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

[Sike Saner]

“Where have you been?!” Lisa exploded.

“Well, I kind of wanted to ask you that …” Gavin muttered.

“She asked you first,” said Marina sleekly.

Lisa grinned appreciatively in Marina’s direction.

Heh. Good move, Marina.

As she trudged through the motions of her lie, Lisa felt a familiar pang of guilt in her stomach at being dishonest with her closest friends – she wondered if she sounded authentic or not – but Gavin did not question her tale. He gasped in all the right places, assuming, like any friend would, that he was being told the truth. She knew, too, that she was only telling a white lie, but it felt foreign and unsettling to not be upfront with her two closest friends. Perhaps the worst thing was, as Marina had remarked earlier that day, how easily the lies now came. But what other choice did she have?

Yeah. Having to lie to people you care about sucks.

“Oh, for God’s sakes, you two!” Marina cried loudly, making them both jump. “You’ve been back together five seconds and you’re already bickering! Can we just keep it casual, PLEASE? You’re meant to be friends, dammit!”

There is just something I like about this quote. Especially the "You're meant to be friends, dammit!" part.

That Mrs Stone is a real bitch. She heard me say the word ‘crap’ to Darius and she made me wash out twenty empty jam jars. TWENTY! Crap’s not even a real swear word!

Pfff... XD I shudder to think how many jar-washings it'd cost were she to find out that she'd been called a bitch.

“WHY ARE YOU SO ANGRY WITH ME?”

Lisa nearly shrieked it; she wouldn’t have been surprised if everyone in the household had woken up at once, but she was beyond caring: she couldn’t fathom why on earth Gavin was so incensed with her, nor why she was so incensed with him.

“Because,” Gavin said bitterly, locking eyes with her; his chestnut-brown irises were steely, “you’ve had so many chances, so many lucky escapes, so many people who’ve stuck their necks out for you, and apparently it means absolutely nothing to you!”

Without another look at her, he stormed off down the hall, his door slamming so loudly that Jamie, oblivious to the entire argument thus far, suddenly started and murmured, “Wassat?” before falling back to sleep.

I like that last paragraph there following what it did. There was that really intense moment, and then Jamie went and sort of opened a valve on it there. Kind of a fun little bit of contrast.

“The weirdest thing is that … I don’t even know what we were arguing about, really,” Lisa admitted, flicking a stubborn baked bean into its plastic grave.

I have no idea why I like a trashcan being referred to as a "plastic grave" as much as I do, but, well, there it is.


Lisa's certainly been given something to think about. I wonder what she'll decide to do.

[Sike Saner]

“What is it, Natu?” Lisa asked.

The green bird’s eyes were darting around the cabin, as if searching for something. It looked quite distressed. Suddenly, Lisa understood.

“Aipom’s not here, Natu … He – um – he’s gone for now …”

The bird’s enormous eyes suddenly filled with tears; there was a small explosion of cobalt-coloured light and it disappeared, leaving behind an array of green, feathery motes cruising calmly to the floor.

D'aww, Natu...

She looked over and glimpsed the charts. “Aw, you guys are starting without me?”

“Yup, it’s all Lisa’s plan. I think she’s trying to edge you out of the group,” Gavin quipped.

Heh, good one.


There's definitely something ominous about that first scene. With that and with where Lisa and company arrived at the end of the chapter, this chapter certainly did give the sense of something big about to happen.

[Gavin Luper]

It took nearly a decade, three reposts on three different versions of TPM, and lots of blood, sweat and tears, but we finally got Lisa the Legend to 1,000 replies! I can't believe we made it - I'm quite excited.

Thank you all for your loyal readership over the years, this is quite a cool milestone for a fic on this forum to reach, and I'm not sure if even The Emerald League, SAI, and others of their ilk even ever achieved it. So, hoorah for the readers of Lisa the Legend who have made this fic what it is today - much appreciated, guys!

There's definitely something ominous about that first scene. With that and with where Lisa and company arrived at the end of the chapter, this chapter certainly did give the sense of something big about to happen.

Sike: So prompt! Yeah, big things ahead, followed by some even bigger things. Wish I could just post it all at once but I figure that would result in everyone instantly being unable to follow it all and everyone would abandon the fic, so I'll restrain myself to drip-feeding the chapters out methodically. Glad you liked Gavin's quip, I loved that line and it was quite typically HIM. Thanks and see you next chapter!

Cheers!



1,000 replies WOOOO!

[Dryk]

A timid, blond-haired man in a waistcoat timidly emerged from behind the bar.

This annoyed me a little.

“Aipom’s not here, Natu … He – um – he’s gone for now …”

I really liked this, just because it felt right for Lisa to be missing her Pokemon right now. It was pretty fulfilling even if I wish that she could get her Pokes back.

“God, I remember coming here,” Lisa said, and she nostalgically recounted the story of how she, Hiro and Kris had participated in the contest, despite the fact that both Gavin and Marina had heard it several times before.

This one also felt good, probably because it captured what I feel that I do all the time.

Sorry I didn't comment on the last one, which I enjoyed. It also helped me to truly "see" the Gavin-Lisa relationship in a better light and cleared a few things up for me.

I'm still in awe of you writing skills, just as I was in the first chapters when you were building tension, but one of my problems is that I can only mostly remember the chapters (all 400-500 pages of them) and everything that happened, so sometimes I miss some of the allusions to past chappies. I do think that your characters are growing in a realistic way (although you do have a lot of them, which must be hard), and you have done a good job of characterizing many of the characters.

Overall, another good chapter from a long string of 'em. Can't wait for the next ones. That's all.

P.S. Congrats on 1,000!

[Shadow Wolf]

HI Gavin! Congrats on the 1000th replies. Now Lisa's truly a Legend, woot!

...if a battle was never challenging, there would be no fun in Pokemon.”

Wise words young trainer.

...and about her best friends Tuscany and Charmaine.

Ah, Tuscany... on Tuesday... *is lost in thoughts*

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

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

I have to say that this part made me laugh and feel annoyed at the same time. It definitely is funny to see this in a story, but is definitely NOT funny when you know someone like that. I know, we have to learn to listen, but when you know there's a "rambling trigger" in someone, it's best to leave it off. Nice scene you portrayed here!

That’ll be three hundred dollars.”

You might be wonderign why I quote this, right? Well, think of the face I will put after reading this... priceless right?

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

For some reason, I thought of all the soccer players who do this in the FIFA world cup, so it made me laugh a lot. Again, nice scene portrayed here.

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

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

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

Did you predicted how some 2010 artists were going to be seen?... Nah, I think it always has been like this...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now that's a wise and loving brother. A big applause for Tom.

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

This was a pretty raw description, and it molded in perfectly, because it makes the reader feel empathy for the pokemon. Maybe the word "pathetic" sounds a bit strong, but it was well used on this moment. I almost shed a tear of anger here, honestly.

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

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

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

“ Not again!” Lisa cried, as Caterpie was sucked into the ball and it latched closed.

Have you tried comady Gavin? Because this had me laughing for a while (and I'm still chuckling while writing this.

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

“ What’s wrong, Hiro?” Lisa asked.

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

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

Poor Hiro, maybe if Kipp asks him about bugs, this will be less boring, hahahahaha

Overall, this chapter has been one of the funniest so far, so well done Gavin. And only three chapters and already three pokemon (if she got to keep Caterpie, which I'm not sure), but Lisa is taking a fast step into this long journey. By the way, I also read somewhere in this chapter (too tired to quote it) about Lisa wishing for company through the journey so.... WHERE ARE YOU GAVIN!?

[Gavin Luper]

Dryk: Man, that "timid" repetition shows how little I proofread that particular scene - it was added in after the rest. Good that you liked Lisa's personality quirks in this chapter - the scene with her missing Aipom quite suddenly, her tendency to rehash the same stories over and over to the same audience, etc. Yeah, the last chapter was exciting from a character perspective because it was a real boiling-over moment which had to happen between Gavin and Lisa.

I'm still in awe of you writing skills, just as I was in the first chapters when you were building tension, but one of my problems is that I can only mostly remember the chapters (all 400-500 pages of them) and everything that happened, so sometimes I miss some of the allusions to past chappies. I do think that your characters are growing in a realistic way (although you do have a lot of them, which must be hard), and you have done a good job of characterizing many of the characters.

Thanks. I remember one time early on thinking I didn't have enough of a real 'cast', but over time that sorted itself out, to the point where there is a pretty extensive cast. I'm working hard to make them realistic - I think I've definitely improved with that over time and will continue to get better. In terms of previous chapters, I reckon that's partly because of how long it's been between those chapters being written and then later referenced. And maybe partly because it's not written down in a book form where you can just flip back to the chapter and rehash it. Do you think there's any way I could improve on making the allusions to past chapters better? Or is it just an observation?

Shadow Wolf: Yep, she's a legend now!

Tuscany was totally inspired by the whole Tuscany of Tuesday thing, I won't pretend otherwise!

I have to say that this part made me laugh and feel annoyed at the same time. It definitely is funny to see this in a story, but is definitely NOT funny when you know someone like that. I know, we have to learn to listen, but when you know there's a "rambling trigger" in someone, it's best to leave it off. Nice scene you portrayed here!

Cheers. Yeah, lots of people have that one subject that, once they start talking about it, they don't shut up. Hiro's is bugs, unfortunately. Lisa has learned her lesson on that front!

For some reason, I thought of all the soccer players who do this in the FIFA world cup, so it made me laugh a lot. Again, nice scene portrayed here.

Hehe, nice observation!

Did you predicted how some 2010 artists were going to be seen?... Nah, I think it always has been like this...

Are you referring to Bieber? Heh. He's just one in a very long line, from Elvis to the Beatles to Justin Timberlake and so on (in fact, I wrote this in 2001 and that was right in the tail end of the teen-pop, boyband era - so there was plenty of fodder there that Kipp was based on).

Have you tried comady Gavin? Because this had me laughing for a while (and I'm still chuckling while writing this.

I haven't, not properly, and I dunno how successful I'd be, but parody and stuff like that I quite enjoy doing and have done a bit during my younger days. Comedy writing could be fun to explore further down the track, actually.

Overall, this chapter has been one of the funniest so far, so well done Gavin. And only three chapters and already three pokemon (if she got to keep Caterpie, which I'm not sure), but Lisa is taking a fast step into this long journey. By the way, I also read somewhere in this chapter (too tired to quote it) about Lisa wishing for company through the journey so.... WHERE ARE YOU GAVIN!?

She does keep the Caterpie! And Gavin is on his way - read on to see!

Dryk and Shadow Wolf, thanks to both of you for your well-wishes for LTL hitting 1000 replies!

Chapter 73 will be up in about a week. It's ready to go, but I know that there are at least a couple of readers (mattbcl and Becky - as well as Louis of course) who are/may be reading through older chapters trying to catch up, plus some other readers (mr_pikachu, mistysakura, PancaKe, and maybe some other now-closet readers?) who are still catching up on the sidelines, so I don't want to leave them all in the dust by going too fast. But it will be up soon!

Cheers!

- Gavin.

[Shadow Wolf]

Chapter 73 will be up in about a week. It's ready to go, but I know that there are at least a couple of readers (mattbcl and Becky - as well as Louis of course) who are/may be reading through older chapters trying to catch up, plus some other readers (mr_pikachu, mistysakura, PancaKe, and maybe some other now-closet readers?) who are still catching up on the sidelines, so I don't want to leave them all in the dust by going too fast. But it will be up soon!

Hey, don't worry about me. I like to go at my own pace while reading, and I get more motivated when new chapters are up, so don't hesitate to keep posting new chapters (I don't know what the others think, but these are my two cents about it, so for me, no worries )

Well, chapter 4 went by really quick, so I don't plan to quote this time. However, I do have some things to share.

-Well, Tyler is an arrogant idiot, that's for sure. I expected that he also used a starter, but the stealing of it is not shown (or if it did happened, then it hasn't been said yet). In any case, I think Hiro might need a water pokemon to deal with Magmar and Golem, since those two are an annoyance to his dear bug pokemon and to his Cyndaquil too (I believe Golem is a Rock/Ground type, so is he can't get a water pokemon, then a ground pokemon will be a nice addition to his team. Overall, nice job describing Tyler.

-The rivalry between them reminds me of the many movies where this has been portrayed (Dodgeball, Grandma's Boy, Just Go With It...). It doesn't matter is it happens in series, movies, games, animes... rivalries are a nice addition; and when their backgrounds are portrayed, it becomes an essential part of the story. Watch out Lisa... a rival-in-the-making might appear soon (for some reason, I thought of Eusine... but who knows. )

-Finally, the last scene was very funny because at first, it seems like a meditating thought, but it suddenly turned to be a funny scene. So nice twist there! You had me laughing for a minute with that one.

Well, Let's see what awaits for young Lisa in the future. Later!

[The_Missing_Link]

Oh god, yes. I've been reading this fic since it first started and I can't remember half of what occurred

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

[sarcasm]Oh no, what is going to happen?[/sarcasm]

...

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

[Gavin Luper]

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“ Poliwhirl, use technique C.” Irene called.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“ Dratini – I choose you!”

*

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

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

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

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

“ Yeah, this is fun.” Lisa agreed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*

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

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

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

“ Ai ai pom?”

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 11 - The Ungrateful Sailor.


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

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

Nurse Joy walked into the room. “ Lisa?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“ Ow.”

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

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

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

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

Jack blinked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“ Free!” Butterfree called obediently.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jack fished around in his pocket, until finally he produced a pokeball. “ Lisa - take this.” He said.

“ But I just delivered that to you …?” began Lisa, confused.

“ It’s a different one. Just open it.” Jack said abruptly. “ It has a pokemon that’s a bit weak for a sailor like me – you might like it though.”

Lisa was about to remark that she was actually stronger than Jack at battling, but suddenly the boat gave a lurch, and the captain yelled out from somewhere on the boat. “ Jack, c’mere.”

“ Hang on!” Jack called.

“ No seriously!!” the Old Captain cried, frantic. “ We’re … in this HUGE Whirlpool.”

Lisa looked over the edge of the boat to see an enormous whirlpool, at least twice as large as the one she and Gavin had battled before, swirling next to the boat, rapidly pulling it in, never slowing down …

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 12 - Psychics.


Lisa watched, her stomach swirling along like the whirlpool. Lisa had underestimated it’s size earlier … now that the boat was further in, the treacherous spinning water looked somehow magnified. The whirlpool was easily as large as a house … and at least as deep as the Radio Tower, back in Goldenrod city, it seemed.

Lisa’s Dratini and Quagsire were swimming alongside the boat but in the opposite direction, combatting the water with their Whirlpool attacks. Gavin’s Staryu and Jack’s Poliwrath were in there too, but the four Pokemon didn’t have enough strength. Gavin had suggested releasing Lanturn, but Lisa quickly blocked him. Releasing Lanturn would be like swimming in a thunderstorm – they would all end up electrified.

Lisa looked up in desperation, clasping the rusty steel side rail while Gavin and the other two men raced around, accomplishing nothing at all. The whirlpool had such a great force pulling it that Lisa thought even if they had twenty or more pokemon whirlpooling it still would be no use. Aipom suddenly raced up to Lisa from the cabin and pulled a pokeball off her waist. Lisa looked at it, and then at Aipom. It wasn’t Butterfree’s pokeball. It wasn’t Aipom empty Pokeball either. It was the Pokemon that Jack had given Lisa just moments ago. Maybe it could fight the whirlpool?

Lisa wound up her arm; this was her only shot. The pokeball had to land right near Quagsire and the other water types. Any further and it would disappear into the murky depths – any closer and the pokeball would hit the port side of the boat –and probably shatter. Lisa had to aim exactly. She threw the ball finally, and it flew right on target for Quagsire until a freak gust of wind blew it over, deeper into the ocean. Lisa cried out – the ball finally landed across the Whirlpool – that was a VERY strong wind.

Quagsire spotted the ball, and stopped it’s ongoing blast of water for a moment. Lisa took notice, and looked at Quagsire. Their eyes locked for a moment, until Quagsire finally made a move. The large, wobbly water pokemon took a deep breath, and dived down through the whirlpool’s many levels. Lisa gasped, but couldn’t speak – either because of shock or because the salty air was drying out her throat.

Gavin walked over beside her, leaving Jack and the captain to fuss around pointlessly, and surveyed the catastrophe unfolding before him in the water. “ What a way to go …” he sighed jokingly, trying to quickly dodge a slap to the head from Lisa – but not fast enough. The slap hit him square on the forehead, and knocked him temporarily off balance. Taking a step behind himself to stay standing, Gavin trod on Lisa’s backpack, tripping him and finally toppling him over. Gavin landed hard, hitting his head against the steel rail, and slumped out of consciousness.

Lisa sighed, but then turned back to the tragedy at hand – Gavin’s injuries could wait.

Quagsire had succeeded, by now, in getting himself caught up in a lot of trouble. He had miraculously managed to splash over to the Pokeball but now had no strength remaining to swim back against the flow of the water. His only chance was to use his own Whirlpool attack – but even in a group with three others he had been unable to even effect the currents – how was he meant to succeed on his own?

The water pokemon was in trouble, and both he and his trainer knew it. Lisa, fretting for her Pokemon’s safety, whipped out his pokeball and pressed the button. The boat lurched moments before a crimson beam shot across the pool, with a diametre of incredible measures. The light was just a few metres off course; Quagsire was still floating helplessly in the water. Lisa tried and tried, but to no avail. The boat was too wobbly for Lisa to aim an accurate beam – it was hopeless. Lisa sighed, and called out to Quagsire.

“ Swim with the whirlpool’s flow!” she cried. “ Save your energy.” Quagsire didn’t see how doing what it’s master ordered would help it get to safety, but it obeyed. The water pokemon swam with the whirlpool’s currents, pulling itself down faster but conserving it’s energy. Lisa, content that Quagsire had a long way to go before the matter of reaching the bottom was a problem, looked up and saw that the boat was almost half way down the whirlpool. The inside of the pool was dull, and elongated shadows enveloped the miniscule pleasure craft and it’s occupants.

Lisa stepped back from the rail – it was beginning to creak and she felt it might break off if she leaned on it with her full body weight. Lisa felt her foot come across something bumpy as she stepped back, and she looked down to see Gavin – now awakened. The teenage boy suddenly screamed with pain, and Lisa took a step back towards the rail.

Quagsire, now able to see the bottom of the watery trap, had given up hope now. He grabbed the shiny, slippery pokeball between his hands, and tried to hold it firm, when suddenly an odd azure aura surrounded his entire being. The heavy Pokemon’s body was lifted into the thick, damp air, and suddenly flew at the boat’s deck with astonishing speed and force. All the pokemon in the water; Dratini, Staryu and Poliwrath, who still hadn’t given up on fighting the water’s currents, suddenly lifted up into the air, with the same azure light surrounding them. The three water pokemon slammed down upon the deck, next to Quagsire, and Gavin. Lisa suddenly realised that Gavin, too, had a strong blue tinge to his natural colourings. It didn’t take Lisa very long to guess what was going on – Gavin was Psychic. This was the second time in a week or so that Lisa had seen him use his powers – and they were amazing.

“ Gavin – do you have any ide..?” Lisa began, but she was cut off by yet another mysterious event. The entire boat, now almost at the bottom of the whirlpool, lifted up slowly, and rose up, higher and higher until the minute pleasure boat splashed up, out of the whirlpool and into pure daylight; Lisa, Jack and the Captain had to shield their eyes with curved hands for a moment until their eyes adjusted. Finally, they became used to the conditions, and removed their sweaty palms – and all three let out a cry of confused joy, thanks and relief.

*

Aipom sat on the rusty railing – his mischievous tail entwined around it, squeezing out all traces of moisture, wringing out all traces of the recent whirlpool. The captain was down in the cabin; Lisa hadn’t heard from him since they had set course for Red-Rock Island, the island in the Whirlpool Archipelago where the league would be held. Jack had found a comfortable position on the upper deck, and had parked there, sipping from a can of icy lemonade. Gavin was resting down below, the psychic blast had left him extremely weak. Lisa lay on the lower deck, stroking the new pokeball she had been given and daring herself to open it, unsure whether to open it immediately or leave it for a while. She was unsure.

However, soon Lisa didn’t have any choice. Before she could make a final decision, Jack called out from above “ Red Rock Island, dead ahead!” Lisa had only ever heard the words used before on TV shows, so it was exciting for her to actually be there. Climbing up onto the upper deck, Lisa felt the cool sea breeze blowing through her hair. Jack laughed and pointed to a tiny, red spot on the horizon. It was gradually becoming dark; night was falling.

“ Thank you for letting us come with you on this cruise.” Lisa thanked the man, as the captain sailed the tiny boat closer towards the island. They were approaching at a steady speed, and even in the few minutes Lisa had been standing up there the island looked closer already – only about fifteen minutes away.

“ You’re welcome.” Jack said. “ Although I didn’t really have much choice, the way you charged up here.”

Lisa laughed, embarrassed at remembering her actions earlier that day. “ I got a little carried away.”

They sat in silence for some minutes, then Jack started a new conversation. “ Did you open the pokeball I gave you?”

“ No, not yet.” Lisa told him, actually almost regretfully. She now really wanted to see what the pokemon was, and suddenly couldn’t understand her previous idling. The teenage girl wrenched the ball off her belt and held it up. “ Maybe I will now.”

“ Go ahead.” Jack urged. “ I wanna see what ya think of it. It’s not much, mind, but still … just open it.”

Lisa held the ball out, and pushed the button upon it’s centre, enlarging it. The pokeball shone in the daylight as Lisa prolonged the moment she would discover her new Pokemon, she almost felt she didn’t want to know but inside she really did. The ebony-haired girl took a breath, and opened the ball out on it’s hinge, holding it firmly in her hands as it opened. The pokeball zapped open, literally. Sparks flew everywhere, crackling around as a small golden pokemon formed. The low, stubby pokemon had tiny electric conductors upon it’s head, where sparks still crackled every few moments. Thick, black stripes covered the Pokemon’s body on an angle.

“ Ooh! An Elekid!” Lisa squealed, in a voice that was extremely unlike her usual one. Jack stared at her with a puzzled expression, and Lisa mumbled. “ Heh heh … um, it’s cool. I like Elekid.”

“ Great!” Jack nodded, with a look of content.

“ Thanks very much,” said Lisa to Jack, then she turned to her new Pokemon. “ Come inside your ball, little Elekid. Ooh you’re so cute.”

Lisa shot out a jet of crimson light from the ball and Elekid disappeared in a flash. Jack climbed down to the lower deck, and Lisa clattered down after him. Aipom jumped down, and landed with a small, mischievous “Ai!”. Jack called out to the Captain. “ Frank, how long ‘til we dock?”

“ About twenty minutes.” The Captain croaked his reply. Lisa brightened up. Twenty minutes until she got to Red Rock Island. Twenty minutes until she finally got to sign up for the Whirlpool Cup. At last, she could begin the tournament.

“ Yeah, me an’ Frank might jus’ stay at the Pokemon Centre t’night.” Jack told Lisa. “ Is that where you’re stayin’?”

“ Um, probably.” Lisa said, remembering that she’d have to wait until tomorrow to sign up, the sky had already turned from umber to deep royal blue, with no sign of the crescent moon. “ Me and Gavin, that is.”

“ Oh yeah, him …” Jack said. “ Hey, what’s with his psychic thing again?”

Lisa sighed heavily. “ Jack, I told you before - forget it. He doesn’t believe he’s psychic.”

“ But the … the thing with the floatin’ …”

“ Forget it.” Lisa tried to add a tone of finality in her voice this time, just to make Jack shut up. Jack finally got the message, and shrugged. Lisa strode back to the other side of the boat, where Gavin sat now awake, rubbing his head rapidly. The legendary-loving girl pulled at her hair rapidly as she began to speak to him. “ Gavin, listen to me …”

The black-haired boy looked up at her. “ It’s real … Lisa you’re right … my telekinesis …”

Lisa was a little more than surprised to hear Gavin admit his abilities, but she tried to stay calm. “ Why didn’t you believe me before? Surely you knew it, Gavin, I mean, we could both remember the Radio Tower incident clearly.”

“ I know …” Gavin stuttered slowly. “ I just … well, look Lisa, I’ll tell you the truth, but in the end you’ll just think I’m a cuckoo with a cuckoo family.”

“ I promise I won’t,” assured Lisa. “ Go on.”

“ Lisa, my whole family is Psychic. Every single member of my family has developed their powers a little – most of them just deal with clairvoyancy and stuff. Only a couple of them – my cousin Sabrina, for instance, and my Uncle Will, have ever really concentrated their abilities. The Luper family goes through generations of Psychics. And they all have great lives – but short ones.”

“ What?!” Lisa demanded.

“ It’s an ancient curse that was placed on my great-great-great-great-infinitygreat-grandfather by a really strong Giant Gengar. It basically said that all psychics who stem from his family would be strong psychics – but sooner or later be tested by a GREAT PSYCHIC LEGEND when they neared their peak. As in, they would have to battle with a Psychic legendary pokemon.

"My mum told me about the curse when I was twelve," he muttered, bitterly.

Lisa didn’t reply, unsure whether or not to believe Gavin, as he was prone to making stupid jokes, but his face was serious, and as she had promised not to think of him disrespectfully, she nodded along. “ I see …”

“ Lisa, my Dad died when I was three years old,” Gavin replied. “ You might have noticed I’ve never even mentioned my family – my Mum died just over a year ago, but I had already … seen it coming.”

Her heart beating rapidly, rising in her chest, Lisa beckoned Gavin to continue his bizarre story.

“ She went out one night to behind the Tin Tower, to collect some herbs – she was the secondary supplier of potions to the Ecruteak Pokemart at the time. That’s the last I ever saw of her.”

Gavin’s face was miserable, but his voice remained steady. “ So I moved to Goldenrod to start fresh – nobody came after me. My Uncle Eusine is only twenty five, he’s still alive and kicking, but I know his time is close. And then – my powers were released, and the thought occurred to me that – well – my time might be up. And now …”

Lisa didn’t want to hear any more. She raised a shaking finger to her lips, and Gavin nodded silently, and went off into a pensive staring session. Lisa walked dazedly to where Aipom swung from the rails and stood there for some minutes as the boat entered the Red Rock Harbour, recovering from the bizarre conversation with Gavin, but strangely believed him.

A few seconds later, all travellers felt a light bump, and Lisa looked over the side of the craft. They were at a small port; docked next to a tiny wooden jetty. Lisa cheered weakly; finally! Then she looked up to the sky, and caught sight of the moon, surrounded by a golden white aura. I’m going to win the Whirlpool Cup. I have to.

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 13 - The Colosseum.


Lisa’s eyes slowly fluttered open. First, she wondered where she was, pale green walls surrounded her four ways – wallpaper was peeling off them irregularly. The girl sat up, slowly taking in more of the room. She had fallen asleep on the wooden-panelled floor, which explained the stabbing pain in the crook of her back. In the corner of the almost empty chamber lay messed up sheets and rugs – someone had awoken before her. Lisa patted around the area beside her and found no moving, playful bump – where was Aipom?

Standing up, Lisa strolled over to the door and pushed it open as it creaked. Feeling almost afraid of the dark, unknown place, she found herself in a dingy hallway, but from somewhere she could make out distinct voices; familiar ones at that. Lisa walked past various other splintering doors until finally she came to a large, airy room. At a table there sat Gavin, Jack, Aipom, Frank the captain and a middle-aged man Lisa had never seen before. Lisa vaguely recalled the house from the night before – she had wearily traipsed in with Jack and the others after finding that the Pokemon Centre was temporarily closed.

“ Ah, G’mornin’ Leese.” Jack called, as Lisa pulled up a deck chair and sat down next to the captain, relaxing herself at once. “ Care for some toast?” Jack pushed a grubby china plate onto the table before Lisa, and the girl wrinkled her nose up at the stench wafting up from the blackened, burnt toast that sat there. “ No thanks – not hungry.” Lisa managed to say between clenched teeth, trying not to even breath in the air that emitted from the toast. Gavin, across the table from her, grinned stupidly and showed her a half-eaten slice of toast – he had eaten it himself.

“ Aw, sorry Leese.” Jack muttered, leaning back in his chair. “ Yeh prob’ly dunno where we are. We’re at me good mate Jake’s place.” The middle-aged man Lisa had seen before stood up slowly, and shook hands with the girl, who cringed as she felt the man’s sweat cover her hands. Gavin snorted, and tried to cover it with a ridiculous coughing fit. Idiot, Lisa thought.

Lisa patted Aipom’s tail, as he scarfed down the last of the toast Jack had offered around. At least he was enjoying his breakfast, unlike Lisa herself, whose stomach felt like an awful, empty abyss. She hadn’t eaten anything since the night before, and before that she had spent almost two days sleeping. Lisa checked her pokegear and found that it was Tuesday the 6th … only another month or so until she returned home again, to Tom. But first came the Whirlpool Cup, the medley of water pokemon battles …

“ Oh no.” Lisa muttered, unable to think of anything else to say. She checked her watch – 10am already! The Whirlpool Cup! She had to sign up before it began – otherwise she’d miss out! The girl stood up abruptly, thanked Jake for his hospitality, thanked Frank for his boating, thanked Jack for Elekid, pulled Aipom onto her shoulder, wrenched Gavin out of his chair and sped out the front door, dragging behind Gavin.

“ Kids,” muttered Jack.

*

“ Lisa, what’s the prob?” Gavin called, as Lisa barrelled down a narrow street, dragging Gavin behind unmercifully. Her shining brown eyes glinted, as she let go of Gavin, who managed to find his feet quickly and race up alongside her. Aipom was clinging on for dear life, as the two teens raced towards the huge colosseum, which Lisa was confident was the location of the tournaments.

“ The Whirlpool Cup!” Lisa shot back, keeping up perfectly with Gavin, who didn’t seem to even be breaking a sweat yet. Suddenly Gavin sped up. He, too, was hoping to compete. Missing the Tournament would be awful – his Staryu and Lanturn would do great, if only the Green Lanturn would obey him. Running like a single character, the two quickly exchanged all the information they had.

“ When does it begin?” Gavin panted, racing along with his utmost ability, straining to keep going with each step. He had to make it.

“ Today.” Lisa called, as they rounded a corner, coming one step closer to the colosseum. However, the building itself was still a LONG way away, all the way over the other side of the island. “ Dunno when exactly, but definitely today sometime. Irene didn’t tell me much. Oh, and I only have one badge … dammit!”

Gavin slowed – if she didn’t know exactly, and if badges were needed, then what was the point? But slowing down didn’t benefit the boy – Lisa raced on, oblivious to the local shoppers, carrying paper bags of groceries. Gavin felt awful about knocking over one frail lady’s flower stand, but there was no time for sympathy. He HAD to make it …

Lisa rounded yet another corner, as Aipom cautiously crept down, and zapped into it’s pokeball. Lisa laughed, but sweat began trickling in the corners of her mouth, so she quickly shut her mouth up tightly, and continued running, drowned in sweat. Gavin, meanwhile, was having trouble dodging everyone. Eventually, smothered in his own sweat, the boy tripped on a small pebble on the road, causing him to flip over and slam his head hard against the cement.

Lisa stopped, and ran back. “ Gavin! You OK?”

Gavin slowly pulled himself up, and crawled to the roadside. “ Um..yeah I think s … NO!” Gavin clasped his head and winced with utter pain – it truly hurt, almost like that splitting headache he had experienced back in the radio tower … aha! Gavin suddenly realised his true inner power – psychic power, the power of his soul, and how he could harness it. The first time he had really used psychic power, pain had struck him, with the headache back in the radio tower. Being to close to the brain, the blast had been phenomenal. Second time; Lisa had stood on his head … and Gavin had saved the boat and the pokemon from a whirlpool. Third time … well, he would just have to try this time. Gavin knew he was going to use up a lot of Psychic Fuel at any moment, so he might as well try something he had attempted futilely a few days back, and focused all his thoughts on one thing; arriving at the colosseum. He and Lisa standing outside … teleporting …

“ GAVIN, listen!” Lisa cried, distraught. “ Are you alright?!”

Gavin opened his eyes, his head still throbbing unbearably, but he had to focus. He could no longer see out of his eyes – was the pain blinding him, or was it the mental energy that was blocking off his vision? Either way, the boy screamed once, and suddenly blackness washed over him.

*

Lisa and Gavin opened their eyes. Lisa was laying on the cool, plain cement outside the front entrance to the Water Colosseum. A wide veranda propped up on ivory marble columns spread shade over the weary duo. Lisa shook Gavin, until the boy opened his eyes, and stood up beside her. Together, they faced the enormous doorway. Lisa spoke slowly, as though it hurt to say each word. “ Gavin – you know you just teleported us here, right?”

“ Course I did,” Gavin winked at her, raised a shaking finger to his lips and ended the possibly lengthy discussion with a single move. “ C’mon, let’s go register.”

Lisa nodded blankly, and the duo entered the high-ceilinged structure. It was all very ancient roman looking, but somehow had a new, modern feel to it. At a small desk sat a bespectacled woman, who had red hair sticking out at completely odd angles. “ Good morning.” She greeted, very clear and properly spoken. “ Are you, perchance, here to register in the Whirlpool Cup?”

“ Yeah, we are,” Lisa nodded, brushing her hair away from her eyes. “ Are we here in time?”

“ Oh, very much so.” The woman laughed, her forehead creasing up in a look of interest at Gavin, who had been wearing the same clothes since that Saturday night on Cianwood Beach, and looked absolutely awful to say the least (Lisa had been wearing her clothes since then too, but the absence of mud and dirt made her look a little more presentable). The woman glared at him suddenly. “ Is this … er … thing … also participating?”

Lisa smirked, but forced herself not to laugh just yet. “ Um, you had better ask it yourself.” She replied, inwardly laughing her head off. Gavin mouthed ‘very funny’ in a sarcastic manner, before quickly saying “ Yeah, I’m entering.”

The woman typed for a few moments on her keyboard, and quickly dealt with the two friends. “ Alright, the qualifying rounds begin in one hour precisely. I suggest you prepare your Pokemon, and have a shower.” She screwed her nose up at Gavin, but went on suddenly. “ Do either of you have badges?”

Gavin shook his head, but Lisa spoke up. “ Yeah, I have one –” The girl fished around in her jeans pockets before promptly producing a small ruby-coloured badge, which had spikes sticking out of it at odd angles, possibly to look like a Corsola, or a reef, or maybe even both. “ - but I need to ask something. What are the badges for exactly, if their not actually required to enter?”

Lisa handed the badge to the receptionist, who quickly scanned it with a machine similar to those used in department stores, and handed it back to Lisa. “ One badge pulls you through to the second round of the tournament.” The woman said quickly, angrily changing her schedules on the computer. Lisa’s heart leapt. One less battle was good – in a way. Quagsire wouldn’t get as much experience, but it would give Lisa more free time to train. “ Now then, off you go.” The crabby woman waved them on. “ There are some public showers to your left as you pass the gate, by the way.” She added, with a stern glance at Gavin, who laughed abruptly.

*

It was eleven o’clock. Gavin’s first battle began in only five minutes. Lisa had forced the boy to have a thorough shower, leaving him clean and looking smart for his battle. Lisa attempted to brush his messy hair, and succeeded until the boy quickly ruffled it up again to it’s usual, lopsided state. Gavin wore new clothes that Lisa had never seen before; jeans as usual, and a green shirt that Gavin hated, but was his only clean shirt. Lisa fussed about the boy, and he soon became annoyed.

“ OK, now you go out there and knock ‘em down!” Lisa called, feeling almost like a mother sending out her child to be a Pokemon trainer – only a child who was two inches taller than her.

“ Yes, Mummy.” Gavin groaned, putting Lisa’s thoughts into real life. She laughed suddenly, and leaned over, patting the boy on the head like a real mother. Gavin walked out into the battlefield in a daze, now nervous about battling before hundreds of spectators. He entered and accidentally walked in the opposite direction to the competitor’s platform. Lisa laughed at him, and then sighed. Boys … what idiots. Women were so definitely the smarter sex, she thought.

*

Lisa sat in the grandstand, looking down upon the battle about to unfold. Gavin stood there, in the left trainer box, opposing a girl called Alicia. She had green hair, which contrasted awfully with Gavin’s clothing. Lisa looked from trainer to trainer, trying to ignore the oversize woman next to her, who kept yelling out “ Go, Alicia! Hey look, George, there’s Alicia – can you see her there …” … and so it went on like that. The woman continually elbowed Lisa’s rib cage, which not only hurt but annoyed Lisa.

A large pool separated Alicia and Gavin, full of sparkling clear water which contained a vague azure hue. The battle was ready to begin – Lisa looked up to the referee, and then back at Gavin, realising she had never seen him battle or even use his pokemon before, except for when they first met in the Radio Tower. The bell rang, and the fight began.
Gavin sent out Staryu, his only real choice, since the Green Lanturn was still refusing to obey. Alicia released a Mantine into the water; the heavy, stingray-like pokemon delving into the deepest water the pool had to offer. Staryu ‘looked’ around nervously – it’s first ever battle, apart from on a couple of wild Sentret Gavin had trained it upon back on the Johto Mainland. The star pokemon floated perfectly still, until it’s master called out the command “ Light Screen, then Rapid Spin.”

Staryu quickly projected a glass-like screen to shield itself from Mantine’s attack, which Alicia had ordered be a Bubblebeam. Mantine surfaced moments after Staryu created the screen, and shot out a lengthy jet of cerulean bubbles, which hit the light screen and caused no damage to Staryu. The brown pokemon then began to spin rapidly sideways on it’s axis, creating a small whirlpool, which caught Mantine off-guard and hit him square in the head, as well as shattering the screen into many glass pieces.

“ Mantine – use your Wing Attack!” Alicia called, her curly blonde hair jumping on her shoulders.

“ Staryu – try a Psybeam.” Gavin called in his deep voice.

Lisa gasped. A Psybeam? Surely Gavin hadn’t trained it up that well? Then Lisa found the meaning behind Gavin’s words – he said TRY a Psybeam. Evidently, he hadn’t taught Staryu yet, but was hoping he could work it out. Staryu didn’t know exactly what a Psybeam was, but it improvised, concentrating all it’s mental energy in one point – it’s circular gem. The normally ruby-coloured gem slowly filled with mauve energy, and suddenly blasted out from within. Mantine, meanwhile, was swimming slowly towards Staryu, waiting for the perfect moment to speed up and attack. However, for Mantine, that moment didn’t come. The blast hit him directly in the head, as he came up for a brief peek on Staryu’s progress. Mantine barely survived the blast, and just as Alicia ordered another bubblebeam, he began furiously slapping himself with his wings – confusion!

Alicia fell down to her knees suddenly – confusion was NOT good in a battle, especially an important one. She decided to keep fighting, hoping to still pull off a victory.

“ Mantine, Water Gun!”

Gavin had expected Alicia to react by withdrawing her Mantine, but he quickly improvised. “ Staryu – Double-Edge and Tackle!”

As Mantine ceased berating itself with it’s own wings, it listened to Alicia and prepared to obey. Staryu, the swifter of the two, got in first, and slammed sideways into the stingray pokemon. It breathed in for a Water Gun, but Staryu was relentless, and slammed it’s body into Mantine with Tackle, the ultimate finishing move.

Alicia looked sad, however, as a good Pokemon trainer, she stood up, and took the bad news bravely, pulling out a pokeball and recalling her pokemon.

The crowd went wild, Lisa among them. Ignorant of the woman beside her’s “ Look, George, see her there? That’s our Alicia, she tried very hard!”, she cheered loudly, watching as Gavin patted his Staryu’s top point with a look of satisfaction. The boy then looked up, scanned the rows of cheering people, and found Lisa’s familiar face. He mouthed two words, “ Too Easy.” and Lisa chuckled to herself.

Lisa felt great for Gavin – he had been taken through to the next round now, and soon Lisa would join him in battling for the Whirlpool Cup Trophy, as well as a couple of other prizes she had heard about. Lisa smiled – her battle was tomorrow – she would have to be prepared. Time for some Quagsire training …

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 14 - The Water Washout.


“ Quagsire, try to use Aurora Beam!” Lisa cried to her Pokemon, as it jumped around at all kinds of angles, dodging the small flames coming from the opposing wild Vulpix, which had strayed from it’s inland home to the beach for a bath. Quagsire stopped dodging small ember shots, and landed on a flat, vermilion rock situated in the shallow water. He opened his mouth, and let loose a huge jet of rainbow light, which washed over Vulpix in a flash. The fire dog pokemon struggled under the intense radiance of the attack, and finally, unable to withstand the light any longer, closed it eyes and floated limply in the water.

“ Alright, Quagsire!” Lisa rejoiced, splashing into the knee-deep water to congratulate her water pokemon. Quagsire jumped into the water just as Lisa arrived, soaking the girl from head to foot. Lisa laughed, but inside she was actually quite annoyed – it was a fairly cold evening, she didn’t want to get sick or anything. Putting her feelings aside for a moment, Lisa hugged Quagsire. “ Your Aurora Beam is really strengthening.”

“ Quag.” Quagsire agreed, and Lisa thought back to only five hours ago, when she and Quagsire first began training on the beach for the whirlpool cup. Quagsire’s Aurora Beam hadn’t even knocked out a Pidgey, but now it could faint a higher levelled Vulpix with only two strikes.

Lisa stared at the floating Vulpix, and decided that she really couldn’t leave it floating there – it could be severely injured. It would be irresponsible to do anything else, she thought, preparing the pokeball to catch the creature with. The pokeball lightly landed and snuffled Vulpix to safety. Lisa rejoiced at catching her fifth pokemon, before realising how chilly it now was. “ C’mon, Quagsire.” Lisa muttered abruptly, shivering in the cool breeze. Her wet clothing emphasised the crisp air, freezing Lisa down to her bones. The girl waded back to shore, and took out Quagsire’s pokeball, recalling him quickly. Trudging slowly up the dunes, Lisa scanned the row of Norfolk island pines lining the carpark. No sign of Gavin yet … where was he? It was cold, and frankly she couldn’t stand another minute out in the cold. Her sigh carried on the bleak, now quite fast-paced, wind. Further down the beach, a large blast of yellow caught Lisa’s attention. Turning, she squinted and managed to make out a trainer on the beach, as well as a pokemon swimming in the water. Lisa quickly guessed; Gavin, Staryu and Lanturn. “ Oy, Gavin!” Lisa called, raising her voice as loud as she could. “ C’mon, you idiot it’s FREEZING!”

Gavin slowly approached, recalling his pokemon and sprinting up the beach. Lisa watched as he turned from a tiny speck on the beach to a tall teenage boy, looking down on her as he arrived underneath the pine tree. Lisa placed her hands on his shoulders, before delivering a swift, stinging slap to his jaw.

“ C’mon, you idiot!” she called, yanking his arm and pulling him along as a loud clap of thunder roared and lightning split the sky. Then the heavens opened, and rain poured down, drenching both friends. Lisa pulled Gavin along as they both raced for shelter under the wooden beach house.

Lisa wrenched the creaking door open, and leapt into the beach house, solely built for trainers without accommodation. Gavin jumped in behind her, and slammed the door, leaving the two in silence for a moment. Then thunder roared again, and Lisa jumped.

“ What was that?” Gavin asked in a daze, shaking his head. “ All I remember is a lot of water – oh yeah, and someone SLAPPING ME FOR NO REASON!” Lisa could hear him over the thunder, and sighed heavily. She was still freezing cold. “ Well, I was cold out there.”

Gavin shrugged it off, shivering uncontrollably himself. Lanturn had been particularly disobedient today – it hadn’t even partially listened. It even refused at first to return to it’s pokeball. Gavin sat, dripping wet, on the wooden floorboards of the hut, listening to the soft melody of the evening rain, as it mellowed from a raging torrent to a gentle sprinkle. Lisa, tired out from a long day of cheering and training, yawned loudly, her mouth becoming abnormally large, and curled up into a ball. As soon as he was sure she was asleep, Gavin yanked Green Lanturn’s pokeball off his belt and stared determinedly out of the window.

*

During midnight’s pitch-dark rule, across the Cianwood Sea, a young girl awoke with a start. Her hut rattled with the violent outside winds, though above the racket she could still hear the persistent snores of her sisters. All three sisters lived together in a small beach hut south of Goldenrod, on a cape to the south west of Shellder Beach. There were many of these huts, all very similar, situated across the Whirl Islands and their surrounds, for any trainers who were passing by during the night.

Irene was struggling to return to her sleep among the stormy winds, battering at the wooden walls and and shaking the frames of the specked windows, when the sound of the wind suddenly increased in volume, and there was a large slam somewhere beyond the three sisters’ shared room. Irene sat up in shock from her uncomfortable position in her sleeping bag on the floor, as a chilly breeze swept through the bedroom, bringing rain in with it. She stood up and stifled a scream, guessing the door had been blown open. The twelve-year-old sighed and rolled her eyes – she knew staying overnight in the ‘shack’ after a long day’s battling was stupid, but Kate, her sister, had insisted, along with Laura.

She crept to the doorframe of the bedroom, deciding not to wake her sisters as they were all incredibly crabby after awakening. Her slippers padded softly on the wooden panelling as she entered the other room of the hut, which contained only an ancient stove and oven, and a door which led to the bathroom. But once in the main room, she saw the problem. The door was blown right off it’s hinges, and it had landed on the ground. Rain was belting inside, making the floor slippery. Irene hesitated at the sight of the forbidding blackness beyond the doorway and into the seaside night.

To her shock, there was a sudden shuffling sound from the bathroom. Before she knew what had happened, a person clothed solely in black had darted from the toilet door across to her, and had grabbed her arm, twisting it behind her back. She gasped in pain and tried to yell out to her sisters – and if possible, their pokemon, to help her, but the cold blade of steel touched her neck, and she was silenced. Irene’s heart was racing as she waited silently and patiently while her attacker spoke.

“ You have heard of Lisa Walters?” he asked the holidaying gym leader in a raspy voice. Irene could feel his foul breath on her ear and he hissed venomously into them.

It was a moment before her mind registered. Then it ticked into action. “ Lisa … I battled a girl called Lisa a week or so ago.”

“ Tell me … where is she?” The man was getting straight down to the bare questions.

“ She was … going to the Whirlpool Cup.” Irene breathed hastily, eager to keep her own life at all costs.

Without a sound, without recognition that he had even heard her, the man shoved her roughly down onto the slippery floor, and sprinted out, half-sliding, through the door and into the dark, rainy night. Irene slowly pulled herself back up, heart racing and mind throbbing with numbness, and sprinted into her bedroom, screaming to awaken her sisters with accelerated panic.

*

Trainers chatted endlessly among Lisa and Gavin as they entered the modern, airy room at the Whirlpool Colosseum the next morning. The two trainers walked around pointlessly, not really having any aim, listening into other’s conversation every so often. Aipom was overjoyed to be out of his pokeball again – although he didn’t mind being held inside the ball he truly enjoyed being out in the open. There were 16 trainers overall remaining, of all different sizes, ages and sexes, to compete in the competition. Lisa was gradually becoming nervous – she was yet to battle in a big competition, and the very idea of having a crowd staring down and judging her pokemon was almost too much to bear.

However, after slowly watching the others dwindle away for their battles, watching them live on the Plasma screen TV in the trainer’s lounge, and then seeing four come back victorious (not to mention four very depressed losers), Lisa realised it was her turn. Gavin wished her good luck as she entered the stadium, which looked twice as large as it did up it the grandstands or on TV. Lisa approached the trainer’s box, merely a slightly raised, painted rectangle opposing another trainer in her trainer box across the pool, glimmering in the sunlight.

Platforms lay idle in the pool, straddled out in an irregular pattern, providing the battling pokemon with a few places to stand upon. Lisa tensed unwillingly, nervous to her very core. Somewhere in the colosseum, a bell rang out, and Lisa pulled off a pokeball for the one – on – one pokemon battle. Her opponent looked somewhat familiar, and when a Psyduck appeared, Lisa suddenly found her brain click back into motion, and recalled something from her very first day of her Quest.

----------
“ Psyduck – Water Gun.” Anna, the trainer of Psyduck, cried. “ Don’t relent.”
“ Aipom, block it with Swift.” Lisa called.

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

“ Now finish this with Tackle.” Lisa ordered.
“ Aipom!” Aipom cried, throwing it’s body straight at Psyduck and fainting it, winning Lisa’s second battle.

“ Lisa, you’re really strong for a new trainer,” Anna said as she recalled Psyduck.
“ Thanks, Anna.” Lisa replied. “ Aipom and I used to train with wild Pokemon near Ecruteak.”
“ Ecruteak? You’ve come a loooong way.” Anna said, brushing burgundy hair from her eyes. “ How many badges do you have?”
“ None.” Lisa said. “ I’m not really on that sort of quest.. I’m actually more of a…. um…. Legendary pokemon Researcher.”

At this, Anna laughed and her face became smug. “ Legendary Pokemon aren’t REAL.” She said in a rather snobbish voice.
----------

“ Anna!?” Lisa cried, suddenly recognising the burgundy-haired teen. Anna looked up from her trainers box, and laughed. “ Well well, Ms. Legendary.”

Lisa was slightly amused by her pathetic attempt at a joke, but then reminded herself that Anna was a rival: she didn’t believe in legendary Pokemon. “ Very funny, but this time I’m gonna flog you.”

“ Whatever kid.” Anna snapped, tossing her lengthy hair behind her shoulders. “ Let’s find out who’s better this time.”

Lisa tossed the pokeball into the arena and it zapped open. Lisa had chosen her elegant Dratini for the match against Anna – Quagsire, although strong, was slow, and would probably fall victim quickly to Psyduck’s Confusion attack, whereas the nimble Dratini could possibly set up a Whirlpool fast enough, or even a Twister, blocking off the psychic energy. Dratini zapped out into the water, ignoring the platforms, as it didn’t need them, and swam in and out of the water, trying to unnerve the stupid Psyduck.

The bell rang again, signifying the start of the attacks.

“ Dratini – start off with Thunderwave, and then Water Gun.” Lisa chose two ranged attacks – psychic pokemon were fairly dangerous, and since Dratini had never really fought before, apart from a few wild pokemon - it was best to keep him at a safe distance.

“ Psyduck – Defense Curl attack, then go in for an Ice Beam.” Anna snapped so fiercely she reminded Lisa of the vicious Irene.

The fight was on. Lisa glimpsed up at the cheering mass of people in the grandstand, and after a few moments discovered Jack the sailor, cheering for her. Lisa grinned, full of renewed spirit, and turned her attention back to the showdown. Dratini had swam around in a circle swiftly, building up kinetic energy, which he then transformed into electric energy. Leaping up into the air and splattering Psyduck with water, Dratini’s entire body glowed cobalt before firing off a critical thunderwave. Psyduck watched the blast zoom towards him, and began to curl into a ball when the electrical blast hit him full on, shocking his system. “ Too slow!” Lisa laughed, as Psyduck slowly recovered and curled into a sphere – a bit too late.

Next round. Dratini opened it’s mouth, breathing in sharply and then firing out a few quick jets of water directly at Psyduck – hitting the stupid duck just as it emerged from the Defense Curl. Enraged, the Psyduck seemed to gain some intelligence, and formed an orb of azure light within it’s mouth. Dratini readied itself, not idling in any sense. Preparing to dodge the threatening blast, Dratini flitted around in the pool, sparkling in the warm sunlight. Psyduck opened it’s mouth as wide as possible, and fired the beam, which could potentially knock out Dratini.

However, the dragon pokemon had been well-chosen. It nimbly dodged the blast, which rocketed into the pool and froze a small radius. Dratini had easily evaded the attack. Anna gasped, as though in pain. “ Psyduck – get in there and use Tidal Wave!”

Lisa knew the outcomes of this attack, thanks to her battle with Jack earlier on that week. Dratini would easily be able to avoid it – if it knew how to move strategically. “ Dratini – swim over to Psyduck!”

Anna looked remotely disturbed, but Lisa guessed she had just foiled her most powerful technique. Dratini swam over to Psyduck, on the floating platform, in a few seconds, and circled the platform, waiting for Tidal Wave to come into effect. Psyduck’s eyes glowed bright cerulean, and Lisa watched, as the wave she had predicted rose out among the pool, rising above both pokemon. Soon, Psyduck’s mental energy kicked in, and the wave took a vicious turn towards Psyduck, Dratini and Anna. Lisa waited, her entire body tensed, until moments before the strike, suddenly calling out; “ Dive!!”

Dratini swiftly took to the water, swimming directly underneath the incoming wave, which slammed down on Psyduck at once, causing the duck to fall back off the platform. Lisa scanned the vast pool urgently for a few moments, before Dratini’s blue head popped out of the clear waters. Lisa gasped with relief, then winked at Dratini.

Meanwhile, the water had flowed back into the pool, revealing a bare platform. Psyduck was drifting around a few metres away, critically injured, but somehow still in fine condition for completing the battle. The duck flapped over to the platform, pulled itself back up, and turned to face the gleeful Dratini, with a glint of determinedness in it’s eyes.

“ Ice Beam!” Anna cried.
“ Ice Beam!” Lisa shot back.

Dratini and Psyduck both quickly prepared a radiant sphere of cobalt light – Psyduck within it’s hands and Dratini in his mouth, opened wide, ready to shoot the blast out at a moment’s notice. Soon, the orbs had built up so much energy they were threatening to merge – Dratini’s, although far brighter, was visibly smaller, and and soon Psyduck appeared to have the advantage. “ Now!” Lisa cried. Dratini wailed, and shot out the beam towards Psyduck, readying it’s own beam. [I]This’ll be over now,[I] Lisa thought.

However, in a quick display of Psychic Power, Psyduck suddenly showed Lisa a lesson in battling – Dratini’s beam of ice energy had literally slammed into Psyduck’s ball of azure, merging the two together, and threatening to spin out of control. However, Psyduck’s eyes quickly glowed, and the orb returned before Psyduck, shocking Lisa to her core. An attack was now wasted, and she had actually provided the enemy with ammo!

“ Now Psyduck!” Anna cried, and the yellow duck let go of the energy, seemingly glad to unburden it’s mind of the pulsating globe. The titanic ball rolled along the pool’s surface, heading for Dratini. In a swift movement, Dratini ducked underwater again, and rapidly appeared on the opposing side. However, it’s psychic opponent was still well in the game. In another impressive show of psychic, Psyduck took control of the still pulsating sphere, turned it around, and managed to lift the entire orb up with it’s psychic energy, until it floated 50 metres above the stadium. At a single command, Psyduck could drop the ball, and freeze Dratini in the pool – even the nimble Dratini would never find a way to escape the boulder of intense light.

“ Drop it.” The words hissed from Anna’s cherry lips.

Lisa watched in horror, her mouth frozen in position, her entire being taken over by a feeling commonly experienced in dreams – complete helplessness. Dratini itself seemed struck by awe, and in fact even Anna seemed shocked, as the massive globe plummeted into the pool, slamming Dratini down at once. The entire crowd went silent…not even the commentator dared to even attempt describing the philosophical magnitude of the attack.

Lisa finally felt her brain churn back into action, and she rapidly regained consciousness of her body. However, any commands to Dratini would be, at that moment, utterly wasted, as the poor creature was buried somewhere within the depths of the pool. Lisa deeply wanted to dive in and save her Dratini, but from somewhere she found a restraint. Dratini can save itself.

However, the voice was suddenly proved wrong as the glowing of the submerged orb ceased, and proceeded to freeze over the water, icing up Dratini’s only way out. Small, rippling waves gradually evolved into large ones, as suddenly Psyduck’s platform rocked so much, the yellow duck, incredibly weakened by the sheer power of it’s final attack, toppled into the wavy pool, knocking the pokemon out for the match. Then things turned from bad to worse for Anna, as the water Psyduck had sank into promptly froze over entirely – shutting both Dratini and Psyduck inside an icy, airless chamber, with no escape …

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 15 - Watered-Down Revenge.


Lisa and Anna stared on, dumbfounded and horrified at the indirect result of two simple Ice Beams. The crowd collectively held their breath, not daring to cheer for either side. Lisa glimpsed, from the corner of her eye, Jack the sailor, actually biting his nails like a petite school girl, acting the complete reverse of what his physical appearance suggested – big, tan man, bulging muscles, tall and broad shouldered – and he was biting his nails. Lisa would have found the trivial humour funny, if one of her few pokemon hadn’t been in a dire predicament. She turned back to the desperate situation at hand.

“ No … this just … it can’t have even happened …” murmured Lisa, unable to accept what she saw. The entire pool had been turned into a massive chunk of ice. Every drop of water had been frozen as it was when the ice-ball took effect – there were waves, still made from Psyduck’s splashdown, but they were solid, curved icicles.

On the barren, icy landscape before her, Lisa watched as the referee cautiously stepped out onto the rough, uneven freeze. The waves at the time of freezing had created a very hard to enter environment - the referee constantly was tripping over undetected ripples or heaving himself over larger waves. Lisa, tired of the slow pace, quickly formulated a plan and a strategy – quickly glancing around the glacier-ridden field, she discovered a virtually clear route into the centre of the pool, where both pokemon had roughly been at the time of freezing.

“ Go!” Lisa tossed out a pokeball onto the ice, which hit the slippery substance and zapped open, when slowly a Quagsire materialised. The crowd finally breathed out at once, and the commentator suddenly swung back into action, acting as though nothing had happened, and treating the absurd situation as an average battle.

“ The blue trainer, Lisa Walters, sends out her magnificent Quagsire out of it’s pokeball for the first time in this colosseum. Quagsire, the mud pokemon, has strange arms, which could determine the reasoning behind Lisa’s plan. From what I can make out, Lisa’s plan is to use Quagsire’s clumsy flippers to her advantage – sliding along the ice. But as of yet I am not sure why …”

“ Alright, keep sliding, Quagsire!” Lisa urged to her pokemon, as Quagsire propelled itself along the glazed, icy surface, approaching the centre very slowly. Lisa clung to Quagsire as he barrelled past a tall, pointy glacier.

“ Careful, Quag.” Lisa breathed, as they skidded to a halt near the pool’s centre, where Dratini was buried. “ Now go … Elekid! Go, Butterfree! You too, Vulpix!”

Lisa tossed out three more pokeballs, and in blasts of ivory, petite but fiesty Elekid, sweet, gentle Butterfree and loving but determined Vulpix appeared. The crowd exhaled as one over the new pokemon, and the commentator was speechless, puzzled over Lisa’s plan. “ Elekid, please use thunder wave to chip through the ice. Vulpix – you’ll be my best bet, so please use your Ember attack! Butterfree – Psybeam the ice NOW!” Lisa knew she would have to be more polite to Elekid and Vulpix, as they had never fought for her before.

“ Bi bi!”
“ Vul! Pix!”
“ Freeeh!”

Elekid glowed with fiery eyes and a transparent yellow hue, then the electricity was absorbed up through his ‘thunder conductors’. The gold/black striped pokemon made slow but constant progress, chipping a small hole after about a minute. Butterfree, however, was faring better, although it depended what aspect Lisa was judging on. The psybeams were far more effective, in terms of depth, but they were gradually wearing Butterfree down, as were very stop-start, stop-start, rather than the consistent attacks from Elekid. As for Vulpix, she was making excellent work, embering the ice and burning away large areas at a time. Quagsire was making short-lived Water Guns at the ice, sizzling them in a sense, but not making very much more progress than Elekid and Butterfree. Aipom leapt from Lisa’s shoulder and began furiously digging. Lisa looked on, feebly kicking the ice every so often in a fruitless attempt to help. Dratini and Psyduck were probably not going to live – if they did they’d probably get frostbite, of hypothermia. Lisa wasn’t exactly sure if that could happen to pokemon, but the fact remained that they could get seriously hurt in there. Lisa didn’t want to see them … dead.

Anna, still standing on her platform at the edge of which the ice reared up at stared at the scene. She looked from Elekid, to Butterfree, to Vulpix, to Aipom, and then to Lisa, who had now let go of her stiff feelings about Dratini and was kneeling down over the ice, scraping at it in a futile attempt to regain her pokemon. Her hands were rapidly becoming raw. Anna struggled inside herself. Psyduck … her first and strongest pokemon … she couldn’t simply stand by and watch as he was trapped – and maybe killed even.

As Lisa and her pokemon continued to dig through the ice, now having succeeded in making an oval crater about 20 feet wide and 3 feet deep, a pokeball popped open in the crater. Lisa looked up and saw Anna there, a Scizor next to her. Lisa grinned, and Anna reflected her smile. Their eyes twinkling, each girl somehow knew – they were no longer bitter enemies, but they were allies.

Scizor made a remarkable help to the team. Butterfree had been utterly exhausted now, and even Elekid was getting run-down. Aipom, Lisa realised, wasn’t in the crater. Standing up, she saw Aipom outside the crater on the surface – digging a tiny hole of his own. “ Idiot.” Lisa scoffed, picking Aipom up by his tail, and fighting down the urge to grin, despite her Dratini’s bleak horizon. She became serious for a moment. Turning back, she saw another figure sliding across the icy surface, from the trainer’s box many metres away. “ Gavin?!” Lisa cried, as the tall boy flipped over on the ice, and skidded to a halt at the edge of the crater.

“ Present.” Gavin muttered, stupidly.

Lisa hauled him up. “ Why are you here?”

“ We were watching the battle in the trainer’s room.” Gavin replied, his voice shaking slightly. “ When I saw, I came. It took a LONG time to get past the ref, though, he didn’t want to let me in.”

“ So … you’re here to help?”

“ Does THIS answer your question?” Gavin asked, waving his hand to his left, when Girafarig, Staryu, Lanturn and Natu were perched, ready for action.

“ GO!”

Now with 8 pokemon and 3 people on the scene, the hole was enlarging at a rapid pace. Seeing a fellow Psychic pokemon, Butterfree was filled with renewed spirit, and began fluttering into the air, Psybeaming all the way, next to Girafarig. Lanturn, however, seemed the only being not helping the situation. It flopped on the ice, sliding every so often, but utterly refusing to give a hand. “ Just help, dammit.” Gavin spat at Lanturn, whose green and yellow appearance was making some of the audience ‘oooh’ and ‘aaah’. This somehow seemed to annoy Lanturn, and Lisa actually felt agitated too - those idiots were looking at a Pokemon’s appearance when two Pokemon’s lives were at risk.

But now, the two pokemon had been trapped for at least fifteen minutes, and Lisa was sure that they were going to die.

Suddenly, a cry rang out from the stands, and a dozen or so people pushed past the patrolling security guards and slid onto the icy grounds. Lisa, Gavin and Anna were all amazed, although still afraid of the entrapment’s outcome, until it sank in; these people were defying the law to help them! It took a couple of minutes until the small party of people arrived and quintupled the group. With many shouts, they assembled around the tiny crater, and each sent out one or two or even six pokemon, who all began scraping at the ice furiously. Lisa had tears in her eyes as a couple of girls comforted her and Anna, saying that they would all find the trapped pokemon and save their lives. And Lisa was nodding, saying yes; they WOULD find her Dratini, and Anna was agreeing.

It was so heartwarming to think that these people cared.

Lisa looked at the crater – it was massive now, and she thought for half a moment that she could see Dratini’s tail. It DID turn out to be a Dratini – belonging to a volunteer trainer. There were many pokemon excavating now – many water ones in particular, but she also spotted a Granbull and a Mankey, and …

“ You alright, Leese?” Jack Criddle asked her, while his Granbull chomped through the solid water and Mankey swiped at it.

Lisa nodded at her old enemy-turned-friend, a huge lump swelling in her throat. For her pokemon had now been stuck underneath the ice, with no air, for almost twenty five minutes. If there was still some water down below, there was some hope, because Dratini could stay underwater for long periods of time. The commentator was still speaking, but Lisa happened to catch the words ‘Ambulance’ amongst his rantings.

It was definitely some peace for Lisa’s troubled and anxious mind, as well as Anna’s, to have so many helping hands. However, their effect was felt more emotionally than physically, because barely ten minutes after they entered, their efforts were halted. It happened when every singled pokemon was helping to dig.

Except Lanturn.

“ C’mon, you lump o’ blubber, help us,” Gavin persisted with the stubborn Lanturn, trying to drag it along the ice next to Elekid, who had an apprehensive look on his face, and another trainer’s Arbok. “ Dammit, help us, just use your thunder -” The next thing Gavin knew, his entire body was vibrating with electricity, making his jaw freeze and his entire movements cease. Lanturn’s antennae were shaking with the sheer voltage, but persisted in giving it’s master a full-on attack. Lisa watched in horror. Lanturn was worse than ever – it was relentlessly attacking it’s trainer. Gavin was going to be knocked out soon, surely, It couldn’t be healthy to be shocked for so long. Almost everyone looked towards Gavin, but luckily, for the future events might have been catastrophic, the trainers and pokemon prevented the crowd, expect those very high up, from seeing this happen.

“ Cuh ih ow!” Gavin spluttered, trying to talk without moving his tongue or mouth at all. Suddenly, Gavin’s entire body took on a new, enveloping aura. Instead of the intense yellow glare from Lanturn, Gavin was suddenly surrounded by the new azure aura. Lisa guessed at once, and in a nano-second braced herself mentally, as Gavin clutched his hands to his head, and beads of cerulean light appeared from nowhere on his forehead.

BOOM!!!

An immense beam of cerulean light emitted from Gavin’s head, Lanturn flopping about directly in it’s path, and ripped through the pool of ice. The flopping fish was sent flying into the air – the crowd was no longer admiring it – but Gavin’s psychic travelled further. It tunnelled into the solid prism of ice beneath them all, making a fissure in the surface right to the bottom of the pool. It was a few seconds until the beam stopped, and Gavin fell over – into the fissure he had made, amongst panicked screams from the volunteers, who had seen it all and had barely dodged the beam, and the crowd, who had not seen where the beam had come from, but just that it created a chasm and that a human had actually fallen into it!

Natu flapped it’s minute wings, and swiftly flew down after Gavin into the crevice, and Lisa surveyed the scene with a look of heavy sorrow, fighting back tears which welled up in her eyes. Lanturn – flopping helplessly on the point of a glacier, Lisa saw, and also brutally wounded. Dratini and Psyduck – lost within the icy chamber below, possibly forever. Gavin – fallen metres down into a crevice, electrified and injured – dead?

*

“ Morning Gavin.” Lisa murmured, as Gavin’s eyes flickered open. He sat up in shock, unaware of his surroundings, but Lisa rubbed his arm, and pushed him back down.

“ Where am I?” he muttered.

“ Red Rock Island Hospital.” Lisa informed him. “ You were seriously hurt by that last psychic thingy, not to mention the electric shock, and the fall. I’m surprised you were … alright.”

Lisa had been about to say alive, but she really didn’t want to stress Gavin out any more than he was – the teen was very confused. It was Thursday now, the 8th. Gavin had actually been unconscious for a day or so – stable but unconscious - and Lisa had been extremely worried about him – crying and fretting. Jack had been great – he had stopped by to see Gavin – and Anna had also come to check how he was doing.

“ Gavin, you do remember doing that Psybeam, don’t you?”

He nodded, but then became concerned. “ What … happened to the pokemon? Drati -” Gavin asked slowly.

Lisa had been ready for this. “ Dratini and Psyduck were frozen – where your Psybeam hit, actually, but much deeper down. As Natu fluttered to see what happened to you, he saw Psyduck’s tail sticking out. Dratini was there too. They’re still in the Pokemon Centre, though, recovering.”

“ That’s good … what about the battle?”

“ Draw.” Lisa said. “ Me and Anna drew.”

“ So … ?”

“ We have a rematch again – tomorrow. It’s counted as my next fight in sequence – that is, it’s counted as my fight for round three, so there’s going to be an extra person competing in the overall tournament – dunno how that’ll work.”

“ What about … my battle?”

“ Taken care of.” Lisa smiled. “ You’re scheduled for noon on Saturday. You’ll be fine by then.”

“ But the Whirlpool Cup … ”

“ … has been postponed.” Lisa said, calmly. “ You’ll fight on Saturday, and I’ll fight tomorrow – me for round three and you for round two. Then you’ll fight again on Monday for round three, and if we both win the whole way – well, we’ll be in the semi finals. No other battles will take place, except the last four competitors who were supposed to battle after you.”

Gavin grinned slowly, trying to sit again, but Lisa pushed him down, and spoke again in a very serious tone.

“ Gavin – these Psychic things are becoming – worse.”

“ I know.” He said in an almost complaining voice. “ I can’t help it, though.”

“ The ghost gym leader from Ecruteak is coming here to talk to you later on.” Lisa explained, and Gavin’s face creased in worry. “ He says your attacks, from what I told him, are becoming much more frequent, and it could mean something serious. Don’t get too worried, but you should just be careful about getting into pain – especially with Lanturn.”

“ Yeah well – that thing deserves to be released. Dunno why I caught it.”

“ Gavin – he must be a good pokemon in SOME way. You just have to persevere – you only caught him a few days ago.”

“ I know – but I just thought … that he’d obey. Staryu does, Natu does, Girafarig does.”

“ Well, at first Aipom didn’t obey me at all.” Lisa said, a smile creeping up onto her face despite Gavin’s problems and Dratini still being in the Pokemon Centre. “ When I first got him.”

Gavin looked mildly interested. “ When did you catch Aipom?”

“ Well – I didn’t.” Lisa admitted.

“ Oh – you traded?”

“ Not quite.”

“ So – you got GIVEN Aipom?”

“ Yeah – my parents gave him to me.”

“ Explain?” a smile crept onto Gavin’s face too.

“ My parents got a job a few weeks ago – about a month ago, actually.” Lisa began, sitting down on Gavin’s white bedsheets, and suddenly recalling the Black Beast fiasco back in Goldenrod. Shrugging it off, she continued.

“ Mum and Dad got a job with a huge company over east last September. Dad was already interested in Fossils – he studied them all day and night, like a collector – and Mum was employed at the Ecru Lake as a Marine Expert. She knew all there was to know about the contents of the lake, like Salvao weed, and of course, fossils. She taught groups of other fossil experts through a tour of the lake – one particular company, Sterling and Son, or something like that, thought she was good for a job opening in Mt Moon.”

“ And then?” Gavin asked, listening intently as though the story was vital to his existence.

“ Then Mum said she’d only go if Dad went too – he had been looking for a job like that for AGES. It was about a week before the company agreed – and about a week later they left.”

“ To Kanto?”

“ Uh huh.” Lisa replied flatly. “ They left us at home.”

“ Who’s us?”

“ Me and my little brother and sister, and my older brother Tom, who stayed for about a week before he left. Then he just checked on us every morning and night – he trains at the gym.”

“ So where does Aipom come in?”

“ He came in a padded box about a week after Mum and Dad left,” Lisa swallowed her laughter. “ Bouncing off the walls … they sent him over for me. At first he wouldn’t listen to me at all – but after a while he got used to me and I really liked him.”

Gavin nodded, and felt a great surge of tiredness coming on. He yawned heavily, and then turned over. “ G’night – seeya in the morning.”

“ G’night Gavin,” Lisa sighed, then spoke in what was barely a whisper, scarcely a breath. “ I hope that psychic legend is wrong after all – it’d be a shame if you died now. I’m just getting to like you.”

*

Lisa entered the colosseum, the wind blowing back her hair into Aipom’s face, as she tossed Dratini’s pokeball up and down in her hand. The sun shone brightly as always – not a cloud in sight. Lisa was ready now – Dratini had been fully healed now – as had all the others. It was time for the rematch.

The crowd cheered on as Anna entered from the opposite side, stepping into the trainer’s box. Lisa entered hers. The water in the pool had been refilled over the past two days, and it reflected the radiant sunlight. The referee blew on his whistle, and called out “ One on one battle – start … now!”

Somewhere, a bell rang out, and Lisa grinned, arching her arm out to throw Dratini’s pokeball, then in a swift move of deception snatched up Quagsire’s from her belt, and threw it out. Anna dropped Psyduck’s pokeball into the water, and noticed Lisa’s different Pokemon. “ Not against the rules, is it?” Lisa smirked. Anna scowled, but only for a moment – she felt a little differently towards Lisa now. The battle began.

“ Psyduck – full on Aurora Beam.” Anna cried. “ Lisa, this time there’s going to be no ice beams, fair enough?”

“ I don’t see how Aurora Beam is much different,” called Lisa.

“ It’s a dilute version.”

“ Alright. Double Team, Quagsire.” Lisa ordered.

Both battlers took immediate action, Quagsire closed his eyes and squinted – rapidly producing replicas of himself – however, they were only images, not solid beings. Then the mischievous mud pokemon switched itself with one of the copies, in such a fast, obscured move that even Lisa couldn’t pick it. Psyduck, the slower of the two adversaries, was preparing an orb of azure light, forming it between it’s short, stubby arms as it grew larger – although nothing like the enormous proportions of the last one.

When the globe of cerulean brightness had grown to the size of an orange, he shot out the rainbow-coloured aurora from it, quickly releasing it off at Quagsire’s ring of copies – all of them were standing still, their eyes all glinting slightly, and their mouths curved upwards slightly in a child-like grin. The rainbow light raced at the Quagsires, who made no action to save themselves – only one was real, after all. The icy beam shot through two Quagsires and they dissolved immediately. Lisa clenched her fist – as a small sign of triumph.

*

“ Gavin – the ghost expert will see you now.” A nurse popped her head around the door of Gavin’s room. Gavin nodded, and sat up slowly, piling up his pillows to prop him up.

“ Alright then.”

As soon as the nurse vacated, a young man of about 18 years entered. He had light brown hair, cut short, and deep chestnut eyes. Gavin looked at him – he didn’t seem like Morty, the gym leader – although he did seem like the right age. “ You’re not Morty.” Gavin muttered, as the man, dressed in black pants and a blue shirt, sat down in the comfortable seat next to the bed.

“ No – Morty couldn’t leave Ecruteak.” The man said. “ He had some urgent business regarding legendary pokemon –” his voice lowered and he muttered under his breath to himself. “ My sister would like that.” But Gavin’s ears heard and his mind ticked into action. Sister? Legendaries? Gavin shook his head, and kept quiet.

“ So who ARE you?”

“ Hm?” the man said. “ Oh right … I’m a trainer at the gym. My name’s Tom Walters.”

Gavin let his jaw drop freely. “ Walters?” he spluttered. “ As in – Lisa’s … brother?!”

“ Wassat?” His eyes were suddenly sharp and glaring at Gavin as though he had just killed an innocent Cleffa. “ You know Lisa?”

“ She’s like – my best friend!” Gavin cried instantly. “ We travel together.” He added, in case Tom got at all suspicious.

“ Hm … small world … so she’s on the island?” Tom kept his shock fairly well this time.

“ Yeah – we’re both competing in the Whirlpool Cup. She’s battling right now, actually.”

Tom appeared deep in thought. “ I might see her later on today. But for now let’s get on with the reason that I’m here – your psychic – um – problem.”


[continued in next post ...]

[Gavin Luper]

“ Aurora Beam! ”
“ Psyduck – Psybeam.”

The battle in the Water Colosseum was well and truly underway. Lisa and Quagsire seemed to have the advantage – after Quagsire had hit Psyduck with a well-aimed Water Gun, however, that meant Psyduck had discovered the true Quagsire, and the Double Team was, in effect, foiled. Now Lisa had entered a new round of battling – and this time she was hoping for a success.

Quagsire immediately opened his wide mouth and formed a sphere of rainbow light within his jaws, firing it off at once. Lisa inwardly thanked herself for taking five hours a couple of days ago to train Quagsire. The beam hit Psyduck at once, while it was still glowing with ever-changing light. The clumsy-footed duck was not only hit, but fell off the platform and into the water. However, the Psybeam it had begun slowly creating was so overpowering, he slowly rose out of the water and back onto the platform due to his sheer build up of Psychic energy. Then he fired a beam of mauve light from his mouth, and hit Quagsire square in the head. Quagsire began staring dazedly.

Lisa heard the commentator’s voice booming over the colosseum. “ Anna’s Psyduck manages to effectively use it’s Psybeam even when being toppled into the pool and it delivered Lisa’s Quagsire a highly devastating side-effect of confusion which could cost Lisa the battle!”

“ Damn you, Anna. That was a pretty good move though!” Lisa said, but she now realised that the confusion might indeed cost her the match, and her chances of Semi-finals. “ Quagsire – Whirlpool!”

“ Thanks Lisa,” Anna smiled. “ Disable, Psyduck.”

Quagsire’s confusion, Lisa thought, might have helped in forming the whirlpool – he was spinning dizzily anyway, so he might as well put some use into it. It worked. Quagsire spun his confusion away, but soon had formed instead of a below-surface whirlpool, a small waterspout, which rose into the air about 10 feet, twisting wildly and thrashing as though thinking for itself.

Psyduck glowed with a sapphire hue, and concentrated his energy towards Quagsire, in the centre of the waterspout. However, his attack was deflected immediately – even strong psychic energy couldn’t reach through the spinning walls of water. Lisa, again seeing an advantage, called out for a strong, and hopefully final move.

“ Quagsire – win this round for us with … Tidal Wave!”

*

“ So you haven’t had these experiences before you came to Goldenrod?” Tom asked, sitting in the chair beside his client’s bed.

“ Well, once, before actually,” Gavin admitted sheepishly. “ When I was still living at home I did have a … thing … when I broke my arm. But that was when I was like – 13. The next one was that incident at the Radio Tower. And then the Whirlpool thing that I told you about. And then in the town on this island. And then – yesterday.”

Tom nodded thoughtfully. “ They only happen when you’re in pain.”

“ It seems that way.” Gavin said. “ Why is that?”

Tom shrugged. “ I really don’t know. I’ve had only a little experience with stuff like this – some trainers at work get premonitions – but they kinda just premonitionise -” Gavin snorted as Tom said this “ whenever they want to. Your case is different. What was that legend thingy again?”

“ That the great Psychic legend will attack when I reach my full psychic power?” Gavin said, unsure now whether he should have even told Tom that after all. Then he convinced himself he should have – he was Lisa’s family, it wasn’t a total stranger. “ That was just an old legend – a family one, actually. I don’t even know what Pokemon it is – but apparently it’ll attack me for the greater psychic being.”

“ It may have some substance,” Tom muttered. “ I’m gonna ask Morty when I get back to Ecruteak. In the meantime, just keep out of trouble, and don’t use Lanturn AT ALL.”

*

An enormous wave slowly rose out of the pool, and flung down upon Psyduck. Instantly, Psyduck was hit, and Lisa’s face lit up with excitement. She had originally doubted if Quagsire could pull it off – the Tidal Wave attack required SOME psychic ability, but Quagsire had succeeded. The wave missed Quagsire, and washed over Psyduck. When the water had washed away, the mustard-yellow duck was seen, floating in the water, cross-eyes. Lisa felt a leap of hope within her, but at the same time a rush of sorrow for Anna.

The referee blew his whistle. “ The winner is the blue trainer – Lisa Walters – and her Quagsire!” Lisa waved up at the crowd, Jack in particular, as they cheered for her as one being. She grinned – now she was in the semi-finals!

-------------------
*exhaustion* - the chapter was too big, it had to be split up!

New chappie in 30 seconds

[Gavin Luper]

WOOHOO! The 'new' chapter is here! It's new because it wasn't posted on the exboard, but was on the old TPM.

YAY!! This is the last update for the day. with a little cliffhanger!

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

Chapter 16 - Whirlpool Champion - Part I.


“ Staryu – Take Down!” Gavin cried, legs spread slightly as he struggled to stay balanced on the platform. In the pool, Staryu speedily tackled it’s opponent, a rubbery, slippery Azumarill, which was trying to Bubblebeam unsuccessfully.

Azumarill was certainly almost at the end of it’s line. After taking a fierce beating from the opposing Staryu, blasted down by countless beams of rainbow light and forced underwater by a couple of mauve jets of energy, Azumarill was ready to faint. It’s female trainer, however, the young Nurse Joy, daughter of the Joy in the Island’s Pokemon Centre, was not prepared to give up.

“ Azumarill – Water Gun!” she cried breathlessly, and Azumarill slowly mustered it’s strength to pull back to an upright floating position and breathed in, filling it’s hydrogen chambers with oxygen. A large amount of water formed within it, and Azumarill swiftly exhaled out the blast, as Gavin called out “ Mirage!”

Staryu once again came out on top – disappearing in a hazy blue mist, as the water gun shot right through it, and a yell echoed across the water from the crowd – it appeared the attack had actually hit an innocent bystander. Gavin was undisturbed – this battle was HIS, and one more quick move would finish it off. Ordering a Psybeam, Gavin looked on in delight as Staryu formed a mass of lilac energy before firing it off at the bouncy Azumarill, who looked like it had now had all the spring taken out of it. As the lavender light hit home, the rabbit-like pokemon was flung back at Joy, who quickly pulled out a Lure Ball and recalled it.

“ Go, Octillery.”

The ugly saffron pokemon appeared not in the water but on the platform, it’s tentacles moving slowly and oozing out from beneath it as Joy gave it a nudge with her shoe to remind it was in battle. The slow Pokemon flopped with a splash into the pool, and it’s heavy, unbalanced head floated it to the top. Staryu, although having no eyes, Psy-scanned the opponent, and saw a big ugly octopus. Even Staryu shuddered slightly, but Gavin was determined to win this – if he did … the boy shivered with the prospect.

It was Wednesday the 14th November – five days since Gavin had been discharged from the local Hospital. Tom had left shortly after talking with Gavin – he never actually got to talk to Lisa, but had wished them both luck via Gavin. Lisa had easily passed through her semi-final match, although it had been close. She had fought a highly-skilled water trainer, Aqua, but eventually Dratini managed to faint Aqua’s Politoed with a well-placed Ice Beam. Gavin, also, had had great luck – defeating an aged fisherman in his first match after recovering, and then beating a swimmer called Simon, who fought with a couple of Tentacool. Gavin was now playing his semi-final match, but if he won, both he, Lisa and another mystery trainer would fight (due to Lisa and Anna’s draw) – he supposed they would somehow make a mini tournament out of it.

Due to some rotten luck on both their parts, neither Gavin nor Lisa had actually watched each other battle since Gavin’s first match, which Lisa had hardly been able to concentrate on, let alone hear, due to her very high, very distant seat. However, if things kept going Gavin’s way, he and Lisa would be battling in the Grand Final – something he had inwardly been hoping to avoid in one way, but in another way he truly hoped to win the Cup – his brother had always been bringing home trophies and medals when they were alive. But Gavin, being younger by about 2 years, was always smaller and less experienced – and when he left Ecruteak to start a career in Goldenrod, he was working towards a Degree of Experienced Pokemon Research, and had a part time job at the Radio Tower.

Then Lisa came along. His part time job was ruined, and when Lisa left for Cianwood, Gavin had felt suddenly lonely. So he rushed back to Goldenrod, abandoning his University course the next day, and leaving his friend Dave and their apartment …

“ Oy!”

Gavin was stirred from his long memories by a call from the other side of the battlefield. Joy was standing on the platform, tapping her foot impatiently. “ Are you gonna battle or not?”

Apparently Gavin had been thinking for far too long. In the stands, the crowd was looking down, some with puzzled expressions and others calling out and jeering things like ‘we paid to see a battle’ and ‘I want my money back’. Gavin blushed scarlet when he spied Lisa, rushing into the stands with Aipom on her shoulder – apparently she was late as usual. The boy swallowed once, and continued with the battle.

“ Staryu – Psychic attack, followed by a Barrier.”
“ Octillery – Octazooka, then Wrap.”

Staryu quickly charged up a small and rather pitiful globe of rich plum light – the long battle seemed to be wearing it down a fair bit, and reducing it’s usual abilities. Despite it’s slight weakness, Staryu shot out the purple light, hitting Octillery square in the jelly-like head. The orange THING, covered in odd squelchy suckers, was very slow, but made up for it’s speed by it’s excellent health conditions. It was looking shiny and happy too, although Gavin thought it was too hard to tell with such a creature.

It certainly was slow. By the time Staryu was preparing a large wall of reflective transparency, Octillery finally managed to perform the Octazooka – a large blast of what appeared to Gavin as electricity, but what surely must have been light, which barrelled at Staryu. The starshape pokemon was in no mood to give in or show any signs of weakness or mercy. It dodged the blast, which had been very inaccurate anyway, and the octazooka blared off into the barrier, which was now behind Staryu, and effectively useless unless the Star pokemon was behind it.

“ Staryu, get back behind the barrier.” Gavin ordered, and Staryu pushed it’s way through the shimmery cerulean water towards the reflective screen. However, Octillery was now into the full swing of things. It came at Staryu while it had it’s back turned, and coiled it’s heavy, slimy tentacles around Staryu’s limbs. Gavin’s jaw dropped for a moment before he grinned. “ Teleport.”

Staryu easily slipped out of the coils and reappeared a few metres away, now fully aware of Octillery’s power – although fairly slow, it’s tentacles contained great power – Staryu realised that much longer within it’s grasp and his limbs would have had the circulation cut off – Octillery had excellent crushing power.

“ Try Octazooka again.” Joy called.
“ Staryu – finish up with Bubblebeam.”

Staryu fired out a string of bubbles at Octillery. The bubbles looked not at all threatening – in fact, they looked pleasant and peaceful, floating towards Octillery, however Gavin knew that when they popped they stung like crazy – actually he knew from experience due to an accident with a Poliwag a few years back. Octillery, already weakened by the Psychic, was fainted by the bubblebeam – Gavin guessed because of the sheer numbers of bubbles. A few bubbles did sting, but being bombarded by bubbles would have been quite difficult to come through.

A bell clanged, and the crowd roared for Gavin – through to the Grand Final. Joy sadly returned Octillery, as Gavin dived off the side of the platform into the cool water to hug Staryu. They had come through to the Grand Final – against Lisa and another talented water pokemon trainer. Lisa cheered as a soggy Gavin and a tired but rejoicing Staryu swam back to the platform.

*

The kettle whistled away noisily, steam pouring from it’s worn and slightly rusted spout. Gavin looked up from over his newspaper lazily, but it was Lisa who actually took action – she jumped up from her chair and poured boiling water into two mugs of coffee.

“ Why did we have to get the economy unit?” Lisa asked, as she flicked a small water beetle from the edge of the sink. “ It’s so…ugh.”
“ I like it.” Gavin muttered. “ Besides, it was the only accommodation left on the island.”
“ We coulda stayed with Jake.”
“ Lisa – his parents were coming to stay.”
“ We coulda slept in the – uh – kitchen?”
“ Lisa.” Gavin said, with a note of warning. “ He was nice enough to let us stay for a few days.”
“ Whatever.” Lisa sighed, handing Gavin a cup of boiling coffee.

Things between the two had been tense ever since the Grand Final competition was announced. Knowing that they were soon to fight each other they both became very edgy and stand-offish. Although they still trained together since that Wednesday, the previous day, they both felt like they didn’t want to fight each other – even if it was friendly competition.

On Wednesday afternoon, Jack had informed them that Jake’s parents were coming to stay. The elderly couple required a bedroom – and since Jake was already housing Jack, Frank and himself, Lisa and Gavin had been, in a way, kicked out. They had quickly found an ancient little hut near the beach – similar to the empty one Lisa and Gavin had stayed in that rainy night after Gavin’s first fight – except this one was furnished. Consisting of four rooms – a kitchen, living area, bedroom and bathroom, the unit was poorly furnished with a drab, plain sheeted bed in the bedroom, an awful bench coloured with a murky shade of mustard, splintery, wooden planks that meant shoes were a must, and a couple of ancient couches, facing a TV set whose reception was almost as bad as Lanturn’s disobedience.

“ C’mon, we gotta go.” Lisa snapped, drinking down her coffee. “ The match starts in half an hour.”

Gavin sculled as much coffee as he could without spurting it back up, and stood up, reaching for his pack.
“ The referee said we wouldn’t need anything except two pokemon.” Lisa reminded him snappily. Gavin nodded, but as he turned to take his belt from his pack, he scowled. Both Lisa and Gavin were very irritable – the slightest thing could set them off. Gavin would be glad when the match was over…

*********

As usual, the stadium was packed with people of all different sizes and ages. Jack was in the crowds, winking good luck to both of them. But still Lisa and Gavin were clueless to how the Final round would work. The referee hadn’t told them anything – they only knew that two pokemon were to be used. Gavin had reluctantly taken Lanturn’s pokeball from his pack that morning – he would be necessary if Staryu lost, but Gavin hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Another shock might trigger off another psychic blast – and he did not want that. Maybe if Staryu went down, he would simply have to wimp out?

Lisa and Gavin congregated with the referee and another teenage girl whose hair was a bright shade of ultramarine in a corner of the battlefield. There were three floating platforms near the edge and another six floating in no order in the central pool area. “ This match will be a three-way fight.” The referee announced, cramming his black cap onto his head. “ All three pokemon will fight at once, meaning each pokemon will be constantly battling down two other opponents. Once one trainer’s pokemon is down, number two is to be sent in immediately.”

Lisa, Gavin and the other girl gaped – none of them had ever experienced a three-way battle before. It would be VERY challenging – not just for them to keep track of all the attacks and order their fighter around, but for the pokemon themselves. Looking up at the crowd, Lisa noted that they already seemed to be informed of this prior to the match – maybe that was why it was so full of people?

“ Lisa, Marina, Gavin, I wish you all the best of luck.” The ref said. “ Now please move to the trainer positions.”

At this, he strode to the sidelines of the stadium floor, equipping himself with a hands-free microphone. Lisa and Gavin nodded to the other girl, Marina, for good luck, and then did the same with each other. All the tension seemed to have dissolved as they entered the stadium – now it wasn’t like a bitter rivalry at all – they had too much on their minds to even be concerned with such petty matters anyway.

Lisa stepped onto her own floating platform, heart thumping wildly. This was it – she was in the grand final – she had been waiting for this FOREVER.

Then a voice in the back of Lisa’s mind spoke up. “ Not forever.” It reminded her. “ You actually started with a very different goal.” Lisa thought back to her vow to find out all she could about Suicune and the legendaries. That had been short-lived after Eusine’s request, and then Irene’s prompt to enter the Whirlpool Cup League. Lisa suddenly felt ashamed. She had given up on her quest – maybe not GIVEN up, but been majorly sidetracked.
“ After this fight,” she told herself, “ Aipom and I are gonna find out more about legendaries, and we’ll never get distracted again.”

Somehow Lisa managed to do all this soulsearching in the time it took for the ref to turn on his microphone. It occurred to her that if she did lose, it would no longer matter – her true goal was indeed to capture legendary Pokemon.

The ref blew his whistle, and the commentator at once began talking. Lisa tuned out – she had to concentrate on the fight – she needed full attention if she was going to win this thing. Marina sent out a Golduck, a turquoise duck-like pokemon who stood upright. Golduck stood for a moment on the edge of his platform, before diving gracefully in, his smooth body flowing along as though it too was water. Lisa pulled out a pokeball, using her strongest pokemon first. “ Quagsire!”

After a few seconds, a Quagsire, Golduck and Staryu all floated in the water, eyeing each other off. Lisa was unsure how to fight in a three way battle, so she tried treating it as a normal one. “ Quagsire – start off with an Aurora Beam!”

It didn’t work.

Marina ordered a whirlpool from Golduck and Gavin called for a reflect. Not only would the Aurora Beam be unable to hit either opponent, Quagsire was unsure which enemy to aim for. In the end, he got so confused, the attack was just cancelled out.

Meanwhile, Staryu had formed a shimmery forcefield around itself, protecting from most attacks. The star then simply floated while Golduck kicked up a spiralling mass of water into a waterspout, charging for both Staryu and Quagsire, who were relatively close together.

“ Psybeam!”
“ Double Team!”

Staryu fired off a beam of mauve light at the waterspout, which entwined around the greater attack and began spinning as one, if anything now more powerful. Quagsire, on the other hand, swiftly made shadowy reflections of itself and exchanged it’s own body for one of the images. The real Quagsire gave Lisa a wink, showing that he was out of harm’s way. The Waterspout was on course for one of the images. Lisa gave a sigh of relief.

But not for long. Soon, Gavin was enlightened by Staryu’s last failed attack. Still in the path of the water cyclone, Staryu cowered in it’s reflecting shell, however the shell couldn’t hold through something of THAT mass and pressure. Gavin used his only and possibly pointless idea. “ Staryu – Psyspin.”

Staryu was utterly confused by the order. Psyspin? Was there such an attack? He had to give it a go. First up – psy was Psychic, so EASY, use a Psybeam – but spin?

Then Staryu clicked. He fired a mass of lilac energy into the air, just metres away from the whirlpool, but instead of hitting the cyclone straight on, it curved and aimed back at Gavin. But just before hitting Staryu itself, the beam curved again and looped back on itself. Lisa saw the idea, and smirked. After a few moments, an immense psy-cyclone was spinning with destructive fury VERY close to the slow but dangerous waterspout. But the Psyspin proved faster. In a blast which made all three trainers and the ref look to the side, the purple cyclone connected with the water, overpowering it with utter and overwhelming force, suddenly changing course…

…for Quagsire…

[Gavin Luper]

Lisa the Legend just had a major update - chapters 10 to 16 all at once - for all my readers, we're back to where we left off at the ezboard! And it's the 18th September!

http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/s...15&pagenumber=1

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

ah, new chapters, that's what i've wanted.

GO GAVIN!!!! BOO OtHER GIRL!!!! LISA, DO SOMEWHAT OKAY!!!!!!

NEXT ChAPTER!!!!!

[Master Kirby]

Yea! You got back up to the new chapters!

More new attacks! Maybe Quagsire can make a new attack to deflect all of these enormous cyclone/whirlpools.

To bad he isn't psychic. Then he might have a chance of controling the attacks' path.

[Gavin Luper]

SSM: I hoped you'd be happy that we finally got a new chapter! Yay! Oh, and you're cheering for Gavin instead of Lisa? Cool!!!

Master Kirby: WOOHOO! New chapters at last! It's actually old chapters for me, we have another 10 chapters to go until the actual new ones come out. Yay! I dunno if quaggie will be able to deflect that cyclone, it looks like he'll just have to face it. Or will he? Find out next chapter!

[Mew Trainer Rose]

Yayness, a "new" chappie! This is a new development, the 3-way battle. That'd be really tricky.
It's nice that Lisa finally remembered what she started out to do. And i look forward to seeing who wins!

[Last Exile]

Yay Gavin and Lisa! It would be sacrilegous not to cheer them both! And nice idea on Psyspin! Sounds pretty cool. But it won't be if it messes up Quagsire. Poor guy. All the crazy crap ahs to always happen to him! Cheers, Gavin! PS. Which state do you live in? I get the impression you're on the east coast, but all three of those states are pretty different. I know Ozzy's a Queenslander and that Misty is a Sydneysider, but I didn't know about you.

PS. I hope you're not a Collingwood fan. BECAUSE I HOPE BRISBANE ABSOLUTELY MURDER THEM IN THE GRAND FINAL! Damn them for denying Adelaide the chance to play in another grand final! Damn them for making Port Adelaide play Brisbane! Damn that overexposed knobhead Eddie McGuire!

[Gavin Luper]

CCC: Hey!! Yes, we must cheer them both on, it's the only fair thing to do. Unless you'd prefer one of them to win. I didn't ... the result of the battle was a tough one for me to make!

Quagsire gets better soon!

I'm from Western Australia, actually, and for some reason I always think you are from South Australia but maybe not. Although if you were from Victoria I would know a person from each eastern state (Mist, Oz).

Funny you should mention the footy. I AM actually a Collingwood fan. Lol - almost everyone i know wants them to lose!! But it's their first grand final in 12 years, i think they deserve to win!!

Cheers!

Finally, the conclusion to The Whirlpool Cup. I hope you all appreciate the winner, and understand why they won. After this chapter ... the real story begins!

Cheers!

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

Chapter 17 - Whirlpool Champion - Part II.


The water/psychic mass of energy spiralled wildly across the pool, it’s diameter booming, it’s volume increasing with each metre it forced along. Quagsire, originally not sighting the cyclone, had now turned to view it in all its spinning glory.

And he panicked.

Quagsire’s first thought was to dive under the cyclone and swim underneath. Obviously, the pokemon had some common sense, and he quickly abandoned his original instinctive strategy, instead opting to swim to the side. This soon proved impossible – the waterspout had such width now that it took up almost the entire diameter of the pool – threatening to break through the sides with its amassed psychic and water powers. Quagsire found himself in a blackening shadow seconds before the tornado crashed onto him, picking him up and throwing him mercilessly. The strange pokemon was flung around while Lisa buried her head in her hands, until a sudden blast of mauve light from the other side reduced the attack instantly to a tiny whirlpool, which eventually spun itself out. Lisa pried her hands away.

Over the other side of the pool, Gavin was looking proud, winking at Lisa, while Marina slowly looked out of her hands and gave a sigh of relief. But Quagsire was brutally injured – knocked out. Eyes crossed, the celeste pokemon drifted in the wake of the blast. Lisa put two and two together – Staryu has Psychiced the waterspout to neutralise the psybeam and end the water attack, which on it’s own would have disappeared after a few seconds – knocking Quagsire out in the process.

Lisa nodded a quick sarcastic ‘thanks’ to Gavin, and regretfully returned Quagsire, who was definitely not going to come to. She pulled out the new pokeball, and swiftly released Dratini, her final hope to win the Cup. She glimpsed up at the crowd, trying to find Jack again in case he was biting his nails again – that always made her laugh. But Marina and Gavin promptly began again and Lisa had to turn her attention back to the battle.

“ Golduck – set up a Safeguard against both of them!” Marina called.

“ Staryu – try Water Gun on Golduck! Wait for Lisa to call her move before attacking!” Gavin ordered. And then a brilliant scheme popped into his head, something he had never tried and had never really thought of much. However, it was worth a try, so quickly he balled his sweaty palms into fists and punched his head twice. Marina looked at him as though he had just sprouted wings and turned into a Pidgeot, but Lisa gave him a sidewards glance, cautious of his actions. What game was he playing at? Gavin took control of the slight pain immediately, and thought at Staryu – telepathy. Staryu, disregard what I told you to do! Pretend to aim for Golduck, then make a quick Ice Beam at Dratini!

Staryu turned to face its trainer in confusion, but Gavin made a subtle nod to it. Staryu cried out “ hyaah!” and waited for Lisa to order her move. “ Dratini – Thunderbolt – both of ‘em!” Dratini squeaked back at Lisa in a tone of confidence that only Lisa could understand. And then the round went into play.

Golduck waved its clumsy hands in an oval around him, and instantly a bright golden aura appeared in its wake. Tiny golden stars were spinning around the duck, keeping him protected from such things as Paralysis and confusion – both of which were possible with Dratini and Staryu out. At the same time over the other side, facing the Golduck, Dratini quickly set to work. His normally curvy, serpent-like body became erect, and small azure light began wavering between his ears. Staryu looked at Gavin, and he again gave a subtle flick of his head, which signified the beginning of the attack on Dratini. Evidently, Gavin thought it best to remove one opponent from the fight as quickly as possible – regretfully Lisa was the one to be eliminated.

“ Ti!!!” Dratini fired off the electric-blue light which was his greatest thunderbolt. The light cut silently through the air until it reached the middle of the pool in midair, where it forked and sent two branches at Staryu and Golduck. Golduck shrieked at contact, and his body went into horrible convulsions. Staryu took the attack a little better – it didn’t go into fits anyhow. But in a brief moment, Staryu broke through the pain and Gavin cried “ Now!” Lisa whipped her head around to see the effects of the Water Gun on Golduck, but suddenly a blast of crystalline whiteness with a tinge of cerulean whizzed in front of her, her hair blowing into her face from the wind picked up by the blast. She glanced quickly to where the beam had been headed, and found a dazed Dratini, almost KO’ed by the surprise attack.

Anger welling up inside, she flicked her gaze to Gavin, who had a mixed expression of regretfulness and triumph. Lisa felt rage inside, spiralling up her body and eventually into her mouth like a long, snaky Gyarados, promising destruction wherever it travelled. Lisa herself felt like a Gyarados. Seething inwardly, she yelled out “ Dratini – Ice Beam back!” opting for the most powerful attack they had really tried to build up, all those days ago after Gavin’s first fight at the Qualifying Finals.

“ Staryu, counter with Bubblebeam.” Gavin ordered, at once.

Marina watched on, with her nose screwed up at the sight of the angry friends. Golduck mirrored its trainer, wondering if it should interfere or just sit back and spectate at a safe distance. After some silent musing, it crept up onto the platform that its trainer was on, and decided to stay back.

Its choice was safest, and may have, in effect, decided the entire battle result.

The commentator was rattling off the attacks so fast that Lisa promptly tuned out. No point trying to listen, she just had to watch. It was like an ordinary two-on-two battle, with Marina and Golduck not attacking. Dratini and Staryu continually exchanged attacks, often the blows doing virtually nothing, since they were both becoming so aggressive that they became extremely inaccurate. Finally, Lisa was fed up with the petty exchanges of beams, and called for something more powerful, of which she hoped Dratini would manage.

“ Hyper Beam.”

Gavin shook slightly at the words, but smirked to himself, saying at once to Staryu “ Thunderbeam”. Staryu spun wildly, and began converting all it’s energy to electricity. Gavin had been biding his time since that night on the beach, when he had taught Staryu the fatal attack. Although likely to damage both pokemon, Thunderbeam was Gavin’s secret weapon against all the water pokemon in the tournament, but he had yet to use it. Things were rough, though, especially with a Hyper Beam.

Finally, Dratini, who had been progressively building up light within its mouth, formed it into a dense globe of energy. Lisa thought the time was ripe, and made her move. “ Now!” Both trainers called out at exactly the same time, and two beams, one intensely white and one a bright, flavescent hue, shot out, this time deadly accurate, each one whistling through the air and slicing through the heavy atmosphere, cutting the tension. As the beams reached the centrepoint of the pool, at the same moment, Lisa picked up an error, just a little too late.

They were too accurate.

Two jets of light collided at once, each one still streaming from it’s source. Lisa thought she saw a red spark, but moments later all thoughts were wiped from her mind, as an explosion thundered around the stadium. Lisa was deafened, unable to hear girls in the crowd scream, men and boys swear, and parents clap their hands over the children’s eyes. Lisa would have done the same, except she saw something that stopped her in her tracks. A mushroom cloud of thick smoke was billowing from the epicentre of the attacks, covering both Dratini and Staryu. It took Lisa a moment to realise that the smoke was tinged with scarlet – tiny sparks were drifting in the wake of the explosion, showering down over the pokemon. Dratini gave a shrill cry which pierced the cloudy air, now enveloping both pokemon. Just before Dratini was swallowed up, Lisa saw it writhing around in pain from the sparks, and stop moving abruptly.

She gasped, and felt the cloud expand over her. But there were no longer bright red sparks raining down, instead a fine blue dust lingered, as the cloud cleared away gradually. The blue dust landed on her with a tingly sensation, which made her feel suddenly fresh and cool. Lisa let a smile break out over her face, despite the recent happenings. The crowd was opening their eyes now, as the cloud cleared completely and the fine blue dust rained down, although now more sparsely. And she noticed each one of their mouths curve upwards, in a peaceful smile.

Across the other side, Marina was grinning too, and Gavin was smiling half-sheepishly. But Lisa shook the feeling off and set her mouth in a straight line. Time to see the devastation.

Dratini was lying lifelessly in the pool, which was rippling slightly, affected only slightly by the mid-air explosion. Staryu was lying face-down, mimicking Dratini. Gavin and Lisa were equally devastated, though for different reasons. Gavin’s only real fighter was down – that meant Lanturn was his only hope, if it could be called a hope. Lanturn was, without a shadow of a doubt, more of a hindrance than help. But Lisa was goggling at the sight, and, although she had confirmed with herself that it no longer mattered whether she won or not, it was still a shock to the system.

Stunned and reluctant, Lisa pulled out the empty pokeball pertaining to Dratini and sent out a crimson beam to recover him back, safely. Gavin did the same, and the pool was instantly back to it’s usual empty self. Lisa clipped the pokeball sadly back onto her belt, salty tears springing to her eyes – she hated losing, although had tried to overcome her problem. But when she looked back up she winked at Gavin and Marina and began walking to the front row, where a team of journalists and TV reporters sat at a wooden row of desks, taking notes and filming the action. Lisa then took a shiny, almost unused pokeball and released the pokemon inside it. A purple monkey leapt out and landed on her shoulder, grinning brightly and clinging on as Lisa arrived at the foot of the commentary tower, and opened the glass door to go inside. Once the door shut behind her, all the noise was blocked out from the outside, and Lisa sat miserably on the first step in the flight of blue-carpeted stairs.

“ We lost, Aipom.” Lisa broke the news abruptly, but Aipom just patted her back with it’s odd tail and comforted her. Lisa sat for awhile, for once glad to be alone with her thoughts and her first Pokemon.

*

Back at the battlefield, Gavin felt like he had lost the match, too. He slowly, with a sweaty, trembling hand, reached down to his belt and pulled off his final, uncertain hope. He enlarged the pokeball slowly, and suddenly, spurred on by the cheering crowd, zapped it open, revealing the half-green, half-yellow Lanturn. The crowd oooh-ed, and even Marina looked over inquisitively. But Gavin cringed slightly at his own daring. He was going to be fried, he knew it.

“ Golduck, use Safeguard again.” Marina called, speaking for the first time since Gavin’s order for Thunderbeam, which now seemed eons ago. She had noticed Golduck’s defensive aura was losing it’s shine, and looking rather worn out, so she decided to replenish it. Gavin thought now was as good a time as any to let her win, so he called out “ Thundershock.” In a timid voice.

Lanturn flapped angrily in the water, and frowned at Gavin in a way only a Lanturn could. The boy cringed, and ducked his head to ready himself for the attack. Shutting his eyes, he heard Lanturn cry out, and electricity spark through the air. He cried out, and waited for the electricity to come. He suddenly heard a thump, and looked up, confused. Golduck had toppled over on the platform, next to Marina. Unconscious.

Gavin felt like he was in a dream. No way – why now? How? Why?

Lanturn had obeyed.

It was as though the last few weeks since Gavin actually caught the little guy had never happened. The merciless shocks and attacks – gone suddenly, taken from Gavin’s memory. Lanturn had obeyed – obeyed! The electric fish had a grin spread wide across it’s face, exultantly. Gavin gaped, and wondered what could have possibly made Lanturn obey since last time, when he shocked Gavin so hard that…

“ Oh.” Gavin muttered, recalling that he had psychiced Lanturn away and knocked it out himself. Apparently Lanturn had been impressed with this. He was going to use this to his advantage. He still had a chance!

Marina had recalled Golduck, and was preparing her final pokemon. Gavin felt adrenaline rush through his body. This was the final new pokemon to be sent out this Season. He had to win, Lanturn was on his side now, he HAD to win.

“ Go Tentacraw!”

A pokeball zapped out in mid-air and a grey pokemon appeared at once, landing in the water with a tremendous splash. Gavin’s first impression was that he had never seen anything so ugly. His second impression was that he had no idea what that thing was, so he did the smart thing and quickly tuned into the commentator’s speech. “…wisely sends out the Tentacruel evolution, Tentacraw, who has properties of not only water but Ghost and…” Gavin tuned out; A Ghost type – hard to injur, but he still had a chance. Electricity would still be of use, possibly water too.

Gavin looked the creature over. It looked semi-transparent, but that was only it’s outer layer of body. It’s inner layer was a pale blue, but the ghostly grey cover obscured this almost totally. The thing had two large, jelly-like eyes, both as wide as saucers. However – Gavin was surprised to see this – the thing had only two grey tentacles, many less than it’s unevolved form. Easy work for Lanturn, only a bit of evasive skills needed here.

“ Tentacraw – Wrap, then Acid.”
“ Lanturn – use Agility to dodge the tentacles and then thunderbolt it!”

Lanturn immediately began swimming faster to evade the incoming tentacles from Tentacraw, who towered above it six feet out of the water, it’s ghostly outline flickering every so often, like some form of hologram. The Tentacraw was large and strong, but Lanturn had the speed. Gavin watched gleefully as the fish swam straight past the larger opponent. What a stroke of luck that it was now obeying. Gavin turned back to the jellyfish, and noticed even more gleefully that Tentacraw had tangled it’s two tentacles in a knot. Even more luck.

Panting after the long, painful swim, Lanturn glowed bright yellow and shot out a beam of electricity which contacted it’s adversary and shocked it, making it shake. Lanturn looked like the victor, and Tentacraw seemed to have forgotten it’s orders. Just as Lanturn was beginning to gloat, two more tentacles shot out of the jellyfish’s side and struck it, first slapping it cruelly and then tying it up! Gavin noticed that the tentacles were almost transparent, and they were flickery and ghostly – as though something made up from nowhere. Gavin suddenly guessed, correctly, that the creature could make up tentacles whenever it wanted – that was part of it’s ghost element coming through. No wonder it only had two to begin with.

“ Lanturn, try to struggle free!” yelled Gavin, while trying to think of the next move.

Marina grinned. She now had the advantage. “ Get a good grip, Tentacraw!”

More and more tentacles shot out, until fourteen of them snaked out, entwined around the tiny Lanturn, and eventually lifting it up. Now the Green Lanturn was unable to move. Tentacraw spat out a venomous-looking acid from it’s mouth, which globbed onto Lanturn’s back and seemed to put it in great pain. It squealed, and Gavin, although having been put into pain many time by the thing before, suddenly felt sympathy. He had a sudden urge to end it’s pain and pulled out the pokeball without thinking.

“ Stop!” he muttered to himself. “ There’s still hope – I just gotta figure out a way to beat it. I know it’s water and that means it can use Ice attacks – no, that won’t help. It’s a ghost and apparently also poison type like it’s pre-evolutions, but I don’t think anything there will help me. So – I guess I’m just gonna have to try something really stupid and really risky.”

It was very risky. “ Lanturn – shock yourself!”

Lanturn shook it’s head absently in the pain, but came to his senses. He was obeying his master now – and he was in pain anyway. Not much more could go wrong anyway. The green/yellow thing powered up, and thundershocked, sending mega voltage though his body, coursing all around …

… through the tentacles, as Gavin predicted. They travelled down and shocked Tentacraw violently. Suddenly, twelve tentacles evaporated, as though they had never been there. The other two dropped limply, and hung by Tentacraw’s side as Lanturn dropped back into the water. Instantly, the acid washed off and Lanturn was back where it belonged – in the water.

Marina was taken aback by the technique, but suddenly her eyes glinted with delight. “ Tentacraw – Shadow Ball.”

Gavin shook with fear – Lanturn probably couldn’t counter this, but he had to try. What could block a Shadow Ball? He realised very suddenly - “ Water Barrier!”

Both strong attacks went into action. Tentacraw’s eyes turned pure black, and shot out black energy, which netted itself into a sphere about two feet in diameter and shot at Lanturn. Lanturn’s attack worked also, and water rose out in a huge, protective wall between Lanturn and Tentacraw. The Wave fell suddenly, but straight away a new one washed in to take it’s place, and this happened repeatedly. Gavin grinned – Lanturn was well trained after all. He might just win this thing yet…

“ Good logic, but Tentacraw is really strong!” yelled Marina to Gavin. “ Sorry, Gavin; Tentacraw, summon all your ghost energy and force the Shadow Ball into the wave!!”

“ We’ll just see!”

Suddenly, the black ball hit the tidal wave, slamming into it with great force. Gavin smiled, despite Marina’s threat – this was it – now Lanturn could force the waves onto Tentacraw. But things suddenly went awry. The ball blasted directly through the heavy wall of water, and contacted almost instantaneously with Lanturn, knocking the viridian and yellow pokemon through the water, a deep furrow left behind until the water reclaimed the space. Gavin caught a glimpse of Lanturn’s eyes – crosseyed.

KNOCKED OUT.

Gavin felt his stomach turn to ice.

Lanturn was out.

He had lost.

Failed.

The crowd erupted in a roar, and Gavin hung his head reproachfully. Marina cried out in joy, and leapt into the water, swimming with Tentacraw. Lisa, still on the footstep of the carpeted stairs with Aipom, saw, rather than heard, the events, and stood up, a determined look on her face. Time to face facts, and discover the verdict. Who was the Whirlpool Champion?

She opened the door and heard a blast of sound coming from outside. She saw Gavin recalling Lanturn, and walking around the pool to shake hands with Marina. Marina was splashing around joyfully, laughing in the cool water with her Tentacraw as the referee threw her a huge, golden trophy with engraved letters. Marina read it, and laughed again. Lisa squared her shoulders, tried to look happy for her opponent, and went to do the right thing. Approaching the edge of the pool, she called;

“ Congratulations, Marina!”

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

BAH HUMBUG!

Darn it, you mayed it good, then bad! HOW COULD YOU! GAVIN SHOULD HAVE WON!!!!!

Grrrr.

Evil Luper, you shall pay!

*shadow ball forms in right hand*

[Master Kirby]

That was Good and Bad. It was good that now Lisa and Gavin are equal, so they won't feel bad about the other one winning. It was Bad that niether of them won.

At least now Gavin knows that Lanturn will obey him. If Staryu hadn't been knocked out, than Gavin wouldn't have found this out.

Tentacraw! That was interesting. There should be more triple type pokemon( tentacraw was Water/Poison/Ghost). Lisa should catch a Steel/Psychic type or a Dragon/Scizor (adding the Dragon type to a Scizor would take the Fire weekness from 4x to 2x)!

[Gavin Luper]

SSM: Uh oh! Lol, don't get too angry, I wanted Gavin to win, too. But you've got to see the logical side - it's more likely, and fitting, that a water-type pokemon trainer would win the Tournament. Lisa and Gavin's defeat shows not only that they have a way to go, but it helps set them back to their real journey!

Master Kirby: Good and bad? Ah well. Read what I said to SSM above to see why Gavin and Lisa both lost. I think it's good that they are equal.

Yes, if Staryu had remained alive and kicking, Gavin would never have realised that Lanturn could obey him!

I hope you liked Tentacraw. From now on, a few new pokemon are introduced into the story, so I hope you like them. Remember the autumn/fall Fanfic awards will be coming soon (next month I think ...).

Cheers!

[Last Exile]

Both of them are out?! Aw!!!!

Well, don't sweat it about Collingwood. I'm more vengeful when it comes to North Melbourne, Carlton, Western Bulldogs and Essendon. They're my grudge sides. Our state is still reeling from the fact your side beat both our sides, so we're a little miffed. And we think that Cloke deserved to miss the grand final, considering he mashed Tyson Edwards's nose!

[Gavin Luper]

Ryan: Lol! Both of the people you were going for lost the championship, eh? Gavin and Lisa. And I spose it's just too familiar with Adelaide and Port ...

OK OK, I'll stop rubbing it in. Anyway, thanks for reading.

I don't mind North Melbourne, Western Bulldogs I don't really like, but I hate Essendon and Carlton! Carlton naturally, but Essendon are the most arrogant team ever, so stuck up!

LOL. I had no control over that nose incident!!

[Andrew]

Hello old, chap, how's your monacle today? Still clean I hope! And your cane and top hat?

Oh well, good to see this is progressing along again! I still find it funny that Gavin and Lisa fought eachother and let Marina get away with winning! Why didn't they make a deal beforehand to take down that lady and then eachother?

And Staryu seems to be Gavin's most Powereful doesn't it! Will we see more natu and Giraffe?

Oh well, keep going and talk to you later!

[Gavin Luper]

Hello, Andrew old chap! Care for a round of cucumber sandwiches?

Why didn't you tell me about that idea of Gavin and Lisa making a pact? It would've been perfect for building their rela - er - friendship. LOL. They should have killed her off first I suppose, but what the heck. What's done is done.

Yeah, the truth is that Staryu is the strongest at this point in time. But i will be building on Natu and Girafarig (you know about Girafarig, you've seen chapter 9 ...)

Hope to speak some time today, ok? Cheerio old chap!

[Gavin Luper]

I've decided to edit Chapter 18 today and post it a little earlier than planned. Since I'm on holidays now, I'll be online a lot more, and by the end of this holidays ... *dum dum dum* I should be able to finish posting the book!!

HOORAY!

And then, the real stuff begins ...

Just gotta edit some stuff. Expect the chapter up in a minute!

Here it is ... this chapter had to be broken into two parts because it was too long, sorry for the inconvenience!

Cheers!
-------------------------------------

Chapter 18 - Legendaries.


“Leeeeesa!” squealed Aipom, swinging from the jarrah rafters in the high ceiling. “ Leeesa!”

“Ssh!” Gavin muttered, emerging from his couch, with a backpack on his back and all four full pokeballs on his belt. He held in his hand a tiny silver medal and a fast ball – runner up prizes from the Whirlpool Cup the previous day. He still felt sore from losing when the cup was within his grasp: he felt like just being alone for now. He was going to go to the mysterious caves in the island nearby for the day – maybe try to catch a new pokemon. That would give him something to be happy about.

Gavin sat at the murky-mustard bench, and pulled out a notebook from his pocket, only slightly crumpled. He quickly wrote a note to Lisa in his untidy scrawl, and folded it, placing it on the fridge-top, where Lisa was sure to go first. Whispering to Aipom to be quiet, he opened the door, which creaked very slightly, and shut it, with a much louder squeak.

Gavin plunged his notebook into his backpack, and slipped it onto his back, turning to face the beach before him. Stumbling in the beach sand and making slow progress, he approached the wet sand, on which waves were calmly lapping up against the shell which littered the otherwise plain beach. Gavin felt his sneakers sink in the muddy earth, and so decided to idle no more. “Staryu, c’mon!”

Staryu popped quietly out of it’s captivating home, the pokeball. It’s protrusive limbs stuck firmly in the sand at the floor of the shallow water where it had landed. Gavin admired the entire day – a typical summer’s day, and a perfect Friday. The steady breeze carried a hint of adventure for Gavin, he sniffed it eagerly, and grinned, hopping aboard Staryu’s right arm and pointing out directly east.

“Head that way.” He told his pokemon. “It’s not gonna be very far.”

*

“Quag!” Quagsire cried, firing a hyper-triple-mega-ice beam at Marina’s golduck. It was shot down in one go, and fainted. Marina fell down and began to cry, and Lisa joyfully recalled Quagsire after a high five. A Golden Trophy and Staff appeared in her arms. Then Aipom came up, and did a little dance on her shoulder, which made Marina bawl even more. But then Aipom began gnawing…

Lisa’s eyes fluttered open, and realised it had just been a dream. She grinned to herself – a good one, too, except for the end part, when Aipom bit her ear. Still, it was said that dreams were a distorted reflection of emotions, views and real life …

The girl felt a flash of pain in her ear.

“Aipom!” she squealed, pulling the cheeky monkey off her ear and sitting bolt upright. She rubbed her eyes and yawned uncontrollably for a few seconds. Friday the 15th … about a month until she returned home. Lisa rolled over, wondering why her lower back pained her so much until she actually pulled the bedsheets off to reveal a belt of six pokeballs, one empty, five filled, still on. She forgot to take them off, even after that party last night at the Entertainment centre, where she had been given a Friend Ball, and a tiny copper medallion, which hung now from her neck, along with her pokegear.

She opened the door, and saw an empty hut. Aipom leapt onto the TV, and then jumped up to the rafters in the roof. Lisa glanced around - there was no Gavin, lying like a deadweight on the sofa as usual. Lisa groaned, wondering only slightly where he had gone, and entered the cramped kitchen, the splinters collecting on her thick socks. She opened the fridge while Aipom carelessly destroyed the table next to the sofa as he dropped down – and Lisa couldn’t have cared less – it was their final day in the shack, and frankly, she had had enough anyway.

Pouring milk into a china bowl of Coco’s Crunch, she screwed the cap back on, sighing to herself as she gradually awoke, and returned to the fridge. This time, however, she noticed a tiny sheet of paper folded carefully atop the fridge. Replacing the milk, she picked up the note, sat down at the barstool at the bench and read. It was unmistakeably a note from Gavin.

[I]Dear Lisa,
Hopefully you find this straight away before you get worried or anything. I’m going to do some training on a nearby island – Silver-Rock – all day probably, so don’t worry. I’ll be back at about 4, so just wait for me, OK? Thanks, I’ll seeya later, hopefully with a new Pokemon. – Gavin.[I]

Short and sweet, Lisa noted, taking a few spoonfuls of Coco’s crunch at once and cramming them into her mouth. She felt really relaxed after last night, as though all the tension between her and Gavin had been dissolved by the battle. In a way, she felt relieved that Gavin finished her off first, so they didn’t have to fight each other, one-on-one, which might have been dangerous. However, she was a little peeved at him for the sneak attack in the fight – she had felt really angry about that, although tried to hide it. She sighed … “Just as I was getting to li…”

She broke off from talking to herself, as Aipom crashed a lamp beside the TV, and she sternly warned him. “ Aipom, that’s enough. We have to leave this place intact!”

After Aipom had solemnly promised to behave, Lisa turned back to her cereal while the purple monkey began gnawing on the sofa edge. Lisa felt slightly empty after the match – it felt like her whole life had been building up to the Whirlpool Cup Final Battle, and now that it was all over, she felt undirected in her pokemon quest. Sure, she had been going to find out about Suicune and the other legendaries, but now the task seemed tougher than ever. Where was she meant to start? Back in October she had been to the Radio Tower’s library – there was no hope of returning, in light of the destruction.

She sighed. Legendary pokemon hunting WAS hard work, after all. It wasn’t as if opportunities came knocking on the door, or appearing on the road to various places, or ringing on the phone …

On cue, Lisa’s pokegear phone purred loudly, and she jolted around, shocked at how coincidental it was. As she washed the now empty bowl of Coco’s crunch, she pressed the side button and said “ Hello?”

“Good Morning … am I speaking to Lisa Walters, of Ecruteak City?” a man’s voice said.

Lisa was startled. “Yes … you are … do I know you?”

“Most likely, no.” the man replied.

Lisa’s jaw dropped. “OH MY GOD, you’re a STALKER!”

“No no!” insisted the voice on the other end. “ I am most certainly not. I am Professor Westwood the fifth, and I am seeking your help. I was attending to my Pokedex files a day or two ago and realised some files are incomplete – files you may know of.”

The girl felt still suspicious, but was positive she had heard the name of the professor before, so continued. “What kind of help?”

“ Information on the legendary Black Beast - please can you help me?”

“ I don’t know…” stuttered Lisa, recalling the Black Beast suddenly. “ I can’t really remember much…”

“ Of course you can.” Westwood cried. “ Please, come to visit me at my holiday lab.”

Lisa stayed silent for a moment, and the Professor interpreted this correctly. “ I assure you, I am no stalker. Bring a team of Officer Jennies with you if you like …”

Lisa thought for a moment, and then nodded. She suddenly realised he couldn’t see her, and so she agreed. “ OK, tell me the address.”

After a few more minutes of conversation, Lisa hung up, and quickly wrote a note to Gavin in her neat printing, in case he returned before she. The note basically said that if he came home first, to quickly tidy up, and meet Lisa at Westwood’s mansion. Lisa quickly placed it on the TV top, where Gavin was sure to see it first, as there was no remote. Then she called Aipom, hoisted her backpack on, and left.

*

Mud stuck to Gavin’s shoes as he trudged up the short beach to the caves which covered almost the entire landscape of silver rock island. Gavin thought it was spectacular – an uninhabited Island which was littered with caves and crumbly brown rocks. However, all the caves were made from a much more solid looking, silvery rock, which looked fake at first, but was actually very real.

Gavin recalled Staryu, and set out, Fast Ball in hand, ready to be used at a moment’s notice. He had actually landed a little off course – possibly 200 metres, actually. This side of the island was obscured from view from the direction in which he had approached, but a quick gust of wind had driven him away, and off course.

Gavin shrugged – he was here now anyway, so he would make the most of his visit. It was already 10am, and the sun was becoming progressively stronger, or so it seemed, heating the island. Gavin began walking to a cave to his left, but found that this trail was too rocky, so he about faced and travelled for about five minutes before he came to a glittery silver cave, which didn’t face directly onto the beach, and it’s entrance was very narrow – unlikely to fit anybody much larger than Gavin himself. He gave a furtive glance around, before pushing himself through the cleft.

Inside, the cave was almost pitch black; light from outside barely penetrated the darkness. Distantly, what sounded like a voice was echoing in short bursts. Gavin pulled his backpack off, and dumped it on the ground. After a moment’s fishing around, he produced his torch, and flicked it on (just in case Lanturn had turned back to disobedience after it’s defeat the previous day, and in case it refused to use Flash technique). The beam pierced the blackness better than the sliver of light coming from outside, and, scanning the walls, Gavin soon found an opening to an adjacent chamber – very low, but quite wide. He slipped his pack back on and continued on into the chamber.

*

The mansion sat atop the cliff on the northernmost point of Red Rock Island. Marble pillars outlined the surroundings of the wide, glass-made structure, hoisting up long, shaded terraces bordered with new palms and lush green lawns.

Lisa rapped loudly on the door, and heard a scuttling sound inside. Aipom began to get excited, and started swinging off the door handle. Lisa yanked him off immediately, just as the door swung open.

“ Lisa Walters? Please come in!”

In was definitely the same man from the phone – Lisa recognised the voice – but he looked so … odd! Professor Westwood was a squat, balding man in a white lab coat. His buttons, Lisa noticed at first glance, looked ready to explode any second. The man had large, pale-blue, watery eyes and walked so strangely Lisa really considered it waddling.

“ I heard about you on the news a long time ago. I met your brother Thomas by chance last week, and he explained you were on the island.” He paused, and Lisa looked up – things were being explained. Although Gavin had told her Tom was on the island, he had been urgently called back to Ecruteak, and Lisa had failed to meet him.

“ In case you didn’t know, my lifelong study is the Pokedex.” Westwood continued. “ I study every pokemon there is known to exist, and my workers and I create names, and study them to discover what moves they use, how skilled they are, and what they evolve into. One pokemon I know almost nothing about is the black Beast. I believe you can help me.”

“ O – Ok.” Lisa breathed.

“ Follow me.”

The inside of his hybrid mansion/lab was very tempting for Aipom. Through the entrance hall, protrusive, ugly ornaments or various materials were placed neatly on short columns of marble, mostly pewter statues of heads of very noble-looking men, or colourful, fragile-looking vases. Lisa held Aipom’s tail close to her chest, incase he got any ideas. Westwood led Lisa and Aipom through the mansion until they came to a spacious, airy conservatory. The sunroom was filled with exotic-looking plants and palms, which sat in heavy terracotta pots on the green tiles.

“ Sit.” Westwood ordered, as he placed himself in a deckchair under a palm. Lisa pulled one up, and sat next to him, although she was cautious to keep the chair a good foot or two away from the flustered man.

“ Oh, don’t worry about that.” Westwood muttered, gesturing at Aipom, struggling to wriggle free of Lisa’s grasp. “ Let him go – he can make friends with Slowbro is he wants.” Westwood gestured to a bright pink creature over in the corner of the sunroom, and Lisa reluctantly released Aipom’s tail.

“ So – you called me here about the black –”

“ Yes, about that…” Westwood began, taking a sip from a lemonade can which Lisa hadn’t seen sitting next to the deckchair. “ I need your help.”

Lisa almost laughed aloud. Help from her? She looked the man up and down … he was the creator of an entire documentation of every known pokemon … and he needed her help?

“ Well, I don’t know…” Lisa said carefully. “ I don’t really think I can help you.”

“ I assure you it’s not difficult at all.” Westwood said hastily.

“ What would I have to do if I accepted your request?” Lisa enquired, choosing her words carefully.

“ Fill in a pokedex entry on the Black Beast.”

“ An entire thing?!”

“ Only a description, picture and name –”

“ Stats, right? I suppose I make them up?”

Westwood stopped abruptly. “ Is there a problem with that?” he said harshly, in a voice not unlike a cruel teacher at school.

Lisa shook, and timidly answered. “ No … but …”

“ I’m kidding!” Westwood boomed, and Lisa quickly decided he had a problem after all – a mental one. But she smiled politely, and then went on to say: “ No, I don’t think I can make up the stats – speed and all that –”

“ We’ll take care of that.” Westwood interrupted. “ Hardly anybody has ever seen the Black Beast – it’s still yet to be identified with a real name – I’d like to give that honour to you, Lisa. Stats will be discarded for now.”

Lisa thought for a moment, before blurting out. “ Sure.”

*

Gavin ducked as he walked past a cavern wall with horizontal stalactites sticking out from the wall – a very odd sight to see, made from when movements in the earth’s crust and changing of the rocks over millions of years caused the stalactites to grow on an angle. He walked past and continued through the chamber, the fourth one now since leaving the light of the outside world. Gavin was on the brink of simply giving up – his only finds so far had been a Magikarp out of water.

Just as Gavin turned the corner, Natu fluttering ahead, there was a squeaking cry, and a Psyduck came waddling out from nowhere, approaching Gavin. He would have let it run on by, but it glared at him oddly, and with barely a second of consideration, water gunned the boy. Within moments it had stopped, but Gavin was soaking, caked in mud and lying on the ground.

“ What was THAT?!” he muttered. Natu, still drifting along the tunnel, turned back to see the Psyduck preparing another watergun, and it shot out a thin beam of lavender light in retaliation. The beam slammed into Psyduck’s head, and it suddenly raced down the tunnel, towards the direction of the entrance.

Gavin shrugged the odd experience off, but thanked Natu first. Then followed a very long period of dark nothingness.

“ That’s it.” Gavin told himself, as Natu fluttered along behind his left shoulder, and the torchbeam ahead barely showed any light. “ If there’s nothing in the next cavern, I’m turning back!”

Natu hooted in agreement, as it and Gavin reached the end of the chamber, and found the only thing that could annoy Gavin more – a fork in the tunnels.

Instinct and common sense told Gavin to turn back immediately, but a raspy, heaving breath from beyond the left tunnel entrance told him a creature – a big one at that – was somewhere through that tunnel. Gavin, torn between the possibility of a pokemon and his own safety, was about to turn back when Natu squealed and fluttered into the inky blackness of the tunnel. Gavin gave one deep sigh, and stepped into the tunnel, ducking his head along the way.

His torch was almost no use. It the chambers, it had glittered on the silvery rocks and reflected, making the entire chamber that little bit lighter, though still dull. But this tunnel was composed of ordinary rocks, not gleaming silver ones. Gavin sprinted down, his torch locating a rock wall at the end of the tunnel – a dead end, he would generally presume, but Natu had disappeared. Gavin trudged to the end, and felt the wall – solid, a complete barrier. However, as he turned back in confusion, he noticed there was a wide cleft to his left through which a little light shone out of. Curiously, he stepped through, ducking so low his back was hunched well over.

This cave was actually quite bright compared to the last, so Gavin promptly turned off his torch and squinted his eyes so he could see without being dazzled by the apparent resplendent beauty of the cave. Inside, the breathing sound was even heavier, and this cave was composed primarily of silver boulders – and the light came both from them and from a huge opening above. Gavin opened his eyes fully now, and saw Natu, squawking loudly on a row of well-placed boulders. Gavin shushed him, but Natu insisted, so he walked over to investigate, and was very glad he did.

Behind the row of boulders, an enormous white creature lay, breathing heavily with its indigo eyelids closed – undoubtedly asleep. Gavin rubbed his eyes as he took it the huge bulk, the white wings and body, and the indigo strips on it’s back – definitely a mythical Lugia.

*

Westwood and Lisa walked down an aisle of shelves piled high towards the roof – Westwood was searching for a fact file on the Black Beast – all the information that had been collected from the few times it had been seen. Lisa was having her doubts now, as Westwood handed her a thin file from a collection of much, much fatter ones.

“ This is it?” she groaned, taking out a couple of sheets of paper, and one or two photographs, which she noted were black-and-white.

“ Very good, considering the Black Beast has been only seen a few times,” Westwood said, his chest swelling proudly. Lisa nodded, but then a new worry came into her mind.

“ Excuse me, Professor, my friend and I were meant to leave our accommodation tonight, there’s some new occupants staying for a while …”

Westwood answered almost automatically. “ I have a guest room at the back. You’re welcome to stay here – your friend too.”

“ Why, thank you,” Lisa said, thinking that people were very hospitable, and wondering whether she should first consult Gavin or not. She nodded, taking the file, and said. “ OK, show me the guest room.”

[Gavin Luper]

*

Gavin breathed almost as heavily as the Lugia before him – he guessed it was a baby, for although it was much larger than Gavin himself, real Lugias, or the ones in movies anyway, were enormous, 6 metres in length.

Natu squawked again, and Gavin clapped his hand over it’s pointed beak, then yelped himself with pain as the bird drilled it’s beak into his palms, which were sweaty. He wiped them on his shorts, and then remembered he had a Fast Ball on him.

He breathed excitedly – it was common knowledge that a sleeping Pokemon was easily captured, and this opportunity was too hard to miss. However, if the mother came home while he was still in the vicinity, or if the baby woke up … maybe it wasn’t too safe at all.

However, as Gavin began to tiptoe away, Natu screeched and awakened the beast – with a soft roar Lugia took to the air. Gavin cringed, but now he had gotten himself into the situation, he had better finish it. Besides – a sudden thought shook him – his family legend of the Psychic Pokemon challenging Gavin himself to a fight might be true – the mother Lugia – was THAT the pokemon spoken of in the legend?

Gavin shook the thoughts from his head, and ordered a quick Night Shade from Natu. Before Lugia could attack in a rage from the rude awakening, Natu had psychically dulled the entire chamber, and a blast of what Gavin could only describe as shadow wavered across the cavern and hit the Lugia hard. It looked weak – although large, it was quite a young baby. Gavin pulled out the Fast Ball – he didn’t truthfully think he had a good chance, but he had learnt by his training to try all the time, so he promptly threw the ball. It zapped open on impact with Lugia, and sucked in all the darkness around in the cave, also turning Lugia into light transparency, gobbling it up into the Fast Ball, which clicked shut and hit the ground, wobbling.

Unexpectedly, it stilled.

*

Lisa bounced rapidly on her double bed, laughing as Aipom joined in. Quagsire and Elekid sat on Gavin’s bed, in the same room but at the opposite end, drinking lemonade from tall glasses with a lemon slice fitted onto the rim. Butterfree was outside stretching her wings, and Dratini was in the bath which was situated in the gold ensuite. Lisa’s Vulpix was socialising for the first time, darting around to meet each of Lisa’s pokemon. It took to Butterfree mainly, and Elekid seemed to make a good friend too.

The door opened noiselessly, and Professor Westwood entered, looking around at the pokemon before turning to Lisa.

“ I’m going out to the town to pick up some groceries,” he noted. “ I’ll be a few hours, so use your time well.” He glanced at the unopened file lying on Lisa’s bedside table, and Lisa abruptly stopped bouncing and looked guilty.

“ Yeah, I’ll try to work on that.” She muttered.

“ Good.” Westwood stated. “ My cook is in the kitchens if you need anything, and if your friend comes, the key is on the hook next to the statue of Charles Druos in the hall. Alright, bye.”

Lisa blinked.

Moments later, the heavy front oak door slammed, and it was within seconds that Lisa had the radio blaring and had called the cook for some shipments of potato chips. Elekid and Vulpix seemed to be enjoying the relaxing day more than the others, mainly because they had been caught during the course of the Whirlpool Cup and had been quite neglected, whereas Dratini and Quagsire were constantly used, and Butterfree had had a very big battle against Jack.

However, after a few minutes, Lisa felt a flash of guilt, and turned the radio down, finally reaching over to the dusty file given to her by Westwood and opened it.

Inside, the file contained a small collection of photographs, ranging greatly in age. The oldest, Lisa thought, was one which had yellowed greatly and frayed on the edges. The picture was of two girls – about Lisa’s age – standing in front of a bush. Behind them, Lisa could make out the black Beast prowling around in the shrubbery. Turning the photograph over, Lisa read the scrawly writing of Westwood; ‘1902 @ Lake of Rage. Earliest proven sighting of B.B.’

1902 … over a century ago. Lisa looked through the other two photos, which both showed the beast in some way, lurking around, or sprinting away. Then Lisa discovered a few sheets of notes from Westwood – or maybe his predecessor – noting that the beast was a type of beast similar to Suicune, Raikou and Entei.

The work Lisa had to do was cut out for her, although she would have to do a bit of investigating. She read through recounts from the people who had experienced the Black Beast, and analyses of the beast’s type – all of which seemed to point toward it being a Dark Type. However, Lisa had to find a suitable name, and from her memories of that day in the Radio Tower, determine it’s type and if possible, attacks.

She quickly settled down to work, scrawling down everything that might help, while the Pokemon bounced on the beds.

*

“ She’d better be here,” Gavin muttered to Natu, who was hopping excitedly on his shoulder, as he knocked loudly on the door. He had rushed back to the beach hut immediately after catching Lugia, only to discover Lisa wasn’t there, and she had left a note for him (incidentally, the place he went to first). So he had sprinted over to the landlord’s to return the key before finally coming to the mansion. So it wasn’t surprising that he snapped first at Lisa when she opened the door.

“ Bout time.” He quipped, and Lisa wondered what on earth he was talking about; she had rushed straight downstairs when she heard the knock on the door, and quickly found the key next to a statue of a very posh-looking man, Charles Druos. But Gavin didn’t stay irritated for long, within seconds he was hopping madly as Natu was. “ Leese, you’ll never guess what happened!”

Lisa shrugged. “ What?”

Gavin jumped excitedly and pulled out the Fast Ball containing Lugia. “ I caught a pokemon – a Lugia.”

Lisa blinked. “ Sure.”

“ Serious!!” Gavin cried. “ I have it in here for proof, although I probably shouldn’t open it here –” he glanced nervously at the statues, and then at Aipom who was attacking a vase. Lisa pried him off, before leading Gavin to the sunroom.

“ OK, show me,” she said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Gavin put on a loud, deep voice very different compared to his own. “ I present … Lugia!”

The Fast Ball popped open, and in a swirl of light, a pokemon appeared. Aipom and the others, Slowbro included, gathered around, as the light subsided, and the pokemon, huge as it was, was almost visible. Suddenly, the light flared back up, and washed all over it again, and the pokemon’s glowing indefinable shape began to shrink, until it was so small it was dwarfed even by Aipom.

The light finally disappeared, and Aipom, Butterfree, Elekid, Slowbro, Dratini, Quagsire, Natu, Gavin and Lisa gathered around the tiny, pink blob on the floor, and Lisa burst into giggles, while Gavin’s mouth opened and closed constantly like a fish.

“ Nice to see you caught a Ditto,” Lisa chuckled, as Gavin stared wordlessly at the shrivelled lump on the tiled floor. Gavin slapped his head, and Lisa laughed more. She guessed easily what had happened – Gavin was trying to impress her. But then she realised the Ditto had first been large when the pokeball opened – maybe it HAD been a Lugia? Which meant it had recently seen one…?

“ C’mon Gavin, I’ll show you our bedroom.”

“ Oh, OUR bedroom, hey?” Gavin said in a different voice again.

“ It’s separate beds Gavin, get over yourself,” Lisa flicked him away, and mouthed to herself. ‘ Boys.’

*

The dinner that night was quite like a feast, and Lisa indulged in the Greek salad, and the macaroni medley made uniquely by the cook. Gavin told Westwood his Ditto/Lugia story, and the Professor seemed quite interested. However, he seemed much more interested in hearing of the Black Beast’s Pokedex entry development. Lisa admitted she had written out all the known sightings as Background Info, and had given an estimated height based on the photographs and her own experience. She had even tried to confirm a few attacks, and decided from looking at these that it was not only Dark type, but Psychic, too. But she had yet to conclude a name.

Professor Westwood, however, said he didn’t need the entry until the morning, and he was thoroughly pleased with Lisa’s efforts so far. Lisa went to bed that night oblivious to Gavin’s heavy, rapid breathing not too far away, but her mind seemed so clogged with other things that a name that was going to go down in history just didn’t seem to be an easy task.

In the morning, Lisa felt as though she had had no sleep whatsoever. But thankfully, she had concocted a name, which she wrote down on the fact file and handed to Professor Westwood at Breakfast.

“ Very good.” He mused. “ I’m impressed with he name – it flows, even if the structure IS a little unoriginal.”

“ What is it?” Gavin asked, curious.

Westwood told him. “ Lunanine.” He said. “ Lunanine is the Black Beast.”

“ It comes from Lunar Canine.” Lisa told Gavin. “ So, in effect its name is Moon Dog.”

After breakfast, Westwood announced that he was off to Silver Rock Island to search for a Lugia. If what Gavin had told him held true, the Lugia was recently in the area, and it wasn’t to be missed. Westwood invited Lisa, and she briefly thought it would be a great opportunity. But then she recalled her TRUE quest for Suicune, and politely declined.

“ At least take this.” Westwood said, fishing around in his pockets for something. He handed Lisa a small pair of clear, crystal bells. “ Take them. I think they’ll help you on your quest.”

“ Thanks … but how?” Lisa wondered aloud, taking the bells and putting them in her pack.

“ You’ll see.” Westwood grinned. “ Thanks again for the entry – It’ll be programmed into all pokedexes within days!”

“ Welcome! And thank you so very much for your hospitality!” Lisa called.

“ Yeah,” Gavin put in pointlessly.

“ G’bye!”

With that, the front door slammed, and Lisa and Gavin were left on the trail downhill, back into the town, and the ferry. “ So – back to the mainland.” Gavin noted. “ It seems like forever since we left. It was heaps of fun in the tropics, though.”

“ Yeah.” Lisa said, rubbing Aipom’s furry tail, which coiled kindly around her neck. “ But I can’t wait to get back.”

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

That doesn't make sense; previous POkedex entries state that Ditto's turn into rocks while they sleep, not Lugia's.

Westwood! I remember him! I don't think he's THAT fat...

Well, Gavin got close. Why didn't he go with Westwood back to the island cave place? I would.

So close. Lugia. Gavin should have probably opened the Pokeball before he returned, to stare at his magnificent Pokemon, before realising it was a Ditto. Stupid Gavin. Luper, *snort*, what a weird name.


NEXT CHAPTER PLEASE!

[Andrew]

Oh my Gavin old chap did you hear our close Friend Princess Margret is being taken to court over her Corgi's nipping on people's heels!

My goodness, what is happening to society these days... I remember when Corgis had bellies that scraped the ground and devoured as many people as they wanted, but those were the days.

But poor Gavin AWwwww... What a let-down for him. Vulpix seems Ok, but a tiny bit Hyper, doesn't it have any emotions against Lisa for catching it?

And will we see DJ Aipom? Floatie Kiddie Lisa? Or Shopkeeper Gavin? Only time will tell. My to post in 2 parts that means its very long!

Talk to you later. Good work!

[X-Wing]

Hi guys (basically CCC, Gavin and OzAndrew... and all the others)

I'm using this fic just to signal that I finally got to install myself correctly enough in my new house to finally have the time to use the internet again to comme and say hello to you and of course read your fics... Being a full time teacher also means that I have less time to be here but I still did not forget you so by now I should poke my head from around a corner every once in a while...

Anyway time to go before someone warns me for spamming!

Good to see you still around here...!

X-Wing

P.S. Isn't it good to use that ol' nick again ??? 8)

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 19 - Sacred Suicune.


Pidgeys shrieked in the tall oak trees which bordered the long, gravel road to Moo Moo Farm. Lisa and Gavin trailed wearily behind Aipom, who raced in front, squealing almost as often as the wild Pidgeys. The December morning was dawning bright and warm, and Lisa was sweltering in the rising heat of summer. Her bag weighed heavily on her bag and she reminded herself to buy a new one. Inside, something was jingling and clanging.

“ Are we there yet?” Gavin complained stupidly.

“ Does it look like it?” Lisa snapped, without turning to face him. The path had worn on for over two weeks now since Olivine and for the first time on her journey Lisa realised how lucky she had been to hitch a ride with Suicune on her first day. She had saved herself a LOT of time instead of walking endlessly.

As they arrived on the crest of a hill, Lisa heard some rustling in the bushes – not a common rustling that signified a weak wild pokemon, but a continuous rustling accompanied by a deep growl.

“ Oy, listen,” she muttered to Gavin, who stopped immediately. The growling grew still louder, until, in a flash of ultramarine, a creature bounded out from the bushes alongside the oaks. Lisa gaped, but her previous experiences with legendaries had taught her not to idle. Gavin gaped also, and Aipom halted in it’s tracks.

Suicune prowled menacingly on the path, teeth bared and saliva dripping continuously from it’s fangs. Lisa moved her hands to her belt and quickly sent out Dratini, who floated in awe for a moment before landing on the ground, more tense than usual. Suicune looked up at Lisa for the fourth time in it’s life, and the girl willed it to stay still, not to pelt away and escape like last time. And somehow, it worked, and Suicune accepted the challenge of the tiny Dragon, however, Lisa thought she noticed it’s eyes dart swiftly towards Gavin and linger on him for a moment, before turning back to the fight.

“ Ice Beam!” Lisa ordered at once. Gavin and Aipom both took a quick sidestep to avoid any inaccurate attacks. Dratini powered up, and fired an azure beam from it’s mouth directly at Suicune’s head – no orb of energy this time, just a beam. Suicune stood and bore the brunt of the beam, barely moving except to shake it’s head. But it inwardly gasped, although kept the same menacing look on it’s face. This girl … she had improved since last time … maybe improved a bit too much; that beam actually hurt a little …

“ Full Power Thunderbolt!” Lisa cried, and Suicune saw danger at once. While Ice Beam he was resistant against, a Thunderbolt could really hurt, especially since Lisa’s improvement. Taking a human or Dratini’s view. Lisa ceased fire at once.

“ Hang on Dratini,” she muttered sadly. “ He’s gone…”

Recalling Dratini, Lisa travelled over the hill and into a vast valley in subdued silence. Her flicker of hope had been extinguished immediately. Gavin, however, seemed to think it amazing how Suicune had simply endured the attack before calmly disappearing.

“ Seriously, Leese, that was hell cool. The way he just let you attack him … whoa! And he didn’t even strike back or anything. I wonder why he appeared anyway? I’ll have to tell Uncle Eusine that we’ve seen him twice since Goldenrod.”

For some reason, seeing Suicune again seemed to awaken Lisa from a sort of haze. The past few weeks since the ferry had landed them in Olivine and then they had trekked through the land had been fruitless attempts for legendary recognition – no pokemon had been seen except common ones which Lisa would rather give to Wes and Jean than catch for herself.

After about half an hour of silence, Lisa spotted something up ahead, gleaming in the sunlight. Gavin spoke first, however.

“ Look up there, Lisa, a lake!”

“ Is it a lake, though?”

“ Dunno … looks like it comes from the mountain … maybe a stream?”

“ River – it’s quite wide.”

“ OK – hey I don’t think there’s a bridge.”

“ Oh … we’ll just surf …”

“ Damn … I just got used to NOT swimming around everywhere.”

“ Grow up.”

However, as they came to the river, both were surprised. Aipom raced forwards, and as they arrived in a cluster at the water’s edge, they noticed a tiny hut a few hundred metres west, where a bridge arced over the water, which indeed was very wide. Lisa thought maybe it was just one long lake, until she remembered they had seen water gushing into it from up in the tall, purple-capped mountains. Gavin and Lisa followed Aipom to the hut, where Lisa was shocked suddenly by a familiar figure.

“ Lisa?” cried a girl’s voice from the door, as they approached.

“ Huh? Kris!” Lisa cried, shocked as she noticed her good friend Kristal Williams from way back in Goldenrod.

Gavin looked on as the two greeted and reunited before him. Kris looked a couple of years younger than himself – maybe she was 13 – and she had aqua hair separated into two parts. Her pokegear hung in a similar fashion to Lisa’s, like a necklace. Gavin soon gave up on waiting, and cried; “ OK, OK, Introduce us!”

Lisa laughed. “ Sorry ‘bout that. Kris, meet Gavin; Gavin, this is Kris.”

Kris held up a petite hand and waved in a way that Gavin thought only a girl would – she held her hand firm and twinkled her fingers along in a smooth ripple. Gavin nodded and muttered hello, as Lisa began chatting a top speed to her friend.

“ It’s been so long … a month anyway … where’s Hiro?”

“ He … left. I wanted to go to Olivine, he wanted to go to Mahogany, so we separated.”

“ Oh right. So have you spoken to him?”

“ We kinda left on bad terms,” Kris muttered, her mouth set in a grim line. “ I didn’t get his number.”

“ Oh,” Lisa said, quite subdued. “ So – how’s your pokemon? They’ve probably all changed by now.”

“ Great, I got a Jigglypuff just the other day.”

“ Great!”

“ And Ledyba evolved too.”

“ What about Chompy?”

“ Not yet – how about your pokemon? I see Aipom is fine.”

“ Oh yeah, he’s great, a little pesky, but fine I got some new ones too!”

While the girls chatted, they gradually walked from the hut towards the long, regal bridge. Gavin stared dejectedly after them as Lisa released Quagsire and Dratini into the river and Elekid and Vulpix to walk beside the river, and a Totodile emerged from one of Kris’ pokeballs. “ I’ll just wait here then?” he questioned, throwing down his backpack against the side of the wooden hut and sitting down on the overgrown grass which ran from the edge of the bushes to the glimmering cerulean water’s edge. One thing that struck Gavin most about the river was the clarity, and from this came the possibility of seeing wild pokemon without them being disturbed. Crawling closer to the water while Lisa and Kris admired each other’s pokemon, Gavin noticed that it wasn’t an average river. It was more like a canal of some form – the bank was an upper edging, which the water came almost level with. The edge of the canal beneath the water sloped immeasurably steeply down, Gavin guessed about four metres by the looks of certain distorted shapes of the sandy floor.

Apart from the occasional Krabby, the canal floor was littered with Totodiles of various shapes and sizes, all playing about underwater in their quiet world. Gavin watched them, his curiousity growing with each moment, as they chased, ran, hid, jumped, skipped and frolicked. The water magnified the sun’s light, it seemed, but not the heat, which would have made an ideal habitat.

Gavin checked for the girls, and found them bickering about a TV show while Quagsire, Dratini and Totodile looked on, either puzzled or amused expressions on their faces. Gavin stripped off his shirt, throwing it in the direction of his backpack and the hut, and slipped easily into the water, rippling it ever so slightly. The water was cool and soothing on his tired muscles, after walking fruitlessly until now. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs to bursting point, and ducked his head under the surface with a small splash.

His shorts clung to his legs, hindering him in his swim, but Gavin was too curious. The Totodile below seemed so – undisturbed, as if they were completely cut off from any form of civilisation.

Gavin reminded himself they probably WERE.

He dived down deeper, finding that the river was not only clear but quite calm, and serene. The Totodiles were much closer now, only a few metres away, to his right, and he was almost level with them, when a thought jolted him. What if the Totodile had never seen a human before? What if they swam away when he arrived, abandoning their home?

All these very fair thoughts raced through Gavin’s head in a split second, and he promptly sought a solution. He so much wanted to watch the creatures; underwater they were much clearer than the wavering, distorted figures he had glimpsed from above. A sudden fleck of green to Gavin’s left indicated a large clump of Salvao bushes – long and snaky, the reedy plants waved around in the water, and Gavin quickly ducked for cover beneath them, hiding behind it’s thick threads.

However, the Totodile’s hadn’t seen him. They suddenly, after a moment, pricked their ears as though something could be heard, and swam off in a cluster, about fifteen of them acting as one. Gavin seized the opportunity and let himself rise upwards to the surface, his head breaking through after a few seconds, for a breath of air. It was like the breath of a Meganium over deadened lawn; Gavin’s previously almost deflated lungs were regenerated with new oxygen, and he was ready for another dive. He hurriedly ducked his head under and began pursuing the school of Totodile.

In the few moments it had taken Gavin to take a breath, the Totodiles had swam out of sight, which Gavin inferred must have been a long way away because the water was so clear he could see for ages. He quickly swam after them, when suddenly his head slammed into a solid, hard wall of some sort, and he fell down.

‘ What?’ he thought inwardly, rubbing his head and looking up. Before him lay the usual river floor he had been swimming along, but for some reason, Gavin found it impossible to get past. The reason was abruptly made apparent, as Suicune crept slowly out of a cleft in the rock wall to Gavin’s right. It’s cobalt fur was glowing seemingly brighter than ever underwater, and it’s mouth was set in a grim line, which Gavin would have previously thought impossible. However, Gavin’s attention was taken by his lungs deciding to empty at that point. He struggled suddenly, trying to swim for the surface, but suddenly, after his lungs were ready to burst, Suicune opened it’s mouth and a jet of lilac energy issued from within it’s jaws. The beam rushed at Gavin, and hit him at once.

Moments later, Gavin found himself incased in an enormous air bubble. Inside the bubble, the sounds of the quiet underwater world were muffled and he was in his silent world. Suicune remained unfazed outside the bubble, and Gavin yelled out at it “ Oy, what are YOU doing here?!”. Gavin hadn’t really expected an answer, but all that happened was that the sound of his own voice merely echoed around the air bubble, until it had been repeated so many times it faded out. However, Suicune grinned menacingly as usual, and Gavin heard words in his head. An odd sensation washed over him, he was hearing the words, but somehow no voice, just the words were played back to him inside his own head. //Human – I have arrived – to help you//

“ What?” Gavin burst out again, hearing the words rebound of the bubble walls and watch them wobble and quiver slightly. Suicune calmly floated in the cool outside water and a radiance emerged from it’s eyes, greater than it’s aurora fur. The azure light was blinding Gavin, and he turned away slightly to view it on an angle, but Suicune seemed undisturbed. //Take this, keep it. It will help you// Gavin wondered what the legendary pokemon was on about, but watched carefully through squinted eyes at the transformation occurring. At first, he thought Suicune was evolving, as the light washed over his body, filling the clear water with azure light. The all the light seemed to form into droplets, beads of power, of energy. Gavin watched in awe, and the droplets all ran down Suicune’s body, and merged with each other, tricking down into the water, which they stained blue. All the blue beads of light now came together, and shaped themselves into a spherical form. Gavin was shaking slightly, despite trying to keep calm and stand still. Suicune watched, completely calm, as the blue shone and turned amazingly into some form of ball – pokeball? The ball was half golden, half indigo. Gavin thought it was a horrible combination, but somehow it managed to shine and look impressive still. Suicune nudged the ball, which was drifting in the water before it’s face, and the ball slowly floated forward and touched the bubble, pressing insistently on the edge. There was a soft ‘pop’ sound, and the ball broke through the bubble, and the water somehow remained outside as the bubble closed back over. Gavin felt the pokeball – it was half smooth, and half rough, but both halves were sparkling in the light. Gavin opened it, and his stomach fell suddenly as the pokeball revealed nothing at all. Empty. But as soon as the ball opened, the bubble popped, and Suicune cried //Keep it!//. Gavin closed it and pocketed it, before he rose upwards. Suicune thought out a final //Good Luck, Human//, before evaporating into the water.

Gavin floated swiftly upwards, until …

“ Lisa!!” Gavin yelled, his head breaking abruptly through the surface. “ You’ll never guess what …”

He looked around, and Lisa and Kris had both vacated the grassed area around the hut. For a moment he thought he saw them on the bridge, for there were a couple of people there, but as he watched, a few others joined those people, so he decided they couldn’t be Lisa and Kris.

The bridge was a about fifty metres away, so Gavin thought he must have floated a fair way. He hauled himself over the edge of the river, and sprawled out, exhausted, on the lawn. Deciding to wait until Lisa and Kris returned from wherever they might be, he pulled the empty pokeball out of his pocket and turned it around slowly in his hands. Suicune’s process of creating it had seemed so – magical – how could it be such a dud, apart from it’s look? It was such a let down, after watching it appear from Suicune’s tears – were they even tears, or were they just … power?

Maybe he could just try it again. It couldn’t hurt, surely? Gavin pulled himself to a sitting position and felt his breakfast slosh around in his stomach. He took the blue/gold ball, and threw it up into the air. A freak gust of wind blew past at that moment, and blew it over to the edge of the bushes and trees which rose everywhere, halting at an invisible line for the neat grass to grow. The ball landed, and a faint popping sound emitted, although again, nothing appeared. Gavin’s stomach fell a little more. It really was a dud. A sudden thud just beyond the beginning of the trees caught Gavin’s attention. The leaves rustled heavily, and suddenly a branch snapped off a tree just visible through the shade given by other trees. Gavin stood up abruptly, and approached the trees near the edge of the hut, pushing past the thickset shrubbery and into the dingy forest. Through all the undergrowth there was a rough path of destruction about a metre or so wide. Pitiful plants and bushed were trampled down into the forest floor, and Gavin felt suddenly as though - he thought this was very typical - there was somebody watching him.

To Gavin’s right, from the direction of the back of the wooden hut which backed onto the forest area, Gavin was sure he saw a flash of light – his first thought was a camera, but then he thought maybe it had been a pokemon’s beam? He averted course to investigate. Suddenly a growl sounded out from his left this time, as he made his way along a very under-used path. He suddenly came to a clearing, where pools of dappled sunlight fell on the ground, and everything was suddenly made clear.

A Raichu was laying on the ground, it’s eyes crossed, looking injured and confused. It was laying very close to the fallen branch, which was spread across the clearing. Gavin realised what had happened – Raichu had been in the tree when the branch fell off and had been virtually knocked out. It used the last of it’s strength to pointlessly use thundershock, or a similar attack. Gavin ran over the details in his mind, and everything fitted, but it seemed like such an anticlimax. He had expected there to be something interesting – maybe something mysterious, even. Disappointed, he about-faced and trudged back to the grassed area beyond the line of shrubbery. Another flash suddenly radiated from the grassed area, and Gavin sprinted back down the path of destruction until he emerged back into the light of the outside world. His special pokeball was laying on the ground, and he picked it up. The source of the second flash was suddenly made apparent.

Lisa and Kris were battling on the grassed lawn. Kris’ Chompy was glowing brightly, as a white light washed over it’s body. It grew taller, and wider. Lisa stood back, recalling her Elekid. The evolution process finished, and before the girls stood a Croconaw. Gavin took that time to clear his throat, and they noticed him.

“ Gavin, there you are,” Lisa said. “ Oy, guess what. If I win this, Kris is coming with us to Moo Moo Farm.”

He smiled. “ What if you don’t?”

Kris grinned light-heartedly. “ I’ll come anyway.”

Gavin nodded, interested, and watched as the girls sent out their last pokemon. Kris took a little longer, as she was rejoicing over her Totodile’s evolution. Finally, Lisa’s Vulpix appeared for it’s first trainer battle, and Lisa wondered if the training she had given it against wild pokemon had been enough.

Kris sent out her Jigglypuff, the bouncy, fluffy, inflatable pink pokemon. It squeaked out various syllables of it’s name and poked out it’s tongue at Vulpix. The crimson fox looked offended, and it waved it’s six tails in a way of showing how distinguished it was. Lisa quickly ordered a Flame Wheel, as well as a wish of luck, as Vulpix had been in few trainer battles before. Vulpix nodded, Kris ordered Jigglypuff’s attack, Jigglypuff nodded, and Gavin smiled as he settled down on the grass to watch the fight.

Vulpix, being the more agile of the two, took command and attacked first. Flames whooshed out of it’s mouth in a circular formation, spiralling at Jigglypuff in a scarlet pulsating form of energy and fire. Jigglypuff had seemingly been idling, but now it’s inactive appearance was revealed. It had been waiting to dodge Vulpix’s attack. It did so almost perfectly, leaping up above the spiralling fire and only just singeing it’s rubbery feet. It landed well away from the wheel of flame, which quickly burned out. Jigglypuff and Kris looked smug and pleased, Lisa and Vulpix (and Gavin too) appeared agitated. Vulpix shot out a burst of enraged embers, which caught Jigglypuff off-guard.

“ Oy, that’s not nice!” Kris protested.

“ Sorry about that!” Lisa cried, but she was actually pleased to have got an attack in.

“ It’s alright. Jigglypuff, use Rollout!”

“ Try agility, then Quick Attack!” yelled Lisa in desperation. Rollout might manage to take out her Vulpix after a couple of turns – she needed it not to hit.

Vulpix purred softly, and readied it’s body for any abrupt movement at any flinch or attempt at attack from Jigglypuff. The crimson fox waited, as Jigglypuff curled into a rubbery orb, and came careering down the grassy slope towards it. Vulpix stayed still until Jigglypuff had nearly careered into her, then leapt up and actually soared over the top of the pink pokemon. Landing on the grass, Vulpix saw the back of Jigglypuff and charged at it with all the strength it could muster. The Quick attack hit accurately, and Jigglypuff, who was slowing down after the exhausting Rollout, slammed into the ground.

“ Sing it to sleep, Jiggly!”

“ Perfect, Vulpix! Now use Safeguard before the song takes effect!”

Lisa’s Vulpix got the pre-emptive strike, and Vulpix breathed out a short stream of golden mist, which began orbiting the air around it’s head. Jigglypuff began singing a sweet-sounding song moments later, but luckily it had no effect.

“ Ember! Finish it off!” shouted Lisa.

Kris was looking in despair, and throughout her earning of her five badges, no battle had been this intense. And she was beginning to realise that Vulpix was at a much higher level. “ Jiggly, use Doubleslap!”

The Jigglypuff tensed it’s tiny hands, waiting for the Fire Fox to get within range of it’s powerful slaps. Vulpix, however, was at an advantage yet again, as it’s ranged attack meant it didn’t need to come in contact with Jigglypuff. The orange embers burst out in a stream of hot sparks, which rained down on Jigglypuff fiercely. The sparks burned it, and the pokemon shrivelled up into an unconscious heap.

Kris looked sadly at her Jigglypuff, and Lisa smiled. “ You won it this time!” Kris said, not sounding at all sad OR happy. “ I guess I’m coming with you to Moo Moo Farm!”

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

Suicune sprinted across the vast plains near Ecruteak. He entered the outskirts, and quickly became invisible again, as an extra precaution, although the inky blackness of night-time was acting as a shield. He raced into the Burned tower, and automatically fell down the hole in the first storey’s floor – but did so purposely. His speed was incredible – he had made the voyage easily in a few hours.

//About time// Entei greeted, it’s face hardly visible in the darkness of the basement, lit only by a flame fixed onto a bracket in the wall. Suicune made itself appear, and nodded to the tall, wide form of Entei, standing erect in the centre of the basement, and Raikou, pacing slowly in the corner.

//Did you -// began Raikou, it’s yellow fur sparking slightly with static electricity.

//Yes// Suicune informed, and the other two breathed deeply.

//All done, then? They didn’t work anything out, did they? Suicune?// enquired Entei, now curling up by the flickering vermilion flames which he conjured into the air. //You DID take all the precautions? Invisibility?//

//I’m fine, I did all that. I’ll check again in a few days// Suicune told them. //Don’t worry Entei, he should be safe for a while//

All three sat down together, in silence, and then, as though magic, invisibility fell over them, hiding them all from view. Atop the Tin Tower, a majestic phoenix heard Suicune’s last words in his head. // … should be safe for a while// The phoenix nodded to itself, and gazed slowly out to the stars, which barely lighted the night.

[Gavin Luper]

Lisa the Legend has just been updated with Chapter 19: Sacred Suicune on 2 - 10 - 02.

Link: Lisa the Legend

[Mew Trainer Rose]

So the Legendaries (or at least the Legendary Dogs) are in League to keep Gavin safe. I wonder why....

...and i know you won't tell me, because that would be a major spoiler.

The name you came up with for the Black Beast is nice. Since the way you described it, it seemed more evil and stuff, so i expected a name that sounded more evil. Lunanine is kinda pretty. Meh, maybe teh Black Beast will turn out to be not so bad after all, and the name will fit better.

[Snakes N' Legends]

Interesting, this story is getting more curious by the second.

Oh, my fanfic isn't like yours. Take Ash, Misty and Brock. Throw in the help of Jessie, James, Meowth, Cassidy, Butch and Domino and mix it in with the greatest threat to the pokemon world. Then you get my fanfic, The Twin Terrors. I was just saying maybe I ought to add Legendaries to my story with Eusine of course.

Well, you story is doing great and maybe you could read mine. Unless you already have read mine. Anyways, you are doing a great job so keep it up.