Lisa the Legend - Chapter 52 up!!
New chapter!
EDIT: Dunno what happened to the punctuation, but it's fixed now.
--------------------------------
Chapter 47 - Night Falls.
Raikou, the legendary beast of electricity, was lying spread-eagled on the rocky ground of the gorge, clearly dead. Lisa stared at the beast, completely overcome with disbelief and confusion. The creature did not appear to be breathing; it’s chest was not moving at all and it’s yellow underbelly was oozing blood from a deep gash. The image seemed familiar to Lisa, but she could not recall why.
“ Oh – oh my God …” Lisa gaped, unable to articulate her shock.
The smoke, that had only seconds before been gushing into the gorge and obscuring Lisa and Gavin’s view, was dissipating now and Lisa could see much better, though the air was still hazy. Gavin came running up behind her, puffing heavily, and upon catching up to Lisa his eyes widened in surprise and he stopped in his tracks.
There was a total silence in the gorge. A cool wind blew through the gorge, shifting Lisa’s hair slightly and depleting the last of the smoke.
“ What’s – what’s happened,” breathed Gavin hoarsely, not as a question, staring at Raikou’s dead body.
Lisa struggled with what she was seeing – Raikou, battered and beaten. It didn’t seem possible in any way – legendary pokemon weren’t supposed to be killed, they were meant to be immortal, weren’t they? No, Lisa told herself, they can’t be, because Suicune killed Entei once before … but Lisa had read in her book from the Valeo Library that only legendaries themselves could kill another legendary, hadn’t she? Lisa’s mind was boggling at this thought. So that means that the pokemon who attacked Raikou … was Suicune?
“ He’s been attacked by someone,” breathed Lisa, bending over the furry body of Raikou. She couldn’t bring herself to say that it had been Suicune. “ Those explosions we heard before … that intuition I felt … that was this happening.”
Gavin looked at her, quite concerned. “ What intuition?”
“ After I heard the explosions, back on the beach, I got the weirdest feeling … like I was needed somewhere – here. That’s why I wanted to investigate this … and my feeling was right – if we had’ve been quicker, we might have made it and saved him.” Suddenly, Lisa felt a surge of anger at how long the journey through the forest had taken. “ That stupid Spinarak Web … that briefcase you wanted to look at … why did we take so long? We should’ve been quicker, to save Raikou –” She broke off, aware that her voice was rising to a shout.
“ Even if we were here when the first attack happened,” said Gavin as calmly as he could; he seemed to have recovered from the sight of dead Raikou quicker than Lisa was, “ I don’t think we would’ve stood much of a chance. From what I’ve read, only a legendary can kill a legendary, and us two are no match for a legendary. Remember that night Anna died? With you and me, and all our pokemon, and my psychic all pooled together, all we did was blast Entei off his back for a minute, before he ran off. And this time, I don’t have any psychic power. Most likely, we would’ve been killed,” he finished.
His last word echoed in the bare, rocky gorge, which was completely empty apart from the two of them, and Raikou’s body. Lisa knelt beside the pokemon and placed a hand on his underbelly, right near a huge gash. Raikou was still warm … his attacker was not too far gone. Lisa wiped her eyes and stood up again, feeling sick. Only a week ago, Raikou had come to Ecru Lake to warn her about being attacked – and now here he was, dead …
Something like a bolt of lightning flashed through Lisa’s memory suddenly, causing her mind to churn viciously back into motion. The day she had sighted Raikou played in her mind’s eye like a slow film … she could see his yellow body streaking through the air from the bushes … he was warning Lisa … and behind him, Lisa suddenly remembered, had been a huge jet of flames, trying to scorch him …
… Suicune couldn’t produce flames …
“ It was Entei,” said Lisa loudly.
Gavin had just begun to sit down on the rock; at Lisa’s words, he stood up again, rigid with surprise.
“ What Lisa? Don’t be stupid – he’s dead, we saw him killed …”
A wave of something – determination, maybe – was coursing through Lisa’s veins, but her mind was slotting pieces of a puzzle into place. “ Entei must still be alive … of course … that’s what Raikou meant when he said, ‘Entei has betrayed our kind’, why didn’t I see that?”
The scar on Gavin’s cheek was becoming much more pronounced as his face was drained of colour.
Lisa continued. “ So Suicune didn’t defeat Entei at all, he must have done something else,” she said. “ And Entei’s still out there, getting his revenge – on Raikou … and Professor Oak’s missing too … and he knew something that time when Anna was killed – Entei’s taken him, too …”
Her mind was bulging; Gavin, meanwhile, looked petrified at the thought that Entei was not gone, however, he seemed determined not to show it.
“ I think you might be right, Lisa,” he said, taking shallow gasps. “ I think Entei is back.”
After that, there seemed no need for them to take any further action. Entei would already be out of the district for sure, and Raikou was quite still; he was not breathing and, the next time Lisa checked, his skin felt cold. Even if they were to tell the authorities, there would be no point, and no way of them to do it, while they were still out in the wild country north of Dervine. Shocked and worried, Lisa and Gavin sat down in the rocky gorge, each of them completely overcome in the mysterious return of Entei.
*
Nightfall in Ecruteak City was as usual. Shoppers at the Lakeside Mall were finishing up, office workers were heading home after a long day, and, in a building in central Ecruteak, a kidnapped man was held hostage by three people.
“ When I get away from you …” the man cried, struggling against his bonds as his captors looked over him, victorious after an earlier struggle. “ I’ll make sure you all end up in prison, you know that, don’t you.”
One of the three criminals – the woman member of the group – laughed girlishly. “ You won’t be leaving us any time soon,” she stated. “ You see, we are not the kind of people who allow blunders within our group, hence there is not a chance you will escape. Now, we will proceed –”
“HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!” the man screamed at the top of his voice.
“ – with the interrogation. I must insist that you do not try to plead others for help. Firstly, there are no windows and you cannot be heard; secondly, nobody even knows that you are missing yet. Now, as I was saying … we need you to help us out.”
One of the remaining two male criminals stepped forward. He was a thickset man, young and musclebound, with a shaved head. “ We understand that you have information that would prove valuable to us,” said the man. “ So tell us … where is the spy?”
“ I don’t know, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” protested the victim, who was tied tightly to a wooden chair at a plain desk.
“ Really?” said the woman. “ Come on, you are telling us you do not know where the spy is? I should remind you that we know you sent out a spy from our headquarters in early October, who had information about us. Now, we need to know who and where they are. After all, even you were not supposed to know about our group.”
The victim struggled wearily, his face lined with hopelessness. “ I’m not telling,” he said stiffly.
The third member of the criminal group, also a man, emerged from his shadowy corner and drew a pistol from his belt. He pointed it at the victim. “ Now,” he said in a deep, sinister voice. “ Tell me where your spy is, and who.”
Staring into the barrel of the gun, the man finally cracked. “ The spy … is headed for Dervine as we speak.”
“ But who is it?” demanded the third man, as he pulled his gun back in satisfaction. “ What is his – or her – name?”
“ I can’t say,” said the man swiftly.
As there were no windows in the entire building, nobody else but those in the room saw or heard the bullets fired.
*
Somewhat subdued, Lisa, Gavin, Aipom, Natu and Vulpix trekked through a deep forest towards Dervine as the sun slipped beneath the horizon, leaving streaks of pinkish-orange light across the sky. Their mood had lightened somewhat since the discovery of Raikou, probably helped by the game Aipom and Natu were playing, which involved running headfirst into trees, then seeing who could reach the top first. Lisa watched them with a petite smile on her face; Natu had won every round so far, but Aipom seemed oblivious to the fact that his competitor had wings.
Vulpix, meanwhile, stared at Aipom and Natu with a look of superiority as they played freely. He, Vulpix, had much more important work to do – namely, he would use ember attack on the sticks Lisa was holding every now and then to ensure that the group could find their way through the dark forest.
Gavin had not spoken very much since they had left the gorge and entered the huge forest on the other side. He was still very pale and clammy, and also seemed reluctant to talk about anything. Also, he had become rather grumpy, snapping at Natu whenever he got the chance, and positively ignoring anything Lisa had to say. His chestnut-brown eyes were shifting from side to side as they walked, and for some reason, any time the group had to walk in single-file through the forest, he always pushed his way to the front and led them, instead of Vulpix leading the way. Lisa wasn’t sure what to make from this odd behavior – it was unlike Gavin to be so serious and aggravated, even in such a serious situation. As she walked through the forest, holding up the burning torch to light the way, her thoughts drifted from Raikou to Gavin. What was it about Raikou’s death that had caused him to be so upset?
A sudden rustling of the trees caused Lisa to snap out of her wonderings.
“ Who’s there?” called Gavin suddenly, snatching the torch from Lisa. He held it up in the direction of the rustling; Lisa looked, too; the light cast odd-shaped shadows on the ground, but nobody could be seen in the bushes. He held it up higher, and took a step towards the foliage. Just before the light illuminated the trees, there was a louder rustling, a tree moved, and a shadowy shape just beyond Lisa’s full range of vision darted away.
Aipom and Natu had stopped their game now; everything was quiet once more.
“ Maybe it was just a pokemon,” Lisa suggested, trying to take the torch back, but Gavin wouldn’t let her have it.
“ Maybe …” he said vaguely, keeping the torch to himself. “ Let’s keep going then.”
Lisa didn’t ask why Gavin was taking the lead so vehemently; she was quite afraid of the answer. It seemed that he knew something she didn’t – maybe something he had overheard whilst imprisoned by the ex-Team Rocket members for six weeks. Whatever it was that he thought, it was making him snappy and very tense.
They continued onwards; Gavin yelled twice at Natu for flying around Aipom’s head and squawking; the green bird responded with a loud TWEET and flapped further ahead in a huff. Lisa followed Gavin silently, unsure of how long he was going to make them walk before they could set up camp; Lisa had a feeling he didn’t want to stop at all.
Night had well and truly fallen by now; very little except shadows in the darkness could be seen. They continued on quietly in the dark night. As time passed, rain began to sprinkle down upon them through the canopy of trees, accompanied by a few loud claps of thunder, which caused all of them to jump and look around them in fear.
“ Just what we need,” Lisa said to Vulpix, “ A thunderstorm.”
It certainly looked that way; the rain intensified so much that Lisa had to stop and put on her thick scarlet jumper. Gavin recalled Natu into its Moon Ball, while Aipom returned to Lisa’s backpack, where he began shivering, wet and cold. Vulpix alone remained outside; he was needed to re-ignite the torch, which was extinguished every few seconds by the rain.
“ Come on, light, dammit,” Gavin muttered angrily after Vulpix had blown a shower of scarlet sparks at the sticks for the tenth time. They didn’t ignite at all; by this stage, they were probably too wet to be of any use. Frustrated, Gavin hurled the torch into the bushes and stormed ahead in a fury, disappearing into the darkness of the path ahead. Lisa held her tongue as she and Vulpix sprinted after him.
Abruptly, a massive blast of lightning flashed through the surroundings, illuminating the entire area. In that split second, Lisa saw a silhouette of a person – quite a large person, too – standing only metres from them in the bushes. She screamed, but at the same time a roll of thunder drowned out her cry. The person pelted away from them as the lightning subsided, leaving the area quite dark again.
“ What is it?” Gavin yelled, turning around; evidently he had heard Lisa’s scream over the thunder.
“ I saw someone – in the bushes,” she gasped, her heart thumping. “ But they ran off.”
His eyes were steely; Lisa noticed he had drawn out Skarmory’s pokeball and held it in his hand, ready to use.
“ Let’s go back,” Lisa said urgently, turning to go back the way they had come. “ There’s somebody out there and I don’t know who … please let’s go back …”
“ We’ve got to keep going, it’s not safe to go back, or camp out here in this weather, or situation,” he said.
He does know something, thought Lisa. “ What situation?” she asked, not expecting a response. Sure enough, Gavin turned his back on her and began ploughing through the bushes, eyes still darting around.
The next five minutes of the journey was uninterrupted, though Lisa found herself constantly checking over her shoulder and in bushes for fear of spying that mysterious figure once more. As the time passed she gathered more sticks and bound them together with her oldest shirt. Vulpix then embered them and the sticks ignited, causing an unexpectedly large flame to flare up, considering the rain was still beating down. Gavin looked surprised at the flare of light but did not ask to hold it this time.
Some time later, Gavin stopped and looked relieved for the first time since they had entered the forest. Lisa and Vulpix caught up with him; there was a large clearing right ahead of them, through a screen of oaks. In the clearing was a small wooden cabin, propped up on wooden stilts. Lisa understood what it was; a shack provided by the government as residence for trainers in dire need of a place to stay on their travels. She and Gavin had stayed in them several times before.
There was no argument about it; they ran into the clearing as quickly as possible and climbed the wooden steps into the cabin. Inside, it was surprisingly clean and welcoming, though there wasn’t much there; two cobalt-blue futons, as usual, took up most of the cabin, whilst there was a small fireplace in the opposite end from the door. There were three windows set on one side of the cabin, all of them misted up by the rain.
“ Not bad,” Lisa said, blowing the tiny torch out, closing the door and twisting the metal latch so that it was bolted shut.
After throwing his backpack on the ground, Gavin had slumped onto one of the futons, which was laid out flat like a bed. He curled up and closed his eyes as if to go to sleep – but Lisa wasn’t going to let him get away that easily.
“ All right Gavin, spill,” she said loudly, jumping onto the futon beside him. Vulpix, meanwhile, had taken the liberty to use Ember attack on the wooden logs in the fireplace; within moments, the crimson fox was curled up beside the roaring flames, thawing out after the cold night air.
“ Spill what?” he mumbled, eyes firmly held shut.
Lisa rolled her eyes at him, then took decisive action – she poked her finger into Gavin’s ribs, making his whole body jolt and his eyes open. “ I’m not as stupid as I look, Gavin,” she grinned. “ You know something I don’t, so tell me.”
There was silence, apart from Vulpix’s soft crooning as he warmed up by the fire. Then, without sitting up or opening his eyes, Gavin spoke.
“ When I was in prison with the Organisation – the ex-Rockets – I heard the guards talking about some plan to capture Raikou. They said that their boss wanted him captured at any cost. And … well, ever since I escaped, I keep thinking that they’re following me. So when I saw Raikou dead, I knew they must be nearby.”
“ That’s why you’ve been so edgy,” said Lisa, “ Isn’t it?”
Gavin nodded, his eyes still screwed shut.
Lisa frowned. “ So, you don’t think Entei’s back?”
Gavin shook his head from side to side awkwardly. “ No, I do think he’s back. And that’s what really scares me – because that means we have two sets of enemies out there now. And since they’re after the same objective … they might have joined forces, who knows?” There was a pregnant pause. “ Either way, someone’s out in the forest right now, and I think our best bet is to stay in here for the night. It’s the safest option we have.”
An even louder silence than the last followed, punctuated by the crackling of the fire, which cast intermittent shadows throughout the cabin and against the misty windows.
All of a sudden, Gavin’s eyes flew open in sudden realisation. “ Lisa, get that fire out! They’ll see the light through the windows, they’ll know we’re here!”
Simultaneously, each of them had thrown out a pokeball, which annoyingly produced an even greater flash of light, but there was no quicker option. “ Water gun!” Lisa yelled – and two jets of clear water shot from Seel and Fiskmire and extinguished the flames instantly in a plume of white smoke.
“ Return!” Gavin and Lisa hissed in unison, and two beams of red light shot at their respective pokemon, dematerialising them instantly.
There was another silence; Lisa felt her heart pounding more heavily than before. That was surely the quickest she had ever sent out a pokemon and returned it – she had hardly even seen Fiskmire before he disappeared again.
“ You think they saw that?” she breathed at last.
Gavin looked exhausted. “ As long as they weren’t anywhere near the cabin, we should be fine.”
“ D’you reckon they’re really out there?” Lisa asked presently.
“ Definitely …” said Gavin, without any more explanation.
Vulpix, meanwhile, was looking extremely shaken.
“ Sorry,” Lisa apologised to it, picking him up and squeezing him into a hug. “ We didn’t even think about that, and I know you didn’t.”
Vulpix nodded slowly, breathing out a thin tendril of steam – apparently he had been caught in the crossfire of water jets. Lisa smiled at Gavin, who grinned back uncertainly.
Lisa was just about to reach for her backpack for her water bottle when she and Gavin both sat bolt upright. They had both heard the same sound outside, very close by; laughter.
With the same rapid speed at which they had responded to the light from the fire, each of them leapt up in alarm. Lisa glanced out the window; a small cluster of people was walking out from the forest into the clearing; they were heading straight for the cabin.
“ Hide!” hissed Gavin, grabbing the extinguished torch, his backpack and Lisa’s, and diving beneath the futon at once. “ There’s no choice, just act as though nobody’s been here.”
Lisa made to do so, but at the same time she realised something important; acting instantly, she ran for the door, and unlocked it, then dived underneath the same futon as Gavin, where he held her tightly to him beneath. Vulpix had disappeared behind the opposing futon.
“ What was that?” hissed Gavin. “ I thought you were going to run away –”
“ If it was locked, they’d know someone was in here,” whispered Lisa.
Gavin began to whisper something, but time ran out; the door burst open, a cold wind drifted in, and five people entered the room, all of them shivering, three of them laughing. Lisa cringed, hoping she was well-hidden enough beneath the futon not to be seen. Gavin was gripping her arm tightly still, as though not to lose her, as all five people took a seat on the futons. A large man, who led the group in, and another man sat on the futon that Lisa and Gavin were beneath; the other three – a tall man, a slim, blonde woman, and a fifth person in an overcoat – sat on the other futon.
A feeling of helplessness washed over Lisa; she and Gavin were stuck beneath the futon now until the people either left the cabin, or discovered them. All she could do was be silent and watch what they were doing. She wriggled forward about half an inch so she could see, through the legs of the man who had led the people into the room, what was taking place.
“ Anyway,” said the man whose feet Lisa was looking through, continuing whatever story he was telling. “ It scared the hell out of her.”
The woman and two men guffawed; the person in the overcoat remained stiff and silent.
“ So, you reckon they’re still out there, Den?” asked the man on the opposite sofa. He had a thick beanie on, a bulky jacket, and huge shoes. His face was red with the cold outside air, and judging from his unkempt beard, he had not shaved in some time.
“ Nah, don’t reckon,” said Den, who was obviously the ringleader of the small contingent. “ She woulda run off straight away – an’ he’s too chicken to go on alone, in the forest an’ all …”
Lisa and Gavin exchanged glances silently; it could not have been more obvious who they were referring to.
“ Watcha doin’?” said Den suddenly.
The blonde woman was dialling numbers on a mobile phone hurriedly.
“ Settle down, Den, just calling the boss,” she said sleekly. She held the phone to her ear and spoke. “ Just checking in, sir. Yeah, we did it … report’s coming your way. Yeah. I know, we saw them on the way … Den says they’re going back the other way though … yep. No, I didn’t know – what?” The woman put her hand over the mouthpiece. “ Boss says that the spy’s headed for Dervine right now. And that the spy has the files.”
There was a sudden tension amongst the people. The fifth member in the coat twitched slightly.
The woman returned to the mobile telephone. “ All right, boss. No problem. I’m sure we’ll think of something – oh? Yes. Mmm hmm. Okay. Yes. We’ll be there soon.”
She disconnected the call. “ New mission guys. We’re headed for Dervine to stop the spy. Apparently the first spy – from the Kanto operation – gave his interrogators that info … we’ve gotta move in a few hours. Once the rain eases.”
There was a soft murmur of assent among the four people. Again the fifth person remained still. Lisa locked eyes with Gavin for a moment. He seemed to be thinking the same thing as she was; they had absolutely no idea what these people were talking about.
Den’s feet moved suddenly, his boots only a foot from Lisa’s head. “ Well, I just wanna say, good job to all of ya on today’s operation,” he said, pacing down the gap between the two futons. “ Veronica ‘specially, for ‘er stealth.” He gestured to the blonde woman. “ An’ you two … quick thinkin’ with the change of plan,” he gestured to the unshaven man, and the other man whose only visible part for Lisa was his shoes.
The unshaven man cleared his throat. “ What’s the boss’s plans for this one?” He gestured towards the person in the coat.
Veronica grinned. “ Ah, he’s got great plans for her,” she smiled evilly. “ Come on, girl, take off your hat, let us see how that bruise is going …”
The unshaven man smirked and pulled the hat off the covered-up person’s face and Lisa felt her mouth drop open. It was Marina: her hair matted and messed up, she was glaring wordlessly at her captors through a black eye. Her wrists were bound with cord, as were her ankles. Lisa’s heart leapt and then plunged; Marina was alive … but she was help captive by these people.
“ It’s healing nicely,” said Veronica in a honeyed voice, pointing at the black eye. “ Having a good time, girl?”
Marina was glaring furiously at Veronica and the three men, but she was clasping her cherry lips firmly closed.
“ Aw, c’mon darling, don’t be angry,” said the unshaven man, grinning. “ C’mon, how bout a kiss?”
Marina looked like she was going to throw up as she jerked away in disgust as the man leaned in towards her jokingly. He burst into laughter as she squirmed away, looking furious but determined not to talk.
The third man, sitting near Den, laughed too. “ Aw, c’mon Mick, she’s mine,” he laughed loudly. Lisa cringed, feeling a surge of indignation and fury towards the four people; a feeling almost as strong as her pity for Marina.
Den sat down again, right in front of Lisa’s face. “ Okay, enough fun and games, fellas,” he said. He turned to Marina. “ Ready for another trip, girl? We’re goin’ to Dervine this time.”
Marina remained silent, not moving at all. Meanwhile, Lisa was fighting the urge to leap out and punch the people in the face.
“ Now, if you wanna tell us –” began Den, but he never finished what he was saying. A massive explosion rent the air suddenly; the windows wobbled in their panes and shattered, falling to the floor in shards. The four people stood up instantly, each of them pulling out a pistol. Lisa could see wavering light flickering from outside through the windows … it seemed something had exploded just outside of the cabin.
Den was yelling as the other three moved to the door. “ Mick, you stay here with the girl! Veronica, Cole, come with me!”
The man and woman followed Den outside; Lisa glimpsed a blaze of flames before the door shut again.
Gavin was tugging at her sleeve beneath the futon. She turned to see him looking furiously at the man guarding Marina. “ There’s only one of him, and two of us,” he breathed. “ We can take him …”
Lisa rolled her eyes. “ He has a gun! And besides … what about Vulpix?”
Gavin didn’t seem to hear her, he dug very quietly in his backpack and produced a sleek, black pistol. Lisa flinched. “ Got it when I escaped the island,” he muttered under his breath. “ I can’t see Mick from here … can you?”
Lisa glanced up, her neck aching from all the looking up. “ Yeah … he’s looking out the window … but the gun’s still pointed at Marina.” She felt something cold pressed into her hand. “ You do it,” said Gavin, “ I can’t see anything from here …” He was craning his neck, unable to see properly.
Her heart was thumping noisely in her throat. “ I can’t kill someone, I can’t,” Lisa said, almost too loudly.
“ You don’t have to kill him, just shoot him … in the leg or something …”
“ But won’t he shoot Marina?”
“ Trust me!”
Lisa aimed for Mick’s calf, though her hand was shaking violently. A voice in her head kept saying ‘Go, go, go!’, so, screwing her eyes almost shut, Lisa squeezed the trigger slowly. It seemed an age before there was a sudden, wild jerk of the pistol in her hand, a small flash of light and a roar of pain; she had done it, she had shot Mick right behind his knee.
Before she could do anything more, Gavin was slipping out from beneath the futon and standing up as Mick crumpled to the ground in pain; his gun had fallen from his grip onto the wooden floor. Lisa squirmed out from beneath the futon, hit her head hard on the metal bar, but, swaying slightly, she stood up, holding the gun and pointing it again at Mick.
Gavin was pulling at the cords at Marina’s hands and feet, but they wouldn’t budge. Marina was looking overwhelmed, as though she was dreaming. Mick was yelling out to his friends to help … Lisa turned to see him reaching for his gun.
“ No you don’t!” she cried indignantly. She squeezed the trigger again; the bullet missed by several inches and pierced the wooden wall, but Mick had flinched at the sound. Without thinking, Lisa pulled the trigger again, but nothing happened; the pistol was empty. Throwing it aside, she ran for Mick, who had stood up shakily and was holding his pistol right at her head.
The only time Lisa had ever done such a graceful kick was at ballet lessons when she was eleven; this one outstipped that by far. Her sneaker connected with his nose, there was a resounding crack, and Mick slumped to the floor, blood streaming down his face.
“ Take his gun!” yelled Gavin, still fumbling with Marina’s bonds. He had freed her legs; she was standing at last. Lisa grabbed Mick’s gun and held it tightly, her hands more steady now. Now she realised the problem they all faced.
“ How do we get out?” she yelled at Gavin. Whatever had happened outside, there were still three armed agents out there. They wouldn’t stand a chance.
“ Vulpix!” yelled Gavin, freeing Marina’s hands. They both came running towards Lisa.
Lisa ducked her head under the futon where Vulpix had been hiding, but he was not there – instead, a rough hole had been burnt in the floorboards, and Vulpix had escaped. Lisa suddenly understood … Vulpix had escaped and set something explosive on fire … maybe a vehicle of some kind.
“ Let’s go!” Lisa said, kicking the futon aside with Gavin’s help and exposing the hole. She slid into it and landed on the sandy ground; a moment later, Marina came down, followed by Gavin. Lisa glanced around, still holding the pistol; a jeep was blazing nearby, and the three agents were trying desperately to extinguish the blaze and retrieve something.
“ Go!” yelled Gavin, over the roar of the burning jeep and the frantic yells of Den, Veronica and Cole. He grabbed Marina’s hand, grasped Lisa’s in his other hands, and all three of them sprinted in the other direction, heading for the other side of the clearing in a panic. They dived into the dark foliage, and Lisa felt a bundle of fur beneath her – Vulpix.
“ Come on!” Lisa cried. “ Keep running!”
And they did. She, Marina, Gavin and Vulpix pelted into the dark innocence of the night-lit forest, the flames of the jeep disappearing behind them as they escaped.
Originally Posted by mr_pikachu
Reply With Quote