Lisa the Legend - Chapter 52 up!!
CCC: Hey!! Yes, we must cheer them both on, it's the only fair thing to do. Unless you'd prefer one of them to win. I didn't ... the result of the battle was a tough one for me to make!
Quagsire gets better soon!
I'm from Western Australia, actually, and for some reason I always think you are from South Australia but maybe not. Although if you were from Victoria I would know a person from each eastern state (Mist, Oz).
Funny you should mention the footy. I AM actually a Collingwood fan. Lol - almost everyone i know wants them to lose!! But it's their first grand final in 12 years, i think they deserve to win!!
Cheers!
Finally, the conclusion to The Whirlpool Cup. I hope you all appreciate the winner, and understand why they won. After this chapter ... the real story begins!
Cheers!
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Chapter 17 - Whirlpool Champion - Part II.
The water/psychic mass of energy spiralled wildly across the pool, it’s diameter booming, it’s volume increasing with each metre it forced along. Quagsire, originally not sighting the cyclone, had now turned to view it in all its spinning glory.
And he panicked.
Quagsire’s first thought was to dive under the cyclone and swim underneath. Obviously, the pokemon had some common sense, and he quickly abandoned his original instinctive strategy, instead opting to swim to the side. This soon proved impossible – the waterspout had such width now that it took up almost the entire diameter of the pool – threatening to break through the sides with its amassed psychic and water powers. Quagsire found himself in a blackening shadow seconds before the tornado crashed onto him, picking him up and throwing him mercilessly. The strange pokemon was flung around while Lisa buried her head in her hands, until a sudden blast of mauve light from the other side reduced the attack instantly to a tiny whirlpool, which eventually spun itself out. Lisa pried her hands away.
Over the other side of the pool, Gavin was looking proud, winking at Lisa, while Marina slowly looked out of her hands and gave a sigh of relief. But Quagsire was brutally injured – knocked out. Eyes crossed, the celeste pokemon drifted in the wake of the blast. Lisa put two and two together – Staryu has Psychiced the waterspout to neutralise the psybeam and end the water attack, which on it’s own would have disappeared after a few seconds – knocking Quagsire out in the process.
Lisa nodded a quick sarcastic ‘thanks’ to Gavin, and regretfully returned Quagsire, who was definitely not going to come to. She pulled out the new pokeball, and swiftly released Dratini, her final hope to win the Cup. She glimpsed up at the crowd, trying to find Jack again in case he was biting his nails again – that always made her laugh. But Marina and Gavin promptly began again and Lisa had to turn her attention back to the battle.
“ Golduck – set up a Safeguard against both of them!” Marina called.
“ Staryu – try Water Gun on Golduck! Wait for Lisa to call her move before attacking!” Gavin ordered. And then a brilliant scheme popped into his head, something he had never tried and had never really thought of much. However, it was worth a try, so quickly he balled his sweaty palms into fists and punched his head twice. Marina looked at him as though he had just sprouted wings and turned into a Pidgeot, but Lisa gave him a sidewards glance, cautious of his actions. What game was he playing at? Gavin took control of the slight pain immediately, and thought at Staryu – telepathy. Staryu, disregard what I told you to do! Pretend to aim for Golduck, then make a quick Ice Beam at Dratini!
Staryu turned to face its trainer in confusion, but Gavin made a subtle nod to it. Staryu cried out “ hyaah!” and waited for Lisa to order her move. “ Dratini – Thunderbolt – both of ‘em!” Dratini squeaked back at Lisa in a tone of confidence that only Lisa could understand. And then the round went into play.
Golduck waved its clumsy hands in an oval around him, and instantly a bright golden aura appeared in its wake. Tiny golden stars were spinning around the duck, keeping him protected from such things as Paralysis and confusion – both of which were possible with Dratini and Staryu out. At the same time over the other side, facing the Golduck, Dratini quickly set to work. His normally curvy, serpent-like body became erect, and small azure light began wavering between his ears. Staryu looked at Gavin, and he again gave a subtle flick of his head, which signified the beginning of the attack on Dratini. Evidently, Gavin thought it best to remove one opponent from the fight as quickly as possible – regretfully Lisa was the one to be eliminated.
“ Ti!!!” Dratini fired off the electric-blue light which was his greatest thunderbolt. The light cut silently through the air until it reached the middle of the pool in midair, where it forked and sent two branches at Staryu and Golduck. Golduck shrieked at contact, and his body went into horrible convulsions. Staryu took the attack a little better – it didn’t go into fits anyhow. But in a brief moment, Staryu broke through the pain and Gavin cried “ Now!” Lisa whipped her head around to see the effects of the Water Gun on Golduck, but suddenly a blast of crystalline whiteness with a tinge of cerulean whizzed in front of her, her hair blowing into her face from the wind picked up by the blast. She glanced quickly to where the beam had been headed, and found a dazed Dratini, almost KO’ed by the surprise attack.
Anger welling up inside, she flicked her gaze to Gavin, who had a mixed expression of regretfulness and triumph. Lisa felt rage inside, spiralling up her body and eventually into her mouth like a long, snaky Gyarados, promising destruction wherever it travelled. Lisa herself felt like a Gyarados. Seething inwardly, she yelled out “ Dratini – Ice Beam back!” opting for the most powerful attack they had really tried to build up, all those days ago after Gavin’s first fight at the Qualifying Finals.
“ Staryu, counter with Bubblebeam.” Gavin ordered, at once.
Marina watched on, with her nose screwed up at the sight of the angry friends. Golduck mirrored its trainer, wondering if it should interfere or just sit back and spectate at a safe distance. After some silent musing, it crept up onto the platform that its trainer was on, and decided to stay back.
Its choice was safest, and may have, in effect, decided the entire battle result.
The commentator was rattling off the attacks so fast that Lisa promptly tuned out. No point trying to listen, she just had to watch. It was like an ordinary two-on-two battle, with Marina and Golduck not attacking. Dratini and Staryu continually exchanged attacks, often the blows doing virtually nothing, since they were both becoming so aggressive that they became extremely inaccurate. Finally, Lisa was fed up with the petty exchanges of beams, and called for something more powerful, of which she hoped Dratini would manage.
“ Hyper Beam.”
Gavin shook slightly at the words, but smirked to himself, saying at once to Staryu “ Thunderbeam”. Staryu spun wildly, and began converting all it’s energy to electricity. Gavin had been biding his time since that night on the beach, when he had taught Staryu the fatal attack. Although likely to damage both pokemon, Thunderbeam was Gavin’s secret weapon against all the water pokemon in the tournament, but he had yet to use it. Things were rough, though, especially with a Hyper Beam.
Finally, Dratini, who had been progressively building up light within its mouth, formed it into a dense globe of energy. Lisa thought the time was ripe, and made her move. “ Now!” Both trainers called out at exactly the same time, and two beams, one intensely white and one a bright, flavescent hue, shot out, this time deadly accurate, each one whistling through the air and slicing through the heavy atmosphere, cutting the tension. As the beams reached the centrepoint of the pool, at the same moment, Lisa picked up an error, just a little too late.
They were too accurate.
Two jets of light collided at once, each one still streaming from it’s source. Lisa thought she saw a red spark, but moments later all thoughts were wiped from her mind, as an explosion thundered around the stadium. Lisa was deafened, unable to hear girls in the crowd scream, men and boys swear, and parents clap their hands over the children’s eyes. Lisa would have done the same, except she saw something that stopped her in her tracks. A mushroom cloud of thick smoke was billowing from the epicentre of the attacks, covering both Dratini and Staryu. It took Lisa a moment to realise that the smoke was tinged with scarlet – tiny sparks were drifting in the wake of the explosion, showering down over the pokemon. Dratini gave a shrill cry which pierced the cloudy air, now enveloping both pokemon. Just before Dratini was swallowed up, Lisa saw it writhing around in pain from the sparks, and stop moving abruptly.
She gasped, and felt the cloud expand over her. But there were no longer bright red sparks raining down, instead a fine blue dust lingered, as the cloud cleared away gradually. The blue dust landed on her with a tingly sensation, which made her feel suddenly fresh and cool. Lisa let a smile break out over her face, despite the recent happenings. The crowd was opening their eyes now, as the cloud cleared completely and the fine blue dust rained down, although now more sparsely. And she noticed each one of their mouths curve upwards, in a peaceful smile.
Across the other side, Marina was grinning too, and Gavin was smiling half-sheepishly. But Lisa shook the feeling off and set her mouth in a straight line. Time to see the devastation.
Dratini was lying lifelessly in the pool, which was rippling slightly, affected only slightly by the mid-air explosion. Staryu was lying face-down, mimicking Dratini. Gavin and Lisa were equally devastated, though for different reasons. Gavin’s only real fighter was down – that meant Lanturn was his only hope, if it could be called a hope. Lanturn was, without a shadow of a doubt, more of a hindrance than help. But Lisa was goggling at the sight, and, although she had confirmed with herself that it no longer mattered whether she won or not, it was still a shock to the system.
Stunned and reluctant, Lisa pulled out the empty pokeball pertaining to Dratini and sent out a crimson beam to recover him back, safely. Gavin did the same, and the pool was instantly back to it’s usual empty self. Lisa clipped the pokeball sadly back onto her belt, salty tears springing to her eyes – she hated losing, although had tried to overcome her problem. But when she looked back up she winked at Gavin and Marina and began walking to the front row, where a team of journalists and TV reporters sat at a wooden row of desks, taking notes and filming the action. Lisa then took a shiny, almost unused pokeball and released the pokemon inside it. A purple monkey leapt out and landed on her shoulder, grinning brightly and clinging on as Lisa arrived at the foot of the commentary tower, and opened the glass door to go inside. Once the door shut behind her, all the noise was blocked out from the outside, and Lisa sat miserably on the first step in the flight of blue-carpeted stairs.
“ We lost, Aipom.” Lisa broke the news abruptly, but Aipom just patted her back with it’s odd tail and comforted her. Lisa sat for awhile, for once glad to be alone with her thoughts and her first Pokemon.
*
Back at the battlefield, Gavin felt like he had lost the match, too. He slowly, with a sweaty, trembling hand, reached down to his belt and pulled off his final, uncertain hope. He enlarged the pokeball slowly, and suddenly, spurred on by the cheering crowd, zapped it open, revealing the half-green, half-yellow Lanturn. The crowd oooh-ed, and even Marina looked over inquisitively. But Gavin cringed slightly at his own daring. He was going to be fried, he knew it.
“ Golduck, use Safeguard again.” Marina called, speaking for the first time since Gavin’s order for Thunderbeam, which now seemed eons ago. She had noticed Golduck’s defensive aura was losing it’s shine, and looking rather worn out, so she decided to replenish it. Gavin thought now was as good a time as any to let her win, so he called out “ Thundershock.” In a timid voice.
Lanturn flapped angrily in the water, and frowned at Gavin in a way only a Lanturn could. The boy cringed, and ducked his head to ready himself for the attack. Shutting his eyes, he heard Lanturn cry out, and electricity spark through the air. He cried out, and waited for the electricity to come. He suddenly heard a thump, and looked up, confused. Golduck had toppled over on the platform, next to Marina. Unconscious.
Gavin felt like he was in a dream. No way – why now? How? Why?
Lanturn had obeyed.
It was as though the last few weeks since Gavin actually caught the little guy had never happened. The merciless shocks and attacks – gone suddenly, taken from Gavin’s memory. Lanturn had obeyed – obeyed! The electric fish had a grin spread wide across it’s face, exultantly. Gavin gaped, and wondered what could have possibly made Lanturn obey since last time, when he shocked Gavin so hard that…
“ Oh.” Gavin muttered, recalling that he had psychiced Lanturn away and knocked it out himself. Apparently Lanturn had been impressed with this. He was going to use this to his advantage. He still had a chance!
Marina had recalled Golduck, and was preparing her final pokemon. Gavin felt adrenaline rush through his body. This was the final new pokemon to be sent out this Season. He had to win, Lanturn was on his side now, he HAD to win.
“ Go Tentacraw!”
A pokeball zapped out in mid-air and a grey pokemon appeared at once, landing in the water with a tremendous splash. Gavin’s first impression was that he had never seen anything so ugly. His second impression was that he had no idea what that thing was, so he did the smart thing and quickly tuned into the commentator’s speech. “…wisely sends out the Tentacruel evolution, Tentacraw, who has properties of not only water but Ghost and…” Gavin tuned out; A Ghost type – hard to injur, but he still had a chance. Electricity would still be of use, possibly water too.
Gavin looked the creature over. It looked semi-transparent, but that was only it’s outer layer of body. It’s inner layer was a pale blue, but the ghostly grey cover obscured this almost totally. The thing had two large, jelly-like eyes, both as wide as saucers. However – Gavin was surprised to see this – the thing had only two grey tentacles, many less than it’s unevolved form. Easy work for Lanturn, only a bit of evasive skills needed here.
“ Tentacraw – Wrap, then Acid.”
“ Lanturn – use Agility to dodge the tentacles and then thunderbolt it!”
Lanturn immediately began swimming faster to evade the incoming tentacles from Tentacraw, who towered above it six feet out of the water, it’s ghostly outline flickering every so often, like some form of hologram. The Tentacraw was large and strong, but Lanturn had the speed. Gavin watched gleefully as the fish swam straight past the larger opponent. What a stroke of luck that it was now obeying. Gavin turned back to the jellyfish, and noticed even more gleefully that Tentacraw had tangled it’s two tentacles in a knot. Even more luck.
Panting after the long, painful swim, Lanturn glowed bright yellow and shot out a beam of electricity which contacted it’s adversary and shocked it, making it shake. Lanturn looked like the victor, and Tentacraw seemed to have forgotten it’s orders. Just as Lanturn was beginning to gloat, two more tentacles shot out of the jellyfish’s side and struck it, first slapping it cruelly and then tying it up! Gavin noticed that the tentacles were almost transparent, and they were flickery and ghostly – as though something made up from nowhere. Gavin suddenly guessed, correctly, that the creature could make up tentacles whenever it wanted – that was part of it’s ghost element coming through. No wonder it only had two to begin with.
“ Lanturn, try to struggle free!” yelled Gavin, while trying to think of the next move.
Marina grinned. She now had the advantage. “ Get a good grip, Tentacraw!”
More and more tentacles shot out, until fourteen of them snaked out, entwined around the tiny Lanturn, and eventually lifting it up. Now the Green Lanturn was unable to move. Tentacraw spat out a venomous-looking acid from it’s mouth, which globbed onto Lanturn’s back and seemed to put it in great pain. It squealed, and Gavin, although having been put into pain many time by the thing before, suddenly felt sympathy. He had a sudden urge to end it’s pain and pulled out the pokeball without thinking.
“ Stop!” he muttered to himself. “ There’s still hope – I just gotta figure out a way to beat it. I know it’s water and that means it can use Ice attacks – no, that won’t help. It’s a ghost and apparently also poison type like it’s pre-evolutions, but I don’t think anything there will help me. So – I guess I’m just gonna have to try something really stupid and really risky.”
It was very risky. “ Lanturn – shock yourself!”
Lanturn shook it’s head absently in the pain, but came to his senses. He was obeying his master now – and he was in pain anyway. Not much more could go wrong anyway. The green/yellow thing powered up, and thundershocked, sending mega voltage though his body, coursing all around …
… through the tentacles, as Gavin predicted. They travelled down and shocked Tentacraw violently. Suddenly, twelve tentacles evaporated, as though they had never been there. The other two dropped limply, and hung by Tentacraw’s side as Lanturn dropped back into the water. Instantly, the acid washed off and Lanturn was back where it belonged – in the water.
Marina was taken aback by the technique, but suddenly her eyes glinted with delight. “ Tentacraw – Shadow Ball.”
Gavin shook with fear – Lanturn probably couldn’t counter this, but he had to try. What could block a Shadow Ball? He realised very suddenly - “ Water Barrier!”
Both strong attacks went into action. Tentacraw’s eyes turned pure black, and shot out black energy, which netted itself into a sphere about two feet in diameter and shot at Lanturn. Lanturn’s attack worked also, and water rose out in a huge, protective wall between Lanturn and Tentacraw. The Wave fell suddenly, but straight away a new one washed in to take it’s place, and this happened repeatedly. Gavin grinned – Lanturn was well trained after all. He might just win this thing yet…
“ Good logic, but Tentacraw is really strong!” yelled Marina to Gavin. “ Sorry, Gavin; Tentacraw, summon all your ghost energy and force the Shadow Ball into the wave!!”
“ We’ll just see!”
Suddenly, the black ball hit the tidal wave, slamming into it with great force. Gavin smiled, despite Marina’s threat – this was it – now Lanturn could force the waves onto Tentacraw. But things suddenly went awry. The ball blasted directly through the heavy wall of water, and contacted almost instantaneously with Lanturn, knocking the viridian and yellow pokemon through the water, a deep furrow left behind until the water reclaimed the space. Gavin caught a glimpse of Lanturn’s eyes – crosseyed.
KNOCKED OUT.
Gavin felt his stomach turn to ice.
Lanturn was out.
He had lost.
Failed.
The crowd erupted in a roar, and Gavin hung his head reproachfully. Marina cried out in joy, and leapt into the water, swimming with Tentacraw. Lisa, still on the footstep of the carpeted stairs with Aipom, saw, rather than heard, the events, and stood up, a determined look on her face. Time to face facts, and discover the verdict. Who was the Whirlpool Champion?
She opened the door and heard a blast of sound coming from outside. She saw Gavin recalling Lanturn, and walking around the pool to shake hands with Marina. Marina was splashing around joyfully, laughing in the cool water with her Tentacraw as the referee threw her a huge, golden trophy with engraved letters. Marina read it, and laughed again. Lisa squared her shoulders, tried to look happy for her opponent, and went to do the right thing. Approaching the edge of the pool, she called;
“ Congratulations, Marina!”
Originally Posted by mr_pikachu
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