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

[Gavin Luper]

HOORAY!! :biggrin:

As I hoped, with my exams over, I sat down and wrote Chapter 53 over the last few days. I really hope this is up to standard, as it has been so long since the last chapter I've become a bit rusty. Looks like there will be a few more chapters before the book ends, though, which doesn't worry me; in fact, I can't wait to sink my teeth into the rest of it, the ending to this book is all there, swimming around in my head even as I write this, and I can't wait to write it.

Really good timing on my behalf too (if I do say so myself ) as Lisa the Legend has been nominated for quite a few categories in the 2005 Golden Pen Awards, so hopefully this revives it a little. Thanks to everyone who nominated LTL for the awards, it really does mean a lot to have people think my writing is good, it makes it feel more worthwhile than ever. Remember to get all your votes in by October 1!

Anyway, without further ado, and after a seven month hiatus, HERE IT IS! Chapter 53 of Lisa the Legend, for your reading pleasure!

Cheers!

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Chapter 53 – The Defector.


When she looked back, even a month later, Lisa didn’t know why she did it. If she had stopped to think about it, she would never have made such a stupid mistake – such a blind, foolish error – but in the heat of the moment, faced with the ruthless intensity of the beast’s glare, she shunted aside all traces of rational thought, all notions of caution, and leapt fearlessly for the best course of action she knew: action.

Surprised by her own boldness, she shrugged Gavin off and took a step toward Lunanine, winding up her arm and hurling out a red orb before her; it arced through the air and landed close to where the black, wolfish beast stood. Lunanine paused, and Lisa knew he was waiting for a flash of white light to erupt – he thought it was a pokéball – but it did not come.

Lisa didn’t idle: hoping it would work (she could see no reason why it shouldn’t) she focused her gaze on the Buzzball on the rocky ground and screamed, “ ELECTRIFY!”

There was a loud bang: the ball erupted in a burst of crackling yellow sparks, all of which rent the air and connected instantly with Lunanine’s colossal form. It happened so quickly that, had Lisa blinked, she may have missed it all. As it was, though, she saw, in a stunned haze, everything that unfolded: the flash of understanding in Lunanine’s greenish yellow eyes the moment before he was struck by the electricity; the haphazard streamers of electric charge surging through the beast’s body, immobilising him; the burst of sand and dust flying into the air as his hulking mass collapsed into the ground.

A sudden, artificial silence pressed in on the glade. Lunanine’s body lay in a heap on the ground, motionless.

“ How’d you –” Gavin spluttered from behind, and Lisa wheeled around to find him. He was still pressed against the rock wall, his ashen face incredulous. “ What was all that about?!”

Lisa tried to generate some kind of response, but it died on her lips. She had not expected Lunanine to be caught unawares and be beaten so easily, but the scene before her eyes blew her expectations away. A single electric shock from the Buzzball had taken him out completely – Lunanine, ten feet tall, a legendary pokémon.

“ This isn’t right …” Lisa mumbled. Lunanine shouldn’t have been taken down so easily; it made no sense at all. And where were the rest of the contestants? And Paddy?

Gavin was being uncharacteristically quiet, but Lisa assumed that he, too, had picked up on the strange atmosphere in the clearing. Desperate to explain the eerie feeling that was plaguing her, she scanned the area closely, and, quite unexpectedly, her eyes fell on something on Lunanine’s body. A discolouration. Without haste, she crept closer and examined the mark: it was a dark red wound, a bleeding hole, on his underbelly.

The realisation hit her like a bullet.

“ Gavin?” she cried, fighting to keep the fear out of her voice, but it didn’t work. Things were rapidly slotting into place, things that did not make her feel any more in control of the situation. Gingerly, knowing now that there were dozens of eyes on her, she knelt down and closed her hand around the idle Buzzball.

The silence pressed on. Gavin had not replied. Shaking all over, petrified beyond her wits, Lisa stood up, still facing in the direction of Lunanine’s body. She spent an entire second staring into the grove of trees a few metres away. There were several shadowy figures that, now she was looking for them, she could spot quite clearly.

As suddenly as she could, she spun on her heel and screamed, “ INFLATE!”

It was all over in a second or two. Cold air rushed past her face as the Buzzball swelled, but Lisa knew she had no chance. A few invisible people barked out vague words. A pokémon growled loudly. Several attacks whizzed and exploded through the air. Something caught Lisa from behind, spearing her leg and knocking her to the ground, flat on her face.

“ Got her!” cried a man’s voice.

Lisa tried to snort the dirt out of her nose but failed. Blood was running down her face. Her head felt like it had been cleaved in two.

“ Get up.” Heavy footsteps reached her side. Someone grabbed her roughly, not seeming to care where they put their hands. Lisa kept her mouth shut. She couldn’t think of anything strong enough to say to these people and in any case, her head was spinning too much for her to think up some kind of verbal abuse. She struggled without really trying, for she knew that she was caught now.

“ I’m so stupid,” she mumbled aloud, still blinded by pain. The man carrying her snorted and hoisted her over his shoulder, leaving her upper body dangling over his back and her backpack swinging wildly, the straps digging into her underarms.

Lunanine wasn’t angry with us. He knew the Union was hiding there, waiting to strike. He was there to protect us.

“ But I attacked him,” she said bitterly, not caring that the man could hear her. “ I knocked him out.”

Unexpectedly, the man answered. “ You didn’t knock him out. We shot him. You just took his attention away from us. Well done.”

Lisa punched his back uselessly, and he guffawed.

The pain was beginning to ease. Lisa’s vision came into focus more clearly. Beyond the man’s buttocks, she could see the rough, rocky ground passing below, but where she was being carried, she didn’t know. Around them, several other voices – male and female – were discussing something in low tones. Occasionally one of them would burst into laughter and it was this, more than the fact that they were abducting her, that annoyed Lisa.

They walked onwards – downwards – for what seemed like an hour. Lisa gave up on some kind of help coming to save her. Similarly, any thoughts she had of the contest on Mount Fairfax were well and truly history; the only concern she had about it was what had become of the contestants – including Daniel – and Paddy, though she had a sinking feeling that the Union might have already disposed of them somehow.

And as for Gavin, who knew what they might do with him? Lisa shuddered as she recalled her dream. If Gavin was being abducted again by the Union, surely he must be flooded with terrible memories? Indeed, wouldn’t they be all the more vengeful, seeing as he had escaped them only two weeks previous?

A thought suddenly occurred to her.

“ Gavin?” she called out unhesitantly.

And there came, from not very far away, Gavin’s cheery reply, “ Oh, hi Lisa! Great piggyback rides eh?”

“ Silence! No talking!” a foreign-sounding woman barked suddenly, but Lisa grinned.

After a long time walking in the dark, still unable to see anything but a few feet of passing dirt and a man’s rear end, Lisa heard a man a few metres further down the track call for everyone to halt. He spoke sharply into a two-way radio. The man holding Lisa tensed. The man switched his radio off.

“ OK everyone, looks like we’ve been sprung already, the cops are here. Adrian, take your group and follow me, we’ll get rid of them; Ana, you and Derek and Karl wait here with these two. We’ll radio when the coast is clear and you can call base.”

There were general murmurs of assent throughout the group. Lisa gazed down at the loamy ground, incredulous: they were going to fight the police off? Just how strong were they?

The contingent dispersed quickly. Lisa sensed that there were only a couple of Union members left with them. There was a tiny spark of hope in her, but she knew that they could have her dead before she had finished throwing a pokéball.

After a long silence, Gavin piped up, “ Can you guys put me the right way up now?”

“ No,” snarled a woman’s voice, the same foreign-sounding voice that had ordered them to be quiet earlier.

“ But my head is really full of blood.”

Lisa snorted loudly, prompting the man holding her to grip her legs tighter.

“ … and?” said the woman sardonically.

“ And all I can see is this guy’s butt – ouch!”

“ Shut up!”

Apparently Gavin took the hint after that, as he fell silent.

But his point had been valid: Lisa could feel her head really aching now. She had been hanging upside down for quite a long time. In the empty, drawn out wait, it became one of those things: once she noticed it, all she could do was focus on the discomfort, the pressure building in her head. It began to drive her to distraction.

Finally, she cleared her throat and asked, as politely as possible, “ Could we please get down?”

*********

“ Nice one,” Gavin whispered.

“ You’re welcome,” Lisa replied, gazing at the world the right way up. She and Gavin were now sitting beside a thick shrub, bound together by a thick cord, back-to-back, guarded by two men and a woman; their backpacks were piled up beside them.

“ Quiet,” said the woman blandly.

Now sitting the right way up, without the giddiness of hanging upside down for an hour, Lisa felt the reality of the situation begin to weigh down on her. There was definitely nothing funny about what was happening.

Lisa watched her captors closely. The two men seemed to meet the typical criteria for Union agents – they were tall, well-built and looked capable of any physical task. The woman, meanwhile, was not as resilient-looking as other female Union agents Lisa had come across before. This woman was tall and very slim, so much so that she came across as a stick insect. Her swift, slippery movements seemed to accentuate this image. Meanwhile, her face was almost deathly pale, quite as white as snow, except for two rather pink spots on her cheeks.

A painful, suffocating silence pressed in on them for what felt like an hour, and may actually have been that long. Lisa strained her ears for the sound of a struggle somewhere, but there was nothing. Indeed, had they not been held captive by Union agents, everything would have seemed quite as idyllic as ever.

“ Ana. Karl.”

Lisa jerked her head up from her chest; she had been dozing off. She glanced around the tiny clearing and her eyes fell on the man who had carried her down the mountain after she was attacked on the plateau. He was beside a cluster of low-lying shrubs, staring with astonishment at something that was apparently hidden within them.

Ana raised a thin eyebrow and, leaving Karl to guard Lisa and Gavin, strode quickly to the man. She muttered something to him and they each whipped out a small, black handgun. The man began to reach into the bushes when suddenly something seemed to catch his eye; he pointed frantically at something behind Karl and bellowed, “ Look out!”

Karl spun on his heel, as did Ana, and, with both of them facing the other way, the third man raised his pistol and fired two well-aimed shots at each of them.

Ana choked on her scream; Karl went soundlessly; in a second, their bodies were lying on the loamy ground, motionless.

The man who had shot them wheeled around to Lisa and Gavin, still bound in the middle of the track. Lisa flinched automatically, but he had lowered his gun. He hastened over to them, whipping out a knife from a pocket that Lisa didn’t even see. It took a long, silent minute for the rope to snap.

“ Quick, kids, get up, we have to get a move on,” the man said to them.

Gavin obeyed but Lisa remained stubbornly on the ground. “ Who are you?”

“ My name’s Derek,” the man said obligingly. “ I’m not going to hurt you, but if you don’t get out of here right now, you’re screwed.”

Lisa felt herself rise to her feet. Gavin thrust her backpack at her and she shouldered it without thinking. At once, Derek began to charge down the mountain along the rough track. Lisa and Gavin followed dazedly.

“ You just killed your friends,” said Lisa to Derek as they negotiated their way through the dark.

Derek plunged on down the steep track. “ They weren’t my friends,” he called back, without turning, his gun held out, threatening the silent black night. “ If you knew what they got up to you wouldn’t be friends with them either, believe me.”

“ Ouch!” Lisa dodged the branches of a nearby box-thorn only to plunge her arm straight into another one. The scratches on her arm immediately began to bleed.

“ Don’t stop!” Derek called back. “ You can get treated for that later but if these bastards shoot you you won’t have much hope!”

“ He’s right,” came Gavin’s voice from just behind.

Biting her lip, Lisa ran on. “ So you really are … good … then?” she called down the track, aware of how lame it sounded, but she had to hear the answer.

“ Uh – yeah,” Derek called back. “ As good as any of us are anyway.”

“ Where are you taking us?” asked Gavin.

“ Somewhere safe, I hope!” the reply came.

They pelted on downwards, the night air chilling them to the bone. Lisa shivered. Her sleeve was covered in drying blood. It was so dark that she could see nothing further than the fringes of the track. The ground was becoming more level, but this was obviously a temporary adjustment, as they had not gone far enough to be at the base of the mountain yet.

After some time, Derek called to them, “ Better be quiet from now on, just in case!”

Not daring to ask what he meant by ‘just in case’, Lisa nodded, even though he couldn’t see her do so.

The path downwards steepened once again and it was back to negotiating the rocky descent. Lisa’s arms and face took another half a dozen blows from various plants and trees, including another box-thorn. She began to consider how much easier it would have been if she had never attacked Lunanine on the plateau.

Finally, after about a ten minute descent, Derek came to a halt in the middle of the track. Lisa and Gavin jogged up to him, breathless.

“ I’m gonna have to leave you guys here,” he said calmly.

“ Right here?” Lisa burst out, before he could go on.

“ Keep your voice down, Lisa,” he said, not harshly, “ Not exactly here –” he pointed to the left of the track, directly into solid, impenetrable darkness. “ Walk a few metres that way, there’s a cave there, you should find it easily enough. I want you two to wait there until … well, just wait there, OK?”

“ OK,” said Gavin.

“ Alright,” Lisa said tentatively.

“ OH!” Derek said suddenly, as if he had suddenly remembered something vital. “ I found this on the plateau – it’s yours, isn’t it?” He produced the Buzzball from his pocket and thrust it into Lisa’s waiting hands. “ And another thing, when you get picked up from the cave … tell the people who pick you up that I’ve got the O’Malley file and all it’s contents, except the third chapter, can you remember that?” Lisa and Gavin nodded. “ Good. And once you’re completely safe, once you’re completely away from this area, tell Lance and ONLY Lance that I know where the Second Key is, OK?”

Lisa saw her own surprise reflected in Gavin’s eyes. “ Lance?”

“ Yeah,” Derek looked confused. “ Oh right, you don’t know anything yet, don’t worry, just – can you remember that message?”

“ You’ve got the O’Malley file except the third chapter and Lance needs to know you’ve found the second key, whatever that is,” Gavin recited.

“ No!” Derek said. “ I haven’t found it, but I know where it is!”

“ Uh – OK, got it,” said Gavin.

“ When you say Lance, you mean the Champion Lance?” Lisa said, still confused.

“ Yes, but don’t tell anyone else!” Derek stressed. “ Listen, I know you guys must be exhausted but please remember all that and be careful. If someone starts attacking you in the cave, for God’s sake, fight back. OK. So, go quickly now, to the cave!” He pointed in the direction of it for a moment, to remind them, and without further ado began to jog back down the track.

Just before he disappeared into darkness, Lisa called, “ What do you have to do?”

He called back. “ My job.”

“ But what if you don’t make it?” Lisa knew she was being too sentimental, but it would seem like a terrible thing for such a good man to be killed.

He turned to face them, and Lisa could just see his face in the shadows. “ I’m not going to die,” he said, quite lightly, “ oh, but if I do, tell my wife and daughters I love them!” And with that, he disappeared.

Lisa’s heart hurt as watched him go, not sure whether he had been joking or not.

Gavin touched her shoulder. “ Let’s go.”

Trying to be discreet, they left the track and pushed through a mass of sticks and thickset shrubs. The moon, which had bathed the track in a faint blue light, was invisible through the canopy of the dense forest; the darkness was almost total.

They plunged ahead blindly, unable to see anything much at all; the leaves at their feet felt like strange creatures groping at them, trying to trip them up.

“ Light the Buzzball,” panted Gavin, his white face covered in beads of sweat despite the coolness of the night air.

“ I don’t think we should,” Lisa said. “ We’d be seen too easily. Derek said we should find the cave easily enough, anyway.”

“ You think he’s for real?”

“ I think so. I mean, he saved us and told us where to hide.”

“ But he might just be doing that to corner us – I mean, he seems to be all right, but –”

“ He gave us the Buzzball,” Lisa argued, brushing what felt like a huge, slimy leaf from her face. “ He wouldn’t arm us if he wasn’t dinkum. And he gave us all that information to pass on … I’m sure he’s on our side – whatever that is.”

“ Lance,” said Gavin curiously. “ That’s really weird …”

“ I reckon,” said Lisa. “ Who would ever think Lance would ever be involved with the Union?”

“ I don’t think he is – it sounds like Derek is defecting – to some other group maybe.”

“ True …” Lisa trailed off. Initially she had been shocked to hear Lance’s name even brought into this strange situation, but her mind had immediately deviated to Lance’s son, Darius. Did he have anything to do with this? Did he know about his father’s connections? Indeed, did anyone realise the Champion of the Elite Four, one of the most powerful and respected pokémon trainers in the world, had contacts within the Union?

“ Gavin, d’you – OW!”

For the second time that night, Lisa’s nose ran with blood. She reeled back from the solid barrier in front of her, clutching at her nose as stars appeared before her eyes.

“ You all right?”

“ Fide, fide,” Lisa mumbled, pinching her nose and leaning forwards. “ I thing I foud the cave.”

Sure enough, it took Gavin just a few seconds to feel along the rocky wall blocking their path and find a small opening in it, large enough to crawl into.

“ You’re not claustrophobic or anything are you?”

“ Nuh,” Lisa replied, “ just give me a sec.”

Once her nose had stopped bleeding they got on all fours and crawled in; once again, Lisa found herself stuck staring at a man’s rear end as Gavin led the way. The tunnel was very cramped and, once they had left the entrance, it was pitch black. Lisa had to keep her head tucked into her body, and even then it scraped the top of the tunnel. The floor of the tunnel was scattered with sharp fragments of rock, and Lisa felt her hands and knees becoming raw and grazed as she struggled onwards.

The tunnel was probably about five metres long, though it took a minute or two to get through. When it finally opened up, Lisa felt slightly sick: it was so completely dark that she could not see her hand before her face. The only way they could tell the tunnel had opened into a cave was that they no longer had to keep their heads down, and the walls of the tunnel were no longer right by their sides. As she put her hand down Lisa felt something crumble beneath it, and she barely stifled a scream.

“ I think now would be a good time to light the Buzzball,” said Gavin apprehensively.

Lisa pulled the ball out of her pocket. “ I still think it might be a giveaway,” she said reluctantly. “ I mean, it would shine out of the tunnel, it would be pretty obvious.”

“ Can’t you make it really dull or something?”

“ I – I can try,” said Lisa hopefully, clasping the Buzzball. “ Illuminate … but softly.”

At once, a globule of light appeared from thin air, as bright as ever. For a second all Lisa could see was whiteness, though she sensed that the cave was actually quite small.

“ No, dimmer, darker!” she hissed nervously at the red ball in her hand, but it stubbornly glowed on, the globule now a ring of light surrounding the ball. “ Darker – no, stop!”

Just as her eyes were adjusting, the light evaporated and darkness surrounded them again.

“ Sorry Gavin, no dimmer switch.”

“ That’s OK, I had an idea … maybe we could just chuck it under a jumper or something.”

“ Oh – good idea.”

Once the Buzzball was completely enveloped in Gavin’s jumper Lisa commanded it to shine again; the result was much more satisfying, bathing the cave in a very weak, patterned glow that was not really bright enough to be obvious outside but was enough to see with inside, though there was very little to see. The cave was almost spherical, with sides that banked right up to the roof. It was not very much bigger than a very small room and the only way in or out was through the tunnel they had just crawled through.

“ So … now we wait, I spose,” Lisa said. She dumped her bag on the floor and curled up against the curved walls which, surprisingly, made a comfortable resting place. Almost instantly, she felt her mind easing out of consciousness. Her eyelids fluttered.

“ We shouldn’t go to sleep,” Gavin warned her seriously, though he sounded exhausted too.

“ Yeah. You’re right,” Lisa mumbled, ignoring his words entirely. Her eyes closed and she began to slide into sleep.

It seemed like literally a second later when she heard Gavin’s urgent voice whisper, “ Stop glowing.” Startled, Lisa opened her eyes to see the dim light of the Buzzball give way to pitch darkness once again. Oddly alert, she held her tongue and slowed her breathing, though her heart was hammering as she realised what had caused Gavin to turn the Buzzball off; beyond the cave entrance, there was the distinct noise of somebody approaching, and they were being anything but discreet about it, slashing through twigs and branches and mumbling quite loudly.

Suddenly, Lisa felt Gavin’s warmth on her. “ Lisa, you have to wake up but be very quiet, don’t say anything, somebody’s coming.” His words came in a rush of hot breath in Lisa’s ear.

“ I’m awake,” Lisa said, but she was speaking so quietly that almost no noise came out. As it was, Gavin didn’t seem to be awaiting a response. They were both silent and breathless, listening to the approaching noise.

The crunching of leaves and twigs was threateningly loud now. Surely, the person had to be right at the tunnel entrance and if they were that close, then it would seem they knew exactly where the cave was.

Over the noise of breaking and crunching, however, there was a louder sound that took Lisa a few seconds to place: it was a humming sound.

Unexpectedly, the sound of footsteps ceased, though the humming continued, louder than ever. Lisa grabbed Gavin’s hand.

Without warning, a voice overrode the humming: “ You kids in there yet?”

Lisa jumped, her heart skipping a beat before she realised that the female voice was unmistakeably – there was no other word for it – friendly.

“ We’re here,” Gavin called, without hesitating.

The humming became increasingly louder. The female voice muttered some indistinct instructions – apparently there was somebody else with her. There was a dull thud, followed by a scrabbling noise. The humming was very close now, coming down the tunnel.

“ I’ll leave him with you,” said the unidentified female voice, the owner of which was clearly still outside the cave. “ Someone should be along soon to pick you up. Are you holding up all right? After what you’ve been through I’m surprised you kids are still so calm and co-operative.”

Lisa couldn’t see anything, but she knew that if she could have she would be exchanging a significant look with Gavin: for the first time ever, here was someone who realised – who understood – that they had been through so much. She had no idea who the woman was, or how she knew they were in the cave, or even how she knew about how the two of them had come to be entangled with the Union, but to hear someone put into words what they were both feeling was the sweetest thing Lisa had heard in months.

“ We’re doing OK,” Lisa called back over the increasingly annoying humming. “ Um – before you go – who is this you’re leaving us with?”

“ It’s Samuel Oak,” came the reply. “ OK, take care kids.” And with that, the voice disappeared.

Lisa knew that Gavin’s breath, like hers, had stuck in his throat. After all they had travelled for, since Port Valeo, here was the man they were looking for, right in front of them.

They sat in stupefied limbo, the source of the humming right beside them in the cave. There were inflections in the humming, chinks that made it less musical and more human. As Lisa listened, it seemed to become some kind of lament that she couldn’t quite place.

Finally, she said, “ Professor Oak?”

The humming stopped, leaving a ringing silence in its absence. Lisa held her breath.

“ You are Lisa Walters, aren’t you?”

What surprised Lisa the most, more so than the fact that Oak knew who she was, was the simultaneous strength and frailness of his voice. His tone, deep and gravelly and pensive, revealed at once that he had been through some kind of intense trauma, yet there was a resistance, a resilience, in the way in which he chose his words; he spoke slowly and composedly, almost as though he had prepared the entire conversation in advance.

“ I am,” said Lisa, “ and this is Gavin Luper.”

“ It’s good to meet you at last,” said the old man. He sounded exhausted. “ I’ve been looking for you, Lisa.”

Lisa did a double take. “ You have?”

“ Yes,” said Oak slowly. “ You sound so surprised.”

“ It’s just that – well, we were looking for you, actually,” Lisa told him.

Gavin shifted uncomfortably on the cave floor.

“ You two were looking for me?” Oak repeated softly. “ How strange … we were both looking for each other, and now here we are, with all the time in the world to explain ourselves.”

‘All the time in the world’ were not the words that Lisa would have chosen to explain their situation – hiding from a still-unexplained enemy organisation – however, it seemed to work for Oak. In any case, he either ignored their apprehensive silence or did not notice it at all, for he pushed on quickly.

“ I would like to hear why you were looking for me,” he said composedly, “ and I’m sure you’d like an explanation from me about my absence, but, if you don’t mind, I have some very important things to tell you both and they cannot wait a second longer.”

“ You have something important to tell us?” Gavin said, apparently amazed that such a bizarre night could become any more confusing.

“ Oh, yes, very important.”

“ Well, what things?” Lisa demanded, rather shortly. She was so tired after the events of the last few days that her brain had ceased to process information logically anymore. Every twist and turn seemed to bring a new, more perplexing problem to the situation. She didn’t have a clue what was going on. All she wanted to do was fall asleep for a very long time and forget everything that had happened since October, when she first sighted Suicune in the Burned Tower. She wanted it to be all over.

But, as Oak began to relay his important information, she realised that there would be no rest for her tonight.

No, the night was only just beginning.

[Gavin Luper]

G'day everyone!

Just making a post to let everyone know that Lisa the Legend won two awards at the Golden Pens, the results of which were just announced. LTL won Best Plot and Best Cliffhanger, though Best Cliffhanger was by default.

Thanks to all readers who nominated and voted for Lisa the Legend/me in the awards. I'm surprised that we got any awards after such a long hiatus, but we did, so I'm thrilled.

Hopefully I can fulfil the title of 'Best Plot' with the coming chapters. As for best cliffhanger, well, no comment. :biggrin:

Chapter 54 coming along VERY well.

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

Well, I can't wait any longer, so here we go! Last chapter is on the last page for those who haven't read it yet!

I can't decide if I like this chapter or not so I suppose I'll have to see how you guys react. I hope it's not too tedious with all the info that's coming out, but it was all VERY overdue. If anyone gets confused with all the history that's happening in this chapter, skimming Chapters 18, 20, 21, 22 or 44 might help with certain aspects.

Well, here it is - Chapter 54! :biggrin: Oh and closet readers, please reply! *puppy eyes*

Cheers!

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Chapter 54 – The Professor’s Tale.


“ Lisa, I’m afraid I’m going to have to tell you something that perhaps you should have been told some time ago,” said Professor Oak. “ I have to tell you, though, I am not supposed to know about this – I found out quite by accident a few months ago. I might not be the most prepared person to tell you this, as I don’t really know you, but you must be informed this instant.”

“ What is it?” asked Lisa, breathless with apprehension. Gavin was silent.

“ The three Legendary Pokémon, Suicune, Raikou and Entei,” said Oak, “ have evoked some kind of ancient legend. I do not know the details of its origin or what it is for, but this legend has a certain power, a binding power, over the lives of those it pertains to. Lisa, the legend involves you.”

At that moment, something inside Lisa felt right for the first time ever. Emotion swept her exhaustion aside. It was indescribable, incomprehensible: the exhilaration, the beauty, the realness of it all. It felt like a key turning in its lock for the very first time; like a child taking her first step: this is what I am for, this is why I Am: this is Me.

Lisa felt as though she was glowing, giving off some kind of ethereal, beautiful light; for a fleeting second, she thought she would gladly have traded that moment when Oak told her about the legend for the rest of her life in its entirety up until then. For it was not simply the information that an ancient legend involved her that filled her with emotion – it meant that she was not crazy, or disturbed, or plagued or cursed. It meant that everything that had happened since October – the mystery, the deaths, the danger – the overall chaos of it all – was not a random event; it was not spiralling toward some kind of disaster. It was not something that she could have stopped. It was - it had all been - completely out of her control; as Oak had just said, the Legend had a power – a binding power – over her life.

“ This must be quite a shock,” said Oak, his voice pained. “ I understand if you need some time to take it all in.”

“ No – I’m – I’m quite fine,” said Lisa, trying not to sound too elated at the news Oak clearly thought would trouble her. “ Really … this is … kind of good to hear.”

“ It – it is?” Oak asked.

“ It is?” repeated Gavin softly.

“ I can’t describe it,” explained Lisa at once, “ Actually it’s kind of scary that I don’t find this scary, but I just don’t. It’s more … relieving … than anything, really.” She felt, rather than saw, their puzzled looks on her. “ Sorry, it doesn’t make any sense … maybe later I’ll freak out, but right now, I’m OK.” She slowed down and calmed herself. “ Professor Oak, if you could tell me more about this legend …?”

“ Of course,” said Oak, clearly bemused. “ Erm … well, this legend involved you specifically. I don’t know the details of it, but I think you are mentioned by name. And you are linked to the Legendary Dogs, who, as well as having enacted the legend, are also a part of it. But the most important thing I have to tell you is not about the legend – it is about what a group called the Union plan to do about it. You know about them?”

“ A bit …” said Lisa, her elation ebbing now. Less than twenty four hours ago she had been speaking about the same topic, the Union, with the mysterious man who had had her kidnapped from the Fairfax Inn.

“ Most people believe they are still called Team Rocket, but this is not true. I’ve discovered that Team Rocket was on the verge of collapse about two years ago. Their leader, Joseph Sterling, disappeared without a trace for several months. Team Rocket’s leadership structure eroded quickly and their activities decreased until eventually they virtually disappeared from the social focus. With the crime rate slashed, people began to – more or less – forget about the Rockets; in fact, many people still believe they have been permanently disbanded and no longer exist.”

“ But they haven’t,” interjected Gavin, a second before Lisa.

“ No, they haven’t,” agreed Oak. “ Though it looked like they would dissolve for a while there. But then, early last year, Joseph returned from his exile. He simply fronted at the Team Rocket Base on Cinnibar Island and demanded control of the Team again. The result? Instant mutiny – Rockets fought amongst themselves, and there were several murders. In the end, those agents still loyal to Sterling and what he stood for prevailed. But the Team was weak; certainly, membership had been reduced to about a thousand agents. Sterling announced a bold plan: Team Rocket would be alloyed with various smaller underground agencies – including the Kanto Arms Movement and a Johto Biker Gang, among several others. The new organisation was called the Union.”

“ How long ago was this?” Lisa asked; it surprised her that Oak had such detailed information; indeed, his knowledge of the formation of the Union was far more in-depth than Lisa’s mystery informant had been the previous night. Even though some of Oak’s information clashed with what Lisa had been told last night, she had a feeling she could rely on Oak a lot more than her unnamed helper.

“ From what I’ve learned, about April last year,” said Oak. He paused, and Lisa became aware of the stubborn silence still present, both inside the cave and in the forest outside. There was still no sign of any attacking Union agents, nor was there any indication of someone else arriving to pick them up.

“ Anyhow,” continued Oak, “ the Union was formed, strengthening the power Sterling had at his command. He ordered a mass recruitment program, which, surprisingly, worked quite well; rogue pokémon trainers, bikers, hikers, scientists, general members of society all became new members. The ranks of the Union swelled substantially in just a few months.

“ While all this was happening, Joseph ordered Union agents going on possibly public missions to don the traditional Team Rocket uniform, in order to dupe the authorities into believing the Rockets had returned but were only a minor threat. The cover has apparently worked. The media still have not mentioned the Union.”

“ Not yet, they haven’t,” said Lisa, “ but tonight, the Union weren’t wearing the old Rocket uniforms at all. They were just in regular dark clothes.”

“ I’ll get to that later,” said Oak.

“ What kind of missions were they going on?” Gavin asked swiftly.

“ My next point,” said Oak, his voice becoming suddenly gravelly; he cleared it and continued. “ Their missions were mainly to gain profit – stealing pokémon to sell on the black market was their most common objective – at least, at that stage. Sterling needed the funds to orchestrate his primary goal, the prospect of which is apparently what brought him out of exile.”

Professor Oak sighed heavily. “ This is where the Union’s activities begin to become intertwined with the Legend, and therefore, with you, Lisa. I apologise if my knowledge of the details is a bit sketchy.”

“ That’s OK,” said Lisa. She was tempted to ask just how Oak had ‘accidentally’ stumbled upon so much information, but she had a feeling that he was coming to that.

“ Joseph Sterling,” said Professor Oak, “ must have heard of the Legend. I do not know how he came across it, but once he reformed Team Rocket he immediately set about fulfilling the Legend. Now, I know very little about the contents of this strange Legend, but one thing I do know is that it relates to a series of objects, or items … something, I’m not really sure. Sterling set about finding these objects at once.”

“ Are these objects keys?”

Lisa blurted it out without thinking; Derek had mentioned something about a Second Key earlier that night. But it was more than that; she had still not forgotten the strange dream she had had last night; it was still fresh in her mind, the way in which a strange golden key had emerged from the Rosewood Box, following her around her dream.

“ Keys?” said Oak. “ I don’t know about that … to be honest, I don’t have a clue what these objects are.” He hesitated. “ What made you ask about keys?”

“ Oh – I’m sure I heard a Union agent mention something about it once,” Lisa covered in what she hoped was a fairly unassuming voice.

“ I see,” murmured Oak. “ Well, I don’t know if the objects are keys or not, but it appears that the Union has been searching fervently for them. The organisation’s activities since May last year are very interesting indeed. Agents have emerged in several remote locations across the continent – the Whirl Islands, Jukidos Falls in Tokor, the Seafoam Islands, the Redwood Caves, Mount Moon … and now here … the list goes on. It seems that the Union is searching for the objects mentioned in the Legend …”

“ I don’t get it,” interrupted Gavin, quite loudly, “ Searching for objects? What does that have to do with Lisa and the Legendary Pokémon?”

Oak heaved a tense sigh. “ Unfortunately, I have absolutely no idea. That is more or less all that I know about this. Like you, I can see no logical connection between a series of material items and the Legendary Pokémon. I can only guess at what the connection might be. All I do know is that –” (And here Lisa noted a definite falter in his voice), “ that the Legend involves you, Lisa, and there are those out there – namely, the Union – who want to find you, as they believe you are somehow necessary for them to make sense of the Legend.”

“ The Legendaries have been following me, too,” Lisa added.

“ That does not surprise me,” replied Oak, his voice wavering again. “ They can be quite vindictive, I believe …” He trailed off.

A brief silence reigned for a second or two; Lisa strained her ears for the sounds of some kind of scuffle outside the cave, but still there was nothing; no sign of danger, no sign of help. She wished she had asked Derek more questions when she had the chance, like how long they would need to stay hidden in the cave, but it was useless wishing for it now. All they could do was hope that Derek was genuine, obey his orders and wait to see what was going to happen.

“ So,” Oak said, breaking the silence, “ You know now why I wanted to find you, but why was it that you were looking for me?”

Gavin yawned loudly. “ You go, Lisa, I’m too tired to tell the story.”

Lisa didn’t mind obliging; the news about the Legend had stimulated her too much for her too be sleepy anymore; she launched into the explanation of their pursuit of Oak; how they had thought that his second disappearance might have something to do with the Legendaries, as his first disappearance had, and as such they had travelled as fast as possible to Dervine – stumbling upon Raikou, Lunanine, Marina and the Union twice (Lisa didn’t mention the appearance of her mystery informant) – hoping to find out what link – if any – the Professor had with the Legendaries.

“ And it turns out I was right, doesn’t it?” said Lisa, finishing up her story; beside her, Gavin grunted in his sleep. “ Because you did have something to do with the Legendaries …” She trailed off. “ But now that we’ve found you and you’ve told us all this … can I ask you something?”

“ Yes?” said Oak reluctantly.

“ I was wondering how all this happened to you. I mean, you disappeared twice and suddenly you have all this information. How did you come to find out all this? Why did you disappear?”

Oak gave a sigh, weighed down by the stresses of his many years. “ Well, it is a long story …” He fell silent. “ But it seems that there is still nobody coming to fetch us, so I have enough time to tell you.

“ It all began, really, in November last year. I had just received a communication from my acquaintance Professor Westwood, who is based on Red Rock Island. He sent me a new pokédex entry on a previously unknown pokémon; he said he had compiled it with the help of a civilian, and they had reason to believe that the pokémon, which they called ‘Lunanine’, may in fact be a Legendary pokémon.”

“ Um – that was me,” interjected Lisa. She hadn’t known how else to say it.

“ What do you mean?” questioned Oak.

“ I was the civilian who helped him make the pokédex entry,” she said. “ Gavin and I were in the Whirl Islands in November, we had just been competing in the Whirlpool Cup Tournament. The day after the final I got a call from Professor Westwood, who asked me to help him make an entry on the Black Beast, as me and Gavin had sighted him once in the Radio Tower.”

“ You – what?!”

It took ten minutes for Lisa to fully explain that she and Gavin had actually been the two survivors of the Radio Tower Collapse in October; Oak seemed very concerned about this but said little.

“ I see,” he said eventually, “ So, after you completed this pokédex entry, you added that you thought it might be a legendary?”

“ I’ve always been sure,” said Lisa, “ but in the file Westwood gave me on the Black Beast, there were notes that suggested it was a legendary beast, similar in some ways to Suicune, Raikou and Entei. That kind of confirmed it for me, so I wrote in its description that it was a legendary pokémon.”

“ Right,” said Oak, “ well, Westwood sent me the entry for my personal assessment. While I agreed with your description, more or less, a couple of things concerned me. Firstly, it was the fact that you had given the creature a name; while it would seem to be acceptable to do so in the Black Beast’s case, pokémon are usually named by themselves … their speech will usually indicate their name. Occasionally, some pokémon that are simply forced to accept a new name, a new identity, can become extremely angered by this. So I thought it would be wise not to call the beast ‘Lunanine’ in case it resented humans trying to ‘control it’, so to speak.

“ Moreover, the fact that you were referring to the Black Beast as a legendary and were attempting to make it official disturbed me. This could become very explosive information, you see. People, especially fanatics such as Team Rocket (or the Union, as I later discovered) become obsessed with legendary pokémon. They think they have certain magical powers, more so than regular pokémon, so labelling the Black Beast as a Legendary could be a very dangerous move indeed. Of course, it seemed at that stage that Team Rocket was a very minor threat, but nonetheless, I did not approve of the pokédex entry.”

“ I’m sorry,” said Lisa, crestfallen. “ It was a pretty spontaneous thing – Westwood kind of made me do the entry overnight. I didn’t think any of it would be that bad.”

“ No, no, I’m not having a go at you, Lisa,” said Oak. “ You couldn’t’ve had any idea that what you were writing could have such wide repercussions. Nor, apparently, did Professor Westwood.

“ I didn’t want to take any chances on this, so I decided to do a bit of field research myself. I took the first available train to Goldenrod City and headed for the site of the fallen Radio Tower. I don’t know if you’ve been in Goldenrod since October, but at that time, the site was still a mess. The authorities had done their assessments and police had done all the necessary forensic work, but there was still a lot of rubble left at the site. I knew it was believed that the Black Beast had been present at the site of the disaster, so I began to have a bit of a poke around the site.” Oak sighed. “ It turned out to be a bit of a mistake. You see, I had accidentally ignored the signs all over the place that said, ‘Danger! Do not enter!’ As I negotiated my way through the remains of the Radio Tower, I stepped on a very old piece of timber, which broke as soon as I put all my weight on it. I fell through, landing on several equally weak pieces of timber on the way down, so I eventually wound up in the concrete basement of the old Tower, quite a long way from ground level and any possible help.

“ I called out for help for some time, but nobody heard, as it was twilight and most people had headed home for the evening. I think I was quite injured, for I slipped out of consciousness.

“ When I awoke, it was night. I freed myself from the rubble and began to search once again for some way out of the basement, but again I found no escape. I was ready to give up when I heard a sudden noise coming from above. I looked up and I saw – well – the last thing I expected. The three well-known legendary dogs, Suicune, Raikou and Entei, were bounding down from the ground level above, bouncing lightly off the debris to reach the basement.

“ Of course, I was absolutely stunned – three legendary pokémon had appeared before me just like that! In my desperate state, my first thought was that they had come to help me, however I quickly came to my senses and hid behind some rubble. I am very lucky I did so before the Legendary Beasts reached the ground; if I hadn’t, I would not be able to tell you everything I just did.

“ It is very fortunate that the legendaries did not see me, for once I had hidden myself, they arrived and immediately launched into a very heated discussion. It was amazing, Lisa; they did not speak in pokémon language, but through mental telepathy, yet I could hear what they were saying clear as anything – they were speaking in English! As you can imagine, it was a struggle for me not to jot this amazing fact in my notebook – while it has been rumoured for centuries that Legendary pokémon can communicate with humans, this was the first I had ever seen of it. If I were to attest to the claim that Legendary pokémon could communicate with humans, this could lend massive credibility to the age-old rumours.” He wavered suddenly. “ Oh … I suppose you would have witnessed this many times, then, Lisa … I gather you have seen the Legendaries on various occasions.”

“ I have, yeah,” said Lisa.

“ Very well,” said Oak, crestfallen. “ As it was, I did not get around to writing all this in my notebook, simply because I suddenly became aware of what the Legendaries were talking about. They first began by discussing a trip, a journey that they were about to go on. Then they were discussing something they had only recently discovered – that Team Rocket had re-emerged as an organisation called the Union. They discussed the formation of the Union, something they had only just discovered, and the Union’s activities at length. They mentioned something large-scale, something massive, that the Union was planning. And they mentioned the Black Beast – yes, they were very, very concerned about something to do with the Black Beast. And they spoke about an ancient Legend they were involved in, they said that an outcome of the Legend could be catastrophic; yes, they said something about thousands of human and pokémon deaths … and they mentioned your name, Lisa, among others, but you seemed to be the topic of discussion of the moment – apparently the Union was chasing after you, they had someone on your tail …”

“ Lucas,” Lisa broke in. Oak seemed puzzled. “ There was a man who saw me at the Radio Tower the day it collapsed, he seemed pretty shady. He ended up following me around on my journey for weeks, trying to find me for some reason. When he eventually found me he tried to finish me off, but – uh – the police arrived just in time. He was killed at the scene.”

“ Goodness,” said Oak. “ Well, there you go. The Legendaries were particularly concerned about you and rightly so, it seems. Raikou, the beast of thunder, made reference to the Legend then and that is how I learned you were a part of it. They were about to speak about several others involved in the Legend, but before they did, Entei, the fire beast, sensed my presence. He used an Ember attack to destroy the desks I was hiding behind. I thought I was dead then, but no; the Legendaries, particularly Entei, were furious; they thought I was a Union spy. They demanded I tell them whom I was working for, but I assured them I was there purely by accident. They asked what I had heard and I divulged everything. When they realised I knew they had been talking of the Black Beast, I told them why I was there; I explained about the pokédex entry, about the new name, ‘Lunanine’. For some reason they seemed impressed by the name, but nonetheless, Raikou and Suicune remained suspicious; Entei remained furious. He surely would have killed me there and then if it had not been for the other two, who, might I add, are rather a lot more compassionate than Entei,” Oak said emphatically.

“ Instead, they decided to attack me,” said Oak calmly; Lisa gasped. “ Not attack to destroy, no; you see, Legendary pokémon have attacks and techniques that I can only dream of witnessing. Raikou paralyzed me with a Disable attack, which was surprising, as Disables are not supposed to cause paralysis. Suicune then explained to me that they were going to occlude my mind, prevent me from remembering anything I had just learned about the Union, the Legend, the Black Beast, or you. He sent a beam of rainbow light at me. The next thing I knew, I was … I can only describe it as floating, for that is how it felt. Then Entei said he was going to send me back to my hotel room in Goldenrod, and the next thing I knew, there I was.”

Lisa blinked. “ So they didn’t really harm you, then,” she said, trying not to rush her thinking; everything that had happened last December was beginning to making sense now.

“ Not at that stage,” admitted Oak, sighing heavily, “ but there was more to come. You see, when I awoke in the middle of nowhere – well, actually, in the forest a few kilometres from a small village – it was an entire day later. There were several anxious messages left on my phone from Delia Ketchum, an old friend of mine from Pallet Town who had been with my pet Slowking and I in Goldenrod, as well as a message from my assistant and from Westwood. I intended to answer these at once, but my thirst and hunger where overwhelming. I stumbled several kilometres into the tiny village – I think it was called Emerald Plains – to get some food and water, still quite dazed from what I had been through. Yet, despite being quite badly injured from my fall, I was otherwise in good health.

“ When I reached the corner store in the village, however, my eyes fell on a cluster of posters, proclaiming the news headline for the day – ‘New Pokémon Discovered: Lunanine the Legendary’. It seemed that Professor Westwood had taken my silence for approval and had submitted the new pokédex entry to the Pokémon Symposium in my absence.” Oak paused pointedly, and when he spoke again, it was not in a storytelling voice but in his own weak, gravelly voice. “ I can’t really explain how or what happened to me when I saw that headline, Lisa,” he said, “ but I suppose I went a little bit … strange. I don’t know. But I suddenly remembered everything that Suicune had told me I would be unable to. I recalled the Legend and the Union and the Black Beast. I realised that I urgently needed to tell someone – to tell you, Lisa, warn you, and any others – about the danger you were in!

“ I got some water from the store and then left Emerald Plains at once. I was desperate to find you. I was running through the forest for Ecruteak; as I ran, I could attain odd glimpses of the Tin Tower. Though I knew it could be seen from many, many kilometres away, as it is on a mountainside, I could at least be sure of my direction. I travelled for an entire day, still in a kind of trance that I cannot really understand; I suppose it was a side effect of the memory-block Suicune used on me. In any case, I never did get very far …”

Lisa had been silent for a long time. She had realised where the story was leading.

“ It was the night of the seventh of December,” recounted Oak. “ Ecruteak was within sight; I was becoming hopeful that I would make it to you in time, but it was not meant to be. The Legendaries must have become suspicious of me, dazed though I was. Entei and Raikou cornered me that evening. Raikou nourished me briefly, but Entei was in no mood for mercy. He said they would have to ‘take me’ – whatever he meant by that. But Raikou defended me. I am eternally grateful to that beast for what he did. He stalled Entei long enough for me to escape and I wasted no time in fleeing. However,” his voice took on a dark tone, “ I only made it a few metres, over the crest of a small hill. There I stumbled into – well – Anna.”

Lisa had known it would happen when he mentioned Anna’s name. She could speak about Anna herself perfectly fine, she could even recall the entire night without breaking down, but there was something about hearing other people, different people, say Anna’s name – like they had at her funeral – that caused the tears to flow.

“ Were you close?” asked Oak empathetically.

“ No,” Lisa muttered through clenched teeth; she could already feel her face flushing with embarrassment. “ We were only newly friends, we only really got to know each other for a couple of days during the Whirlpool Cup. It’s just that it was so terrible to see her die, especially the way she did. Killed by Entei right in front of us all – and she didn’t even have anything to do with it. I saw her father’s face at the funeral … it really broke your heart …”

Oak didn’t speak.

“ Sorry,” Lisa said after a second, feeling utterly ridiculous. “ I’ll get over it eventually, really … I’m fine now. Keep going.”

“ Very well then,” said Oak rigidly, clearly disturbed by Lisa’s outburst. “ Erm … well you know what happened that night by the tree, in any case. After I was rescued from there, I awoke days later in the intensive care unit of Lakey Heights Hospital in Ecruteak. The police interviewed me that same day, however, I was unable to answer any of their questions satisfactorily. The doctors later diagnosed me with post-traumatic shock disorder and partial amnesia; I quite literally had no memory of anything that had happened since I first went to the Radio Tower. How I wound up in the Ecruteak Forest remained a complete mystery that even I could not answer, at least not at that stage.”

“ We wanted to talk to you, too,” explained Lisa, as Gavin gave a single snore. “ Me and Gavin that is. We thought it was bizarre that you had simply been there in the middle of the forest. But when we went to the ward you were in the doctors said you were still unconscious, so we never followed it up.”

“ Well, it wouldn’t have done you any good to follow it up until a week or so ago,” Oak said. “ My so-called partial amnesia persisted; my memory of the events that had taken place did not return, even after I had recovered. The doctors didn’t see it as anything to worry about. I was discharged in January and returned to my assistants and friends in Pallet Town.

“ It was then that I learned of Professor Westwood’s disappearance; he must have submitted the pokédex entry on Lunanine and then almost immediately disappeared. I was of course concerned, but I did not recall my fears about Lunanine even then; as such, I did not consider that the Union, or even the Legendaries, could have played a part in his disappearance.”

Lisa recalled Gavin telling her on the night he met her in Port Valeo about how Westwood was in fact currently captive in the Union’s prison on Silver Rock Island, however, she could not think of a quick way to explain how she knew this without involving Gavin, so she kept her silence.

Oak continued: “ I returned to my research projects in Pallet. However, there were side effects of the shock disorder that I had not anticipated – I was somewhat slower in my research. My papers were becoming less coherent, to the point where they were not meeting Symposium standards. In February, the Symposium placed my status as a top-level researcher under review, relegating me to a low grade Mudkip study in Dervine with associate professor Rachel Hudson. I had no choice in the matter; I had to do what the Symposium ordered me to do, or risk losing my research capacities altogether. I travelled at once to Dervine and began investigating my new (and may I say, dull) subject.

“ It was two weeks into the Dervine project when something rather unfortunate happened – or fortunate, as the case may be. I was alone late one night, investigating the Mudkip’s activities under a new moon, when all of a sudden I was ambushed by three men who appeared quite out of nowhere. I didn’t even get a look at them before they knocked me out.

“ When I awoke,” Oak sighed very laboriously, “ I was in a large cave. The memories all rushed back once again. I can only think that it was the blow to the head that caused it all to return; no other theory I can produce makes any sense. So, for the second time in my life, I awoke with a flood of returning memories. I knew that I needed to find you, Lisa, even more urgently than I had last time, for the Union’s plans must surely have advanced considerably in the two months since I last knew about them. I enlisted the help of some very friendly Diglett, who dug me out of the cave. I immediately set about escaping, but the Union agents were hidden throughout the forest – which must have been somewhere between Dervine, Olivine and Ecruteak. I was caught again within a few hours and placed in another, smaller cave, which had walls of thick, impenetrable rock.

“ They kept me in that cave for nearly a week,” said Oak, a brittleness in his voice coming to the fore. “ It was terrible … However,” he said, with a pointed effort to be strong, “ Today, I finally escaped by playing dead – a technique I have seen many a pokémon employ – which, fortunately, worked to my favour. I freed myself from the Union and, despite being weak, I ran as fast as I possibly could.”

He sighed, clearly exhausted from sharing his story. “ And that, ultimately, is how I came to know about the Union, the Legend and the Legendaries, and how I came to be searching for you, Lisa,” he concluded. “ I ran all day today until I reached this mountain a few hours ago. A woman met me at the foot of the mountain, recognised me at once, and led me to this cave after I explained I was in danger from the Union. She said she knew about the Union. She told me I would be safe in this cave; she said someone is going to pick me up once the fighting is over.”

Lisa jerked from her state of semi-stupor; she had been listening intently to the Professor’s tale, but exhaustion and weariness were beginning to creep up on her. “ What fighting?” she asked.

“ You didn’t see it?” Oak said mildly. “ I don’t know exactly what is happening, but there was a massive battle ensuing as I was led up the mountain to this cave. Not just a pokémon battle, either,” he added, sounding concerned. “ They were using guns and other weapons, too …” He trailed off, clearly tired of talking.

Sounds like the Union all right, thought Lisa, yawning. She briefly wondered who they were fighting: it could be the police, but from the sounds of it there was a great deal of anti-Union activity going on, what with Derek and the woman who had assisted Oak, and Lisa’s mystery informant from the previous night. Was there something more that Lisa didn’t know?

She allowed the myriad questions to fill her mind as, for the second time that night, sleep closed in around her.

[mr_pikachu]

Hm! So that's what's going on - well, sort of. As you said, we certainly did not get the complete picture; the "legend" that Prof. Oak mentioned is still completely unexplained. I'd be willing to bet that Lisa's dream was somehow accurate, though it's difficult to say in what way. Still, this was certainly a lot of information. But with every question you answered, another has been asked...

Despite this chapter being little more than dialogue, it was still quite good. The explanation Oak offered seems fairly valid, at least, and the mysteries inherent within it give us yet another reason to look forward to the next update. And the massive battle? I shudder to think how that could turn out. Also, you made the lengthy explanation more interesting by adding bits about Gavin's sleep and Lisa's emotions. Remarkably, I understand Lisa's emotions quite well; to me, at least, it wasn't very confusing. Good work here.

However, some parts of your style seemed weaker than your normal work. There are two examples in particular that I'd like to bring up. I hope you don't mind their extreme length.


Lisa felt as though she was glowing, giving off some kind of ethereal, beautiful light; for a fleeting second, she thought she would gladly have traded that moment when Oak told her about the legend for the rest of her life in its entirety up until then. For it was not simply the information that an ancient legend involved her that filled her with emotion – it meant that she was not crazy, or disturbed, or plagued or cursed. It meant that everything that had happened since October – the mystery, the deaths, the danger – the overall chaos of it all – was not a random event; it was not spiralling toward some kind of disaster. It was not something that she could have stopped. It was - it had all been - completely out of her control; as Oak had just said, the Legend had a power – a binding power – over her life.

“ This must be quite a shock,” said Oak, his voice pained. “ I understand if you need some time to take it all in.”

“ No – I’m – I’m quite fine,” said Lisa, trying not to sound too elated at the news Oak clearly thought would trouble her. “ Really … this is … kind of good to hear.”

“ It – it is?” Oak asked.

So… many… dashes! Other punctuation marks could be used just as properly in these cases, and it would really help the redundancy issue.


Lisa didn’t mind obliging; the news about the Legend had stimulated her too much for her too be sleepy anymore; she launched into the explanation of their pursuit of Oak; how they had thought that his second disappearance might have something to do with the Legendaries, as his first disappearance had, and as such they had travelled as fast as possible to Dervine – stumbling upon Raikou, Lunanine, Marina and the Union twice (Lisa didn’t mention the appearance of her mystery informant) – hoping to find out what link – if any – the Professor had with the Legendaries.

This is a very long sentence, with lots and lots of semicolons. It might be good to break it up a little.


Still, though, this was quite good for a chapter that was meant to do little more than reveal information. You're as good as ever at throwing tension into the mix, and the bits of Gavin's sleep behavior worked quite well. I thought it wasn't quite as good as some of your earlier chapters, but as we all know, you set the bar high. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the next chapter. Will they be rescued? Or is their capture imminent? We can only wait and see...

[Gavin Luper]

mr_pikachu: That was a quick reply! Thanks, as always. Yeah, I agree with most of what you said, but this was always going to be a difficult chapter for me to write. I knew there were heaps of grammatical problems with this, but I'm actually glad it came off as well as it did. Last time I tried to divulge heaps of information in a chapter, it completely didn't work and I had to rewrite crappily (I'm talking about chapter 50 which was called "Full Disclosure" but, by the time I rewrote it, it disclosed very little at all). But this time around everything worked remarkably well and I'm glad that it's all out in the open now. This chapter certainly served to make sense of a lot of hints that have been dropped and finally I got to explain Oak's presence (and disappearances) in the story.

I'm really happy you understand Lisa's emotions so well; I was really afraid that two things in the chapter would backfire: her reaction to the Legend and her reaction to the mention of Anna. But apparently it all worked. With the Legend, you see, that's how she felt - she finally understood that she had some kind of higher purpose, something she couldn't control.

All in all, I'm glad you still liked this chapter. Apart from finally revealing Lisa's involvement with the Legend (which hopefully was more or less tacitly understood by most readers by now anyway), it really was just a way of delivering a whole heap of info to the readers and tying things together that have been left loose since the beginning of this book. Like I said, there's very little action in this chapter due to the dialogue and explanations; that's in stark contrast to Chapter 55. *hint hint*

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

Hey everyone!

Well, I am officially back now! I've returned after Leavers (which was awesome) and I'm ready to begin writing Lisa the Legend once more. Chapter 55 is looking good already, it should be quite an exciting installment for everyone!

Back to writing ...

Cheers!

- Gavin.

[Gavin Luper]

Hey everyone!

As usual, I just sat down today and finished the chapter ... go figure. Anyway, here it is, only a couple of months wait this time ... I'm getting better!

I enjoyed writing this chapter. I really like this one, something about it just works, and it feels good.

Cheers!

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

Chapter 55 – The Deceiver.


Lisa awoke to the muffled sound of somebody crying. She didn’t realise at first what the noise was; she emerged from her sleep slowly, her mind woolly. Before she could open her tired eyes, the sound caught her ears, jagged them almost. It was a jerky, wet kind of a cry: a helpless, desperate, exhausted sob that struck a chord within Lisa herself. She could almost feel what the person was feeling. Surrounded by the unwelcoming darkness of the cave, she propped herself up on her elbow. Her first thought had been Professor Oak, but slowly she realised the sobbing was coming from someone much younger, someone deceptively vulnerable, someone who had been through more than she could even begin to comprehend.

“ Gavin?”

The pitiful sobs stopped suddenly, catching in the throat of their owner. He coughed. Silence reigned for just a moment. “ Lisa. You’re awake.” His voice was unnaturally deep and raw.

Torn, Lisa didn’t even bother asking if he was okay; she began to grope along the rock floor of the cave in the direction of Gavin’s voice, until finally her hand found what felt like his knee. There was a sudden, sharp intake of breath from Gavin. He said nothing. Lisa searched for the right thing to say, the right balance of openness and restraint, but she couldn’t strike it. Instead, she said, “ You’re scared the Union are going to torture you again, aren’t you?”

Gavin’s leg seemed to contort violently. “ How did you know?” he said rigidly, and, without waiting to hear Lisa’s response, he collapsed on top of her, his head finding her shoulder as he shook with tears.

Alarmed, Lisa let him hug her; she had never felt more unlike herself, more strange, than she did now, but she knew she had to be there for him. So she stayed there for what seemed like ten minutes, as Gavin – strong, funny, sarcastic, good-natured Gavin – sobbed unrestrainedly on her shoulder. She patted his back weakly and told him it was okay, until eventually he stopped crying and just stayed there, hanging onto her as if for life itself.

Abruptly he said, “ Don’t tell anyone. Please don’t tell anyone.”

Lisa couldn’t even begin to think who she was ever going to tell that Gavin had been brutally tortured at the hands of a subversive organisation, but she complied. “ I won’t say a word.”

He finally pulled away from her. “ How did you find out?” he asked, wiping his tears from Lisa’s arms; his voice had returned to normal now.

“ Believe it or not,” Lisa said. “ I had a dream. Last night. And I saw it happen … I don’t know how I knew but I knew that it was real. They beat you. They gave you that scar …”

Gavin made a noise that was somewhere between a choke and a laugh. “ And you know, no matter how much vitamin E cream I use, it won’t go away!”

They both chuckled. Lisa bordered on asking Gavin whether he would like to talk about it or not, but she stopped herself: although they had said precious little, it felt like everything had been dealt with adequately.

She shifted away from Gavin slightly so that they were no longer touching and pressed the green button on her pokégear. It lit the cave up very slightly as Lisa checked the time: it was eleven-thirty p.m.

“ We should have used that to light the cave up before, …” said Gavin, still sniffling slightly. “ What’s the time?”

“ Half past eleven,” said Lisa. “ Do you think that Derek and the police lost the battle that was happening? Nobody’s come to get us yet and it’s been a couple of hours.”

Gavin was silent in thought. “ I dunno … we’re still safe here, aren’t we, so who knows … maybe someone’s still coming?”

“ I hope so,” said Lisa softly, “ I don’t like the idea of fighting the Union off by ourselves.”

Gavin chuckled weakly again. “ I know this sounds really naïve, but do you reckon we could keep the Union off? I mean, if we really had to … and if there weren’t too many of them. I’ve thought about that kind of scenario a lot since … well … they got me. What d’you reckon?”

Lisa paused. “ Well, me and Marina didn’t do too great when they attacked my house … although me and Jessica kind of held our own in Valeo … although there was fog everywhere … and that time we set their jeep on fire was pretty cool … but they couldn’t see us then either. You know, in all seriousness, I think we could fight them off if we had to …” She chuckled softly. “ Just as long as they don’t know we’re there.”

There was a silence and Lisa sensed Gavin was about to respond, but before he could, there was a sudden noise from outside the cave. Lisa felt herself tense up immediately. There were people walking around outside, thrashing through the underbrush without a care as to the noise they were making. They were yelling to one another, too.

“ Take them to safety, I’ll handle the rest if anything else should happen!” cried one male voice.

“ You have to let that go!” demanded a female. “ The Second Key clearly isn’t here. Joseph said he’d been misinformed. There’s a mole in the group!”

Lisa’s tiredness didn’t prevent her from recognising the name of the Union’s Leader, Joseph Sterling.

“ I’m no idiot!” roared the other voice; the two people were painfully close to the cave now; as far as Lisa could tell, they were mere metres away from the entrance, still thrashing through the foliage as they charged onwards. “ Something doesn’t add up about all this …”

What it was exactly that didn’t add up, Lisa didn’t find out; the voice halted and the sound of the people continued as they passed by the cave; eventually, even the sound of their movement faded into the night.

A few minutes later, Gavin breathed, “ Union agents.”

“ Yeah,” Lisa muttered. The prospect of the two of them having to fight the Union was becoming more or a reality now.

They stayed silent for a minute or two more, too afraid to go on speaking, when they detected noise outside once again. This time, however, the approaching person was much more discreet about their movements; it was not until they were a couple of metres away from the cave entrance that Lisa heard a very quiet footstep. She sat in silence, holding her breath.

“ Lisa, Gavin, are you in there?” called a confident man’s voice; he sounded amicable.

Feeling it would be useless to pretend, Lisa cried, “ Yes, we’re all here. Who are you?”

“ None of your business,” came the reply, only half-jokingly; however, this time there was something in the man’s tone that reminded Lisa of somebody she had met once, though she could not think who.

“ I’m here to protect you from the Union,” the man called down the tunnel. “ I’m your way out of here.”

Nothing had ever sounded so inviting to Lisa in all her life. “ We’ll be out there in a moment,” she said fervently. The possibility of escaping all of this seemed like a dream come true. “ Gavin, can you help me with Professor Oak?”

In a matter of minutes, they had woken up the frail professor and led him through the tunnel, Gavin first, followed by Oak, with Lisa bringing up the rear. It was a tight squeeze, as before, but this time it seemed to be a much easier journey, perhaps because they were headed for escape rather than entrapment.

“ Quickly, now,” urged the man who had come to pick them up as Lisa finally emerged from the opening of the tunnel. In the couple of hours that they had been in there, the moon had risen higher, so that it now shone very weakly through a break in the canopy of the forest, shedding very limited light on the clearing. It was still impossible to see very far, but the moonlight was sufficient for them to see silhouettes and shadows, which were enough for them to negotiate their way around without stumbling into obstacles.

“ Where are we going?” Gavin asked, putting his arm around Professor Oak’s shoulder to support him.

“ To a rendezvous point,” said the man. “ But we must all be careful, because the Union agents are everywhere now.”

“ And whom, then,” chimed Professor Oak, “ do you represent, if you are opposing the Union?”

The man who had come to pick them up was quiet for a moment. “ This is not the time to be giving away details like that,” he said, after a moment’s indecision. “ Not when so much is at stake. Follow me now.” He fumbled with something at his belt, before holding up a dark orb against the frail light of the moon and pulling it open. White light exploded from the pokéball. A dark shape appeared, hovering in the air.

“ My Haunter will lead the way,” said the man. “ Come now.”

With that, he began to stride through the underbrush, following the floating shape of his ghost-type pokémon. Lisa stared after him for just a moment: this was all happening so fast; after hours of waiting, they were suddenly being led away from safety by someone who definitely seemed to be on their side, but was he really protecting them by plunging them into a forest filled with Union agents?

Gavin seemed to have picked up on the vibe too. He had regained composure from his breakdown earlier and was now taking charge once again. When Lisa offered her arm to help support Professor Oak, Gavin shot her down at once.

“ I think one of us should have free hands,” he whispered seriously. “ Just in case this guy isn’t who he says he is.”

Lisa glanced ahead at their saviour, whose outline was charging upwards to the path that Lisa, Gavin and Derek had travelled earlier. “ Fair enough,” she said, checking that all three pokéballs were at the ready before she continued onwards.

It took them ten minutes to reach the trail. Finally, the full glow of the moonlight was on them and they were able to see clearly once again. Lisa’s eyes fell on the bare face of their rescuer: sharp eyes, jagged, wild hair, thin lips. The double realisation crashed down on her like a tonne of bricks. This man was her informant, the man who had kidnapped her from the Fairfax Inn last night and warned her about the Union. But she had not seen his face last night … and now she could.

“ Morty!” she cried in utter astonishment.

The Ecruteak Gym Leader, Tom’s boss, paused in the cerulean-tinged moonlight. An unmistakeable expression of anger crossed his face.

“ Not so loud, Lisa,” he said acidly. “ Follow me now.”

Morty trudged further upwards without another word, leaving Lisa, Gavin and the Professor to their bewilderment.

*********

Perched atop the highest spire of the famed Tin Tower, the great Phoenix stirred in its sleep. It shifted its golden wings to a more comfortable position, but nothing seemed to help its state of anxiety. The Phoenix was not foolish: it could sense impending danger a thousand miles away. Although the creature, dubbed ‘Ho-oh’ by humans, had scarcely ventured down to the world of humans for months now, it knew something terrible was coming. Its intuition told it something was approaching. For nearly a year now, the feeling had been there, and growing stronger all the while: someone knows … someone is coming after it … Danger was everywhere, building all the time.

The Phoenix opened its deep, crystalline eyes and stared at the star-studded sky. Oh yes, something was happening … something was happening tonight.

Regal and pure, the Phoenix rose from its nest and soared away into the night.

*********

Lance, Grand Champion of the Elite Four, and Morty, esteemed Gym Leader of Ecruteak City …

Lisa’s mind churned like a washing machine. There was too much to take in, too much to even begin to comprehend. What had once been ‘quite involved’ had now become immensely complicated, so much so that she no longer had a clue what on Earth was happening. What was the Union doing? How did Lance and Morty come into all this?

Just focus on getting out of here alive, she told herself. Worry about everything else later …

Morty had now led them a fair distance up the mountain. Lisa had remained a few steps behind Gavin and the Professor the entire time, in order to be able to protect them if she needed to, but as they progressed, she discovered she had gradually overtaken them. They were now a few steps behind her.

Abruptly, and apparently in the middle of nowhere, Morty stopped. The rest of them followed suit.

“ What is it?” Lisa called gingerly.

“ This is where we wait to meet the others,” Morty explained. He glanced around the edges of the trail for a few seconds, apparently checking to make sure they were truly alone, before turning to the three of them. “ Sorry for being blunt with you earlier. I just wanted to ensure we were here on time – and we are. Lisa, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you who I was the other night, but there was no place for that kind of admission.”

“ That’s OK,” said Lisa honestly; she was feeling safer now, knowing that the man who had informed her of the Union and was currently protecting them from the Union was a Gym Leader – trustworthy and dependable.

“ I can’t fill you in right now,” Morty said, brushing some flyaway hair out of his eyes. “ All you need to know is, there is a team of us opposing every step the Union makes. We’re here to help.” He paused. “ It will be explained to you later.”

“ Thanks,” said Gavin uselessly.

“ We probably couldn’t handle an explanation at the moment, to be honest,” said Lisa frankly. “ We’ve learned so much tonight and I don’t think we can make sense of any of it.” She sighed heavily. “ I want to ask one thing though, how does Lance come into all this?”

It was the briefest of all things – fleeting and momentary – but Lisa noticed it. The moment she mentioned the word Lance, Morty’s ears pricked up, his eyes glowed suddenly, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly. Then his brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed: he was confused. It was as if he had never heard of Lance’s involvement before.

But he said simply, “ Not now. Just wait now.”

It wasn’t anything huge, but something told Lisa that this didn’t add up. Morty had looked confused when Lance was mentioned – as if he didn’t know Lance was a part of all this. But Derek had made it quite clear that Lance was somehow involved in opposing the Union … and surely, if Morty was on that team, he would know Lance was also?

But he hadn’t seemed to. He didn’t seem to have a clue.

Lisa wanted to whisper to Gavin, to discuss her suspicions, but Morty was only a couple of metres from them in the clearing, watching them. Lisa began to feel uneasy under his gaze. The hope and warmth that had come from knowing who he was had all but dissipated now, leaving an icy sensation in the pit of Lisa’s stomach.

The silence of the night was now more chilling than calming. Lisa shivered. A lone Noctowl hooted suddenly and flapped its wings wildly as it rose into the sky, causing everyone except Morty and his Haunter to jump with fright.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour standing in the cold air, there were footsteps from above. Lisa jerked her head upwards to see three dark figures, wearing civilian clothes, trudging down the track to meet the four of them.

“ About time,” said Morty, apparently to himself.

As the dark figures came closer, Lisa looked hard at their faces. She didn’t know what she was expected – perhaps an army of well-known Gym Leaders from across the country – but what she discovered shocked her – and disturbed her – far more.

The first person was a brown-haired woman Lisa didn’t know. The second was a bald man with bushy eyebrows that were visible even from that distance. When Lisa’s eyes fell on the third person, however, her heart skipped a beat. He had long black hair that was slicked back in a ponytail. His features were Mediterranean-like, almost Hispanic. He had a black moustache and his eyes were black. The only thing that Lisa recognised about him, though, were his teeth: they were unruly, all of them somewhat yellow and at strange angles.

They had met before.

He was the Union agent who had stolen her Electabuzz in Port Valeo a week ago.

Lisa felt the adrenaline pulse through her. She unwillingly broke out in a cold sweat. She wanted to believe anything else, anything at all, but there was no other possibility: these people were Union agents. They were not here to protect them. They were here to capture them.

Morty’s tricked us … Morty’s tricked us … Lisa panicked. She plunged both her hands into her pockets and felt the left one close over the Buzzball, the other hand grasping a pokéball. She remained frozen, hoping that she somehow looked casual.

Meanwhile, Morty was greeting the three newcomers. “ Is everything prepared?” he asked them.

The woman nodded. “ We’re ready,” she replied efficiently. She caught Lisa’s eye. “ Hello, Lisa,” she said amicably, but Lisa wasn’t taken in; she smiled falsely and held her tongue.

“ Lisa, Gavin, Professor …” Morty said. “ Meet Celice, Roger and Anthony.”

Gavin and the professor greeted them all vocally and quite warmly; Lisa smiled weakly but said nothing. When Anthony, the Hispanic man she had seen before, made eye contact, she tried her hardest to act as though she had never seen him before, as though she did not remember him. It must have worked, because his eyes did not linger on her, and he instead spoke: “ Well, come with us then, we will have you out of here in no time.” His voice was heavily accented but very smooth. Had Lisa not known him, she would have been utterly convinced that he was there to help.

Gavin immediately began to shuffle forwards with the Professor. Lisa hesitated. For a moment, her feet were rooted to the ground, her hands immobile. She could not move an inch. Gavin took another step. Anthony and Celice moved in closer to help him, their arms outstretched.

Once they’ve got us … we’ve got no chance.

“ ELECTRIFY!”

Lisa was sure she had never yelled so loud in her entire life. Everyone on the track froze in surprise as she screamed and a bolt of blue electricity burst wildly from her left pocket, streaming through the air and striking Celice, the nearest of the Union agents; she screamed and fell to the ground as blue energy coursed through her body, leaving her twitching uselessly on the dirt.

“ What are you doing Lisa?!” bellowed Gavin, amongst the cries of the Union agents and Celice’s choking screams.

Lisa didn’t listen; she had already launched the pokéball into the air and was hunting wildly for a second one. Morty, Roger and Anthony were completely taken aback, glancing at first Celice and then each other: it seemed that, of all the possibilities they had expected, Lisa fighting back wasn’t one of them.

Vulpix emerged from the pokéball and growled viciously at Celice’s twisting body. Lisa threw out her other two pokéballs before grabbing once again for the Buzzball. Glancing down, she saw that the streamer of electricity had burnt a hole through her jeans, though that was the least of her problems. The Union agents were responding now: Morty was yelling at Haunter to attack and the other two men were fumbling with weapons and pokéballs.

“ Fire Blade, Vulpix!” Lisa cried.

“ Haunter, Shadow Ball!” commanded Morty.

There was a blast of light from Lisa’s left but she didn’t register; after yelling “ INFLATE!” at the Buzzball in her left hand (to protect herself), she ordered Fiskmire and Aipom to take down Roger and Anthony. Meanwhile, Vulpix and Haunter were facing off viciously: the violet ghost growled and launched a sphere of melanine energy at Vulpix, who dodged the ball of energy skilfully and roared louder than Lisa had ever heard him.

“ Fire again!” Morty yelled.

Haunter shot out another orb of black energy, which curved wildly in the air; Vulpix dodged it once again but the ball kept going, smashing into Fiskmire, who was in the process of aiming a Bubblebeam at Roger’s Weezing. Fiskmire was sent sprawling to the ground and the Bubblebeam missed completely, soaring off into the darkness of the foliage.

Lisa spun back to her own battle; over the noise of the fighting, she heard Vulpix give a determined cry of “ Pix!” before inhaling deeply and breathing out a thin ribbon of vermilion flames. The ribbon of fire snaked out of the vulpine pokémons mouth, swirling towards Haunter’s hovering form. The purple spectre tried to move from side to side to avoid the crushing attack, but it was to no avail; the thin blade of fire reared backwards for a second, gathering momentum, before smashing against Haunter’s torso. The ghost went spinning to the ground, which it hit with a loud crack.

“ Vul!” cried Vulpix triumphantly. The fire evaporated, leaving Haunter on the ground, battered and bruised, a black mark across its face.

“ Great, Vulpix, now headbutt!” Lisa cried.

Vulpix put his head down and ran at Haunter, building up speed and energy all the way, until he reached Haunter’s side and charged. Lisa waited for the moment of impact – but it never came; Vulpix ran onwards, straight through Haunter’s body and through the other side, leaving Haunter completely unaffected and Vulpix very confused.

“ I thought you were clever, Lisa!” jeered Morty. “ Normal type moves on a ghost, really!”

Lisa felt her face go red, with embarrassment as much as fury and exhilaration. “ Vulpix, recover from that and try to Ember!”

“ Haunter, Night Shade!” cried Morty.

Lisa was dimly aware of Gavin and Professor Oak yelling, as well as Roger and Anthony as they battled. She watched Vulpix and Haunter intently. Her crimson fox was shooting a spray of sparks at Haunter, but the ghost was dodging most of them. Abruptly, the ghost opened its mouth, and a wave of blackness poured out like a blanket unfurling. Lisa was about to order Vulpix to use Agility, but before she could, there was a blinding bolt of green light and she was knocked off her feet. She opened her eyes to find herself on the ground. Stunned and confused, she pulled herself up to see Morty with a Stunner in his hand, grinning vindictively.

“ How dare you!” Lisa shouted at him, brushing the dirt off her and standing up again; apart from the fall, the bolt of energy had delivered no pain, just knocked her over. “ That’s underhanded!”

“ What are you going to do about it?” sneered Morty. “ If I were you, I’d be more worried about your Vulpix, myself.”

Lisa wheeled around to see Haunter mercilessly pounding Vulpix with waves and waves of Dark energy – a continuous Night Shade. Vulpix was wincing, crumpled up on the ground as the energy slammed into him; he was helpless.

“ Why you –” Lisa grabbed for another pokémon, but she suddenly realised they were all out fighting already. Helpless, she thought of the Buzzball, but out of nowhere, a beam of lilac light speared the air, colliding with Haunter and sending him flying into the ground. The Night Shade stopped, revealing a severely damaged Vulpix.

Lisa spun on her heel to see Gavin standing nearby, fighting off Anthony’s Vaporeon with Skarmory. Girafury stood beside them, the node on its head still glowing after firing off a psybeam at Haunter.

“ Gavin – Girafury – thanks,” Lisa muttered, before turning back to face Morty.

The Ghost Gym Leader scowled at her; Haunter had fainted. He altered the setting on his Stunner and pulled the trigger, but this time Lisa was prepared. She positioned the inflated Buzzball in front of her just in time; there was a sound like a laser being fired, and something hit the Buzzball, throwing Lisa backwards, however she regained her balance in time to witness the reflected bolt of blue light strike Morty in the heart. He stood there for a moment, frozen, before collapsing, still as a stone statue, to the ground beside Haunter.

Lisa barely had time to register her victory: a stray Sludge attack from Roger’s Weezing caught her off-guard, knocking her to the ground once again and spattering all over her face. She spat the disgusting liquid out of her mouth, but there was no escaping the smell of it – it was like rotten eggs and every other disgusting smell combined into one. She dry retched.

“ Fiskmire, help her!” came Gavin’s not-so-distant voice. Seconds later, a wave of clean, fresh water washed over Lisa’s body, rinsing her face and clothes of the Sludge. Lisa clambered to her feet miserably, still feeling ill, though glad that the stench was gone.

“ Thanks …” she said weakly.

A fresh night wind blew through the track just then, clearing her nose and mind of the fumes. She took stock of the situation; Roger and Anthony appeared to be on the back foot now – despite having Stunners with them as well as pokémon, they were finding it impossible to juggle both of them, which was making it easier for Gavin and, surprisingly, Professor Oak (who was standing quite resolutely beside Gavin) to use the pokémon to defeat them. Gavin’s Skarmory had been an early casualty, but Vulpix, Fiskmire, Aipom, Girafury and Natu were holding their own against Weezing and Vaporeon.

“ Stomp!” commanded Gavin.

Girafury raised its two forelegs and brought them down on the top of Vaporeon’s head. The Ultramarine Eevee-lution squealed loudly, emitting an apparently accidental jet of water from its mouth as it went sprawling on the dirt, knocked out.

Anthony looked undeterred. “ Return, Vaporeon! Go, Espeon!”

Oh no, thought Lisa, not one of THOSE trainers.

She watched as the Union agent threw out a Fast Ball and revealed a sleek mauve Espeon, its tail flicking around cheerfully. “ This could take a long time …” she mused. “ Gavin!” she called loudly. He turned momentarily, as Professor Oak took the initiative and bellowed, “ Zap Cannon, Aipom!” (Lisa couldn’t think how he knew Aipom knew Zap Cannon; moreover, she couldn’t believe Aipom was obeying him).

“ What is it?” Gavin asked.

“ Don’t worry about making it a fair battle … don’t fight the pokémon, fight the Union agents!” she stressed. “ We need to get out of here before some kind of back-up arrives, then we’re screwed!”

Gavin nodded vehemently. “ Good call – OK guys, aim your attacks at them too!”

Roger and Anthony squirmed uncomfortably.

Her mind racing, Lisa left Gavin and Professor Oak to continue to pokémon battle while she ran to find the Stunner that Morty had been holding when he fell. However, before she reached it, Roger gave a guttural cry and there was a piercing laser-like sound once again. Somehow Lisa felt she was ready for this: she dived to the ground, landing awkwardly and somewhat painfully on her hands; her body moving faster than her mind, she propelled herself into what could only be described as a backflip crossed with a cartwheel; in any case, she went spinning through the air, away from the bolt of green light that Roger had sent at her; it speared the night air and disappeared into the foliage beyond.

Lisa landed roughly and painfully on her side, but at least she had averted the beam of paralysing energy. She crawled to Morty's side and wrenched the Stunner from his hands, which were still clasped firmly around the weapon, although he was unconscious.

“ FIIIIISK!”

Lisa spun around: Roger’s Weezing had just collided with her Fiskmire, knocking him out in a swift Take Down attack. Fury rose in her. She gripped the Stunner and, not taking the time to care what setting the weapon was on, she pointed it at Roger and pulled the trigger.

Unlike a conventional gun, there was no recoil with the Stunner. Lisa stood firm as a bolt of blue light burst from the end of the Stunner, spearing the air and striking Roger in the face. Like Morty, he froze instantly and collapsed to the ground, rigid.

Lisa turned to Anthony, who seemed to know his time was up. In between shouting an attack to Espeon, he pointed the Stunner at Lisa and fired an emerald bolt of energy at Lisa, but his aim was poor, and it missed by feet. Vaguely aware that Vulpix's Flamethrower had just taken Weezing out, Lisa pulled the trigger again, her Stunner aimed at Anthony’s heart. However, he dove to the ground as she fired; instead of striking his chest, the jet of blue light connected with his thigh; nevertheless, he hit the ground with a resounding thump and didn’t move.

“ Go Lisa!” cheered Gavin, a smile across his dirty face; it looked like he, too, had been sent sprawling to the ground several times in the last few minutes.

The fighting had ceased. Anthony’s Espeon, with its trainer fainted, stood there for a moment, confused, before simply pelting off into the darkness of the shrubs on the side of the track, apparently glad to be free. Vulpix shot a half-hearted Ember in its direction, but there was no anger in the attack. With Espeon gone, the pokémon who were still conscious – Aipom, Vulpix, Natu and Girafury – let off a collective cheer of victory.

Professor Oak, too, looked rather exhilarated. His lined face was alive with the feeling of battle. “ Lisa, I must ask you, how did you know those people weren’t who they said they were?”

“ Anthony,” Lisa said. “ The guy who had the Vaporeon. He attacked me and Jessica in Port Valeo, as a Union agent. I recognised him … that’s how I knew something was wrong.”

Gavin nodded slowly. “ I didn’t even think of that … I just followed your lead and hoped you were right.” He sighed heavily, staring around at the scene before them; three fainted pokémon and four humans. “ Morty, a Gym Leader … was a Union agent … I can’t believe it.”

“ This runs deep,” agreed Lisa.

Oak was quiet for a moment. “ That is concerning,” he said. “ Who can be trusted, if people like that are corrupt?”

A pressing silence lingered.

“ Well then,” said Gavin. “ You reckon we should just go back to hiding, then?”

Lisa snorted derisively at the thought. “ And let them catch us? No way! If Morty found us, that means the Union knew where we were all along …” She shuddered.

“ I didn’t think so either,” said Gavin. “ You want to find the rest of them, don’t you?”

“ Yep,” admitted Lisa. “ That’s how I am I think … I’d rather be fighting them than hiding from them. Of course, we’re going to have to be really strategic about all this … but we have to do something.”

“ Agreed,” said Gavin.

“ Yes, I agree with you also,” said Professor Oak, who, despite everything, was looking quite capable of fighting now. “ And I know where the rest of the agents are … or at least, where they were. When I was brought up to the cave, they were at the foot of the hill, fighting the police who had arrived. If we go there first, we can approach them from there.”

Lisa exchanged looks with Gavin, who nodded. She nodded her assent too; if there was any strategy they could take to fight off the Union, then this would have to be it. In any case, even if they weren’t going to fight, the only way to escape, and hence bring help from somewhere else, would be getting off the mountain. There was no choice about it: they were going to have to descend.

She pressed the green button on her pokégear and the screen glowed again; it was one o’clock in the morning, but Lisa felt more awake than she had in hours.

“ Return, guys,” she said, holding out three pokéballs at Aipom, Vulpix and the fainted Fiskmire. The two conscious ones called out tiredly but happily as they disappeared in a glow of red light. Beside her, Gavin returned his three pokémon also.

Lisa bent over, picked up her almost completely deflated Buzzball and pocketed it, this time in her undamaged right pocket.

“ D’you wanna take these?” Gavin asked, gesturing to the Stunners that had been left behind by Morty, Roger and Anthony.

“ I suppose – they can only help,” sighed Lisa, taking the weapon Gavin handed her and slinging the sash over her shoulder, along with her backpack.

Professor Oak took the Stunner and he, too, slung it over his shoulder; Lisa nearly laughed at the curious expression on his face as he fiddled with the various switches.

Gavin bent down and examined Celice’s body. After a moment’s fervent sifting through her pockets, he retrieved a sleek black pistol. He held it in both hands, staring at it, before looking up and catching Lisa’s gaze.

“ Just in case,” he said grimly, pocketing it. Lisa wasn’t sure whether to be concerned or not, but she supposed he was right; they had to be prepared – the Union were anything but civil or friendly.

“ Here we go, then,” said Gavin, more cheerily. He had already trudged down the track a few metres, stepping over Morty and Celice’s bodies. Professor Oak followed, slowly but determinedly. Lisa paused for a moment, surveying the scene of destruction they had left in the middle of the dirt track – four unconscious humans, an unconscious Weezing and dozens of battle-marks all over the place. She grimaced and about-faced, to see Gavin and the Professor standing next to each other down the trail. Her grimace turned into a true smile. Here they were: an old, frail Professor, a scarred, tired teenage boy and her, a fourteen-year-old girl from Ecruteak City. They were planning an assault on the Union. The very thought of it brought a smile to Lisa’s face; there was nothing else she could do but smile.

“ Hurry up!” Gavin called, clutching his Stunner tightly with one hand and sweeping his black hair out of his eyes with the other.

The reality of the situation set in, and Lisa’s smile faded. She gritted her teeth and steeled herself for the unknown.

“ I’m coming,” she said.

[Kinglerlord2]

Holy poop on a stick I've got some catching up to do here @_@. Honestly! I'm absent from the board for like 2 years and you go ahead and write some 40 odd chapters. So inconsiderate Gavin :p

I haven't read chapter 55 yet, i'm trying to find my place way back in the 10 to 20 area but a quick re-read of the first few chapters reminded me of this fantastic piece of work and I'm looking forward to catching up.

[Gavin Luper]

Hehehe, good call Blademaster.

Well, I've been writing away at the next chapter, it's action-packed at the moment and very fun to write. Quite dramatic ... ah, it brings a tear to my eye.

Yes, anyway, should be finished very soon. It's going very well. Now I must return to writing it.

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

Who says you can't do something useful with half a day?

Ta-da! Chapter's finished! Dramatic, action-packed, thrilling, and chunkier than I expected, but hey, length is never a bad thing! I hope everyone enjoys this one - it's kind of part of the finale sequence of Book Two, which is really exciting for me to do, because Book One didn't have a proper finale, just a sudden conclusion that was neither climactic nor conclusive in any way, nor did it have much of an indication of what was going on. Well, this one does/will. The book's not over yet, but the end is in sight - it's very close now.

This chapter was enthralling for me to read and very, very enjoyable to write.

So, here it is! Cheers!

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

Chapter 56 – The First Battle.


‘ Fourteen-year-old renegade fights off criminal siege.’

Lisa chuckled mildly to herself as she walked down Mount Fairfax. There was nothing to laugh at but the absurdity of the situation. Here she was: A pokémon trainer, a daughter, a member of the under-15’s Emeralds Basketball Team – charging down a mountain en route to neutralise an evil organisation’s attack on a mountain.

Her smile faded as she brought herself back to the present. There was no time for reflection – that, assuming they all survived the siege, would come later.

Two hours had passed now; two silent, resolved, steeled hours. Lisa had not spoken to Gavin or Professor Oak since they left Morty behind. All three of them, even the old Professor, seemed to have accepted their lot; at least, Lisa knew she had; the Union’s impact on her life was not going to cease if she ran away or hid – it was time to begin fighting.

Behind her, Professor Oak suddenly began to hum – at least, it seemed sudden; the noise seemed to creep up on Lisa, so that she hadn’t even noticed it begin. Before long it was all that she could hear, and Lisa didn’t want their movements on the mountain to be too obvious.

Finally, she said, “ Professor, what are you doing?”

He stopped abruptly and glanced at her with wide eyes. “ I’m humming,” he said, as though it was perfectly normal. Lisa’s raised eyebrow apparently suggested otherwise to him. He coughed. “ I find it soothing. It relaxes me. Helps me think more clearly in difficult situations.”

Lisa recalled how he had been humming when he was dragged into the cave a few hours ago. The concept sounded ridiculous, however, trying to be diplomatic, she said, “ I see … but we need to be discreet from now on.”

Gavin nodded nearby. Professor Oak conceded. “ Very well, I will stop,” he said, quite cheerfully, “ I understand it is not the time now.”

He placed a hand on the Stunner slung over his shoulder, just as Lisa and Gavin had, on guard, ready to fight.

And the time to do that came sooner than expected.

It was ten minutes past three a.m., when they were only a little over half way down the mountain, that Lisa heard the sudden sounds of battle. The foliage on the side of the descending track was thick, but Lisa knew that the sounds were coming from somewhere to their immediate left. She spun on her heel; Gavin and Professor Oak both cocked their heads intently, listening for another indication of battle – and it came; a massive, ear-splitting crack rent the air.

A woman shrieked as another gunshot was fired nearby.

Lisa caught Gavin’s eyes and knew that he was as petrified as she was; nonetheless, they simultaneously took hold of the Stunners in their arms and pushed roughly into the thick underbrush.

Lisa’s skin was covered in goosebumps as she ploughed through the scrub, the others following her; apparently she was now leading the charge. She gulped and pushed on. Sticks cracked under her shoes and leaves scraped at her arms and face, but she ignored the mild pain. The darkness of the night prevented her from seeing anything very far ahead, but she knew they were getting closer.

People were screaming now and the sounds of fights – pokémon and human – were quite close by. Lisa swept aside the branches of a Screen Tree and stopped short in sudden shock. She had expected to see more bush, but there was nothing: she had stepped blindly into a vast rocky clearing, upon which a chaotic battle was raging. A hundred shadowy figures were duelling fiercely; bodies were strewn across the ground. A fire raged on the far side of the clearing. A metre in front of Lisa, a tall man wearing black had a screaming woman pinned to the ground, apparently unaware that three people had just burst into the clearing.

Lisa heard Oak sigh softly as she opened fire, pulling the trigger of the Stun Gun; a bolt of green light issued from it, striking the back of the man. He crumpled at once. Lisa lunged to help the woman, but she was on her feet already, looking somewhat bewildered as she whipped out a pistol and charged further into the melée that filled the huge plateau.

Quite forgetting to pray or hope for luck, Lisa followed the woman’s lead, levelling the Stunner and charging blindly into the crowd of duellers. She immediately lost track of Gavin and Professor Oak – in the dark, it was only possible to see shadows, silhouettes of people.

“ Help me! Help! Somebody help!”

A man was begging for mercy nearby; Lisa barely heard his pleading voice over the mayhem around her. Ducking around a man wearing a Police Badge, and dodging a stray Vine Whip purely by luck, Lisa weaved through the throng.

“ Please! Someone help me!”

“ I’m coming!” Lisa bellowed. “ Where are you?”

There was no response. Lisa took a tentative step forward before something heavy struck her head. Splitting pain blinded her vision; she spun on the spot and fell to the ground, losing her balance. Dirt went up her nose, and once again it began to bleed. She crawled senselessly, grabbing the ground for some kind of direction. Someone kicked her in the side, winding her; she collapsed to the ground again, her lungs clutching for air.

“ GET – OUT – OF – MY – WAY!” A completely unfamiliar voice shouted; Lisa dimly registered it. There was a muffled cry and a thump. A moment later, someone grabbed Lisa’s hands and hauled her roughly to her feet. Blood dripped into Lisa’s mouth as she opened her eyes; through the silver stars that clouded her vision, she managed to identify a rugged male face.

“ Where the hell did you come from?” He asked gruffly. A beam of black light whizzed past his head; he noticed it but didn’t even flinch. “ Listen, girl, get out of here – this isn’t safe!” And without another word, he let go of her arms and plunged back into the darkness.

Lisa wiped her nose on her sleeve and tried to regain her bearings. Looking up, she could see a high rock wall that framed the plateau, but otherwise, there nothing to indicate her position.

“ HELP ME – PLEASE – ANYBODY – ”

The panicked voice was painfully close now; it was coming from directly in front of Lisa. This time, however, Lisa heard another man’s voice, deeper and almost inaudible; it was demanding something. Tensing herself, Lisa pushed past a Police Officer locked in a struggle with a Union Agent dressed in the old Team Rocket Uniform. Her veins pulsed. Any second now and she would find the person pleading for help –

“ ANYBODY – HELP – AAAAAGH!”

The man let out a bloodcurdling scream, right beside Lisa. She turned her head a fraction too late; a solid, shadowy figure was bending over a writhing body. As Lisa levelled the Stunner her eyes fell on a small creature perched behind the large figure: a Murkrow was on guard. It had fired a jet of black energy before Lisa had even pulled the trigger. The Stunner recoiled and Lisa lost her grip on it; it went spinning away into the darkness.

Lisa whipped the Buzzball out of her pocket. “ ELECTRI –” she began, but the command caught in her throat; the dark figure had moved on from the man who had been crying for help, and with him, the Murkrow had used a Faint Attack and disappeared from sight.

Nervous about what she was about to see, Lisa stepped forward and bent over the now still body of the man. She recoiled in horror. He had two deep gashes down either cheek; dark blood covered his face. His pupils were not visible: his eyes had rolled back in terror, leaving the whites gruesomely exposed. Lisa clutched the man’s flannelette shirt in frustration. ‘If only I could have got here sooner,’ she thought weakly. But even so, she realised it would have been of little use – the Murkrow would still have staved her off, whether she had reached the man earlier or not.

“ LOOK OUT!” someone screamed.

Lisa whirled around, only to be blown to the ground by a blast of hot air; a hundred metres away, something had just exploded in a massive fireball, illuminating the entire plateau for a few seconds; dozens of people were sent flying into the air. Lisa felt her head slam into the ground for what felt like the umpteenth time that night. The pain this time was sharp, but fleeting; it felt like her skull had already taken all the punishment it could. As the fireball disappeared, Lisa noticed a deep laceration across the chest of the man she lay beside. A silver necklace was strewn over the bloody fissure. It looked like someone had ripped something from the end of the chain, leaving it broken. Lisa touched the man’s forehead and ran a hand over his eyelids, closing them as gently as she could. She felt it was the least she could do.

She stood up, now grasping Vulpix’s pokéball in the absence of her Stunner. The chaos around her was still raging; if anything, it had intensified since the explosion. Lisa had never known or imagined mayhem like this: even with the light from the fire, it was too dark to see who was fighting whom. There were at least a hundred people on the plateau, fighting a wild, unruly battle. People were swiping wildly at anyone around them. Pokémon stumbled in the blackness, many of them bleeding. Lisa caught sight of a Charmander crawling along the ground weakly, its eyes streaming with tears of terror.

She reached out a hand to help the tiny creature, but there was a loud war cry beside her. A woman with platinum-blonde hair leapt out before Lisa, eyes ablaze.

“ I knew you’d escape,” she spat venomously; Lisa recognised her as Veronica, the woman they had encountered the night they freed Marina. “ I told them you were too resourceful, but they didn’t believe me –” Without warning, she lunged at Lisa in fury. Lisa tried to throw the pokéball in her hand, but Veronica had a hold of her arm; she dropped the ball.

There was a flash of light as Veronica’s nails dug into Lisa’s arm. Lisa screamed involuntarily; her arm burned with pain. With a shriek she raised her free hand and managed to hit Veronica between the eyes; at the same moment, Veronica jerked suddenly, her body rigid. She released Lisa’s arm, and Lisa took the opportunity to wind up her good arm and deliver a punch to Veronica’s nose. With a loud cry of pain, the blonde woman keeled over, her eyes streaming.

Lisa glanced down at the ground to see Vulpix grinning and baring his teeth: he had clamped sharply onto Veronica’s leg, which was what had caused her to collapse.

“ Thanks, Vulpix,” Lisa said quickly. “ Come with me. And stay close,” she added sharply, remembering the lost Charmander she had just seen, which had now disappeared from view.

Vulpix on her tail, Lisa weaved through the duellers. The image of the dead man was still clouding her mind; it was as though it had been permanently imprinted on her memory.

In the shadows to Lisa’s right, somebody was bellowing loudly at their foe: “ Take – that – you – bloody – Mexican!”

Lisa caught the man’s face in the faint glow of the firelight – it was the man who had helped her up earlier. To Lisa’s amazement, he held what must have been some kind of Buzzball in his hand, though it was black; at each word, a burst of purple light speared the air, aimed at the man’s opponent. Lisa squinted her eyes and realised, with an unwelcome jolt, that the opponent was none other than Anthony, the Hispanic-looking man she had Stunned more than two hours ago. He had an Eevee at his feet, which was maintaining a translucent brown shield around its trainer – a strong Reflect; the jets of purple light were not penetrating it.

“ Vulpix, Flamethrower!” Lisa yelled.

Apparently neither Anthony nor the other man heard her in the ruckus – at least, Lisa assumed as much based on the total shock on their faces as a stream of vermilion flames burst forth into the battlefield, consuming Eevee at once. A tinkling sound indicated that the Reflect had finally shattered.

To Lisa’s surprise, the man she had helped didn’t even turn around to see where the flamethrower had come from, nor did he break for a moment in his attack on Anthony. He held the black orb before him and fired off three purple jets of light. Unprotected, Anthony was exposed, taking all three blasts of energy to the chest. He crumpled as though he was made of paper.

The man holding the black orb snorted. “ Well … who knew?” Now assured that the battle was over, he turned around to see Lisa standing beside Vulpix. “ Thanks, chick,” he said gruffly. Then he raised an eyebrow. “ Aren’t you the girl I helped before?”

Lisa nodded.

He deigned a kind of half-smile, as though he was suitably impressed with her. “ Good job,” he said. “ Now seriously, get going, you can’t keep hanging around here – ”

“ I’m not going anywhere,” Lisa said defiantly, looking the man straight in the eye. “ I’m fighting the Union.”

He held her gaze for ten seconds, then, still not looking away, said, “ You’ve got character.” A genuine smile crossed his rugged face. “ That’s rare these days.”

Lisa smiled uncomfortably. “ I just want to know – what’s going on here?”

He shrugged. “ Bad guys are trying to siege the mountain for some reason. So we’re stopping them. That’s about it.”

“ Are you with the police?” Lisa asked him, as there were loud gunshots amongst the roar of the nearby inferno and the ongoing battle.

“ Are you kidding? The bloody cops are useless.” A few metres away, a Growlithe went soaring through the air, barking wildly and angrily as it did so. The man stopped short. “ Oh **** – I think that’s mine –” He made to leave.

“ Wait,” Lisa said, “ What’s that thing in your hand?” She gestured to the black orb that she assumed was some kind of modified Buzzball.

He shrugged again. “ Haven’t the foggiest. Just picked it up off the ground a minute ago – ” The Growlithe barked in pain somewhere in the distance. “ Better go –” And with that, he ran off.

Lisa stood there alone for a second. The battle was still raging around her, and although there didn’t seem to be quite as many battlers as there were when they first entered the clearing, chaos still reigned. People were still fighting and screaming. Checking that Vulpix was still at her feet, Lisa began to search for another Union agent to take down.

She had taken maybe three steps when there was a loud yell from across the plateau: “ CHARGE!” At once, the cry was taken up by dozens of others, and suddenly the crowd of people and pokémon in the clearing were rushing towards the far side of the area like water being sucked down a drain. Lisa followed with the crowd, vaguely aware that right beside her was a Union agent, running alongside her as if an ally. She resisted the urge to hit him and let herself be carried by the flow of people –

“ Ouch!”

Her foot caught something and she tripped; accustomed to falling over by now, she put her other foot out deftly, breaking her fall, but it jarred painfully on the dirt. She winced but hobbled onwards, attaining incidental blows to the head from other people as they passed in a rush.

Lisa went on following them. They were leaving the plateau in droves, eagerly descending into a patch of thick foliage, Lisa didn’t know why. She jogged along, panting heavily, wedged between a Union agent and a galloping Ponyta.

A branch scratched her face as she plunged downwards, but it was the least of Lisa’s injuries. Up ahead, the sounds of battle had suddenly recommenced. Sure enough, a second later, the foliage yielded to another rocky plateau, this one quite a lot bigger than the last. Lisa spilled out into the clearing, only to discover that Vulpix had disappeared.

“ VULPIX!” Lisa bellowed in panic; she had seen what the Union did to stray pokémon – the image of the flying Growlithe was still in her mind.

As if in response to her yell, the Union agent beside her, a man, swung his fist at her. Surprising herself, Lisa threw up her arm and deftly blocked the punch, but she was too weak to hold the man off. He pushed her aside and ran off to join the melée further down.

Now that they had all made the descent down the mountain slightly (Lisa still didn’t know why), there was no fire raging to shed light on the area, other than the blasts of light from Stun Guns and pistols and pokémon attacks. Lisa suddenly noticed a faint glow coming from her left and spun to see the Ponyta pawing the ground anxiously. She sighed. It seemed that almost every pokémon had been abandoned or lost in the battle.

An idea suddenly struck her. She approached the Ponyta gently, patting its beautiful off-white coat. If she could just get it on side, perhaps it could help her.

Lisa was about to put a leg over the flame-horse, but she never made it. A voice rent the air behind her, overpowering the noise of the battle:

“ FREEZE!” The person screamed, then, before Lisa had time to register or to even turn around, there was a loud gunshot – and a bullet drove its way into her back.

Unlike the stories Lisa had heard in her life of people who claimed not to notice they had been shot, she felt the pain at once. It was like a hot poker piercing her skin, burning her flesh. The pain came in an almighty tidal wave, flooding Lisa’s senses. The realisation of what had happened was just as terrifying. Lisa’s head swam. She fell to the ground, her breath shallow, the knowledge worse than the pain: I’m going to die.

Her vision was fading. All she could hear was a pounding in her ears. A massive, heavily-built man suddenly appeared above her, glaring at her, watching her writhe in pain with some kind of sick hunger in his eyes. He raised a boot-clad foot and placed it on her neck, pausing a moment before pressing down, crushing Lisa’s airways.

Just do it, Lisa thought, gasping for breath and finding none. The pain was infinite; it was all-encompassing. The wound in her back burned. Her trachea was collapsing. She lost her vision and her hearing; the world was pain. Kill me, Lisa begged him, just make it all end.

And then it did. Everything disappeared. The pain. The terror. There was only blackness. Lisa waited for death to strike her – but nothing happened. Then, very suddenly, the pressure on her neck lifted. Her airways opened and oxygen seeped in. The pain came flooding back in another wave. The aches and pains of battling returned. The bullet wound sizzled. Death, if it had been approaching, had been frightened off by someone.

Light and sound returned abruptly; still immobile on her back, Lisa heard a boy’s voice scream, “ ANOTHER THUNDERBOLT!” A bright burst of electricity flashed. The ground shook slightly.

Then the boy’s voice came again, “ Oh my God, it’s Lisa.”

Still gasping for a proper lungful of air, Lisa spoke with difficulty. “ G – av – ”

“ It’s Daniel,” said the voice in a panic. “ Are you alright? Can you breathe?”

A girl’s voice nearby gasped. “ Oh my God, it’s that girl – is she OK?”

Lisa tried to say “ I’m fine”, but the fact that she couldn’t seemed to prove her wrong. Daniel’s voice and another continued rattling on for another minute, during which Lisa very gradually began to find her breath, though each breath felt like needles stabbing her throat. Lisa began to panic again, her heart racing. She lost control of her breathing; it became impossible to grasp more precious air when she was panting so heavily from that pain.

Daniel started. He turned to the other girl who had travelled with him. “ Is she … humming?”

The brown-skinned girl nodded, her eyes wide.

Lisa hummed for as long as she could, then took a sharp, painful breath and kept going. She hummed the same note – there was no tune – she was simply forcing air past her vocal chords as best she could. Each breath she took became a little less painful, a little less difficult. She took in lungfuls of air and kept humming. Her heart slowed down. She was still in a great deal of pain, but her mind was clearing. She felt as though her energy was converging, meeting at a focal point around her forehead. The screams and blasts around her seemed to fade away ever so slightly.

She opened her eyes and stopped humming.

“ You’re OK, Lisa!” Daniel’s petrified face swam into view.

Lisa opened her eyes fully, pain still coursing through her body; the wound in her back scorched her with pain.

“ Daniel, listen, I’ve been shot,” Lisa said as slowly and clearly as she could.

He blanched. “ Oh my God, where?”

Mustering all her energy, Lisa rolled herself over slightly, leaving the right side of her back visible for Daniel. He squinted and then gaped, his face a mask of utter horror.

“ Is it bad?” Lisa asked him seriously.

“ I don’t know,” Daniel spluttered back. “ There’s a lot of blood, some of it’s dried I think, or maybe that’s dirt, I don’t know …”

“ It’s too high up to hit your lungs,” chipped in the girl, his companion. “ It’s probably more of a flesh wound, I’d say.”

Her methodical approach was a pleasant surprise to Lisa. She twisted around awkwardly and tried to face the girl, whose name she still didn’t know. “ Are their any first-aid people – paramedics – still around? They had some posted on the mountain for the Contest before …”

As she rolled back onto her back, Lisa saw Daniel and his friend exchange a very significant glance.

“ Lisa,” Daniel said, “ don’t you know what’s happened?”

His face was pale.

“ What?” Lisa said.

“ They rounded up everyone hours ago. The contestants, the helpers, the paramedics, Paddy – whoever got in their way. Only the people who were leading in the race didn’t get snared … until they got to the top. We teamed up with another team, Mike and Reggie, but they disappeared. When we got to the top some woman – we thought she was a helper at first – grabbed Nova’s arm and wouldn’t let us go any further, she told us the race had been cancelled and that we had to go with her downhill – but we were already pretty suspicious by then – and she didn’t count on Nova knowing karate.” The brown-skinned girl beside Daniel winked at Lisa. “ She pulled out a gun – a rifle – and tried to shoot at us, but she missed … we took off, we got away from her –” There was a note of pride and exhilaration in his voice.

“ We made our way down the mountain,” Nova continued, “ and we came across a few contestants we recognised, tied up in some bushes. We let them free – and that’s when we realised what had been happening …” She trailed off, jumping as a Sludge Bomb exploded on a nearby tree.

“ We think it’s Team Rocket,” Daniel said in a rush. “ I know that sounds stupid, because they’ve disbanded – but we saw some people wearing the uniform.”

Nova nodded vehemently.

Lisa paused, trying to think up a way to agree casually with them, but with a bullet in her back she hardly felt like it was the time for cover stories. “ They didn’t disband,” Lisa said simply. “ They reformed. They’re part of an organisation called the Union. They’re here tonight, attacking the mountain …”

Their reaction was predictable.

“ How – how do you know that?” Daniel asked, bewildered.

Lisa winced. “ I just do. I’ll tell you later, OK?”

Nova, however, seemed to be deep in thought. “ Why are they attacking the mountain?”

Lisa sighed; if there was any one question that had puzzled her more than anything that night, it was that. Why? Of all places, why were the Union attacking a mountain? “ I don’t have a clue.”

She surveyed the vast plateau. The fighting continued, as intense as ever, but there were far fewer fighters now and quite a number of shadowy bodies strewn across the ground – many of them, Lisa feared, more than just unconscious.

The pain built up again as she watched the rest of the battle helplessly, like some kind of powerless spectator. Nova and Daniel did their best to protect her, dragging her behind a few bushes so that she was not visible from the plateau, although, in the darkness, it was doubtful that anyone would have seen her anyway, it was so dark. Nova tore the sleeve of her jumper and held it to Lisa’s bullet wound, trying to stem the flow of blood. Frustrated, Lisa watched through the leaves of the bushes. It was impossible to tell from the silhouettes which side was who, but it was clear now that, after the long battle, one of the sides had gained a clear upper hand.

Bursts of fire and electricity and beams of all colours exploded throughout the plateau as the losing team attempted to make a final stand, but they were defeated. It was half a dozen people onto at least ten. Lisa watched the shadows dropping to the ground, Nova and Daniel by her side. She hoped against hope that the triumphant team contained Gavin, Professor Oak, Derek and the man who had helped Lisa. It took all her energy not to leap up and help them fight, but she knew she was in no condition to walk, let alone battle. Restless, she looked on as the fight raged. After an agonising few minutes, Lisa heard the terrified scream of defeat as the final member of the losing team collapse to the ground in a flurry of green light from two Stunners. She tensed herself. Please … please …

A triumphant cheer went up from the remaining people and pokémon in the clearing. Lisa saw one or two of the silhouettes hugging each other; they clearly knew one another. A few of them were still guarded.

And then Lisa heard Gavin’s voice: “ Yes!”

Relief coursed through her like an electric current. Gavin’s team had won! Sure enough, she listened to the whooping and cheering of the people still standing and picked up Derek’s voice and – she was sure of it – the voice of the man with a Growlithe. But she heard nothing from Professor Oak.

“ They won!” Lisa grinned, looking from Nova to Daniel in excitement. They had actually defeated the Union’s agents! “ Go meet them!” Lisa urged. “ Go tell them we’re here!”

After everything that had happened that night, Lisa had steeled herself for the inevitable – that they were going to be defeated, that the Union was going to triumph, that she would die fighting them. But she had survived it all. It was all over.

She peered through the foliage, watching happily as Daniel and Nova burst forth from the hiding place that was the bushes and sprinted across the clearing. One or two of the people held up weapons and called their pokémon to attention, but Lisa heard Gavin’s voice:

“ It’s OK, they’re on our side – they were contestants –”

Daniel and Nova were welcomed excitedly into the fold of the victorious team, the team that had defeated the Union. Over the ruckus, Lisa thought she heard Gavin’s voice, suddenly anxious. Had he realised she was missing? Did he know she was alright?

‘ He’ll have to wait,’ Lisa thought, feeling a renewed surge of pain from the bullet wound in her back. There was no way she could walk all the way into the clearing in her condition.

She reclined slightly, perching herself against a strong branch for support, so that she could sit up without expending her energy. She contented herself with gazing, in a surreal haze, over the dozen weary revellers in the middle of the plateau, clustered at the base of the sheer rock wall that rose above them. Lisa smiled softly. It was so surreal – they had survived, they had made it –

And then she froze.

Twenty metres above the group of people, something had caught her eye. She glanced up to the top of the rock wall and gaped in horror. Even in the weak moonlight, she could see the shadows. There was one person at the front, holding something in their hands that was giving off a faint glow. Behind that person, there was a cluster of no less than a dozen people, all perched on the clifftop, as if waiting for something …

Lisa’s heart thudded heavily. She returned her gaze to Gavin, Daniel and the others – they were still rejoicing, unaware of anything around them. Now that she was on alert, Lisa noticed more shadows on their level, multiple shadows – there must have been at least another hundred again, all lurking silently in the darkness, hiding in the foliage that surrounded the clearing. The hair on the back of her neck prickled. It was the situation at the summit all over again … the Union had them surrounded.

And they didn’t know it.

The pain nearly crippled her as she hauled herself directly into a standing position. Her spine seemed to crumble at the very implication of motion, but this was no time for weakness, Lisa knew. She shook off the shooting pains throughout her torso and took a very painful step forward. And another. She glanced upwards. The cluster of Union agents atop the cliff wall were moving towards the edge – they were going to throw something down, or drop it onto the unsuspecting people below.

Lisa clutched Aipom’s pokéball; he was the only pokémon she had left. She hesitated – opening his pokéball too early would cause a flash of light that would attain the interest of the Union far too quickly. She had to act fast. Holding the red-and-white pokéball to her lips, Lisa whispered, wincing with the burning pains of her flesh grinding against the bullet, “ Aipom, you have to do what I say, alright? As soon as I throw your pokéball, you have to attack the people on top the cliff, OK?” There was no response; she had to trust that Aipom had somehow heard her and would obey.

Stumbling wildly, blood now dripping down her back, Lisa manoeuvred herself around the large bush and stepped onto the hard, rocky ground of the plateau. The shadow of the bush was still upon her; she could not yet be seen, and yet she had full view of the cliff.

Metres away, Gavin was speaking to Daniel and Nova anxiously, “ … but where is she now?”

Lisa knew she had no time remaining; the element of surprise was all she had; gritting her teeth against the intense pain, she gripped Aipom’s pokéball tightly, wound up her right arm and, with all the energy and force she could muster, hurled the ball into the open air of the plateau.

“ AIPOM! SPEED STAR ATTACK, NOW!”

[mr_pikachu]

I need to be studying right now. I have an exam tomorrow, so I need to study. And yet I couldn't help but read this chapter straight through.

Wow. What a battle, first of all. Wait - who am I kidding. That wasn't a battle. That was a war. You really gave a clear picture of the chaos and confusion surrounding that fight. It was especially evident when Lisa ended up running right next to a Union agent without him knowing. And having it at 3 in the morning certainly wouldn't have made things any easier. Very nice use of the setting, both in terms of the physical setting and in terms of the time of day. You portrayed it beautifully. And yet you still managed to leave us with yet another cliffhanger. But somehow this one seems a lot more hopeless than the one leading into this chapter. Just when the survivors thought they had pulled off the win, the real force has arrived...

I did see a few very minor and very isolated points that could have been better. A typo here, a comma there, but nothing major to comment on overall. (I did have a question to ask about one term in your chapter, though; what's a "Screen Tree"? I've never heard of that before. Is it some sort of product in Australia?) For the most part, this was very well-written.

This chapter was nothing but raging chaos, and you conveyed it beautifully. Even the transitions in the chapter - from the quiet hike down the mountain to the fight, from the apparent victory to the renewed conflict - were done sharply, giving a further sense of the tangled confusion. Very nice work. I'm going to have a heck of a hard time focusing again on studying after reading this chapter! Excellent job here, Gavin. Superb. I look forward to seeing the continuation of this in the 57th installment of this fic! Until then!

[Blademaster]

Yeah, what he said!

Man, everyone does something better than the Americans, huh?

China manufactures stuff better.

Japan builds electronics better.

India makes clothes better.

And now, Australia has better writers!

...Oh, the shame...

...Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh...

So, the second book is nearly through, eh? Well, that leaves the third book, still...

This is gonna be like 80 chapters, I know it...

...And I'll be reading all of 'em.

-Blademaster, the Dark Scorpion Duelist

[Master Kirby]

Wow. When they finally seem to have won the battle, a hundred more enemies surround them, about to drop a bomb, or something like that, on top of them... and they don't even realise it. .......and Lisa is the only chance of them realising their danger before it is too late. You really left us hanging there.

You really showed the realism of the battle. It wasn't just "I's gonna KO yur pokemans so u runs away feeling yur shame!!!". It was more like "I will destroy your pokemon , AND you too, and I don't care if your pokemon never wakes up! AAAAGGHHHH! BANG! BANG! BANG! THIS MOUNTAIN WILL BE MINE! <laughing like a maniac while lashing out at all who he doesn't recognize> That is not a place I would like being, unless I had crazy pokemon or robot powers, where bullets couldn't hurt me. The Union must really want something badly to go through all this to take hold of a "mountain".

I guess Lisa can understand now why Proffessor Oak was humming before. Its a good thing to keep your emotions from taking over when you are in such an intense situation as that.

You said that Aipom was the last pokemon she had left. I'm guessing you are just talking of the ones conscious, since Fiskmire and the others were fainted during the fight against the three union members in chapter 55.

I can't wait for the next chapter. With finals this week, Christmas break will give me a lot more free time for reading.

[Chris 2.1]

I'm exhausted. I'm directing a play (I'm only 16!) and ammateur dramatics is DIFFICULT and exhausting work :-/

So I got confused. Did Lisa find Vulpix or not?

Apart from that - excellent chapter. Loved the chaos, the uncertainty, and the feel of "who can you trust?". There was also that element of community when the innocents beat the Union members, and then the "fly in the web" twist where it transpired they were trapped.

But where next?

Excellent work.

[Master Kirby]

Lisa lost track of Vulpix when she charged, with the Union members, into the second clearing.

Seeing as the good guys are probably outnumbered ten-to-one, this would be a good time for a Legendary such as Ho-oh to come to their aid. It wouldn't be the first time Ho-oh helped Lisa. Around the time when she saw Entei "die", Ho-oh flew her across the continent. In chapter 55, Ho-oh sensed that something was wrong, and left its perch atop the Tin tower. I think its time for a little super-power intervention!

[Gavin Luper]

Replies!

mr_pika: Heh, even with an exam tomorrow, I can still count on you to read the latest chapter. Thanks very much! I don't know what else to say ... thanks so much for all your compliments/criticisms of this chapter. And yeah ... it was very much like a war, or certainly a Battle from a war ... hence the title. I'm very glad you thought it was so good, because, for me, this chapter was really a stand-out one for me in the entirety of Lisa the Legend, so it's good that you thought it was "superb".

I noticed a typo or two when I read it yesterday, and fixed it in my document. Simple mistakes like "their" instead of "there" ... which is probably indicative of how tired I must have been by the end of the chapter ... or something.

Oh, as for the Screen Tree, I thought I was making it up - I meant it to refer to those trees that have thin leaves that seem to form a screen so you can't see anything beyond them. I've heard the word screen tree used to describe them. And I did a search after you asked and they do in fact exist - not as a species but as a general description, I believe.

Once again, thanks very much for reading, and I hope you enjoy the next chapters!

Blademaster: Hi again, thanks for reading! Lol ... thanks for the compliments. Yep, the second book is just about over - for real this time. The first time I tried ending this book, it was way too sudden, but this time it's working out fine. Just a few chapters left now. And yeah ... the entire thing is going to be huge ... 80 chapters would be a good approximation. Thank you for promising to read all of them! Cheers!

Master Kirby: Hey, thanks for the reply. Heh ... yes, the usual twist at the end of the chapter. Lisa is the only one who can help them now. Thanks - I tried to make the battle/war real. How I wrote it was mostly how I saw it unfolding in my head, although through Lisa's eyes. In any case, like you said, this stuff is for real now, and as you can probably tell, the Union aren't to be taken lightly.

Yes, I meant Aipom was the last usable pokémon Lisa had left - Fisky had fainted, Vulpix is still lost ...

Next chapter hopefully soon.

Chris 2.0: Egad ... directing a play!! Good luck with that.

As Master Kirby said, Lisa didn't find Vulpix. She's still coming to terms with the battle, the near-death experience and the bullet still in her back. In her present state, she hasn't yet thought about her lost Vulpix, and it will be a little while before she remembers properly, as she's now faced with the Union all over again.

Thanks muchly.

Master Kirby 2: Correct, thanks for that.

Hehehe ... I'm saying nothing.

Everyone: Chapter 57 will hopefully be written soon, I've yet to start it but I have some time on my hands for the next week ... I hope. I hope to have it done by Christmas!

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

G'day.

Well, I have finally finished Chapter 57. It is, more or less, the chapter I have been dreading writing for a couple of years now, because I don't like the things that finally have to happen in this chapter, but the time has come to make them happen. Certainly, I have stalled for far too long. You see, this chapter is entitled 'The Beginning' for a reason, because it is a goodbye - or, at least, a beginning of a goodbye - to the delusions that Lisa has been living under all her life, and I'm sad that she has to go through this ... but what must happen, must happen.

I won't say anything more about this (incredibly long) chapter; I'll leave it up to you guys. Despite everything, I did enjoy writing this chapter in the end, though I agonised over it for many, many, many hours.

I hope you enjoy this - one of the final chapters of Book Two of Lisa the Legend!

Cheers!

--------------------------------------------
Chapter 57 – The Beginning.


With a speed that belied his temperament, Aipom burst forth from the pokéball in a blinding flash of white light. A spinning ball of purple and white fur, he flew high into the air above the group at the base of the cliff. Instantly, three golden stars materialised around him, one star much larger than the other two.

“Aim them at the top of the cliff!” Lisa screamed, thinking that Aipom had forgotten her earlier instructions, but apparently he had not: The stars were already soaring up as Aipom directed them skyward with his mind. The first two stars, the smaller ones, collided swiftly with the shadowy figures on the clifftop, sending them flying; however, the foremost figure relinquished their hold on the device in their hands a moment before they were bowled over by the Speed Star; Lisa shrieked in terror, but the third, larger star was approaching deftly from below. It connected squarely with the falling object –

BANG!

A fireball illuminated the plateau as the object exploded abruptly, ten metres above the ground. Daniel, Nova, Gavin and the others screamed in terror and shock, throwing their hands up over their heads and scattering from their position at the foot of the cliff. Simultaneously, there were loud shouts of fury from the Union agents stationed in the underbrush. They began to charge the plateau.

Lisa saw Aipom land deftly on the ground, his attack completed. She held out his pokéball to return him to safety, but she never got the chance: someone yelled out and grabbed her around the waist, tackling her to the ground. She landed on some sticks and felt them scratch her skin, but that was the least of her pain; the adrenaline was passing now – the agony of her bullet wound, and the other injuries of the night, were flooding back. Lisa gave herself to the pain. She had no energy left to fight the man who was now pinning her to the ground roughly. She knew she had probably saved the lives of Gavin and the others, but she didn’t feel as though she had achieved anything. For how long had she stalled the inevitable? Though she was blinded by pain, Lisa knew that the Union must surely have the others surrounded by now too … they were caught …

“This won’t hurt a bit,” said the person holding her down. There was a flash of green light, but he needn’t have bothered Stunning Lisa; she had already passed out from the pain.

*

Footsteps on rocky ground reverberated in the cave. Distant voices murmured to one another. Somewhere nearby, a fire crackled. Elsewhere, a long way away, a liquid sloshed against the walls of its prison, awaiting its moment.

Lisa woke up. She was slumped against a rock wall. A handful of black-clothed figures surrounded her, none of them yet aware that she had awoken. They were perched on a small landing in what seemed to be an ancient stone staircase, roughly hewn out of the side of a massive cave. The steps ran along one side of the cave, bordered on one side by rock and on the other by an intricate web of stalactites and stalagmites. The Union agents around her were leaning against the web of stalagmites, staring as if mesmerized at something that was happening in the main body of the cave.

Above Lisa’s head, a torch was fixed in a bracket against the wall. There were torches throughout the cave, casting an ethereal light upon the proceedings. The cave was a world away from the events that had taken place on the plateau earlier; it was as though that had been a former life.

Lisa suddenly realised that her back was no longer paining her, at least, not nearly as much as it should have been; there were constant needles of pain in her back, but they were completely bearable, particularly after the agony she had gone through earlier. She reached around to her back and discovered, where the bullet had previously been lodged in her flesh, there was nothing but a raised lump of bandages. Lisa traced her fingers across her back and examined them in the flickering torchlight. To her amazement, there was no blood at all; it had all been cleaned up. Astonished, she looked at her forearms that Veronica had scratched earlier. Sure enough, her wounds had been cleaned, her arms bandaged well.

Her mended injuries momentarily forgotten, Lisa became aware of what was happening in the cave. Through a gap in the stalactite-stalagmite web that bordered the staircase, she caught sight of dozens of people – maybe even hundreds of people – all seated on the ground, like schoolchildren, almost. They were all gazing ahead, at someone who stood in front of them all, delivering a speech in a loud, powerful voice.

She took a detailed glance around the landing, just in case she had overlooked some nook or cranny, but she had not; her backpack was clearly missing, evidently taken by the Union.

Unable to do anything else, Lisa wriggled slightly to her left, in order to get a better view through her ‘window’. A black-clothed man beside her looked at her, kept his eye on her for just a moment, and then refocussed on the going-on in the main chamber of the cave. Heartened, Lisa left her station by the wall and crawled towards the small ‘window’. As she moved, several pairs of eyes were on her, but nobody motioned to stop her.

She settled herself down by the ‘window’ and watched intently. There were hundreds of people seated in the chamber, a small army. They were all staring at a tall man who stood on a raised platform, a natural dais made of red rock. He stood in the middle of two large objects: On his left, a large metal cup, filled with oil and burning with a bright orange flame, illuminating him; on his right, a thickset wooden stand, which had on it a small collection of items, including a small, dark-wooded box. Lisa took a closer look at the box and recognised it: it was the ebony box from her dream last night. Lisa took a closer look at the objects on the stand and realised there was another box, the rosewood box from her dream, right beside the ebony box.

She tried to look at the other objects on the stand, but her attention was suddenly stolen by the man speaking to the crowd. He was tall and well-built, his short hair as dark as pitch. He spoke with authority, waving his hands and gesticulating to emphasise his points. His eyes were black and hard, but blazed as if they were on fire.

“And now, as we progress to the advanced stages of our great plan, we can take heart in the fact that we have, once again, displayed our supreme power to the world!” The man was saying, slamming his fist onto the palm of his hand. As if on cue, the crowd of people roared in support. Even the agents around Lisa were shouting out their agreement.

“I have brought you all here with me tonight,” declared the man proudly, “to prove that there are no secrets kept from anyone. I have heard of rumour mongers among you who have been spreading insidious lies that I have kept secrets from you all, that I have not been honest and upfront with you, my followers and friends, in detailing my plans.” He paused purposely; there was a sudden outbreak of whispering across the cave; the man standing nearest to Lisa was muttering vehement denials under his breath. “Nothing could be further from the truth, my friends!” declared the man standing on the dais, and here he slammed his fist down on the wooden stand. “Contrary to what some may have told you, I have no hidden agenda when it comes to this organisation! I keep no secrets from those I choose to be my allies! No secrets!”

“No secrets!” echoed hundreds of agents.

The man at the front smiled at them graciously, and Lisa was beginning to get a very shrewd idea of his identity. “As such,” he continued loudly, “I have gathered you here to witness the magnificence of my plans. You see, tonight’s operations were three-fold. Firstly, we sought to finally reveal our true colours to the world, which we have succeeded at – the Police have fallen to our ranks! Incidental deaths are but a natural by-product of our mission. Tomorrow, the world will awaken to a new era, an era of the Union’s Supremacy!”

On cue, an almighty roar went up across the cave; all the agents on the staircase raised their hands to the air and cheered in unison.

The man on the dais smiled once again and waited for the noise to die down before he continued.

“Secondly, we sought to fulfil the next step in the Great Legend.”

Lisa’s ears pricked up at the mention of the word ‘Legend’. Despite everything that had happened, she had not forgotten what Professor Oak had told her earlier: “Lisa,” he had said softly, “the Legend involves you.”

She listened intently to the man’s words, however, she was quickly disappointed; he was not going to elucidate anything about the Legend.

“Which we have also succeeded in!” he continued bravely, his voice almost too confident. He was met by a collective roar from the Union agents. Lisa shivered; the fanatical yells were beginning to truly frighten her; these people seemed to be almost brainwashed into supporting the man at the front, their eyes trained on him as if their world depended upon what he said. Yet, even as Lisa surveyed the mass of black-clothed people, she could detect the occasional person who did not scream maniacally at the man’s impassioned speech, people who seemed in control of themselves.

On the dais, the ringleader reached over to the wooden stand and placed his hands on the ebony box. He deftly undid the silver clasp and swung the lid back on its hinge. The crowd of Union agents leaned forward curiously. Lisa’s senses tingled with anticipation; she poked her head through the ‘window’ through which she was watching the curious proceedings.

Wearing a genuine smile, the man on the dais held the base of the box and lifted it up to the rest of the chamber.

Glittering in the flickering torchlight, ancient and resplendent, were two silver keys.

Amid the almighty, deafening roar that went up among the crowd, Lisa suddenly understood why the Union had sieged the mountain.

Over the cacophony in the chamber, the man on the dais was saying, “We did it! We have the Second Key at long, long last!” There was another cheer. When it had died down, the man spoke again, more calmly. “Tonight was a joint effort. As one, we defied the authorities and acquired the Second Key!”

Once again, the organisation revelled as one, but Lisa was deep in thought. She remembered what Derek had said to her and Gavin earlier that night: “Tell Lance and only Lance that I know where the Second Key is,” he had said gravely. Lisa saw now what he had been doing. He had hoped to somehow prevent the Union from succeeding in their siege on Mount Fairfax by finding the Second Key first –

But Derek himself had failed: The Union had still obtained the Second Key. Lisa still didn’t have a clue what the keys meant, but she knew that a Union success wasn’t good.

She watched the man on the dais intently as he closed the ebony box and placed it on the wooden stand again. There was something curious about the way he was talking – something that seemed out of place. Lisa had always understood the Union to be a fierce, aggressive organisation, ruthless in achieving their evil goals. Yet the ringleader of the group was speaking to his agents like a teacher to a student, not like a master to a servant. He presented himself as approachable, despite clearly being the one in the position of power. His speech seemed to be evoking a sense of community among the agents, a sense of triumph and togetherness that wouldn’t be out of place in a Kindergarten.

Before Lisa could comprehend this, the man had begun to speak again, and there was a sudden hush over the congregation of Union agents.

“The third prong of our operations tonight,” he said, a good deal louder than before, “Has yet to be completed, and we cannot succeed fully tonight without the help of an outsider.”

Lisa realised a moment too late what was happening; the agents clustered on the rock staircase around her had suddenly converged on her, two of them clasping her under each arm and hauling her to her feet without any warning. Flanked on all sides by burly, black-clothed agents, Lisa was led down the last few steps and onto the mostly flat surface of the main chamber. The security of the stalactite-stalagmite web gone, she was now exposed to the entire cave.

“Behold,” bellowed the man on the dais, sweeping his hand in Lisa’s direction, “Our unwilling helper, Lisa Walters.”

Hundreds of bodies twisted to face her; the eyes of everyone in the room were suddenly on Lisa. She stared out at them blankly, fighting the urge to flee. One of the men escorting her suddenly gave her a gentle shove in the back, barely an inch below her bandaged bullet wound; Lisa winced, the pain rearing its head like a serpent. Tears sprang into her eyes reflexively but she swiftly blinked them away. Reluctantly, she acquiesced to the man’s shoving and began to approach the front of the cave – alone; the agents who had been flanking her left her to make the approach by herself.

As she trudged down the makeshift aisle down the centre of the torchlit cave, Lisa became acutely aware of the crowd’s reaction to her entrance. Many of them were glaring at her venomously, hissing out of making grotesque faces at her as she passed them. The agents sitting on the edges of the aisle tried to grab at her feet as she passed, however, when one finally did and Lisa shrieked in fright, the man on the dais spoke out deafeningly:

“Nobody is to touch her!” he roared, though his voice was still controlled.

Barely heartened, Lisa walked on. She had no idea what was going to happen when she reached the dais, but she wanted to face it as quickly as possible. If there was one thing she hated, it was waiting in fear.

The rest of her approach was easier only in that there were no hands clutching at her feet, as if to trip her up, but she was still being glared at, hissed at; she was still being watched by hundreds of foes in a kind of silent nightmare.

After what seemed like an age, she reached the dais, upon which were the wooden stand, the cup filled with burning, scented oil and, of course, the man who had been speaking to his followers.

Lisa stared him straight in the eye as she stepped up onto the raised rock platform, and he mirrored her. She had never expected to encounter Joseph Sterling, resurrector of Team Rocket and now leader of the Union, and yet here she stood, a metre from him, their eyes locked.

“Lisa,” he said, his voice smooth as honey, his arrogant smile exuding falseness in all its glory. “Always a pleasure.”

“Not for me,” she said loudly.

For a moment, for the most infinitesimal fraction of a second, Joseph Sterling’s face fell: the flagrant superiority behind his irises flickered; his eyebrows, so expertly lowered in a forced expression of power and knowledge, rose ever so slightly; and his smile, sly, exultant and brimming with deceit, wavered. Lisa had never met him before, she had never come face to face with this man, and yet all at once, inexplicably, she knew his kind, she knew who he was and what he stood for.

Joseph Sterling was responsible for everything that had happened tonight – the deaths, the battle, the terror. He had manipulated – brainwashed, even – hundreds of agents to obey him fanatically. It was on his orders that the Union had sieged the mountain. It was on his orders that the Union had invaded Lisa’s home and attacked her and Marina. It was on his orders that Gavin and countless other prisoners, innocent or otherwise, had been brutally beaten and tortured into submission. It was on his orders that three Union agents had been sent to kill, to destroy, Lisa herself. Joseph Sterling had sanctioned every foul, evil action imaginable, and yet here he was before an assembly of followers, all of them in thrall to his every deceitful word, worshipping him as a hero and his praising his ideas as paragon.

And Lisa despised him with all her heart.

The assembly of Union agents below had fallen into a deathly silence at Lisa’s words. Joseph Sterling eyed Lisa closely, surveying her with those hard black eyes as though she was some kind of species he had never encountered before.

“Your bluntness surprises me,” he said at last, his voice as controlled as ever.

Lisa didn’t say anything in response; she had surprised herself. She remained taciturn.

Sterling looked away from her and faced his army once more. “Lisa Walters is here tonight,” he declared, “to enter the Sepulchre of Entei!”

Amid the renewed roars of support, Lisa felt her stomach turn violently. Of all the things she had been expecting, this was most definitely not one of them. She had never heard of the Sepulchre of Entei, but whatever it was, it didn’t sound inviting.

The assembly settled down as Sterling turned toward Lisa. “Will you help us out, Lisa?”

He was facing her, asking a direct question. Lisa didn’t know what to do: why was this happening to her? Not so long ago she had been rejoicing, jubilant that the Union had been defeated – and now everything had taken the most bitter turn possible – she was trapped, with the Union asking her to do their bidding.

She steeled herself, looked Sterling in the eye again and said stubbornly, “No.”

He looked unabashed; in the crowd, the agents were jeering at Lisa unrestrainedly, calling her names that she couldn’t distinguish from the deafening apprehension in her head. Joseph was no longer ordering the agents to leave her alone.

“I will ask you just once more,” said Sterling, in a booming voice, raising himself up to his full height. “Will you enter the Sepulchre of Entei?”

Lisa tried to think of the best response, but her mind was no more than a useless clutter of jangled nerves. “What is the Sepulchre of Entei?”

A broad smirk spread across Sterling’s face. “I don’t think I will be telling you anything like that,” he said smugly. “No use giving you any information you might be able to use.”

Lisa frowned; he was depraved but undeniably sensible.

“Now give me an answer. Yes or no.”

“Never,” said Lisa defiantly.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, he raised his arm and brought it crashing down on Lisa’s neck; Lisa heard her own squeal of pain as if it was coming from somewhere a very long way away. She reeled back as her bullet wound stung violently, but she did not fall.

“You don’t say no to Joseph Sterling,” said Sterling, so quietly and calmly that only Lisa could hear him. “I believe,” he said, raising his voice now so that his supporters could hear him, “you will be entering the Sepulchre tonight.” He glanced up to the side of the cave that was bounded by the roughly hewn staircase. “Dennis, now please.”

And, before Lisa had realised what was happening, there came the sounds of a man struggling with a load, and then something began to protrude through a ‘window’ like the one Lisa had looked through. It was a person. Lisa caught a glimpse of the face, covered in dried blood.

It was Gavin.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to lunge at Joseph Sterling and tear into him, hurt him in any way she possibly could, just as long as he felt some of the pain that she was enduring now, some of the terror. The night was nothing more than a nightmare that wouldn’t end; one terrible shock followed another. And now the Union had her pinned, they had her defeated. She had no choice but to acquiesce – they had Gavin.

“Two bullets in his brain is all it would take,” Sterling said casually, “if you defy me again. Now, your answer … will you do what I command?”

Her eyes prickling with fury, Lisa nodded.

“No, no, no, Lisa,” Sterling laughed mirthlessly, as his army echoed him, “I want to hear you say it. I want to hear you submit to me.”

Don’t do it! screamed something deep within Lisa, but she slowly opened her mouth and said, “Yes.”

Victory flashed across Sterling’s face. “That is pleasing to hear,” he said simply, as though he had only asked her once, and had not just struck her and threatened to kill her friend. “Then you will go in immediately.” He raised his voice again. “Veronica!”

Lisa knew who to expect; moments later, a woman with platinum blonde hair rose gracefully from among the rest of the assembly; she was seated importantly in the third row.

“I am ready, boss,” she said in a low but confident tone; Lisa noticed a sizeable lump on her forehead where she had struck her earlier.

“Veronica has volunteered her services tonight,” Sterling announced to the rest of the Union. “She will guard Miss Walters as she ventures into what is known as the Sepulchre of Entei!”

Veronica strode up to the dais, hobbling slightly, a tear in the lower half of her black pants exposing a vicious bite mark. She made eye contact and Lisa did her best to glare at her – it felt like the last kind of defiance she could afford.

Sterling surveyed Veronica intently for a moment. “Good luck,” he said quietly, in a rare moment of concern. He pulled out a small leather bag from his coat and handed it to her; there were no words exchanged, though, Lisa thought, Veronica must have known precisely what she had been given, because her eyes glimmered and she bowed her head slightly, as if in reverence.

“Now go!” Joseph Sterling roared abruptly, raising a fist into the air above his head; the Union began to clap and cheer Veronica on. “And make haste, for the police will soon bring their back-up forces!”

It was in these kinds of situations that humans reverted to their most basic instincts – the primal fight-or-flight mechanism – however, Lisa stood rooted to the dais, unable to make herself move. She could not fight such a contingent, nor could she flee from them – the cave offered no escape routes except the high staircase, and that was blocked by agents. To resist would not only be futile, but it could provoke Joseph Sterling into ordering Gavin’s death.

Lisa gulped, feeling a knot building in her throat. She was left with no choice: she had to do what the Union wanted.

Veronica crossed the dais and reached Lisa. With a vile smirk she grabbed hold of Lisa’s right arm, her nails digging in far more than was necessary. Needles of pain began shooting up Lisa’s arm, but she gritted her teeth and did her best not to show it.

The least I can do, she thought, is to be brave.

Amid a cacophony of combined cheering and jeering, Veronica swept Lisa with her to the back of the dais. Sterling fixed Lisa with a victorious grin as she passed. Mustering all her strength, she kept her expression calm and unfazed, despite the lurch of terror within her.

Behind the dais there was a short series of rock steps, roughly hewn from the rock, much like the larger staircase. The steps were quite invisible from the other side of the dais, where the Union sat in assembly. Indeed, Lisa had not even realised that there was anything behind the dais at all.

“Down here,” Veronica said roughly, her hand still clasped around Lisa’s arm.

Lisa felt her stomach turn with a sense of impending doom: At the foot of the short flight of steps, at the point where the floor met the back wall of the massive cave, was a small, dark hole.

Veronica released her. “You go in first, girl,” she sneered, pushing Lisa towards the tiny opening.

Lisa obeyed, as she knew she had to. She sat herself down on the edge of the hole and poked first her feet, then her legs, into the unknown. The hole was so small in diameter that Lisa’s hips nearly caught on the sides. She eased them through gingerly.

“Hurry it up,” snapped Veronica, prodding her back.

Obediently, Lisa squeezed her torso through the gap and, without warning, she felt her foot touch something in the darkness – and it moved.

“Eugh!”

Closing her eyes in fear, she used her arms to propel the rest of her body into the hole. At once, darkness closed in around her – and something furry touched her face. She shrieked and flailed around in the dark hole, until suddenly she realised that whatever floor there had been was now gone. She was falling through the darkness, falling through thick spiderwebs and slimy objects …

“OUCH!”

Something unexpectedly soft – and squishy – broke her fall; her face was pressed into a slimy substance, the nature of which she could only imagine. The huge thing she had landed on began to move slightly, almost pulsating … She clutched for her Buzzball, but it was gone, as were her pokéballs: she had no weapons … there was nobody to help her …

There was a stifled cry of shock as Veronica came falling from the hole above and landed with a soft squish right beside Lisa. The woman struck a match and a tiny orange flame appeared, as if levitating itself, in the darkness. A second later there was a whooshing sound – Veronica had lit a wooden torch, which cast a strong light around them.

Lisa took stock of her surroundings. They were in a long, sloping tunnel, which was large enough for the two of them to walk down side-by-side. Thick, silver spiderwebs lined the sides of the cave, but otherwise, it was quite bare.

“Augh!” Veronica cried suddenly. She threw her arms up and began to scramble away from Lisa. Her eyes were fixed on the thing that the two of them had landed on; Lisa followed her gaze and nearly retched: the thing looked like a massive pulsating blob. It was the size of a car, half-buried in the rocky ground, and it was covered in thick, sticky web, so that it was impossible to see what was inside …

Shrieking, Lisa kicked her way off the blob until finally she fell a few inches onto the solid rock floor. She breathed a sigh of relief.

“What IS that thing?” she gasped, quite forgetting that Veronica was her enemy.

Veronica too, it seemed, had momentarily forgotten their enmity, for she replied, in a clearly flustered voice, “I don’t know …” She shook her head and shifted the torch to her right hand. “Never mind – we must go on,” she added, much more business-like. She jerked her head to tell Lisa to follow her and began to stride down the sloping, torchlit tunnel.

Lisa didn’t need to be asked twice – she would take a dark, winding tunnel over a mysterious pulsing blob any day. Without a look back at the foreign-looking thing behind her, Lisa got to her feet and hurried after Veronica, keen to remain within the bounds of the torchlight.

The tunnel led onwards for a considerable distance, winding constantly in a downward direction. For twenty minutes, Veronica and Lisa negotiated the downward path, ducking through cobwebs when necessary. Lisa said nothing to Veronica, and the Union agent said very little either, other than occasional jeers or commands to “Hurry up”.

Lisa’s mind wandered to what was happening on the surface of the mountain. Would the police’s back up forces have arrived to save the day yet? Was Gavin going to be all right? And what had become of Daniel, Nova, Derek, the Professor, and the others?

“Girl,” said Veronica sharply.

“I have a name, you know,” Lisa said irritably.

Veronica ignored her. “Spinarak web,” she said shortly, waving the blazing torch before her. Lisa peered a few metres ahead: sure enough, the tunnel was completely blocked by a massive, ornately spun Spinarak web. On the sides of the web, clustered in the shadows of the crags and rocks jutting out from the tunnel’s walls, were several large Spinaraks.

The web reminded Lisa very much of the one she and Gavin had blasted their way through in the forest several days ago.

“You go first,” said Veronica sleekly.

“What?” Lisa demanded. “But – but I’m needed … aren’t I?”

“So it would seem,” Veronica replied lazily. “It’s not dangerous work, just break down the web for me – a Spinarak bite won’t kill you …”

“A dozen might!” Lisa shot back grimly.

Her face lit eerily by the flames of the torch, Veronica scowled. “You’d better not argue, girl, and just do what I say.”

Lisa glanced at the thick web and knew she wouldn’t make it – the Spinarak were converging on the edge of the web now, waiting for an intruder to attempt to break it down.

“Don’t you have pokémon to use for this kind of thing?” Lisa asked her as politely as she could.

A flash of anger crossed Veronica’s face. “Unfortunately, no, not one that could break down this web,” she said. “Your friend Gavin saw to that … knocked out my –” She stopped herself, not wanting to lose face. Lisa, on the other hand, felt a burst of pride that Gavin had managed to take out some of Veronica’s pokémon … however, Gavin’s victory was their loss – they had no way of cutting down the web without sustaining dangerous injuries, no pokémon, no tools at all …

… or did they?

Lisa felt as though a light bulb had switched itself on spectacularly inside her head.

“The torch,” she said. “We can set the web on fire, just like we did in the forest, and then just jump through.” She turned to Veronica, who looked unconvinced. “Just hold the flame to the web, it should take hold,” Lisa said, stepping away from the web so that Veronica would be closest to it … but she, too, backed away.

“You do it, if you’re so convinced,” said Veronica in a haughty voice, though Lisa could see that she was actually quite afraid of having to put herself at risk.

“Well … I don’t know,” Lisa said slowly, aware of the advantage she held. “If you don’t want to do it, I’m not going to … maybe we should turn back.”

Her words, far from forcing Veronica into turning back or even setting fire to the web herself, caused the Union agent to whip out a black pistol that she had hitherto concealed. She pointed the gun at Lisa and smiled confidently. “I don’t think so,” she said, her voice much more confident now that she held the weapon. She thrust the torch forward. “You will do it.”

Of course, thought Lisa. They wouldn’t send her in here unarmed …

Reluctantly, Lisa took the torch; strangely, it did a great deal to settle her jangling nerves. She now felt as though she had just a little control over the situation. She spun around and took a few steps toward the web. The spiders clustered at the edge moved in a little closer, clicking their pincers threateningly, ready to strike.

Lisa moved forward gingerly. In the forest, she had had Vulpix’s flamethrower to blast through the Spinarak web … now, however, she merely held a burning torch …

A couple of feet from the web, she realised that it wasn’t going to work. The web wouldn’t ignite quickly enough, and by the time it did, the spiders would be all over her.

She turned back to Veronica, who merely cocked her pistol and sneered. There was no compassion to be found there, Veronica was not going to bow to Lisa’s appeal. There was no way out.

Wheeling back to the gigantic web, Lisa held the torch in her right hand and thrust it mightily into the centre of the web. At once, the Spinarak clicked their pincers gleefully and began to charge toward Lisa, clambering over each other in their eagerness. Lisa wasted no time: she swiped a large, methodical ‘X’ in the web; the fire burned through the thick web, weakening it, but the silvery string was too sticky … it refused to ignite at all …

“Hurry up, hurry up,” Lisa urged the web under her breath, holding the torch to the web, but it scarcely charred the web at all. The spiders were close, now, barely a metre away …

Lisa stole a hurried glance at her ‘X’ – it was not deep enough, it had not destroyed the web itself, but made a weak opening. She slashed wildly at the hole she had made, tearing the web apart slowly … wispy pieces of web began to fall to the ground …

Thwap! Lisa’s arm was pulled back as a single thread of white string wrapped around her arm – and then another – the Spinarak were using their String Shots to immobilise her … they were on her now, grasping at her shoulders …

“No!” she cried. Holding the torch before her, she wrenched herself free of the String Shots and, with a gargantuan effort, pushed herself through the weakened web; for a second, it seemed that it would not give way … that she would be trapped there, entangled in the web for the Spinarak to attack … but then, with a sound like material tearing, the web broke along the ‘X’ that Lisa had burned into it; she went sprawling through the thick barrier to the other side, hitting the ground with a thud.

She whirled around, holding the torch aloft; the Spinarak were not coming after her, even though she was barely a metre on the other side of the web … they remained on the web, clicking their pincers furiously as they spun more thread to cover the gaping hole Lisa had made.

Lisa panted heavily, her breath gone. It had seemed impossible, and yet, she had survived, she had made it through … alone. Her heart leapt: Veronica was still stranded on the other side of the web. Could she possibly venture on alone, and even find a way to escape the Union?

She had taken only a few steps forward when she heard Veronica’s shouted order through the web behind her: “Don’t go on!” she called, trying to maintain the strength in her voice, but she was clearly afraid without her torch. Lisa intended to go on regardless, but all of a sudden, shots rang out in the tunnel behind her; she dived to the ground in panic, but there were no bullets zinging through the air around her … yet, the shots were still ringing out …

Lisa suddenly understood: in her desperation, Veronica was firing at the Spinarak, trying to take out enough of them for her to charge through the gap in the web before it was too late …

Lisa felt a pang of pity for Veronica, that she was so desperate, but she knew better than to turn back and help her out. She stood stock-still, facing the web uncertainly, as another round of gunfire issued from Veronica’s pistol … but no Veronica came.

Without warning, there was a gigantic burst of vermilion flames; the huge Spinarak web, metres in diameter, ignited at once, scorched fiercely by the blaze of fire; Spinarak flew through the air as though they had been hit by a small shock wave –

“Augh!”

With a loud cry, Veronica charged through the smouldering remains of the web, one hand above her head, the other, clutching the leather bag that Joseph Sterling had given her; even in the light of the blazing web, Lisa caught sight of a bright red glow coming out of the bag, though she could not see what was causing it …

Veronica reached Lisa’s side. “Come on, girl!” she commanded fiercely, stowing the leather bag and producing the black gun once more, levelling it at Lisa. All around her, stray Spinarak were scuttling hurriedly back to where the web had previously been, apparently intent to build a new one; remarkably, they did not even try to harm either Lisa or Veronica now that they were on the other side of the web.

“I said, come on,” Veronica snapped, all traces of desperation gone now that she was safe. Without another word, she swept onwards down the ever-declining tunnel, allowing Lisa to keep hold of the torch. Lisa followed her once more.

Another five minutes on and the exhilaration of the incident at the web was quite a thing of the past; the tunnel was as bare as ever, and now quite free of any cobwebs, though Lisa had a nagging feeling that, somewhere ahead, there was something more frightening than spiders.

“Ah, we are nearly there,” said Veronica calmly, as they descended two natural steps. Lisa could not see how she knew this, for the tunnel seemed as bare as ever, but sure enough, a few moments later they rounded a twist in the tunnel and entered a sizeable chamber. Standing before them on a huge rock altar, like an old sentinel, was an ancient golden statue, hewn in the majestic shape of an Entei. Its entire body, six feet tall, glittered in the torchlight; its eyes were large rubies.

“Oh my God,” said Lisa, breathtaken in spite of herself.

“Ah … the Sepulchre,” murmured Veronica.

Behind the statue of Entei, on a thin rock ledge, was a grand archway; it held an arch-shaped oak door, the doorframe of which was laced with gold and encrusted with all kinds of colourful gems. The door itself had a short series of runes carved into it, which looked unsettlingly similar to the ones Lisa had seen higher up in the mountain.

“Amazing,” Lisa muttered, touching the golden statue of Entei; it was covered in dust and dirt but it still maintained a certain grandeur.

“No time for dawdling,” said Veronica harshly, prodding Lisa in the back (thankfully not in her bullet wound). She snatched the torch off Lisa. “Follow me,” she growled, leaping up onto the thin rock ledge and walking along it until she came to the huge oak door. It had no lock, but appeared firmly in place. Veronica pushed the door, gently at first and then with all her might, but the door did not move. Finally, her face red with exertion, she whirled around to Lisa, who was still standing beside the statue of Entei.

“Girl,” she said again, “come here. Now.”

Lisa took her eyes off the statue and jumped up onto the rock ledge and approaching the oak door. Veronica handed her the torch and grabbed her impatiently, jostling her around on the ledge until Lisa stood squarely in front of the door.

“Now stand there and wait.”

Lisa obeyed. She stood, silent and still, for a full minute. Nothing happened. The door remained immobile.

“Try to push it,” Veronica suggested shortly.

Lisa complied, pressing her hands against the wooden door – and, instantly, she pulled them away, shaking her hands wildly. “It’s hot!”

Beside her, Veronica flicked her blonde hair indignantly. “What do you mean?”

“The door!” Lisa insisted, her hands cool now. “It’s scorching hot – I couldn’t hold my hands there long enough to push it open!”

Veronica looked bewildered; clearly, Joseph had not told her to expect this. “Well then, kick it!” she snapped, flustered.

“I don’t think that’s a good –” Lisa began, a sense of foreboding rising within her.

The gun was out already. “I said, kick it!”

Steeling herself, Lisa raised her leg and, with the strength born of her ballet years, she delivered a sharp kick to the right hand side of the door.

As though there were nothing holding it back, the door flew wide open, despite its size and mass. Lisa garnered a fleeting glance of an absolutely massive chamber filled with thick smoke, steam and what looked like lava before an almighty blast of hot air sent her and Veronica flying backwards onto the ground below.

“What the –” yelled Veronica, her voice barely audible over the mysterious roar within the Sepulchre.

“I told you!” Lisa cried back, covering her face with her hands; the heat was unbearable, scorching her skin. Steam was gushing out of the doorway to the Sepulchre now, filling the antechamber in which they stood. Veronica writhed on the floor, her face covered, pistol forgotten.

A burst of foul-smelling gas and dust burst from the door, narrowly missing Veronica; at the same time, with a wave of horror, Lisa saw thin, red-hot lava churning about in the chamber, flowing rapidly towards the door.

Whatever was meant to happen, Lisa thought briefly, this most definitely wasn’t it.

She assessed her options and knew that there was no chance of charging through the Sepulchre itself; her only chance of escape – or survival, even – was back up the tunnel from which she and Veronica had come. She retrieved the mercifully still-alight torch, which had gone flying when the door opened, and made a dash for the tunnel.

As she passed the statue of Entei, Lisa remembered Veronica; spinning on her heel, she caught sight of the Union agent several metres behind her, clutching at the walls of the chamber, her eyes screwed shut against the ash now suspended in the hot air. Lisa teetered uncertainly. A part of her longed to leave the Union agent there, to be consumed by the fire and smoke: Still facing Veronica, Lisa backed slowly away, returning to the entrance tunnel … she deserves it, let her die …

Abruptly, the earth shook wildly; it felt as though the rocks below were sliding haphazardly over each other. Lisa stumbled and fell, losing the torch again. Struggling to her feet, she saw a small wave of red-hot fluid cresting in the doorframe, flowing directly for the blinded Veronica. Her conscience took hold of her like as though she were a fish snared by a hook – she couldn’t just stand back –

Lisa raced forward, one eye on the approaching lava flow, and grabbed Veronica by the underarms.

“What are you doing?” screamed Veronica wildly, her eyes blinded by the ash: she was resisting, apparently taking Lisa’s assistance as some kind of an attack. She kicked out at Lisa as molten lava oozed through the doorframe, into the antechamber. Lisa threw her arm up over her face as a gust of hot air exploded from the chaos within the Sepulchre and grabbed at Veronica’s arm again.

“I – I’m saving your life,” Lisa muttered back sharply. “And if you don’t come with me, you’ll be killed – come ON!”

Blinking foolishly, Veronica stumbled to her feet, ready to run. Lisa grabbed the torch in one hand, clasped Veronica’s wrist in the other and ran for her life: past the doorframe, through which she could see the Sepulchre of Entei blazing with fire and lava; past the statue of Entei, out of the antechamber and into the entrance tunnel …

The earth was rumbling as though it was ready to explode. The ground of the tunnel shook from side to side as Lisa sprinted back up towards the surface, her enemy clinging to her arm all the while. Lisa’s mind was working overtime: lava, inside Mount Fairfax? Just how far had they descended?

The answer, it seemed, was very. Lisa lost her breath after just a few minutes – her heart was thumping, her lungs grasping for air that was rapidly becoming contaminated with foul-smelling gases that were rising up from the Sepulchre below; her legs, already put under tremendous strain that evening, were ready to collapse; and her injuries from the battle were beginning to rear their heads – it felt as though somebody was twisting a knife in her back.

“Keep going, keep going,” Lisa chanted to herself, rounding a bend in the tunnel only to be faced with another stretch of bare rock; she had not even reached the Spinarak web yet. “Keep going, keep going, keep going.”

They had just rounded what felt like the millionth corner when Lisa saw something further up the tunnel – a bright speck of light, hovering off the ground, speeding toward her and Veronica. Lisa paused apprehensively, but she had no option but to let the thing meet her – she had no tools to help her.

The speck of light became a beam of light, and as it came closer, Lisa saw that it was in fact a powerful electric torch, held by a person on the back of a large, flying creature. The flying creature approached swiftly, until Lisa had to avert her gaze to avoid being dazzled by the bright light. The creature reached Lisa and Veronica at last, landing softly on the quaking ground. Lisa squinted her eyes to determine whether the newcomer was friend or for …

“It’s Lisa!” said a jubilant voice abruptly. “Dad, it’s Lisa!”

The wave of relief that swept over Lisa in that moment was so tremendous that she almost felt giddy. There were in fact two people on the back of the pokémon, which was a strong, rose-gold Dragonite – one was a man, seated comfortably with his legs squeezed around the creature’s middle; the other person, who was holding the bright torch, was a teenage boy.

Lance Hudson and his son Darius both wore broad grins, despite the fact that the tunnel around them was beginning to crumble. Lisa grinned back at them in disbelief: how the two of them had come to be here she didn’t care, all that mattered was that she was saved, not just from the volcano, but from the Union, too.

“You’re alive!” Darius burst out incredulously, his dimples pronounced.

“I know!” Lisa replied, equally astonished that she was going to be all right. She glanced from Darius to his father, however, Lance’s expression, though jubilant, was also anxious.

“Lisa,” he said, concerned, “What happened here?”

“It was the Union,” Lisa told him, gesturing to Veronica, who had her hands to her ears, trying to block out the roar of the Sepulchre below. “They attacked the mountain contest, and they fought us, and brought me down here, to the Sepulchre of Entei –”

Lance nodded patiently. A few metres away, a section of the tunnel’s ceiling collapsed to the ground. “Lisa, I want you to tell me about it all later. Right now, you have to get out of here.” As he spoke, his son produced a small red-and-white orb. He held it outstretched to Lisa. “Take Darius’s Stantler and escape,” Lance said firmly. “I will explain everything to you later, Lisa, but there is no time now, you understand?”

“Yes,” Lisa said quietly, taking the ball from Darius, “but where are you two going?”

“To the Sepulchre. You see, Darius needs to go there.”

“But it’s dangerous!” Lisa protested. “There’s a volcano!”

Lance shook his head. “It is not a volcano. We are in no grave danger. Please, Lisa, run!” And with that, his Dragonite kicked off from the ground and flew further down the tunnel, back towards the Sepulchre, leaving Lisa in the weak light of her burning torch.

For the first time in minutes, Veronica was showing signs of life – she was mumbling furiously to herself, apparently unaware that Lisa was still beside her. “We got the wrong one … of course …” she muttered bitterly, her hands clenched.

Without warning, the earth shook violently. A cascade of rocks and dirt fell from the ceiling. Lisa turned on her heel and threw the pokéball Darius had given her. It bounced once on the rock floor before exploding with white light, which rapidly took the shape of a creature. The Stantler had brown fur flecked with white and dark brown, it’s intricate antlers causing it to look much taller than it perhaps was. It reminded Lisa very much of a reindeer.

Stantler fixed her with a kind but urgent look. Lisa nodded compliantly. “All right. I’m coming,” she said. She turned to Veronica. All the venom, all the fight, seemed to have left the Union agent since she had been injured in the antechamber. Lisa grabbed her arm firmly and led her to Stantler’s side. She surveyed the situation, wondering how on earth she was going to lift Veronica’s useless form up onto the deer, but Stantler gently lowered its body to the ground, so that, with a rather forceful prod in the back from Lisa, Veronica obediently seated herself. Lisa followed suit. Stantler stood up, snorted slightly and set off at full-pelt back up the tunnel.

Lisa’s hair flew back as Stantler ran. She had not expected a deer to be so fast, but Stantler ran with extreme pace. Her arms around the deer’s neck, Lisa felt the ride re-energizing her like some kind of magical tonic. The cold air rushing at her face was especially welcome – it was a soothing change from the blasts of hot air down in the antechamber.

Stantler took a hairpin bend at great speed but remained perfectly upright; it wheeled around and began galloping down the next stretch of tunnel. Peering ahead, Lisa saw it: the Spinarak web, still frayed but bordered with dozens of Spinarak.

“Be careful!” Lisa called out.

Still running at full speed, Stantler turned its head to face Lisa and gave her a shrewd, almost cheeky look, as if to say, “Please, as if I need to be told.”

The deer faced ahead again and, lowering its head, sent forth a broad beam of crimson light, which spread to fill the entire width of the tunnel. The beam hit the clusters of Spinarak, so that, by the time that Stantler passed through the web, the arachnids were dazed, turning on each other in their confusion, allowing the deer and its passengers safe passage.

Stantler sped on, bounding up the tunnel with the grace of a mountain gazelle, dodging the rocks that fell from the ceiling as the mountain shook; it was truly a spectacular beast. Upon rounding one particularly nasty turn in the tunnel, Lisa’s torch sideswiped the rock wall, sending the light flying out of her hand and into the passage behind them. Before the light had quite faded, Lisa thought she caught a smirk on Stantler’s long face.

In no time at all, it seemed, they were galloping up the final stretch of the tunnel. The hole through which Lisa and Veronica had first squeezed through was no longer a tiny gap – it had been blasted wide open (for Dragonite to get through, Lisa thought) and now light poured in from the massive cave without. The hole, Lisa saw as they approached, was about two metres above them. Below it, the strange blob was still pulsating; Lisa felt Veronica squirm uncomfortably behind her as she caught sight of the blob, however, Stantler was not intending to make contact with the thing. Instead, the deer increased its speed and, with a spring that Lisa had not expected, Stantler bounded up, soaring into the air and through the tunnel opening, landing heavily on the flat rock floor behind the dais.

“You did it!” Lisa exclaimed, another wave of relief sweeping her, combined with an overwhelming sense of gratitude to Stantler, Darius and Lance. “Thank you! You did wonderfully, girl!”

Stantler swivelled its head around to face her again and fixed her with an incredibly disgusted and affronted look. Lisa realised her mistake at once. “Boy!” she corrected. “Well done, boy!” The deer dropped his sneer, though he still looked quite insulted. Without warning, he jerked his body wildly; Lisa clung on tightly – surely he wasn’t bucking her for her mistake? – but then there was a scream and a thump behind her, and she understood. Turning around, she saw Veronica sprawled on the ground between Stantler and the opening to the tunnel. The woman was breathing but was otherwise quite still; the mountain, it seemed, had defeated her. Stantler’s intelligence startled Lisa: it seemed he had taken Veronica to safety, on the orders of his trainer, but he had dropped her like a hot coal the moment he had the chance.

“Awooo,” he called urgently.

Lisa was dismounting when she understood what he meant; she suddenly became aware of the noise reverberating around the chamber, the flashes of light and shouted commands …

Stantler beside her, she ran up the steps that led to the dais and reached it, obtaining a clear and sudden view of the massive cave.

A battle was raging in the chamber, but it bore almost no resemblance to the battle Lisa had been engaged in earlier, in that the Union was, quite clearly, being defeated. The enemy were in mass-retreat: In the well-lit cave, Lisa could see the hundreds of Union agents scrabbling madly for the staircase that lined the chamber, many of them tripping over as the ground beneath them shook wildly. Several black-clothed agents were falling down the rock staircase, put off balance by the tremors.

Lisa surveyed the dais quickly: there was no sign of the keys or any of the other objects Sterling had placed on the stand earlier, nor was there any sign of the stand, or of Sterling himself; it seemed he had fled the chamber. The oil-filled goblet, which had been burning earlier, was now overturned, lying abandoned on the dais.

In all the commotion, Lisa could see very few people who were not black-clothed; she scouted about the chamber and spotted Derek, several pokémon ranged beside him, warding off a cluster of Union agents. Nearby, a woman Lisa had seen in the clearing earlier was engaged in a fistfight with a female Union agent. Lisa peered through the crowd of fighting or fleeing people, none of whom seemed to have noticed her and Stantler enter. Near the centre of the cave, two people stood back-to-back, a dozen pokémon surrounding them, all simultaneously issuing various attacks to knock out enemies. One of the people, a tall, blue-haired woman, had among her pokémon a Starmie, which was emitting Psychics and Water Guns simultaneously, without any verbal commands from its trainer; a wave of psychic energy slammed into three nearby Union agents, throwing them all to the ground, whilst a jet of water knocked a young red-haired woman off her feet.

Lisa gazed around her quickly, in case there was an enemy approaching, but the section of the cave closest to the dais was rapidly emptying now; indeed, some Union agents were sending out their flying pokémon to make a faster getaway; the entire cave was a scene of desperation. A powerful tremor shook the cave once more.

The woman with the Starmie was still taking out agents at will, as was the black-haired man standing behind her – his Heracross was hurling a burly Union agent into the air, where he collided with several others, sending them all toppling to the ground like skittles.

And all of a sudden, it seemed that the action was over; the last of the Union agents still able to stand were fleeing up the staircase (and for some reason, those who were fighting the Union allowed them to escape), while those who had been injured were strewn across the floor of the cave – like Veronica, they were utterly defeated. Starmie shot out one final Water Gun, sending a man to the ground, and then there was a sudden calm; a near-silence fell over the chamber for just a moment, punctuated by the sound of footsteps sprinting up the rock staircase.

Before there could be any exchange between those who remained conscious, the ground gave an almighty lurch. Lisa felt her feet leave the ground as the earthquake struck with mind-blowing force; she was catapulted into the air, landing roughly on the dais again, Stantler beside her. A second later, there was a deep, terrifying ROAR that came from somewhere deep in the mountain – it sounded as though the Sepulchre was making its final stand – and then, all of a sudden, the quaking finally stopped, and there was silence; the mountain was appeased.

For a very strange moment, nothing happened. Then the people still standing – Derek and the others – began to look around and congratulate each other, calling out compliments and words of praise wearily, great smiles on their faces.

And then somebody cried, “LISA!”

Lisa whirled on the spot. She recognised the voice instantly (how could she not?); something inside her leapt with joy; she had not expected this, of all things … her eyes darted around the massive, almost empty chamber – and then she saw her:

Lisa’s mother, Maria Walters, stood near the far corner of the chamber, tears pouring down her grinning face.

“SHE’S ALL RIGHT – RYAN, SHE’S ALL RIGHT!” She cried, ecstatic, more tears running down her face.

Lisa stood rooted to the dais in utter shock. The man who had been fighting the Union, with his Heracross and five other pokémon, turned around to face Lisa, and she gasped. Her father, Ryan Walters, stared back at her.

“Lisa,” he said, very quietly.

At a loss of anything else to say, Lisa said softly, “Hi Mum. Hi Dad. Fancy meeting you here.”

And then, at long last, she collapsed from exhaustion.

[mistysakura]

I really liked that chapter, it's good that things are progressing a bit quicker and the plot's being pushed forward. I'm intrigued by Darius, and the fact that he knows, and his father knows, that he has to go to the Sepulchre. My impression of the legend was that it would act itself out, with the participants not knowing about the existence of a plan. I guess it has something to do with Lance being his father, and Lance somehow being a part of the anti-Union society, but still the certainty those two have surprises me. And I wonder if the blob-thin Lisa and Veronia landed on has any significance. If it doesn't, it seems rather strange to mention it twice. I hope it's not just something put into the chapter to break Lisa's fall.

What bugged me in this chapter was the lack of credibility of the moral situation Lisa was facing (you know what I think about this already). I don't think readers would believe for a moment that Lisa would actually leave Veronica there, which takes away all the tension of the moment. I myself was waiting for the decision to be done with so that we could get on with the rest of the chapter. I guess it was necessary to explain Lisa's decision, but it was still the weak point of the chapter.

This was a great chapter; it didn't feel massively long at all. And now that there are more mysteries to explain, I'll be waiting for the next chapter.

[Blademaster]

Hi everyone! I'm back, Gold Coast was a blast, but it's great to be back of course.

...Gavin was gone?



OK, let's see here...

Well, that was... interesting...

So, Mt. Fairfax is Entei's home? And the Union was looking for Entei?

...No, wait-Entei and the Union were on the same side, so...

Ugh, my attention span sucks...

In any case, it was a well-detailed chapter; part of me was actually hoping Veronica would get BBQ-ed, but then again, that's just me and my 'weird sense of humor...'

I was curious about that blob-thing, too. What was it, a cocoon? Or some sort of a vessel?

...Wait, a cocoon IS tecnically a vessel...

Sigh...

I honestly don't see what you were so apprehensive about, Gavin-Lisa's been through worse than this chapter.

Still, if it's the beginning of something, then I guess you'd know better than me...

And yes, this chapter was kinda long, but it was action-packed, so I didn't really notice. I honestly thought it'd be a lot longer; when I read that last line:

"And then, at long last, she collapsed from exhaustion."

I looked and saw your sig; I was like, "What? That's it?"

In any case, it seems like you're gonna end Book 2 with a bang, so don't keep us in suspense too long.

...That's Dark Sage's job. :smilie:

-Blademaster, the Dark Scorpion Duelist

[Master Kirby]

Well, that sure made you wonder where things are going! Its NOT a volcano, and Lance and Darius aren't in any grave danger? I guess all the fire, lava, earthquakes and noises could be created by some enormously powerful pokemon, though I have no idea what kind. Maybe they were going down to fight whatever was creating the disturbance?

Lisa's parents were there, and her Dad was one of the strongest trainers in the middle of the cave fighting off the Union members? This makes me wonder if they aren't just pokemon researchers. Could that be a cover for them actually being part of the Anti-Union group?

Wasn't Entei killed in one of the earler chapters? If so, then he couldn't be the cause of the eruption, unless the legend involves the resurrection of a legendary?

You had mentioned that Gavin's Psychic powers had returned. Right now, we don't know where he is, but I hope he knows that his powers are back. That could come in handy if he was taken away with the Union leaders before the attack started. (I wouldn't think the leaders like Sterling would stay around to fight. They would run and hide while the grunts get attacked.)

There were a few grammer problems in there somewhere, but that is understandable in a 9,878 word chapter. The fact that it always had you on edge as the events unfolded kept it from feeling long.

The way the chapter ended, with the mountain's violence subsiding, and the Union being defeated, it looks like Lisa is going to finally have a chance to sit down and have a talk with someone to learn what is actually going on. I hope you don't have any trouble writing the next chapter, as I'll be looking forward to having some of these mysteries cleared up.

[mr_pikachu]

I can see why you weren't looking forward to this chapter, Gavin; it can't be fun to have to show your hand after 56 chapters of keeping your readers in awe and puzzlement. But, if there wasn't some deeper mystery beneath all the shadows you cast, there would have been no reason for us to continue reading. I think you did a pretty good job in handling the beginning of the revelations.

I really liked how you utilized the setting here. From the Union's meeting in the cave to the mysterious chamber and back again, your use of the setting as a backdrop for the action was marvelous. The descriptions in general, actually, were great; I could really imagine the incensed Union agents grabbing at Lisa's feet, and the journey through the darkness was also portrayed exceptionally well. I actually thought that Lisa's decision to save Veronica was done as well as could have been expected. It's couldn't have been easy to show all the things that must have been going through Lisa's head at that moment and still accurately show the franticness of the moment, so I thought it was done well.

Like some other people mentioned, though, I thought the tension waned a bit while Lisa and Veronica tore out of the Sepulchre. It was pretty obvious that Lisa would at least escape alive; otherwise, it would be a very sharp and anticlimactic end to the fic. Also, I was rather surprised to find several more issues - including a few grammatical concerns - than I usually do with your work. (I suppose it's to be expected with such a large chapter, but it surprised me nonetheless.) They were, for the most part, assorted and trendless problems, but one thing I didn't expect was the sudden use of a large amount of ellipses. (An ellipsis, if you didn't know, is a series of three periods used to show a pause: "...") It was an unexpected intrusion into your typically clean writing. Other than that, there were only occasional concerns like questionable word orderings, switched homonyms (its and it's), plural/singular word problems, etc. None of those were consistent problems, though, so they thankfully didn't hurt this chapter too much.

Overall, I liked this installment. Even though it wasn't as intense as some of your other chapters, and even though many things had to be revealed, you did a good job of managing them. Your use of the setting and scenario was superb, and the realization at the end of the chapter was quite fitting. Good job. I'll see you next chapter!

[Gavin Luper]

G'day everyone!



CHAPTER 58 IS FINALLY HERE!!!

This chapter has taken so long and is in itself so enormous that I feel as though I need some kind of introduction to it; there seems to be a lot to say about it. This chapter was without a doubt the most difficult chapter to write in my entire life. It took ten months, meticulous attention to past chapters and heaps of painstaking work to haul it back from the edge of the chasm it was teetering on the brink of and finally complete it.

It is all here: the entirety of Chapter 58, which finally reveals many secrets and mysteries of Lisa the Legend. It is essentially the resolution of the second book, as well as an end to the first part of Lisa's life. There are many explanations that reference chapters of several years past - it might be helpful to take a quick glance at some of these chapters as you go along if you need to jog your memory - especially Chapters 27 (for the flashback), 38/39, 41, 42, 45, 47 and 48.

This is a long chapter, roughly the length of three of my usual sized chapters and as such I think it might end up becoming a little disjointed. Moreover, I'm sure there are more grammatical mistakes than usual: some of these I have left in on purpose, as they just feel right, others have probably been completely missed because of my rather dubious grasp on advanced grammar. Due to extreme length I've split it into three posts.

I am ultimately proud of this chapter because it finally gets the ball rolling; the story is coming into its own at last. This chapter finally allowed me to spill all the secrets, all the backstory, that I have been bursting to share for several years now. Contrary to appearances, I edited this chapter as much as possible without taking away from the atmosphere; thus, you can be sure that everything in the chapter is in some way relevant to the next chapter (which will be the closing chapter of the book) and Book Three. I debated long and hard about the title, torn between this one and another, but this really does sum the whole thing up so very well.

I really hope that, after you have finished reading this new installment, you find that it was worth the wait.

If I say any more about this chapter I'll only be stalling, trying to hold on to my precious mysteries for a few minutes longer, but I think everyone's waited long enough.

So here it is!!!

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

Chapter 58 – Behind the Glass.


Joseph Sterling cast his eyes down to the shrinking mountain range below. The adrenaline had barely finished coursing through his veins, yet he had already settled into his sleek leather chair, the glass of scotch in his right hand almost empty. The chopper was too high now for him to see the civilians scurrying across the plateau on Mount Fairfax, but the activity around the little village was impossible to miss: police cars, ambulances, fire engines and television vans had all swarmed to the hamlet like bees to a daffodil.

And though this widespread attention was precisely what he had bargained for, he had scarcely been more disappointed in his entire life.

He sighed and rubbed his temples. How could he have been so mistaken? His one mistake – and bitterly it had been his own, and no one else’s – had resulted in his failure to penetrate the Sepulchre of Entei. They had, at least, succeeded in acquiring the Second Key, but without gaining access to the Sepulchre, this battle had ultimately been won by his foe; he had failed.

No, Sterling corrected himself. It was not a failure. It was a stumbling block, a setback … but one that, given time and thought, could be overcome to his advantage. It had to be.

He tore his eyes from the view below as the door of his cabin slid open with a mechanical hiss. A woman with platinum-blonde hair marched in, her hair arranged so that it covered a large part of her white face.

“ Must you always take so long to get changed?” muttered Sterling, hardly glancing at her clean black outfit.

“ I’m a woman, Joe, it’s what we do, when we’re not cooking and cleaning, you know,” Veronica sniped. She took the seat opposite him and set about lighting a cigarette.

“ Don’t start. I know you’re pissed off because of what happened in the Sepulchre.”

Veronica winced momentarily before sleekly resuming her façade. “ Just like you’re pissed off because you got the wrong kid for the Sepulchre, right, Joe?”

“ Right,” he snarled. “ Entei must have been mistaken.”

“ Or maybe he deliberately misled you,” Veronica chimed in with practiced repetition. “ Honestly, trusting a creature like that … I thought you were smart.”

“ I know what I’m doing in regards to that, don’t you worry your little head, woman,” said Sterling smoothly. “ Nice hair-do, by the way …”

The woman scowled and swept back the blonde locks that had obscured part of her face; beneath was a large, angry lump.

“ Walked into a door, did we?”

“ The Walters’ girl – she’s feisty.”

“ She’s also a fourteen year old girl, not a bloody ninja,” Sterling spat. “ In any case, what happened to you in the Sepulchre was your own bad luck, not mine. Frankly, you should be grateful I was able to get you out of there in time. Hudson and his mob had already taken the chamber for themselves, you know.”

Veronica paused, mid-drag, and then spat at him, “ Of course I know, I was there the whole time. Where were you, darling?”

Sterling felt the familiar tingle of frustration dance along his spine. “ I had important business to attend to, Veronica,” he said coolly. “ I think somehow it escaped your attention that we were last night in the company of one of our own escaped prisoners.”

She raised a heavily plucked eyebrow, clearly thrown by this information. “ Oh?”

“ Yeah. Seems Professor Oak found his way to where the action is after all.”

“ You don’t think he actually found those children … told them anything … do you?”

“ That’s what I needed to find out. I tracked him down after you took the girl down into the Sepulchre. We had already captured him in the earlier battle; he was being held in a nearby tunnel. I coaxed the truth out of him – he claimed he had already divulged everything he knew to the children.”

“ Shit.” Veronica scowled and blew an angry puff of smoke into the air. “ We still have him, right?”

“ Nah.” Sterling drained the last of the whiskey. “ After he told me everything I needed to know I killed him.” He now turned to face Veronica so as to see her reaction to this; he found it satisfying to see her drop her cigarette in her lap with utter surprise.

“ Oh, you didn’t! You did not do that!” she cried, absent-mindedly patting out the ash on her skirt. Her eyes were wide with genuine disbelief; it was a minute before she composed herself, elegantly lit another cigarette and resumed her usual obstinate tone. “ You’ve finally grown some balls then.”

“ Ostensibly,” Sterling said dryly, not even bothering himself to snipe back. “ After we had heard his story, he was only an irritation; frankly I’m glad I don’t have to worry about him anymore.”

“ Oh, today is going to be even better than I thought,” Veronica grinned. “ As if you weren’t already going to grab enough attention with the attack on the mountain, now you’ve taken out probably the smartest, most famous researcher since Charles Druos.” She paused, slowly thinking this over. “ The response is going to be even bigger, then, I mean, if that’s possible …”

“ You’re not just a pretty face, Ronnie.”

“ So how long are you going to wait before you announce everything to the media?”

“ Once we get to the base.” Sterling glanced at his shiny Italian-made watch. “ So I was thinking about, oh, a few hours?”

The second cigarette tumbled through the air to join its friend. Sterling guffawed recklessly as Veronica hastily wiped the ash from her skirt once again.

“ You cocky bastard,” she said with a smirk, reaching into her pocket for another cigarette.

*

“ They’ll announce it some time today.”

Lance Hudson didn’t look up at his close friend; he kept his head in his hands, the throbbing headache refusing to leave him despite the painkillers. A crumpled sheet of paper was spread out on his lap, a few words scribbled upon it uselessly.

“ Mate, I dunno if you’re getting it – we need to be ready to counter their declaration when it comes – as soon as it comes. To show them we’re ready.”

“ I get it, Marco, I get it!” Lance snapped through his teeth. He lifted his heavy head and surveyed his old friend and advisor, who stood, fists clenched, before him in the large, sunny ‘Cherokee’ room of the Fairfax Inn. “ I’m still working out what I need to say exactly. I never wanted to have to reveal the Guard to the world so soon. How the hell am I meant to pull something like this off?”

“ Just keep it simple, don’t mention the Legend.”

“ There’s no way to do it properly without revealing the Legend!” barked Lance testily. He put on a sardonic voice. “ ‘Hi everyone, I’m Lance Hudson. It’s got nothing to do with me really but I just thought I should go to fight against the terrorist group The Union. You know, just because they killed some people, and I’m a good guy …’ – What a load of shit, Marco!” he growled. “ And the worst thing of all is that we’re not ready for this, not at all. Hardly anyone knows who it is they’re fighting for.”

Marco didn’t unclench his fists; on the contrary, he looked more incensed. “ If you’d told them earlier, there wouldn’t be a problem.”

Lance rose so quickly that his wooden chair clattered to the ground; there were six other people seated in tub chairs about the edge of the room, all of whom looked completely taken aback.

“ Alright, Marco, if you wanna fight me, do it!” growled Lance, not even looking at his pokéballs on the desk, but baring his fists.

Marco shaped up to Lance and it could not have been more clear that one of the men was about to swing, however at that moment, several people cried out in protest, the loudest of whom was a man who left his seat to step in between the two friends.

“ That’s enough! That’s enough!” he bellowed, holding out a hand to each of them. “ Look, this is just the stress getting the better of the two of you. You’re both better men than that!” Both Lance and Marco flushed red, returning their hands to their sides, though neither ceased leering at the other. “ Lance, I know you’re overwhelmed, but Marco’s right, we need to move on with this speech – we can all help you write it. And Marco, this whole thing has been a shock for everyone. Hardly anybody knew Lance was in charge of this.”

“ No-one else is supposed to be his best mate,” spat Marco. He sized up the man standing between him and Lance. “ You already knew, didn’t you, Giles?”

“ I worked it out,” said Giles coolly. “ That’s not important now, Marco. What we’ve got to do is work together now before the Union gets the upper hand. You’ve told Lance what he needs to know, now sit down and let’s just get on with it!”

There was a murmur of assent from the others in the room. Looking as though it was the last thing he wanted to do, Marco broke eye contact with Lance and slunk back to his seat near the large bay window. Giles, too, returned to his.

“ Thanks, Giles,” said Lance stiffly, now feeling the flush of embarrassment as he realised how much composure he had just lost in front of the group. “ Alright, before I get the speech done, I wanted to hear from Nate.”

A man with salt-and-pepper hair rose obediently, his response almost regimented.

“ What’s the latest news, Nate?” asked Lance, still standing.

“ The police have co-operated so far. They’ve allowed everyone safe passage down the mountain, but only as far as the village. Every single person here is going to be thoroughly questioned, even the kids, before they let us go. No chance with the choppers, either – the army got at least three Black Hawks sent here an hour ago, equipped with M60 machine guns and twenty reserve troops. Nobody’s taking off like Sterling did this morning. They had half a dozen Alakazam driven in here a while back; my guess is they’re blocking any attempts to teleport out. We’re gonna have to comply with the police force completely.”

“ As we expected, really. What about for the future? Have you probed your contacts within the force?”

“ Yeah, nothing doing. They’re all the same – willing to help me out, willing to give me info, but none of them are going to join us. Too risky. Plus we can’t be sure what their position is going to be on us after today. The Goldrenrod Chief told me personally we would be considered a vigilante group if we went around fighting the Union ourselves rather than leaving it to the force; and while they would turn a blind eye mostly, if we do anything particularly overt they have no chance but to charge us as criminals ourselves.”

An angry murmur took up around the room; the word ‘bureaucracy’ could be heard above all others.

“ Thanks, Nate,” said Lance. “ Azura – how are our men?”

“ And women, Lance,” corrected a tall, slender, blue-haired woman, who didn’t bother to rise from her seat, but rather reclined in it lazily. “ We came out of things OK. As you all know, we sadly lost both Irwin and Adrian in the battle.” She exchanged a significant look with Lance. “ Reed, Jeremy and Keegan have all sustained very serious injuries but are currently stable, last I checked the hospital room. Roger, Christina, Kelly, Natalie, Owen and Blair are in the ward as well, with just minor injuries, along with Gideon, who has finally woken up, you’ll be happy to hear, Giles.”

Giles smiled. “ I’ll visit him later.”

“ What about the children?” asked a brown-haired woman, seated nearest Lance.

“ All the contestants from yesterday’s contest – well, all of the ones that have been found so far, are alive and well. They were tracked down by the Union last night and tied up to simplify the Union’s siege. But, save for a few who suffered cuts and bruises, they came out of the ordeal relatively unscathed, thank God. It’s always awful when innocent civilians get involved in these things.”

“ I meant Lisa – and her friend,” amended the woman.

“ They’ve been terribly injured,” said Azura without preamble. “ Young Gavin Luper, he is a close companion of Lisa Walters’ – it looks like he really copped a lot from the Union. All I saw of him was what looked like a bandaged cocoon.” The brown-haired woman pressed her hands to her mouth in horror; Giles looked dismayed. “ As for poor Lisa herself, she’s got scratches and bruises, some burns too, but worst of all, the Matron said she had received a bullet wound to her torso – someone from the Union shot her in the back!”

An audible gasp went up throughout the room; Marco muttered, “ Cowards!”

“ She’s stable, though – unconscious still, but when she wakes up she’ll be in shock. I ordered the Matron to inform us the moment she wakes up, then we can get Ryan and Maria to see her.”

“ Where are they?” asked the brown-haired woman.

“ In the ‘Pembury’ room, alone. I think they’re both in shock, and the battle wasn’t easy on them. They’ve been under a lot of stress since Lisa disappeared two weeks ago.”

“ For those of us who don’t know that story, you could fill us in,” said Nate, a little impatiently. “ I’ve heard you talking about this for a week now and I haven’t asked you once. I think it’s about time you told us.”

“ The story is just a distraction, it’s not important,” said Lance bluntly, unaware of the purpling faces of both Nate and the still-indignant Marco. “ All I’m saying is, as a result, Ryan and Maria –”

“ Lance!” cried Azura exasperatedly. “ For God’s sake, just tell them! For the sake of peace! We have enough time to bring everyone up to speed.”

Lance looked a little taken aback at being spoken to like this before he shrugged and obliged. “ Alright then. Last week, I received an urgent call from an Ecruteak contact. He told me that Entei, who we have long suspected of Union involvement, had suddenly returned to the Burned Tower. Sure that this was going to mean trouble, I called Ryan and Azura and they mobilised at once, sending their younger children to our safe house, just in case; Lisa was not at home at the time, but training at the nearby lake with Azura’s daughter, Marina. As it turned out, they arrived at the Burned Tower not a second too late: Entei had led a contingent of Union agents to the tower’s basement, where they attempted to capture Suicune and Raikou. Suicune escaped in quick time; Raikou, however, was fiercely pursued by Entei and the Union. It fled across the lake, where it encountered the two young girls, Lisa Walters and Marina Frost. Now, as we know, Marina is Raikou’s human counterpart; from her testimony yesterday, we understand that Raikou told her about their connection, and that both she and he were being pursued by Entei and the Union, after which Raikou teleported her and Lisa to apparent safety.

“ Raikou consequently managed to flee Entei’s grasp, that time, at least; and Marina found a safe place in the city to begin training her pokémon for the worst, as Raikou had instructed her to do. That evening, however, the Union made their disastrous attack.

“ You see, Ryan and Azura were still at the Burned Tower, ferreting out the remaining Union agents who were still hiding from them in the forest. Meanwhile, an unknowing Lisa returned to her house, shortly after joined by Marina. When Marina entered the house, she noticed, by pure luck, an intruder in the place, and hastened to find Lisa. It appeared that the Union had surrounded the house but, rather than attacking Lisa alone, they waited for Marina, too – two of the children for the price of one attack. What they hadn’t counted on was that the girls would work together to fight them, rather than simply come quietly.

“ According to Marina, it was young Lisa who identified the intruders and decidedly led the charge against the Union, or Team Rocket as they believed at that stage. She encouraged Marina to take her valuables with her before they tried to escape the house and flee, however, only Lisa managed to leave before the Union reappeared, discovering Marina still trapped in the house. And here, both Marina and the rest of us owe a great deal of respect to Lisa, for she was clever enough to lead a spirited offensive against the Union agents, distracting them and allowing Marina to escape the house too. Unfortunately, Lisa was quickly captured; Marina used her Mudkip to fight off some agents before she was stunned herself – and there her recollection of that night ends. When she awoke the next day, she was a prisoner of the Union, and she assumed Lisa had been taken captive also.

“ When Ryan and Azura returned, they arrived to a scene of utter destruction and chaos; ultimately concluding that both Lisa and Marina had been kidnapped. They raised the alarm and immediately fled the house for our safe house outside Ecruteak, where they have been for the past week.

“ But back to Marina: though she assumed Lisa was in the same situation as she, she soon discovered this was not the case. Over the next few days, Marina was taken across the country by the Union agents who had captured her. They had either guessed or been told the location of the Sepulchre of Raikou, possibly by Entei; in any case, it was where they were taking Marina, obviously intending to open the Sepulchre by using her. On Friday, three days ago now, they managed this, which means that, in between the day of the attack at the Walters’ house and last Friday, Entei finally tracked down and captured Raikou for the Union. With both Marina and Raikou in their possession, the Union successfully entered the Sepulchre of Raikou.

“ However, this is where luck apparently comes in. After obtaining the contents of the Sepulchre, which unfortunately the Union still possess at the moment, they sought refuge from the elements that night in a small traveller’s hut, which they had assumed to be empty; unbeknownst to them, two others had inadvertently taken shelter in the same hut mere minutes before them – namely, Lisa Walters and Gavin Luper.”

Nate looked confused. “ So, Lisa hadn’t been kidnapped by the Union, then?” he questioned. “ And as for the boy, I thought he was held captive too?”

“ So did we, until we heard from Marina on Saturday morning. Although Raikou had fully informed her of her purpose, she played dumb with the Union. On Friday night, Lisa and Gavin discovered they had stumbled on none other than their lost friend, Marina. Once again displaying truly heroic disposition, they tricked the agents and overpowered them, rescuing Marina and taking refuge that night in a nearby roadside motel. Not wanting to reveal all that Raikou had told her, as she had had precious little time to digest this information herself, Marina pretended to know nothing, instead demanding to know why she, of all people, had been kidnapped by the Union; she had noticed that Lisa had evidently crossed the organisation several times previous. To her utter disbelief, Lisa and Gavin regurgitated a story frightfully similar to hers: encounters with the Legendary dogs, though Lisa had of course encountered Suicune rather than Raikou, run-ins with danger … poor Marina’s mind was in turmoil. The same things had happened to both of the girls – what could this possibly mean?”

Lance paused, and Azura naturally filled in the next part of the story. “ Poor thing. The next morning I received a phone call from her, which shocked me, as I knew she had been kidnapped. I began sobbing the moment I heard her voice. When she asked me what was wrong, I of course had to reveal that I knew she had been kidnapped, and in turn she wondered how I could have known this. After comforting her, I told her I needed her home in Tokor at once, and she agreed. She never mentioned Lisa or Gavin, and if she had, what happened here tonight might have been partially avoided. But it’s not her fault! Marina was so confused by this stage it was a wonder she hadn’t already had a nervous breakdown. She knew nothing of our organisation, nothing really of the Union, and of the Legendaries only what Raikou told her. She really is just a child.

“ She reached Dervine harbour the next day, as I had instructed her to do, and I met her at the port. She simply collapsed into my arms and cried like a baby! Poor dear. Then she told me the full story! I think I went into shock! I had never expected such a thing to happen to my daughter. We have always been so vigilant, always so careful to protect her. Never did we expect the children to be targeted so early in the Union’s campaign. We underestimated them, gravely underestimated them, and it almost cost us both Lisa and Marina.”

There was a sombre mood in the room; most people had their heads cast down slightly out of respect for Azura’s feelings.

Lance picked up the story again. “ Yesterday morning, Azura brought Marina back to the safe house outside Ecruteak, where she relayed Marina’s tale to Ryan and Maria, who were still hiding there. From what Marina said, after the attack on the Walters’ house, Lisa had escaped and evidently found her way to Port Valeo, in Houen, where she was required for the trial of an ex-Rocket member, Lenina Johnson, whom we now understand Lisa battled against last December. There she was joined by Mr Luper, who, according to Marina, recently escaped Union imprisonment on Silver Rock Island. Incidentally, the trial was ambushed by Union agents bent on recapturing both Lisa and Gavin; once again, the two fought back with extraordinary skill, aided by fellow trainers Andrew and Jessica Hall, and members of the local Police Force. Again, Lisa Walters escaped the Union’s clutches.

“ The next day, Miss Walters ventured into the Valeo Police Station, where she reported the invasion of her house, which occurred the previous Tuesday. The attending officer there, Officer Frost – though no relation to Azura –” he added, as several pairs of eyes flicked over to the blue-haired woman. “ – expressed shock that Lisa had not reported this much earlier. Consequently, she left Lisa in the care of two other officers, but Lisa managed to slip away from them and disappeared once more.”

“ Why did she do that?” demanded Nate. “ Right when she was safe with the police, it could have saved her so much trouble!”

“ It was undeniably a reckless move,” admitted Lance. “ But as Marina told us, Lisa and Gavin thought they had bigger fish to fry. You see, they had been involved in the incident when Professor Oak disappeared last December – and they had just discovered his second appearance. Sure that the two events could not be unrelated, the duo headed for Dervine, where Oak had last been seen. It was ultimately fortunate that they took that route, as it was along the path to Dervine that Lisa noticed a plume of smoke about the forest – the aftermath of the Union’s attack on the Sepulchre of Raikou – and it was this that led them inadvertently to save Marina.”

He glanced at his wristwatch and sighed heavily. “ Long story short, this comes back to what I was trying to say about Ryan and Azura. They received mixed messages for two weeks: at first, they thought Lisa had been kidnapped by the Union. The day after Lisa and Gavin left Port Valeo, the television news was reporting their mysterious disappearance from the Police Station, which obviously contradicted this. Then, yesterday, they discovered the truth via Marina’s testimony and by contacting their eldest son, Tom, who had heard news from Lisa. Yesterday morning Lisa told her entire story to Tom, who has since passed it on to Ryan and Azura. It has been difficult for them to come to terms with their fourteen-year-old daughter’s double life – they had no idea she had been through so much. To then discover her at the mountain tonight, once more the victim of a devilish coincidence (for she had been a contestant in the Fairfax Mountain Contest), shocked them to their core. I think they are still recovering from the shock; still recoiling from the information that their daughter has been aware of the Union and the Legendaries for a long time now.”

There was a thick, pressing silence. Everyone, even those who already knew the story, seemed subdued. Then, unexpectedly, Marco said, “ What about Lisa?”

All seven others in the room looked bemused at this; Lance even seemed perturbed. “ What about her?” he answered brashly.

Marco folded his muscular arms and sat forward in his tub chair a little. “ Well, you’re saying how hard it is for her parents to discover this about her – can you imagine how hard it’s going to be when Lisa discovers her own parents are part of the Guard, an anti-Union organisation? At least Ryan and Azura knew what was eventually going to happen to their daughter – Lisa never had a clue that her parents were anything but who they said they were, did she?”

The air seemed to ring with his words for a moment, until Lance said awkwardly, “ Well, I suppose you’re right –”, but before he could get any further, Nate said from across the room, “ Whatever, Marco, it’s not like you know her.”

“ I didn’t say I did,” countered Marco brashly, not even hearing Lance’s vague admission. “ I’m just saying, it’s the truth, no-one gave any thought to her, did they?”

“ Like you care!” shot back Nate. “ You’re just trying to show up Lance in front of everyone. ”

“ At least I say what I think, I don’t crawl around the room trying to kiss his arse all day long.”

Nate was on his feet already; there was a collective intake of breath from the women in the room. “ No, you gotta play Devil’s Advocate all ****ing day, don’t ya Marco?!” he jeered, taking a step toward Marco. Being a tall, very muscular man, Nate was significantly more intimidating than Lance when it came to a fistfight.

Marco rose to the challenge, and before anyone could so much as blink, the two had begun to lay into each other, fists and curses flying through the air.

“ Stop!” bellowed Lance, clutching his head. Meanwhile Giles and another man who had remained silent throughout the meeting, Stephen, attempted to tear the two apart before they did any real damage to one another; amid much swinging of arms and spitting, the two were separated; Stephen briskly escorted Nate from the room, slamming the door behind him, while Giles pushed Marco back into his seat, where he sat and fumed, red-faced and swearing to himself.

With the chaos over, Lance rose from his seat and addressed those remaining in the room. “ It’s ten o’clock. I want everyone down in the breakfast hall at twelve. I’ll be instructing you on our next move there. Now, I’ve got a splitting headache, so I’d love it if you all left me alone, I’ll finish the declaration by myself. I spoke to the owner and he set the entire second floor aside for us, so you can rest in any of the rooms on this floor. See you all at noon.”

Everyone filed out of the room. The brown-haired woman gave Lance a quick kiss on the cheek as she passed him. The door closed a moment later; when Lance looked up, however, he saw that Marco still sat obstinately in his seat, his face deep red.

“ Marco,” he said, still at his desk at the far end of the room. “ I wanted to tell you about it, honestly. I always wanted to tell you.”

Marco glared at him. “ Twenty years. Twenty ****en years, mate.”

Lance hung his head. “ I know mate. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

Marco shrugged. “ Even when you knew I was working for you …” he growled, standing up and moving for the door.

“ It would have been an unnecessary risk,” Lance defended, though there was no conviction in his voice.

“ **** off it would’ve,” spat Marco, and with that he crossed the threshold, slamming the door loudly. He had barely taken a single step away from the door when he saw a pale young woman in a nurse’s uniform standing before him in the hallway, her hands clasped together and her brow furrowed nervously. “ What?” he demanded.

The girl seemed to almost jump out of her own skin at this. Shaking a little, she squeaked, “ I w-was told to t-tell you that Miss Walters has woken up, sir.”

Marco’s scowl became a smirk. He’d show Lance what happened when people were kept in the dark …

“ Alright. Where is she?”

“ In the hospital room, j-just down on the first floor …” stammered the nurse.

“ Show me the way,” said Marco smoothly.

*

The electrical beeps and whirrs, accompanied by two soft voices issuing complicated medical jargon to one another, told Lisa that she was in some kind of hospital. She opened her eyes to find herself in a relatively large wood-panelled room – a room in the Fairfax Inn – lined with about a dozen white beds, all of them occupied by patients. Her first instinct was to sit up, but there was no such luck: her muscles simply failed to respond; indeed, her entire body, from her head to her feet and everything in between, felt as though it had recently been exposed to the business end of a steamroller. She had the simultaneous feeling of being extremely calm and unworried about anything, as if she was doped up on sedatives. Unable to do much else, she simply lay there, listening to the nearby conversation.

“ … which should stem the flow until the coagulants come into effect. By then we should have a chopper ready for transport to the Redwood Hospital, where he can be properly treated. And really, he’s the worst of the lot, so we should be alright after that’s taken care of.”

“Yes, Matron. And what about number five?”

“ Number five is … the girl?”

There was a click of a pen. “ Yes. This one.” Lisa felt a hand on the end of her mattress.

“ She’s the one with the burns?”

The second person cleared her throat. “ Mild burns to the face and forearms, scratches, smoke inhalation, particularly bad graze on the left leg, projectile wound in the upper back, bruising to the head and torso – and she’s probably suffering from serious shock.”

“ Gracious, that girl’s really been in the wars.” There was a silence. “ Hmm, that wasn’t the most appropriate choice of words, was it, Emma?”

“ Oh, well, I suppose not, really,” replied the younger woman. “ Um … number five?”

“ She’s in a bad way but she’s by no means critical; she’s stable at least. Whoever it was who patched that bullet wound up might well have saved her life, you know.”

“ Mmm.”

“ Keep her painkillers up. When she comes to, ask how sore she is, and if it’s too much for her you can up the dosage.”

“ Oh, OK.”

“ Remember, once she’s with it, you’re to notify me at once. I’ve been given orders on what to do with that girl.”

“ Yes, Matron.”

There were some loud footsteps receding on the creaky floorboards. The remaining nurse clicked her tongue, tapped her clipboard once or twice and then approached the bed nearest the door of the room that had apparently become a makeshift hospital. Lisa watched as she undressed the bandages of the man in that bed; he writhed around and moaned in agony as she repeated nervous words of assurance. After a long time, the nurse finished redressing his bandages and the commotion ceased. Aching all over, Lisa was unable to do anything but stare at the bland ceiling or, by pushing her jaw down on her chest painfully, the other side of the room.

She was staring blankly at the ceiling when there was a sudden gasp of breath very close by. Moving her neck, Lisa caught the top of a girl’s curly auburn hair; a second later, the face of a young woman in a nurse’s uniform swam more clearly into view.

“ Hi,” said Lisa simply.

“ Oh no,” said the nervous-looking girl, stepping back a little.

Lisa tried to roll onto her side to garner a better view, but once again she failed. Staring at the wooden frame of the bed beside hers, she said calmly to the nurse, “ Could you tell me what’s going on please?”

“ Oh, I’m not allowed to,” said the girl anxiously. “ I have to go get Matron now that you’ve woken up. Oh, God, how am I meant to leave twelve patients alone like that?”

“ That doesn’t sound like the most ingenious idea,” said Lisa, her voice a little thick; indeed, she was finding it a bit of a challenge to speak, like her mind had become clogged with cotton wool.

“ Well, it’s not,” agreed the girl. “ What if one of them starts to flounder?”

“ Exactly. Don’t worry about what your Matron said. You could at least tell me what’s happened …”

The girl came scurrying around the corner of the bed, eager to have an excuse not to abandon her patients. She pulled up a wooden chair and dragged it with a squeak into Lisa’s line of vision. “ I don’t really know. Matron got a phone call about two hours ago; someone said there was an emergency at Mount Fairfax. The next thing she brought me along with her to help. But, I don’t really know what to do!” the girl said, clearly struggling to not bite her nails. “ I’m still learning to be a nurse, I’m not that good.”

“ No, no, it’s OK, you’re doing a good job,” Lisa assured her in what was a very slow, laboured sentence. “ I just saw you fix that man’s dressings, you did good.”

“ Thanks,” said the girl.

“ Am I on sedatives or something?” Lisa added slowly.

“ Not sedatives, no …” said the girl. “ Strong analgesics though, they tend to knock you around a bit if you aren’t used to them. Do you need a stronger dosage?” She added, clearly recalling her instructions.

“ No, no!” Lisa said urgently, a little frightened by the mental image she had of herself drooling uselessly in her bed. “ No, I think this is just right. Now … do you know what happened last night?”

“ I can’t be sure. We were told it was some kind of terrible accident during the contest here. But Matron said the injuries we’ve seen are no accidents, most of them. And –” She lowered her voice and leaned a little toward Lisa. “ The media reporters outside are saying it was a terrorist attack. The Police mentioned a group called ‘The Union’ …”

“ Did you see any of these people?”

“ No, no, they were all gone before I got here. The Police said they only caught a few terrorists, and the rest of them all left in helicopters.” She glanced around the room. “ It’s so terrible …”

A pressing concern bubbled up in Lisa’s mind. “ Nurse, I have a friend who I think was hurt last night. Do you know if he’s OK? His name’s Gavin Luper …”

It took the girl a moment to emerge from her thoughts about the siege. She eventually flipped open a silver clipboard and ran a pen down it slowly, muttering names under her breath before she said, “ Luper, Gavin. Sixteen years old … is that right?”

“ Yes,” said Lisa breathlessly.

“ He’s in this ward, bed nine,” said the nurse, gesturing to her right. Lisa tried to crane her neck to see but it was still painfully locked; she was unable to see anything more.

Meanwhile, the nurse was struggling. “ Um – oh God –” she seemed unable to speak for a moment, “ well – he’s not good – he’s been badly injured. Some broken bones and internal bleeding, plus some awful grazes …”

“ Is he going to be alright?” pressed Lisa.

“ Oh – I hope so – I mean, I think so,” blundered the nurse. She played with her bangs nervously. “ Well, yes, he’s going to be OK. He needs more treatment and he’s still unconscious but he’s stable, he’s fine, he’s going to be alright in the end,” she said rapidly in what was evidently her most forceful voice.

Lisa had a thousand more questions she wanted to ask the girl. Before she could even get started, though, there was a creak nearby and a loud woman’s voice cried, “ Emma!”

The nurse sprang to her feet, blushing like a beetroot. “ Matron!”

Strong, purposeful footsteps strode across the makeshift ward. “ What on earth is all this? I left you with strict instructions! You were to come for me the moment this patient came to!”

“ I’m sorry, I was about to leave –”

“ I don’t want to hear it. Go check on beds seven and eight, please,” came the cross voice of the Matron. The girl named Emma gave a choked kind of sob and disappeared from view.

Now the Matron stepped into Lisa’s limited line of vision. She was a short, plump woman with a red face. Her hair was tied up neatly in a tight grey bun. She did not look a pleasant kind of person to cross.

“ Miss Walters, is it?” she asked Lisa curtly.

“ Yes,” said Lisa dumbly.

“ Right. I’ve been instructed to call some people in here when you wake up; they’ll be here in a minute. Emma, go at once to the room called ‘Cherokee’ on the second floor. Tell them Miss Walters has woken up.”

After the young nurse’s light footsteps had scurried into the distance of the Fairfax Inn, Lisa was left in silence again. The matron made a point of ignoring her completely, leaving Lisa to stew in her own anxiety at just what was about to happen – who was about to come and see her.

Loud, heavy footsteps entered the room suddenly, accompanied by the light, skittish footsteps of the young nurse, Emma. A gruff male voice said, “ I’m here.” The Matron flitted briefly through Lisa’s line of sight, clearly nervous. She and the visitor exchanged words in hushed tones, too low for Lisa to hear, then Matron’s clipped footsteps disappeared from the room along with Emma’s, and Lisa was left alone with the newcomer, whom she could still not see.

“ Lisa Walters,” came the deep voice. “ I’m Marco Trippolo.”

A complete stranger appeared in Lisa’s line of vision. He was a tall man, with a shaved head and handsome Italian features. He extended his hand to her and she shook it politely, though she could not help wondering who on earth he was, for she had secretly expected either Lance or even her parents, whose appearance she could still not explain rationally.

“ Listen up,” said Marco authoritatively. “ I’m here to tell you the truth about everything that’s happened to you. I don’t know what other people have told you but my word is fact.”

Lisa couldn’t hide the immediate contempt on her face, nor could she suppress her instinct that something was amiss. There was something dangerous, unbalanced even, in his tone.

“ Firstly, your parents are founding members of an anti-Union organisation called The Guard. The Guard exists to protect the Legend of Ecruteak, and consequently to counter every step made by the Union, who you already know about. The reason Ryan and Azura are here today is because the Guard, who I am also a member of, arrived here last night to fight the Union and stop them succeeding in their mission here.”

Irrational tears sprung instantly to Lisa’s eyes when she heard her parents’ names. She couldn’t bear to hear aloud the facts she had already ascertained in her sleep. She wiped the tears away with the corner of her sheet, sure the man would break his tirade out of respect for her feelings, but he appeared not to notice her tears, his black eyes impassive and unfocused as he pressed on with disgorging the truth; however, Lisa no longer heard him, nor did she want to. There was a ringing in her ears, her mind’s eye was transfixed on the image of her parents in the cave, fighting the Union like trained soldiers; unstoppable tears splashed onto her chest.

Meanwhile, the man named Marco was still spewing forth his lurid revelations, of which Lisa caught random phrases like ‘three guardians’ and ‘iron lock’. The man was speaking faster than ever, his face crimson; he looked almost devilish as he continued talking, his handsome features becoming animal and greedy, as though he found some bizarre pleasure in being the one to deliver this information.

His demeanour eventually frightened Lisa into action; her face still wet, she bellowed, “ ENOUGH!” at the same time as another, stronger voice cried from the doorway, “ MARCO!”

In her surprise, Lisa whipped her head around, completely forgetting how stiff her neck was. There was an audible crack as something slotted back into place; she winced but the pain quickly passed. Glad to have a full range of vision again, she focused on the figure standing stock-still over the threshold: a stocky man with a pair of sunglasses on his head was staring at Marco, an expression of utmost fury across his face.

“ What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demanded, not moving from the doorframe.

Lisa’s eyes flew to Marco. He was more flushed than ever, like a child caught red-handed stealing. He said nothing.

The other man spoke with a deliberately muted tone, though it could not have been clearer that he wanted to shout.

“ Get the hell out of here,” he said, as low as a whisper. “ Get the hell out right now.”

Marco was out of his seat at once, streaking down the ward without another word to Lisa. He pelted past the man at the door, who made no move to manhandle him in his anger, but merely watched him disappear down the hall.

“ Are you alright, Lisa?” asked the newcomer sincerely, surveying her from afar.

She nodded, wiping her tears, utterly confused as to what had just happened.

The man took a few steps in from the door. “ Is there anyone here who heard what he told her?”

“ He told her about us, about the Guard,” came a loud woman’s voice; Lisa whirled around to see a female patient with messy blonde hair sitting up in her bed.

“ And that Ryan and Maria helped found it,” came a male voice from a bed to Lisa’s left, though she could not locate the source.

“ And he tried to tell her about the Legend –” added the woman.

“ But I don’t think she really heard him then, because she was crying, poor thing,” chimed in a young woman directly opposite Lisa’s bed. She made eye contact. “ Are you feeling a bit better now, Lisa?” she asked kindly.

Lisa managed a weary nod before she covered her face up with her sheets, screwing her eyes shut tightly.

“ Poor dear,” came the young woman’s voice again.

“ Why didn’t you stop him?” asked the man near the door testily.

“ We thought he was meant to be here!” protested the other man.

“ Yeah, we thought he really had been sent to tell her the truth,” said the loud woman. “ I’m guessing he wasn’t?”

“ Of course not!” cried the man at the door. “ Ryan and Azura were meant to do that.”

“ I WANT TO SEE MY PARENTS!” Lisa screamed.

There was instant silence. She trembled violently beneath her sheets, the tears tumbling again as voices and words rang in her ears, her mind replaying the moment she saw her parents in the cave over and over again.

“ Lisa –” said one of the strangers.

“ I want to see my parents,” she repeated more quietly, hugging herself tightly and wishing everything to be a dream.

A voice said, “ At once.” And footsteps left the room to silence.

[Gavin Luper]

*

She must have fallen asleep, because the next thing Lisa felt was two strong arms hauling her upright into a warm, sweeping embrace. She opened her eyes to see her mother’s beaming face before her, swimming with tears as she held her daughter close. Lisa collapsed in her Mum’s arms, sobbing desperately and clutching to her mother’s plump frame like a pathetic child, not caring what she looked like anymore. How long she hugged her mother – whether it was a minute or ten – she could honestly never say; all she knew was a surge of emotion through her entire being; something that warmed her throughout.

Eventually they each pulled away from each other for air. Lisa gathered a lungful of oxygen before her Dad appeared beside her Mum and swept her into his arms in turn, though he held onto her for only a few seconds before kissing her head and releasing her once more.

Lisa surveyed them closely, a lump in her throat. There was the man she called Dad, his black hair messy, exactly as it had always been, his manner still controlled and aloof like the man he was – but she had never seen him with his clothes torn and face battle-scarred, a dagger clearly visible at his belt. Beside him was the woman she called Mum; she too was just as she had always been, kind and plump-faced, free and honest with her emotions – but her honesty had not stretched so far as to tell her daughter she possessed a team of six pokémon, their pokéballs on display on her belt.

Icicles were forming in the pit of Lisa’s stomach. She yearned for an explanation – something that would justify all of this – but nothing came to her. Trying to swallow the lump in her throat, she said, “ How –” before her throat closed over painfully and she choked on the rest of her question.

Her Mum looked distraught, torn, maybe, at seeing her daughter so emotional. She tried to take Lisa’s hand but this irritated Lisa more than anything – she whipped her hand out of her mother’s grasp as if it had burnt her.

“ Lisa,” said Mum softly, “ we’re sorry. We’re really sorry that you had to find out this way.”

“ Find out what?” Lisa managed with difficulty, though she already knew the answer.

“ That we are both a part of this,” said Mum, her hands together, fingers interlocked as if she were in prayer. She looked deeply distressed. “ Now that we realise what you’ve been through – we can understand how strange you must be feeling.” She fiddled with a tattered thread trailing from the bottom of her muddy blouse before looking Lisa directly in the eye. “ Just imagine for a second if things had gone to plan,” she said sadly. “ You would still be living at home. You would never have seen a legendary pokémon and would never have been exposed to the Union. You would have got a job and stayed in Ecruteak training your pokémon. Things would have been ideal. And when you turned eighteen we would tell you the truth, the whole truth, and you would be shocked of course, but not like this. If we told you we were part of the group fighting the Union, it would have meant much less to you than it does now, after you’ve seen them, been targeted by them – and fought them, even. You will feel differently about the truth now than you would have … and should have.”

The lump had subsided a little now and Lisa found her tongue. “ I know you’re doing the right thing,” she said, trying to choose the best words. “ The Union are the bad guys and the Guard – you – are the good guys. As far as I see it anyway, since you all saved us tonight. But –” Her throat began to seize up again as she reached the hardest part of all, the thing that was tearing her up the most inside. “ But you’re my Mum and Dad. You raised me. You teach me to drive and help me with my homework. That’s – that’s what parents do!” she spluttered. “ You go to work each day to support your family. You dig for fossils and lost treasures and things. You attend meetings and seminars. But you don’t – you DON’T! -” (She nearly shouted this part.) “ – fight wars!”

Both her parents were stunned into silence.

“ And that’s why it’s hard,” said Lisa, her face burning. “ Because it’s just not right, it’s not right! You can be as shocked as you like about what I did without telling you, but you’re both grown adults who already knew about the Union, about this whole other world. I’m just a kid!” she cried. “ I didn’t know what was happening to me! I didn’t know why people were coming after me! I just had to deal with it as best I could and then I put it behind me. I pretended these things weren’t happening to me, that things weren’t as serious as they seemed. I felt like I could never tell you the things I had done, the kind of people I’d been exposed to … it felt like a horrible, horrible secret that I had to keep.” She felt a flush of shame. “ And the whole time – the whole time! – you both knew about the Union, were fighting against it, even …”

She trailed off, feeling suddenly dazed: comprehension of the awful irony had just dawned on her. The fact was, if she had told her parents the truth about being followed by the Union and the Legendaries when they first returned from Kanto in December, everything would have been revealed much sooner. She and Marina would never have been attacked; all the events of the last two weeks could have been avoided – and she, Lisa, could have been spared the terror, the mental strain, the brutality of battle … By keeping the truth a secret, she had very nearly caused her own destruction at the hands of the Union. Lisa finally saw the bitter reality: as much as she wanted to rage at her parents for not telling her the truth, and though she still felt she had that right, she understood that her own mistakes – borne of her youthful nescience and uncertainty – had played just as great a part. She was not without blame, either.

Unexpectedly, it was Dad who responded to her tirade. This took her by surprise a little: her father had never been much of a talker. He was mostly reserved and serious, content to keep his feelings and thoughts to himself unless someone particularly got under his skin. There were times when he would joke around with his wife and children, in which he would become quite talkative – but it was always the same subject matter. Lisa had never heard him talk about something serious, and so when he spoke to her now, it was as if he had suddenly become a different man.

“ You’re right,” he conceded in his deep voice. He stood up and folded his muscled arms. “ It must’ve been hard for you. But when we started all this, you weren’t in the equation. We founded the Guard twenty years ago, way before you were born, Lisa. There were no kids to think about, no-one else’s feelings to consider but ours, the founders’. Years later, when you were still young, we realised, too late, that our kids were going to be affected by this as well as us. But we never knew when. We thought you’d all be adults before you had to face the truth – and by then, you’d be old enough. Our plan was always to tell you when you were eighteen. I hate the Union more than ever now; it’s because of them that we have to do this so much earlier. I wish it could be different …”

He trailed off. Lisa knew he wasn’t done so she kept her tongue, even though something he had said had sparked her curiosity.

“ We have to tell you everything now, Lisa,” he said finally. “ Everything we weren’t going to tell you for another three years, and yet somehow, feel like we should have told you long ago. We know you’ve been told lots of different things by lots of different people. Some of them told the truth and some of them lied; but none of them told you the full truth, the whole story, as we know it to be true. We’ve already heard your story, through Tom –” Lisa recalled divulging everything to her older brother yesterday morning – was it really just twenty-four hours ago that she spoke to him? “ So now it’s our duty as parents,” he said unaffectedly, placing a hand on his wife’s shoulder, “ to tell you our side of the story.”

Lisa’s heart rose hopefully. Finally, after all this time, a chance to understand – to know the real reason she was pursued, the real reason her parents were part of the Guard – the real truth about the Legend.

“ I’m listening,” she said boldly.

Her mother, who had sunk into the wooden chair beside the bed, didn’t seem to hear her; she seemed preoccupied with clasping her hands together, looking downright apprehensive at the impending tale. Her dad, on the other hand, gave a rough, lop-sided smile at her plucky response.

Taking a breath, Dad sat down on the end of her bed. “ This all started way back in 1984, almost twenty years ago.

“ I was on my first project as a junior archaeologist. I’d been lucky from the beginning, or so I thought. I’d been offered the job just a few months after I graduated Uni at the end of ’82 – and it was a high-profile dig, too, a two-year assignment to the north-west of Ecru Lake, led by one of the greatest archaeologists of the last century. For me to have been chosen was nothing short of lucky, as I was so underqualified, but my Dad knew the people in charge of the dig, so he gave me a leg up.

“ The excitement I felt at the start of the dig fell away pretty fast as I realised the reality of my job. Hours and hours every day in the hot sun, excavating this ridiculously huge area and finding hardly anything noteworthy. It started to get tedious. More than tedious, I was pretty fed up. But I kept going, stuck to my job, partly because I knew it was going to get me far in my career to be able to say I’d worked under that particular professor of archaeology, and partly because of the other people I met on the dig.”

Dad smiled reminiscently. “ There were four of us who were only in our early twenties. Everyone else on the dig was so much older and so much more experienced than us, so at first we were grouped together out of necessity. But eventually we grew to like each other; after a few months we were best of friends, the four of us, and it made work so much easier …” He cleared his throat. “ I’m getting distracted. Anyway, one of my new friends was my boss’ son, and so we eventually got to know our boss – sorry, his name was Professor Hudson – a lot better …”

He frowned. “ That’s partly why it happened. It was just over a year into the project, the autumn sun was still hot and we were all exhausted. Spirits on the dig were at a new low. Funding hadn’t gone through on time, causing a two-week delay for a particular section of the excavation. Plus, we still hadn’t found what we were looking for and things weren’t looking any better. The person who seemed most affected by the setbacks was the professor. As the months wore on he got more and more attached to the dig. He worked seven days a week, every week. Some nights he didn’t sleep, just kept searching. Eventually he started to drag his son down to the dig on weekends when we were supposed to be resting and forced him to help. Being as I was his mate, I’d sometimes join him on the dig to keep him company.

“ And it was on one of those weekends, sometime in April ’84, when it happened.”

Lisa sat up higher in her bed, clutching tightly to the bedsheet she had absent-mindedly tied into a knot.

Her father looked at her plainly. “ I don’t know if you’ve worked it out yet, Lisa, but the professor’s son was Lance, Lance Hudson. That’s how we met, on the dig. The four of us: me, Lance, Azura Frost and Jim Donovan.”

It wasn’t the mention of Lance, but rather the name of the woman, that caused Lisa to accidentally rip a massive hole in her sheet. “ Azura Frost?” she repeated, her ears ringing. “ As in …”

“ As in Marina’s mother,” finished Dad, while Mum nodded gravely.

Lisa’s mind recoiled. “ So …” She struggled with the notion. “ So when Marina came to stay with us – you knew who she was?” she spluttered.

“ Of course we knew,” said Dad. “ What spun us out was that you and her should have had a chance encounter and become friends, as if it had been somehow been willed by fate.”

Lisa recalled the time at Christmas last year, when her parents had given Marina presents despite the fact that they barely knew her. At the time it had seemed a little overly generous; now, though, it suddenly made sense – they had known the whole time she was really the daughter of their close friend.

“ And so that’s why you let her stay at our house for so long …” Lisa murmured.

Mum looked vaguely offended. “ Well, I don’t need a reason to be hospitable!” she muttered, smoothing Lisa’s sheets rather violently. “ After all, I let Gavin stay too, and for no reason … honestly …”

She trailed off, though it was plain that she was continuing the rant in her head. Lisa deigned a fleeting smile.

“ Right,” said Dad. “ And imagine our shock, then, when shortly after you told us about this boy named Darius you met when you went to the Indigo Plateau to see your friend – um – Harry?”

“ Hiro,” corrected Lisa.

“ Right – see him battle at the Championships. We couldn’t believe you had met both Darius and Marina completely of your own accord. We’d always expected to have to do those introductions ourselves. It was a bit strange that all three of you might be united so soon. But, as it turned out, Lance prevented that from happening.”

It took Lisa a second to understand what he meant by this; she fixed him with her most accusatory gaze before her mum broke in instead.

“ Lance wanted to train Darius,” she explained. “ Darius wanted to come to Ecruteak and see you –” She did not manage to keep the motherly suspicion out of her voice. “ – but Lance was already reading the signs. The Union were scouring the country already. The Legendary dogs were out of sorts – Entei had broken away from the others – it was clear that things were developing more quickly. He told Darius about the Legend and began instructing him on how to best train himself up for the challenge …”

Mum cut herself short suddenly, reading Lisa’s blank look of incomprehension. “ Ryan, shouldn’t you get back to explaining your story to her?” she said sharply, as though it was his fault that Lisa was staring obtusely at her.

“ Lisa – you’ll understand in a minute,” began Dad. “ Back to where I was – it was a Saturday in ’84. Lance and his dad had been down at the dig all morning. Just before noon, Azura and I each received a phone call from the professor. He said they’d finally found something important. Of course, we went to join them at once. By this stage we’d excavated a fair way down and we actually had a few underground tunnels in operation. We found Lance and the professor right at the end of the longest, deepest tunnel, and for the first time in months and months, they were actually excited: they’d found something.

“ It was a stone tablet, covered in these ancient glyphs which none of us knew how to read but the professor. He was chipping away at the dirt that covered it up, brushing away and reading in this strange language, but he wouldn’t tell us what it said, just kept working. Lance, Azura and I joined in, because it was obvious that this was the reason the professor had started the dig – this was apparently what he had hoped to find in the first place.

“ Lance chipped through first. I remember that like it happened five seconds ago. All of us digging carefully at the wall of the tunnel. Just a flat, scraping kind of sound and then Lance whooping like a maniac. He’d been chipping to the right of the tablet and suddenly uncovered an opening. I’ve never seen the professor take over something so quickly. He was there like lightning and before ten minutes had gone by we’d gone far enough to make a whole section of the side of the tunnel collapse to the ground. When the dust settled, we shone our torches into the opening and found a long stone tunnel leading down to some steps – man-made steps. We’d discovered a lost world. A forgotten world.”

Lisa had never seen her father’s eyes shine like they did now; he seemed completely taken in his memory.

“ It was the reward we’d been waiting more than a year for. All the days spent on the dig suddenly seemed worth it. We went in straight away, just the four of us. The professor didn’t want to tell anyone else. He led the way. He was almost shaking with excitement – and to be honest, I was, too. We could only imagine what we’d stumbled on. And it was breathtaking. Tunnel after tunnel. Stone staircase after stone staircase. Pictures and hieroglyphics all over the walls, it felt like we’d been transported a dozen millennia in the past, yet the professor said the place looked only ‘about a thousand years old, if that’.” He laughed. “ Eventually we got to another stone tablet like the first one we found, only this time the door beside it wasn’t covered in the dirt and decay of the last millennium. Actually, aside from some dust, the place was spotless.

“ The door – a stone door, a clever ancient piece of architecture – opened easily, and inside was another tunnel, but this one wasn’t bare like the previous ones. It was filled – I mean filled – with … treasures. Golden statues and chests of coins and marble sculptures and all kinds of the greatest jewellery I’ve ever seen. Lisa, you couldn’t imagine, you really couldn’t,” he said earnestly. “ There were hallways and chambers filled with these things, from all the places in the world. There were old vases, empty pitchers that still reeked of strong perfumes, swords and battle armour, rich tapestries and silks of colours that practically glowed in the torchlight. Everything you could possibly imagine that might have had value in the ancient world was there, in that place …”

Whether consciously or not, he had closed his eyes during this recount. He now opened them, a fond smile across his stubbled face, and continued.

“ We spent a hours there, weaving our way through the galleries of treasures. We were stunned because we knew this had to be the greatest find in archaeological history, certainly in Johto anyway. Our thoughts were divided between how rich and famous we were going to be and simply how amazing the find was. It had a feeling of – I dunno – greatness. Like the things in these chambers really meant something … I don’t know how to explain it.

“ Eventually, though, we reached a chamber with nothing in it, save for a third stone tablet on the far wall, and beside it, an absolutely massive door, taller than three men, encrusted with rubies and sapphires and all kinds of gems. It was the most mindblowing thing I’d ever seen. The door itself looked like it was made of marble and an alloy of hard metals.

“ We must’ve stared at that door for fifteen, twenty minutes. The professor was reading all kinds of inscriptions on it again, he sounded euphoric, but he wouldn’t translate into English for us, not even for Lance. The rest of us just looked at it, wondering where it could lead if it were ever unlocked, what could possibly be behind this door that was greater than what we’d already seen.

“ Then the professor spoke. He said just two words at first, still looking at the glyphs all over the door. He said, ‘ It’s perfect.’ He was so quiet we normally wouldn’t’ve heard him – but it was silent in that chamber, absolutely silent. Just when we were wondering what he meant by ‘perfect’, he raised his voice and said to us all, still not looking at any one of us, ‘ You three have to go in.’”

His naturally dark eyes glowed brightly.

“ The professor told us there was a chamber beyond that could only be entered by three people at once. He said we should go, seeing as we were young. Of course, as eager as we were to go deeper into the chambers, there was the obvious stumbling block – the huge door was ostensibly locked, and there was no way we could get through it by force, it was gigantic. The professor shocked us again by saying, as if he was completely certain, ‘ It isn’t locked yet.’ He just told us to all put our hands on the door. It was … strange … how we obeyed him. But he knew what he was doing – he had read the inscriptions on the door. Lance, Azura and I all placed our hands against the door. And then it opened.”

Lisa furrowed her brow. “ Just like that?” she said sceptically.

“ Like magic,” said Dad. “ That was the first time we realised we were dealing with something otherworldly, something supernatural. This massive door just slid open for us, slowly but steadily, until it revealed an enormous cavern beyond. Unlike every other chamber we’d found before, this one was lit up. There were fires burning from marble dishes placed around the cavern on pedestals, illuminating the whole cave and it’s contents … that is, it’s inhabitants.” He hung on the threshold before saying, “ Inside were the three legendary dogs: Suicune, Raikou and Entei.”

Lisa was not shocked at this information; she had almost pre-empted it, but nonetheless, she was enthralled by the unfolding of her father’s tale – for she could not pre-empt what was going to happen next.

“ They were sleeping,” said Dad. “ As if they didn’t even know we were there. The professor told us to enter the cavern and we did, we walked down some steps into what seemed to be the home of the legendary dogs. I honestly don’t remember much of it. I know there was some kind of altar on a platform on the far side of the hollow and behind that there was another massive door, like the one we'd just gone through, except that door was encrusted with a lock, a huge silver lock, with seven keyholes. It needed seven keys to be unlocked and opened.”

Lisa listened even more intently.

"But apart from that, I don't remember much, other than that it was a massive cave. But that's all: we could hardly take our eyes off the dogs, almost never seen by humans since ancient times. We weren’t even thinking about the dig anymore; we were just completely mindblown.

“ It seems strange now, but we left that cave after about five minutes, maybe even less. The professor told us we needed to leave and we did. None of the legendaries even woke up. The door closed itself behind us. It was as if we’d never been in there.”

Lisa regarded her father curiously. She had expected something more astonishing to have happened, and this fell far short of her grand expectations.

Dad seemed to read her expression perfectly. “ You’re disappointed?” he grinned.

“ I just thought something else might have happened.”

Mum gave an impatient groan. “ It did, Lisa, don’t worry,” she said. “ Don’t toy with her Ryan, just keep going.”

Lisa’s father looked slightly indignant but he continued nonetheless. “ Well, after that we went back through the tunnels and chambers toward the surface. Professor Hudson wrote everything down in his logbook and even drew a basic mud map of where we’d been. We didn’t touch or take anything. We were all so astonished still.

“ When we got to the surface it was mid-afternoon. Professor Hudson swore us to secrecy about what we’d found. He said he needed some more equipment – some photographic materials, especially – to properly document the findings before we announced it to the rest of the team. We arranged to meet at six o’clock the next morning and return to the chambers below, because the next day was a Sunday and there wouldn’t be anyone else at the dig that day …

“ And that was the day when everything got stuffed up to buggery.”

Lisa blinked; Mum said, “ Ryan, language, really!” but her heart wasn’t in it.

“ What happened?” Lisa asked in a small voice.

“ We met at six as planned and went straight down the tunnels into the treasure chambers. We recorded everything as thoroughly as possible, writing down and describing everything we could. It was painstaking – it took hours and hours – but the professor promised us that after we’d recorded the contents of the chambers he would take us back down to where we had seen the legendaries the previous day, and it was that prospect that got us through the day.

“ After a long day we finally went down to the ancient door with the seven locks. As with the previous day, we put our hands on the door at the professor’s instruction. It opened once again. Inside were the legendaries, asleep again, though in different positions than we had seen them in the previous day. Azura, Lance and I each took, oh, maybe one step into the chamber before we heard the professor cry out. We turned around too late … we’d already been surrounded by Joseph Sterling and his gang.”

Lisa gasped.

“ Except we didn’t know who Joseph Sterling was at that stage,” elucidated her father, speaking faster now, as though he were totally immersed in his memory. “ Or rather, we knew him, but we didn't know what kind of person he would become. This was before he had any direct association with Team Rocket. It turns out he was leader of a fairly big criminal gang around Johto – a gang bent on underworld domination and control; they had a certain thirst for power, especially Sterling. By all accounts they were worse than the Rockets were at that time – kidnapping and murdering their underworld enemies. In any case, Sterling was resourceful and powerful enough to have heard about the dig – although,” he added, “ we’re still not precisely sure how he knew we had found something worth taking for himself. He was an associate researcher on the project at the time, but he wasn't directly involved. Probably he had a spy planted in our project team who was posted on constant sentry at the dig, or maybe who had bugging devices floating around there, though we still don’t know who might have turned spy on us. Whatever the case, Sterling and his twenty gangmates tracked us down that Sunday and we were at their mercy.

“ I’ll never forget turning around to see them all standing there, blocking the entrance to the chamber – our only way out. Sterling was at the front, holding a gun right at me, actually; others had their weapons trained on Lance and Azura; Professor Hudson was already being held by two big thugs with pistols.

“ The weirdest thing was, they didn’t talk to us, didn’t bark out any orders or requests to us. Joseph Sterling just looked out at the three legendaries, still sleeping in the cave, and I suddenly understood what he came for – not for us humans, but for the dogs. He wanted them for himself. When I think now about twenty men surrounding one of the legendaries and trying to take it for themselves, it makes me laugh – but back then we didn’t realise how strong the legendary dogs were. They were relative unknowns to science. It was rumoured that they were strong, mystic, but essentially flawed. Well, let me tell you, you haven’t seen power until you’ve seen Suicune, Raikou or Entei. They weren’t just powerful, they were damned near immortal.

“ In the cave that day, Sterling was top dog for about one, maybe two minutes: from when he made us put our hands up and surrender until he gave the command to his men to ‘ Open fire!’ on the first of the legendary dogs, Suicune, it was. He didn’t get far. Suicune woke up as if it had been waiting for this attack its entire life. The blast of energy we saw … it had to be seen to be truly believed, Lisa. Blinding icy blue light – blinding – erupted everywhere. That’s all anyone could see for a minute after the gang started shooting; and all we could hear were the screams of the others. I was sure I was going to die – and yet I soon realised that nothing was happening to me, that this energy was all around me but not even touching me.

“ Suicune’s counterattack lasted maybe one minute. When the light faded, there was nothing, not a single trace remaining to show that Sterling and his gang had ever been there. And there we all were – the professor, Lance, Azura and me – still on our feet, wondering what the hell had just happened and what the hell was about to happen.

“ The first thing I noticed was that Entei and Raikou had both awoken. They stood up proudly, each of them looking surprisingly smaller than I had always imagined them, though they were still imposing. Then Suicune walked right up to me, about a metre away, if that; and I saw out of the corner of my eye that Raikou had approached Azura in the same way; and Entei had followed suit with Lance. Suicune breathed out a stream of blue – energy, for want of a better word – and it surrounded me completely. For a minute all I could see was Suicune and blue light …

“ And then, suddenly, I was back in the chamber on the other side of the great door, standing beside Lance, Azura and Professor Hudson. It was silent … the door was closed … it was sealed, locked … it was as if we’d never been in there, except we had …” Dad shook his head, looking a little dazed. “ That wasn’t eloquent, but you get my drift, Lisa … we had no concrete evidence of anything, just the memory and the knowledge that the legendary dogs had just made some kind of contact with us, had done something to us … it was the strangest feeling …”

He trailed off once again, however, this time he did not seem in a hurry to return to his tale; he merely stared out the large, white-framed window at the far end of the makeshift ward, apparently lost in thought. Although Lisa’s mind was still reeling from all this unexpected information, she was still eager to hear the rest of what her father had to say. She allowed him a minute of reflection before she said, “ What happened then?”

Still looking resolutely away from Lisa, Dad said, “ Everything changed.”

Lisa gaped, and even Mum turned to look at him, because his voice was unlike they had ever heard it – hoarse and vulnerable.

“ The professor confirmed it,” he continued, though very slowly, as though he was suddenly having difficulties speaking; his voice seemed to have become lifeless. “ He’d heard of the legend. He already understood what had happened. We didn’t.”

Lisa blinked at the man before her; he was clearly fighting to keep the emotion out of his voice.

Finally, he turned and made direct eye contact with Lisa; she felt as though she was melting under his fiery gaze, but she held it boldly.

Her father spoke gravely, deliberately, as though he had planned every word years in advance. “ Professor Hudson had studied the legendary pokémon for decades, alongside his archaeological pursuits. He was mainly interested in Suicune, Entei and Raikou, whose existence was fabled rather than scientifically confirmed. He dedicated his life to investigating the truth behind these three legendary dogs. His search led him to Ecruteak, where he investigated various ancient ruins and gradually uncovered a lost, ancient language, which, once he mastered it, enabled him to read a forgotten legend inscribed on the walls of the Ruins of Alph.

“ The Legend described the existence of the three Legendary Dogs, and told stories of the ancient peoples not only knowing of their existence, but actually interacting with them. These people built shrines to celebrate the eternal bond between humans and pokémon – two shrines, in fact. They were the Tin Tower and the Brass Tower. The Tin Tower was to be a holy, sacred place solely for the legendary pokémon of the world. The Brass Tower was made as a haven to the three legendary dogs, and a shrine for humans to give their thanks and praise to the creatures.

“ The Legend claims that the people of this time were closely connected to the legendaries, even supposedly Ho-oh and Lugia, who frequently visited the Tin Tower, according to written accounts over the centuries. The Legend says that these ancient people were of a higher intellect, a higher cognition, a higher level of spirituality; they knew of a great secret, a secret that Suicune, Entei and Raikou had been tasked to protect from other pokémon. While the Legend doesn’t reveal what this secret was, it says that it involved a hidden source of unlimited power, an undescribed power. It also tells us that each legendary beast also had a human counterpart to help protect the secret from humans. Apparently the legendary dogs used their own kind of magic to bind a worthy human’s soul to their own. Those humans made the shrine impenetrable to invaders, devising a whole array of systems to keep the place secure, ultimately resulting in what is referred to in the Legend as the ‘Iron Lock’. It required seven keys to ever be opened again. The humans then took each of the keys and hid them, hid them far away from each other in all kinds of unlikely places throughout the continents, so that they could never be found, thus protecting the secret hidden deep within the shrine.”

He paused for breath; Lisa’s heart was hammering in her throat as she realised with a shiver that she was hearing the Legend she had heard people refer to so many times.

“ Historical records of the shrines and the legendaries simply disappear about seven hundred years ago. It’s as if the ancient people suddenly forgot the Legend and abandoned telling the story for future generations. The locations of the seven keys were never recorded. All concrete information was lost as the ancient civilisation died out. Eventually even the word-of-mouth stories disappeared from circulation … and not one of the ancient people ever revealed the secret they had worked so hard to protect.

“ It was Professor Hudson who rediscovered the Legend and set about discovering the truth about it. He knew the shrine was near the Burned Tower and Ecru Lake – it was the whole purpose of his dig in 1982. He fully intended to find the legendaries. And if I’m not mistaken, he fully intended for Lance, Azura and I to be there when he entered the shrine … he intended for us to be the ones to revive the Legend …”

Dad hesitated, apparently steeling himself. “ Lisa – I’ve told you all this so that you’ll be able to understand what – what I’m about to tell you now. The day Lance, Azura and I entered the shrine for the second time – the day Sterling attacked us – was the day when the Legend was reborn. When Sterling attacked us, the secret within the shrine was threatened for the first time in centuries. The legendary dogs had to protect their great secret, their hidden power. They did as they had done in ancient times – they found three humans whose souls they deemed pure and bound themselves to us. Entei to Lance, Raikou to Azura, Suicune to me. We were suddenly a part of the Legend – we were now forced to protect the great secret … but unlike the ancient civilisation, we didn’t even know what the secret was.”

Lisa felt as though her mind was spinning; it was too much to take in, she couldn’t process the enormity of what her father was telling her. What he was telling her as fact, as a true recount, she could only interpret as fiction, as a bizarre story – it didn’t seem real, even after all she had been through. It couldn’t be real.

She regarded her father critically and felt her stomach grow cold. His hands were actually trembling, his face pale and his mouth set firmly in a rigid line so as not to betray his emotions. She knew he was telling the truth. But it was just too difficult, too far removed from what Lisa wanted to believe was reality, for her to accept.

“ The moment we emerged from the shrine, the professor told us everything,” her father continued. “ About the Legend, about what he had discovered about it, about what had just happened to us in the shrine. He said our souls were bound to the legendary beasts. He said it was now our duty to protect the secret from Joseph Sterling, from anyone who sought to reopen the shrine. There and then, we became the Guard. Just the four of us, then. Bound by the Legend to protect whatever was being guarded by Suicune, Entei and Raikou. Suddenly that became the purpose of our whole lives.”

A dry sob rent the air suddenly; Lisa’s eyes fell on her mother, who was slumped weakly in the wooden chair at the bedside. She held her hands over her face and looked away from both Lisa and Dad. Lisa winced and put her hand on her mum’s shoulder comfortingly, but this served only to intensify her unexplained sobs.

Dad clenched his teeth abruptly, as though trying to keep himself under control, before he continued. “ I have to be careful how I phrase myself here, Lisa, because there’s sensitive information intertwined here that isn’t yours to hear. Put simply, we recruited some of our closest confidantes – our partners –” He gesticulated to his wife. “ – and other archaeologists from the dig, and the like – to join us. The Guard faced a few attacks from Sterling and his gang over the next years, but we staved him off every time. He knew we held a secret, but of course he didn’t know what it was; nonetheless, he was hell bent on finding what it was that we found in the shrine – which, after that fateful day in 1984, remained locked even to us. We closed the dig and filled it in, as an added precaution.

“ Mostly during these years, Lisa, our lives were somewhat normal. I married your mother and we bought our house in Ecruteak. I found a job in the National Museum while your mum stayed home to raise first Tom and then you. It was almost ten years later, in 1992, when the problems with Joseph Sterling came back to haunt us.” He paused deliberately, clearly choosing his words; Mum still had her hands over her face. “ Suffice it to say – we came very close to being defeated by Sterling. Shortly after, he became aware of the Legend, and the fact that, to enter the shrine and have a second shot at finding it’s treasures and secrets, he needed to locate seven ancient keys, seven hidden keys. Worst of all, he knew about Lance, Azura and I being bound to the legendary dogs.”

Lisa was listening, enthralled and alarmed, but she could not take her eyes from her mother, whose knuckles were white now as she buried her face deeper in her hands, slowly rocking herself back and forth.

“ Something else happened at the same time as this, though,” said Dad slowly. His face was ashen; he looked rather ill. “ Suicune, Raikou and Entei realised the threat they were under again, and c-consequently …” He paused abruptly, quite clearly struggling. “ … they made some … changes …” Lisa nodded along to show her father he was doing alright, but this seemed to make no difference. “ … to what they d-did … back in 1984 …”

Alarm and apprehension rose in the pit of Lisa’s stomach; nonetheless, she was concerned about her parents – they both looked quite unwell. “ Are you alright, Dad?”

He nodded, once, resolutely, but otherwise made no signal that he’d heard her; he pressed on. “ They changed who they’d bound their souls to … it was no longer Lance and Azura … and me …” He closed his eyes as he finished. “ They bound themselves … to our ch-children instead …”

There was a sudden buzzing in Lisa’s ears, like radio static; it was like her ears were revolted by what they had heard; yet over the warped noise she heard her own, weak voice say, “ You mean me, don’t you?”

And as her mother gave an enormous, choking wail, her father looked at her sombrely and said in his toughest voice, “ Yeah.”

It seemed to Lisa as the world simply blurred before her eyes and she fell down onto her pillows. To think, just a few hours ago, she had felt so alive, so elated and complete, when Professor Oak had told her the Legend involved her; now, with her new knowledge of the Legend, the truth bore down on her; she had never felt more detached from herself. The reality hit her before her father elaborated; exhausted though she was, she had heard enough now, been given enough disclosure, to understand the enormity of what she had just been told.

Her father was still speaking, but Lisa heard his voice as if he were calling to her down a cold, dark well. “ When you were four years old, Suicune bound itself to you, Lisa. I was there … I saw too late what happened … there was nothing I could do … And so the same thing happened to Lance and Azura … Darius became bound to Entei, and Marina to Raikou … everything changed … by the Legend, it means you kids … the three of you … are now the ones bound to protect the secret … guard the legendaries … you are the ones …”

The events of the past four months were finally pieced together, the reason the legendaries and the Union had pursued her now abundantly evident; yet Lisa had never imagined that discovering the truth would not spell the end of her ordeal. The hope had always lingered that her troubles would be over, resolved; that she could fall into her parents’ arms and everything would be all right, she would never be bothered again. Even though her mind was swirling, Lisa saw this precious illusion burst into flames before her eyes. The truth spelt nothing but despair; fate would not allow her to rest, to be free of those things which had plagued her since October. A fragile, wounded voice in her head told her the end of her anguish, the end of the nightmare, was going to be a long, long way away.

Presently, she felt herself alight from her thoughts and became aware that her father was talking again, trying to elucidate the details of what he had just revealed.

“ This means that you, Marina and Darius are the ones who must protect the shrine. You, Lisa, hold the power to connect with Suicune and protect him; he has chosen you to be his Guardian. You have been his Guardian since you were four years old; it is only now, that the Union is directly threatening the legendaries’ secret, that you have become vitally important to the fight against the Union. Do you understand what I mean, Lisa?”

She didn’t. “ I don’t understand how,” she said. “ How are we supposed to protect the legendaries? Any more than any other person? What ‘power’ do we have exactly?” She couldn’t for the life of her work out how she was different from anyone else; she didn’t feel strange, she didn’t notice that she was bound to Suicune.

Dad furrowed his brow. “ This is where what happened tonight comes in,” he said. “ Centuries ago, the Legendaries added their own precaution to protect the Iron Lock. They found what we believe to have been the sixth key and split it into three. They each took a piece and placed it in their own hidden cave. The ancient worshippers of that day, who, you recall, were in on the secret, described these caves as Sepulchres … which still completely confuses us. Do you know what the word ‘sepulchre’ means, Lisa?”

She didn’t.

“ A sepulchre is a burial place, a tomb,” he explained. “ Which makes no logical sense, as all three of the legendaries are all quite clearly still alive and kicking. Why the Legend refers to these three places as the Sepulchres of Raikou, Entei and Suicune, we still don’t know.

“ Whatever the reason, though, these sepulchres were to be the holding places for each third of the sixth key. To ensure they were extremely secure, the Sepulchres could only be safely entered by the guardian bound to that respective legendary; if not, the place would go into utter revolt, and begin to destroy its invaders.” Lisa cast him an obtuse look. “ That is, Lisa, the Sepulchre of Entei, which you and a Union agent forced your way into tonight, can only be successfully entered by the person bound to Entei – that is, now, Darius.”

Images of the last night flashed through Lisa’s mind: the golden statue of Entei standing guard; the wave of lava surging through the opening of the Sepulchre; the roar of chaos within the chamber; Lance and Darius zooming down to what Lisa had thought was a volcano – but of course, they knew that they alone could safely enter the place …

“ So – when I went in –” Lisa mused.

“ The Sepulchre of Entei went into chaos; it would have utilised everything in its power to destroy you – and it would have succeeded, because the person entering it was not the person Entei had entrusted his soul to. This meant that the treasure within – the fragment of the sixth key – was endangered. Had Lance and Darius not arrived when they did, to calm the disaster below …” He shuddered. “ You might not have made it out alive …”

Lisa shivered, though she could still not quite get her head around the notion of a cave attacking its intruders.

“ So that’s why we’re important,” she said, beginning to understand.

“ Exactly. The only way anyone can take the fragment of key hidden within the Sepulchre of Suicune is to have you enter it, Lisa, as you are the guardian of Suicune. That’s why the Union tracked you down so vehemently over the past four months, Lisa; that’s why you’ve been the object of their attacks so many times. Once they possessed you, they could effectively force you into the Sepulchre of Suicune, once they found it, and lo and behold, they’d be a step closer to having all the keys and finally having access to the secret in the shrine of the legendaries.”

Finally, Lisa knew the truth: the reason behind everything that had happened. She was the guardian of Suicune. She was crucial to opening the Iron Lock. That was the reason why the Union had sought her so assiduously for four months, the true explanation at last.

“ I should say, too, that I have the utmost respect for you, Lisa,” said Dad suddenly, taking Lisa completely by surprise. His face was serious. “ You managed to escape the Union not once, not twice, but a whole host of times! Frankly, that’s something you’d hardly expect of one of the most highly trained members of the Guard. I think you’re incredibly talented, Lisa, and very, very brave.”

Her mother nodded weakly, still not looking up.

Lisa actually felt herself blush, extremely uncomfortable with the praise that, deep down, she knew she probably deserved. Deflecting her father’s statement unsubtlely, she said, “ So what happens now? After today?”

Dad seemed to understand her discomfort; a fleeting smirk flashed across his face. “ That’s what we still don’t know for sure,” he said. “ Until tonight, Lisa, the Guard was made up of four separate divisions, for want of a better word. These divisions had their own leaders, and none of the divisions knew of the other; almost no one knew the entire organisation was being run by Lance, of all people. A lot of these members are still coming to terms with this; Lance has a lot to explain to everyone. We’re meeting at twelve –” he glanced at his watch. “ – in about fifteen minutes, actually, to decide exactly what our next steps are going to be.

“ But it’s pretty much certain what’s going to happen. Lisa, about an hour ago Joseph Sterling made a video-link speech to the global media, taking responsibility of the siege last night and announcing that his group was called the Union. Lance is going to publicly announce that we, the Guard, are declaring war on the Union. That’s what it comes down to, that’s what’s been brewing for the last twenty years.

“ You see, Lisa, this is what Sterling ultimately wants: power. Not enlightenment or wisdom; not happiness or love. He seeks the seven keys for the Iron Lock because he wants to find the secret of the shrine; he wants to take possession of the hidden power referred to in the Legend. Lisa, he wants unlimited power and control. He is not really interested in the Legendaries, nor in you three Guardians; you are merely means to an end. Sterling has begun a vicious quest, a war for power, by the most effective means he knows.

“ Do you understand what I mean? Sterling is going for all seven keys. If and when he gets them, he’ll have access to whatever the hell it is inside that shrine, that thing that the Legend says is a great secret, a ‘hidden power’. We, as the Guard, have two choices. We can spend the next months, years maybe, waiting until we get a tip that the Union have found the location of the next key. We could play the defensive forever but we’d never get anywhere; we’d never win. Our other choice is to play their game. Fight fire with fire. We engage them in outright war. We search for the keys just like they are, and if we get there first, they’ll be the ones playing the defensive. If we play the game like that, we have an enormous advantage over the Union from the outset. Do you see it, Lisa?”

She shook her head.

Dad answered his own question: “ The Union wants to break into the shrine. To succeed they’re going to need all seven keys. But what we want to do is protect the shrine, prevent the Union getting in. And to do that we need only to deprive the Union of one single key, one single fragment, even, to succeed.”

Comprehension dawned on Lisa; and for the first time, happiness, too. “ And we already have it!” she declared hopefully. “ I mean, Darius and Lance went into the Sepulchre last night … so we have our fragment, right?”

But her father did not look as jubilant as she felt.

“ No, we don’t,” he said stiffly.

Lisa’s heart sank. “ The Union didn’t –”

“ No, they didn’t,” Dad interrupted, suddenly edgy. “ Lance made a judgment call regarding the key that I don’t really agree with …” He shook his head, unnaturally violently. “ We’ll talk about that later, Lisa, Lance and I need to have some words …” He trailed off ominously and it was a moment before he shook himself again and went on. “ Anyway Lisa, what it boils down to is a quest and a war. We’ll be searching everywhere for the keys in order to get just one of them safely out of the Union’s grasp. And we’ll be fighting the Union every step of the way until we’ve got them pinned.

“ As for today, the Matron here said you need surgery, Lisa, to remove the bullet from your back. It’s a simple procedure but they can’t do it here, they don’t have a surgeon. You’re going to be flown with some other patients by chopper to Redwood Hospital, it’s about a hundred k’s away.”

“ And after that? Our house …” she muttered.

[Gavin Luper]

Dad shook his head sadly. “ Lisa, we won’t be safe to return to our old house for some time, maybe not ever, I can’t be sure. Once you’re discharged from Redwood Hospital, our whole family will be moving to the Guard’s safe house, it’s on a remote farmstead. We’ll be living there for as long as I can see into the future … for the duration of this war, however long it goes for …”

He fell silent again and this time he didn’t seem to have anything else to say.

Lisa wanted to say something else, talk about more, but as much as she felt like there remained so much unsaid between her and her parents, she could not for the life of her find anything new to discuss, any territory important enough to entrench her parents into as well. She begrudgingly sank into her own thoughts. Everything that had happened, everything in her life, was now centred on the new war. A war, the outcome of which would ultimately rest on her shoulders; her’s and Darius’s and Marina’s. The injustice of it all swelled up inside her, gnawing at her heart and devouring, piece by piece, the hope that had always resided within her.

“ It’s nearly twelve!”

The loud voice caught her unaware. Both Lisa and her father spun around; the loud-voiced woman with messy blonde hair who had spoken to Lisa earlier was sitting up in her bed, pointing at her watch.

“ What?” Dad said.

“ It’s almost twelve o’clock. The meeting with Lance is at noon, isn’t it?” The woman paused. “ Er – that’s what Azura told us anyway …” she added unconvincingly.

Lisa suddenly became aware that there were several members of the Guard in the surrounding beds, all of whom would have overheard every shred of the conversation between her and her parents; normally this would have made her feel as though her privacy had been invaded, and perhaps made her a little indignant, but she didn’t think there was a precedent for this kind of situation, and if she was honest with herself, she was too tired and overwhelmed to really care anyway.

Mum took her head out of her hands for the first time in minutes; her eyes were bloodshot and wet, her mouth drooping as if she were about to cry again. She exchanged a significant look with her husband.

“ We’d better go,” she croaked feebly.

Lisa turned away from her mother – she was usually such a strong, tough old bird and Lisa knew she wouldn’t want anyone seeing her so vulnerable.

“ Of course. I lost track of the time … thanks Christina,” he said to the blonde bed-ridden woman; she winked in response. Dad looked at Lisa apologetically. “ As I said, we’ve got to go to this meeting as sort some things out. We’ll come back to see you after the meeting, OK?”

“ Yeah, OK,” said Lisa stiffly. She wasn’t sure why but, despite how awkward it had been hearing all the information from her parents, she didn’t want them to leave her now.

“ When we come back you can tell us what exactly you went through tonight. And if you’ve got any questions, you can ask us, we might just have the answers to some of them.”

If I’ve got any questions, thought Lisa, piqued.

“ Maybe you can get some sleep in the meantime, eh?” added Dad kindly.

He and Mum both got to their feet. Dad put his arm around Mum and she buried her face in her shoulder for a moment for standing up on her own, wiping her eyes, smoothing her hair down and holding her head high.

“ OK,” said Lisa.

Both Lisa’s parents gave her a warm hug and a kiss before they left the room, but Lisa did not feel comforted by their embrace. She felt nothing but emptiness, as if something that used to live in her heart had left her forever. The unquestioned protected she had once felt from their presence was no more: Her parents were no longer Ryan and Maria Walters, loving father and mother; in the space of hours they had become Ryan and Maria Walters, renegade soldiers for the Guard – and for the life of her, Lisa could not reconcile herself with that truth.

*

Lisa lay very still for a long time after her parents left, listening to the beeps and whirrs of the medical equipment, her misty eyes on the bare ceiling. There was no way she could oblige her parents by sleeping – her mind had never been more crowded, her stomach never so churned up. No matter how she tried to divert her thoughts, they always circled back to the Legend, the Guard, her parents, the new war, and that fact that it all somehow came down to three people, three teenagers: Darius, Marina and her.

She fell into a stupor. It was only when the young nurse, Emma, came past her bed to check on her that she sluggishly forced herself back to reality.

“ Sorry, I thought you were asleep,” said the nurse shortly, catching Lisa’s gaze.

“ That’s OK,” said Lisa dully.

Emma tapped her pen on her chart, almost impatiently. “ Well, how do you feel? Is there much pain still?”

“ No, I feel fine,” said Lisa, though she could not help but think how terrible she really felt inside.

“ I’m going to lower the strength of your analgesics then,” said the nurse. She handed Lisa two white pills and a glass of water. “ Just take those.” Lisa did. “ You might get a bit of pain in an hour or so. That’s just your body adjusting to the less powerful drugs,” she added tersely.

Emma returned the chart to its holder with an unexpectedly loud clatter. She was about to move on to the next bed when Lisa suddenly understood her sulky manner.

“ Sorry for getting you in trouble with Matron before,” she said abruptly.

Emma turned on her heel, suddenly flushed. She surveyed Lisa intently for a moment before she gave a genuine smile; she had shiny silver braces attached to her teeth. “ Oh that - it’s OK,” she said, and it was clear that she was very pleased Lisa had apologised. She seemed to hesitate a moment before saying, “ I’m Emma.”

“ I heard – when Matron yelled at you,” said Lisa flatly. “ My name’s Lisa.”

“ Nice to meet you,” said Emma, her cheeks becoming even more scarlet all of a sudden. She reached surreptitiously for Lisa’s chart again. “ Sorry I was rude to you. It’s – it’s not really your fault I got in trouble with Matron – I’m the one who was meant to tell her you were awake and I didn’t,” she acknowledged awkwardly. She looked suddenly sheepish. “ I feel embarrassed now …” she muttered. “ I was supposed to tell you about the lost and found pokémon list before, but I didn’t because I was mad at you for getting me in trouble.”

Lisa’s indignation at the girl lasted barely a second; it suddenly hit her that she had no idea where her five pokémon had ended up after the siege last night. Anxiety began to clutch at her chest. “ Don’t worry about it,” she said quickly to Emma. “ Listen, I’ve got five pokémon, could you tell me if you know where they are?”

Emma pulled a stapled bunch of printouts from her clipboard and handed it to Lisa with a flourish. “ The pokémon that have been found by the police are being held in a safe place down the hall. They’ve documented every found pokémon right here –” She reached over and pointed her pen at the long printed list; many pokémon names had been highlighted or circled in texta. “ Have a look through for your missing pokémon, then, let me know when you find them and I’ll tell the police we found another owner.”

Lisa glanced hurriedly down the list. There was nothing at all on the first page; she flipped over frantically to the second. For a moment her heart leapt as she saw ‘Electabuzz’, but the description was of a female Electabuzz – hers was male. It wasn’t until the third page that she breathed a sigh of relief: the names, levels and descriptions of Electabuzz, Aipom, Dratini, Fiskmire and Vulpix were all there.

Relief washed over Lisa; she identified her pokémon to Emma, who smiled and said they would be ready for collection once she was discharged. Maybe it was the delight of having her pokémon found safe and sound, or perhaps it was just the pleasant distraction of being in the company of somebody who didn’t know about her past, that calmed her frayed nerves, but before she knew it, Lisa had drifted off again to a peaceful slumber.

She awoke a short while later with a heavy head and sore back. She sat up gingerly: with the weaker painkillers and the shock now worn off, the pain she had been mostly spared from earlier hit her with full force; every part of her body seemed to be aching from its ordeal.

She sat in her bed for a moment and simply stared into nothing. She felt like every iota of energy she had ever possessed, every ounce of strength and courage that got her through the ordeals of the past four months, had suddenly left her. She told herself quietly it was because she was coming down off the painkillers, but she knew in her heart this was not the case. She was coming down off a chaotic rollercoaster ride, a ride she had never expected to end like this, and the fact that the reality was as black as it was weighed upon her like a tonne of bricks.

Suddenly, she could not explain why she had not thought of it before, an idea darted into her mind. She examined it in her brain for a moment, weighing up the possibility that it might be as good as it seemed. Yes, of course, she thought. It was perfect. It was worth a try, at any rate … if there was a chance it could just make her feel better.

She gazed around the makeshift ward and spied Emma seated in a wooden chair near the door. The girl caught Lisa’s eye and hurried over to her bed.

“ How do you feel, Lisa?” she asked in earnest.

“ Horrible,” muttered Lisa honestly.

“ You should feel better soon,” said Emma gently. “ I’d put you back on the stronger analgesics, but I can’t. The drugs I gave you are really the strongest I can give someone in your situation … it’s not good to stay on them too long …”

“ That’s OK,” Lisa muttered.

“ By the way, your friend Gavin woke up briefly before,” added Emma.

“ Did he?” said Lisa, wishing she had been awake at the time.

Emma nodded. “ He came to as I redressed his bandages. He asked about you and I said you were fine. He tried to say something else but he was too exhausted, I think, he passed out again mid-sentence …”

“ Emma, am I allowed to leave the ward?” Lisa asked abruptly.

The nurse regarded her nervously. “ Oh, Lisa, I don’t know … I mean, really … you just got up. You said you weren’t feeling well …”

“ It passed,” said Lisa unconvincingly.

“ … and if Matron finds out that I let someone go …” Emma rambled on. Lisa was sure she had not even heard her.

“ Look, can’t you tell her that my Mum and Dad came and needed to see me somewhere urgently? She’d understand that, wouldn’t she? Tell her you couldn’t stop us or something …”

Emma stared exasperatedly at her. “ I wish you’d stop getting me in trouble!” she moaned.

Ignoring her conscience, Lisa said, “ Is that a yes?”

“ Go quickly!” Emma hissed, gesturing to the door frantically. Lisa didn’t need to be told twice. It took her a few steps to find her feet properly, but before long she was hobbling over the threshold and into the hall, keeping her mind off the pain in her back and firmly focused on her quarry.

Despite the broad sunlight of the early afternoon, the halls of the Fairfax Inn were in almost complete darkness. There was not a single window in sight, the only source of light being the open door of the makeshift ward. Lisa tried flicking a light switch on: a fluorescent light on the roof flickered hopefully for a few seconds before settling for a dull, useless orange glow in the extremities of the bulb. The darkness would have to do, thought Lisa, and she wobbled over to the first door she could find – a sign upon it proclaiming, ‘Wintergreen’ – and knocked.

Before long she had covered the entire first floor, copping the brunt of several angry ex-contestants, who were convalescing and told her in no uncertain terms where to go; one woman even had a Persian sit threateningly on the doormat in case Lisa returned. There was no luck to be had anywhere on the first floor: nobody knew who she was looking for.

She stopped by the staircase and checked her watch. It was covered in dried mud and the face had a devastating crack down the middle of it, but thankfully it still kept the time; the luminous glow told Lisa it was just ten minutes to one o’clock.

The obvious struck her at last. Of course – where else would he be? That was, she thought, if Lance’s meeting in the breakfast hall was still going … it was her best bet. She gingerly descended the stairs for the ground floor, from which she could hear a distant hum of activity.

Lisa opened the door and felt as though she had entered a different place entirely. The situation on the ground floor could not have been more removed from the peace and quiet on the first. Dozens of people were standing around in the sunlit halls, all conversing wildly about the events of the previous night. Hoping to be noticed as little as possible, Lisa slipped quietly into the crowded hall of what appeared to be more ex-contestants and tried to weave her way toward the breakfast hall. The throng of people were rowdy and unsettled – some of the boys were throwing a cricket ball around the place; others were simply bragging about their bravery.

“ … and then I punched out that motherfucker from Team Rocket, boosh, he went whoomp straight to the ground!” boomed a young man with short, bleached hair and a stubby in his hand. “ Didn’t get up again, neither. But by then I was taking on his mates …”

“ I thought someone on TV said they were called the Union now, but?” replied a blonde girl in a crop top, playing with her hair, pretending not to notice that the man was leaning his arm cockily against the wall beside her, virtually hemming her in.

“ That’s what they want you to think, babe,” growled the man, taking a chug of his beer. “ That’s what they want you to think. So – I had to do a flying kick on the next guy –”

Lisa scowled as she passed them. Dodging a couple of middle-aged woman who were gabbling excitedly about what they’d been through, she headed for the breakfast hall, sure that her suspicions would prove worthwhile. Narrowly avoiding a stray cricket ball to the head, she ducked into the lobby.

It was more crowded again; police and ex-contestants milled about uselessly, all chattering amongst themselves, many of the men sitting at the bar drinking pints. Lisa briefly spied Paddy behind the bar, working furiously to serve his restless patrons; she carefully avoided eye contact – Paddy’s blustering incompetence, while well-intentioned, was time wasting, and Lisa was in something of a hurry.

Or at least, she intended to be until she saw the image on the television screen. A news report was showing Joseph Sterling making an impassioned speech; the caption below read: ‘BREAKING NEWS: Ex-Team Rocket leader Joseph Sterling takes responsibility for Mountain Attack’. A moment later it became: ‘Government says new group “the Union” a terrorist threat.’ Lisa glared with hatred at the image of Sterling before her, wishing despite herself that she could hear what he was saying, but there the television’s volume was so low that it was completely drowned out by the noise around the lobby.

Pulling herself away from the TV, Lisa strode quickly down a side hallway to a sunlit vestibule. A window to her right allowed a view of the grassy grounds that led to the river and the path the contestants had taken up the mountain a day ago; it was now crawling with television cameramen and journalists interviewing the numerous ex-contestants and policemen. Trying to keep her mind off everything else, Lisa eyed the double doors before her that opened into the enormous breakfast hall. The doors were closed; Lisa had a feeling they would be locked from the inside if Lance and the Guard were still inside. She tried the handle with no luck – it seemed the Guard were still there, then. Which meant that he was, too.

She weighed up her options for a moment. The last thing she wanted to do was storm into a crowded hall filled with people who probably already knew everything about her, were maybe even discussing her right now; she didn’t think she possessed the energy to face those people yet.

If I can’t go in there, she thought, then how …

Her eyes suddenly fell on a battered grey door to the far left of the main doors. A small sign fixed upon it declared, ‘Staff Only.’ Of course, Lisa thought – the kitchen! She might be able to hear if he was there through the kitchen doors …

She stumped over to the door and tried it. It swung open at once. Her heart rising, Lisa slipped into the dim kitchen and let out a gasp: on the bench on the far side of the kitchen, sitting on the bench with his legs swinging and ear to the staff door that led to the breakfast hall, was the boy she was looking for.

“ Darius!” she exclaimed.

He wheeled around in surprise, his brown eyes falling on her in disbelief. He leapt down from the bench and rushed toward her.

“ Lisa! You’re – are you OK?” The elation seemed to fall from his face suddenly.

Lisa realised how she looked – her arms bandaged, cuts across her grubby, tearstained face as she hobbled in her hospital gown. “ I’m better than I was,” she said after a long pause.

Darius didn’t hesitate for a second; he put his arm around her shoulder and helped support her.

“ You should be in the hospital-thing they have going on,” he said seriously.

“ Oh no, it’s OK,” insisted Lisa, realising that he was trying to lead her out of the kitchen and back toward the lobby. “ The nurse said I could leave for a bit … and so here I am,” she managed, with a fake laugh. Darius didn’t look entirely convinced, but conceded with a small smile – the dimples Lisa loved so much flashed before her eyes.

“ I get it,” he said at last, arm still around her shoulders. “ You’re like me. You wanted to listen in to what they’re saying in there, didn’t you?”

This wasn’t quite true, but Lisa suddenly found that she could not bring herself to say otherwise.

“ Yeah,” she said casually.

Darius gave a wry smile. “ You can take my bench space if you want, I’ll stand at the door.” And before Lisa could agree or argue, he had bodily picked her up off the ground and placed her delicately on the bench beside the door – there were no chairs.

“ Er – thanks,” she said, smoothing her matted hair down, a little flustered after being picked up like that.

Darius put his ear to the door again, and after a confused second, Lisa followed suit, disappointed that he was not going to say anything else to her. She had barely caught a few words from a man who sounded like he could be Lance before, unexpectedly, Darius whispered, “ I’m so glad you’re OK. I was terrified.”

Lisa managed a tiny smile. “ I was too. About you, I mean – you know – in the cave,” she blundered. He grinned and returned to listening to the proceedings in the breakfast hall.

Lisa looked at him closely for a moment. The glimpse she had of him last night in the cave had been too brief, and indeed, her mind had been on other things, to notice his appearance, but now she had ample time. He seemed to have become older-looking, more mature-looking, since they had last seen each other in December. His dark brown hair was no longer short and spiked, like Gavin’s, but long and shaggy. Lisa thought his jaw looked more defined, more rugged, than it had before, too.

She had searched for him to ask a different question, but suddenly she found an older one bubbling away inside her; and without warning it burst from her lips in an unexpectedly fierce whisper.

“ Why didn’t you come back and see me?”

Darius closed his eyes suddenly, as if he were in pain, before opening them and pulling himself away from the door. “ Lisa, I wanted to, honestly – ”

“ We had such a good day together at the pool in Silver City.”

“ I know,” muttered Darius, “ but –”

“ And the next day, when we drove back from Blackthorn City … we just talked and mucked around the whole time. I thought we were getting along really well, you know.”

“ Lisa –” Darius protested, looking deeply uncomfortable now.

“ But then you didn’t show up, even though you said you would, and I was left there, just … waiting. And the whole time I was so – worried – about you …”

“ It was my Dad, Lisa! The day after I dropped you back to Ecruteak he called me and told me to come home straight away. That day he told me all about the Legend, OK?” His voice was suddenly hoarse, hurt. The dimples were nowhere to be seen. “ I was a mess, OK? I didn’t want to see anyone at all. And I knew I couldn’t see you if I had to pretend I didn’t know who you were … that you were a guardian, too … I just didn’t want to talk about it … or think about it …” His face had become ruddy.

Lisa hesitated; this was not what she had wanted to happen. But in his own way, Darius had steered the conversation around enough for her to say what she had really wanted to say.

“ Darius …” she began, and her voice was weak and watery; furious with herself though she was, however, she could not fortify it. “ I just found out about the Legend today … about you and Marina and m-me. I just – I don’t know what to think … or feel … or do. I feel like a mess, too. I wanted to talk to you ‘cause I thought you might understand what I’m feeling – you’re the only one out of everyone here … you know?”

Darius looked at her curiously, as though this thought had genuinely not dawned on him. It took him about thirty seconds to respond, and when he did it was merely with a gruff, “ S’pose that’s true.”

Lisa looked at him desperately. “ All I can think about is how Mum and Dad never told me,” she said, struggling to keep her voice to a whisper. “ I can hardly even understand the Legend right now, it’s all too much for me to handle, I can’t even process it. But Mum and Dad … being in the Guard … I just can’t believe it, I can’t bear it.” She lowered her voice more. “ I know it sounds stupid but I feel like – like they betrayed me or something.”

Darius nodded suddenly, locking eyes with her for a moment before he tore away and leaned against the door again; unlike before, though, he was not listening to the conversation in the next room, but merely giving his tired head something to rest on.

“ Yeah,” he said dully at last, not looking at her, “ I know what you mean. After I got over the shock – all I could think about was how Dad never told me. How he had this whole secret life. I was so angry. I did stupid stuff just to piss him off … trashed the training gym with my mates and started drinking every –” He caught himself suddenly and stopped short, looking embarrassed. “ I can’t believe I said that to you,” he muttered under his breath.

“ It’s OK,” whispered back Lisa.

She waited on tenterhooks for his next words. For a second it seemed like they weren’t going to come, he seemed to not want to speak any further, but eventually he went on. “ The whole thing reminded me of a movie I saw once,” he admitted; Lisa was thrown a little. “ I forget what it’s even called. But there’s a guy who lives in some city, and he works as a diplomat for his embassy. One night someone throws a brick through his window and it misses him but smashes the wall-length mirror in his apartment … and behind the glass he finds a whole room filled with listening equipment and bugging devices and all that … It turns out that a government agency was spying on him for years and pulling the strings in every aspect of his life without him ever knowing …” Darius sighed. “ That really does sound dumb. But it’s how I thought of it. It’s how I still think of it. And I just feel stupid for never realising there was another world behind the glass.”

Lisa listened in silence. She thought she knew, at least a little bit, how that felt. She felt a tension in her chest loosen a little: she still felt as troubled as before, but knowing that Darius felt the same was the greatest comfort she could possibly have asked for.

Neither of them spoke for several minutes. There seemed to be nothing else to say for the time being. Eventually Darius pressed his ear against the side of the door and resumed listening. Lisa staved off doing this for a few minutes – she wasn’t sure she wanted any more information crammed into her head. When she saw Darius’s face twist in an odd way, however, and heard a sudden burst of what sounded like applause, she let her curiosity get the better of her and mirrored Darius against the door.

The applause was just dying down. A loud male voice – Lisa was positive it was Lance’s – said, “ If we stick together now, as a united Guard, then we’ll have a chance at beating the Union. It might be fifty of us against thousands of them, but we have a full knowledge of the Legend, superior fighting ability and the three guardians in our corner. This is our chance: we can fight now, and have a chance at victory, or we can surrender, submit and lose. We all know what the right choice is!”

There was another outburst of applause; several voices roared, “ Hear, hear!”

“ So then, we have to go forward to face the future!” continued Lance fiercely. “ To find the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh keys, wherever they might be! To protect the legendary dogs from further harm! And to oppose the Union at every chance we get; to engage in total war against Joseph Sterling and his army! Who’s with me?!”

And the entire room erupted in battle cries and affirmations; people clapped and shouted and whooped and even cheered, and somehow Lisa felt herself swept up in the emotion of it all. For a moment, everything else she was feeling – the exhaustion, the sorrow, the betrayal and confusion, the fear of the unknown path ahead – just slipped away from her. She felt filled with newfound pride and solidarity, with courage and hope. As bad as things were, all was not yet lost. Hope still presented itself in the form of the Guard – and her parents.

The ruckus in the breakfast hall began to die down; Lance cried, “ Let’s get on with it!” There was a scraping of chairs on the floor, an unbolting of the main door, and the members of the Guard spilled out of the hall to face the world, to face the worst that the Union could throw at them.

The war had begun.

[mr_pikachu]

I honestly considered making a blank post in response, merely because that would likely explain my awe better than a long explanation would. Then I realized that the forum would probably prevent me from doing that, and typing a single period or something would just look stupid. So it's time for a long explanation!

To put it bluntly, I'm not even going to try to critique your writing style in this chapter. Frankly, and as much as I hate to admit it, this three-post-long work was so far above my current writing ability that I really struggle to find any deep flaws. If anything, there are a few superficial slips, but certainly nothing more.

First of all, the emotion. (God, the EMOTION!) That was perhaps the best part of the chapter. You took the turmoil of Lisa's world, the utter insanity surrounding the events of this work combined with the revelations of her past, her parents' secrets, and the Legend. And, looking at that chaos, you decided how she would respond. Not just how any old person would respond, but what Lisa Walters, Pokemon trainer from Ecruteak city would do in response to the madness.

But you took it a step further. You didn't stop at just showing her emotions. You went through in a deliberate, step-by-step fashion and described why she felt the way she felt, why she said what she said, and why she did what she did. You went through her thought process, showing how she jumped from point A to point B and so on, even detailing the hypocrisy of blaming her parents when it could have been prevented if she had told them the truth. That was, in a word, magnificent. An excellent demonstration of introspection.

The events of the chapter were additionally powerful, even if they were not as strong as the emotions were. Lisa waking up injured and in a hospital bed, the conflict between the heroes, the explanations delivered first by Marco and then by Lisa's parents (the EMOTION!), the announcement by Joseph Sterling (he's been called by his full name so many times that it seems unnatural to think of him in any other way), the counter-announcement by Lance, and the meeting between Lisa and Darius. Despite the number of extraordinary events here, they were still not as much of a force as the sheer emotion with which you hit us - though that certainly doesn't indicate a flaw in the plot.

As of course, you've left us with a cliffhanger, the way you love to do. Sure, it's not like someone could die in the first sentence of the next chapter - although it's possible you'll do that now just to prove me wrong - but it's a cliffhanger in a broader sense, as this whole thing, this entire fanfic, has been merely a prologue for what will happen next.

Even with something this beautifully grand, there were a few slight concerns I noted while reading this. Most of them were typos and such, and since I'm not sure you'd want me to list all of them, here are a choice few that were mildly more disruptive than the others.



Marco shaped up to Lance and it could not have been clear that one of the men was about to swing, however at that moment, several people cried out in protest, the loudest of whom was a man who left his seat to step in between the two friends.

So, it was unclear whether someone was about to swing? (Also, run-on sentence: change the second comma to a period.)


She was a crucial to opening the Iron Lock.

She was a crucial?


“You’re going to be flown with some other patients by chopper to Redwood Hospital, it’s about a hundred k’s away.”

One letter plurals can be tricky, but in my experience they typically don’t use apostrophes. (Even if “ks” looks confusing… perhaps it could be “Ks,” or something?)


Before long she had covered the entire first floor, copping the brunt of several angry ex-contestants, who were convalescing and told her in no uncertain terms where to go; one woman even had a Persian sit threateningly on the doormat in case Lisa returned.

They told her in no uncertain terms? That seems like they told her exactly where she needed to go… unless you’re using some unusual innuendo here. (“You can stick it up your ___!”)



Yeah, they're small, but I thought I ought to mention a few of them. Nonetheless, this is solid. Normally I would make this reply in a sandwich format - you know, sandwich the criticisms between two sets of compliments. But you know what? I have a feeling you're already confident enough in this chapter to not need that. Because this was... great. Plain and simple.

*commits the meaning of “nescience” to memory*

[Mew Trainer Rose]

...





I believe mr_pikachu has said everything I would say about this chapter. So I will just applaud you (the wait was well worth it) and hope that my mostly-blank post helps express the feeling of awe mr_pikachu would have liked to convey.

[Andrew]

Crikeys, talk about a LOT of exposition at once. I guess I wanted explanation from Lisa's parents, but wow, that was a LOT to read!

(BTW final Ellie Chronical Book is out!)

Poor old little Lisa's battered something chronic. Nice to see Marina and Darius are part of it too..

But Gavin.. what is his part in the entire thing...Lunanine's thingie? ANd why did he get the crystal ball? AND IS HE OKAY.... and what's Gavin's team anyway...

Extremely well written as always, poor geeky nurse. The Union is revving up! Full out warfare! Rad! Veronica's all like Doctor Blite from Captain Planet now!

Lisa's dad's backstory, rad. ANd it ties into the floaties drowning thing. Real nice!

The description of Lisa being drugged out, fairly truthful! I like!

But yes, a chapter that sets us up for a new scenario! Now! EBTV

[mistysakura]

Wow.

So. That has to be the best thing I've read in a while. I agree with mr_pika, the thought processes were awesome, without overdoing the melodrama. You've really allowed us to empathise with Lisa. And although the chapter was really long, it fit to gether nicely, and felt structured and not all over the place. A very long explanation at last, and it's good to see where this fic is going. yep, still want to know how Gavin fits into all this, but I can wait. I must say, teh first bit with Lance summing up what happened to Lisa and co. I felt went for a bit long. It was good in terms of it being a fic posted on a forum, because it's like a review of what's happened, bringing people up to date. But from a normal point of view, if people were reading this continuously, they'd likely just skip over the summary, although the intertwined bits such as the other members' reactions were good. And I have a bad feeling about the Guard actually; it seems that rather than just finding one key, they want to find them all, which would be concentrating too much popwer in one place. It would be very tempting for someone in the Guard to switch sides. I don't think the original three willl, since they were entrusted as guardians and they alone (besides the new guardians now) understnad the full enormity of this. But maybe someone else. The random fourth guy on the excavation, maybe? He was just there for no reason, so I'm taking a stab as to his real purpose.

Definitely worth the wait. If you're going to write chapters like that, bring on another ten months.

[Gavin Luper]

The second book is finally finished and I'm VERY happy to have it done at last! I've made a contents page for the two books, as well as official titles for all three books, which I'll put up for Christmas. In the meantime, consider this chapter a late fifth-anniversary-of-LTL present (it was five years since the first post on December 1 this year). I hope you all enjoy this chapter, the conclusion to Lisa the Legend: Book Two.

Expect Book Three early in 2007!

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

Chapter 59 – Burnt Sunset.


War was formally declared at two o’clock in the afternoon on the sixth of March 2003. All the members of the Guard, including Lisa and Darius, were summoned down to the foyer of the Fairfax Inn to watch Lance’s televised speech to the rest of the world. There were a few aspects of the declaration of war that Lisa didn’t really understand, such as when Lance mentioned the government’s red tape and problems with bureaucracy, but her father explained most things to her afterwards; and in any case, it wasn’t difficult to understand that the Guard was now at war with the Union.

Lisa briefly encountered Derek, the Union defector, in the foyer whilst the Guard was gathered around the old television set. He kindly applauded her efforts during the previous night and apologised for putting her on the spot in regards to relaying his message about the O’Malley File to Lance. When Lisa explained that the message had never reached its target, Derek appeared unfazed – he said the Union had already succeeded in taking the Second Key, so the entire message was no longer urgent. Whatever the O’Malley File actually was, Lisa assumed, would remain a mystery.

Lisa’s parents escorted her back to the hospital ward after the speech. Everyone seemed to be a little unsettled after the declaration, and Mum and Dad were no exception. Mum, in particular, kept clutching at Lisa’s arm as though she expected Union agents to tear her away at any second. Dad was more rational, though for the next few hours every other sentence began with, ‘ From now on.’ “ From now on, we’ll need to be vigilant about any sign we detect.” “ From now on, we have to start looking out for each other.” “ From now on, we’ll need to be on hand at any hour of any day to go to battle if we need to.”

So went the visit that Lisa had with her parents after the speech. After Lisa had recounted her version of events during the battle on the mountain and the Sepulchre of Entei, her mother made constant efforts to talk about normal things – the new shops in the Ecruteak Mall, Tom and Miki’s upcoming wedding, how Wes and Jean were doing – but Dad could not be distracted from war. He spoke less than usual and when he did, his tone was rough and clipped, and his words were always pertinent to the war. It scared Lisa to see him so preoccupied with such a grave matter, but she knew that this was how it was going to be now that everything had changed. From now on.

The upside of the visit, at least for Lisa, was lunch. The Inn’s kitchen staff called in to the ward with trays loaded with sandwiches, pumpkin soup, juice and icecream. It was only after she swallowed her first warm, nourishing spoonful of soup that Lisa realised how long it had been since she had eaten anything: before she knew it, she had devoured everything on her tray, much to the mild amusement of her parents.

The other patients in the ward were not quite as enthused by their victuals. A medivac helicopter had arrived just before two o’clock and transported the four most critical patients to Redwood Hospital for immediate treatment. Lisa had been viewed as the fifth most serious, as her bullet wound was not compromising her status but only giving her moderate pain; she would be included with the next volley of helicopters at around five o’clock. There were now only eight people in the ward – five of whom, including Gavin, were either asleep or unconscious; the other two were a dark-haired man from the Guard, named Gideon, who seemed uninterested by his food, and the young woman who had tried to console Lisa earlier, who appeared disgusted by the quality of the food, and could be heard muttering the word “revolting” under her breath.

The food in her stomach, combined with the general exhaustion that seemed to be lingering over everyone, quickly sent Lisa off to sleep after her meal; the next thing she knew after draining the last of her orange juice was her mother shaking her arm gently.

“ Lisa. Lisa, wake up love. Lisa.”

She drifted back to consciousness very unwillingly: she had just been having a pleasant dream which involved her waking up on the very first morning of her journey only to discover that everything since – the war, the Legend, the Union – had itself been nothing but a ridiculous, horrible dream.

“ Mmmmmmph,” she groaned irritably.

“ It’s quarter to five, love,” came Mum’s soft voice, “ the helicopters are going to be here very shortly. I’m just waking you up so you can get ready. Dad and I are just going downstairs to pick up your pokémon and your backpack from the police, alright?”

“ Mmm hmm.”

As their footsteps faded into the background, Lisa opened her eyes and stared up bitterly at the wooden ceiling. Her dream had seemed so real. She had felt sure that when she awoke, it would be October again, she would never have heard of the Union and never encountered the Legendaries … she would still be home … Once again, Lisa felt the bitter truth sear her insides: there was no escape from this reality.

She lay still and silent in her bed for some time, listening to the beeps and whirrs of the makeshift ward. She heard Emma and the Matron bustling about from time to time but they did not notice she was awake, a fact she was glad of, as she didn’t think she really had the energy to make small talk.

Loud footsteps heralded her parents’ return to the ward: looking around, Lisa saw Mum holding a plastic bag containing five red-and-white pokéballs, while her father had her grubby backpack slung over his shoulder.

“ There you go, darling,” said Mum gently, handing the plastic shopping bag to Lisa as she sat up in her bed.

“ This thing could do with a wash,” added Dad, dropping the dirt-caked rucksack to the floor.

Lisa shrugged dismissively at him as she returned the five pokéballs to her belt.

“ Well, we need to get going, Lisa,” said Mum, patting her arm as she kissed her on the forehead. “ The helicopters are due soon. Your father and I have to go collect our own packs, then we’ll be waiting in the foyer for you, alright?”

Lisa nodded.

“ By the way,” added Mum, “ the owner of the inn wanted to have a word with you. Something to do with the contest. He’s down in the foyer too, I think.”

“ Be careful, don’t tell him anything about the Guard,” growled Dad sternly. “ We’ll see you in a few minutes.” They left.

Lisa found suddenly that she wasn’t very curious as to what Paddy wanted to see her about. Yesterday, perhaps, she might have been excited at the idea of winning the contest’s first prize – after all, the buggy was what she and Gavin had entered the contest for in the first place – but it didn’t matter very much to her anymore. They’d found – and now, lost – the professor; they didn’t need to go to Dervine anymore. Even though Lisa was sure she and Gavin had managed to reach the summit of Mt Fairfax first, in light of what had taken place since then, it was a very hollow achievement.

There was a sudden cough from a bed to her left – a cough she had heard enough times to recognise in an instant. Her heart leapt; before she knew what she was doing she had slid out of bed and shuffled across to the bed in which Gavin lay.

His bloodshot eyes were open, a scratched, damaged-looking hand held over his mouth as he coughed. He was still covered, almost from head to toe, in thick bandages: only his face and hands had escaped last night’s ordeal with minimal damage. When he saw Lisa standing before him, a lopsided smile broke out over his face.

“ Thank God you’re OK.”

Lisa sank onto the foot of his bed and grinned back. “ Thank God you’re OK, you mean. I thought the Union were going to – you know …”

“ Me too,” croaked Gavin. “ After what they’ve done to me before …” He rubbed the scar on his cheek. “ I didn’t think I was going to make it out of there.”

“ We both did … it’s just so lucky.”

Gavin looked like he was about to say something, but as he so often did, he shut his mouth without divulging what was on his mind. “ So – what happened last night?”

For some reason Lisa found it very easy to rehash the entire story to Gavin. She explained her side of what had happened in the main battle on the plateau – how she had fought, seen a man die, and saved Gavin and the others from the incoming bomb thrown by the Union. She explained how she had seen the Union’s ranks being commanded by Joseph Sterling. She told of the journey into the Sepulchre she had taken with Veronica, the Union agent, and of what lay within. When she came to the next morning, Lisa was very blunt: she told Gavin almost in bullet points about her parents and the Guard, about Lance’s involvement, and Marina and Darius; about the Legend, how it affected her, and finally, about the new war.

Gavin was clearly affected by all this information, but he seemed, like Lisa, to have run out of shock for today. He merely nodded solemnly at the news and said nothing – it looked like he couldn’t find anything adequate to say at all.

Presently, a distant whirring sound began to tug at Lisa’s ears. It was coming from the open sliding door at the end of the ward and it seemed to be coming ever closer. She had a strong hunch as to what it was.

“ Hang on a sec, Gavin.”

She shuffled over to the door and pulled it open. It led out onto a small wooden balcony which overlooked the verdant grounds at the back of the inn, and beyond them, the tall, proud peaks of the Fairfax Ranges. Between two of the tallest peaks to the west, silhouetted against the burning orange-yellow orb that was the setting sun, were two tiny specks of black. Lisa stepped out onto the balcony. Leaning against the balustrade, she squinted into the distance, trying to ascertain what the objects were. The buzzing noise grew louder and the flying objects became larger, more visible, until Lisa was sure of what they were: the two medivac helicopters, approaching fast to take her and the other patients to safety in Redwood City Hospital.

Lisa closed her eyes and felt the cool, pine-tinged mountain breeze blow across her skin. She opened her eyes again and surveyed the world before her: green, sloping lawns below; a bubbling, crystal-clear mountain stream to the right of the grounds; the jagged, rocky outcrops of the upper reaches of Mt Fairfax; the awesome beauty of the sunset. She felt a serene smile emerge on her lips. Some of the worst things in her life had happened in this place; she had suffered more terribly here than anywhere else. Yet, basked in the sun’s golden rays, it was still a place of peace and beauty: gazing out over the mountains, there was no sign that such violence had occurred here less than twenty-four hours ago. It was as though nature had found her own way to heal the scars of battle.

Lisa returned to the ward a moment later, the pure scent of pine and fresh water still lingering with her.

“ Well?” said Gavin. “ What is it?”

“ Helicopters,” explained Lisa. “ They’re taking me to the hospital in Redwood City for treatment. I suppose you’ll be coming too.”

Gavin nodded slowly.

They sat in silence for a few seconds. Lisa knew she had to go, that Paddy and her parents would be waiting for her in the foyer, but she felt that something needed to be said.

Gavin beat her to it.

“ We never thought it would end up like this, did we,” he said, and it wasn’t a question. “ We started off like normal people, normal kids, with simple ideas. We just wanted to be pokémon trainers. But now stuff’s happened and it’s changed it all.”

Lisa smiled at the fact that he felt the same way, but she had never been less humoured in her life.

“ I know,” she said sadly.

She touched each of the five pokéballs on her belt silently, a lump growing in her throat. It had been a longstanding dream of hers to be a pokémon trainer. She had worked towards it, lived for it, really, for four months. But she realised now that the outbreak of war, and her involvement in it, spelt the end of those innocent dreams she had cradled for so long. She could keep her pokémon still, she could train them for the rest of her life, but never again could she identify herself as Lisa Walters, pokémon trainer. She was changed now. For better or worse, she was more than she had been before, more than she had wanted to be. She was no longer an innocent adventurer: she had become a fighter.

“ I’ve got to go, Gavin,” she said abruptly. She knew she couldn’t stay any longer – she had matters to attend to.

He seemed to understand. “ I’ll see you in Redwood, then?”

“ If we’re not on the same chopper, yeah.” Their eyes locked and they shook hands. “ We’ve got so much more to talk about.”

“ Yeah,” Gavin agreed.

“ You can be on the same helicopter if you want!”

Lisa and Gavin both turned around; Emma stood beside them, an earnest expression on her face.

“ I’m going with one helicopter, and Matron’s going in the other one with the last of the patients. I can get both of you onto mine, if you like!” She held out a clipboard and pointed to the middle section of a complicated-looking form. “ Just write your names in there.”

They didn’t have to be asked twice: Lisa scribbled her name down quickly, and Gavin followed suit.

“ I’ll see you both on the helicopter, then!” said Lisa swiftly, slinging her backpack onto her back and heading for the door. The buzzing of rotor blades was closer than ever now, and she still had to find Paddy.

The man in question was down in the foyer of the inn, serving frantically at the bar, which was still packed with an assortment of policemen, Guard members and ex-contestants. Lisa looked briefly at the long queue for drinks before she decided to take a short cut: she ducked behind the counter to where a red-faced Paddy was pouring pints of beer.

He looked bewildered when he saw her.

“ You sent for me?” Lisa asked.

“ Oh, yes, thank goodness you’re here!” he cried, slamming two pints onto the bar before hauling a large metal screen down over the counter and locking it. “ No drinks for five minutes!” He bellowed to a throng of angry people. “ I need a break!”

The cries of indignation followed them as Paddy led Lisa to a small table in the corner. A boy and girl were already sitting at the table. When Lisa arrived, they looked pleasantly surprised.

“ Lisa! You’re alright!”

It was Daniel and Nova, fellow ex-contestants who had escaped the Union’s clutches last night. They had saved Lisa from death at the hands of a Union agent on the plateau, and she had saved their’s from the bomb thrown by the Union.

“ Hi guys,” Lisa said blankly.

They quickly relayed stories before a bemused Paddy. Lisa launched into a heavily edited version of her story: The Union knocked her out. When she awoke, she was in a cave and the entire Union army was assembled there. A battle broke out soon after and she was rescued. She couldn’t see any reason in delving into the truth about the Guard or the Legend with Nova and Daniel, nor did she have the time – the buzzing of the helicopters was growing even louder. It turned out that Daniel and Nova had a similar experience to her: After the bomb exploded on the plateau, smoke and dust had been thrown up everywhere. They’d lost each other and tried to escape in the chaos that ensued, but the Union closed in on them and stunned them, as they had tried to do with Lisa. The next thing they knew, policemen were untying them in the tunnel that led to the big cavern.

Daniel had just finished his tale when there was a sudden, very loud chopping noise that reverberated through the entire inn: it seemed the helicopters had finally landed.

Lisa spun round to Paddy.

“ I have to go on those helicopters,” she said. “ Would you be able to hurry?”

“ This would have only taken a second if you hadn’t all wanted to gasbag!” protested Paddy vehemently.

He pulled a small velvet bag from his coat pocket and placed it on the table before them.

“ What happened last night was terrible, traumatic,” he said quickly, “ but no militaristic siege is going to stop me declaring winners for my very first Fairfax Contest!”

Lisa jiggled on the spot. Hurry up!

“ Now, the attendants for the contest told me that you, Lisa, and your friend Gavin, and Daniel and Nova were the only people to pass the final checkpoint and reach the summit of Mt Fairfax. Unfortunately, the first prize for the contest, the new Solara Buggy, was set alight by the Union in their attack last night!” He frowned. “ Which leaves only second and third prizes available. Now, I don’t have a means through which to verify who arrived first, so I will let you choose between yourselves.”

With that, he pulled loosened the cord around the top of the velvet bag and tipped the contents onto the table. Four small items fell out: two were identical, platinum-coated, state-of-the-art pokédexes; another was a blue and silver pokéball; the fourth, a tiny glass bottle filled with a purple liquid.

“ Second prize is a two-of-a-kind, luxury new pokédex each; the Dive Ball and Max Repel go together as third prize.”

Lisa eyed off the pokédex. In the background she could hear her father calling out for her above the roar of the nearby helicopters; there was simply not a second left to waste.

“ Oh, Daniel, the pokédexes would be SO cool!” gushed Nova enthusiastically. “ That is, if you don’t want them, Lisa.”

“ Fine, take them!” Lisa bellowed frantically; she grabbed at the Dive Ball and Max Repel and shoved them into her backpack. She gabbled a hasty thankyou to Paddy, who looked taken aback, and rapidly scribbled down her email address for Daniel and Nova so that they could keep in touch. Then, she was sprinting – away from the contestants, away from the bar … Mum and Dad were standing by the door, looking frantic. When they saw her, they each grabbed one of her arms and hauled her out into the grounds, in the middle of which were stationed the two helicopters.

It was obvious that the choppers were not going to linger: one had clearly already been loaded up with patients and was preparing to take off. The second still had its doors wide open: a medic was pushing Gavin through on a stretcher; Emma stood just inside the helicopter, clutching her clipboard tightly as her auburn hair flew around wildly in the eddies caused by the rotor blades.

“ Oh, thank God!” she nearly screamed when Lisa and her parents appeared by the entrance. “ Get in, quickly, we need to go!”

Lisa wasn’t quite so sure why there had been such a rush until she and her parents were safely in the cabin, the door had been slammed shut and they had begun to lift off. Through the wide glass window at the side of the cabin she could see a throng of reporters and cameramen descending down the slope from the inn, cameras and microphones held aloft as they ran, as though they expected the vehicle to wait for them.

Lisa turned away from the window. “ I wonder why there’s so many jour–” she began to her parents, before she fell silent in total shock.

Dad, Mum, Emma, Gavin, one of the co-pilots and three other medics were staring, transfixed, at a stretcher that had been tucked away in a safe position just inside the door.

It contained not a patient but a silent black body bag.

A square of white paper taped to the end of the stretcher bleakly proclaimed:

Victim: Professor Samuel Oak.

Time of Death: 4.30 am, 06/03/2003.

Cause of Death: Stabbing.

Lisa stared in numb silence, like all the others present, at the body bag in the cabin beside them. The man within was the man she had been looking for; the man who had given her answers; the man who had bravely fought against – and died at the hands of – the Union. Yet, in the presence of the dead Samuel Oak, Lisa found that she did not feel as shocked as she ought to have.

Something in her heart had hardened. And something in her brain had made her recognise the brutal reality.

This was war. And in any war, there were invariably casualties. Some were knowing soldiers, willing to put their life on the line for the cause they believed in. Some were innocents, cruelly caught in the crossfire of something beyond them. But there were always casualties, and Professor Oak was merely the first of what she knew would one day become many.

And as Lisa Walters reconciled herself with the dark truth of her changed world, the helicopter rose sharply through the air and began its fierce flight away from Mt Fairfax, and into the burnt red light of the setting sun.

END OF BOOK II

[mr_pikachu]

Ah, the end of Book II! Good to see it here at last. ^_^

Y'know, this was admittedly a filler, since all that happened was that we bridged the gap from the hospital awakening to the end of Lisa's stay. Still, it was good to see Lisa and Gavin (somewhat) okay and able to talk again. Gavin's right; when they began their journeys as Pokemon trainers, they never could've expected this. Good use of their respective disappointments in what their lives have now become.

Maybe I've just come to expect too much from you - that's out of the deep respect I have for your writing, by the way - but this didn't really seem strong enough for this book's conclusion. I'm not sure whether it was because this was a filler, or because it was much shorter than the previous chapter, or because there was some vague weakness in the writing style, but it just seemed weak considering its importance in this epic.

I had a few grammar things to mention, but I think the bigger concern is the strength of this chapter. It seemed a little short, and I thought more could've been made of certain moments. (For instance, I couldn't help but think of the memorable premonition from LVH that was used to such great effect when I saw the part about Lisa's wishful dream. I think that could've been expanded and utilized further.) It just seemed like it could've had a little more.

But still, this was a strong chapter, way better than I would expect from many other writers, myself included. The scene with Paddy was effective, as we really got the full sense of franticness, and it was fairly sobering to see Oak at the end. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing what you've prepared for Book III! See you then!

[Gavin Luper]

Hey everyone!

Master Kirby: Hi again. Thanks for the reply; I'm glad you thought this chapter fitted into the scheme of things, I certainly hoped it would be viewed as such. Thanks very, very much for your continued readership - hearing that people have enjoyed the chapters makes it very rewarding to still be writing LTL after so long. I'll keep churning out the best chapters I can so that, hopefully, we'll all still be under 50 by the time I finish Book III. Oh, and one more thing, I sometimes wonder if you might possess some kind of psychic ability ...

Sike Saner: ^^ G'day! Thanks for reading - I'm impressed that it only took you sixteen hours (Only?!) to read the whole fic, I know it would take me much longer than that to wade through all those chapters! I'm glad you like this, especially that you like the deeper twists the plot has taken as well as it's light moments - thanks for the comments on Lunanine and Issechu, too. There's going to be at least one new original pokémon coming up in Book III, hopefully you like that one as well! Hope to see you next chapter!

Everyone: Well, I'm pretty stoked at the moment. The results for the 2007 Silver Pencil Awards were just announced and Lisa the Legend took home an astounding EIGHT awards, thus earning me the Awards Award as well! The awards LTL won were:

- Best Fiction Overall
- Best Action
- Best Plot
- Most Suspenseful Moment (The Beginning of the War)
- Most Emotional Moment (Ryan and Maria revealing the Truth)
- Best Chapter (Chapter 58 – Behind the Glass)
- Best Character in a Leading Role (Lisa Walters)
- Best Villain (Joseph Sterling)

Thanks muchly to everyone who nominated and/or voted for me and LTL in the awards! I'm very grateful.



Now for a progress update: The next chapter is coming along well! I've pretty much finished it, it just needs a few things altered and a couple of problems ironed out before it's ready to post. Shouldn't be too much longer now.

On a side note, I remember someone asking a while back who was on Gavin's team now, as there have been a few changes in the past. Seeing as smilies are enabled now that we're back on the vB (though only 10 per post), I thought I'd list which pokémon are known to be on the main characters' teams as of the end of Book II to make it clear - so here goes:

Lisa Walters:
Aipom, male
Vulpix, female
Electabuzz, male
Dratini, male
Fiskmire, male [original]

Gavin Luper:
Natu, male
Skarmory, male
Seel, male
Girafury, male [original]
Staryu [Temporarily stored with Walters family.]
Lanturn, male, green [Temporarily stored with Walters family.]
Ditto [Temporarily given to Wesley Walters.]

Marina Frost:
Golduck, male
Tentacraw, male [original]
Mudkip, male
Starmie
Kingler, male
Bayleef, "Herby", female

Darius Hudson:
Dragonair, male
Stantler, male

Wesley Walters:
Omanyte
Ditto [Temporarily given to him from Gavin.]

Jean Walters:
Bulbasaur, male

I could go on ... but it would take too long; those characters should do for the time being. I hope that clears things up!

I also have a contents page that I'm still working on: titles have never been my strong point, so it might take some time before I settle on a title for each of the three books of LTL.

*phew* That was a long post ... Anyway, Chapter 60 coming soon!

Cheers!

- Gavin.

[Gavin Luper]

G'day!

Here's Chapter 60, the beginning of Revelation, the third and final book of Lisa the Legend.

NB: The chapter title used to be 'Redwood City Blues', influenced by the Blondie song 'Union City Blue', because it seemed to fit at the time; but as I keep planning, it jars uncomfortably with the mood of the rest of the fic. So it's been renamed.

I hope you enjoy the new chapter!

Cheers!

Lisa the Legend III: Revelation.

Chapter 60 – Letters.


The Richardson Ward of Redwood District Hospital had always been a place for strict routines. It was the ward designated exclusively for the care of long-term patients, and many of them liked to see a semblance of order and functionality about the place. Each morning, just as the sun crept over the low eastern hills, the kitchen ladies would bustle about the eight rooms of the ward, doling out cold toast and asking whether patients would prefer Weet-Bix or All-Bran. Each afternoon, right on one o’clock, the attending doctors could be seen gliding down the halls efficiently, slipping into each room for a minute or two and re-emerging with a sharp tap on their clipboards and a frown or a faint smile, depending on the progress of their patient. Each night, just as twilight descended upon Redwood City, a nurse would come around to the rooms to close the curtains for each patient.

Each night, without fail, seven of the patients would kindly thank the nurse and settle themselves in for a peaceful, secure night’s sleep.

And each night, without fail, the eighth patient would wait until the nurse had left the room before tossing back her covers, hobbling to her window and throwing it open again, sure that if she did not at least taste the outside world she would suffocate.

This patient was known under a number of guises by the hospital staff. The accounting staff knew her simply as patient number 03/09557. The kitchen ladies knew her as Room Four on Level Three. The attending doctors knew her as ‘the lung infection in 301-4’. Even the nurses, though they knew her real name, were more likely to refer to her amongst themselves as ‘that rude so-and-so’ or ‘that poor girl’, depending on their sentiments towards her. It was only the newest nurse of all, a young woman by the name of Emma Reid, who referred to the patient by name.

“ … so everything looks perfect, Lisa. Your phlegm is back to normal colour and your cough sounds much better. You’ll definitely be all right to leave tomorrow morning. Lisa? Lisa, are you even listening to me?”

Lisa Walters jerked her head up and glanced at her red-faced friend. Her mind had been a thousand miles away; she had been staring wistfully through the open window, down to the sweet-smelling gardens below, wishing she could leap outside and lay on the rolling lawns in the last rays of the sun. She had barely even noticed Emma enter the room, checking her specimen sample and altering dials on the bedside apparatus.

“Sorry Em, I was thinking … what’d you say?”

Emma put her hands on her hips and shook her head. A few weeks of working in a high-grade hospital had brought out her stricter side; it seemed to take her a second to overcome the urge to scold Lisa for her rudeness. “I said your phlegm is fine. There’s no sign of infection anymore.” A warm smile broke out over her freckled face. “You’re going home tomorrow!”

Out of this damn place at last!, thought Lisa. But for some reason she couldn’t get herself excited about the prospect of finally leaving the hospital. There had been so many false alarms over the past three weeks, so many delays and setbacks, that she no longer let herself become buoyed by the hope of leaving. When I’m actually outside the doors – THEN I’ll be excited.

She forced a smile for Emma. “Cool. Can’t wait.”

The auburn-haired nurse looked incredulous. “Um … calm yourself down, Lisa!” she said sardonically. She raised an eyebrow inquisitively. “Come on, you whinge to me every day how much you hate being here. You can’t pretend you’re not excited to be getting away at last!”

“If they actually let me leave tomorrow,” Lisa muttered. “If they don’t discover something else wrong with me that they need to keep me here for – again.”

Emma shrugged and rolled her eyes; she had heard Lisa’s laments many times before. “Well, whatever, Lisa. I’m not official – one of the doctors is doing rounds in about half an hour, and he or she will tell you for sure whether you’re going to be discharged. But there’s no way they can keep you here another day, you’re fine. At ten o’clock tomorrow morning you’ll be walking out those glass doors, I guarantee it.” She knelt down to adjust a lower setting on the piece of equipment by the bed. “Anyway, did your parents visit today?”

Lisa coughed. “Not today, no. Tom and Miki came but. And my friend Marina – remember, you met her last week?”

“Blue-hair-girl?”

“That’s her.”

“Right.” Emma returned to her feet and brushed her hands off. “How was your tea tonight?”

“Bleh. OK. Corned beef. It tasted like nothing. Still, better than actually having nothing.”

Emma laughed. “Well, I’m done here, Lisa.” She moved over to the window and pulled the glass panel down. “Anything else I can do for you?”

Lisa eyed the window longingly. “Um, actually, yeah. Could you leave the window open for me? I’m a bit warm, that’s all,” she lied. Though she and Emma had grown fairly close over the past weeks, she didn’t want to tell the truth about why she needed the window open at night.

Emma grinned and reopened the window. “Sure, no worries. Just remember to close it before you go to sleep, you know how people are with security at the moment.” She put on a serious voice and quoted one of the posters that had been put up all around the hospital. “All windows must be locked at night. Nobody should be in the grounds after dusk.” She frowned. “The worst thing is, they’re not overreacting … but on the third floor you should be pretty safe …” She trailed off. “Okay, I’m off, Leese. I’ll see you before you leave tomorrow, my shift starts at six. Have a good night, ay?”

“You too, Emma. Night.”

The door clicked shut behind Emma. Lisa listened out intently, her ears now well trained for hearing the disappearing footsteps of the nurses. When she was sure Emma had left the corridor, she threw the bedclothes back and crept toward the open window.

A cool autumn breeze ruffled the maroon velveteen curtains. Lisa stood at the window and placed her hands down on the wooden pane. The rush of fresh air in her face was like a drink of water on a hot summer’s day. She closed her eyes and felt her worries begin to slide away, felt her heart rate slow down to normal. She could smell something different on the air tonight, something mingled amid the strong honey scent of the golden wattles in the hospital gardens. It took her a few sniffs to realise what she could smell: it was the dewy scent of approaching rain.

She opened her eyes to inspect the world beyond the window. As always, the northern half of Redwood City was sprawled before her: a beautiful maze of tree-lined avenues and stately red brick houses. A prominent steeple in the centre of town indicated St Mark’s Cathedral; beside that lay the crystalline meanders of the Acacia River. Lisa thought this was the first big city she had seen that could rival Ecruteak in terms of beauty.

Hanging above the city, illuminated by the pinkish-blue haze of twilight, was a mess of ominous-looking clouds that did, indeed, promise rain on the horizon. Even as Lisa stood at the window, she heard a rumble or two in the sky above; barely five minutes later the first heavy drops of rain began to fall, spattering the window pane and the maroon curtains with water. She scowled at the sky before drawing the window closed in a huff.

She collapsed backwards on her bed and sighed. Just a few minutes each day, was that so much to ask? It felt like the world had been conspiring against her ever since she first set foot in the wretched place, a little over three weeks ago. As she, Gavin and the other patients had been wheeled down from the helipad, Emma had explained quite clearly that Lisa would only be kept in the hospital a few days, a week at the most. The bullet would be removed from her back immediately in a quick procedure and she would spend a few days recovering before going home. The operation itself went smoothly: Lisa had been under anaesthetic at the time and of course, remembered nothing of the operation other than a groggy, giddy sensation. But a whole host of complications had arisen post-surgery. It transpired that in the surgeon’s rush to treat all the victims of Mt Fairfax he had stitched up the wound quickly and poorly, and it had become infected, forcing Lisa to stay in the hospital for another week. Just as it seemed she was finally about to leave, the cough that had plagued her during her stay in hospital deteriorated into a lung infection, apparently as a direct result of smoke inhalation whilst she was down in the Sepulchre of Entei. It was then that she had been transferred to the Richardson Ward, where she had now spent more than a week.

As much as she hated being cooped up in her hospital bed, Lisa had to admit there were a few advantages to staying in the Richardson Ward. For one thing, it certainly had made her stay more comfortable: she had a soft bed, a colour television and the thing she most valued, her own space and privacy. The wards downstairs were white and cramped and there were constant battles with other patients to turn the volume on their television down. Here, as confined as it still was, Lisa at least had a bit of space to call her own – and she had certainly made the most of it.

She sat up on her bed and gazed around her room. It had a lived-in feel that Lisa didn’t think many hospital rooms had. The nightstand was cluttered with a mess of gifts – flowers, cards and the like – Lisa had received for her 15th birthday, which had been earlier in the week. Many of the cards and flowers, though, were accompanied not by birthday wishes but messages of ‘get well soon’, from the huge number of people who had come to see Lisa while she was in hospital. Not only did her parents drop by every second day, but also Tom, Miki, Wesley and Jean, as well as Daniel and Nova, and Lance and Darius and Azura and Marina – followed by members of the Guard Lisa barely knew, such as Jim Donovan and Derek, who she had met on Mt Fairfax, and Natalie, the woman Lisa had shared a ward with after the Union’s attack. At first Lisa had found all the attention stifling, and she grew resentful of having to retell her story time and again when she was so sick of hearing it herself. But as the weeks dragged on and the visitors slowed to a trickle, she began to despise the isolation of her hospital room. She felt her heart leap whenever one of her friends came by to wish her well. And the time between visits seemed to stretch forever – gaping chasms of loneliness where she would lay by herself, staring blankly at the television or curled up in an effort to get to sleep, so that she could dream of a world where she was not caught up in a war.

Even thinking of the war caused a whole torrent of emotions to pour over her. Fear, hopelessness, anger, terror, despair, detachment. They all blended into a horrible cocktail of cold, prickly discomfort; and the more time she spent alone, the more time she had to bathe in the horridness of it all.

It was three weeks into the war and the news was all bad. Not a single glimmer of hope had made itself known to the Guard. Not a single step of progress had been made. Lisa glanced across the room at the bench that ran the length of the far wall opposite her bed. It was almost hidden beneath the piles of old newspapers that her visitors had brought to keep her updated. With each day that passed, the war had gone from bad to worse. A glance at the headlines was all it took: March 7 – “Prof Oak Among Mountain Victims.” March 9 – “Govt Declares War on Terrorist Organisation.” March 10 – “Six Die in Hospital Attack.” March 11 – “Army To Guard All Public Institutions.” March 13 – “Battle Tower Destroyed, Union Claims Responsibility.” March 17 – “13 Dead as Army Counterattack Goes Awry.” March 25 – “18 Dead, 44 Injured in Goldenrod Bombs.” March 26 – “State of Emergency Declared Across Johto.”

Lisa stared emptily at the ceiling. The declaration of a state of emergency had come only two days ago. She hadn’t noticed much of a change at the hospital, but she had never really found the hospital to bear much resemblance to normal society. Hospitals across the province had already been given soldiers to guard them after the Union attacked Olivine’s hospital, killing six people; according to Lisa’s father, several convalescing Guard members had been targeted and killed in the attack. So for Lisa, the presence of khaki-clad soldiers patrolling the hospital was nothing new; the stories she heard from the others, however, suggested more widespread changes were taking place beyond Redwood District Hospital.

“We can’t visit you at night anymore,” Lisa’s mother had explained on Wednesday afternoon. “The Prime Minister declared a temporary state of emergency because of the Union’s attacks, and part of that is a curfew. We all have to be off the streets by eight o’clock. We’ll try to see you in the mornings instead, alright love?”

It scared Lisa how much the world had changed in the space of three short weeks. She couldn’t get her mind around the fact that the Union had wreaked so much havoc and caused such a powerful response from the government. She hadn’t heard of a ‘state of emergency’ before, but from her father’s explanations it sounded almost as scary as the threat posed by the Union themselves.

Perhaps the worst part about the state-of-emergency decree was that all non-Government approved associations had to be disbanded immediately. Dad had explained that that obviously included the Guard, and since Lance and the others had no intention of ever dissolving the Guard or giving up on their war against the Union, that meant all members of the Guard were now considered law-breakers. Lance had met with the Prime Minister’s secretary the day he declared war on the Union and tried to explain that the Guard and the government were fighting for the same thing, but to no avail. The government wanted things done their own way. They saw the Guard as an irritation, a distraction, because they had their own clandestine agenda in their pursuit of the Seven Keys. In the end, nothing had been resolved. Dad said that if the government caught a Guard member they would still imprison them for breaking the law, even though they were fighting on the same side. The whole thing made Lisa’s blood boil, but there was nothing she could do about it sitting around in her hospital room, which made her all the more frustrated with the world.

Two things had been getting her through the days. One was the time she spent alone by her open window at twilight, breathing in the cool night air and watching the beauty of the sunset. The second was her correspondence with Gavin.

He had been in the Richardson Ward since the first day they arrived in Redwood. He had suffered some internal bleeding as well as mild burns and the doctors already knew it would take him a long time to recover. When Lisa moved into the same ward she had made one disastrous attempt to visit him in room seven, three doors away, but the attending doctor had caught her out within seconds: the patients weren’t supposed to leave their rooms unless escorted by a hospital staff member.

They had instead resorted to letters to one another, delivered by their faithful pokémon, usually Natu, who could teleport from room to room, or Aipom, who was the fastest runner. Not a day passed when they didn’t write to each other. Aside from their first letters to each other, in which they had both admitted to feeling terribly lonely, worried and, in Gavin’s words, “like shit”, they had been remarkably upbeat letters. As much as she could find empathy with Darius and Marina, Lisa found that Gavin was the only one who had been through as much as she had in regards to the Union and the Legendaries – and that somehow pulled them much closer than before. Lisa knew that Gavin, like her, didn’t want to keep talking about the Legend and the war. Their letters were a little escape from what the world was becoming. They chatted about basketball and the latest trashy reality TV show that Gavin had seen that day, and how their pokémon were coping with being cooped up so much, and how bored they were, and how crap the hospital food was, and how one of the night nurses looked remarkably like Supernanny.

It was now, as Lisa lay listlessly on her bed, staring at the white ceiling and listening to the sharp rapping of the rain against the window, that she thought of writing to Gavin. With a great deal of effort she hauled herself up off the bed and plodded over to the bench. Clearing away a few old newspapers, she found a pen and the last sheet of paper she had swiped from the nurses’ station, tore it in half and began to write:

Hey Luper,

How was your day today? Did you watch Survivor: Orange Islands? I can’t believe Elaina broke the alliance, of all the people to do it! You always said she would betray them but I never believed you, spose you watch it more than I do … Anyway, I had a couple of visitors today, Marina dropped off The Lost Umbrellas’ new album, which is really really good, she lent me her discman so I could listen to it. ‘All Over’ and ‘Smoke and Fire’ and the best songs, if you want I can give the CD to you before I leave tomorrow, that is if you like that kind of music. Tom and Miki came around too, I think that thing you and me talked about might be true, but they didn’t announce anything, so I dunno. She does look a bit bigger though. Anyway, Emma was here a while ago and she told me I’m definite to go tomorrow, so hooray for that! IF I actually get out of here this time, that is … but I’m really hoping I do now. I don’t care if it’s raining tomorrow I just wanna get to the safe house that everyone keeps telling me about. Marina said it’s kind of rural which makes me think it’s huge, but Mum and Dad won’t tell me anything until we go there tomorrow. Ah well. I’ve only got this half a sheet left and I’ve almost run out of room now, stupid me for writing so big. Write back straightaway!

Lisa the Legend.

Lisa gave a devilish grin as she signed the note. She and Gavin had been signing their letters like that almost since they began. It had been Gavin who started it, mostly because of his own ego, she thought. He had seen a basketball game on TV, one of the finals between the Goldenrod Redbacks and the Cianwood Sharks, in which one of the players had pulled off an astounding three-pointer. The commentators went on and on about how great it was; Gavin had spent the next three letters trying to convince Lisa he had performed exactly the same shot thousands of times before, and it had earned him the name ‘The Great One’ with his school friends at the time. Lisa refused to believe him, saying that he was nothing special at basketball and she had much more experience, resulting in a series of fervent letters between them for a few days. Though they had both tired of the discussion long ago, Gavin still signed every letter as ‘Gavin the Great’.

Lisa mulled over her choice of name. A Legend was certainly superior to a Great. That would definitely be enough to get under Gavin’s skin. Besides, it seemed to have a bit of a ring to it.

She folded the letter in half; now for the tricky part. It was always easier when Gavin sent Natu with a letter, because they could teleport letters back and forth without being noticed by the nurses. But when she wanted to begin a correspondence she needed to send Aipom to venture forth into the hall, and that always posed a risk that they might be caught out.

“Go Aipom,” she said softly, once she had located Aipom’s pokéball beneath the pile of newspapers. The ball burst open and her purple, monkey-like pokémon bounced out, looking ecstatic to have been released from his cramped home.

“Ai ai ai ai pom!” he bellowed loudly.

“Ssssssssh!” hissed Lisa. “It’s night time, you moron! You have to be quiet!”

Aipom regarded her dubiously before fixing her with a very reproving glare. “Ai pom ai ai pom!” he said, a little more softly but with just as much indignation.

Lisa always found it odd when she met trainers who claimed they could understand every word their pokémon uttered to them, because she only heard a haphazard string of the syllables of her pokémons own name thrown at her. She was experienced at reading her pokémon’s body language and tone, not their actual words. Sure, she understood what he meant with short responses, when it came to simple things like ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘hungry’, ‘in pain’ and the like, but complex messages had never been her thing.

Now, however, she thought she understood completely for the first time what one of her pokémon was saying to her. Aipom was yelling at her for keeping him cooped up for so long. But he was also angry that the other four pokémon – his friends – were scarcely being released at all, only once a day for feeding.

“You’re right,” said Lisa, when he finished his rant. She felt a little shocked and wondered how she could possibly have neglected her pokémon for so long. Her mind had been solely on her welfare, how hard her life was at the moment; she had been so absorbed in her own misery that she hadn’t stopped to think her pokémon might also be affected by the great battle they bore witness to. “I’m really sorry. I know how all that feels, I really do.”

Aipom surveyed her closely. “ Ai?”

“Yeah, I’ve been stuck here for three weeks, haven’t I? I didn’t care for you guys like I should have been, and I’m sorry. Look, we’re getting out of here tomorrow anyway … from then on I’ll be taking care of you like I used to, OK?”

Aipom smiled in a way that Lisa had never seen before – he was being sympathetic. “Leeeeesa …” he cooed softly.

Lisa rubbed his head affectionately. “Thanks, Aipom. Now, the reason I actually got you out wasn’t to have a deep and meaningful, I’m afraid …”

A minute later, Aipom was crouching by the slightly open door, letter to Gavin grasped in his peculiar tail. Lisa could see shadows passing by in the corridor. He waited for about five minutes until the coast was clear, before nipping around the edge of the door and disappearing in a streak of purple.

And now I wait. Lisa didn’t think Aipom would be back very quickly. Gavin always seemed to take an age to write a response, even when Lisa instructed him to write back instantly; plus, there was always the chance that there would be too many nurses around in the corridor for Aipom to make his way safely back for some time.

Lisa took a hopeful glance toward the window but rain was still fiercely pelting against it. She drew the curtains dismally and fell back on her bed once again, to stare at the ceiling.

After nine days in room four of the Richardson Ward, Lisa knew the fine details of the ceiling like Gavin knew each and every contestant on Survivor. She knew that from one wall to the other there were exactly two hundred and eighty four lines running parallel to the wall and five hundred and twelve between the other two walls. She knew exactly where Fiskmire had been sitting when she gave him too much diet coke because there was now a small patch of brown by the air conditioning duct. And she also knew exactly where to look to find her unauthorised roommate: a small, unkillable black spider.

The spider had been there since Lisa was first shuffled into the room. It always appeared in the same place, creeping silently out from a crack in the cornice before merrily making a web in the apparent hope of catching a fly. Lisa had never been a fan of spiders, but after leaping through not one but two webs of agitated Spinarak, they didn’t bother her quite as much as they used to; plus, she didn’t mind having a form of company with her during the lonely days in the hospital. For this reason, she never asked the nurses to get rid of her eight-legged roommate.

She had discovered, though, that they didn’t need asking. A spider signified a lack of perfect standards in their hospital’s hygiene. Every time one of the nurses or doctors caught sight of the black spider they would invariably leap up on one of the guest chairs, reach out with any weapon they could find and try to squash their quarry. Interestingly, the spider had bested them for a good nine days: every time someone tried to kill it, it would hastily retreat into it’s safe little nook and wait there in hiding for a few hours before gingerly stepping out once more.

Now she found her friend perched on his long web, not too far from the diet coke stain. The nurses had left him alone for a couple of days now, maybe because they hadn’t noticed him or maybe because they had finally given up. Either way, the spider seemed to have become quite emboldened by this; he was now sitting out quite a long way from his home in the cornice, drawing in a recently-caught fly and probably, Lisa thought, feeling quite relieved to no longer be under constant attack.

The door creaked suddenly and she sat upright. A second later, Aipom scampered into the room, grinning and gambolling about the place, clearly enjoying being outside of his pokéball – but he carried no letter.

“What’s going on?” asked Lisa bemusedly. “Didn’t Gavin –”

She was cut off mid-sentence: there was an enormous flash of purple light in mid-air before her. As Lisa’s eyes recovered from the brightness she realised that a small, green-plumed bird had just appeared in the room, clutching a note in its beak.

“Natu!” she said. “That took me completely by surprise – I was expecting Aipom to deliver the letter.”

“Tuuuu,” cooed Natu jovially, fluttering over to Lisa’s shoulder and rubbing up against it. When Lisa had stroked him a few times, he opened his beak and she took the small piece of paper within:

Hey Lisa,

Elaina’s been angry at Steve and the girls since they took her make-up stash away, everyone knows that. It was a matter of time before she broke their pact. Hope she goes next time. As for The Lost Umbrellas, of course I’ll listen to it! Alternative girly rock is better than the crap they play on the hospital radio channel - a bunch of old people discussing gardening and playing the greatest hits of 1874! Drop it off to me before you leave tomorrow. And yeah, you WILL be leaving tomorrow. Emma told me you’re definitely going cause they have someone else coming in to take your room and everything. Yay for you, sucks for me, cause now I won’t have anyone to write to. I get another week watching my brain slowly disintegrate from lack of stimulation, hooray! Tom and Miki came to see me again today, too. I reckon she is, you can tell just looking at her, plus I think that might be why they put the wedding back. They’ll tell us anyway eventually, if it’s true. Anyway, I did sweet fuck all today – just for a change – let the pokémon out for a while this morning before the nurses came in – Natu and Girafury are fine, Seel, Staryu, Skarmory and that BLOODY Lanturn are getting pretty aggro. Lanturn tried to kill me again. Other than that, same old same old – watched CSI: Celadon this arvo, total crap compared to the original. But hey, what do I know, I watch Survivor!

By the way – ‘Lisa the Legend’, are you kidding me? At least ‘Gavin the Great’ is accurate. The last time we played I flogged you, Miss-I-Can’t-Help-It-I-Keep-Travelling-By-Accident. Try again next time.

Gavin the GreatEST!

PS: Call me ‘Luper’ again and I’ll break your CDs.

PPS: Make sure you come and see me tomorrow morning, I have to talk to you about something.

Lisa finished the letter with a flutter of surprise. What did Gavin have to say to her that he couldn’t say in a letter? It would be just like him to say something ridiculous like, “Lisa the Loser is more like it!” before dissolving into peals of laughter. But, then again, Lisa had never really been able to pick Gavin’s moods. He could be light-hearted and jovial one minute and become serious and surly the next, especially since his uncle died. He might really have something serious to talk about – but what on earth could it be?

She didn’t get a chance to think it through much further. There was a brisk, forceful knock at the door and an efficient voice said, “Evening rounds!”

Lisa heard the door creak open as one of the night nurses entered. There was a radiant flash of bluish light and Natu teleported back to Gavin’s room; Aipom leapt courageously from the foot of the bed to the ground and swiftly rolled beneath the mattress.

A doctor wearing a white coat strode in, clutching a silver chart.

“Good evening, Miss Walters,” she said briskly, placing the chart neatly on the foot of the bed and unfurling a stethoscope from around her neck.

“Evening, Doctor Rogers,” said Lisa with forced politeness; she didn’t really like Doctor Rogers. She had been the doctor who caught Lisa out in her botched attempt to visit Gavin and ever since then she had been less than cordial toward Lisa. Lisa didn’t really have much time for her, either: even if they hadn’t had their altercation, she doubted they would have got along well – Doctor Rogers was a picky creature, with a thousand opinions and a sharp nose that reminded Lisa of a Murkrow.

Doctor Rogers got straight down to business. After five minutes of prodding and poking Lisa’s tongue, checking her lungs with her stethoscope and scribbling away on her chart, she nodded satisfactorily. “Hmmm. Well, it looks like your lungs have finally cleared up. There’s no sign of any infection now, although it would have cleared up much earlier if you had stayed away from the dairy products like you had been instructed to.” Lisa scowled openly – she had eaten a chocolate bar given her by Marina a few days ago and Doctor Rogers had caught her; she had mentioned it at every check-up since. “Nonetheless, we don’t need you here any longer, you’d just be taking up space.”

Lisa ignored her. The doctor flipped a few pages on her silver chart and, unexpectedly, held it out toward Lisa.

“What?” she asked rudely.

Doctor Rogers looked down her pointy nose reprovingly. “You need to sign this discharge form,” she said crisply, brandishing a pen impatiently before Lisa’s eyes. “You sign in this box here – your parents can countersign tomorrow morning when they pick you up. I’ve already signed it.”

Lisa took the chart and pen and signed the box in mild amazement. This had never happened before. “So I’m really going?”

Doctor Rogers scrutinised the form closely. “Your ‘W’ went outside the box … Yes, of course you’re going!”

Lisa had heard this all before, from Emma and Gavin, but somehow it had much more weight now that she had actually signed the discharge papers. A forgotten feeling fluttered gingerly back into her heart.

Doctor Rogers tapped her chart. “Well, that’s all, Miss Walters. You will need to clean this room up before you leave, though; it’s a pigsty. Good eve-” She stopped short suddenly and pursed her lips. Her eyes were fixed at a point on the ceiling, close to the air conditioning duct. “That rotten creature!”

Lisa cast her eyes up to the ceiling. Her eight-legged friend was dangling from his web, apparently unaware of his approaching enemy. Doctor Rogers removed her flat, mannish shoe and stepped up onto one of the bedside chairs. Come on, Lisa willed her roommate.

Doctor Rogers held out the sole of her shoe and swiped at the ceiling; there was a loud SMACK. She removed the shoe, a satisfied look on her face, only to see the spider scuttling frantically along his web, back to the dark nook in the wall. Screwing her face up in annoyance, she tried again and again – smack, smack, smack – but each time the spider ducked, weaved and scrambled away from his enemy. At last, the arachnid slipped skilfully into the narrow crack in the cornice, back to his home and safety.

Red-faced and panting, Doctor Rogers returned to the ground and slipped her shoe back on furiously.

Lisa couldn’t help but laugh in her face.

[mr_pikachu]

All right, it's up! Excellent!

Well, I've already given most of my comments, although I noticed you've made some small changes since then. Loved the extra description of Dr. Rogers; that part seems a little more complete now. Also, I think the ending was a little more suitable for the tone of the chapter. The original just didn't fit the lighthearted mood quite as well.

There were some small grammatical things and an occasional missing word (I wasn't aware that there was such a noun as "a deep and meaningful"), but nothing too serious. The one aesthetic point that I will comment on was the use of the word "law-breakers" when describing the Guard, as that's fairly roundabout compared to simply saying "criminals." Just a thought.

All in all, I thought this was quite strong, and the way you ended Book II is a bit easier to understand now. I was also slightly pleased to see that you kept Lisa's self-proclaimed title - I don't think that causes too much of a problem even with Ho-oh's words at the end of Book I, so it looks nice. This was a nice chapter and a good way to calm things down so that the coming plotlines will be all the more intense.

That's all I have to say, so I'll just look forward to Chapter 61. See you then!

[Master Kirby]

So, you think I'm psychic? Reading that made me laugh. I guess I was right about the "One month later" thing, though that was just an example of one of the possible scenarios that I saw. One thing that you don't need to be psychic to predict is that you'd win a few awards in the Silver Pencil. Congratulations. That wasn't a small list of awards.

You certainly put a lot of time and work into this story. As I have been reading this chapter, I've noticed how rich the description is and how well you are able to get us to feel what the characters are feeling. When Lisa went to the window and stood, taking in the feel and scent of the wind, it felt so peaceful. I could easily imagine being there, looking out over her shoulder taking in the sights of the city as the rain began to fall.

[Sike Saner]

YAY, SPIDER! =D

I love spiders, and Lisa’s little roommate reawakened fond memories of the “pet” spider I used to have, a little black-and-white, fuzzy thing I named ‘Freak’. He (she?) hung out on the ceiling and ate pesky mosquitoes for me. ^^

Man…having had to stay in the hospital for longer than Lisa had expected—and even during her birthday, what’s more—that certainly had to suck for her. I hope I’m never in the hospital during my birthday—it’s bad enough that flu season seems to like to coincide with Christmas and New Year’s… X.x

And Doctor Rogers made me laugh, especially when it was mentioned that she has “mannish” shoes. XD What a delightfully unpleasant creature she is.

I’ll be back for the next chapter, of course. ^^ Before I go, here’s a couple of little excerpts from the latest chapter that I’d like to highlight:

She opened her eyes to inspect the world beyond the window. As always, the northern half of Redwood City was sprawled before her: a beautiful maze of tree-lined avenues and stately red brick houses. A prominent steeple in the centre of town indicated St Mark’s Cathedral; beside that lay the crystalline meanders of the Acacia River. Lisa thought this was the first big city she had seen that could rival Ecruteak in terms of beauty.

I just thought that was a particularly bit of description there. I especially like the phrase “crystalline meanders”. ^^

PS: Call me ‘Luper’ again and I’ll break your CDs.

That got quite a laugh out of me. XD

[Gavin Luper]

Hi everyone.

This was initially intended to be a relatively short chapter, but it ended up being fairly decent in length. I'm not finished the whole 'planning stage' for the book yet, but I'm getting closer, and this chapter hopefully will tide you over for a bit.

I didn't like this chapter when I wrote it, but in hindsight I find it a bit more pleasant. Don't be fooled by appearances, this chapter is very important. There's also a subtle tie-in to Chapter 12, but I think it's so obscure I'd probably be the only one who notices it.

Anyway - I don't want to waffle. Here's Chapter 61. Please enjoy, and please give me your comments and feedback! Especially for this chapter, because I'm not sure if the intensity and emotion of it will be well received or not.

Oh, and I'm reasonably sure 'unquashably' isn't a real word, but that's never stopped me before.

Cheers!

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

Chapter 61 – The Promise.


After a red-faced Doctor Rogers stalked out of Lisa’s room, muttering murderously about the falling standards of the hospital, Lisa found herself, once again, alone. The visit from Emma, and the ensuing debacle with Doctor Rogers and the spider, had been a welcome distraction from an otherwise mundane day. Indeed, Lisa had briefly forgotten how much she hated her hospital room.

But now, as she stared blankly at the white walls of her wretched room, Lisa felt the usual cloud of lethargy sweep over her. It was the same every night. As soon as she was left alone, in the isolation and sterility of her room, her mood plummeted quite uncharacteristically. Lisa found it impossible to resist her turbulent emotions; it was as though she were being forcibly dragged into a black hole.

She shivered slightly and drew her covers more tightly around her chest. It was an unusually cold night: the storm that was now shaking the windowpanes had evidently brought with it a fierce autumn chill. Lisa rummaged in the top drawer of her bedside table and found the tiny remote control provided by the hospital; she switched the light off and lay quite still in her bed, listening to the roar of the rain pelting the side of the building. In the past, she had always loved drifting off to sleep while listening to the rain pattering against the windows, but tonight, for the first time she could recall, she found it distracting. The events on Mt Fairfax had wrought quite a change on her sleeping habits. When once she had been able to fall asleep almost the instant her head hit the pillow, she was now quite accustomed to laying awake for two or even three hours, lost in thought.

Lisa knew this was unusual for her, because she had never considered herself an introspective person by any means. Yet each night she found herself troubled by thoughts, thoughts that trapped and took hold of her just as irresistibly as her down moods.

She could never escape her own thoughts, and tonight was no exception. Lisa found herself tossing and turning in bed, frustrated by her thoughts. Thoughts of the war, which still confused and frightened her; thoughts of the Legend, which still seemed overwhelming and which she had not been able to speak of since the conversation with her parents at the Fairfax Inn; thoughts of the Guard, and what they might be up to; thoughts of Gavin and his strange letter; thoughts of her parents, her brothers and sister, her grandmother, her family and her friends …

And, most unquashably of all, thoughts about what was going to happen to her when she re-entered the world outside the Richardson Ward in the morning.

Lisa fluffed up her pillow for the umpteenth time and threw her head against it with unnecessary violence. What was going to happen after she was discharged tomorrow? Lisa hated herself for posing the question, but she could not help but wonder. Her parents had remained tight-lipped about their plans, other than to say they would be taking her to a safe house. But what then? Was she going to be hidden away from the Union and the rest of the world, just like now, while her parents and the Guard waged a dangerous and shadowy war? Or could it be that she, too, would be made to help the Guard fulfil the Legend, and even fight against the Union again?

Lisa didn’t know which option scared her more.

She rolled onto her other side with a restless grunt. Her worries and fears played over and over in her mind, and as much as she hated laying in bed, stuck in a spiral of misery, she did not think she had the energy anymore to pull herself out of it.

*

Lisa did not feel any better the following morning. She had not fallen asleep until almost midnight, and was woken quite abruptly at seven-thirty when the kitchen lady hammered on the door to announce the arrival of her breakfast. She spent five minutes staring emptily at her bowl of corn flakes before she could bother herself to actually pick up the spoon and begin eating.

What the hell is wrong with me? Lisa found herself wondering as she forced down a second mouthful of cereal. The black hole that had sucked her in last night seemed to have followed her through her string of bad dreams and flashbacks and into the morning.

She pushed the food tray away from her bed and fell back against her pillows miserably. This wasn’t her. She should have been excited about leaving hospital. She should have been curious to see what Marina and Darius and the Guard were doing at the safe house. She should have been inventing new theories as to what Gavin wanted to talk to her about. But she didn’t care about any of those things. She didn’t think it made much of a difference anymore whether she left hospital or stayed right where she was.

She glanced outside the window and saw nothing to brighten her spirits. The sky was a swirl of sombre grey clouds; rain was still spattering against the glass.

Lisa turned away from the window and gazed despondently at the collection of birthday cards and photo frames on the bedside table. One particular photograph caught her eye: a snapshot of her with her mother, her father, Wesley, Jean, Tom, Miki and Nanna, all seated around a wooden table on the patio at Lisa’s house. Marina had taken the photo last Christmas. Lisa examined the picture closely. There she was, grinning broadly, one arm around her younger brother, the other around her elderly grandmother’s shoulders. Even back then, thought Lisa, she had been through quite a lot – yet she was still smiling, and not falsely. She had never been so affected by her experiences before, yet now, she felt like an emotional mess.

But why?

Lisa knew there was an answer, and she knew there was a person in the hospital – a trained professional – who would be able to give it to her. There was a youth psychologist situated on the second floor, a woman named Doctor Tanner, whose assistance had been offered to Lisa from the moment she was wheeled into Redwood Hospital.

Actually, thought Lisa seriously, it had not been so much offered as pushed upon her. Her parents had insisted that Lisa attend regular counselling sessions with Doctor Tanner. After everything that had happened to her, before and during the siege on Mt Fairfax – not to mention her shock at discovering the truth about her parents and the Legend – they believed she would need to sort through everything with an expert. Within herself, Lisa knew they were right. She knew, even if she couldn’t say it aloud, that she had needed to talk to someone like Doctor Tanner for a very long time. And yet when the opportunity finally arose for her to discuss her problems with a psychologist, she had baulked. No matter how much Mum and Dad pressed that she would probably need counselling, Lisa suddenly felt repulsed by the idea of disgorging her innermost thoughts to a stranger. She had never been able to tell her parents, or Gavin, even, the extent of her fears and worries; the closest she had come was in her short discussion with Darius at the Fairfax Inn. So she had vehemently refused to see Doctor Tanner, and after a mere few days, her parents stopped trying to make her. Lisa wondered if this was because they still felt bad about the shock they had given her on Mt Fairfax, and were trying to keep the fragile relationship between them happy. Whatever the case, Lisa had squirmed out of visiting any kind of counsellor, knowing all along that that was what she needed most, and with every lonely, miserable day she spent in the Richardson Ward, she found herself regretting it …

Lisa stared restlessly at the ceiling. She wanted to find some hidden source of power within herself, something that would enable her to throw off her depression and push past her terrible memories. She actually screwed her face up in concentration, thinking that maybe if she focused enough, she could resolve everything. If she could make herself believe that everything was alright, then she would be … she had to be …

Lisa could never be quite sure of what happened next. She had her eyes screwed shut, willing herself to feel better, when a blinding pain shot through the back of her head. At first she thought it was a one-off, but a second, then a third, flash of pain struck her within a few seconds …

And then she collapsed. The fear and weariness suddenly bore down on her, an enormous tidal wave of terror crashing down and drowning out every ounce of control and composure she had ever possessed. She was shaking, completely uncontrollably – the pain in the back of her head gave way to a sudden, agonising tightness in her chest. She could not breathe, her stomach was churning … She put her hands over her face and screamed, but silently; no noise escaped her mouth.

Eventually she heard, as though she had gone nearly deaf, a muffled cry of someone else in the room, though the words were incomprehensible and meaningless. Someone touched her arm but Lisa could not see who. There were more cries, this time more audible … then suddenly the pain in her chest lessened slightly, and she found that she was no longer shaking, though she was still gasping for air which seemed as though it would never come.

“Doctor Rogers is on her way,” said one of the voices around Lisa. Her vision was still strangely blurred; she could only make out a vague reddish blur.

A few seconds passed. Lisa finally felt like she was getting some air into her lungs; she was taking in deep, grateful gulps of oxygen. She suddenly realised that she was soaked in her own sweat.

“What happened?” a loud, commanding voice rang out suddenly, and this time Lisa heard – and saw – quite clearly. Doctor Rogers had burst into the room, her grey hair flying behind her as she broke through a cluster of three or four nurses standing around the bed.

“I came in to check on her and she was just shaking and gasping for breath,” said one of the nurses.

“How badly was she shaking?” asked Doctor Rogers. “She doesn’t have any history of epilepsy.”

“We don’t think she was fitting – we thought it might be a panic attack.”

“Hmm. Well, that wouldn’t altogether surprise me. She’s broken out in a sweat, too … and it seems like she’s recovering herself a bit now.” Doctor Rogers moved in closer, placing a hand on Lisa’s shoulder and meeting her eye with a face full of compassion. “Lisa, can you hear me properly now?”

“Yes,” said Lisa, but it took her three tries to actually produce any noise, and when she did, her voice was wispy and faint.

“Tell me what happened.”

Lisa hesitated, then suddenly found that she no longer cared what people knew about her feelings.

“I got scared. I just felt it all build up – I felt like everything was coming down on me at once and I couldn’t stop it. It was so s-scary.” She choked slightly and then the tears began to flow rapidly.

“You’re alright, Lisa. But what happened to you physically? I need you to tell me.”

“I just – I started shaking. Just out of nowhere. I don’t even know why, but I couldn’t help it. And my head hurt, and my chest too – it was really tight, like I couldn’t breathe anymore. I didn’t know what was happening – I thought I was –”

But she couldn’t say it. Doctor Rogers, however, nodded sagely.

“You’re safe, Lisa, and everything is fine. We’re going to make sure you’re okay. There’s nothing to worry about and no reason to be scared.” She patted Lisa on the shoulder warmly, and Lisa felt her feelings about Doctor Rogers melt away completely. “It sounds to me like you had a panic attack,” the woman said, “and if you ask me, it’s no wonder.”

She turned to one of the nurses assembled around the bedside. “Ashley, please go down to Doctor Tanner’s office and inform her that Miss Walters is in need of her services.” One of the nurses disappeared immediately. “Bridget, Joanne – thank you, but this situation is now under control.” Two other nurses dispersed. “Emma, I believe you are on good terms with Miss Walters – I’d like you to stay here with her until Doctor Tanner arrives.”

“Of course I will,” said Emma quickly. Lisa saw that she was very pale.

Doctor Rogers turned back to Lisa and gave her a kind smile. “You’re not the first person to be overwhelmed by what they are feeling, Lisa. It’s an entirely natural response, and personally, I think in your case it is slightly overdue. Doctor Tanner will be in shortly, I hope, to help you.”

“To help me,” repeated Lisa faintly. “That’s good. Thank you.”

Doctor Rogers winked at her and left.

Lisa looked around her room vaguely. She felt dazed by what had just happened, and also rather spent. She made eye contact with Emma, who gave her a mild smile before moving closer to Lisa’s bed and holding her hand firmly.

They waited for about five minutes before there came a knock at the door.

“Come in,” said Emma.

The door swung open and a tall, grey-haired woman swept into the room. Unlike Doctor Rogers, she carried a simple handbag and wore casual clothes – a crisp white blouse with a gold pin on it and a conservative grey skirt. Her steel-coloured hair was pulled back into a rather old-fashioned ponytail, and there was something about her face – perhaps her hard, yet kind, blue eyes, or the absence of any make-up, which made her look very sensible.

“Hello,” she said, in a surprisingly soft voice, “I’m Doctor Tanner, and you must be Lisa Walters.”

“Yes, that’s me,” said Lisa, still in her small voice.

“It’s a pleasure,” said Doctor Tanner. She looked expectantly at Emma, who was still holding Lisa’s hand comfortingly. “Will you be staying during our talk?” she asked simply.

“No, sorry, I’ll go,” said Emma. She looked Lisa in the eye before squeezing her hand firmly and striding from the room, pulling the door shut behind her.

“Well, Lisa, I thought I might not get to meet you before you left the hospital,” said Doctor Tanner lightly, approaching her and proffering her hand; Lisa shook it and was surprised at the psychologist’s strong grip. “Your parents had you booked in for several appointments, but they explained to me that you didn’t want to talk about what you had been through.” She caught Lisa’s eye directly, and Lisa squirmed slightly. “You should know that this is a very common response, especially in younger people like yourself,” she said kindly.

She took a seat on the end of Lisa’s mattress and smiled; Lisa managed a feeble smile in return.

“However, according to Doctor Rogers, you have just had what appeared to be a ‘panic attack’, as they are sometimes called. Could you describe to me what happened?”

Lisa proceeded to do so.

“And how are you feeling now?” probed Doctor Tanner.

“Sweaty. And tired.”

Doctor Tanner nodded, apparently satisfied. “It certainly sounds as though you had some kind of panic attack. This is often a natural response to a traumatic event, such as what happened to you a few weeks ago at Mt Fairfax, but taken out of context. It is your body’s way of telling you that it needs to escape something.”

“OK,” said Lisa, by way of quiet acknowledgement. “So how do you fix it?”

Doctor Tanner smiled once more. “Panic attacks do not necessarily need to be fixed. You have never had a panic attack before, have you?”

Lisa shook her head.

“If these attacks occur regularly, they can often be representative of some kind of anxiety disorder,” explained Doctor Tanner. “But I think, in your case, Lisa, that this is the manifestation of the terror you felt during your ordeal. It is something like a latent response to what has already happened. Do you follow me, Lisa?”

“I think so,” replied Lisa. “So there isn’t really anything you can do?”

“It’s more a case of there isn’t a need to do anything, at least at this stage,” said Doctor Tanner. “This may well be, as I said, a natural response that you will simply push through and recover from. However,” she said, clasping her hands in her lap, “I believe it would be beneficial for you to talk a bit with me, even if you still don’t feel like it. You might feel strange discussing your feelings with me – that is entirely normal, for we all feel protective of our personal information – but it would be a very good idea to do so. To get that burden off your chest might just make you feel better. What do you think?”

Lisa did not hesitate. “I want to talk it over. I think I need to,” she said very quickly.

Doctor Tanner nodded knowingly. “Yes, I think you need to too.”

“But you have some – some kind of oath, don’t you?” asked Lisa. “You can’t tell anyone what I say to you, right?”

Doctor Tanner leaned forward seriously. “There is confidentiality between a psychologist and patient, that is true,” she said, “but as you are still underage, your parents will need to be informed – at least, in short – of what we discuss.”

“But you can’t tell anyone else, right?”

“It would be ethically and legally wrong for me to divulge anything you tell me to anyone other than your parents, unless demanded by a judge. So, no, Lisa, I can’t tell anyone else. You can speak freely to me.”

Lisa felt herself relax very slightly.

“So, now, Lisa, your parents informed me about some of what you had been through, and it doesn’t surprise me that you might be feeling overwhelmed. Shall we begin at the beginning, then?” She pulled out a notepad and pen from her handbag. “I believe you were one of the only survivors of the Radio Tower collapse in Goldenrod City last year …”

Once Lisa began talking, she found that she was unable to stop. Doctor Tanner asked enough questions to keep her going, but she also paused respectfully while Lisa told her story. Often Lisa was surprised to hear some things coming out of her mouth – it felt strange to divulge feelings that she had so successfully kept to herself since October or November. At some points, she even found herself breaking down while explaining certain events, even if she had not cried at all when the events had actually taken place. Doctor Tanner was comforting, though never mawkish, and she did not try to do anything as silly as hugging Lisa, which Lisa felt extremely grateful for. She continued on with her story – navigating through the months of December, January, February, and finally, March. Doctor Tanner was extremely patient, and though she asked Lisa how she felt about almost everything, not once did Lisa grow tired of the question; she felt compelled to keep talking, compelled to keep expelling her deeply repressed feelings until she could feel them no longer.

When they finally reached the present, and Lisa had finished explaining, at length, how terrible she had been feeling during her time in hospital, Doctor Tanner said, “And how do you feel now, that you have told me all of this?”

Lisa dabbed at her eyes with her umpteenth tissue; a pile of dirty tissues lay in her lap. “So much better,” she croaked, a stray tear leaking from her eye.

Doctor Tanner gave her another of her very sincere smiles and proceeded to explain what she thought about Lisa’s feelings, that she thought her courage to maintain a strong face had been admirable, but misguided.

“You might have felt slightly less overwhelmed if you had allowed yourself to go through the natural emotional processes associated with trauma,” she said, not unkindly, “but nonetheless, there is no changing the past; what matters is that now you have been able to talk everything through with me, you have been able to spill it all out, and also hear my view. Talking about things is an essential part of dealing with them and moving on.”

Lisa nodded from behind her tissue. She felt slightly exhausted, but she could not deny the sense of relief that had come over her during her talk with Doctor Tanner.

“Now,” said Doctor Tanner, “I understand that you are due to be leaving us this morning?”

Lisa pulled the tissue away from her face. “I can still go then?” she said abruptly. “You aren’t going to keep me here after what happened?”

Doctor Tanner looked politely surprised. “Well, not unless you particularly want to stay. As I said, there is not much that can be done to treat a single panic attack. If you ever have any more, which I somewhat doubt, you should probably contact me again, but aside from feeling a bit tired, you are as healthy as you were when you signed the discharge form last night.”

Lisa’s heart rose. She saw, on her bedside clock, that it was now nine-thirty – she must have been with Doctor Tanner for at least an hour and a half.

Doctor Tanner seemed to notice her checking the time. “Your parents will be here in half an hour, I believe?” she said gently. “You must be excited to be going back home.”

“I am,” said Lisa. And she finally was. Though, she reminded herself, she would not be going back to her real home.

“Well, unless there is anything else you want to discuss with me, I shall let you get ready,” said Doctor Tanner politely.

“I think – I think we covered everything,” said Lisa promptly, and they both managed a quiet chuckle. “Thank you.”

“You are quite welcome. Well then, I shall go,” said Doctor Tanner simply. “I hope I have been of some help to you, Lisa – it certainly looks like I have. You look much happier already. I must remind you, though, that very often, when you are recovering from a traumatic event – or a series of them – the road to convalescence is not straightforward. You may continue to have bad dreams and you will still feel the way you do – but with time, and love from your family, and some strength, I think you will slowly find yourself improving.”

“OK,” said Lisa. She could think of nothing else to say.

“Here is my card,” added Doctor Tanner, leaving one on the bedside table. “You can reach either myself or my secretary with those phone numbers. If you ever need to discuss something with me – if you ever find yourself overwhelmed again – do not hesitate to call me. I am always available to help. Although I have to say, Lisa, it would not surprise me if you now feel like you have the tools you need to cope. For all you have been through, you are quite an extraordinary young woman. Don’t forget that.”

Lisa nodded solemnly, slightly taken aback. Doctor Tanner shook her hand pleasantly, smiled kindly at her one more time and left.

Lisa cleared the tissues off her covers and lay down in her bed again. She knew she ought to clean her room and get ready for her parents’ imminent arrival, but she really did feel quite exhausted. She snuggled into her mattress, listening to the rain pattering against the windows. Suddenly she found the constant pitter-patter quite pleasant and relaxing again …

Her eyes had surely been closed for only a second when there was a sudden flash of light that she could sense even with her eyes closed. She looked around to see a green, nearly spherical bird-like creature flapping its wings above her.

“Natu?” Lisa muttered in surprise, before she remembered – she was supposed to go and see Gavin!

“Tu tu!” declared Natu thickly, fluttering down to land on Lisa’s stomach, his sharp talons tearing clean through the flimsy sheet. A folded piece of paper was held in his beak.

Lisa briefly considered ignoring Natu and going back to sleep, but her sense of loyalty to Gavin overcame her fatigue. She took the letter from Natu’s beak and read it quickly:

Oi, are you coming or what? I want to hear that CD.

- Gavin.

“Typical,” Lisa said aloud. Gavin was too macho to admit to her twice that he wanted to talk something over with her. Natu looked confused. “Tell him he’ll have to wait. I’m tired,” said Lisa, as slowly and clearly as she could.

Natu hooted softly and remained perched on her stomach.

“Ugh,” sighed Lisa. Natu probably wouldn’t leave without taking a letter back to Gavin. She flipped Gavin’s note over and looked around the bedside table for a pen. Nothing. She leaned over, almost tumbling out of bed, to check the drawers. Nothing at all. She knew there was a pen in her backpack, but that was across the room – and if she was going to get up to get a pen she might as well get up to see Gavin.

“Argh, fine,” she groaned, throwing back her covers grumpily; Natu took flight in astonishment. “Are you happy now, stupid bird? I’m up!”

With a considerable effort, she hauled herself out of bed. She discovered that her entire body was aching slightly, but other than that, there did not seem to be any lasting effects from the panic attack she had had earlier. Natu flew in circles around her head as Lisa changed out of her nightie and into a pair of jeans and her favourite jumper. She grabbed The Lost Umbrellas’ album from her bag with a wry smile. Then, with every fibre of her body aching to return to bed, she said to Natu, “Alright, let’s go.”

Maybe it was because of the conversation with Doctor Tanner, or maybe it was the knowledge that she would be leaving the hospital in less than an hour, but Lisa suddenly found that she didn’t care about whether or not one of the doctors caught her sneaking between the rooms. In fact, it seemed bizarre now that she had ever caved in so easily to the adults’ demands in the first place. She pulled the door open and, beckoning Natu to follow, strode brashly into the hallway.

It was completely empty. That figures, thought Lisa. I was too scared to ever do it again in case I got caught, but now that I finally try it it turns out there was nothing to worry about. Sighing at the strange way her fortunes had fallen, she walked briskly down the corridor until she reached – barely twenty metres away – a blue door with a small black ‘7’ affixed to it. She hesitated for a moment, stupidly, wondering what on earth Gavin wanted to say to her; then, suddenly, she heard a voice – one of the nurses was emerging into the corridor from another patient’s room. There was nothing for it: just as she saw a blur of auburn hair from the corner of her eyes, Lisa threw Gavin’s door open and swung it swiftly closed behind her.

And without meaning to, she gasped. Gavin was sitting in a white bed before her – but he did not look like the Gavin she knew. The first thing her eyes were drawn to was his hair – it was extremely short, almost shaved, and there was a large white bandage obscuring the top of his brow. But the thing that shocked her even more was how terribly thin he was: his cheeks looked hollow and his arms, previously strong and tanned, were pallid and weedy. The only good thing, it seemed, was that he was no longer covered in bandages.

“Hey,” Gavin said, his thin face lighting up at the sight of Lisa.

“Hey,” Lisa replied simply, unable to stop herself grinning back. Despite how bad Gavin looked, she felt suddenly excited to see him again.

For a second or two there was an awkward pause as they looked at each other, apparently both unsure of what to say, before Gavin said, “Sit down if you want,” indicating the chair beside his bed.

Lisa hastened to oblige. “Oh, I brought the CD,” she added, handing Gavin The Lost Umbrellas’ album as she settled into the plastic chair. Natu, meanwhile, fluttered excitedly onto Gavin’s bedside table, where he pecked at a small bowl of seeds Gavin had evidently left for him.

“Oh, right, cool,” said Gavin, in the slightly higher-pitched voice he used when he wanted to sound interested in something. “I heard it’s more rocky than their old stuff?”

“Yeah, well mostly – ‘Smoke and Fire’ is a pretty heavy song I suppose …”

As Gavin leisurely examined the back of the album cover, Lisa was silently fighting with herself. She supposed it was normal to make small talk with someone when you hadn’t seen them in a while – but this wasn’t just someone, it was Gavin! Never in Lisa’s memory had they been anything but blunt with each other, and she decided there was no reason why that should ever change.

“What’s the go with your hair then?”

Gavin whipped his head up abruptly, as though he had been nervously waiting for Lisa to speak. A lopsided grin came over his face. “You like it? I wanted to go for the whole tough, delinquent look.”

Lisa made sure he caught her rolling her eyes.

“They shaved it all off when they operated on me,” Gavin continued seriously, touching the bandage that still obscured his brow. “I had like ten stitches in there before, but then it got all infected, so it’s pretty gross to look at still.” He sounded slightly proud. “And what’s up with you – it looks like you had a sook or something?”

“What do you mean?” said Lisa – how could Gavin tell she had been crying? And then it struck her that her cheeks must still be tearstained.

Gavin confirmed this. “Your face looks – well – like you’ve been crying. And your eyes are red. Since when do you cry, seriously?”

“I had a panic attack,” Lisa countered.

Gavin’s eyes widened. Given how sunken his cheeks were, this gave the impression that his eyes were almost bulging out of his skull.

“Righto. You win then, I suppose,” he said eventually, catching her eye, and suddenly they both laughed. Being with Gavin again seemed to make it much easier to make light of things.

“So apart from that, then …” Gavin said, carefully skirting around the topic. “You’ve been good?”

“Well, yeah, more or less,” Lisa said. “I mean, hospital sucks, but you know that too.”

Gavin nodded at her fairly. “Yeah. God, has it been boring as batshit for you too?”

Lisa laughed. “Yes! If it wasn’t for your letters, I think I would’ve gone mental!”

She paused, wondering if she had gone too far by actually admitting aloud how much Gavin’s letters had meant to her – but, quite unexpectedly, Gavin said, “Me too. How stupid was it that they wouldn’t let us see each other? At least we could still talk about stuff though.”

“Mmmm,” said Lisa. “Speaking of talking about stuff – have they stopped feeding you or something?” The moment the words were out of her mouth she realised how terrible they sounded. “I mean … you look really skinny … what’s going on?” she amended, making sure to stress the concern in her voice.

Gavin didn’t look particularly fazed by what she said; he merely shrugged. “I dunno, when I was really sick I couldn’t eat a lot anyway. Then even when I started getting better, I didn’t feel like eating, it’s like I’ve lost my appetite or something. The nurse has to actually watch me and pretty much force-feed me my meals. I’m getting better though. You should’ve seen me a couple of weeks ago,” he added darkly. “I looked like a bloody skeleton or something.”

Lisa shuddered.

“But anyway, I’m getting better now, and hungrier. I ate all my Weet-Bix this morning!” he added, sounding like a proud six-year-old. “And now, it’s nearly ten, just about time for me to tune into Sleepless in Saffron. Wanna make fun of it with me?”

He grinned expectantly at Lisa, but she returned it only half-heartedly. Gavin raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“My parents are going to be here in a few minutes,” Lisa explained. “I don’t really have time to hang out or anything – I thought you wanted to talk to me about something.”

Gavin’s face plummeted at once. “Oh yeah. I forgot about that.” And, Lisa thought, he looked very unhappy about it, too.

There was a strange silence between them, broken only by the sound of Natu rummaging in his bowl for the best seeds. Lisa understood from the silence that Gavin was reluctant to talk; that he might even be regretting adding that postscript on his letter.

“Gavin – what did you want to talk about?” she said in cautious tones.

He directed his pale face away from her, apparently examining his bed sheets.

Lisa felt herself become slightly worried for him. “Come on, Gavin, it’s me – you can tell me anything –”

“No I can’t!”

He responded so quickly, and with such aggression in his voice, that Lisa actually jumped. Gavin was looking right at her now, his face indignant. Lisa did not want to say anything.

Then Gavin said, all at once, “I won’t be going back to the safe house with you.”

“What?” said Lisa in disbelief. “That’s crazy, of course you are. Why would you even say that?”

“Because I’m not going back with you,” Gavin repeated unhelpfully. His voice was slightly thick; it sounded as though his teeth were clenched. “You’re going back to the safe house because your parents are part of the Guard. In case you didn’t notice,” he added, and there was a sudden venom in his voice, “mine are dead.”

It never ceased to throw Lisa when Gavin brought up the fact that he was orphaned, and every time she felt a rush of guilt, as though she ought to have been more helpful to him. But what was she supposed to do when he never wanted to talk about it? And even if he did, what could she physically do? She was his friend, and her parents had always been kind to him and been more than happy to let him stay when he needed to – but what else did he expect her to do?

So she said, “I did notice. But I don’t – I don’t know why you’re saying this. I don’t understand, Gavin.”

Looking as though he was drawing from an almost dry reservoir of determination, Gavin continued. “You know how they died, right?”

Lisa felt the usual awkwardness of talking about Gavin’s family’s past. “Y-yeah … the great psychic being – or the Giant Gengar –”

“The great psychic legendary killed them,” Gavin finished, relieving Lisa of the necessity of remembering the exact details of what Gavin had told her so long ago. Then he said, “I’m pretty sure now – and I know we’ve kinda talked about this before – but … it has to be Lunanine, right?”

Lisa gave up trying to work out where Gavin was heading with this; she considered his question seriously. “Well, we never actually talked about it like it might have been the creature that killed your – you know …” She didn’t want to say it. “But it seems like it has to be Lunanine, doesn’t it? I used to think maybe it was Lugia. But – with Lunanine – I mean, the amount of times we’ve seen him …” She counted in her head. “Okay, so it’s been three times, but that’s more than just about anyone in history,” she said, recalling the research she had undertaken when creating Lunanine’s pokédex entry in November. “Gavin, what’s your point?”

He surveyed her intently. “So you agree that it’s probably Lunanine?”

“Yes, but –”

“I’m getting to it, Lisa,” he said abruptly. “You remember how my family’s curse works, right? You get your psychic powers. Then the psychic legendary – probably Lunanine – tests you. If you fail to defeat him you die. If you pass, then – well, I have no idea what happens, because nobody’s ever done that before.” He paused, apparently steeling himself for something; then he said, in a voice so rushed it sounded as if he was reading a list, “My Dad died when I was three. My Aunty died when I was nine. My Mum died eighteen months ago. My Uncle Eusine died in December.”

The way he listed the deaths of four of his family members so robotically raised goosebumps on Lisa’s arms.

“The beast moves on to the next Luper in line,” Gavin continued. “I realised, when my Uncle Eusine died, that I was next. But my psychic powers disappeared – they didn’t return to me until that night at the roadhouse, remember? Just before we walked to Mt Fairfax.”

“When you woke up screaming from that dream …” breathed Lisa, recalling the night after she and Gavin had rescued Marina from the Union.

“Right,” said Gavin, catching her eye. “I knew, then, that it was my time to do something. I thought to myself that night: ‘After we go to Dervine and find Professor Oak, I have to start preparing myself.’”

Lisa stared at him, bewildered and slightly afraid of the doggedness in his eyes. Suddenly she couldn’t help herself.

“Gavin, I still don’t see why any of this means you can’t come to the safe house with us!”

Gavin scratched behind his ear nervously. “I could come, Lisa,” he said slowly, “but I’m not going to. Don’t you get it? The Guard are taking you to the safe house because you’re a guardian. But I’m not! I’m part of a curse. And this is my chance to break it. I don’t want to die like my parents. I want to have a good shot at beating Lunanine. I’m going to train.”

And without waiting for Lisa to respond (she didn’t think she could find her tongue quickly enough, anyway), he said, “Once they discharge me, when I’m healthier and stronger, I’m going to make my way to Olivine City. I’ll take a boat across to Cianwood Island. There’s an old seer there who lives up in the Island’s wildlands. Apparently he might know something about how to harness your psychic powers.”

Lisa felt completely stunned. She could never have predicted this was what Gavin wanted to tell her. Rather than concern for him, however, she felt irrational anger bubbling within her. How could he just leave her like this?

“Couldn’t you train at the safe house?” she said very quietly.

Gavin sighed heavily. “Not really. Lance said I could …” He broke off temporarily as Lisa gaped at him in surprise. “Yeah, Lance came to visit me.”

“What did he say? What does he think about you doing this?” demanded Lisa.

“Actually, he visited me to tell me to do it. He didn’t know I was already planning it.”

“What?”

Gavin nodded seriously. “He said that my connection with Lunanine was important to the Guard.”

Lisa’s jaw dropped slightly lower. Gavin pushed on.

“Apparently my family’s curse is somehow tied in with the Legend. So Lance wants me to train myself and prepare. He’s the one who gave me the lead about the Seer. He’s going to get someone to help me on my journey and stuff, someone from the Guard.”

“How –” Lisa struggled to find the right question to ask, for it seemed that scores of them were springing into life within her brain. “How are you – connected to the Legend?”

Gavin looked away from her again. “Lance has some ideas, but he said I’m not allowed to tell anyone, not even you.”

Lisa was not particularly hurt by this; the idea that Gavin was not going to come to the safe house with her had cut much deeper. She had somehow – naively – always assumed that Gavin would be there by her side. They had travelled together for so long, and experienced so much side-by-side, that she somehow had not foreseen a future without Gavin around her. She wanted to yell and rage and sob all at once.

“So, what, we’re just not going to see each other again then?” she said sorely.

Gavin was looking determinedly out the window. “Don’t be stupid.”

Lisa scowled at him behind his back. “What does that mean?”

“Well, of course we’ll see each other again!” cried Gavin hotly, still averting his eyes; Natu raised his head, bemused by his master’s raised voice. “Lance said I can come to the safe house when my training’s done.”

“And when will that be?” demanded Lisa.

“How am I meant to know? A few months maybe, I dunno.”

Lisa felt tears spring to her eyes and blinked them away rapidly, glad that Gavin was looking everywhere but at her.

“Well, I’ll see you then I suppose,” she said suddenly, standing up. “My parents will be waiting for me.”

“What?!” cried Gavin, finally whirling around to face her. Lisa had turned and was half way to the door when Gavin shouted, “PLEASE, LISA, DON’T GO!”

It was the desperation in his voice that made Lisa stop.

“Please, just wait a minute, don’t leave it like this,” said Gavin quietly.

Lisa turned around on the spot very slowly and locked eyes with the boy she knew was her best friend. And without meaning to, she rushed to his bed and threw her arms around his shoulders.

“Be careful, alright? Just be careful,” she whispered into Gavin’s ear, as he entwined his skinny arms around her.

“So you’re OK with me going?” he replied in a muffled voice.

Lisa squeezed him more tightly. “No. I hate you for going. I can’t believe this is even happening. I can’t believe you’re going to leave me. As selfish as that sounds. But I know that’s what you’re going to do anyway, and I can’t stand in the way of that. So I have to let you go, don’t I?”

She blinked. She hadn’t known she felt that way until the words escaped her mouth.

“I’m pretty scared,” said Gavin.

“I’m petrified,” Lisa replied, still embracing him.

“Can I ask you something?” came Gavin’s voice, very close to Lisa’s left ear. “If something does happen to me – can you make sure everything’s sorted out? Like … I dunno how these things are worked out, but if I don’t come back from Cianwood Island, if the Union gets me, or Lunanine … would you take care of things for me? Would you take care of my pokémon and everything? I don’t have any family left now to do that for me, you know. And you’re my best friend.”

Lisa could not believe her ears. The revelation that Gavin worried about such morbid things completely threw her, and for the first time in her life she fully comprehended how alone he was in the world. Her heart filled with pity and compassion.

“Gavin, of course I would. Gavin, I’ll always – I’ll always be here for you. I'll always be your friend.”

And, almost unconsciously, she kissed him on the cheek and tasted a salty tear rolling down it.

Gavin breathed in sharply, as though he had been caught out doing something terribly unmanly. But all he said was, in a deep and raw voice, “Will you really?”

“Of course I will, Gavin. I promise.”

[mr_pikachu]

Huh. So the duo's finally splitting up, huh? It is hard to be believe, after all this time. The odds are definitely against Gavin in his mission, but something tells me that Lisa's path isn't going to be any easier. Odd to see this much emotion from our two leads; you're right that they usually put on a brave face. Very unique chapter, to be sure.

I really liked the descriptions in this chapter. You did a good job of conveying the paralysis, pain and confusion of a panic attack, I thought. And Gavin's physical description was also top-notch. Even though referencing a skeleton is a little cliche for being malnourished, it worked quite well. And I was glad you tied in the spider scene from the last chapter, as that was a useful reminder of where we were in the plot.

To be perfectly honest, though, this chapter seemed a little off-kilter. I think it was the amount of characters who were, as the saying goes, "out of character." Or rather, the fact that they were out of character without a clear reason. Lisa seemed to be well enough in previous chapters, at least emotionally, then suddenly she broke down and has an outright panic attack. Doctor Rogers' change of heart also seemed very unusual; it wasn't just the fact that she cared for Lisa after the attack, but the manner in which she did it (like the friendly wink). Considering that we haven't seen Gavin since he entered the hospital, his changes didn't seem quite so awkward. But the other two...

It was still a good chapter; between the touching moments, the solid descriptions, and the plot twist at the end, it was certainly very eventful and exciting. But I do wish that we had been given some prior context for some of the character changes we encountered this time. Maybe it's just me, but that seemed to be rather unlike your normal work. Hmm.

Anyway, I'll see you for chapter 62, Gavin!

[mistysakura]

Yay new chapter. I kinda agree with Brian here; Lisa going emo did seem a bit sudden. It makes perfect sense that she needs to confront her feelings after all this time, but I thought it could have been portrayed more gradually. She's more or less fine in Chapter 60, then at the start of Chapter 61 she's totally different. It's not like much time elapsed either. But the description of Lisa's emotions would have worked really well had there been some signs in Chapter 60.

I thoguht the panic attack was portrayed well (not that I'd know), and the session with Dr. Tanner was believable. I was snickering at Dr. Tanner continually asking her how she felt about things, which probably wasn't the reaction you were after, but it's good that Lisa feels a lot better (and strangely enough, I can see her spilling everything out to a stranger once she gets started; it's just that normally she wouldn't feel comfortable starting, like you said).

I really liked the scene with Gavin. 'Gavin was too macho to admit to her twice that he wanted to talk something over with her' made me laugh, but anyway. Gavin's brooding seems a lot more in-character just because he's been changing ever since he escaped the Union. And he's definitely had a lot to think about. It sounds like he's been thinking about it a lot too; the way he lists the deaths and tells Lisa what he has to do is so... resolute. Lisa and Gavin parting was done convincingly as well. Lisa's stubbornness, then giving in and making the promise made so much sense. You know, like them, I took their being together for granted as well. It wasn't until this scene that I thought about how close they'd have to be having been through all that stuff, because I'd never really considered them as anything other than two halves of a whole.

Waiting for the next chapter, as we always are. Except I think we've gotten used to months between chapters now

[Sike Saner]

Good, potent chapter, there. o.o I’m very impressed with the attention to detail given to the thoughts and emotions explored in that chapter. No corners cut there—it was a nice, vivid view of the minds of Lisa and Gavin, particularly the former.

The panic attack was very well done. It was clearly a very harrowing experience for her; that it was was conveyed excellently. As it was actually taking place, before I quite knew what was happening to her, I was quite afraid for her. I was pretty concerned for her after, too, for that matter. I’m always impressed when a story can make me feel earnest concern for a character.

Fantastic work on the last scene, too. It was absolutely riveting to read—their interactions and emotions were spot-on, I’d say, very believeable, and a good, dramatic discussion is something that I always enjoy reading. Plus, that little kiss on the cheek that Lisa gave Gavin there near the end of the chapter was really sweet. ^^

A couple of my favorite excerpts:

And then she collapsed. The fear and weariness suddenly bore down on her, an enormous tidal wave of terror crashing down and drowning out every ounce of control and composure she had ever possessed. She was shaking, completely uncontrollably – the pain in the back of her head gave way to a sudden, agonising tightness in her chest. She could not breathe, her stomach was churning … She put her hands over her face and screamed, but silently; no noise escaped her mouth.

Again, it was very easy for me to get a good notion of just how dreadful the experience of having that panic attack was for her, especially with great descriptions of sensations like that there.

“I had like ten stitches in there before, but then it got all infected, so it’s pretty gross to look at still.” He sounded slightly proud.

Proud of how gross it was… that made me chuckle.

“Gavin, of course I would. Gavin, I’ll always – I’ll always be here for you. I'll always be your friend.”

And, almost unconsciously, she kissed him on the cheek and tasted a salty tear rolling down it.

Gavin breathed in sharply, as though he had been caught out doing something terribly unmanly. But all he said was, in a deep and raw voice, “Will you really?”

“Of course I will, Gavin. I promise.”

And again, that was a really sweet moment. ^^

I do wonder if Gavin and Lisa will reunite someday—I’m somehow more inclined to think they will (maybe just because I’d like to see them reunite), but of course, anything could happen. Well, whatever the future does bring for these characters—high or low, bleak or joyous or anything in between—I look forward to seeing it. ^^

[Gavin Luper]

Karania: Hi again! Good to see you back here. Thanks for the reply, and I'm glad you plan to catch up on the latest chapters at some point.

Everyone: Chapter 62 is here! I hope you all enjoy it. I've decided to get back to my roots with LTL: I always worked on 3000 - 4000 words per chapter for an average chapter, so I'm trying to get back to that from now on, though there will inevitably be some exceptions. Nonetheless, this new approach seems to be working. After eight months of planning and storyboarding, as well as wandering around in the wilderness with the actual writing of the story itself, I decided to just do what I used to do when I first started writing this: just enjoy it.

So, I wrote this chapter and I enjoyed it. I hope you do, too.

Cheers!

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

Chapter 62 – Union Supremacy.


Lisa withdrew her arms from around Gavin’s shoulders.

“I really have to go, Gav. My parents’ll be here any minute now.”

Gavin wiped his face brusquely, as though determined to remove the tear that had just fallen in the most masculine way possible. The aura of solemnity that had fallen over the two of them following Lisa’s promise was suddenly broken; it was as if the moment had never existed.

“Yeah, okay,” he said, in a tone of forced casualness. He pulled further away from Lisa and slid quietly off the bed. For a second, Lisa wondered where on earth he was off to; then she realised he was headed for the toilet door. “Oh, before you go,” he added, a hand on the silver doorknob, “I meant to ask – do you still have my camera?”

Lisa racked her brains for a moment. “No. Did I ever have your camera?”

Gavin shrugged. “I think I chucked it in your backpack when we were on Mount Fairfax.”

“We were being shot at, and you thought to protect your camera,” she replied with a grudging smile. Sometimes Gavin was so illogical it was amusing. Endearing, even – though she would never admit it to him.

As if he could read her thoughts, Gavin flashed Lisa a dumb grin. “Anyway, could you go grab it for me? It’d be good to have something to record this trip to Cianwood on.” Without waiting for a response, he swung the toilet door shut with a soft thud.

Natu, who was still pecking fussily in his bowl of seed, gave a nervous tweet as Lisa made to exit into the corridor.

“Don’t worry, you’re not being abandoned,” Lisa said dryly. “I’ll be back in a moment, and Gavin’s just having a pee.”

She closed the door of room seven softly behind her, hoping not to bring any attention to herself. To her surprise, the blue-carpeted corridor of the Richardson Ward was, once again, completely devoid of human life. Maybe the nurses had gone on strike? There was no cause to complain, in any case: there was no one to impede her movements this time.

“Crap,” she muttered under her breath as she re-entered her room. She had completely forgotten about cleaning it, or packing her things, for that matter: her open suitcase looked like it had vomited clothes all over the thin, institutional carpet; the sideboard, meanwhile, was still strewn with old newspapers and a haphazard assortment of personal items – a couple of empty plastic water bottles, her pokégear, an uneaten packet of crisps from the last time Marina visited, her hairbrush and the belt for her pokéballs. She glanced hopefully at the clock to find that it was quarter past ten. Maybe her parents would feel like pitching in to help her pack? She couldn’t help but chuckle at her own hopeful naïveté.

Fishing around in her backpack, she soon located, beneath layers of junk and long-forgotten articles, Gavin’s camera. It was wrapped in what she had always assumed was one of her old yellow crop-tops; it was, in fact, an old, baggy T-shirt of Gavin’s. Lisa unfurled the T-shirt and examined the camera. She had always liked the look of it: it was a bulky, black camera with a large lens attached to the top of it; Gavin still preferred film to digital photography. Perhaps its nicest feature was the thick, durable strap, which, when worn around the neck, always seemed to give Gavin the appearance of an investigatory journalist.

A sudden, loud slam jolted Lisa from her thoughts. She stood up and glanced around the room, but it sounded like the noise had come from another room – maybe even another level – in the hospital.

Lisa appraised her messy room once more and sighed heavily; it wasn’t going to be a fun job. Still, it seemed like she was going to have enough time to do it: her parents were running late. Slinging the camera over her neck (why shouldn’t she get the chance to look like a reporter for once?), Lisa moved over to the window. Though it was rain-splattered from the overnight storm, it still offered a comprehensive view of the regal Redwood City as well as, closer to hand, the hospital carpark. Lisa scanned the four rows of parked cars, not really expecting a result; she did a double take when her eyes fell upon her father’s white sedan. Yes, that was it: a late model Holden, EC number-plates, an Ecruteak Fruitbats bumper sticker on the back window. She squinted harder. The car was empty; her parents must be on their way up.

Gavin could wait, she thought. She would go and stand outside the lift to surprise her parents. She jogged down the corridor, past the empty nurses station (were Emma and her colleagues at morning tea?) to the silver face of the elevator. She eyed the illuminated numbers above the sliding doors: the lift was still on the ground floor. A long moment passed, in which Lisa could hear nothing but the low buzz of the ducted air-conditioning and, on one of the lower floors, a couple of voices. After perhaps two minutes, the small number ‘1’ lit up with a soft ‘ping’, followed by the number ‘2’. Lisa readied herself, excited to see her parents – and maybe even Wes and Jean – again.

The number ‘3’ lit up with a soft yellow glow; a cool voice said, “Level Three” and the silver doors slid open crisply.

And there, sprawled on the carpeted floor of the elevator, was Emma’s body.

Lisa wasn’t sure if she screamed or not; certainly, she tried, but she could not tell if any sound came from her throat. Her ears had suddenly filled with an otherworldly static, her temples tingling from the volume of blood that had rushed to her head at the grotesque sight before her.

It couldn’t be real – it couldn’t! It still looked like Emma; her face was still whole and freckled, her auburn hair still tied back off her face. Lisa’s eyes scurried over the scene, unblinking, affixed to the horror. Emma’s garb was no longer white; dark crimson blood, almost black, had blossomed over her chest. The carpet was visibly soaked. A silver clipboard lay open in the corner of the lift, the pages within it torn.

A single bullet hole had burned through it.

The silver doors slid shut with an efficient whirr. Lisa stared at them silently, at her reflection: the pallid mask of horror on her face, her hands contorting, clutching at thin air, the camera slung casually over her red jumper. Her brain reeled; her stomach churned; she knew she was going to throw up. Then the cool patient voice repeated itself patiently, “Level Three” and the silver doors slid open once more, and there was the corpse, still horrendous, still dead, still covered in blood.

This time she knew she screamed.

Everything happened at once. Suddenly, someone was holding her from behind. She didn’t even think to fight them; her stomach lurched and she doubled over, retching horribly.

“Lisa! Oh my God …”

It was Gavin. He had an arm around her waist, physically supporting her, but at the sight of Emma’s body, the little strength in his weedy arms gave out. Lisa fell to her knees, trying to avoid the pool of vomit. She lowered her head, closing her eyes, trying to regain focus. She was suddenly aware of the voices present nearby: some of the other patients in the ward been alerted by the sound of Lisa’s scream. However, even above the cries of shock around her, she could hear new sounds: loud thuds, gunshots, shouts and screams on the lower floors.

The unmistakeable sounds of battle.

The elevator doors slid shut again. Steeling herself against the terror, Lisa wiped her mouth on her sleeve and, pushing herself back up to a kneeling position, turned to face the corridor.

Gavin was kneeling beside her, his eyes grey and unseeing. Behind him, five other figures had emerged into the corridor from their rooms; two were jogging toward the lift, while the others remained hesitant at the thresholds to their rooms.

“What’s going on?” cried a wheezing male voice.

“Are you alright, love?” called a second, a female.

Lisa didn’t have time to speak, to warn them. As her two fellow patients arrived where she and Gavin knelt, the silver door opened once again, the robotic voice as cool as ever.

“Level Three.”

The man, overweight and in his thirties, stopped in his tracks, his eyes bulging. The woman, who was younger and fitter and had already reached Lisa’s side, fell to her knees in disbelief.

Abruptly, Gavin grabbed Lisa by the shoulders. “Leese …” he gasped, his face still white as a sheet, his voice tight with terror.

“I know, I know …” Lisa spluttered back. There was no need for words or questions. Somehow, the Union had found them.

Gavin looked at her imploringly. “What do we –” he muttered, cutting himself off as the female patient began to shake silently.

Lisa closed her eyes and hummed. It was an old method, but it was tried and tested. She forced the air past her larynx in a long, unbroken rhythm, focusing on slowing her heart rate down, on thinking clearly. She remembered back to a time not so long ago, when a bullet had pierced her back; when the Union agent on Mt Fairfax had pressed his boot down over her throat, threatening to kill her.

It’s not that bad. I haven’t been shot yet.

Oddly comforted, she continued to hum. Footsteps were pelting down the corridor of the Richardson Ward; the other patients were coming to investigate the source of the commotion. Lisa harnessed her thoughts.

We need to get out of here. We need to get them out of here.

BANG!

Everyone in the corridor jumped as sharp explosion rent the air; it sounded like an enormous firecracker, though Lisa flinched at the thought of what it actually was. The shouts from downstairs were constant now, and louder; it sounded like there were people fighting in the stairwell beside the lift.

“What’s happening?” demanded the overweight man of nobody in particular.

Lisa’s mind was churning over the same question. She was slowly piecing together a theory of what had happened. The Union must have gotten wind of the fact that she was to be extracted from the hospital today. They had launched an attack on Redwood Hospital in the same manner as they had attacked Olivine’s Hospital two weeks ago. Although judging from the roar of chaos below, Lisa thought grimly, there might be more than six casualties this time.

Mum and Dad!

An electric panic surged through Lisa’s body at the thought. Had her parents stepped out of their sedan and walked right into a Union siege? Were they downstairs fighting right now? Or had they ---

She couldn’t even think it.

“Okay, everyone, listen up,” she said abruptly, addressing Gavin and the five other patients in the corridor. She knew the toughness in her voice sounded forced, and feeble, but someone had to do something, and it seemed that she was recovering fastest from seeing Emma’s body. “Out of all of you, who is in the Guard?”

The overweight man and younger woman looked at Lisa with mild incredulity; the other three patients, who were considerably older and had just arrived, seemed unable to even hear her address.

“What’s the Guard?” asked the younger woman eventually.

“Lisa – they’re not members,” Gavin whispered.

“Aren’t they? Dad told me that eight Guard members were sent here from Mt Fairfax.”

“Yeah, a month ago. They’ve already been discharged by now. We’re the only two left.”

Lisa surveyed the ashen faces surrounding her and knew that he was right: not one of the patients seemed to have a clue what the Guard even was. As she exchanged a sober look with Gavin, a whip of realisation struck her in the face: it really was up to the two of them to take charge.

There was the unmistakeable crash of glass shattering in the stairwell beside the lift; a male voice roared, “FUCKING COWARD!”

“OKAY, EVERYONE INTO MY ROOM, ROOM SEVEN!” Gavin bellowed suddenly, getting back on his feet.

The other patients didn’t need to be told twice. The overweight man cast a dubious glance at Gavin, clearly unhappy with being told what to do by a teenager, but the other four responded without argument, scampering back down the corridor as quickly as their respective illnesses allowed. The man hesitated before following them.

“Oh my God,” Lisa breathed, as Gavin helped her up. “Okay … so we need to get our stuff … I don’t have my pokémon or my Buzzball or anything …”

“Get what you need from your room, meet me in mine,” Gavin said swiftly, already jogging toward the rooms.

“Gavin – wait a sec!” Nothing seemed clear – they didn’t have a plan, they didn’t have time to organise their thoughts. “How are we going to get out of here?”

As one, they glanced at the stairs; shouts were issuing from somewhere very near the door, accompanied by what sounded like the grunt of a Machoke.

Gavin cleared his throat.

“Lisa – the lift.”

“What?! Gavin, are you mental? That’s obviously how they got Em – oh!”

Lisa’s eyes found the panel above the silver doors. The number ‘3’ was no longer illuminated; the lift was slowly descending to the second, first … ground floor.

“Come to my room, we’ll work something out!” gabbled Gavin, his voice breaking slightly.

Together, they sprinted down the corridor, Gavin’s camera bouncing wildly on Lisa’s chest. Reaching Room Four, Lisa veered off. It seemed ridiculous that her room was so quiet, so perfectly ordinary, while downstairs, battle raged. As she quickly scooped up her possessions and crammed them in her backpack, something bright caught her eye. Through the window, she saw a burst of flame, blinding even in the mid-morning sunlight; a second later, the sound of the explosion rocked the windowpanes, though they did not break. Forgetting about haste, Lisa gazed, mesmerised, at the scene outside. The fighting had spilled out into the carpark: people in civilian clothing were running about, ducking between and behind cars, dodging the blaze that had just taken hold of one of the cars. There were no guns visible, though jets of fluorescent green light were being fired through the air. It seemed the Union had brought their stunners to the fight. An array of pokémon had also been introduced to the meleé – from what Lisa could make out, there was a small swarm of Beedrill overpowering what looked like a Pythir.

“LISA, HURRY THE FUCK UP!”

“Right!”

Feeling stupid for having been distracted, Lisa grabbed the last couple of things from her nightstand – a couple of cards and photographs, and her wallet – and threw them pell-mell into her backpack. Sweeping the room one final time, she farewelled her suitcase of clothes and bolted for the door.

As she stepped into the corridor, Lisa felt her spine flood with fear. Fifty metres away, the lift pinged softly and a cool voice said, “Level Three.”

She had never run so fast in her life. Doors flashed by her until she reached room seven; no sooner had she ducked inside it than a voice behind her shouted, “STOP!”

Gavin and the other five were already clustered in the room, apparently trying to open the window. Lisa slammed the door shut behind her and clicked the lock into place.

“Gavin – someone’s already here, someone’s coming for us!”

There was a collective squeal from the other patients; a second later, Gavin gave a grunt of triumph as he flung the window open.

“Go, Skarmory!” he cried, hurling a pokéball at his feet. A burst of radiant light revealed the sleek, metallic form of the steel-winged pokémon.

“Slash the security screen!” Gavin ordered fervently. “Everyone else, stand back!”

The five adults backed away from the window. Lisa let her mouth fall open as Skarmory raised a gleaming scythe and, in two deft strokes, reduced the security screen to shreds of metal frame and wire.

“Gavin, THAT’S your plan?!” screeched Lisa, losing her cool completely; she had just seen Natu fluttering about the ceiling in distress.

“You got a better one?”

“FOR GOD’S SAKE, YES, YOU CAN TELEPORT!”

Gavin let his eyes roll back in his head in bitter realisation. “Fuck – I forgot.”

“What do you mean, he can teleport?” piped up an elderly woman in a nightgown, who was clutching an empty bedpan as though it alone might protect her from any attacker.

“My Natu – and – my pokémon –” Gavin muttered dismissively, urgently pulling pokéballs out of his pockets. “Staryu, Girafury – go!”

As the room was enveloped in bursts of blinding light, there was a sudden pounding on the door.

“OPEN UP!”

The younger woman shrieked; the elderly lady raised the bedpan above her head.

“LISA, GAVIN – OPEN THE DOOR!”

“GO TO HELL!” screamed Lisa, backing away from the door and aligning herself with the patients.

“LISA – IT’S DAD – QUICK, WE HAVE TO GET YOU OUT OF HERE!”

“THAT’S NOTHING LIKE MY DAD’S VOICE, YOU ARSEHOLE!”

There was a violent tshkk tshkk tshkk as the door erupted in a screen of smoke and dust; the Union agent on the other side was firing something at it.

Lisa spun round to Gavin. “Hurry!”

Gavin was appointing a patient to each of his pokémon. Staryu was assigned to the eldest lady; Girafury, being a larger beast, took a couple in their fifties. Natu fluttered down onto the shoulder of the young woman; however, she shook him off.

“I have a Pidgeotto,” she said softly to Gavin, her tone almost dream-like as she dropped a Fast Ball to the ground.

“Fine then, fly, good luck!” said Gavin shortly to the woman, as her Pidgeotto materialised and she climbed onto its back. “Okay, Natu, you take the fat guy!”

“EXCUSE ME!”

“Tu tuuuu …”

Natu fluttered onto the rotund man’s sizeable shoulder; the woman’s Pidgeotto gave a courageous squawk and took flight into the sunlight.

The door gave a violent shudder; a large crack appeared down the middle of it. The man on the other side was now shouting for back up.

“Gavin, for the pokémon to teleport somewhere – they need to have an idea of what the place they’re going to looks like, don’t they?”

Gavin bit his lip and nodded. “Yeah, and I don’t think they’ll be able to move very far at all if they’re carrying humans. Let me think, let me think …” He began to scan the view through the wide open window.

“Think faster!” urged the man in his fifties, holding his wife’s waist with one hand and Girafury’s mane with the other; the door was shaking so violently it appeared to be seconds away from snapping in two.

“OF COURSE, THE ACACIA RIVER!” Gavin roared. “OKAY, NATU, STARYU, GIRAFURY – LOOK OUT THE WINDOW – SEE THAT RIVER, SURROUNDED BY ALL THOSE TREES? SEE THAT ONE REALLY TALL TREE? LOOK AT IT, MEMORISE IT, GO THERE NOW, GO, GO! EVERYBODY ELSE HOLD ON!”

The patients quickly grabbed on to their rides; Natu, Staryu and Girafury each gave a proud battle cry and disappeared in three brilliant flashes of hyacinthine light.

Suddenly, the room felt much larger; only Lisa, Gavin and Skarmory remained.

“Okay, so you’re going to teleport us yourself, right Gavin?” Lisa asked, hoping her assumption had been right. “I mean, you said you got your powers back …”

Gavin nodded calmly. “Yeah, I think I can do it. It’s only, what, five hundred metres away, maybe a kilometre at the most. Return, Skarmory,” he added swiftly; Skarmory dissolved instantly in a globule of scarlet light, returned to his pokéball.

“You can’t hide forever, girl!” snarled the Union agent at the door. A chunk of wood splintered off the door and tumbled to the ground; whatever was being done to the door was obviously working. “We didn’t come here today to fail!”

He took another shot at the door; a larger chunk of wood broke away; a hole was now gaping, through which Lisa could see a pair of hands grasping a stunner.

“Well, prepare to!” Lisa shot back, grabbing hold of Gavin’s hand. “You ready?”

Gavin nodded and clasped her hand tightly, but it was as far as they ever got; a bolt of electric-blue light sizzled the air and struck Gavin directly in the chest.

“NO!” Lisa screamed, as he dropped, a soundless deadweight, to the floor.

There was a cackle of triumph as the door finally split in two; a black boot kicked its way through the cracked panels of burnt timber. Lisa gaped in shock: Gavin was not moving; he could not teleport her away …

A yellow-toothed, Hispanic-looking man stood in the doorway, his dark eyes agleam with victory.

“Hello again, Lisa. It really has been too long,” he snarled, levelling the stunner at Lisa’s chest and swiftly pulling the trigger.