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

[Gavin Luper]

Hullo readers,

May the revelations flow!

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Previously on Lisa the Legend:



Lisa, Marina and Gavin escaped the reaches of both the Union and the Guard to attempt to fulfil to Lisa's new mission:



“Lisa’s bleached her hair and gone into renegade action-fighter mode,” Marina said dryly. “We’re gonna break into the Sepulchre of Suicune and get the key fragment ourselves! Come along for the ride, it’ll be heaps fun!”

Gavin’s face had gone slack. “Wait – what?”

“I’m not going back to the safe house,” Lisa said.

“Why the hell not?”

Lisa fought the urge to snap at him.

“Because I’m so sick of this constant running, the constant hiding from the Union, hoping they don’t find me,” she said tersely. “And I’ve realised the sooner I get the fragment of the key that’s in the Sepulchre, the sooner the Union will have no use for me anymore.”



Eventually convinced of Lisa's plan, Gavin used his pokemon to help him to teleport them all back to his apartment in Goldenrod City, from where Lotus Lake - the location of the Sepulchre of Suicune - was only a few hours' walk:



“Okay then, let’s do this! Everyone power up – and on the count of three, we’ll appear at the destination point. Visualise it, everyone. Ready? One …”

Lisa took one final, sweeping glance of the deserted beach, the tranquil waters, the silhouette of the white fishing boat against the golden rays of the setting sun …

“Two …”

Lisa closed her eyes; and, all of a sudden, a nervous panic swelled up within her, blocking her throat …

“THREE!”

Instantly, Lisa felt as though she was being squeezed through a wringer as cold blasts of air whooshed against her body – and then, quite as abruptly, she fell unceremoniously against a hard, thinly-carpeted floor, her body aching, her throat still restricted, leaving her gasping for breath.



And upon arriving at Lotus Lake, Lisa made a startling realisation:



"I’ve been here before.”

Marina blinked in disbelief; Gavin’s eyebrow edged toward the bottom of his beanie.

“When?” he asked.

Lisa revelled in the broad grin that stole over her face as she spoke.

“Last October,” she said.

“Suicune brought me here on the very first day of my journey.”


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Chapter 73 – The Sepulchre of Suicune.


“Oh wow,” breathed Marina.

“That’s insane …” Gavin muttered, putting his hands to his head and gazing at the murky lake, almost in reverence.

Lisa was still reeling from the surprise herself: it felt like a bombshell had been dropped on her.

“After we passed the site of the Bug-Catching Contest, I realised we were taking the same path I took last October, just in the opposite direction,” she explained to the others excitedly. “I wondered, the further we got, if Lotus Lake was the same lake Suicune took me to on that first day …”

“You know what this means, right?” Marina rushed. “Suicune wanted you to see this place. Right from the start.”

“I know …” Lisa said, pacing along the shoreline, where the foul-looking water lapped at her sneakers. She thought back to that fateful day, when she had fallen through into the basement of the Burned Tower, right into the middle of the meeting between Suicune, Entei and Raikou. Somehow, she had naively thought that Suicune had been trying to escape her and that she had been lucky to cling onto his back. Now, the pieces of the puzzle all sliding into place, she understood: Suicune had allowed her to take a seat on his back and he had transported her directly to Lotus Lake, to his Sepulchre.

It was almost as though he had known, then, that she would need to know this place in the future.

“So what happened that day?” asked Gavin urgently. “Did Suicune show you what to do, how to get into the Sepulchre from here?”

Lisa was already reliving that day.

“He drank from the lake,” she said slowly.

“Ew,” Marina contributed.

“No, it like, became clean as he drank,” Lisa said quickly. Her mind raced ahead of her, making the connections. “Maybe – maybe he was showing me the path – maybe the entrance is underwater, beneath the lake …”

“Did you see anything?” Gavin pressed.

Lisa swore loudly.

“No!” she cried, turning back to face them. “Because Wooper came along and interrupted everything!”

“What do you mean?” asked Marina.

“Wooper appeared and like, tried to battle Suicune or something. Suicune got really mad – I mean, like, mental – and fired off all these Ice Beams before it ran away … And I tried to catch him in a pokéball …” Lisa felt her face flush slightly with embarrassment. “But the ball bounced off him, he ran away, and the ball fell onto Wooper and caught it.” She cursed beneath her breath again. “I was so excited about catching Wooper, I don’t think I even looked in the water after that, really. For all I know, there could have been a neon light under there that said, ‘Lisa, enter here!’”

“I d-don’t think you need to worry about that now, Lisa,” Marina stammered suddenly.

“What d’you –” Lisa began, surveying Marina’s pallid face; the blue-haired girl was staring timorously at a point over Lisa’s shoulder.

Instinctively, Lisa turned to see what had provoked such fear in Marina.

Her jaw dropped.

Standing before her, as though he had just emerged from the water, was the dignified, cobalt-furred form of Suicune, the mystic aurora on his back ablaze.

//We have much to speak about, Lisa Walters//

The telepathic voice that echoed in Lisa’s head was battle-hardened and yet regal; it somehow reminded her of the voice of a kind wolf, if such a thing existed.

“Y-yes,” she replied, lost for words as she stared at Suicune’s awesome glow. She was vaguely aware of Marina and Gavin beside her, slowly backing away in apprehension.

Quite suddenly, Suicune’s sinewy legs seemed to fold beneath him; he reposed, half his usual height, on the shoreline, water lapping gently against his bulky form. Lisa idled for a moment or two, bemused by the beast’s silence, and then –

//You were much hastier to climb upon my back the first time we met. It seems that you require an invitation now?//

There was a hint of disapproving grandfather to his tone.

“Oh – of course not – but –”

//Your friends shall await you here//

“O-okay.”

Her mind galloping, Lisa approached Suicune and, feeling almost as though she was being horribly disrespectful to the beast (how different from their first encounter!) she hoisted a leg over his considerable girth, seating herself uncomfortably on his back and covering a portion of his shimmering aurora which, gratefully, did not burn; indeed, she could not feel it at all.

She surveyed Marina and Gavin nervously. They were both extremely pale, and yet seemed to understand what was happening. Gavin gave Lisa a very forced wink, which she mirrored. Marina, meanwhile, fluttered her hand weakly.

Suicune rose abruptly and turned to face the lake and the cliff that bounded it; Lisa wound her fingers into tufts of his cobalt fur as she rose with him. An uninvited shiver ran down her spine as Suicune bowed his gently-furred head down to the water level and began to drink from the slough.

Déjà vu.

As Suicune lapped up the dirty brown water, the shallows around him began to bubble – gently at first and then vigorously – and as the water bubbled, it gave off a glow that was radiant even in the midday sun. The impurities in the water were boiled away as the frothing water changed from a murky greenish-brown to a clear, crystalline cerulean.

Lisa’s eyes swallowed the sight before them, as the entire lake frothed and glowed and, within the space of a minute, became utterly pristine, perhaps the most beautiful lake she had ever laid eyes on.

Behind her, Gavin gave a low whistle.

Lisa squinted her eyes against the glare that now bounced off the surface of the clean water. She searched beneath the surface for some kind of sign – a path, perhaps – but there was nothing other than the clean, pearl-white rock that made up the bottom of the lake.

Suicune removed his mouth from the water, his jaws dripping. Without warning, a burst of silver light exploded from the aurora, immediately beneath Lisa. She cried out in fright as a glistening silver globe of energy enveloped her, sealing her securely in a translucent bubble. Comprehension dawned on Lisa as her memory twigged: Suicune had placed the same bubble around her and Gavin during his battle with Entei in the Ice Path: he was protecting her.

//Hold on//

No sooner had Lisa tightened her grip on Suicune’s back than he bounded, with incredible speed, directly into the depths of the lake.

An instinctive shriek erupted from Lisa’s mouth as Suicune pelted underwater. The bubble around her was pressed tightly against her face and front, creating an invisible boundary between her and the cold liquid beyond. After a few moments underwater, she opened her eyes and saw the subterranean world of Lotus Lake whizzing past in all its resplendent glory. Ornate protrusions of pearly rock decorated the lake floor at haphazard intervals, interspersed with emerald-green tufts of salvao weed and surprisingly beautiful flowers that looked something like underwater lilacs. However, Lisa scarcely had the time to register the sights before Suicune, still bounding at full bore, charged at a dark crevice positioned at the point where the lake floor intersected with the base of the cliff. Though she trusted her legendary Guardian, Lisa flinched as her head narrowly missed the top of the crevice. Suicune bolted on through an underwater tunnel that was lit only by the glow of his aurora, which looked positively magical in the water, surrounded by indigo motes and dreamy globules of white-gold light. Suicune reached a fork in the tunnel and took a left, winding slowly upwards until, without warning, the pressing cold on Lisa’s face disappeared; they were above the water level now, though still in a dark, rocky tunnel. Excited and apprehensive in equal measures, Lisa watched, a taciturn passenger, as Suicune navigated his way through a series of twists and turns in the tunnel system. As they cantered through one particularly gloomy tunnel, Lisa spied several cobwebs lining the ceiling; seconds later, an enormous Spinarak web appeared ahead, completely occluding the tunnel. As Lisa screamed, Suicune ploughed onward, shooting an enormous ray of rainbow-coloured light at the web, sizzling through it and causing scores of Spinarak to tumble from the roof of the tunnel. Lisa covered her head with one arm, but thankfully the silvery bubble remained impenetrable; the spiders slid harmlessly off the bubble and were behind them in a matter of seconds, though Lisa still shuddered unpleasantly at the creepy sensation she had felt as they crawled over the membrane. Unperturbed, Suicune ran on. At one point, Lisa noticed an old square tablet fixed over the entrance to one of the tunnels they entered; there was a series of ancient-looking glyphs carved into it. If it were even possible anymore, Lisa’s pulse quickened: the glyphs looked similar to some that she had seen on Mount Fairfax, near the Sepulchre of Entei: they must be close.

And sure enough, just a few moments later, the tunnel widened into a capacious cavern and Suicune slowed to a walk before stopping completely. Lisa was only vaguely aware of the silvery bubble popping gently around her: her eyes were shining at the beauty before them; in complete awe, she exclaimed, “Wow.”

The cavern was what looked like a gigantic antechamber, its ceiling easily four or five metres high. The walls were of a pearl-white rock, the likes of which Lisa had never seen before: they glimmered in the light of a dozen torches affixed to them in brackets; however these torches, too, were completely alien to Lisa: they burned with an azure flame.

Lisa tore her eyes from the ethereal fires that encircled her and surveyed the enormous statue at the far end of the antechamber. Just like the antechamber of the Sepulchre of Entei, there was a vast rock altar, a dais the size of a bus that seemed to be made entirely of pearl, flanked by an imposing, six-foot-tall golden statue hewn in the form of Suicune, its eyes made of glittering sapphires.

“Oh my God …” Lisa breathed.

Absent-mindedly patting Suicune’s aurora, which seemed rather dull compared to her environs, she slid gently off his back and walked slowly toward the dais.

Suicune’s antechamber was even more beautiful than Entei’s: the pearl dais was utterly exquisite. Lisa’s eyes were drawn between the statue and the mystical blue torches before finally, as she stood with a hand touching the cool metal of the statue, she properly noticed the ledge behind the dais, and the giant archway that held an impossibly large oak double door. She drank it in slowly, luxuriantly. The doorframe was covered in gold-leaf that spiralled over the wood in a florid, spidery pattern; at various intervals within the pattern, the doorframe was encrusted with resplendent gems, many of them various shades of blue, but also several purples, yellows, greens and reds.

“It’s so beautiful,” Lisa gaped.

//My home// Suicune’s voice echoed through her.

Lisa gazed at the titanic wooden doors, engraved with those odd, ancient runes.

The Sepulchre of Suicune.

She pressed her palm gently against the left door.

//NO!//

Suicune’s scream reverberated in her brain; she clutched her head and spun round to face him; he had bounded right over to her and stood beside her on the dais.

For a moment, each Guardian stared into the eyes of the other, Lisa’s honey-brown irises locked with Suicune’s violet-black ones.

“This is your Sepulchre,” Lisa said slowly, not quite understanding the outburst. “I thought you wanted me to enter it.”

Suicune’s aurora flared slightly.

//You are very intelligent// came the dignified, lupine voice. //Yes, we shall both enter the Sepulchre very shortly; and this has indeed been my wish for … some time. However, you must know that the Sepulchre is not designed to be occupied for long// His tone became deathly serious. //Once we enter the Sepulchre, we can only spend a few minutes there, or it will self-destruct//

“But I thought the Sepulchres only destroy themselves when the wrong person enters them –”

//When that happens, the Sepulchre begins to destroy itself instantly// Suicune said gently. //As you and I are protected by the Legend, Lisa, we are allowed the privilege of a very few minutes before the destruction begins. Another security measure to guard against Guardians being forced to enter under duress//

Lisa gulped and stepped cautiously away from the oak doors.

//As we will not have time to discuss much in the Sepulchre, I have decided that it is necessary to do so here, in the antechamber, before we enter//

Suicune’s legs folded beneath him again and, looking more like a dog than Lisa had ever seen, he curled himself up neatly on the pearl dais.

//You ought to sit, Lisa. I shall need some time to explain myself to you//

Once again, Lisa had the sense that her pulse had quickened, and yet, she could not remember a time recently when it had not been pounding like a jungle drum in her ears. Was Suicune really going to give her full disclosure, at long last?

Lisa shifted further from the archway and sat down two feet from Suicune’s head, crossing her legs on the pearl floor. She ran her fingers along the smooth, shiny surface and an excited shiver shot through her.

//I shall begin, I think, with an apology//

Lisa started, completely thrown by this moment of unexpected vulnerability; Suicune regarded her with an unexpectedly doleful expression.

“What for?” she asked, vexed.

//For binding myself to you so soon// came the majestic voice in her mind; Suicune’s eyes were downcast. //Never in history have we used children as guardians before. Only adults should have to bear such a burden. And yet, a decade ago, when Joseph Sterling became aware of the Legend and discovered that your father, Azura Frost and Lance Hudson were guardians, we had no choice, you see//

There was a deep, almost human remorse in Suicune’s voice, Lisa thought; a second later, she scolded herself mentally for thinking that such an emotion could be exclusively human.

//Raikou, Entei and I feared Sterling’s new knowledge, and his growing power … We decided to pre-empt any attempts he might make to force the guardians to enter the Sepulchres; we decided to bind ourselves to their children instead//

Lisa winced; her recollection of first hearing this tale from her parents at the Fairfax Inn was flooding back to her, including the tears.

“My parents explained this to me,” she told Suicune. “I understand why you did it.”

//Not fully// said Suicune enigmatically. //You may have wondered, for instance, why I chose to bind myself to you, Lisa, instead of, say, your elder brother, Thomas?//

“It – it’s crossed my mind,” Lisa admitted.

//I rather thought that – should the day come when Sterling figured out the switch we had made – that he would assume Thomas was the Guardian instead. The older, stronger boy seemed a much likelier Guardian than a young, innocent-looking girl. This was my rationale; I never expected that Sterling would find out the truth. I never anticipated that you could, indeed, fall into any real danger. And yet here we are//

Suicune locked eyes with her once more; his tone again took on that sympathetic, grandfatherly quality.

//I am sorry for the pain and suffering I have caused you, Lisa Walters//

“I forgive you,” Lisa said at once, almost before Suicune had finished; and yet she wasn’t quite sure why she was so hasty, when her Guardianship was indeed the root of all the troubles she had been through; she supposed, later, that it had something to do with the fact that Suicune was speaking openly, and at length, with her for the first time in history, and that privilege alone had completely blown her mind.

//I have often wondered// Suicune went on. //If you had any recollection of our first encounter?//

Lisa nodded, poking her fingers through the artistic gashes in Jamie’s jeans.

“I have a memory …” she said slowly. “When I was about four … I nearly drowned in my pool at home and then something blue – well, you – appeared in front of me. Before, I used to think it was a dream. These days, obviously, I understand what it was …”

//I see// Suicune responded pensively. //And this dream … is it what led you to be in the Brass Tower on the day we met last year?//

It took Lisa a moment to register that Suicune was referring to the Burned Tower.

“Actually, no …” she admitted. “I saw on TV that you’d been sighted there, that’s really why I went. I was just … curious.” She added the last word clumsily: she had almost said “I was just bored”, but such a remark seemed stupid to make in the presence of Suicune.

The beast nodded its head gently, as though mulling something over.

//It had been many years since I had visited the Brass Tower// Suicune explained. //In my experience, it was a deserted and dangerous building. I did not expect it to have become such a popular venue for pokémon battles … So then, it is all a matter of chance, it seems. We were not necessarily destined to meet that day. Interesting…//

Suicune trailed off. Lisa anticipated his next words, his grand reveal, with bated breath, but it did not come for several minutes; the beast simply sat in silence, his dark eyes staring at the ground.

Then, suddenly, he said, //There are just two things I must speak to you about before we enter the Sepulchre//

Lisa stiffened.

//Firstly, what is your plan? Why have you come here today?//

“Oh,” Lisa muttered; she had not expected to be the one answering questions. “Well, I came to get my fragment of the key. I’m … going to break it. Destroy it. End it.”

As she spoke, her voice grew more impassioned. However, her certainty lasted only a moment.

//You will fail. The Seven Keys are indestructible//

“Oh.”

Suicune growled.

//The Iron Lock was created by humans, ostensibly to keep anyone from accessing the great and terrible power referred to in the Legend. Of course, if those humans had truly wanted that power locked away for good, they would have created a unopenable lock, or a lock with keys that could be destroyed//

His tone was caustic.

“W-what are you saying?” Lisa ventured.

//I am saying that the humans of that era did not wish to lose the power hidden behind the Iron Lock. They did not want it falling into the wrong hands, but still they did not want to lose the power itself. This is why it is exceedingly difficult to open the Iron Lock, but not impossible//

“But that doesn’t make any sense …” said Lisa.

//Humans never have// said Suicune.

“But why go to all this trouble, all these keys, if …”

//You fail to understand the bigger picture, Lisa. Perhaps you are still too young. Permit me to explain. Those humans who decided to sequester the great power away from the world did not sequester it from themselves. It was – it is – too spectacular to lose. Those humans became Guardians of the great power, wishing to control it and have exclusive knowledge of it. But never did these Guardians wish for the power to be entirely forgotten by the world. Hence, the role I have played for centuries//

Lisa grappled with the information overload.

“When you say Guardians, you don’t mean …?”

//Yes. Your ancestors, Lisa. And the ancestors of Darius Hudson and Marina Frost. The very first Guardians//

Lisa’s head was spinning; it was still too much to make sense of. She tried to recall the explanation of the Legend her parents had given her back on Mount Fairfax.

“So our ancestors were the ones who invented the Iron Lock in the first place?”

//That is correct//

“Something like … hundreds of years ago …”

//Seven hundred. Yes//

“And then they hid the keys …”

//Yes//

“And then they split the Sixth Key and hid one part in your Sepulchre – right here – and the other two parts in the Sepulchres of Entei and Raikou.”

//Your parents have been very open with you. Yes//

“And so then …” Lisa was beginning to see the pieces of the puzzle cluster together in her mind’s eye. “Everything was forgotten over the years, except by you, Raikou and Entei, until you bound yourselves to my Dad, Azura and Lance twenty years ago …”

//YOUR PARENTS HAVE LIED TO YOU!//

“Ouch!” Lisa cried, clutching her ears in agony; Suicune’s telepathic voice had rung out in her head louder than ever before; he had shouted. “What – what do you mean?”

//Your parents have lied to you. What is this nonsense about everything being forgotten?//

“The Legend,” Lisa said timidly; Suicune was standing erect, face incensed. “It was all forgotten until Lance’s father excavated the shrine or something … And you, Raikou and Entei were inside, and you bound yourselves to Dad, Azura and Lance …”

Suicune’s aurora flared erratically; a spark of ice-blue light exploded from the centre of it and struck the dais, sending a chip of perfect pearl flying past Lisa’s face.

“That’s just what Dad told me …” Lisa said hastily, unnerved by Suicune’s response.

//Human greed … that desire for wealth and power … no reason it wouldn’t have extended further, of course …// Suicune muttered darkly. Lisa wondered if he was even aware that he was still transmitting his thoughts to her.

“What are you saying?” she asked nervously.

Suicune’s inky eyes swamped her.

//It is important that you listen carefully to me now, Lisa. I believe you are the only one I can entrust with this information//

*

Sarah Venner scrolled uninterestedly through the seemingly endless report on the screen before her. There were times when being Lance Hudson’s personal assistant made life nothing short of a thrill: in her short tenure she had already attended high-level meetings among the Guard members, travelled to far-off locales with Lance and met some of the most influential people in Johto – senators, researchers, writers, CEOs – many of whom were close personal friends of the Johto League Champion.

And then there were times like this, when she found herself stuck in the office while the sunny day taunted her through the window while she redrafted a report of the Guard’s most recent mission.

Her rust-coloured eyes shifted back and forth along row after row of unserifated black text on a white background. Given the nature of the Guard’s work, the reports should have been riveting, but they were consistently bloodless and clinical. It was always the same: a description of the mission’s location and objectives, which Guard members were involved, what measures were taken, what happened, what the outcome was and what could be improved upon next time.

Sometimes, Sarah managed to keep herself engaged with the report if it involved her mother, Alison, who was a Senior Agent with the Guard. It was quite exciting to read things like, “Agent Alison Venner immobilised two enemy agents before completing the reconnaissance”. Sarah smiled: to think it was only a year ago that she had believed her mother to be nothing more than a dull investment banker.

She sighed, eyes blurring before the screen. Her mother hadn’t been on this particular mission – it had been undertaken by Senior Agent Jim Donovan; and judging by the number and calibre of the grammatical errors, the report had been written by him too.

Just as she reached up for her glass of water, there was an electronic whirr and the sleek fax machine by the window began frantically printing a transmission. Rather hoping that it wasn’t part two of Donovan’s report, Sarah picked the fax up from the tray and glanced over it, her eyes widening in surprise.

“No way …” she breathed.

Fax in hand, she charged at the door of Lance’s drawing room, not bothering to knock: her rudeness would be forgotten in the wake of the news she was about to deliver. The door swung open, but Lance was not seated at the head of the mahogany table; he stood before the wall-length glass windows, speaking very sharply to someone on his mobile phone.

“… isn’t my decision, it’s Azura’s, and she can do whatever the hell she likes with Marina, but I’m YOUR dad and I decide what’s best for you. That’s final, young man!”

Sarah flinched. She knew exactly what was going on, because the cold war between Lance and Darius had been brewing for days now. It seemed it had finally erupted into full-scale conflict.

Feeling a pang of sympathy for Darius as well as rather awkward to be eavesdropping, Sarah called loudly across the room, as if she had just burst in, “Lance! You’ll want to see this!”

Lance Hudson froze, silhouetted by the sunlight pouring into the drawing room.

“I’ll speak to you later, son. Goodbye.”

With a clap, he shut the mobile phone curtly and spun on his heel to face Sarah.

“What is it, Sarah?” he asked cheerily, locking eyes with her.

Had she not heard the preceding phone call, Sarah might have believed him to be genuinely pleased to see her; however, she had worked with him at close quarters long enough to understand that there were many sides to Lance Hudson, and he kept most of them under fierce and constant guard.

“I have a message from the Union,” she said, brandishing the sheet of thin, shiny fax paper.

Lance’s eyes bulged slightly; he instinctively reached for the ‘World’s Best Dad’ mug on the table.

“Good or bad?”

“I suppose good.”

Lance closed his eyes and took three large, grateful sips of tepid coffee.

“Read it to me.”

Sarah searched the page for the particular line she was after.

“It’s mostly another one of those threat messages they send,” she explained. “The important line is this: ‘Your Safe House is not as safe as you think it is. We will steal your three Guardians from under your nose.’”

An enormous grin broke out on Lance’s face.

“That’s the best news I’ve heard in days!” he whooped.

“I know!” Sarah grinned.

Lance took the fax from her and reread it gleefully as he paced by the enormous glass window.

“So they think all three Guardians are at the Safe House, then,” he said excitedly.

“Which means they didn’t recapture Lisa after all … or Marina, by the sounds of it …” added Sarah, glowing.

“Unless it’s a message designed to dupe us, but that would be inconsistent with the other messages. And besides, if the Union really had either Marina or Lisa, they would be making all kinds of demands, not allowing stupid grunts to send through some kind of random threat …” He looked up at Sarah earnestly. “Although, if Lisa wasn’t captured by the Union … why on earth didn’t she re-establish contact with us?”

“Marina, too,” Sarah added. “She has a phone.”

Lance frowned.

Sarah bit her lip.

“We’re going to need more coffee, I think,” she said seriously.

Lance deigned an appreciative smile.

“Black with an extra sugar. I’m going to need it.”

*

//The version of events that your parents told you is a lie// said Suicune. //However, I am not convinced that even they are aware of this//

The knot building in Lisa’s chest eased slightly.

“You mean they were lied to?”

//To an extent, yes. I assume you are still young enough to believe that power and wealth can be dangerous and corrupting things, Lisa?//

Lisa felt a little riled at his very clear attitude. “I suppose so …”

//I have noticed that adult humans grow less and less adept at understanding this with age, nothing more// came the kind-wolf voice again, reassuringly. //I feel sure that you are still pure of heart, Lisa.

//So then, it is crucial that you understand this Legend while you are still able to//

Lisa’s skin turned to gooseflesh.

//This Legend, its very inception, begins with your ancestors, the ones who decided to hide the Great Power from the rest of the world – the creators of the Iron Lock. They developed their own secret society, granting membership only to those they deemed worthy. They enshrined their activities with mythology and mystique and unusual rituals, claiming that a higher power had tasked them with protecting the Great Power//

//The truth is, they were simply greedy individuals. The ancestors of Walters, Frost and Hudson were wealthy land-owners in medieval Ecruteak: they were simply lording their power over the common folk, ensuring that their secret power was kept solely in their control// Suicune’s violet eyes were almost black with rage. //It was greed, Lisa. The creation of the Iron Lock, of the keys … the inception of this war … nothing more or less than greed and powerhunger//

Lisa’s lungs had almost forgotten what air tasted like.

“B-but …” she spluttered eventually. “But you were part of it. You and Raikou and Entei. You helped them build this whole system …”

Suicune’s eyes glinted.

//Yes, Lisa. And thanks to our involvement, it became much, much more difficult for even the Guardians to open the Iron Lock. By binding their souls to ours, we were able to act as a safeguard without them knowing//

The regret in his voice baffled Lisa.

“But then, doesn’t that solve everything?” she cried. “If you’re a safeguard, then nobody can get past you!” Lisa’s heart soared suddenly. “Neither the Guard nor the Union … right?”

Suicune’s eyes fell.

//Like every human, you see me as a legendary being, because your ancestors spread the myth that my brothers and I are magical creatures. Immortal, even.// His tone became deathly quiet, almost fragile. //Lisa, when it comes down to it … I am just a beast. I can be captured quite easily, attacked, too, and I can – and will – die//

His eyes lingered on Lisa; his final word reverberated in her skull.

//My Sepulchre// Suicune continued. //is enchanted. It will open only for two beings: myself, and the human my soul is bound to. As long as we are both present, the Sepulchre will grant entry – even if we are brought here under duress. Like you, Lisa, I am only a safeguard as much as I am a pawn. Do you follow me?//

Lisa nodded blankly.

//You will understand, then, why I scarcely trust the Guard more than I trust the Union. Your ancestors may not seek to harm others with the Great Power, but the greed remains//

“What did you mean when you said my parents had been lied to?” Lisa pressed.

//I was leading to that. As I was saying, the greed in your ancestors has prevailed to this day. Do you know Bernard Hudson and Daisy Frost?//

“Marina and Darius’ grandparents, I suppose?” Lisa asked. “I’ve never met them.”

//Yes, they are the ancestors of Marina and Darius. Now, open your mind and try to see things holistically, Lisa// said Suicune, apparently by way of preamble. //Twenty years ago, when Bernard Hudson entered our collective shrine, he was not making some kind of archaeological discovery. He was already the Guardian of Entei and he already knew of the Legend. The time had come for us to bind ourselves to the newly-adult children of the current Guardians, a changeover that has occurred every twenty years or so for the last seven centuries//

//Historically, Raikou, Entei and I simply perform the binding process and have no further contact with our new Guardians. Before the process, we consult with the old Guardians and entrust them with the task of explaining to their children the significance of what has happened//

//Do you see the problem now?//

“You’re saying that Daisy and Bernard and – my grandfather – lied? To their own children?”

//I do not know this. But from what you have just told me, it seems the most plausible explanation. Hudson, at least, had a great deal to gain, financially, from claiming to have made a great archaeological discovery, and Daisy Frost and Theodore Walters – your grandfather – may have been equally behind this decision, exchanging their silence on the matter for monetary gain. They may have collaborated together to decide to stage the rediscovery and rebirth of the Legend. This is, of course, a lie. The bloodline of Guardians has continued unbroken since it began//

The derision in Suicune’s tone was palpable.

//Ultimately, I do not know what happened. Unfortunately, I have known very little of the human Guardians throughout time; and never have I been privy to their affairs or discussions or decisions. What I don’t know, I can only now assume – and assumptions can be wrong. However, I spoke directly to my Guardian at the time – your grandfather – as I always did before a handover of Guardianship, and he agreed to give your father full disclosure about the Legend. So his failure to do this does suggest that he either had his silence bought, or was hungry for power and glory himself, which, given that he was human, does not really surprise//

Lisa’s mind reeled. Her grandfather had died a few years before she was born: all she knew of him was a black-and-white photograph that used to sit in the lounge room at the family home in Ecruteak. Theodore Walters was a tall, solid, ex-soldier who had a well-groomed moustache and loved his wife Patricia. The thought that he had been mixed up in the Legend seemed absurd enough, let alone the allegation that he had been so devious as to lie to his own son about it all, just for financial gain.

Lisa jolted again: had her Nanna known about this all along, too? Or had Theodore kept his secret identity to himself?

//I have never engaged with Lance Hudson or the rest of the Guard, beyond my Guardian// Suicune continued, now pacing along the dais. //But I have never trusted the Guard fully, particularly after what happened here last October – and especially now//

There was a pregnant pause. The antechamber was filled with silence, broken only by Suicune’s soft paws on the pearl dais and the low, distant cracking of the azure torches.

“Wait – what happened here last October?” Lisa asked breathlessly. She was not sure her heart could take any more revelations.

Suicune continued to pace, talking without making eye contact with Lisa, whose fingers were now knotted tightly through the holes in her jeans.

//That was the second thing I needed to tell you, Lisa.

//Your Quagsire is a Guard spy//

*

Thin white plumes of steam rose into the air from the two mugs of coffee on the mahogany table. Lance Hudson sat at the head of the table, a mess of papers and pens spread out before him. Sarah Venner was perched in the grey tub chair to his left, her cheeks flushed.

“Ready?” asked Lance, his voice slightly hoarse.

“Totally,” she replied swiftly, steeling her nerves.

Lance picked up the receiver on his sleek black desk phone, dialled a number he knew by heart and handed the phone to Sarah, who gripped it in her sweaty palm. It rang four times before a voice message cut in:

“This is Larry O’Brien, leave a message.”

Beep.

“Hey Dad, it’s me, Jenna, just calling to let you know that I got a Distinction on my midterm. Call me back, love you!”

Lance pressed a button and the line went dead.

“Nice work, Jenna O’Brien,” he smirked.

Sarah smiled back.

“Whoever this girl is, she’s a bit of a geek, calling her dad every time she gets a good grade,” she laughed. “Still, I’m surprised they haven’t picked up on anything yet.”

“The Union doesn’t usually pay much attention to things like Christmas parties or meeting the families of its agents,” said Lance wryly. “Now remember, Lisa is Angela, Marina is Stacey, the Guard is the bank. Oh, and Gavin Luper is Mark.”

“It’s all up here,” Sarah reassured him, tapping her head. “I hope he calls back this time …”

A low trilling issued from the speaker on the desk phone.

Sarah pressed a button on the receiver.

“Hello?”

A restrained, fatherly voice crackled down the line.

“Hi sweetheart – I got your message. Congratulations on your Distinction.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Sarah beamed. “I was so stoked, especially since I thought I was going to fail it since I left it until the last minute again.”

“Well, you’ll learn for next time, won’t you? Ha ha. Well done anyway, Jenna. And how’s work going at the bank?”

“Not too bad. Though it’s not as fun now that Angela and Stacey have quit.”

There was a brief pause; Lance gave Sarah the thumbs-up.

“Oh really? I didn’t know that,” said Larry.

Lance closed his eyes in relief, his teeth clenched in a victorious grin.

“Still, it’s a good part-time job, sweetheart, you should keep at it.”

“Yeah, of course I will, it’s just a shame not to have my friends around anymore, you know. I haven’t heard from Mark lately either, have you?”

“Mark? Ah yes, your brother’s going well I’m sure, he’s still out on his Orange Islands trip. I haven’t heard from him in a few days though.”

Lance gave Sarah the wind-up signal.

“He’s always so bad at keeping in touch,” laughed Sarah. “I might give him a call now and see how he’s doing, Dad. That okay?”

“No worries, sweetheart, I’ve got to get back to work anyway. Nice to hear from you and I’ll see you soon, alright? Tell Mark I say hello!”

“Will do, Dad! Love you! Bye!”

“Love you too, sweetheart.”

Click. The line went dead again.

Lance cautiously pressed the hang-up button, just in case.

“Man, that was fun!” said Sarah excitedly, wiping the nervous sweat from her forehead and reaching for her coffee. “Why can’t my job be like that all the time, hey?”

“Because you’d explode if you were under that kind of pressure all the time,” Lance replied soberly. “I have to say though, you make a brilliant Jenna O’Brien.”

“Merci,” grinned Sarah. “Okay, so Larry had no idea Lisa and Marina weren’t in our custody – which means they’re definitely not in the Union’s custody, either. That’s so weird …”

“And he said Gavin’s still on his quest to Cianwood … which means Gavin hasn’t been captured by the Union either.”

Lance rapped his knuckle repeatedly on the edge of the table.

“So let’s see what we have: Lisa disappears on Red Rock Island after being attacked by the Union at the Colosseum; Marina evaporates at Red Rock Airport; and Gavin was due back from Cianwood Island day before last, but hasn’t returned my phone calls since before he left …”

Sarah’s eyebrow rose.

“You think they’ve all met up?”

“Does any other theory make sense?” Lance asked, ruddy-faced. “We have three teenagers who have travelled together in the past – maybe they decided to regroup.”

“But why? They’re safer with us, surely.”

Lance shrugged, exasperated.

“I can’t get my head around it either. But all three of them are AWOL and all in the same place. It’s too neat to be a coincidence.”

“I agree,” Sarah said, slowly nodding her assent. “The only other option is that a rogue third party has taken all three of them hostage … but we know that the Union has either absorbed or obliterated every other underground organisation in the country. So it only makes sense that Lisa, Marina and Gavin must have met up and joined forces but … but that’s really weird.”

“Regardless, it’s our best lead,” said Lance heartily. “Thank God Larry finally picked up.” He reached for his desk phone. “I’m sending Giles and Gideon to Red Rock straight away; they’re still in Olivine visiting Jasmine, so they’re our closest agents. I need you to look through Lisa, Marina and Gavin’s files, find out what contacts they have on Red Rock and e-mail the names and contact details to Giles and Gideon. If the kids are laying low somewhere – for whatever reason – we should be able to find them.”

“Right, I’m on it,” Sarah said, grabbing her coffee and heading for the door and back toward her desk. A mundane day had suddenly evolved into the most interesting one she had had for a while.

“Oh, and Sarah?”

“Yup?” She paused on the threshold.

“Once you’ve done that, start calling Marina and Gavin’s phones again, a hundred times if you have to. I want answers.”

She nodded her head.

“I’ll do my best!”

*

Lisa stared into Suicune’s ragged, furry face for one intense moment, and then laughed.

“What?!”

It was one of those slow-burn moments: Suicune stared Lisa down as solemnly as possible to show that he was not joking.

“You’re wrong,” Lisa said slowly. “He’s a Fiskmire now, anyway – and – and he’s a pokémon, for God’s sake!”

She heard the high-pitched quality in her voice and felt her insides slipping away like grains of sand through cupped hands.

//Your Fiskmire is a Guard spy// Suicune repeated.

“Okay then, how?!” Lisa spat aggressively. Of all the things Suicune had told her, this was the most absurd. The most hurtful. “How could he possibly be a spy?”

Suicune remained placid.

//Let me explain. After you fell through the floorboards of the Brass Tower that day last October, I was … entranced … with the unexpected occurrence. You have now told me that it was apparently no more than dumb luck that you fell in on my meeting with Raikou and Entei, but in that moment, I believed it to be fate, a sign that I should take action on what I had been thinking. You see, at that time, Joseph Sterling had just begun digging for the first of the seven keys …//

Suicune’s voice petered out abruptly; he seemed to have fallen just shy of saying something potent. Lisa moved her eyes from the holes in her jeans to his face, which was suddenly contorted, almost distressed. After a moment of apparently fighting with himself, Suicune shook his head firmly and continued.

//Entei, Raikou and I were becoming increasingly concerned. Various groups over the centuries had tried to search for the keys, but none had gone so far as to actually locate one. Sterling had made a failed attempt a decade before, but this time he was digging in the right place. It appeared there was a mole within the Guard: how else was Sterling obtaining his information? We wondered if the information that we switched the Guardians might leak to the Union – and, if so, if your lives – and the security of the Iron Lock – would be in danger//

//I tried to profit from the opportunity of you dropping in on me like that. I allowed you to climb atop my back before sprinting directly here, to my Sepulchre. I did not tell Raikou or Entei. My plan was to explain the Legend to you and use you to extract your fragment of the Sixth Key and hide it somewhere else, somewhere the Union would never be able to track it down …//

Lisa shivered. Suicune had had the same plan as her – but a whole six months in advance. She tried not to think how much pain she could have avoided if Suicune’s plan had succeeded – however, Suicune gave her no choice but to imagine it.

//If we had succeeded, scores of deaths, this terrible war, and unimaginable pain may have been avoided, Lisa. I was on the verge of succeeding, too. I brought you right to the shores of the Lake of Purity. But then … the spy//

Lisa recalled Suicune’s rage as the Wooper had popped out of Lotus Lake. Suicune had fired off dozens of ice beams before fleeing the scene, leaving Lisa alone.

“How could a Wooper be a spy?” Lisa demanded again.

//I am not accusing your pokémon of disloyalty, Lisa// said Suicune levelly. //Wooper probably did not know he was being used as a Sentry//

“A what?!” Lisa exclaimed; Suicune’s story was becoming progressively more confusing.

//There is a process – an ancient process – that I have heard referred to simply as Sentrying. A pokémon can be placed under a special type of hypnosis of a Psychic or Ghost type pokémon; the commanding pokémon then has almost full access to the vision of the Sentried being. I sensed the latent psychic aura around Wooper and knew at once what had happened//

Lisa stared blankly at Suicune, unsure whether or not to believe him; and yet, what choice did she have? This was Suicune, her Guardian.

“So you’re saying Wooper wouldn’t have known …” she said slowly.

//Almost definitely not// Suicune’s voice became gentler. //Fiskmire is still the same pokémon you know and love, Lisa//

“The Sentrying – could it still be in effect right now?”

Suicune’s jaw hardened.

//Possibly. I do not know how the process is broken, other than the commanding pokémon ceasing control of the hypnosis. Do you have your Fiskmire here with you?//

A bitter chill came over Lisa.

“No, I don’t …” she muttered. “The Union took him from me.”

//I’m sorry to hear that// Suicune gave a soft growl.

“How do you know Wooper was a Guard Sentry, though, and not a Union one?” Lisa probed.

//An educated guess// Suicune replied. //Unless I am mistaken, the Union did not learn of the Sepulchres’ locations until they captured and interrogated Professor Westwood …// The bile rose in Suicune’s voice. //… which was not until November at the earliest. On that day in October, only Westwood and a very few members of the Guard had any knowledge of what the Lake of Purity conceals. The Guard probably put Wooper as a Sentry so that they would be alerted if the Union located the spot. In any case, it made it impossible for me to continue with my plan of sneaking you into my Sepulchre//

//I did try again, of course, which you will remember//

Lisa nodded.

“That day at the beach …” she muttered, recalling the day on Shellder Beach about a week into her journey, when Suicune had appeared for the second time.

//And as luck would have had it, your Quagsire was also present. The psychic aura still surrounded him then, if that answers your earlier question. I believe I expressed my outrage enough at the time//

Lisa recalled the explosions of golden orbs and ice beams and nodded meekly.

//I decided to forcibly remove you from the Quagsire, but you viewed me more as a threat than a friend. And as a result, Gavin Luper appeared and teleported you away … leaving me unable to locate you in any kind of hurry//

//Desperate, I enlisted the aid of Raikou and Entei, and unfortunately this was the beginning of the disintegration of our brotherhood. Raikou was not particularly warm to the idea of entering the Sepulchres; Entei was absolutely furious. We had an altercation regarding the issue – and, unfortunately, that is when we were overheard by Professor Samuel Oak//

Lisa winced; the image of Anna’s body being consumed by flames fought its way into her mind’s eye.

//Needless to say…// Suicune said quickly, swiftly skirting around the issue in response to the upset expression on Lisa’s face. //A succession of events made it too dangerous to risk approaching you again; the Union was tracking you at the time, and – moreover – Entei’s wrath would have been catastrophic should I have made another attempt to enter the Sepulchre, and I could not endanger any more innocent lives.

//However, your appearance here today renders such a risk null and void …// Suicune said, tone suddenly crisp and alert, in contrast to the serious, reminiscent tone he had taken up for the past few minutes. He rose quite abruptly, tilting his cobalt-furred head to the side and regarding Lisa kindly. //I believe I have sated your curiosity enough, and you mine, Lisa. Shall we enter the Sepulchre, then?//

“Ahuer…” garbled Lisa; several urgent vocalisations had fought their way out of her mouth at the same time; she was in no way convinced that Suicune had sated her curiosity. “Well, I still had plenty of things I was wondering about. Like that time you appeared in front of me and Gavin in –”

//It was far less interesting than it appeared, but will make sense soon enough// Suicune cut through her emotionlessly. There was something enigmatic in his tone – something almost suspicious. His irises did not meet hers. //For now, I think it’s time we entered the Sepulchre at last. I am sure you are keen//

Lisa remembered what he had said about the Sepulchre self-destructing in a matter of minutes. Would she get another chance to speak like this with Suicune, or would he coldly bid her farewell and disappear after they had succeeded in their mission?

She continued to press him.

“Something I really want to know,” she said boldly, “is what this great power is that’s referred to in the Legend. You helped lock it away. You know what it is.”

She tried to keep her voice neutral, but an eager, nearly accusatory tone crept in regardless.

Suicune did not smile.

//Yes, I do//

He turned his back on her and strode calmly toward the archway that led to the Sepulchre.

Lisa stared after him in exasperation.

“Well, what is it?!” she demanded.

Suicune did not turn around. The telepathic echo that entered Lisa’s mind a moment later rang with cold finality:

//Trust me, Lisa. You will sleep better if you do not know//

*

Lisa stood beside Suicune on the pearl dais, her right hand resting on the enormous, gem-encrusted oak door that led to the Sepulchre of Suicune. A flurry of Butterfree had stirred to life in her gut, almost making a bid for freedom.

She looked for Suicune’s go-ahead signal and found him looking directly at her with a steely gaze, his irises black.

//Lisa, what is about to happen is …//

He broke off abruptly; Lisa would have raised an eyebrow if it had not seemed rude: was a legendary pokémon actually struggling to find his words?

//Just remember that I understand the Legend. I helped engineer this system, this safeguard. It is essential that you follow my instructions while we are in the Sepulchre, or the result could be deadly//

“Of – of course.”

//Promise me you will do exactly what I say in order to obtain the key fragment//

Honey-brown eyes surged into violet-black.

“I promise.”

Suicune’s jaw twitched.

//Then, let us enter//

A shiver running over her skin, Lisa pressed both hands against the ornate, ceiling-high door at the same time as Suicune breathed out a radiant beam of rainbow light at the oak port, forcing it to swing open as if no effort was involved at all.

“Oh my God …” Lisa gasped.

Finally: here it was. The Sepulchre of Suicune was spread out before her in all its intense beauty. It was another cavern, though much, much smaller than the antechamber, and with a lower ceiling. Lisa goggled at the walls, floor and ceiling: all three were constructed of what looked like refined, perfectly-cut sapphire. Two azure torches were fixed to the wall in pearl brackets at the far end of the Sepulchre, casting a slightly psychedelic light onto the blue, glassy floor. In between the two torches, there was what looked like a decorated golden tabernacle built into a cleft in the sapphire wall.

Lisa heard the oak door creak to a close behind her.

//There is no time to idle// Suicune said urgently, striding calmly into the Sepulchre and heading immediately for the golden tabernacle.

Lisa found her feet and followed him numbly. Her mind was a teeming web of nerves. She found herself wondering if it was somehow sacrilegious to be traipsing her muddy sneakers through a cavern made of sapphire.

She reached Suicune’s side. By the torchlight, she could see the ornate tabernacle had been fixed to the back of the cleft with a gold bracket. The tabernacle itself was a glorious sight to behold: a shining gold receptacle, about two feet in height, complete with a small, sapphire-encrusted door.

Lisa searched for Suicune’s gaze; he nodded.

//Yes. Open it//

Lisa reached for the tabernacle and closed her hand around the cold door handle. Heart and gut pounding, she twisted the handle and flung the frail door open, plunging her hand into the golden box’s dark innards. Immediately, she felt something soft and smooth – but it didn’t feel like a key, or a piece of a key.

She pulled it out and held it up to the torchlight: a small, brown leather-bound diary.

“What’s this?” she cried, panicking. Had someone stolen the key fragment?

//That will be useful to you later// Suicune said calmly. //But there is no time to explore it now. Keep it somewhere safe, for later, and try the tabernacle again//

Lisa squeezed the leather diary into the pocket of her graffittied jeans and eagerly fished around in the open box again, a little deeper this time. Her hand closed around something cold and metallic, but it was something far too big to be a key, let alone a fragment of one …

She removed the object and gasped.

A foot-long silver sceptre was in her hand.

It was encrusted with glittering sapphires; its tip was made of what looked like a sharpened diamond crystal.

She had seen it before.

//You seem shocked//

Lisa turned the mace over and over in her hands, utterly amazed.

“I am shocked …” she said breathlessly. “I … had a dream … a while back now … and I saw this exact thing in it …”

//This is fascinating// said Suicune, not sardonically, //but we are running out of time//

Tearing her eyes from the sceptre, Lisa reached into the tabernacle once more – but it was empty.

“The key fragment isn’t here …” she muttered, turning to Suicune. “Unless …” She held the sceptre up to the torchlight. “This is the fragment?”

//No, the fragment can only be found once you kill me//

The azure flames crackled for hours.

“W-?”

Lisa stared in horror at Suicune’s expressionless mask.

//There is no time for resistance// Suicune said gently. //This is the design of the Sepulchre. The fragment can only be retrieved after my death//

The word ‘death’ ignited a panic in Lisa. Her father’s words at the Fairfax Inn flooded back to her:

“A sepulchre is a burial place, a tomb.”

An electric shiver coursed through Lisa’s spine.

“But – why – can’t we just take the key somehow –”

//It’s impossible. You must kill me//

“I – can’t. I can’t do that. I can’t!” Lisa cried, hysteria building within her. “This doesn’t make any sense –”

//THERE IS NO TIME FOR THIS!// Suicune boomed.

Suddenly, he was on his feet; the aurora on his back was ablaze with an ice-white fire; his violet-black eyes were razor-sharp.

//Lisa, you promised me you would obey everything I told you to do!//

Lisa didn’t recoil; on the contrary, she lunged forward, geared by fear.

“I didn’t know you wanted me to do this!” she cried, jabbing an accusatory finger at Suicune. “You knew – all along?”

//This is the divine plan, Lisa. The design of the Sepulchres. Only the human Guardian, with his sceptre, may spill the blood of the Legendary Guardian and claim the key fragment. This was designed as a safeguard, but it has become a terrible curse. Our only chance to break it is here and now. It is the only way//

“No,” Lisa said firmly. “This was a stupid idea. Can’t you just run away – disappear? Unless the Union have both of us, the fragment’s safe …”

//There is no time for this!// Suicune repeated hotly. //Entei is now able to track me and the Union is more than adept at tracking you, Lisa! Do not lose your conviction now. We are running out of time. You must take the sceptre and kill me!//

“I CAN’T!” Lisa shrieked. She was shaking violently. “Do you have any idea what you’re asking me to do?!” she screeched, impervious to Suicune’s level gaze. “I can’t do this! I can’t kill you!”

The word sizzled her tongue: it was foreign; impossible.

//It is your responsibility as my Guardian!// Suicune roared.

“Then I don’t want that responsibility!” Lisa shouted back, a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead.

And, quite suddenly, the sapphire floor beneath her tremored, almost throwing her off her feet.

//The Sepulchre … it is preparing to self-destruct …// Suicune’s voice was suddenly hushed. His eyes frosted over for a moment. //It is possible, Lisa, that a flesh wound will be enough to satisfy the Sepulchre and grant us access to the key. I may not necessarily have to die: it simply requires that my blood be spilt …//

“What are you saying?”

//Take the sceptre, Lisa, and make an incision on my chest, enough to draw blood. Once it falls on the floor of the Sepulchre, that should be enough to release the fragment//

There was another tremor; it was less violent than the last but lasted longer; Lisa almost lost her footing once again.

“It’s going to self-destruct?” she said blankly.

//It will if we don’t hurry// Suicune said. //Quickly, Lisa …//

Suicune raised his head to allow Lisa access to his cobalt-furred chest. She glanced at the sharp crystal that formed the tip of the sceptre uneasily before moving to Suicune’s side, sceptre extended.

//You must make an incision near the heart. The blood has to be fresh// Suicune urged.

Lisa nodded earnestly. Her hands quivered as she raised the crystalline blade to the fur on Suicune’s chest.

//A little further down – yes, right there. Hold the sceptre tightly, Lisa. Now, make the cut// Suicune’s voice echoed calmly in her pounding ears.

“Okay, here goes,” Lisa said in a terrified voice.

She gripped the sceptre tightly in both hands and, murmuring a silent, jumbled prayer, she pressed the diamond blade into the soft skin. A thin red cut began to open up.

“N-nearly done,” Lisa quavered.

All of a sudden, Suicune gave a guttural growl and threw all his weight down onto the blade. The sceptre burst through his flesh and tore his heart into a hundred pieces. Her arms trapped beneath his bulk, Lisa watched in horror, her scream mingling with his almighty roar, as crimson blood exploded in bucketloads from his chest, his violet-black eyes reeling backwards as he fitted violently, legs and head flailing in agony, until the ice-white aurora on his back extinguished itself and his dead, broken body went limp, leaving Lisa alone to a private eternity of terror.