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Christmas morning dawned bright and warm. The sky was clear as it could possibly be, filled with a festive warmth. The bells of the Tin Tower rang twelve times as the sun came up, as they always did on a special day. It was the bells, though they were distant, that woke Lisa up.

She was sprawled on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. The sunlight was flooding in through the balcony door and window. Lisa threw off her quilt and pulled the door open, feeling a light morning breeze playing across her face. The scent of Christmas was in the air, for sure.

Marina lay on the soft, thick carpet – she had apparently rolled off her mattress during the night. Lisa kicked her foot and Marina stirred. Realisation spread across her face at once.

“Merry Christmas Lisa,” she said sleepily.

“Merry Christmas,” replied Lisa, and together they tiptoed into the hall, down the carpeted stairs, through the entry and into the lounge room. Marina’s baby Butterfree followed them the entire way, squeaking softly.

The Christmas tree was looking beautiful in the morning sun that streamed through the window; the tinsel shone and reflected every bit of light. The bottom of the tree could not be seen; it was completely obscured by the dozens of gifts which had been placed there last night. Carols were playing somewhere in the room, softly.

Across the sofas, there were four pillowcases filled with presents, all of them overflowing. Each one had a name embroidered on it. “No way! No no no …” Marina gasped, seeing her name sewn into the one beside Lisa’s. It was full up with presents. “Lisa, your parents didn’t …”

“We did,” said Lisa’s Dad, walking into the room. He had Gavin’s Ditto suctioned onto his arm, and was trying to flick it off, without success. “Lisa told us that you didn’t have a home; that you go everywhere by boat. So we thought we’d make Christmas a bit better for you. Don’t,” he added, as Marina began to protest. “Say that we shouldn’t have. We can afford it – our Omanyte expedition in Kanto was a huge success … I’d venture far enough to say we’re yuppies now,” he said, laughing.

Marina blushed scarlet at this.

“Don’t get used to him being so nice,” said Lisa loudly to Marina. “Make the most of it.”

Within five minutes, Wes and Jean were awake and were tearing open presents. Lisa joined in crazily, as did her father. Marina sat oddly still, almost afraid, opening each present very slowly. Lisa’s Mum walked in and tried to clean up the room – the floor was invisible beneath the wrapping paper – but everyone responded by throwing out more mess,

Lisa decided that it was probably best if she gave her pokemon their presents now, else it wouldn’t feel quite as Christmassy. Each of them popped out from their pokeballs and began chattering loudly and incoherently – except Aipom, who was still asleep. Lisa handed them presents in turn, as Marina did the same with her pokemon. Elekid took the buzzball and it instantly emitted two bolts of electricity at Mudkip, who looked highly offended, and turned away and spoke to Fiskmire in a very loud voice.

The noise began to settle down after awhile in the spacious lounge room, until Wes and Jean both cried out loudly at once.
“OH MY GOD!”
“NOT JOKING?”

Lisa looked over at them to see what the fuss was about. Wesley was holding a pokeball, and Jean had just thrown one of her own, revealing a tiny Bulbasaur. Wes threw his quickly, and an Omanyte appeared slowly from the swirl of light which emerged from the ball.

“Merry Christmas!” screamed Dad at them both, and for once the discontented look dissolved from Jean’s face and she smiled.

Lisa considered that she had a good haul. Marina had given her a massive tin of musk-flavoured rock; her parents had given her a new pokegear, along with many new clothes, earrings, a fresh Recovery Kit, and the game Twister. She was foraging under the tree for more presents when her heart thudded. There was a small rectangular gift lying right at the centre of the tree. ‘To Lisa, Merry Christmas, From Gavin xo’. It wouldn’t have been so odd if it had been there earlier – but it had not been present last night, and now it was – a gift from Gavin. She stared at it for a moment, then sat down on the sofa amid Elekid and Vulpix’s play battle.

Lisa was tearing open the beautifully wrapped package from Gavin, when Aipom finally awoke. It was probably Jean’s Bulbasaur who did it, by standing on his tail, but all the same, Aipom awoke in the same hyperactive mood as ever, and began swinging wildly from the top of the Christmas tree, snatching Lisa’s gift straight from her hands as he went.

“Aipom! No!” Lisa yelled. “Come back!”

He swung off the light fitting, and swung right outside the door. Lisa didn’t waste time; she pelted right after him. The explanation she had deduced was that Gavin was back in Ecruteak and had sneaked into the house last night to give her a Christmas present. What it could be that was so important for him to emerge from his runaway status was beyond Lisa, but she absolutely had to find out.

She was chasing Aipom towards the pool when Marina yelled her name from the door. “Take this!” she called, throwing something to Lisa. Lisa put out her hands to catch it – her Buzzball. She felt that the Aquaflox would have been more useful, but she took it, gripped it tightly and waited for something to happen. The girl at the shop had said it picked up on thoughts – did she have to think at the ball, like telling it what to do, or just desire something for it to do.

Get the present back for me, thought Lisa, squeezing the rubber ball. Retrieve the present, somehow. Get it off Aipom.

The ball was annoyingly still, but just as Lisa was about to throw it down in frustration, a jet of electricity crackled through the air at Aipom, who was now scampering up a tree, arcing slowly until it connected with Aipom, zapping him. Lisa thought it must be like Thunderwave attack. Either way, she muttered thanks to the ball and ran to the tree, at the foot of which lay Aipom. The present was a metre away. Lisa picked it up, and quickly unwrapped it – there was a small box, one of the kinds that usually holds jewellery. She opened it tentatively, and saw a thin silver necklace, and a folded piece of paper. From Gavin.

She fumbled with the paper in her haste to open it and read. Eventually she managed it, and read:

Dear Lisa,

I found this a while ago. I just worked out what it is. Hold it. Say what it tells you to.

Merry Christmas,

Gavin.

“Thanks for telling me where you are, how you are and what the hell’s wrong!” spat Lisa, putting the necklace on. “Say what it tells me to? What would that be?” Just as she said that, the air around her crackled as though with electricity, and words formed in thin air, apparently made from concentrated light.

‘Porta Restrigere.’

“Porta res – restrigere,” said Lisa obediently.

Nothing happened.

“Porta restrigere?” she repeated.

And, without warning, Aipom, who was lying at her feet, stunned, glowed an eerie blue and disappeared, as though he had just decided to leave. But he didn’t; moments later, the words glowing in thin air rearranged and formed into a hazy picture of Aipom, strolling through a forest. Then, again without warning, the light which was showing the picture of Aipom concentrated into a dense ball of light, about the size of Marina’s Butterfree, and raced at Lisa’s neck; at the necklace.

On the necklace, there was now a small silver representation of Aipom, hanging off it like a charm.

And, though it came as a shock to Lisa at first, it took only seconds to realise that she now had one of the newest technologies – what Lance had – a special, hands-free pokeball.

The day passed very slowly. No news from Gavin. No word from Darius whether he was coming back to see Lisa ever again or not. Lisa fiddled with her Buzzball, which quickly became her favourite new toy. She was learning to use it more now. It needed accurate thinking, which she hoped she had.

Marina spent a lot of time in the pool on Christmas Day. Lisa joined her once or twice, but was annoyed after awhile by Marina’s Guardian Butterfree hovering everywhere.

That night there was to be a family gathering at the Walters’ household – the second one in a week. Tom and Miki were there, along with some of Lisa’s aunties and uncles and cousins, and her Nanna, who made a special trip from the Retirement Village in Tower Street.

Night fell at around eightish.

Lisa was sitting at a table with her cousins, Davis and Jamie, with Marina. Lisa was completely bored. She gazed around, tapping her fingers on the table and staring out into the dark extremities of the Walters’ property, as though Darius would appear from the shadows and join her at the table.

She was glancing out into the shadows, trying to conjure Darius up so he could be there with her. She was getting doubts – was he really with his uncle, or had he just rejected her like that. Not that he knew her feelings yet, but at that moment Lisa wanted nothing more than to be with Darius, cuddling into him.

From the shadows, perhaps only metres away, perhaps on the other side of town, Lisa didn’t know, but a streak of light came soaring from the ground. She saw it and noticed that everyone around her seemed to be still talking, but no sounds were coming out. The streak of light – a mixture of red and gold – arced up into the sky, looking purposeful and strong, then grew fainter and fainter, until Lisa could barely see it; then the streak had disappeared into the night sky; it was only a memory; an imprint in her golden eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next up on Lisa the Legend

Loneliness can be one of the worst feelings in the world – especially when coupled with rejection.

“Almost two months,” said Lisa softly. She felt weary, even though she hadn’t exercised for days. “No sign of Darius or Gavin.”

Marina nodded knowingly. “I’ll see what I can do.”

But even in the mood she’s in, Lisa’s can’t ignore the law.

“I don’t understand,” Lisa said, feeling faint.

“I’m sorry,” said the crisp voice from the other end of the phone. “But both you and Gavin Thomas Luper are needed for the trial.”

A trial? Lisa and Gavin in trouble with the law? It couldn’t be … or could it?

“I don’t really know much about it,” admitted the girl, sitting beside Lisa in the draughty room. “But it’s really serious. They won’t let us have anything from outside. Not even shampoo! Look at these split ends!”

Chapter 40 – Colour Blind.