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

[Sike Saner]

She had only taken a few steps when she heard it: a familiar voice – the voice of a woman – barely a metre to her right.

“ … actually built inside the statue. Right in the middle of the head, behind the eyes.”

Why hello there, "oh shit" moment.

As he spoke, there was a sudden tremor; a growling was coming from somewhere beyond the amber walls.

That was a nice, ominous little detail. It was pretty suspenseful, I must say, reading and waiting to find out if Marina would do what Raikou required of her before anything could go awry.

Oh, and I rather liked Raikou's personality.

[Gavin Luper]

Thanks for your feedback, guys.

I'm impressed that Lisa's grandfather managed to gather so much information. I wonder if he really did it purely to preserve his power, or whether something else is going on... seeing as Marina's grandmother also left her a message... Marina had so much courage. It must be even worse for her, knowing exactly what she has to do, and having to go ahead and do it anyway. Her struggle was depicted really well. But how on earth did Veronica know where to find the key? And is it really a coincidence that she and Lisa are looking for the same key at the same time, or does Lisa somehow have another spy around her? Unless the diary itself was planted to lure Lisa to the statue, but I don't see how that's possible. Waiting for the next chapter!

Hullo Ada, and thanks for the comments and questions! Lisa's grandfather certainly did a studious job documenting it all. I wonder how, and why? ^_^ As for Marina's grandmother's message ... you are on the right track in linking the two together, but there's more to all this than meets the eye. I felt for Marina too - and I agree, it would have been much harder to do it knowing what was coming. She's a very fierce soul. Veronica's information came from Sterling - but how did he find out? Lots of good questions and I don't want to reveal anything because it will all spill out in good time. Thanks again, next chapter is here!

Why hello there, "oh shit" moment.

That was a nice, ominous little detail. It was pretty suspenseful, I must say, reading and waiting to find out if Marina would do what Raikou required of her before anything could go awry.

Oh, and I rather liked Raikou's personality.

Howdy Sike - thanks for the read. Hehe, I do like to throw those "oh shit" moments in there, I'm pretty sure LTL is now peppered with them, though hopefully not overly so. Glad you liked the suspense that came with Marina's foray into the Sepulchre of Raikou - and that you dig (or dug) Raikou's personality. I think he complements Suicune well, whereas Suicune is more passionate and paternalistic and direct and engaged, Raikou tends to be a bit more distant and yet quite kind in a tough, no bullshit kind of way. Or tended to be, rather; have to use past tense now, poor beast. Thanks for your reply as always.

It's a couple of days late but here's Chapter 76! No more extended 'Previously on Lisa the Legend' intros as they tend to be a bit time-consuming and now that chapters are regular, unnecessary. But here's a quick recap on where we left off:

- Gavin and Marina travelled to Emerald Plains, where Marina killed Raikou and obtained, with some difficulty, her fragment of the Sixth Key.

- The Union's Operations Manager, Larry O'Brien, revealed himself to Lisa as a double agent. His Guard contact is Lance Hudson's personal assistant, Sarah Venner, their exchanges made though a series of coded telephone calls.

- Alone in Goldenrod City, Lisa found her grandfather's diary, which led her to the location of the Third Key, however Veronica and the Union looked to be on the verge of beating her to it.

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

Chapter 76 – Run Like Hell.


If he hadn’t known what was taking place in a cave somewhere around him, Gavin might have fallen asleep in the warmth of the sun. He lay on a flat rock in the middle of the gorge, his bare feet dangling in the shallow creek and his eyelids closed when, quite abruptly, his mobile vibrated in his pocket.

Blinking against the sun, he slid the cover open and read the new text message. It was from Marina’s mobile: a message from Lisa:

Any chance you will make it back here before 8pm? Just wondering. L.

Gavin checked his watch: it was already two-thirty. Marina had been gone for almost half an hour, but he wasn’t alarmed: Lisa had taken well over an hour in the Sepulchre of Suicune. Still, he hoped Marina wouldn’t be too much longer, or their chances of returning to Goldenrod today would be slim. After an arduous six hour drive, Melanie had taken Gavin and Marina as close to the Ikoswit Gorge as possible, eventually parking her sedan at the end of a gravel track that led from the Dervine Expressway deep into Emerald Plains. Nonetheless, they had trekked a further kilometre or so to reach the Sepulchre.

Sunlight crackling on his eyelids, Gavin crunched the numbers. Even if Marina returned within the hour, they wouldn’t make it back to Goldenrod until late that night, definitely hours after eight o’clock.

Gavin typed out a quick reply:

No chance. Maybe 9ish at the earliest. M in Sep. now. Waiting. Why do you ask?

He pocketed the mobile and closed his eyes again, inviting a nap …

BOOM!

The explosion came out of nowhere. A column of thick grey smoke erupted from the wall of the canyon; rocks, dust and debris flew into the air, cloaking Gavin in a world of opaque grey. Coughing and rubbing the specks from his eyes, he lunged for the ground, but it was no escape: smoke had consumed the entire gorge, carrying with it a wave of intense heat.

“MARINA?! MARINA!” Gavin roared, amid a second, and then a third explosion. “MARINA, WHERE ARE YOU?!”

There was nothing but the resounding echo of the explosions in his ears.

“MARINA!”

And then, gloriously, between the third and fourth blasts, there came through the opaque haze of smoke the imposing cobalt form of a Golduck, carrying a slender, blue-haired teenager.

“Gavin – I got it – it’s okay – I got it …”

*

Lisa regarded Gavin’s text message without surprise. She had known it would be a long shot for him to return during the daylight hours, but she had been desperate for help. Sighing, she typed back a reply:

No worries, just wondering. See you tonight.

She finished towelling her short hair dry and stared with mild horror at her own reflection in Gavin and Dave’s dull, spotted mirror. The supermarket she had stopped by had only offered two shades of hair dye that weren’t a type of brown or black: blonde (which the Union had already seen, or Veronica had, at least) and crimson. Feeling roguish, Lisa had picked up the crimson and rushed back to Gavin’s apartment to put the rinse through her hair. The result was awful, but she at least looked completely different to the girl who had visited the Goldenrod City Library earlier that day.

Changing into a pair of Marina’s denim shorts and a summery top – and reminding herself oddly of Veronica – Lisa checked her reflection one more time before, steeling herself, she jogged out of the apartment and headed for the nearest park, for the first training session with her new pokémon.

*

The shadow cast by the Goldenrod City Library was even greater now that it was almost six in the evening. Though she still had two hours before the Union agents were due to return for the Third Key, Lisa didn’t plan on idling. She took the marble stairs at a brisk walk and slipped in swiftly through the sandstone archway, passing the sign that said:

Welcome to the Goldenrod City Library
Johto’s First Library, est. 1621
Open 7am – 10pm, 7 days a week.

As she had anticipated, the foyer was much less crowded than it had been that morning. There were no tour groups scouring the art works; rather, barely half a dozen people were scattered about the place, not including the two security guards and a robust middle-aged woman at the concierge desk.

“You can do this,” Lisa whispered to herself, picking up a brochure and casually weaving her way toward Antoknossos’ Celebi. For the second time that day, she found herself staring at the plaque, pretending to read it while her mind raced. Was she really about to deface one of the best-known artworks of all time? She ran through the rationalisation in her head again. The Union was almost definitely going to blow the statue to pieces in a matter of hours. If she didn’t do it, they would, and they’d have one more key toward opening the Iron Lock.

It was the far, far lesser of two evils.

“It has to be quick,” she muttered under her breath, still fascinatedly regarding the plaque.

Regardless, she found herself hesitating. There were eight other people in the foyer. Too many. She waited impatiently, silently willing them to drift away, but it took precious time. Finally, at about ten past six, a group of three thanked the concierge and drifted back down the staircase toward the street.

“Now or never,” Lisa whispered. She took a deep breath and said a silent prayer. “Revelum, Altaria!” she hissed, touching her thumb and forefinger to the pendant on her chest; the light had barely issued from the pendant when she plunged her hand into her pocket and hurled two red-and-white pokéballs to the ground and then, amid the loud explosions of radiant light, she whipped the Buzzball from the same pocket, span on her heel to face the direction of the two bewildered security guards and screamed:

“ELECTRIFY!”

Lisa saw the guards react: their hands leapt for the weapons at their belts, but neither of the two men were fast enough for the Buzzball. A streamer of ultramarine energy crackled through the foyer, forking in mid-air and striking each of the men squarely in the chest; they were both blasted off their feet, collapsing to the ground.

At the same moment, Altaria cooed pleasantly and opened its mouth, building a pulsating ball of rainbow energy within before discharging it with a proud squeak; the Aurora Beam slammed with spectacular force into the middle of Antoknossos’ Celebi and for a moment, the jade statue was completely illuminated by the beam before the energy tore it apart: there was an almighty crack as the Celebi split cleanly in two; the two halves seemed to hang in the air for an instant, as though suspended on an invisible hinge, and then the aurora engulfed them completely, and the two halves disintegrated into a shower of fine jade crystals which rained to the ground, clinking like shards of broken glass.

People were screaming; the female concierge shrieked and lunged for the telephone behind her desk. Lisa wheeled around and held the red Buzzball in her direction.

“ELECTRIFY!” she bellowed again.

She didn’t wait for the streamer of electricity to connect: the anguished scream a moment later told her that she had been on target. She leapt over the remains of the statue scattered across the granite platform and began scanning the jade crystals for the Third Key. Her newly-caught Kingler and Cubone, along with Larry’s Altaria, fanned out, as they had been instructed to do, searching for the key, but it was mercifully much easier than Lisa had anticipated. After only ten seconds or so, Lisa’s eye fell on something large and translucent twinkling in the light of the grand chandelier, far bigger than any of the almost powdered jade crystals:

A thin, glass-like key.

“Yes!” she yelled, grabbing it at once. She recoiled as the sharp jade crystals cut her fingers, but there was no time for pain; people were now spilling out from the library and crying out in mingled shock and fear.

“Stop her!” someone yelled.

Lisa pocketed the third key, her blood pumping. The thought of yelling out something like, “Don’t attack me, I’m good!” briefly raced through her mind, but her mouth never found the time to articulate it; she swung her legs over Altaria’s back and screamed, “Let’s go!”; amid the panicked cries of Kingler and Cubone, she gripped their two pokéballs and cried, “Return!”, their bodies dematerialising into red light as Altaria lifted off.

“Oh, crap!” Lisa cried.

Beneath her, a teenage trainer had broken away from the pack of frightened library staff, intellectuals and students. A Tyranitar stood beside him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he cried out boldly.

Altaria’s wings beat frantically at the air. Despite being six feet in the air, Lisa felt intensely vulnerable.

“Please, don’t try to stop me!” Lisa cried frantically; her face was boiling hot and her vision was blurring; she had prayed that something like this wouldn’t happen.

“We’ve already called the police!” the teenager boomed, rather righteously. “Come back down and we’ll tell them you co-operated.”

“I’m really sorry,” Lisa called. “Altaria, Dragonbreath now!”

“Tyranitar, Hyper Beam!”

“Oh crap!” Lisa cried. “Altaria, attack and fly us out at the same time!”

“Awoooo!” Altaria cried.

The only disadvantage to Hyper Beam was that Tyranitar took a moment to power up the orb of energy in his mouth: Altaria opened its mouth and issued an ice-hot blast of blue flames directly at Tyranitar’s face. Tyranitar gave a guttural scream of pain and fired off the golden orb of energy in its mouth in a random direction; it hurtled across the foyer and slammed into the wall, tearing Soliono’s tapestry to shreds.

The crowd of onlookers gasped; some of them cried out; a few of them threw out their own pokéballs. Lisa wove her right hand tightly into the fur on Altaria’s back as it flapped its wings and zoomed for the broad sandstone archway.

“Not so fast!” the boy cried from behind them. “Tyranitar, Shock Wave!”

“No!” Lisa cried, panicking. She had feared Shock Wave ever since Tom had warned her about it years ago: like Swift, it was an unavoidable attack. She glanced ahead: they were almost through the archway … Altaria was singing sweetly … but even if they made it outside, they would be hit …

“Oh!” Lisa cried, an idea dawning on her. “INFLATE!”

Twisting around, she held the Buzzball out to protect herself and Altaria; instantly, it ballooned to ten times its usual size, swelling rapidly; barely a second later, as Altaria swooped through the archway and into the twilight, a bolt of yellow light arced through the air behind them and connected with the Buzzball.

At first, Lisa thought it had worked – certainly, the ball glowed an odd colour – but she found herself momentarily paralyzed, unable to move or process a thought – until the spell on her was lifted, and she realised even the Buzzball could not stop the attack from hitting home. Smoke billowed into the air from Altaria’s wing, and yet it was still flapping, trying to rise higher into the sky.

“No!” roared the boy from below, pelting onto the staircase.

“Sorry!” Lisa cried, but she could not help but laugh as she said it. She glanced at the back of the enormous Buzzball and saw that it was now charred black: it seemed that it had taken the greater force of the Shock Wave.

“Deflate,” she said sharply, and it began to hiss with escaping air.

“Awwoooo!”

Lisa spun back to face Altaria: it was struggling to stay in the air now. Indeed, they had only ascended twenty feet into the air and were slowly drifting back down.

Looking down on the collection of people on the staircase, Lisa saw the teenage boy and his Tyranitar still in furious pursuit, along with several other trainers. And then, her blood running cold, she saw a collection of five people standing on the sidewalk at the very base of the staircase, their faces almost identical masks of shock.

The blonde woman at the centre of the group went deathly pale.

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Veronica’s scream reached Lisa even a hundred metres down the street. Lisa’s brain locked up: this couldn’t be … she had planned it two hours in advance …

“STOP!” Veronica roared, her voice shrill. “STOP NOW!”

Lisa heard a pokéball opening, but didn’t linger to find out what it was; gripping Altaria’s back, she whirled around to face the streetscape ahead, trying to scope out a low roof to land on and regroup.

“Dammit!”

She cursed loudly: every building was a high-rise; they were nowhere near high enough to land somewhere safe yet.

“Rise up, Altaria, come on, let’s get some height!” she encouraged, patting Altaria’s back eagerly.

Altaria flapped vigourously again, but there was a note of exhaustion to its voice. They rose a metre or two before fluttering back to the same level.

“Come on, Altaria, you can do this, we’re almost safe, come on!” Lisa egged on, as Veronica’s screams drew nearer; she could hear police sirens now in the distance.

“Awoo,” Altaria cooed sadly, flapping its burnt wing frantically, but to little use; they were descending markedly now, and had barely made it three hundred metres down the street.

“Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!” Lisa panicked, as the pavement spiralled closer.

To its credit, Altaria managed a decent crash-landing: they hit the sidewalk with a great deal of force; Lisa was only thrown off at the last minute, rolling relatively gently into an organic herb garden at the front of an apartment building.

“Awooo!”

“I know, I know, you’re hurt!” Lisa cried frantically, spitting out a mouthful of organic basil leaves. “Retrahere, Altaria!”

No sooner had Altaria’s shimmering form dematerialised into the poképort than an enormous ball of black sludge soared mere inches over Lisa’s shoulder and slammed into the front window of the apartment building, caking it in a poisonous-looking goo.

There was nothing for it. Lisa scrambled to her feet and ran for her life.

Thankfully, the sidewalk ahead was relatively clear of pedestrians: the after-work rush had long since passed. Lisa bolted her way down Madison Street East, dodging lamp posts and recycling bins, her sneakers hammering the concrete like urgent claps of thunder.

She chanced a glance over her shoulder. A hundred metres behind her was a small pack of Union agents, led by Veronica, whose face was contorted with genuine fear; she looked deranged. A Persian raced alongside her, its eyes an odd crimson colour; the other agents had a variety of Weezing, Arbok and Houndour beside them as they ran.

Lisa checked the street ahead of her in time to dodge an old man with a walking stick before she wheeled back to take another look behind her. The trainer with the Tyranitar and his friends seemed to have disappeared – perhaps the Union had taken them out?

“No!” she screamed; another Sludge attack soared toward her, courtesy of one of the Weezing; she stopped in her tracks and ducked in order to avoid it, before picking up speed again.

“Shit!” she cursed, trying to push herself harder and faster. She heard Veronica’s cackle from behind her. Even though the Sludge hadn’t struck her, it had slowed her down for a moment, and the Union agents were now in closer pursuit than ever.

“Electrify!” Lisa screamed, holding the newly-deflated Buzzball over her shoulder and firing it in the direction of the Union agents. Blue sparks crackled through the air. “Electrify! ELECTRIFY! ELECTRIFY!”

“Augh!”

“YES!”

She whirled around: she had hit one of the agents, at least, taking him out; one of the Weezing had disappeared, too.

“Flamethrower!” bellowed one of the male Union agents.

“Thunder!” screeched Veronica.

Remembering something she had read in a book once, Lisa began to vary her running pattern, cutting a zig-zag path across the sidewalk to make it more difficult for the Union to target her. She spied a major intersection ahead: a two-lane, one-way street met with Madison Street East, and the WALK light was still green. If time was on her side, maybe she could manage to leave the Union behind …

“MOVE!” Lisa yelled, almost slamming head-on into a young man in a checked shirt as he left his apartment block; she managed to zig-zag around him at the last minute.

“What the fuck!” he cried, throwing his hands up into the air.

As she turned around and cried, “Sorry!”, her eyes were scorched by the horror before them. The Flamethrower intended for her erupted from the Union’s Houndour’s mouth, enveloping the young man in a blindingly hot column of fire.

“No!” Lisa roared. She tried to turn around again, but a bolt of Thunder sliced the air behind her, missing her by scarcely a metre.

She faced the street ahead and almost threw up in panic: she had already made it onto the intersecting street – the concrete beneath her feet had become bitumen – but the traffic light had changed to a bright red DON’T WALK.

“Aaaaargh!” she screamed, as two sleek sedans roared toward her.

In sheer panic, she leapt for the opposite sidewalk.

CRACKKKKKKKK!

Miraculously, her head landed against her arms, preventing any major damage, but as she rolled, the back of her head struck something extremely solid. Silver stars exploded into existence before her eyes; the skin on her arms was burning; she tasted blood in her mouth. The pain was too much: she struggled to her knees, but it was a task to stand. The world swam before her eyes: grey concrete slabs, a frightened old lady looking on, a colourful roar of cars beside her …

“YOU WON’T ESCAPE, LISA WALTERS!”

The cry sharpened her vision. She focused her sight and saw, though the stars and the rush of vehicles, the pale, pointed face of Veronica, frantically slamming her fist into the button on the traffic light.

They knew who she was.

She clambered to her feet and took an almost drunken step forward. If she stopped, this would be the end of her valiant attempt to get the Third Key … her escape, Larry’s sacrifice … it would all be for nothing …

Vaguely aware of the old lady calling out to her, Lisa stumbled onward down Madison Street East. A row of neon signs barely twenty metres ahead caught her eye: a popular fast-food chain, a Megaplex … an Underground train station …

“Come on, come on, you can do it!” she muttered to herself, trying to move her body into something more than a slow jog. She began to hum to herself. By the time she reached the entrance to the Underground she was almost hobbling, but she continued to hum to herself, focusing on the goal, sure that if she could just catch a train – any train – she would be able to escape the Union’s grasp.

She cast a quick glance behind her – the DON’T WALK sign was still red, a seamless buzz of evening traffic keeping Veronica and the other Union agents at bay.

“Come on …” Lisa said, spurred on by the sight. She entered the arcade that led into the Underground and began the descent.

“Damn stairs!” she muttered, negotiating them as quickly as possible, her bones sparking with pain with every step.

After what seemed like an eternity, she reached the main platform, filled with people and the screeching of train brakes. She scanned the red digital readouts of the overhead schedule. There were four train lines that converged at this station. The next train was due to depart in one minute from platform two; the second would leave in two minutes from platform one. Lisa’s mind raced. There was almost no way she could make the first train in her injured state … but she could make the second, and it would probably throw the Union off course …

Hobbling more frantically than ever, she crossed the underground footbridge over the tracks and descended the steps to platform one. Reaching the train, she collapsed with exhaustion onto the floor, panting heavily as her lungs clutched at oxygen. The doors seemed to hang open forever. Lisa waited in terror for Veronica’s black boots to step through the door and announce her capture.

The train at platform two squealed and its doors hissed shut. Lisa had to know. She clambered onto her knees and peered cautiously through the glass window at the first train as it pulled away.

Her eyes prickled with relief.

Veronica strode down the length of the first train as it chugged away from the station, her expression cruel and victorious, pushing past commuters to track down Lisa. Her three agents were behind her, harassing everyone in their path.

Lisa slumped to the floor in relief, oblivious to the frightened stares of the other passengers, as the doors of her train hissed to a close and tears poured down her bloody face.

*

The electric hand dryers never seemed to work. Wiping her wet hands on her dark blue jeans, Sarah Venner returned to her desk outside Lance Hudson’s office. The view from the window was black: the sun had set hours ago, but working in Lance Hudson’s office had never been a nine to five job.

Sarah’s hands were poised over the keyboard, ready to resume the urgent email she had been composing, when she noticed that her silver mobile phone was flashing red: she had a missed call.

She flipped the cover open and bit her lip. One missed call from Larry O’Brien. One voicemail. Twenty-three seconds.

She frantically dialled the voicemail number, her mind reeling.

“You have one new voicemail,” the electronic female voice stated. “Voicemail received on Thursday the third of April at twenty hundred hours and forty-six minutes.”

There was a sharp beep. Larry’s voice reached Sarah’s ear. This time, among the gravelly, fatherly quality, there was something Sarah had never heard in his tone before: disguised fear.

“Hi sweetheart. Just … uh … thought I’d give you a quick call. Angela’s made me think about taking some time off work so … we might be able to spend some more time together. Nothing’s … uh … definite yet, and it won’t be for a few days at least, but I’ll let you know. Uh … don’t bother calling me back, I know you’re busy with study. Love you.”

Sarah closed her phone and said a word she had never said before in her life:

“Fuck.”

*

It was nine o’clock when Lisa turned the key in the door of Gavin and Dave’s apartment and gingerly stepped inside.

Gavin and Marina were huddled on the thick rug before the wooden TV set, Gavin with his phone to his ear; when they heard the door open, their faces both changed into curious expressions of mingled relief and concern.

“Oh my God, Lisa!”

“What the fuck happened!”

They were both at her side within seconds.

“Lisa, you look … are you okay?” Marina spluttered.

“I’m alive, I’m okay,” Lisa said, her voice unintentionally vague. She felt as though she could float off the ground at a moment’s notice. She wriggled out of their grasp and collapsed gratefully on the dirty, chocolate-brown rug, her bones sighing with relief and her mind whirling.

“Why didn’t you answer your mobile?” Gavin demanded, his tone almost accusatory.

Lisa reached into the pocket of her denim shorts and produced Marina’s mobile phone, brandishing it in Gavin’s direction to show the deep crack that ran through its screen.

“Sorry, Marina, but the Union broke it.”

Lisa almost heard the silence that followed.

“Leese … the Union … what?!” Gavin spluttered.

Lisa stared dazedly at the ceiling, still numb from the day’s events.

“I have a lot to tell you guys, but first up … what happened at the Sepulchre of Raikou?”

“Get her a glass of water and something to eat, Gav. I think she’s dehydrated or something.” Marina’s bushy blue hair appeared in Lisa’s line of vision; she sat down beside Lisa and took her hand comfortingly.

“You were right, Leese. About Raikou. I got the key fragment.”

Somewhere in the depths of her numbness, Lisa felt a ripple of sentiment; a distant, muffled echo of victory.

“Good stuff,” she said, slightly giddily.

“Lisa,” Marina held her face firmly, “we got back here almost half an hour ago and you weren’t here. We’ve been worried sick. Where have you been? Did the Union attack you? Are they still around?”

“They’re always around,” Lisa sighed.

Gavin’s face swam into view, a glass of water and a slice of cold pizza in his hands. Lisa downed the glass in the space of five seconds before taking the pizza and munching the corner eagerly.

“Feel better?” Gavin prodded, mirroring Marina and kneeling beside her.

“Mm,” Lisa murmured through a mouthful of pizza.

When she had finished eating, despite a wave of nausea, her head felt slightly clearer.

“Lisa, fill us in,” Marina pressed. “What happened to you?”

“I’ll give you the short version,” said Lisa slowly, “because I seriously feel like I’m about to throw up or fall asleep or something. That okay, Marina?”

“Okay,” Marina said gently, her alarmed face betraying her cool voice. She rubbed Lisa’s arm comfortingly. “Go on.”

“Well, I found the locations of all the keys,” Lisa said, getting onto her back once more and fixing her gaze on the ceiling. “My grandfather’s diary – I found it in the Sepulchre of Suicune – he’d hunted it all down, he’d written it, he knew everything except the Fifth Key and the Seventh Key, he doesn’t know where they are, but he found the rest, and the Third Key was in the library so I went to get it, but the Union – Gavin, you remember Veronica? She got to it too, so I had no choice, so I had to like, I just destroyed Antono – Antononno - Antoknossos’ Celebi basically, you know what I mean, and got the key, then Veronica and them chased me with pokémon, and me and Altaria crashed, of course, but then I ran and I crossed the road in time but I hit my head and I think I broke my nose. That’s when your phone died. But then I got on the train and it took me on the circle route for a few hours and then I got lost and then I found my way back here to you guys. So yeah, I got the Third Key.”

She reached into her pocket and withdrew the thin glass key, pressing it into Marina’s hand.

“Lisa … wow … this is incredible …” Marina breathed.

“You’re welcome,” said Lisa, giggling slightly as she said it.

Gavin, however, was not quite so congratulatory.

“Lisa, how sure are you that you weren’t followed?”

Lisa felt a spark of indignation within her; she sat up carefully, Marina hauling some of her weight.

“Gavin, I just got the goddamn Third Key. A ‘thank you’ would be nice you know!”

“Thanks, Leese,” he said pacifyingly, clearly in no mood to squabble. “I know you’ve been through a lot and you’re clearly overtired, but I need to know, did you see anyone following you?”

“Well, I didn’t see anyone, Gav, no.”

“But you didn’t take any precautions?”

“Well, I got on a different train to them, they never saw me.”

Gavin audibly tapped one of his canine teeth against his bottom teeth.

“I guess it’s possible that you lost them,” he said. “But just in case …”

He finished his sentence, but Lisa didn’t hear the words over the five heavy thuds that sounded from the front door.

There was a moment of dead silence within the apartment. Lisa, Gavin and Marina’s terrified eyes all locked in a triangle of panic.

“Could it be Mel?” Marina breathed to Gavin.

“Don’t think so, and I won’t chance it,” Gavin whispered. “Get yours and Lisa’s packs, hurry!”

“It never ends,” Lisa said blankly, her mind numb. She gave a kind of half-scoff to herself. “Peace. There’s no such thing.”

BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck,” Gavin panicked. “Leese, wait here, I’ll get my pack, I’ll be two seconds –”

“No, don’t leave me!” Lisa hissed. She lurched to her feet, every muscle aching, as Gavin darted into his bedroom. For a moment, she stood in the lounge room alone, waiting for the door to cave in, and then Marina raced out from Dave’s room, her rucksack slung over her back and Lisa’s in her hands. Her Guardian Butterfree hovered alertly over her shoulder.

“Here we go,” she said in a high-pitched whisper, securing Lisa’s pack onto her back. “I’ve got the Third Key, don’t worry …”

Ice cracked in Lisa’s veins suddenly.

“The fragment,” she gaped. “Did you get my key fragment?”

Marina’s hazel eyes widened.

“I thought it was with you …”

Gavin came pelting out of his room.

“Guys, I can pop the window frame on my bedroom window, come on!”

Before Lisa and Marina could even turn to face him, the front door exploded in a billow of dust and debris. Lisa and Marina ducked; splinters and shards of wood whizzed past their faces as five black-clothed figures stormed the room, led by Veronica.

She stood in the doorway, her platinum-blonde hair sleeked back into a ponytail, her dark eyes alive with triumph as she levelled her Stunner at Lisa.

“I’m not going to immobilise you this time, sweetie,” said Veronica, casting a poisonous smile at Lisa as she pulled the trigger.

“This one’s set to torture.”

[Sike Saner]

Oh man. First this happened--

“MOVE!” Lisa yelled, almost slamming head-on into a young man in a checked shirt as he left his apartment block; she managed to zig-zag around him at the last minute.

“What the fuck!” he cried, throwing his hands up into the air.

--and I laughed, and then the above was immediately followed by this--

As she turned around and cried, “Sorry!”, her eyes were scorched by the horror before them. The Flamethrower intended for her erupted from the Union’s Houndour’s mouth, enveloping the young man in a blindingly hot column of fire.

--which was an "oh my God" moment. Hell of a contrast there, and in such a short frame of time, too. Nice.

“YOU WON’T ESCAPE, LISA WALTERS!”

The cry sharpened her vision. She focused her sight and saw, though the stars and the rush of vehicles, the pale, pointed face of Veronica, frantically slamming her fist into the button on the traffic light.

They knew who she was.

OH SHIT.

Sarah closed her phone and said a word she had never said before in her life:

“Fuck.”

Someone should make her a "Congratulations on Your First Use of the Word 'Fuck'" cake.

“I guess it’s possible that you lost them,” he said. “But just in case …”

He finished his sentence, but Lisa didn’t hear the words over the five heavy thuds that sounded from the front door.

Oh shit again.

Ice cracked in Lisa’s veins suddenly.

“The fragment,” she gaped. “Did you get my key fragment?”

Marina’s hazel eyes widened.

“I thought it was with you …”

And again I say OH SHIT.


Great, fast-paced chapter there, really fun and exciting. :)

[Gavin Luper]

Someone should make her a "Congratulations on Your First Use of the Word 'Fuck'" cake.

Hahaha, I love this idea - good call!

Thanks for reading - I'm glad you liked the chapter and that it took you on a bit of an "oh shit!" rollercoaster. It was a bit of an adrenaline-fuelled one.

Thanks again for your feedback, Sike, and sorry about the wait to all readers - have been a bit preoccupied with some health issues and a new job all at once! Suffice it to say all is going well now and my mind is freer now, so here's the next chapter!

Cheers!

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

We last left Lisa, Gavin and Marina in Gavin's old apartment in Goldenrod City - and Veronica had just broken down the door to attack them ...

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

Chapter 77 – Council of War.


Thousands of volts of pure pain coursed through Lisa’s body. She felt knives grinding against her spine, needles stabbing her chest and a blunt axe cutting into her forehead. Her arms twisted as she spasmed; her scream barely audible over the thrashing of her body. It was uncontrollable hell: there was no mercy, no escape, no end …

“NO!”

The blanket of pain lifted with a righteous shriek. Lisa blinked, trying to regain her sight. The room emerged from a pool of oppressive blackness: Veronica still stood at the door flanked by her grunts, her Stunner slung across her front, however, she was rubbing her eye in apparent pain.

Her body still sensitive, Lisa turned to see Marina standing behind her looking slightly bewildered herself; over her shoulder, her Guardian Butterfree hovered indignantly, a faint wisp of smoke issuing from it.

“GET THEM!” Veronica roared, clawing at her eye.

She was almost knocked to the floor as the male Union agents stormed the room. Lisa plunged her hand into her pocket and closed it around the rubbery form of the Buzzball as Marina pulled a Lure Ball from her pocket; and in the same instant, Gavin dived behind the two of them, grabbing both their hands and shouting, “Please, please, please work!”

The world went black once more; Lisa felt her body squished by pressurised blasts of cold air – but the sensation lasted much less longer than usual – almost within the same second, Lisa felt her battered body slam against a hard, thinly-carpeted floor.

“Oh God, it didn’t work,” she squealed, pulling the Buzzball out of her pocket and holding it out in the direction of the apartment door. “Electrify!”

“Lisa!” Marina cried.

Lisa opened her eyes in time to see a streamer of blue electricity arc through the lobby of Gavin’s apartment building and sizzle the wall of mailboxes.

Lisa pressed a hand to her heart.

“I thought it didn’t work or something,” she breathed. “How come we’re still here?”

“I knew I wouldn’t have enough power to teleport us very far,” Gavin conceded, clambering up off the lobby floor and pulling Lisa to her feet. “I’m actually pretty grateful I got us all this far on my own …” He hauled Marina up to a standing position, too; she was patting her Guardian Butterfree gratefully.

“Thanks, Gavin,” Lisa said slowly, moving toward the front door.

“No worries and no, don’t try the front,” Gavin hissed swiftly. “I planned ahead. Come through the back way. Hurry, they could be after us already.”

Lisa and Marina followed him through the back exit of the lobby. They tiptoed through an overgrown communal garden and a row of half-empty vending machines before they reached a cramped gravel car park.

Gavin crept over to a white sedan; it looked like it was about fifteen years old.

“Hop in,” he hissed.

Lisa hobbled over the gravel and clambered into the front passenger’s seat, while Marina took the back seat. Gavin slid skilfully into the driver’s seat and started the car before slamming the door and swiftly reversing into the driveway.

Lisa locked her door; there was a chorus of clicks through the car as the other doors followed suit.

“Central locking,” she said, slightly awed.

“It’s Mel’s car,” Gavin explained, as he shifted into ‘drive’ and floored the accelerator, rolling quickly toward the street. “I got her to leave it with me tonight, just in case.” He gave a laboured sigh and then guffawed loudly. “Thank fucking God.”

Gavin turned onto the street and wheeled away at high speed.

“The fragment!” Marina said suddenly, as they turned onto a major road. “The damn fragment! Lisa, where did you put it?”

Lisa massaged her temple and rolled the window down an inch, feeling rejuvenated somewhat by the cool night air.

“I hid it when I left the apartment today,” she said slowly. “It’s inside one of Dave’s packs of condoms.”

Perhaps it was the adrenaline still pounding through them all, or perhaps it was the overload of emotions and thoughts that their nervous systems were struggling to process, or both, but suddenly, all three teenagers burst into a fit of riotous laughter, as though the word ‘condom’ was the most hilarious thing they had ever heard.

“Man …” Gavin muttered, still chuckling slightly as he wiped a tear from his eye and turned onto Madison Street West. “Okay, so seriously, that’s where you hid it?”

“Yeah,” Lisa grinned. “I wedged it right into one of the little individual packet things, you know the ones …”

“I do,” Gavin guffawed.

Marina giggled.

“In all seriousness, it’ll be the last place they look for anything,” she laughed.

“Let’s just hope they never do find it,” Lisa said. “But even if they do … it’s not the worst thing in the world. We have Marina’s fragment still, and the Third Key. We’re set.”

Gavin pulled up at a set of traffic lights. Madison Street West was Goldenrod City’s number one place for nightlife, and Thursday night was student night. Scores of youths prowled the streets, wandering from one neon-lit nightclub to the next bar, half of them singing in groups or drunkenly throwing their arms around one another.

“God, to be young again,” remarked Marina, as two young women in short dresses walked past arm-in-arm, singing at the tops of their lungs to a Julienne Brextar song.

“That’s ‘All Your Love’,” Lisa said, recognising the tune. “My friends and I used to do karaoke to it. Do you know it, Marina?”

“Hells yeah!” Marina laughed.

The girls locked eyes and, almost cracking up, they rolled down their windows and joined the drunken women in the song’s chorus:

“It’s just a mistake so baby don’t punish me
I’m free to be myself so don’t objectify me
I’m just a girl who wants a boy to love me
So baby, don’t take away all your love from me!”

“HAHAHAHAHA!”

“That was classic!”

“Did you see their faces when they realised we were singing over the top of them?”

“HAHA! I know! Madness!”

The traffic light finally changed to green; Gavin smirked and rolled onwards down Madison Street West.

“Can the world ever really have enough cheesy 90s dance pop?” Marina pondered.

“Yes,” quipped Gavin.

“Oh, shut up Gav, I heard you singing with us, too!” Lisa cried, rolling her window up almost to the top.

“So what? Guys are allowed to sing too. Don’t be sexist, now, ladies!”

After the laughter had subsided, Gavin pulled into a drive-thru fast food chain just before the freeway entrance.

“Anyone else hungry?” he asked.

Aside from the cold pizza she had rammed down her throat, Lisa couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten anything substantial. She ordered an extra-large Beefy Burger meal, slightly buoyed by the fact that both Gavin and Marina were ordering similarly indulgent meals.

After they pulled away from the fast-food diner, Gavin drove into the underground tunnel that led to the Western Freeway.

A green sign was affixed to the left of the tunnel entrance. Lisa pointed at it with one of her chips.

“Old Acres Town – 102 kilometres, Olivine City – 436 kilometres, Redwood City – 491 kilometres …” she read, before they zoomed past the sign. She turned to Gavin. “Where are we going?”

“Who knows, I just wanted to get the hell out of the city,” Gavin shrugged, his face half dappled with passing slats of fluorescent light and half shadowed.

“The question is, what are we going to do next?” Marina said thickly; she put her hand to her mouth in a slightly awkward manner and attempted to swallow her mouthful of burger.

Lisa took a sip of cola and reached into the pocket of her denim shorts, flipping to page 62.

“My grandfather’s diary says that the Fourth Key is in a cavern within Silver Rock Island.”

Gavin almost swerved into the wall of the tunnel.

“You can’t be serious!” he cried, straightening up. “After what happened to you today, you’re seriously thinking about going for another key?”

Lisa felt slightly flushed.

“Well, I’m not saying we try it straight away or anything …”

“Besides that, have you even thought about what you’re talking about? Silver Rock Island, Lisa! That’s where the Union have their base.”

Lisa clicked her tongue: she had not even begun to think through the practicalities. Silver Rock Island was where the Union’s headquarters were located. There was absolutely no chance of them retrieving the Fourth Key.

“So the Union are basically sitting on the Fourth Key and they don’t even know it?” Marina asked.

Lisa frowned, still bitterly digesting the realisation; Gavin, on the other hand, spoke up.

“I’m not sure that they don’t know it,” he said seriously. “I mean – when they had me prisoner … well, I know this isn’t much, but I know they were digging and drilling within the caves.” He screwed his face up. “Granted, they might’ve just been looking for something valuable, or something else, who knows …”

Marina placed a cool hand on Lisa’s bare shoulder.

“Leese, I know your grandfather’s diary has all these locations, but … well, didn’t we kind of agree that we’d go back to the Guard after we got our two fragments?”

“Yeah. Yeah, we did,” Lisa muttered.

She mulled things over in her mind, the slats of light from the walls of the tunnel playing across her face as the sedan rolled onward. Even though her fragment of the Sixth Key was still (as far as she knew) stuck in Gavin and Dave’s apartment, her acquisition of the Third Key and Marina’s acquisition of her fragment gave them exactly the sort of power she had banked on. If they offered the Guard the Third Key, perhaps they could keep Marina’s fragment a secret, to protect against the corruption that Lisa knew could be present among the Guard. Even if the Guard were fatally betrayed, Marina’s fragment would be in neither Guard nor Union possession, but rather, somewhere Lisa had hidden it, somewhere that even ancient texts and hidden diaries wouldn’t be able to locate it.

“What we need is somewhere safe to spend the night,” Marina said presently. Lisa turned, listening keenly. “If we find somewhere to hunker down, we can call Lance and then sit tight and wait for the Guard to pick us up.”

“Well, decide soon. The junction’s getting close,” Gavin said testily. “We can either head toward Olivine or toward Redwood.”

“Ecruteak would be better,” Lisa ventured.

“Well, Ecruteak would be north and not on the Western Freeway, wouldn’t it?” Gavin snapped. “Quickly, decide!”

“Okay, here’s a thought,” Marina gushed. “We don’t really know anyone in either city, but we do know Jack on Red Rock Island. Let’s go toward Olivine, surf over to Red Rock and use Jack’s place to sit tight in. Sound good?”

Lisa was still nodding her assent when Gavin veered the car to the left and onto a very sharply-curved off-ramp.

“Hold on!” he cried.

Grateful that few other cars graced the Western Freeway in the middle of the night, Lisa clung to the handrest as Gavin sped onto the offshoot and then rapidly spun the steering wheel the other way, almost sending them flying into a concrete wall as he overcorrected.

“Where did you learn to drive?” cried Marina, as they finally emerged from the tunnel and straightened up on a new, bushland highway.

“We’d’ve been fine if you two old women made up your minds faster,” Gavin scowled.

Marina laughed and hurled a chip in his direction, giggling as he grimaced and flicked it off his lap. Lisa caught something on Marina’s face – a coyness that wasn’t usually there – but before she could make much sense of it, Marina stretched her arms and yawned.

“I think I’m gonna try to sleep. You alright to drive for awhile, Gav?”

“Yeah, it’s cool,” Gavin said, his chestnut-brown eyes smiling at Lisa. “Me and Lisa can keep each other company.”

Lisa nodded in agreement, but when Gavin’s hands shook her arm four hours later, she had no recollection of chatting with him at all.

“Gav, I’m sorry, I think I dozed off,” she murmured, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

“No, you were a great conversationalist,” Gavin said sardonically. “I really liked your point about the snooooooooooooooooooorrre.” Gavin imitated Lisa’s snoring before breaking into a fit of guffaws.

“We both know I don’t snore,” Lisa shot at him.

She clambered out of the car, feeling extraordinarily rested. Her sneakers coming to rest on an overgrown dirt track. She tried to glimpse more of her environs, but it was still the middle of a dark, cloudy night: almost nothing was visible beyond the dim interior light of Melanie’s car. However, nearby, Lisa could hear the sound of waves breaking furiously against a coastline.

“We’re here already?” Lisa said incredulously, shivering against the chill.

“You slept for ages,” Gavin said, adjusting the grey beanie he had apparently designated for use only when on the sea.

Marina’s eyes were almost still closed as she emerged from the car, shivering violently.

“It’s the middle of the night, I don’t wanna swim,” she moaned in a childish voice.

Lisa decided not to point out that the plan had been Marina’s idea: she wasn’t much of a morning person, and even less of a middle-of-the-night person.

“Actually, you girls are gonna love me,” Gavin said smugly. He removed the last of their backpacks from the car and, before locking it up, he flashed the headlights four times into the darkness ahead; Lisa glimpsed a rolling grey wave ahead. “We don’t have to surf.”

“How’s that?” Lisa said, hoisting her rucksack onto her back.

“Well, while I was driving, all on my lonesome, you know … nobody to talk to … a lone wolf, a man on a mission …”

“Get to the point, drama queen,” Lisa sighed.

“I stopped for a coffee to keep me awake,” Gavin continued. “And for petrol, too, which I paid for myself by the way … just saying … but anyway, I thought it would be worth calling Jack to find out if he was still around Olivine.”

“Oh, good thinking!”

“If I do say so myself,” Gavin smirked, locking the car with the immobiliser. “Because it turns out he just came to Olivine Harbour again for a fishing trip this arvo, and he’ll be able to take us back to Red Rock first thing in the morning. He’s going to pick us up now and take us back to his boat for the night.”

“If I wasn’t scared of your ego exploding, I’d kiss you, Gavin,” Lisa grinned.

“I accept cash payments,” Gavin said seriously. “No, for real … that petrol was really expensive …”

Marina mumbled something which could have been construed as happiness; Lisa had a feeling she had gone into a state of semi-sleep whilst still leaning against the side of the car.

The saltbushes nearest the front of the car rustled suddenly. Lisa spun around to face the direction of the disturbance. The bulky form of Jack Criddle emerged from the salty gloom, his body wrapped in an enormous black parka.

“’Zat you, Gav?”

“Hey mate!” Gavin moved forward, wringing Jack’s hand.

Lisa fought the urge to roll her eyes; she had only ever heard Gavin use the word ‘mate’ when around Jack and Frank.

“Can’t thank you enough for this,” Gavin said.

Jack shrugged.

“What’re mates for?” he said nonchalantly. “Let’s go then, me dinghy’s waitin’.”

His eyes fell on Lisa holding up Marina’s half-sleeping form.

“Bloody hell, girl, every time I see yeh, yer hair’s another colour!”

Lisa smiled, shaking his hand and following him down toward the beach through the scrub.

“I like to change it up,” she said wryly.

*

A chilly Friday morning had dawned over Silver City. In the main street, office workers headed for early meetings, cardboard-encased cappuccinos in hand. At Silver Stadium, wannabe pokémon masters gathered for the seasonal qualifying matches, having spent the night camping outside the edifice, jostling for pole position. And in the drawing room of Lance Hudson, built into the side of Mount Silver, six people took their seats around the reflective mahogany drawing table, their faces all set in a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.

They had all been called at less than a day’s notice: Ryan and Maria Walters had flown in from their strategic operation in Ecruteak; Azura had brought her private jet from the Tokor region; Jim Donovan had taken a commercial flight from Olivine. Only Alison Venner, and her daughter, Sarah, had been in Silver City already.

The double doors of the drawing room opened and a suited Lance Hudson strode in, his right hand clutching a fawn-coloured manila folder and a steaming ‘World’s Best Dad’ coffee mug.

“Morning, everyone,” he said, reaching the head of the table and smoothing the file out before taking an eager sip of his black coffee. “I’d like to thank you all for coming on such short notice, but this is extremely important.”

The people seated in grey tub chairs around the drawing room inclined their heads in an almost uniform indication that they understood. Two people didn’t conform: one, Sarah Venner, was staring rather distractedly through the enormous glass wall behind Lance, where she could see the distant shape of Silver Stadium filling with people; the other, Jim Donovan, furrowed his brow and cleared his throat twice in a disgruntled manner.

“It’d better be, mate,” he drawled. “Dunno if yeh realise, but I had to cancel a recon mission with Jasmine because of this.”

“Glad to see you’ve put aside your feelings from our last argument, Jim,” said Lance crisply; the exasperated faces around the table seemed to echo his impatience with Donovan. “You’ll probably be glad to know that the recon mission was going to be cancelled regardless. We don’t need to track the kids down; we’ve found them.”

“Terrific!” said Maria Walters, gripping her husband’s hand instinctively.

“How did that happen?” Ryan asked enthusiastically.

“Yes, how?” pressed Azura, looking similarly ecstatic with relief.

“I received a call from Lisa Walters about three hours ago.”

There was a chorus of surprise and delight around the mahogany table; Donovan’s ire briefly forgotten, he whooped heartily, while Ryan and Maria beamed.

“She, Marina and Gavin are currently staying at a location on Red Rock Island. Now, the reason I called this meeting yesterday was because intelligence retrieved by Giles and Gideon suggested that all three kids had joined forces and were apparently AWOL. I can confirm that they took a boat to the mainland on Tuesday, disembarking somewhere near Olivine City, and that they were up to something on the mainland until this morning.”

Maria cleared her throat.

“Your text this morning just said that Lisa was alive and well – what else did she tell you?” she prodded; Azura nodded enthusiastically.

“More than any of us bargained for,” said Lance seriously. He opened his file and regarded a printed document. “Much more than I thought I would be sharing with any of you this morning.

“What I am about to reveal will come as a surprise, but I ask for the full support of all of you, and of all your teams, in the mission I am proposing. Due to the new intel Lisa was able to provide, I have decided that we will launch a major offensive on the Union’s base on Silver Rock Island.”

A resounding silence followed: Maria and Azura exchanged bewildered glances; Alison glared at her daughter for not telling her about the plan. Then, with the air of someone at the end of their rope, Donovan slammed his palms down onto the table and cried, “I’m out!”

“Sit down, Jim,” said Lance flatly.

Ryan’s dark eyes darted from Donovan’s ruddy face to Lance’s pale one.

“Lance – he has a point,” he said slowly, his tone controlled. “When did you decide the best thing for the Guard would be for us all to suicide?”

Maria chuckled nervously; Lance, on the other hand, maintained his stoic façade.

“Jim, sit down,” he repeated, “and all of you, give me a chance to talk this through before you get up in arms.”

A silence fell over the people seated around the mahogany table, as though someone had thrown an invisible blanket over them all. Donovan held his ground for a few seconds, his eyes locked in combat with Lance’s, before he scowled and, shrugging as though acting of his own accord, he slumped back into his chair with a muffled thud.

“Okay, now, let me explain my rationale before we all go jumping up and down,” he said curtly, taking a sip of coffee before launching into an explanation.

“First of all, I may have glossed over a few of the details that I conveyed to you all when Marina interrupted us in our meeting on Sunday. That is, the story Lisa told me is not the one I conveyed to the rest of you.”

“So you lied.” It was Donovan.

“I did what I had to do, as you will understand in a minute,” Lance said stiffly, not making eye contact with anyone. “Suffice it to say, it was a lie that Lisa was taken to a Union holding cell on Red Rock Island and escaped of her own accord the following day.

“The true story is that when Lisa was abducted at Redwood Hospital, she was taken – as we all initially guessed – to the Union’s headquarters below and within Silver Rock Island. The morning after, Sterling arranged for a helicopter to take her with him directly to the Sepulchre of Suicune.”

Maria and Ryan gasped; Azura frowned.

“Yeah, he wasn’t wasting any time,” Lance continued, “especially not after what happened on Mt Fairfax. However, due to a fortunate turn of events, Lisa managed to escape the helicopter in mid-flight –”

“WHAT?”

Lance recoiled slightly from the volume of the exclamation; it seemed that everyone at the table had cried out the same word at the same time.

“What do you mean, she jumped out of the chopper mid-flight?” Maria almost screamed, clutching at the back of her dark bun.

“What do you mean, she managed?” Donovan said sharply.

Sweating slightly, Lance purposefully faced Maria.

“Yes, Maria, she did, but she escaped unscathed.”

“But how –”

“Yeah, HOW,” Donovan snarled, interrupting Maria and leaving her with an expression of muted bewilderment. He levelled his gaze at Lance. “Two days ago, Jasmine and I rescued a museum curator after the Union interrogated him for info on the Third Key’s location. They had him handcuffed to an agent from the second he was kidnapped to the second they left him in that fucken basement to die.” His lip curled. “Are you telling me that they had one of the three Guardians in their possession and didn’t even bother to do the same?!”

Five faces swivelled toward Lance. He felt his heart hammering beneath his suit jacket and, in the recesses of his mind, he heard his father’s voice.

“We are doing the right thing, son. Sometimes it’s necessary to tell a lie for the greater good. Surely you know that by now?”

Feeling comforted, Lance spoke.

“Okay, it’s time to admit something that I’ve kept secret from you all. Well, except Sarah.”

All eyes swung around to face the demure teenage girl at the end of the table; though her cheeks reddened under the sudden scrutiny, she maintained her composure.

“You told her, but not us?” Azura said shortly; Donovan seemed to be going purple in the face trying to work out how to express the same sentiment.

Azura shifted in her tub chair and tapped the end of her pen on the table. “This’d better be good, Lancelot.”

“I don’t trust Sarah any more than I trust any of you,” Lance said, as bracingly as possible. “It’s just a fact that I need someone to help me here in Silver City with admin work, and – well, it’s just a reality that Sarah needs to be in the loop …”

His voice seemed to falter slightly as he spoke.

“Right,” Azura frowned. “So, what’s this secret, then?”

“Well, after Derek defected and you all found out that I had a double agent in the Union’s ranks, I assured you he had been the only one …”

“So he wasn’t,” Azura said swiftly.

Lance bit his lip.

“No, he wasn’t,” he said solemnly, opting to look in Sarah’s direction as opposed to any of the others’, especially Donovan’s. “There was one more. Larry O’Brien. None of you have ever met or probably even heard of him. He’s an old associate from my days working up in the Mt Silver wildlands. He infiltrated the Union for me years ago, in the bad old days, just after all that drama in the early 90s. A few weeks ago he worked his way up to Operations Manager of the Union. Sterling trusts him almost completely.”

“This is unbelievable,” Ryan said slowly.

“This is fantastic,” Azura added. “But then … why didn’t he warn you about the ambush on Redwood Hospital?”

“He didn’t know,” Lance said crisply. “It turns out that when it comes to infiltration, Sterling keeps his cards close to his chest.” Like I do, he thought, before trying to fight the comparison from his mind. “Probably only Joseph and his top two or three agents knew that the Union had infiltrated the Army Reserve.

“My association with Larry has, however, proved enormously beneficial over the past years. When Team Rocket tried to rebuild throughout the 90s, Larry’s intel helped us thwart them at each turn. Even after the Silph Co. affair, Larry kept passing info and enabled us to knock Team Rocket on the head once more. When Sterling finally allied himself with other gangs for support, Larry lost some of his influence, but since he was promoted to Head of Operations in February, he’s been on top form, initially positioning Derek to do our dirty work right under Sterling’s nose, and then, just a few days ago, he responded to my request to help Lisa escape from the Union.”

There was a resounding silence in the drawing room; Lance stole the moment to pick up his ‘World’s Best Dad’ mug and gulp down something that was close to pure caffeine.

“So it was you,” Ryan said, looking immensely grateful. “You saved Lisa.”

“Sorry, Ryan, but I couldn’t tell you,” Lance muttered thickly, his throat burning. “I didn’t want anyone but myself and Sarah to know.”

“It’s fine, I’m just a bit speechless,” Ryan said, his black eyes looking suddenly soft. “Thanks.”

“Yes, Lance, thank you, thank you,” Maria gushed, reaching into her pocket for a tissue as her mascara ran. “Remind me to invite you and Susan over for pasta once this is all over, okay?”

Lance nodded awkwardly; he was aware of Donovan smouldering to his right. Rather hoping that Donovan’s embarrassment at his screaming match with Lance a week previous would outweigh his indignation at being lied to, Lance continued.

“If I can get back to my main point, then, since time, as you’ll all see shortly, is of the essence …

“So, with Larry’s invaluable help, Lisa escaped from the helicopter and landed safely on Red Rock Island, on the back of Larry’s Altaria. Once there, as we all know, she managed to contact Marina and spoke to me directly.

“The rendezvous we arranged was legitimate, of course. Giles, Gideon and uh, Marina – at her insistence –”

“Christ’s sake, Lance!” Azura boiled over suddenly; she slammed her pen onto the table and gave Lance a dirty, threatening look. “For the last time, I authorised it. Stop making my daughter sound like some kind of pushy brat!”

“I didn’t say anything –”

“The way you said it!” Azura snarled; her eyes were wild. “I get that you think I was reckless in agreeing to her request. I do too, now. But – no, listen to me – she’s sixteen years old, she’s travelled half the province alone in a canoe, independent of any adult, and the Union already has her fragment of the key: most of her strategic value was and is gone. I just treated my daughter like the mature young adult that she is. I never said – no, let me finish, Maria – I never said you had to do the same with Darius. So for the love of God, stop rolling your eyes every time Marina is mentioned, and if you’re gonna talk shit on me or my daughter, at least have the goddamn courtesy to do it behind our backs!”

“If we can continue,” Lance boomed decisively, before there was so much as a second of shocked silence. “We arranged the rendezvous at the trainer’s entrance of the Water Colosseum. Giles, Gideon and Marina –” (He said the three names almost in one syllable.) “– were to meet Lisa there. However, when they arrived, the trainer’s entrance was blown apart, and Lisa was nowhere to be found.

“We were forced to assume that the Union had tracked Lisa down and recaptured her. However, after Sarah and I finally made contact with Larry on Wednesday, he revealed that Lisa was not in Union custody. This meant, then, that Lisa was in neither Union nor Guard custody, and was not making contact.

“We might have assumed she had had an accident, except her disappearance coincided with two others. Gavin Luper – who, as we know, was nearby on his mission to Cianwood – stopped making contact with us on the same day that Marina Frost went missing from Red Rock Airport. With all three children somewhere on Red Rock Island and refusing to answer their phones, Sarah and I became suspicious.

“We sent Giles and Gideon to investigate any of the group’s known contacts. After two of Marina’s contacts proved futile, the boys visited a sailor named Jack Criddle, who lives on the coast of Red Rock.”

“Lisa’s mentioned him before,” Ryan said quickly. “He was the sailor who gave her her Elekid.”

“Correct,” said Lance, “and Lisa sought to benefit from his friendship once again, just a few days ago. He ferried Lisa, Marina and Gavin to the mainland.”

“But why?” Maria said, a note of angst to her voice. “Why didn’t they just come back home?”

“Lisa’s explained this to me in detail,” Lance said. “You see, while she was in Larry’s office in the Union’s headquarters, she discovered the location of the Sepulchre of Suicune: a small lake in the bushland to the east of Goldenrod City.

“After the Union attacked her at the trainer’s entrance of the Water Colosseum, Lisa came to her own decision regarding – her movements.” Lance’s tone became stilted suddenly; he fought to keep the disdain from his voice, and he fought even harder to keep his eyes averted from Lisa’s parents. He stared at Alison and Sarah Venner at the far end of the mahogany table and took solace in their neutrality. “Basically, Lisa decided that the only way to ensure the Union stopped pursuing her was to take the key fragment herself.”

“SHE WHAT?!”

“So she did,” Lance sped on, ignoring the faces of his underlings; the second hand on his watch seemed to tick louder with every digression. “Lisa now possesses her fragment of the Sixth Key.”

“Oh wow.”

“Far out.”

“Fucken little ripper!”

“Quite as impressively,” Lance continued quickly, ignoring his coffee, “is that, within the Sepulchre of Suicune, Lisa found an ancient text, thankfully in English, that charted the locations of the first four keys and the Sixth Key fragments, which led her to obtain the Third Key yesterday.”

Another exchange of stunned smiles and whoops took place.

“How did all that happen?” asked Azura, who had been uncharacteristically silent since her earlier outburst.

“You guys might not have seen the news yet,” Lance said, almost excitedly. “But there was a major disturbance at the Goldenrod City Library last night. The Union finally discovered the location of the Third Key – at the same time as Lisa did. Lisa took the key from beneath their very noses!”

“This is a headfuck,” said Donovan.

“Maybe we should have been letting the kids do the work for us this whole time,” Ryan said jokingly, his expression one of mixed bemusement and glee.

“Don’t joke, Ryan,” Maria sniffed.

“So what were they plannin’ to do?” Donovan quizzed. “Open the lock themselves or summat?”

“According to Lisa, she wanted to ensure the end of her persecution,” Lance said slowly. “She wants us to inform the Union that we have the key fragment, so that they will no longer seek her so fervently.”

“Then we should!” said Maria fiercely.

“And we will,” Lance said calmly. “But for now, the important thing is that we get ourselves to Red Rock Island and take all three kids back into our custody.

“And the second most important thing,” he added, electric excitement coursing through him, “is that Lisa’s list revealed the location of the Fourth Key. It’s located within the caves of Silver Rock Island – right within the Headquarters of the Union itself.” He took an enormous breath. “So, long story long, my first reason for launching this offensive on the Union’s base is, obviously, to get the Fourth Key.”

He clapped his hands together by way of conclusion and, unperturbed by the stunned faces that framed the table, he reached for his mug and let his brain cells dance with a fresh hit of caffeine.

“Lance – if I could ask something …”

Everyone turned toward the end of the table to face Senior Agent Alison Venner who, along with her daughter, had remained silent throughout the discussion, until now.

Lance swallowed.

“Of course, Alison.”

Alison brushed a long strand of glossy black hair from her eyes as her rust-coloured eyes – much like her daughter’s – glanced down at a notepad she had been scribbling on throughout the meeting.

“Well, I just want to put this out there: If our aim is to stop the Union getting through the Iron Lock, the fact that Lisa now possesses one key and another fragment should be enough, shouldn’t it? Even if the Union get all the other keys, they’ll never succeed.”

There was a mixed reaction around the table: Maria and Sarah nodded vaguely; Donovan, Ryan, and Azura, on the contrary, looked almost insulted.

Lance, too, seemed perturbed.

“In simplistic terms, you’re right, Alison,” he agreed, “however, the more keys we have, the stronger a position we’re in in the long run. If we sit back and let the Union accumulate the other keys, we run the risk of eventually being ambushed and losing what little we have.”

“Exactly,” said Ryan, regarding Alison harshly.

“Still,” Alison persisted, “doesn’t this operation present an enormous risk for us? The Union has a thousand-man army, still growing constantly, and the bulk of those agents are stationed on Silver Rock Island.” She frowned. “We’ve got around twenty people on each of our teams,” she said soberly, looking at Ryan, Azura and Donovan. “Including ourselves, and our sympathisers and assets, the Guard still totals probably just over a hundred members. It’s a ridiculous statistic. Like everyone said before, it’s a suicide mission. Unless you’ve got something miraculous planned, wouldn’t it be better to use your double agent to find the key in his own time?”

All eyes were on Lance.

“I do, in fact, have something miraculous planned,” he said, a wry smile breaking over his face. “And the retrieval of the Fourth Key is not my only reason for this mission. But as for Larry, I’m afraid he’s paralysed. He left a voicemail for Sarah last night, telling us in code that he’s afraid that Lisa’s retrieval of the Third Key may have prompted Sterling to become suspicious of him. You see, Larry only just managed to save his reputation in Sterling’s eyes after Lisa’s escape. He framed a subservient agent, a young man named Jovan. Sterling murdered Jovan before Larry’s own eyes. Twelve shots to the head and heart. Larry believes Sterling killed Jovan in front of him intentionally, as a warning of the end result of treachery.”

“Fuck,” said Donovan.

“His cover hasn’t been blown yet,” said Lance. “But he’s being closely watched, and he seems convinced he only has a few days left before he’s made. Sarah and I have … well, theorised … that Sterling is probably checking through communications records for most of the high-ranking officers in the Union, not just Larry, so that could explain why it might take a few days. Nonetheless, despite the fact that we’ve been extremely careful in our coded communications with Larry, there will be patterns in our conversations that might trigger off Sterling’s suspicions and blow Larry’s cover. And that’s assuming there’s nothing else that gives him away.

“It goes without saying that the greatest weapon at our disposal – aside from the keys that Lisa has acquired – is Larry.”

“Hence the haste,” Alison said, nodding slowly. “You’re saying it’s now or never.”

“I’m saying it’s now,” Lance nodded firmly. “Lisa’s intel and the … precarity of Larry’s situation … give us a unique – let’s call it opportunity.”

Ryan laughed humourlessly.

“My plan, then,” said Lance, feeling slightly less apprehensive now that his party was brought up to speed; indeed, they were all listening intently now, “is to ambush the Union’s base on Silver Rock Island, for four reasons. Firstly, for the Fourth Key. Secondly, to try to get the Union’s other stash of keys: I know Larry knows where they are. Thirdly, to wipe out as much Union scum as we can get our hands on, especially Sterling.” (Sarah was the only one whose skin prickled with fear at his words.) “And last of all, if we possibly can, to save Larry’s life.

“The way we’re gonna do it is via the miraculous means I mentioned earlier,” Lance continued. “That is, we’re using Larry to play a nice practical joke on the Union.”

“A diversion?” ventured Azura.

“A big one,” Lance smirked, unable to help himself. “A few hours before our ambush, Larry will inform Joseph Sterling that he has intercepted a communiqué that the Guard is mobilising to a cave on the west coast of Johto’s southern peninsula, just west of Azalea Town, where we have located the Fourth Key. According to Larry, there are about eight hundred Union agents on base at any one time. He is going to try to scramble about half of them if possible, to head us off in Azalea. Ideally, that will leave us to contend with just four hundred agents.”

“Four each,” Donovan boomed, thudding his fist on the table. He seemed oddly excited by the prospect of battle.

“Assuming they take out none of us,” Alison said curtly, her lips thinly drawn. “That ratio’s still way too far into suicide territory for my liking.”

“Looking at the raw numbers, I’d agree with you, Alison,” Lance said, resting his hands on the edge of the table and checking for the umpteenth time that power had definitely been cut to the intercom and telephone unit built into the mahogany; he was paranoid about accidentally broadcasting their secret conversations. “But you’re forgetting the pragmatics. Sterling will send his best fighters to intercept us in Azalea; the weakest grunts will be left to face an onslaught of around eighty of the most skilled trainers and fighters in the region.

“The other thing you’re forgetting is that while the Union agents still do use pokémon by means of habit, these days they favour their pistols and stun guns. According to Larry, most agents only carry three or four pokémon at the most. So, to make the most of this,” he said, grinning, “I’m planning on bringing a veritable army of my strongest pokémon with me, including my Dragonite and my Steelix, just to shake things up a bit.”

Donovan and Ryan exchanged broad grins.

“You’re putting everything into this, aren’t you?” Azura said, her expression half-excited and half-bemused.

Lance nodded.

“I am, and I want all of you and all your teams to do the same,” he said. “If we pull this off right, if everything goes to plan, this could be the end of Joseph Sterling. The end of the Union.”

The atmosphere in the drawing room was suddenly palpable.

“I’ll get Tom to bring my Blastoise from home,” Ryan said at once.

“And my Nidoqueen,” Maria added.

“I’ll kill Sterling myself, and if he gets me first, my Machamp’ll finish ‘im off,” Donovan grinned venomously.

“Okay, that energy is exactly what I want you all to pass you on to your teams,” Lance said, energised. “They need to be ready to do battle for the fourth key. They need to be pumped.

“So, that’s the plan,” Lance said. “Sarah’s emailed you all with a briefing, so check your phones. I’ll notify Larry in a few minutes, and we’ll mobilise ASAP. All teams will converge on Red Rock Island as subtly as possible. As we have no base or safe house there, we’re going to use Jack Criddle’s house as a meeting point: it’s not big but it’s big enough, it’s coastal, for us to mobilise quickly by sea, and it’s well out of town, so we likely won’t be seen.

“There’s just one more thing.”

“I was going to say …” Alison said under her breath, just loud enough for the others to hear her.

Ryan, Maria, Azura, Donovan and Alison faced Lance, waiting keenly on his final comment.

“Aside from my dad, the seven of us in this room are the only people in the Guard who know that there is a mole within our ranks.”

Realisation dawned on the faces of the others.

“There’s still no lead?” Azura asked.

“None, other than it’s not one of us,” Lance sighed. “However, I plan to use this mole to our advantage.

“You’re going to tell your teams the exact same thing we’re leaking to the Union. That the Fourth Key is located in a remote coastal cave west of Azalea Town. We’ll chopper it to a bare stretch of beach between Olivine and Goldenrod and surf from there. We’ll say Red Rock is a rest point before we surf onward to the hidden cave. Not until we leave Red Rock will any of our members know that we are heading for Silver Rock Island. The mole, whoever he or she is, won’t have a chance to warn Sterling, and his agents will be too far away to help him, in any case.

“The added advantage of this is that, if Sterling is really that suspicious of Larry, he might contact his mole within our ranks for confirmation that the Guard is headed to Azalea. And he’ll receive that confirmation.”

“You realise you’re proposing we lie to our entire teams,” Maria said blankly.

“In order to save their lives, probably,” said Lance.

“He’s right, Maria,” said Ryan.

“I know, love … I know there’s no way around it … it’s just that … we’re going to catch the mole, but after that’s all said and done, we’ll end up with an entire team that no longer trusts us.”

“They’ll understand why the measure had to be taken,” said Alison briskly; it irritated her when people dwelled on things they had already resolved to accept.

“Exactly,” said Lance. “And if all goes well tonight, we might not even need teams ever again.”

Maria’s frowning face broke briefly into an appreciative smile before resuming its deep frown.

“That’s it,” said Lance, clapping his hands together in a macho gesture once more. “Grab your phones and things from Sarah, and I’ll see you all down in the foyer. We leave in thirty minutes.”

Azura, Donovan, Alison and Sarah slid their grey tub chairs out from the table and rose.

“We’re gonna kill some Union scum!” Donovan sang to himself in a toneless voice, as he headed out into Sarah’s reception area.

“You don’t seriously take issue with this, do you, Maria?” Lance asked her incredulously.

Her dark Italian eyes weighed down with years of suffering, Maria Walters stood up slowly, helping her husband into his coat.

“I’m afraid after everything we’ve seen in last twenty years, Lance, I still get those pangs of Catholic guilt. I’m not going to oppose you, and I can’t even disagree with your logic. I just … I still believe it’s wrong to lie.”

Lance pressed his lips together and inclined his head slightly.

“I know, Maria. Me too. And hopefully this whole business is going to be done and dusted soon. But until then, it’s the reality of what we do.

“Sometimes it’s necessary to tell a lie for the greater good.”

[Sike Saner]

“The rendezvous we arranged was legitimate, of course. Giles, Gideon and uh, Marina – at her insistence –”

“Christ’s sake, Lance!” Azura boiled over suddenly; she slammed her pen onto the table and gave Lance a dirty, threatening look. “For the last time, I authorised it. Stop making my daughter sound like some kind of pushy brat!”

“I didn’t say anything –”

“The way you said it!” Azura snarled; her eyes were wild. “I get that you think I was reckless in agreeing to her request. I do too, now. But – no, listen to me – she’s sixteen years old, she’s travelled half the province alone in a canoe, independent of any adult, and the Union already has her fragment of the key: most of her strategic value was and is gone. I just treated my daughter like the mature young adult that she is. I never said – no, let me finish, Maria – I never said you had to do the same with Darius. So for the love of God, stop rolling your eyes every time Marina is mentioned, and if you’re gonna talk shit on me or my daughter, at least have the goddamn courtesy to do it behind our backs!”

Damn, she sure told him off.

That last scene gave off this nice "major stuff is about to happen" sense. Liked that.

Also the burger mention earlier in the chapter made me want a burger.

[Gavin Luper]

Damn, she sure told him off.

That last scene gave off this nice "major stuff is about to happen" sense. Liked that.

Also the burger mention earlier in the chapter made me want a burger.

Hey, Sike! Thanks for reading and replying. Yeah, Azura's a feisty one - you can see where Marina gets her gumption from, albeit perhaps a less intense brand. Yep, major stuff is about to go down my friend.

I can't believe four weeks has passed now. I'll edit the next chapter and post it up as soon as I can.

Thanks for your feedback as always - huge stuff is not far away!

Cheers,

Gavin.