Lisa the Legend - Chapter 52 up!!
Hi everybody! I'm back!
CHAPTER 39 IS DONE!
Not that i was really gone anywhere, but it's been a long time since the last chapter, and i did really think things would move faster after the last chapter.
Anyway, I spent like ... two months ... doing nothing with the next chapter, and then i sat down today and wrote the entire thing from start to finish! 5000 words in a day! I call that a success. It's in two separate posts, though.
I hope it was worth the wait ... I can only hope the next chapters move equally as fast!
Cheers!
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Chapter 39 – Christmas Crush.
“It’s Christmas eve!” giggled Marina hopelessly, while Lisa stared at her watch in despair. “And you’re telling me you haven’t bought a single present yet?”
Lisa grunted, because she couldn’t even begin to say yes. The only present she had was a medallion for Aipom that she found in the enclosure at Moo-moo Farm during the Magnemite contest. The league battles with Hiro had basically washed everything else in the outside world off her mind completely.
‘It’s only two days since Hiro defeated Lance anyway,’ thought Lisa. ‘It’s not as if I dawdled here. Darius helped me out, of course. He got his Dad to hire some people to locate the buggy and take it back to Ecruteak, then gave Darius a car to drive us back to Ecruteak. How cool was that?’
“Lisa!” Marina cried loudly. She was quite flushed in the cheeks, and Lisa suddenly realised she had been daydreaming about Darius again. “Come on, I said. I don’t care if you’re depressed about where Gavin’s got to or what you’re going to do now that Kris gave you Vulpix back. We’ve got five hours before the shops shut, let’s make the most of it.”
Marina stood up, flicking her aquamarine hair away in a kind of symbol of motivation. Her eyes screamed ‘get up and go’ at Lisa, and the girl did just that. She grinned at Marina. “You’re taking me shopping?”
“Shopping in style,” said Marina, putting on a fake American accent. Lisa giggled.
“OK, you go get the limo ready and ask the chauffeur to have the doors open for us,” said Lisa, standing up and pushing the chair in at her dining room table. At least she was back home now. That was a start. “I’ll go get our credit cards and choose two tight dresses that we can both be falling out of the whole time.”
The girls dissolved into laughter and Marina ran up to Lisa’s room, where she had been sleeping since she had arrived in Ecruteak. Lisa clipped the lid back on her pink texta and closed the page of her notebook, where she had been trying to write a letter to Darius, but had ended up drawing about fifty hearts with their initials in it. Lisa looked at one and laughed again, suddenly noticing his initials.
“Ah well, he can’t help it,” she sighed to herself. “L.W. 4 D.H. – dammit.”
*********
The chauffeur turned out to be Tom and the limo turned out to be his rattly old Galaxia. The tight-fitting dresses weren’t dresses at all though, which suited Lisa perfectly – jeans and a shirt were her thing. Unfortunately, their credit cards were keycards with about three-hundred dollars. Lisa was suddenly thankful that she had worked for a short time at the pokemon centre – it had increased her bank balance, if only slightly.
The Lakeside Mall was a massive white shopping centre with a huge glass roof, a dome in the centre court of the structure. Tall Norfolk Island pines lined every spare inch of the carpark. Tom dropped the girls off outside the Mall and promised to pick them up in the same spot – beside the letter box – when the mall closed at seven. Marina grabbed Lisa by the wrist and dragged her straight into a department store.
“First things first,” she said quickly, flicking her aquamarine hair back. “Your pokemon.”
“Of course,” said Lisa, who had actually not even considered what she was going to get for Elekid, Dratini, Fiskmire – and now, Vulpix. The department store – Gracy’s – was massive and absolutely packed with shoppers doing their last-minute shopping. Lisa was not surprised to see that most of them were male. “You had something in mind from the department shop? Ugh – slow down.”
Marina was trying to move fast but failing miserably. Even in the aisles of Gracy’s, there was a throng of people battling to find ideal presents. Marina didn’t take any notice of Lisa, until finally she was shunted roughly into a shoe rack by an elderly lady (whom Lisa later recognised to be her Year Five teacher, Mrs Grinton) and pulled Lisa into a tiny cavity between the rack and a wall. This small space was, at least, free of mad shoppers.
“I bought my pokemon some presents at the Battlemagic Counter the other day,” she admitted finally. “If you ask me, it’s an ideal place to find stuff for pokemon.”
Lisa nodded. “Sounds alright, then. As long as it’s cheap …”
“If I can afford it you can,” said Marina, clutching her bag close to her chest, as an unscrupulous-looking, red-haired woman seemed to lunge for it, then back away guiltily. “I didn’t know Gracy’s was so big,” she added, after a pause. “We’ll never get to the battlemagic counter at this rate.”
Something was stirring inside Lisa’s memory. The racks of beach towels! As a little kid (and as a bigger kid, too) she had often ducked inside them to hide from her Mum or Tom, just for fun. The racks ran in a zig-zag line, but were roughly parallel to the main paths in the shop. If she could get behind the piles of towels … she could zip ahead of the crowd and make it to the battlemagic counter quicker.
“This way,” said Lisa, taking charge this time. She waited for a break in the stream of people in the incoming throng, but there wasn’t one, so she pushed her way through, accidentally elbowing a man in the nose – and not waiting around for him to regain consciousness. It occurred to Lisa that they might make it to their destination easily if she just hammered everyone, but decided against the violent option.
They made it to the very centre of the crowd, which was moving at a rate of one centimetre per minute. Lisa jumped up once, and realised the towel racks were very close, just on the other side of the aisle. “What are you doing?” hissed Marina, sounding as though she thought Lisa had lost her mind. Lisa was burrowing determinedly through the rows of people, and with a cry of relief she burst through the other side, straight into a shelf of towels hanging from metal bars.
“In here,” called Lisa, ducking between a green towel and a Thunderstroke towel. She found herself in the centre of the racks – shielded on all sides from noise and most light by the fluffy towels. Marina came bursting through a pink bathmat a moment later, her hair flying everywhere.
“WHY ARE WE IN HERE?” she hissed loudly. “That guy you hit is going off now. You shouldn’t have rushed so much!”
Lisa giggled despite herself. “I didn’t mean to,” she said. “But I just remembered a really quick way to get around the shop. If we go through the towel and clothes racks – and I mean through the inside parts of them – we can get pretty much anywhere, without being stuck in a queue and missing out. It’s three o’clock already, so we gotta work fast.”
There was a kind of awed silence from Marina, during which Lisa heard a muffled roar coming from outside heir towel-haven. “You’re brilliant,” said Marina. “I never would have thought of that.”
They set off at once, sprinting through the insides of the towel racks. The rack ended after about ten metres, and they had to weave through another very small aisle to get across to a rack of baby clothes.
It was quite a good plan, and after five minutes the girls stepped out through a rack of dressing gowns to come face-to-face with a sign that said ‘Battlemagic’. The crowd here was actually much thinner; the people were sparse enough to walk through without breaking noses of squashing feet.
Lisa had been to Gracy’s hundreds of times, but not once could she recall seeing the Battlemagic section. It was tucked away in a corner, with towel racks on all four sides. There was a purple-haired girl at the counter, handing a young boy a strange object which looked like a simple rubber ball. Lisa goggled when she saw the boy investigate the ball, whisper something, and smile, satisfied, when a soft ring of light began circling around it.
“Can I help ya?” the purple-haired girl asked, chewing very loudly on some gum.
“Sure,” said Lisa, and Marina came with her up to the counter. “Do you have any items for fifteen bucks or less that would be suited for a Fiskmire, Elekid, Vulpix or Dratini? And an Aipom?”
Lisa was actually expecting the girl to grunt, or say “Dunno”, but she looking a bit annoyed. “One thing at a time,” she said. “What was first? Fiskmire? Hang on a sec.” The girl ducked under the counter for a second. Marina wandered to the side to gaze into a static lamp which looked normal enough, except for the fact that it had no glass covering.
The purple girl reappeared with a handful of bluish goo. “This stuff’s so cool,” she said. “My boyfriend gave me some. Hold out your hands.” Lisa shrugged and tucked her bag back behind her shoulder, then cupped her hands. The bluish liquid plopped into her hands heavily. It settled still for a moment, and then, without warning, a burst of water poured straight into Lisa’s face, then stopped instantly.
“Oh, idiot,” snapped the purple-hair girl. “You gotta keep the Aquaflox moving, otherwise it attacks.”
“Aquaflox?” repeated Lisa.
“It’s so cool, hey. I use it as hair gel for my Vaporeon, as an advantage in battle, that’s what my boyfriend said to do … he’s like ‘Use it for your hair, Del’ and I’m like ‘OK’ and he’s like …”
Lisa was playing with the Aquaflox, not hearing a word of the dull conversation. If she held the goo still for more than about ten seconds, water would squirt out at her in a little jet. But as long as she kept it moving, it would not do anything more than glint in the light.
“How much?” interrupted Lisa. The girl looked highly affronted.
“Fourteen ninety five,” she said. “For 200mL.”
“I’ll take it then,” agreed Lisa, and forked over the money. The girl took the Aquaflox back and tipped it into an egg-shaped container, then sealed it. Lisa took the egg happily. “Now, what about my Elekid?”
The girl ducked under the counter again.
“Lisa, look here,” called Marina enthusiastically. Lisa turned. Marina had in a tiny Butterfree – barely the size of a tennis ball – hovering around her. Every time she took a step, it hovered after her. “It’s a Guardian Angel,” she said, holding up a small sign. “You can get a Butterfree, Beedrill, Pidgey or Natu.” As she spoke, she walked around in a small circle, and the Butterfree hovered faithfully behind her. She smiled and patted its minute head, her cherry lips in a grin.
Lisa clicked her tongue. “It’d probably annoy you, following you round everywhere.”
“No way, I’m getting one,” said Marina resolutely.
Lisa turned back to the counter. The girl was obviously trying to find something and not having much success. The Battlemagic Section was actually very cluttered and looked completely disorganised. The towel racks surrounded it on two sides, the other two sides were solid walls, painted black with hundreds of glittery stars.
“Here,” said the shop assistant, still looking annoyed as she handed Lisa the object. It was what she had seen the boy walking away with – a shiny red rubber ball, a bit bigger than a golf ball.
“What is it?” asked Lisa.
“A Buzzball. Great item to use. It senses your thoughts and reacts appropriately. For example –” the girl took the ball back, closed her eyes for a moment, and suddenly the Buzzball began expanding until it was the size of a Jigglypuff. “It has something like twenty different uses.”
The battlemagic section was looking to be like magic after all. Lisa bought the Buzzball, then decided to get two, one for herself and one for Elekid. She felt a bit selfish then, buying gifts for herself. Both the buzzball and aquaflox could be used by her as well. So she quickly bought every one of her pokemon a large chocolate bar, which the girl said had healing properties, on top of their other gifts. Dratini’s present was actually twenty dollars, but she bought it anyway because of how great it was. It was a glass orb, filled with blue light. The girl explained that its use was only revealed once the orb was broken over the pokemon – or person. Lisa bought a bottle of something called Jellimer for Vulpix, as well as a collar. Aipom ended up with a collar which was said to exercise control over the wearer. Lisa also threw in a few Magic Items for herself.
Her wallet was lighter, her basket filled with presents. Marina paid for her Guardian Butterfree, and Lisa said goodbye to the Battlemagic shop, which she definitely had a liking for. The girls made their way through the towel racks again, deciding what to do next.
The next two hours were very profitable. Lisa bought almost everyone’s presents in Gracy’s. Jean, a 110% Hits CD; Wesley, a huge supply of chocolates; Mum, a silk bathrobe (with her initials embroidered on it by very skilled Jynxes); Dad, an Ecruteak Fruitbats hat and jersey; Tom, a replenished supply of potions; Miki, a new necklace of beads which Lisa knew she had been considering buying. Lisa had a few more presents to buy; Charmaine, Tuscany, Marina, Gavin and Darius. She thought of Hiro and Kris, but almost immediately realised she would probably not see them again for a long time, especially if they were already on their new journey.
“How about CDs?” suggested Marina, and they raced through the towel racks again, getting much more able to see in the darkness. The crush of people in the rest of the shop had barely reduced.
Lisa bought both Tuscany and Charmaine a Julienne Brextar album. The three of them had loved the song ‘Get over it or get out’ at school, and Lisa thought it would be a perfect reminder of their friendship.
“Darius really wanted that book,” Lisa said to herself. “The one about the War in Kanto.”
“There’s never been one, has there?” said Marina, confused, as they ducked through the baby clothes.
“It’s fiction. Kind of like a ‘what if this happened to Kanto’?”
“Oh. So what’s Darius look like?” Marina said, and though they were in darkness, Lisa thought she could see the gleam in Marina’s eyes as she asked.
“Really cute,” said Lisa, in her truthful opinion.
“Ooooh, crush on Darius eh? That’d be like dating the royals, with his Dad being Lance and all. The paparazzi will be all over you in seconds.”
“I don’t really have a crush on him,” lied Lisa.
“Scaaaaaandal!” giggled Marina.
“Shut up,” said Lisa, then decided to change the subject. “This basket’s really heavy. It keeps hitting on the metal bars.”
Marina didn’t seem to notice the subject change, or if she did, she decided to let it go. “Mine is too. I keep dropping the hat of your Dad’s. Let’s just leave them here, then. We’ll come back and get ‘em after we find the book for Darius.”
“Sounds good,” said Lisa, though she did flinch slightly when she heard Darius’ name come back into the conversation. Marina, however, didn’t persist with that train of thought, and instead dropped the shopping basket at her feet. The girls pushed their way through the jeans that were hanging in front of them and walked through the clothes section until they found a book display. It was nearly six in the evening, and at last the crush of people seemed to have thinned considerably. At the book display, Lisa located the book immediately and plucked it off the shelf for Darius. She would see him tomorrow probably – he had had to go see his Uncle urgently about something, apparently. Then, almost instantly, she found a book that Marina would love – a guide to the Waterways of Johto, Kanto and Kohtu.
“Look away, I found your present,” said Lisa. Marina closed her eyes and Lisa took the book, while Marina’s Butterfree hovered over her shoulder, blinking its beady eyes. Lisa hid the book behind her back, and told Marina she could look again. Marina opened her eyes, then was suddenly jostled roughly to the side by a red-haired woman; Lisa recognised her instantly from a few hours ago, when she had pushed tried to take Marina’s bag. The red-haired woman – who was only in her early twenties – probably would have walked straight on, but she glanced up and caught Lisa’s eye.
The red-haired woman’s eyes widened. “Lisa Walters!”
Lisa expected to suddenly remember the woman from somewhere, but she didn’t. She was sure she had never met this woman before, she would remember.
“You …” said the redhead, swinging her bag at Lisa and thudding it into her shoulder, where it cracked loudly. Lisa winced with pain as it began to bruise; the redhead simply took another vicious swing at her. Lisa caught her eyes once more – they were filled with fire, blazing in her iris. She was furious.
“Leave her alone!” cried Marina, moving into battle mode. But she never got as far as throwing out the pokeball of her Mudkip; the teeny tiny Butterfree had swooped down with a squeak from Marina’s shoulder and a Psybeam – about as wide as a pencil – shot from it’s antennae straight at the woman. It hit her in the eye and she cried in pain.
There was scarcely a moment’s hesitation. Lisa and Marina were pelting away, ducking around the occasional customer, until they finally found themselves facing a row of jeans, and leapt into them. The Butterfree followed, still squeaking angrily.
“Thank you!” Lisa gasped, rubbing her shoulder.
“My Guardian Butterfree …” she breathed. “It saved you.”
As a reply, the insect squeaked angrily, then hovered over to Marina’s shoulder and settled down again. Marina patted it in a kind of distracted way. The girls felt around in the dark for the baskets and found them quite quickly, then – not trusting their hiding place to be 100% secure, they ran back through them until they reached the towel rack where they had first begun their shopping spree. They paid for their gifts very hastily, looking around every five seconds to see whether the red-haired lady was going to come out from nowhere and scream at them.
It was only a little after six-thirty, so Tom wouldn’t be coming to pick them up outside the letterbox for almost another half-hour. The girls ducked into a small café and ordered a milkshake each. They dumped their bags down and sunk into a chair each.
“You sure you’ve never seen her before?” asked Marina, licking froth off her lips.
“Positive. I definitely didn’t do anything to offend her,” said Lisa, drinking her shake through a straw. She breathed out heavily and shakily. “At least that day’s over. I feel like I’ve spent the whole day either in a crowd or alone in the towel racks.”
“It was a stroke of genius, I reckon,” said Marina. “But you still have a present to buy, remember?”
Lisa did remember, naturally. Gavin. She was feeling a bit dejected, as though he had run off to have adventures with someone else and left her in the dust. He could be anywhere now – it had been two nights ago that Melanie had explained to Lisa that Gavin was gone.
They ended up doing a last-second shop in Tyrell’s Gift Mart, where Lisa settled on a bright red T-shirt for Gavin, along with a roll of film for his camera, that he seemed to take everywhere. She felt extremely dissatisfied with her choice for him, feeling that she could have done a hell of a lot better.
Originally Posted by mr_pikachu
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