-on sentence.
2. Do you drive on "tyres"?
3. What is "careering", exactly?


Rachel massaged her temple. “ He isn’t senile! I’m telling you, I need your help. Every other avenue I’ve tried has been a dead end. The police have practically given up. I need you to come here and help me. With your Sandslash and Persian, if you can. Please! You’re my oldest friend.”

Her reply was just as airy.

This is ambiguous. When you began the new paragraph, the last person the narrator mentioned was Rachel. So when you continue with a pronoun like "Her", it is assumed that you are still talking about Rachel. You need to mention Ellie before you can use a pronoun to identify her.


“ Okay,” he said (At last, thought Lisa), “ The reason the Union is pursuing you is because they desperately need you.

Since you've been using single quote marks for thoughts, you need to use them in this case, even though it is in parenthesis. I'm also not sure about whether or not having someone speak/think within parentheses in a paragraph where someone else is speaking/thinking is grammatically correct. I'm sure you know that you normally can't have two people speaking/thinking in the same section. I'm just not sure if having one person's thoughts/speech in parentheses is an exception to the rule.
Did that make sense? I hope so. If not, tell me, and I can explain it clearer with some examples to show what I mean. Just tell me if that was too confusing.


If only she could have had some way of knowing, so she could have stopped everything from unfolding!

I'm debating with myself on this one. I'm not sure if this is grammatically correct or not. I do know that, at least where I live, not having the "so" in the sentence seems more natural. I'm no expert on Australian dialect, though, so I'll merely pose this as something to think about.


“Now that you know the Union is indeed, following you, you have to help me out.”

The first comma is unnecessary and interrupts the natural flow of the sentence. Even if he pauses there in his speech, the comma cannot be used. I can't see why he'd stop there for a long enough period to warrant a comma, anyway.


Very tired, Lisa headed back to the Oakabella room, to sleep.

I hate to criticize the last sentence of a chapter, but this is the same situation as above (regarding the last comma).



Whew! *wipes brow* I hope you find that helpful, and if you didn't like the extensive review... then please tell me. Just... *falls to knees* Please don't ban me, your modfullness! Please, I beg of you, kind sir! *weeps*

Anyway, I'll see you for the next chapter, which will hopefully be as good as this one! (Yes, I consider this one quite superb, despite my criticism.) Until then!


EDIT: Wow... I've seen fanfic chapters that are shorter than this! o_0

[PancaKe]

Well that was definently a developing chapter. Very very nicely done actually, beautiful.

Hmm im not really sure what to comment on.. you made some nice revelations, just be really careful how you reveal some things - because if your not careful then you'll reveal things too soon and make them too obvoius. And you need to be careful of that. I think I kind of revealed some things in my fics a bit too soon, and yeah ist just some advice from one wirter to the other.

I liked the chapter.

We shall speak more over msn.

luv ya

god bless

[Chris 2.1]

Brilliant chapter! Nice to see Lisa and Gavin arguing - all that built up tension exploded out. Good. I wonder if either will apologise?

And this mysterious man. I'd rack my brains, but I've got an English Essay just itching to be written *groan* so I'd better dwell on it tomorrow. *thinks* Could it infact be Eusine? Didn't they meet like ages ago? And he 'died'?

"Brit Chris promises to read chapters to actually back up any alledged guessing he throws into the air" - Disclaimer.

Anyway, whatever's going on at Fairfax, that Union member is the answer. I wonder...would THEY have the tape? (and don't they put everything onto DVD these days? )

[Gavin Luper]

Hi everyone!

mr_pika: Yes, it has been an absurdly long wait! I'm sorry!

Thanks for the reply, as always. I tried to slice down description in the later part of the chapter; partly because I just wanted to finish it, partly because too much would have given too much away, and made it all too clogged up. Gavin is going okay, he's still coping with something that will be explained next chapter, but if you go back a small way you should be able to work it out.

NOW ... to those reviews ...

I know you mean well, and ok ok I asked for it, but maybe cut back a bit. The only thing I will defend is the "tyres" - what the hell else to people drive on??? And also, careering is when you kind of slide uncontrollably or something. Everything else is mainly criticisms of grammar, which I generally ignore (sorry), although your points were certainly valid. This is just my opinion, but to be a good writer, I think you need to be unconventional sometimes. Change sentence structure, change something, make a new word, etc. Rules of grammar should only be applied to a minimal extent, so that the work is readable. To be confined by rules would be to take all the fun and creativity out of writing.

Anyway, I won't ban you this time (lmfao ). Nah, thanks for the review anyway Brian! I do appreciate the time you spent, despite the criticism. Seeya next chapter!

Tara: Thanks, thanks very much my friend! And don't worry about the revealing ... I'm keeping things more secret than ever. It was a developing chapter for sure though, i had to conceal as much as I revealed really. But yeah, we spoke more over MSN ... you have some seriously good ideas. Thanks and speak to you again soon.

Brit Chris: Brilliant chapter? I thought it was only OK but thanks. Hope it was at least worth the wait. More about the fallout of the argument next chapter. As to the identity of the mysterious man, you will be puzzling for a considerable amount of time - but if you are very clever you'll eventually work it out. And yeah, the Union member is the answer - but only part of it!

Cheers everyone!

-Gavin.

[Andrew]

huzzah huzzah!

Apologies for the late reply! But better than never!

OOh, Motor Inn! CLASSY! Mosquitos and caravans. The room reminded me of the place in Identity... Creepy. Its nice to see they don't go 5 star the entire time.

I absolutely hate that owner, he's a money grubbing creep! NEVER TRUST DWARVES! Lisa seeing herself on TV, I was expecting her to say - OH MY GOD! THE CAMERA PUTS ON 10 KILOS!

Lisa's little outburst, awww, its nice, but you can tell she's getting tired and emotional! Poor Gavin.

I was amused that Lisa's second person to cry for help was the midget. I was surprised Gavin didn't wake up or something... I was also amused Lisa doesn't sleep with a Pokemon on guard at all times after all the trouble she's been in lately... although she was tired and emotional...

Ellie was amusingly chatty. However, that didn't work out for poor Rachel.

My only thought as to who that man was, was perhaps a traitor of the Asso. Or Lunanine or Sucine in a human form perhaps. But they were nice and helpful, if not mysticly cryptic... Oh well! Small doses!

Good chapter ^5

Edit: Don't worry gavin! I can ban him for you!

[Master Kirby]

Hi Gavin. I like how the story is going. Lisa and Gavin are really getting down to business now, where before, they had a break in the action. There are suddenly a bunch of new plot twists with the union, the missing professor, and the mysterious man in the limo.

Gavin seems to be taking these things better now than before, since he returned from captivity. He isn't as closed up. Has his left arm healed? In Chapter 44, when he returned, he seemed to have a paralyzed arm.

... Gavin did not look at all well; he was swaying on the spot, almost like a drunk, and she noticed that he was not moving his left arm at all.

...She saw something flicker in his eyes, which were bloodshot, before he nodded obediently and gripped the outside of the screen with his right hand. Lisa noticed now more than ever than his left arm stayed firmly by his side....

I wonder if Gavin heard the noise at night and went to check on Lisa? I guess I'll have to wait and find out. Keep up the good work. I hope they figure out who the union member is.

By the way, I think the word you were thinking of when you said "careering" was "careening." "They were careening out of control!"