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

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 13 - The Colosseum.


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

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

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

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

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

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

“ Kids,” muttered Jack.

*

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*

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

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

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

*

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“ Mantine, Water Gun!”

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

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

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

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

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