Lisa the Legend - Chapter 52 up!!
Chapter 14 - The Water Washout.
“ Quagsire, try to use Aurora Beam!” Lisa cried to her Pokemon, as it jumped around at all kinds of angles, dodging the small flames coming from the opposing wild Vulpix, which had strayed from it’s inland home to the beach for a bath. Quagsire stopped dodging small ember shots, and landed on a flat, vermilion rock situated in the shallow water. He opened his mouth, and let loose a huge jet of rainbow light, which washed over Vulpix in a flash. The fire dog pokemon struggled under the intense radiance of the attack, and finally, unable to withstand the light any longer, closed it eyes and floated limply in the water.
“ Alright, Quagsire!” Lisa rejoiced, splashing into the knee-deep water to congratulate her water pokemon. Quagsire jumped into the water just as Lisa arrived, soaking the girl from head to foot. Lisa laughed, but inside she was actually quite annoyed – it was a fairly cold evening, she didn’t want to get sick or anything. Putting her feelings aside for a moment, Lisa hugged Quagsire. “ Your Aurora Beam is really strengthening.”
“ Quag.” Quagsire agreed, and Lisa thought back to only five hours ago, when she and Quagsire first began training on the beach for the whirlpool cup. Quagsire’s Aurora Beam hadn’t even knocked out a Pidgey, but now it could faint a higher levelled Vulpix with only two strikes.
Lisa stared at the floating Vulpix, and decided that she really couldn’t leave it floating there – it could be severely injured. It would be irresponsible to do anything else, she thought, preparing the pokeball to catch the creature with. The pokeball lightly landed and snuffled Vulpix to safety. Lisa rejoiced at catching her fifth pokemon, before realising how chilly it now was. “ C’mon, Quagsire.” Lisa muttered abruptly, shivering in the cool breeze. Her wet clothing emphasised the crisp air, freezing Lisa down to her bones. The girl waded back to shore, and took out Quagsire’s pokeball, recalling him quickly. Trudging slowly up the dunes, Lisa scanned the row of Norfolk island pines lining the carpark. No sign of Gavin yet … where was he? It was cold, and frankly she couldn’t stand another minute out in the cold. Her sigh carried on the bleak, now quite fast-paced, wind. Further down the beach, a large blast of yellow caught Lisa’s attention. Turning, she squinted and managed to make out a trainer on the beach, as well as a pokemon swimming in the water. Lisa quickly guessed; Gavin, Staryu and Lanturn. “ Oy, Gavin!” Lisa called, raising her voice as loud as she could. “ C’mon, you idiot it’s FREEZING!”
Gavin slowly approached, recalling his pokemon and sprinting up the beach. Lisa watched as he turned from a tiny speck on the beach to a tall teenage boy, looking down on her as he arrived underneath the pine tree. Lisa placed her hands on his shoulders, before delivering a swift, stinging slap to his jaw.
“ C’mon, you idiot!” she called, yanking his arm and pulling him along as a loud clap of thunder roared and lightning split the sky. Then the heavens opened, and rain poured down, drenching both friends. Lisa pulled Gavin along as they both raced for shelter under the wooden beach house.
Lisa wrenched the creaking door open, and leapt into the beach house, solely built for trainers without accommodation. Gavin jumped in behind her, and slammed the door, leaving the two in silence for a moment. Then thunder roared again, and Lisa jumped.
“ What was that?” Gavin asked in a daze, shaking his head. “ All I remember is a lot of water – oh yeah, and someone SLAPPING ME FOR NO REASON!” Lisa could hear him over the thunder, and sighed heavily. She was still freezing cold. “ Well, I was cold out there.”
Gavin shrugged it off, shivering uncontrollably himself. Lanturn had been particularly disobedient today – it hadn’t even partially listened. It even refused at first to return to it’s pokeball. Gavin sat, dripping wet, on the wooden floorboards of the hut, listening to the soft melody of the evening rain, as it mellowed from a raging torrent to a gentle sprinkle. Lisa, tired out from a long day of cheering and training, yawned loudly, her mouth becoming abnormally large, and curled up into a ball. As soon as he was sure she was asleep, Gavin yanked Green Lanturn’s pokeball off his belt and stared determinedly out of the window.
*
During midnight’s pitch-dark rule, across the Cianwood Sea, a young girl awoke with a start. Her hut rattled with the violent outside winds, though above the racket she could still hear the persistent snores of her sisters. All three sisters lived together in a small beach hut south of Goldenrod, on a cape to the south west of Shellder Beach. There were many of these huts, all very similar, situated across the Whirl Islands and their surrounds, for any trainers who were passing by during the night.
Irene was struggling to return to her sleep among the stormy winds, battering at the wooden walls and and shaking the frames of the specked windows, when the sound of the wind suddenly increased in volume, and there was a large slam somewhere beyond the three sisters’ shared room. Irene sat up in shock from her uncomfortable position in her sleeping bag on the floor, as a chilly breeze swept through the bedroom, bringing rain in with it. She stood up and stifled a scream, guessing the door had been blown open. The twelve-year-old sighed and rolled her eyes – she knew staying overnight in the ‘shack’ after a long day’s battling was stupid, but Kate, her sister, had insisted, along with Laura.
She crept to the doorframe of the bedroom, deciding not to wake her sisters as they were all incredibly crabby after awakening. Her slippers padded softly on the wooden panelling as she entered the other room of the hut, which contained only an ancient stove and oven, and a door which led to the bathroom. But once in the main room, she saw the problem. The door was blown right off it’s hinges, and it had landed on the ground. Rain was belting inside, making the floor slippery. Irene hesitated at the sight of the forbidding blackness beyond the doorway and into the seaside night.
To her shock, there was a sudden shuffling sound from the bathroom. Before she knew what had happened, a person clothed solely in black had darted from the toilet door across to her, and had grabbed her arm, twisting it behind her back. She gasped in pain and tried to yell out to her sisters – and if possible, their pokemon, to help her, but the cold blade of steel touched her neck, and she was silenced. Irene’s heart was racing as she waited silently and patiently while her attacker spoke.
“ You have heard of Lisa Walters?” he asked the holidaying gym leader in a raspy voice. Irene could feel his foul breath on her ear and he hissed venomously into them.
It was a moment before her mind registered. Then it ticked into action. “ Lisa … I battled a girl called Lisa a week or so ago.”
“ Tell me … where is she?” The man was getting straight down to the bare questions.
“ She was … going to the Whirlpool Cup.” Irene breathed hastily, eager to keep her own life at all costs.
Without a sound, without recognition that he had even heard her, the man shoved her roughly down onto the slippery floor, and sprinted out, half-sliding, through the door and into the dark, rainy night. Irene slowly pulled herself back up, heart racing and mind throbbing with numbness, and sprinted into her bedroom, screaming to awaken her sisters with accelerated panic.
*
Trainers chatted endlessly among Lisa and Gavin as they entered the modern, airy room at the Whirlpool Colosseum the next morning. The two trainers walked around pointlessly, not really having any aim, listening into other’s conversation every so often. Aipom was overjoyed to be out of his pokeball again – although he didn’t mind being held inside the ball he truly enjoyed being out in the open. There were 16 trainers overall remaining, of all different sizes, ages and sexes, to compete in the competition. Lisa was gradually becoming nervous – she was yet to battle in a big competition, and the very idea of having a crowd staring down and judging her pokemon was almost too much to bear.
However, after slowly watching the others dwindle away for their battles, watching them live on the Plasma screen TV in the trainer’s lounge, and then seeing four come back victorious (not to mention four very depressed losers), Lisa realised it was her turn. Gavin wished her good luck as she entered the stadium, which looked twice as large as it did up it the grandstands or on TV. Lisa approached the trainer’s box, merely a slightly raised, painted rectangle opposing another trainer in her trainer box across the pool, glimmering in the sunlight.
Platforms lay idle in the pool, straddled out in an irregular pattern, providing the battling pokemon with a few places to stand upon. Lisa tensed unwillingly, nervous to her very core. Somewhere in the colosseum, a bell rang out, and Lisa pulled off a pokeball for the one – on – one pokemon battle. Her opponent looked somewhat familiar, and when a Psyduck appeared, Lisa suddenly found her brain click back into motion, and recalled something from her very first day of her Quest.
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“ Psyduck – Water Gun.” Anna, the trainer of Psyduck, cried. “ Don’t relent.”
“ Aipom, block it with Swift.” Lisa called.
Psyduck prepared for a Water Gun, but as the Pokemon’s speed was pretty pathetic, Aipom’s attack got in first, and knocked Psyduck of it’s feet. The Psychic Pokemon slowly recovered, and spurted a blast of Water at Aipom, who swiftly dodged.
“ Now finish this with Tackle.” Lisa ordered.
“ Aipom!” Aipom cried, throwing it’s body straight at Psyduck and fainting it, winning Lisa’s second battle.
“ Lisa, you’re really strong for a new trainer,” Anna said as she recalled Psyduck.
“ Thanks, Anna.” Lisa replied. “ Aipom and I used to train with wild Pokemon near Ecruteak.”
“ Ecruteak? You’ve come a loooong way.” Anna said, brushing burgundy hair from her eyes. “ How many badges do you have?”
“ None.” Lisa said. “ I’m not really on that sort of quest.. I’m actually more of a…. um…. Legendary pokemon Researcher.”
At this, Anna laughed and her face became smug. “ Legendary Pokemon aren’t REAL.” She said in a rather snobbish voice.
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“ Anna!?” Lisa cried, suddenly recognising the burgundy-haired teen. Anna looked up from her trainers box, and laughed. “ Well well, Ms. Legendary.”
Lisa was slightly amused by her pathetic attempt at a joke, but then reminded herself that Anna was a rival: she didn’t believe in legendary Pokemon. “ Very funny, but this time I’m gonna flog you.”
“ Whatever kid.” Anna snapped, tossing her lengthy hair behind her shoulders. “ Let’s find out who’s better this time.”
Lisa tossed the pokeball into the arena and it zapped open. Lisa had chosen her elegant Dratini for the match against Anna – Quagsire, although strong, was slow, and would probably fall victim quickly to Psyduck’s Confusion attack, whereas the nimble Dratini could possibly set up a Whirlpool fast enough, or even a Twister, blocking off the psychic energy. Dratini zapped out into the water, ignoring the platforms, as it didn’t need them, and swam in and out of the water, trying to unnerve the stupid Psyduck.
The bell rang again, signifying the start of the attacks.
“ Dratini – start off with Thunderwave, and then Water Gun.” Lisa chose two ranged attacks – psychic pokemon were fairly dangerous, and since Dratini had never really fought before, apart from a few wild pokemon - it was best to keep him at a safe distance.
“ Psyduck – Defense Curl attack, then go in for an Ice Beam.” Anna snapped so fiercely she reminded Lisa of the vicious Irene.
The fight was on. Lisa glimpsed up at the cheering mass of people in the grandstand, and after a few moments discovered Jack the sailor, cheering for her. Lisa grinned, full of renewed spirit, and turned her attention back to the showdown. Dratini had swam around in a circle swiftly, building up kinetic energy, which he then transformed into electric energy. Leaping up into the air and splattering Psyduck with water, Dratini’s entire body glowed cobalt before firing off a critical thunderwave. Psyduck watched the blast zoom towards him, and began to curl into a ball when the electrical blast hit him full on, shocking his system. “ Too slow!” Lisa laughed, as Psyduck slowly recovered and curled into a sphere – a bit too late.
Next round. Dratini opened it’s mouth, breathing in sharply and then firing out a few quick jets of water directly at Psyduck – hitting the stupid duck just as it emerged from the Defense Curl. Enraged, the Psyduck seemed to gain some intelligence, and formed an orb of azure light within it’s mouth. Dratini readied itself, not idling in any sense. Preparing to dodge the threatening blast, Dratini flitted around in the pool, sparkling in the warm sunlight. Psyduck opened it’s mouth as wide as possible, and fired the beam, which could potentially knock out Dratini.
However, the dragon pokemon had been well-chosen. It nimbly dodged the blast, which rocketed into the pool and froze a small radius. Dratini had easily evaded the attack. Anna gasped, as though in pain. “ Psyduck – get in there and use Tidal Wave!”
Lisa knew the outcomes of this attack, thanks to her battle with Jack earlier on that week. Dratini would easily be able to avoid it – if it knew how to move strategically. “ Dratini – swim over to Psyduck!”
Anna looked remotely disturbed, but Lisa guessed she had just foiled her most powerful technique. Dratini swam over to Psyduck, on the floating platform, in a few seconds, and circled the platform, waiting for Tidal Wave to come into effect. Psyduck’s eyes glowed bright cerulean, and Lisa watched, as the wave she had predicted rose out among the pool, rising above both pokemon. Soon, Psyduck’s mental energy kicked in, and the wave took a vicious turn towards Psyduck, Dratini and Anna. Lisa waited, her entire body tensed, until moments before the strike, suddenly calling out; “ Dive!!”
Dratini swiftly took to the water, swimming directly underneath the incoming wave, which slammed down on Psyduck at once, causing the duck to fall back off the platform. Lisa scanned the vast pool urgently for a few moments, before Dratini’s blue head popped out of the clear waters. Lisa gasped with relief, then winked at Dratini.
Meanwhile, the water had flowed back into the pool, revealing a bare platform. Psyduck was drifting around a few metres away, critically injured, but somehow still in fine condition for completing the battle. The duck flapped over to the platform, pulled itself back up, and turned to face the gleeful Dratini, with a glint of determinedness in it’s eyes.
“ Ice Beam!” Anna cried.
“ Ice Beam!” Lisa shot back.
Dratini and Psyduck both quickly prepared a radiant sphere of cobalt light – Psyduck within it’s hands and Dratini in his mouth, opened wide, ready to shoot the blast out at a moment’s notice. Soon, the orbs had built up so much energy they were threatening to merge – Dratini’s, although far brighter, was visibly smaller, and and soon Psyduck appeared to have the advantage. “ Now!” Lisa cried. Dratini wailed, and shot out the beam towards Psyduck, readying it’s own beam. [I]This’ll be over now,[I] Lisa thought.
However, in a quick display of Psychic Power, Psyduck suddenly showed Lisa a lesson in battling – Dratini’s beam of ice energy had literally slammed into Psyduck’s ball of azure, merging the two together, and threatening to spin out of control. However, Psyduck’s eyes quickly glowed, and the orb returned before Psyduck, shocking Lisa to her core. An attack was now wasted, and she had actually provided the enemy with ammo!
“ Now Psyduck!” Anna cried, and the yellow duck let go of the energy, seemingly glad to unburden it’s mind of the pulsating globe. The titanic ball rolled along the pool’s surface, heading for Dratini. In a swift movement, Dratini ducked underwater again, and rapidly appeared on the opposing side. However, it’s psychic opponent was still well in the game. In another impressive show of psychic, Psyduck took control of the still pulsating sphere, turned it around, and managed to lift the entire orb up with it’s psychic energy, until it floated 50 metres above the stadium. At a single command, Psyduck could drop the ball, and freeze Dratini in the pool – even the nimble Dratini would never find a way to escape the boulder of intense light.
“ Drop it.” The words hissed from Anna’s cherry lips.
Lisa watched in horror, her mouth frozen in position, her entire being taken over by a feeling commonly experienced in dreams – complete helplessness. Dratini itself seemed struck by awe, and in fact even Anna seemed shocked, as the massive globe plummeted into the pool, slamming Dratini down at once. The entire crowd went silent…not even the commentator dared to even attempt describing the philosophical magnitude of the attack.
Lisa finally felt her brain churn back into action, and she rapidly regained consciousness of her body. However, any commands to Dratini would be, at that moment, utterly wasted, as the poor creature was buried somewhere within the depths of the pool. Lisa deeply wanted to dive in and save her Dratini, but from somewhere she found a restraint. Dratini can save itself.
However, the voice was suddenly proved wrong as the glowing of the submerged orb ceased, and proceeded to freeze over the water, icing up Dratini’s only way out. Small, rippling waves gradually evolved into large ones, as suddenly Psyduck’s platform rocked so much, the yellow duck, incredibly weakened by the sheer power of it’s final attack, toppled into the wavy pool, knocking the pokemon out for the match. Then things turned from bad to worse for Anna, as the water Psyduck had sank into promptly froze over entirely – shutting both Dratini and Psyduck inside an icy, airless chamber, with no escape …
Originally Posted by mr_pikachu
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