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

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 2 - Lisa's Quest Begins.


“ Aipom, hang on!” Lisa yelled, as the wind blew her bandana off and released her long black hair into her face, obscuring her eyes.

“ Ai!” Aipom called back, it’s tense tail holding onto Suicune for dear life.

Suicune was faster than any car on the Ecruteak Expressway. Lisa was sure that it never became tired at all, and it hadn’t stopped once in the whole hour Lisa had been on the mysterious creature’s back.

“ We must be half way to Azalea by now.” Lisa thought to herself. “ Well, at least I can say I’ve seen Suicune. This is pretty exciting I spose.”

Suicune raced along through the forest, not actually wanting to shake off his passengers. He needed them … he just needed to see what to do about them. His mouth was drying up after the hour-long pelt, and he veered away from the dense growth, and leapt into a nearby murky lake, and screeched to a halt. Lisa felt her body lurch forwards as she tumbled into the muck.

“ Ew!” she cried, wiping mud off of her clothes. “ This is gross.”

“ Ai.” Aipom nodded.

Suicune was at the shallower part of the lake, drinking extremely fast. All of a sudden, the brown water glowed and shimmered, and became crystal clear, and pure.

“ What.. was that?” Lisa wondered as her jaw dropped in awe.

“ Pom?” Aipom asked, watching as the water bubbled around him, turning from a deep, green-brown, to a pure, clear-blue hue.

“ This is really amazing.” Lisa said, slowly. “ Suicune has the ability to… cleanse water.” The 14 year old girl cupped her hands, let them slowly fill with the clear water, and drank gratefully. Aipom swam around playfully.

A few feet away from Lisa, where the water was still frothing, a tiny Pokemon appeared. It was a shiny blue colour and had no arms visible. Short grey spikes pointed from the sides of it’s oval head.

“ Woop?” It said in a squeaky voice.

“ Hey, that’s a Wooper.” Lisa told Aipom, who was glaring suspiciously at the newcomer.

Suicune was still drinking rapidly at the shore. Suddenly it looked up, and in the same instant Wooper used Water Gun, spraying the legendary; not damaging it in any way, if anything it was revitalising Suicune’s strength, but Suicune was still annoyed at an invader of it’s territory.

The Suicune opened it’s mouth and a silver orb appeared.

“ Uh oh.” Lisa said, wading over to Wooper and Aipom. “ It’s Ice Beam!”

“ Woop!”

Aipom was peering from behind Lisa’s shoulder, but Wooper was a very territorial Pokemon. It paddled over a few metres away from Suicune and let out another Water Gun. Suicune was even madder, and released a huge beam of Ice which engulfed Wooper in seconds. The tiny pokemon gave a frightened squeal, and sank into the lake.

“ Wooper!” Lisa yelled. “ Suicune! What were you thinking?”

Suicune was now in no mood to be told off. It glared up at Lisa before firing an Ice Beam that narrowly missed Lisa’s head. Then it began firing Ice beams every few seconds. One hit Wooper and knocked it out. Then, after one extremely inaccurate beam, Suicune leapt up into the air.

“ No, Suicune, don’t go!” Lisa yelled. In a last, desperate attempt to keep Suicune with her, Lisa threw a Pokeball at the legendary aurora Pokemon. The water type shrugged it off, and the pokeball fell down onto tiny Wooper, who turned red and dematerialised into the ball.

“ Hey…” Lisa said slowly, as the ball wobbled to and fro, and finally came to a halt, and rolled onto it’s inverse.

“ Ai?” Aipom said.

“ I … caught Wooper.” Lisa said, in a shaky voice that sounded nothing like her usual one. “ I caught another Pokemon!”

Lisa and Aipom jumped up and down, as Suicune’s aurora form glowed one last time, than dissolved into the lake.

“ Alright! What an easy catch!” Lisa said, reaching to pick up the pokeball, which was floating in the crystal lake. Lisa clipped the ball to her belt, made sure Aipom was on her shoulder, and began wading back to the shoreline. Then she turned back to where she last sighted Suicune, and realised he was gone. “ I’ll see you again, Suicune.” Lisa muttered to herself, barely conscious of what she was vowing. “ I didn’t know much about you before, and I still don’t. But I want to – I, I vow to find the secret of the you, and one day I WILL catch you, Suicune.”

“ Pom?” Aipom looked at Lisa strangely, and then began to laugh.

“ Quiet Aipom.” Lisa sighed, flicking playfully at it. “ You just ruined my dramatic moment.”

The two friends soon came to the shore.

“ We’d better go heal you guys at a Pokemon centre.” Lisa said, gleeful at having two Pokemon and vaguely reminding herself of a young male TV actor who once starred in a series ‘To Be a Master.’

Lisa flipped out her Pokegear and watched as the tiny screen said ‘Connecting to satellite’. Then a map appeared and Lisa discovered that she and Aipom were in fact only a few miles east of Goldenrod City: there would be a Pokemon Centre there. Equally importantly, from Goldenrod City she would be able to make contact with her brother, Tom, and let him know that she was no longer in Ecruteak City. She knew he would want her to come home - it was their parents' wish that she not train too far from home - but deep down she hoped that, somehow, she would be allowed to continue on her next journey. It was new and exciting: a real adventure.

“ Alright, Aipom!” Lisa cried enthusiastically. “ We’re off to Goldenrod!”

*

“ Aipom, Doubleslap!”

“ Ai! Ai! Ai!” Aipom yelled, using it’s tail to slap the opposing trainer’s Psyduck.

“ Psyduck – Water Gun.” Anna, the trainer of Psyduck, cried. “ Don’t relent.”

“ Aipom, block it with Swift.” Lisa called.

Psyduck prepared for a Water Gun, but as the Pokemon’s speed was pretty pathetic, Aipom’s attack got in first, and knocked Psyduck of it’s feet. The Psychic Pokemon slowly recovered, and spurted a blast of Water at Aipom, who swiftly dodged.

“ Now finish this with Tackle.” Lisa ordered.

“ Aipom!” Aipom cried, throwing it’s body straight at Psyduck and fainting it, winning Lisa’s second battle.

“ Lisa, you’re really strong for a new trainer.” Anna said as she recalled Psyduck.

“ Thanks, Anna.” Lisa replied. “ Aipom and I used to train with wild Pokemon near Ecruteak.”

“ Ecruteak? You’ve come a long way.” Anna said, brushing burgundy hair from her eyes. “ How many badges do you have?”

“ None.” Lisa said. “ I’m not really on that sort of quest.. I’m actually more of a…. um…. Legendary pokemon Researcher.”

At this, Anna laughed. “ Legendary Pokemon aren’t real.” She said in a rather snobbish voice.

“ Sure they are.” Lisa said. “ I’ve seen three.”

“ Whatever.” Anna said. “ Well, take my advice; you should just earn badges. It’s easier and a lot more fun.”

The girl walked off into the forest with her nose in the air.

“ WHAT A SNOB!” Lisa yelled. “ Well, then, I’ll do the opposite of what she said. I’m going to not only find out about Suicune, but about every Legendary Pokemon there is.”

*

Minutes later, Lisa came across a couple of trainers at a fork in the road. A young boy and girl, perhaps a couple of years younger than herself.

“ Excuse me!” the girl called to Lisa. “ Sorry, could you help us? Are we on the right track to Goldenrod?”

Lisa walked over to them. The girl had pale aqua hair, and wore pokegear around her neck, like Lisa. The boy wore black and gold clothing, and a cap to match. He had messy black hair, and also had pokegear around his wrist.

“ Nope.” Lisa said, looking at the way they had been going. “ The right way is the path I’m taking.”

“ Thanks!” the girl replied thankfully. “ Now if some of us knew how to read a simple map … not mentioning any names … HIRO!”

“ Sorry!” the boy said. “ Well, Kris, it’s not my fault the Pokegear’s wrong.”

“ It’s not wrong, you’re wrong!” Kris yelled.

“ Um.. hello?” Lisa said, not keen on witnessing an argument between two strangers.

Hiro and Kris turned to look at her. “ Oh, sorry,” Kris said, blushing slightly. “ We tend to lose our temper with each other sometimes, travelling together and all ..." She sighed. "I’m Kris, anyway, short for Kristal. Me and Hiro here are from New Bark Town.”

“ Lisa.” Lisa shook hands with Hiro and Kris. “ From Ecruteak.”

“ Lisa.” Kris began. “ Um ... would you like to come with us to Goldenrod? We’ll probably get lost again soon …”

“ Gee ... I’d like to,” Lisa began. “ But I’m kinda on my own quest right now … to find legendary Pokemon.”

Kris looked at Lisa, an inquiring look on her face, but she did not ridicule Lisa for her interests the way Anna had. Finally, she said, “ Lisa, I’ll tell ya what. Why don't we battle? If you beat me, then we go our separate ways. If I win, you come with us to Goldenrod - if you want to, of course. Fair or what?”

Lisa looked from Kris’ pleading face to Hiro’s; surely a couple of travelling companions would be a great addition to her quest?

“ Alright,” Lisa said. “ One on one.”

Kris took twenty paces back. Lisa did the same.

“ Let the battle begin!” Hiro called.

“ Chompy, go!” Kris yelled.

“ I choose Aipom.” Lisa yelled.

FLASH! Aipom and Totodile appeared at once. The deep blue Totodile had a berry hanging from it’s neck.

“ Chompy – Rage attack.” Kris called.

“ Aipom – Sand Attack.” Lisa commanded.

Chompy charged at Aipom, kicking up sand from the ground and leaving a small furrow in it’s wake. Just before the Rage attack hit, Aipom kicked up a cloud of dust from the ground. Chompy was unable to see, and the attack missed completely.

“ Good Job, Aipom, Now use Swift.”

“ Counter with Water Gun.”

Aipom shot out a stream of stars, which all slammed into Chompy’s Water Gun. Both Pokemon were hit with their own attack, as they collided and rebounded.

“ Chompy, Whirlpool!”

“ To---to---.” Chompy breathed out a stream of water, which formed into a Whirlpool as soon as it was out of Chompy’s mouth. Aipom was knocked out by the blast, and promptly fainted.

“ Aipom!” Lisa cried, preparing it’s pokeball. She felt torn between two emotions: sympathy for Aipom being knocked out, and disappointment at losing a battle. She always hated losing: for some reason, she always felt embarrassed after a loss, as if she had been shown up in front of people as incapable, as a weakling. “ Well - return.”

Aipom disappeared in a flash of light.

“ You’re really good Kris.” Lisa said, fiddling with her pokegear and not looking directly into Kris’ eyes.

“ Thanks Lisa.” Kris said. “ C’mon, we’re not that bad!" she said cheerfully, apparently taking Lisa's downcast face for lack of enthusiasm at having to join her and Hiro. " We’re off to Goldenrod, and that’s where you were headed anyway, right?"

“ Yeah.” Lisa said gloomily, her annoyance at losing still lingering over her.

“ Well, then, show us the way!” Kris cried, taking Lisa’s hand and speeding off down the road.

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 3 - The Contest.


“ Cheer up, Lisa,” Kris said, a few minutes later, as Lisa and Hiro followed her along the serene trail which supposedly led to Goldenrod City, “ we’ll still help you find legendary pokemon.”

“ Yeah,” Lisa said, slightly depressed. “ It’s not that I don’t want to travel with you guys … It’s just … well, I hate losing. Anything. Especially Pokemon battles.”

Aipom gnawed on her ear pointlessly.

Kris laughed. “ Lisa, surely you know you can’t always win.”

“ Yeah,” Hiro added. “ You’re just a rookie, and so are me and Kris. Each time you win, you get better. Each time you lose, you learn a little. Losing is a part of Pokemon. If a trainer never lost, they wouldn’t get as close to their Pokemon. And if a battle was never challenging, there would be no fun in Pokemon.”

Lisa blinked as she prised Aipom’s teeth from her poor ear. “ I can’t believe those words just came from your mouth!” she laughed. "You sound all wise and professional."

“ Uh … well, living near Professor Elm all the time we kinda learn this stuff,” Kris replied, answering for Hiro, who looked deflated after giving a knowledgeable speech and being laughed at for it. “ Take Hiro’s advice Lisa, it’s good.”

Lisa nodded: despite laughing at Hiro's short speech, she had a feeling he was right, and she resolved to remember his words of wisdom and take them with her on her quest.

The trio walked onward. As they forged their way along the gravel road through the woods, they all eagerly shared their stories. Hiro and Kris, it transpired, had been friends for most of their childhood, and were now on a journey together, having received their starting pokemon from Professor Elm in New Bark Town just weeks ago. They seemed like very close friends, and even though they tended to argue at the simplest things, they always seemed to make up instantly, and with good humour. Lisa found herself hoping she would find her own friend like this - someone she could travel and share her journey with.

Lisa, meanwhile, told the other two about her past, about how she had grown up in Ecruteak City and had just finished High School a couple of weeks ago. She was still unsure if she would return next year, for advanced studies, or get a job instead: she thought she was too young to decide on her future just yet. She also told Hiro and Kris about her parents and how they had given her Aipom; about her siblings, Tom, Wes and Jean; and about her best friends Tuscany and Charmaine. She had gone to school with Charmaine and the three of them had played basketball on the same team, forging a very strong friendship, especially over the last year. But with the end of the school year, they had not kept in touch quite as well as usual. Both Charmaine and Tuscany had been talking about taking their own separate trips - maybe backpacking over the summer or the following year. Lisa's envy of them being able to travel while her own parents wouldn't allow her to was partly the reason she had not been so inclined to stay in touch.

"But you're travelling, too, now," said Kris, with a grin, as Lisa explained about her old friends' plans. "That's gotta be better than nothing!"

"It is," said Lisa. "But when my parents find out, they'll make me come home ..."

Kris opened her mouth to reply, but before she said anything, Hiro cut her off.

“ C’mon! Goldenrod’s just up ahead, I think,” he cried suddenly, as they crested a low hill. “ Check your pokegear, Lisa.”

Lisa checked the satellite map, while Aipom ran on ahead and began conversing with some tree borne Pidgeys. “ We’re about ten minutes away from the Bug catching contest.” She read off the map.

“ Alright!” Hiro yelled excitedly. “ It’s a Thursday too, which means we can compete!”

Hiro ran up ahead to see more clearly over the hill.

“ What’s with him?” Lisa whispered to Kris.

“ He has a thing for bugs.” She whispered back, rolling her eyes slightly. “ He has two already. One is a Venonat, and his other one ...”

“ Look! There it is!” yelled Hiro excitedly. “ The Bug Catching Contest. And I can definitely see Goldenrod from here!”

At the mention of Goldenrod, the girls sped up, and finally joined Hiro at the hilltop. Below was an absolutely massive plain, although to the three new companions it seemed more like a valley. Their small party had barely infringed upon it’s boundaries. The bug catching contest was close by, a large collection of tents and a couple of buildings near acres and acres of greenery which was the national park.

“ Whoa!” Lisa breathed. “ Goldenrod isn’t really that far away.”

Beyond the Park was a huge, misty mass of buildings and skyscrapers, which stretched for a long way. Beyond it, Lisa could make out a thin, hazy stretch of blue – the ocean.

“ Goldenrod’s just beyond the national park,” added Kris, glancing around. “ And there’s a whole bunch of stalls and stuff near the gatehouse; today must be a special festival.”

Hiro started running again. “ I can’t wait!” he yelled, wind rushing through his hair and excitement surging through his body. “ I can see the crowds, cheering as I hold up my prize bug Pokemon.”

“ What’s so great about bugs?” Lisa asked, rolling her eyes slightly.

Kris sighed and slapped her own face. “ Now you’ve done it, Lisa.” She mouthed behind Hiro’s back.

Hiro stared at Lisa. “ What’s so great about bugs? Everything! They have some of the coolest attacks, and they’re so buggy. They hide in places and they’re small. Some, like my Venonat, can even use a form of Radar to track people down. And as for other bug pokemon…”

Hiro went on and on. Just when Lisa was trying to think of a way to tell him to shut up, without hurting the boy’s feelings about bug pokemon, a man appeared on the road and approached them calmly. Hiro silenced as he approached them, but Lisa could tell almost instantly he wasn’t a threat to them.

“ Will you three be entering the bug catching competition?” he asked, twirling a grey moustache the same colour as his hair.

“ I will!” Hiro yelled instantly.

“ I might as well.” Lisa said, thinking suddenly. “ I’ll be able to get more pokemon!”

“ I guess I’ll join you.” Kristal nodded slowly.

“ Well, meet me inside the east gatehouse of the National Park in ten minutes.” The man said. “ And don’t be even a minute late. We don’t allow any latecomers in once the contest has begun.”

The man walked back to the gatehouse and stalls. The girls, ignoring Hiro’s requests to go straight to the gatehouse in case the contest started early, began to browse the stalls.

“ There’s a pokemon healing centre.” Lisa said. “ We’ll have to go there to heal all our pokemon before the contest.”

“ Hey, look over here.” Kris called to Lisa. “ Pokegear repair shop.”

“ Uh, my Pokegear’s working alright.” Lisa said.

“ Yeah, but mine isn’t,” Kris grinned. “ Come on, let’s take it in. They might be able to fix it before the contest.”

“ Alright.” Lisa said, enjoying the downgraded shopping spree.

“ Wait!” Hiro yelled. “ The contest begins in eight minutes. What if they start eight minutes early?”

Lisa and Kris entered the store, which Lisa thought was an overrated tent.

“ Excuse me?” Kris said in a soft voice, waiting at the counter. The space behind the counter was vacated.

“ Hello?”

The girls waited about five minutes before a woman popped up. Her red hair was very frizzy and seemed to be shaped like a circle around her head.

“ Good morning, kids. Sorry about the wait. How may I help you?”

“ My Pokegear’s not working.” Kris said quickly, fumbling with the catch at the back of her pokegear. “ Ah, there we go.”

Kris pulled her pokegear off and handed it to the lady.

“ Hmm… this is a simple problem.” She said. “ I should be able to fix this in about two sec-”

There was a loud click, and the pokegear turned back on.

“ Just a slight problem with the wires at the back,” the woman said. “ That’ll be three hundred dollars.”

“ Um ... you must mean three dollars, right?” Kris said.

The lady blinked. “ Yes… right…”

Kris placed the money on the counter. “ Thanks for fixing my ‘gear.”

The girls came back onto the path and saw Hiro waiting grumpily on a bench. A Cyndaquil and Venonat were beside him. He was juggling another pokeball. “ I hate shopping.” Hiro fumed. “ You were in there for five minutes … there’s only another minute or two before the contest begins.”

“ It’s alright.” Kris said. “ We’re done. Although, we need to heal our pokemon. Chompy's tired and Aipom's pretty exhausted too.”

As if to emphasise her statement, Aipom dropped to the ground and rolled in the dirt as though it were in pain.

A bell echoed throughout the area. “ Could all competitors in the bug catching contest please make their way to the eastern gatehouse. The contest begins in one minute precisely.”

Hiro stared at Kris and Lisa with a smug look.

“ No time to heal pokemon!” he cried. “ Let’s go.”

“ But Aipom’s got barely any health!” Lisa protested, as the trio rushed into the gatehouse, Hiro in the lead.

A small crowd was gathered around a platform, where the man from outside was standing, a microphone to his mouth. “ Welcome, all trainers.” He boomed. “ As you should all know, today we have our three times consecutive champion here to tutor some bug catchers at the end of the contest. The better pokemon you get, the more likely you are to win a whole day with … Kipp Anderson!”

A tall, teenage boy entered the gatehouse from inside the park. He was fair-haired, good-looking, tanned and was extremely well-built, muscles bulging out of his shirt as he looked out at the small crowd. Lisa looked at him and rolled her eyes at the boy who seemed to love himself.

“ Hello, everybody.” Kipp said in a deep voice. “ Good morning, girls!”

A gathering of girls in the front row all screamed in a pathetic way.

“ He smiled at meeee!” One girl shrieked.

“ Well he WINKED at me.” Another girl cried.

Kipp heard all of this but looked completely unfazed; if anything, Lisa thought, the girl's cries seemed to inflate his ego further. Lisa and Kristal exchanged glances; what was so great about this guy? Hiro, meanwhile, looked downright sickened by Kipp's self-involvement.

“ Alright, now, pokeballs ready?” the Manager cried, reaching over to the doors. “ Please give all your pokeballs to Kipp and I, except the one you wish to use.”

All the trainers did so.

“ Now receive your twenty Park Balls.”

Every trainer received the green, odd pokeballs.

“ Now, let’s begin!”

The Manager opened the glass doors wide, and trainers spilled out into the vast, grassy national park. Hiro ran off immediately, to the path on the left, but Kris and Lisa stood together.

“ I’ll go right then.” Lisa said slowly.

“ That means I get to go straight forward.” Kris said, after a moment’s hesitation.

Suddenly the sound of a pokegear phone ringing penetrated the area.

“ Hello?” Lisa and Kris said in unison, both snatching up the pokegear.

“ It’s me!” Lisa yelled. “ Mine, I mean.”

Kris waved to Lisa silently as she tramped off through the knee-deep grass. “Yeah, hello?” Lisa asked, holding the pokegear close to her face.

“ Lisa, is that you?” Tom asked. He sounded panicky.

“ Of course it’s me, who else would answer my phone?” Lisa said, stopping herself from giggling in a childish way.

“ Lisa, where the hell are you?” Tom’s voice changed promptly from panicky to furious.

“ The National Park,” Lisa replied, struggling to keep her voice calm and steady.

“ LISA!” Tom thundered. “ You should know better. Running away from home, leaving the kids alone …”

“ OY!” Lisa cried. “ I did not run away. I had no choice.” She almost had herself convinced of this - but how could she have simply allowed Suicune to escape?

“ Oh, cut the crap.” Tom retorted. “ You left home and left Wes and Jean by themselves.”

“ I didn't mean to go this far away! Besides, Nanna’s there!” Lisa argued, her face growing hotter.

Tom lowered his voice. “ She doesn’t count. If the kids asked to go to the Burned Tower she’d probably let ‘em.”

Lisa smiled at the thought of her amusing, rather carefree old grandmother. “ What’s so bad about that?” Lisa cried. “ I’m on a pokemon journey, and lots of kids younger than me are, too.”

Tom snorted in disgust, and Lisa could picture his face as though he was standing there before her. “ A Journey? Lisa, you only have one pokemon, that pathetic little Aipom that’s never been able to beat a trainer.”

Lisa felt anger welling up inside her like a ball of hateful fire.

“ DON’T EVER INSULT AIPOM! EVER!”

There was such rage in her voice that it was several seconds before either of them spoke again. After a lengthy, awkward silence, Tom’s voice came through the pokegear.

“ Lisa…. If you really think you didn’t run away, then what did happen?”

Tom’s voice was calm and almost soothing now. Lisa felt the redness drain from her cheeks as she explained the entire tale, from when she first decided to leave the house to when she battled Kris. Tom listened patiently, sounding astonished when Lisa told of Suicune and the other legendary pokemon - but he believed her. As a trainer at Ecruteak's ghost type gym, he was more inclined to believe strange tales involving supernatural and unusual things.

“So … what is your quest.. or journey?” Tom asked, when Lisa had finished.

“ I want to find the secrets behind all the legendary pokemon, but especially Suicune,” Lisa calmly replied.

“ Lisa … I know I shouldn’t really be doing this, but ..." Tom seemed to be suffering some kind of internal stuggle - his voice was strangled.

"But what?" asked Lisa.

" Well - this is amazing, what's happened to you. And I always thought Mum and Dad were being too restrictive, they should've let you go on a pokemon journey like this ages ago ... there's kids a lot younger than you doing it, have been for years ..."

"I know," said Lisa, thinking of Hiro and Kris.

" So I’ll let you go along on your quest … on one condition.”

“ What’s that?” Lisa's heart had leapt up in her chest.

“ That you come back to Ecruteak two days before Mum and Dad are due back. That way you’ll be there to explain everything, and I won’t get the blame.”

Lisa nodded, then remembered that Tom couldn’t see her. “ Yeah, of course Tom, that sounds fair.” It was all she could do not to hug herself with glee.

“ Be careful, Lisa; stay attentive, but also have fun,” Tom said, nearly whispering his final words. “ Ring me tomorrow, and keep in touch, you know, every day or two. Good luck, Leese.”

*

Lisa wandered around the park, oddly silent as she traipsed through the long overgrowth. Aipom ran alongside her, playfully calling out “ Lisa!” - the only English word he could speak.

Lisa suddenly found her path blocked by a Heracross, who had leapt out from the grass. “ It’s quite cute.” Lisa said to herself. “ But it’s not something I’d want.” She kept on walking, but the combination bug/fighting pokemon leapt out in front of her and blocked her way again.

“ Excuse me.” Lisa said, lightly, pushing past the bug.

“ Heracroo!” Heracross yelled.

“ Well, there’s no reason to get angry.” Lisa said, astonished at the Pokemon’s odd behaviour.

“ Ai, Aipom!” yelled Aipom.

A group of Heracross suddenly emerged from the grass, joining up with the first Heracross. Then they all ran to a tree and began headbutting it.

“ What’s their problem?” Lisa wondered aloud, confused.

Suddenly, dozens of Caterpie and Metapod began toppling out of the tree. Lisa realised at last what the Heracross were doing.

“ Stop that right now!” Lisa ordered.

“ AI!” Aipom agreed.

The Heracross ignored Lisa. She felt helpless. The Heracross were pokemon bullies, and they were injuring pathetic pokemon that couldn’t even attempt to stand up to them. They were knocking the littler bugs from their home.

“ Aipom, go!” Lisa yelled, feeling she had to at least try something.

One Heracross turned to fight, but suddenly a collection of Butterfree flew out from the highest boughs in the tree. They had been waiting for a distraction so they could take the Heracross off guard.

“ Alright, Butterfree!” called Lisa.

The Butterfrees all used Whirlwind, injuring the Heracross greatly and almost knocking them out. Then, with a final group Gust, the Heracross blew away; they were knocked out and had learned a lesson.

“ Now, Butterfree is mine.” Lisa said, choosing a huge butterfree. “ Go!”

Lisa tossed a ball at Butterfree, who unfortunately spotted the impending Park Ball, and created a gust that blew the ball backward, onto a sleeping Metapod. The Park Ball zapped open, and the cocoon Pokemon disappeared inside.

“ No!” Lisa cried, picking up Metapod’s Park Ball and opening it. Metapod appeared.

“ Sorry, Metapod, but I’m going to have to release you.” Lisa tossed Metapod up into the tree again, and prepared a new ball. Butterfree had its back to Lisa now. The girl picked up the ball, and tossed it. However, a freak breezy wind set the ball off course, and on course for a Caterpie.

“ Not again!” Lisa cried, as Caterpie was sucked into the ball and it latched closed. Lisa picked the ball up to release the bug, when suddenly a bell sounded.

“ BING, BONG. The Bug catching tournament is now officially over. The service attendants will now take you to the Western Gatehouse.”

Lisa couldn’t see any attendants nearby, so she threw Caterpie’s pokeball to release it. Just before the Park Ball hit the ground, an Abra teleported next to her, and caught it.

“ Thank you.” It gurgled, taking hold of Lisa’s hand. “ Now we will judge your pokemon.”

“ An Abra that can talk?” Lisa cried. “ What the ...”

But the next thing Lisa knew, she was in a gatehouse identical to the Eastern one; the Abra had teleported her back. All the Park Balls were being judged by the manager, who stood up on the platform. Abra released Lisa's hand and handed Caterpie up. Lisa met up with Kris and Hiro.

“ Hiro thinks he might win,” Kris whispered to Lisa.

After a few more minutes, the Manager stepped up to the platform. “ The winner of Thursday the 24th of October Bug Contest is …" He paused suspensefully. " Hiro Ferguson, from New Bark Town, with a Heracross! Runners up were Josh McMahon and Kristal Williams.”

Lisa applauded as her two friends received a Sun Stone and Gold Berry from the manager; she was not particularly fussed about not winning, and besides, with a small Caterpie, she hadn't had much chance.

Hiro and Kris came back; Kris looked elated at the berry for some reason, but Hiro didn’t look very happy.

“ What’s wrong, Hiro?” Lisa asked.

Hiro sighed. “ My prize is the rest of the day with that boring Kipp guy.”

Lisa and Kris couldn’t help but to laugh at him.

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 4 - Friends and Rivals.


“ Here we are: Goldenrod City Centre.” Lisa said, as she weaved in between the citizens of Goldenrod. Hiro and Kris walked behind her, dodging other people, while trying to take in the breathtaking sights – Goldenrod City was a complete maze of skyscrapers and tall office buildings.

It was the day after the Bug Catching Contest; a Friday Morning. Lisa, Kris and Hiro had survived the lecture filled lesson with Kipp, and were recovering slowly. They slowly made their way to Goldenrod the previous evening and stopped off at an inn owned by a man with a Marill.

Lisa’s Aipom was on her shoulder, calling out playfully to every trainer who walked by, when Kris spoke up.

“ This is the centre.” Kris said, coming to a halt behind Lisa and Hiro. “ Finally we can heal our pokemon.”

They all stood facing a three-story building with a large pokeball atop the roof. The glass doors slid open as the small party of pokemon trainers entered. The Pokemon Centre was very busy, and Lisa was shocked to see two Nurse Joy’s at the counter. Assisting them were two Chanseys and a Blissey. Trainers filled the small building.

“ Whoa! This is so packed!” Lisa remarked, as she and her companions sat down on a chair … three to a seat, after handing their collective pokeballs to one of the Chanseys. They were extremely cramped.

“ What’s the big rush?” Kris asked a young boy next to her.

“ Haven’t you heard? Whitney, the gym leader, made her boyfriend a joint gym leader with her. In celebration, they’re giving away a Technical Machine to any trainer who can beat them.”

“ Everyone’s healing their pokemon to prepare for the fight.” A girl opposite Hiro told them. “ The queue outside the gym stretches all the way to the pokemart.”

Hiro gasped. “ I gotta go battle her.”

“ I think you’d probably win, Hiro.” Kris said slowly but sounded truthful. “ Your Cyndaquil is really strong.”

At that moment, a young trainer entered. He had fiery red hair and his attitude seemed to match from the moment he walked in, with a strong, confident step and a darkened face, and he refused to make eye contact with anybody.

“ I wonder who that guy -” Lisa began to Hiro and Kris, but they were staring at the ground which all of a sudden had become interesting to them.

“ What the prob?” Lisa asked curiously.

“ Quiet, Leese.” Hiro hissed. “ We’ll explain later.”

“ Alrighty then.” Lisa said, puzzled, and staring around the pokemon centre. Lisa shifted uncomfortably in the seat which she shared with both Hiro and Kris.

Nurse Joy walked up to the group at that moment and handed Hiro three pokeballs.

“ Pokemon fully healed.” She remarked, looking frazzled.

“ Thanks.” Hiro said.

“ You girls’ Pokemon will be a while longer.” Joy said. “ The machine just broke down.”

The boy who had just entered, with the red hair, looked up at that moment and saw Hiro’s black and yellow cap.

“ Well, well, well.” He said, in a mean, superior voice. “ Look what we have here. Two junior trainers who don’t have any badges.”

At this remark, Hiro looked up and directly into the boy’s eyes; something which the newcomer did not seem to enjoy. He turned away. Hiro grinned in a childish way.

“ So what are you here for, Tyler?” Hiro asked the redhead. “ Are they running gyms for freaks now?”

“ That’s funny, coming from a freak himself.” Tyler spat.

Kris looked up, and Lisa whispered in her ear.

“ Those two hate each other,” she explained. “ Tyler grew up in New Bark with us, and him and Hiro were like best friends. But then Tyler got a Pokemon from his dad a year before Hiro did, and they began arguing like this, until they finally couldn’t stand each other.”

Lisa nodded thoughtfully, remembering her best friend in Grade 4, Casey, had gradually become her enemy over a few years. “ Hmm … have they ever battled?”

“ Twice.” Kris said. “ Hiro lost both times. Tyler’s pokemon are just too strong.”

Lisa turned back to Tyler and Hiro, who were now having a heated argument.

“ Three Pokemon each.” Hiro spat at Tyler.

“ Sounds good,” Tyler said overconfidently. “ My Pokemon could use a little exercise… although I doubt you can provide much of a challenge.”

“ C’mon then!” Hiro yelled, wrenching a pokeball off his belt.

Nurse Joy came along at that moment. “ Pokemon Centres are NOT for battles!” she said shrilly. “ Outside, you two, now!”

Sullenly, Hiro trailed out of the centre via the side door, and onto the red pavement path where there was a small area of green lawn which looked almost designed to be battled on.

“ I’ll wait here.” Kris said. “ You go watch the battle, Lisa. I’ll wait here for our pokemon. Besides, I’ve seen them fight before. Nothing new there.”

Lisa nodded, and left Kris sighing. It wasn’t until Lisa left that she realised: Kris now had the chair all to herself.

She wandered outside, to see the two ex-friends facing each other on opposite ends of the lawn. Shutting the door behind her, she could no longer hear the hustle and bustle of the pokemon centre.

Hiro was holding a Pokeball. Tyler faced him, glaring at the young trainer.

“ I choose Heracross!” Hiro yelled, throwing the ball at the grass. Lisa perched herself on the wooden bench, prepared to witness a great battle.

“ Go … … Pokeball.” Tyler called, almost in a bored voice.

“ Why don’t you just say the pokemon’s Name?!” Hiro cried. Lisa sighed, and guessed that this was something Tyler did to infuriate Hiro.

Two pokemon materialised on the front lawn. A Heracross – Lisa had seen that in the National Park; and a very odd pokemon, which had flames on it’s back and all over it’s body.

“ What the …?” Hiro wondered, taking out a red electronic device.

“ Save your batteries, wimp.” Tyler sneered. “ My pokemon is a Magmar.”

Hiro slapped himself on the forehead. “ A fire type!” he cried. “ No fair.”

“ Who ever said battles were fair?” Tyler said impatiently.

“ Heracross – Horn Attack!” Hiro yelled in response.

“ Magmar – Smokescreen.” Tyler yawned.

Heracross charged at the flame pokemon, kicking up tiny bugs from the lawn as it ran, it’s horn, which was divided at the tip, protruding toward Magmar. At the last moment Magmar breathed out a stream of smoke that clouded up Heracross’ eyes and stopped it in it’s tracks.

Lisa could scarcely see through the black smog, but slowly it cleared, and the battle continued.

“ Heracross – recover and use Leer!” Hiro yelled.

“ Magmar – Ember.” Tyler called.

Before Heracross reacted to Hiro’s calls, Magmar had blasted it with a stream of boiling scarlet fire. The bug type was fell down immediately, it’s normally greenish body now charred black.

“ Return, Heracross.” Hiro growled. “ That was just pure luck, Tyler.”

“ Whatever Kid.” Tyler laughed. “ C’mon, choose a Pokemon.”

“ Venonat, go! Use Leech Life!” Hiro yelled. A Speed Ball flew down onto the turf, and sprang open. Hiro was making an obvious mistake. His battling techniques were falling due to his anger.

Lisa spotted this at once. “ Hiro – think about your attacks!” she called. “ Don’t let anger blind you!”

Hiro looked at her for a moment, and nodded slowly, trying to blot out Tyler’s taunts and jeers from across the lawns. “ Venonat – new plan. Use… Supersonic.”

“ Veno!” Venonat cried. It squinted it’s eyes almost shut, and supersonic waves emitted from it’s antennae. They slammed into Magmar’s head, making it sway around confused.

“ Magmar – Take Down!” cried Tyler.

However, Magmar was too confused to respond. It began to beat itself with it’s arms, until it fell over in a muddled heap of flames.

“ Gaah! Magmar – return..”

Hiro leapt up and down. “ Venonat, you did it! Great!”

Then he turned to Lisa, who was smiling with her friend. “ Thanks, Lisa. I couldn’t have won that round without you.”

“ No worries.” Lisa laughed.

“ Hmpf.” Tyler snapped, glaring at Lisa in annoyance. “ You might’ve had some luck just then, but you’ll need more than that to win. I choose Golbat.”

Hiro sneered. “ A Golbat, eh? Venonat, Tackle attack.”

“ Golbat – Take Down.”

Venonat leapt out, eager to prove how good it was to it’s loving trainer. The bug type slammed into the bat pokemon, and blocked the Take Down attack before it could get started.

“ Alright, Venonat!” Hiro called. “ Gee, Lisa, Venonat’s really getting strong.”

Venonat was extremely happy. It’s trainer was proud of it, and it felt great. Almost too great, actually, as though a bubble of joy was about to explode inside it …

“ Oy, what’s with Venonat?” Hiro wondered aloud. “ It keeps jumping up and… oh!”

Venonat began to shine with a blinding white light which washed over it’s entire being. The pokemon was hardly recognisable, as it’s body began to grow upwards, and change shape, as it’s molecular structure was magically rearranged.

“ Golbat, Bite it while it evolves!” Tyler called, not wanting to lose a moment of the battle time.

Golbat flew headfirst at Venonat. However, the newly evolved creature glowed with a browny-gold orb, and Golbat slammed into the protecting orb, throwing it onto the ground. Hiro grinned, glad that Tyler’s underhanded attack had backfired – in battles, trainers were generally fair enough to wait for a pokemon to finish evolving before attacking.

The new Venomoth took flight into the air, appearing refreshed from the evolution process. This new event was exactly what Hiro needed for another victory.

“ Alright, Venomoth.” Hiro cried, positively delighted at the bug’s evolution. “ Quick Attack!”

“ Moooth!” chimed Venomoth, flying through the air speedily and slamming into Golbat, knocking the poison type out.

“ Yeah!” Hiro cried. “ Alright, Venomoth!”

Lisa laughed along with Hiro as Tyler recalled his Golbat.

“ Last pokemon, Tyler.” Hiro crowed, almost leaping around in joy.

“ Well, you’re about to face my toughest Pokemon yet.” Tyler said with an evil grin. “ So, I choose … Golem!”

A huge rock pokemon appeared. It’s bouldered body was browny grey, and it appeared to be impermeable.

“ TACKLE!” yelled Tyler instantly.

Before Hiro’s Venomoth could react, it was crushed by the megaton pokemon, knocking it out. The bug flapped it’s wings weakly under the sheer mass of Golem, before passing out, after an incredibly profitable battle.

“ Aaah! Return, Venomoth!” Hiro cried. He recovered from the loss quickly as he chose his final pokemon. “ I choose Cyndaquil!”

Cyndaquil popped out of it’s pokeball, and immediately it’s fire on it’s back raised up in a warm heap.

“ Golem – rollout!” Tyler called.

“ Ember Cyndaquil!”

Before Cyndaquil could follow it’s master’s command, Golem curled in it’s battle-scarred limbs, and tucked it’s head in, creating a rocky sphere, before rolling across the dug up lawn. Cyndaquil watched with rising trepidation and shot out a blast of fire – it’s ember. However, the fire barely charred the rocky skin of Golem, and Cyndaquil ducked onto the grass as the greater pokemon squashed it into a defeat.

“ No way!” Hiro cried. “ I was winning … and Venonat evolved … no way.”

Tyler was recalling Golem. “ Bye bye baby … thanks for the exercise – and the fifth victory of mine today.” Tyler departed into the Pokemon Centre abruptly, and neither Lisa nor Hiro heard of him again that day. Hiro began to sulk over his third defeat by his enemy and rival, Tyler.

“ It’s alright, Hiro,” Lisa said kindly. “ Remember what you told me yesterday? Not to worry about losing, because you learn something. That’s true.”

Hiro looked up at her. “ What did I learn just then?”

Lisa pondered over this for a moment. “ That Tyler’s stronger.”

Hiro fell to the ground beside his flattened Cyndaquil, half laughing, half crying.

*

One hour later, Kris, Hiro and Lisa stood outside the Pokemon Centre. All their pokemon were now healed, and they were ready to go on their separate paths.

“ Well, we’re off to challenge Whitney.” Kris said.

Lisa sighed heavily. “ I’m off to the Radio Tower. I hear there’s some people there with knowledge about legendaries, so that’s where I’m headed.”

Each trainer looked into the others eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Then, finally, Lisa said; “ Guys, I know we only met yesterday, but you’re real friends. You helped me, and you taught me.”

Kris nodded slowly. “ Thanks Lisa. Ditto. I hope we’ll all meet up again sometime.”

“ I hope I’ll see you too,” said Lisa, as Hiro nodded at Kris’ suggestion.

There was a rapid exchanging of Pokegear Mobile Phone numbers, before Hiro was itching to move on.

“ G’bye, Lisa!” Kris called.

“ Yeah, maybe we’ll cross paths again soon,” Hiro called.
“ I hope so,” Lisa said sincerely. Finally, she said it: “ Goodbye.”

Lisa left the friends she had made, feeling as though a large part of her was just left behind with her friends. Lisa reached to her shoulder to pat Aipom … then suddenly, she knew what it was.

“ Kris! Wait!” she yelled, chasing after Hiro and Kris along the footpath. “ You have my pokeballs!”

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 5 - Inside the Radio Tower.


It was Saturday. Lisa had spent the planned to spend the previous day at the Radio Tower, but it was closed. The radios all over town were turned off, also. A few townspeople had been confused by the event.

"It's not normal at all," the Innkeeper with the Marill said to Lisa with a confused frown on Friday night. "The radio tower's closed, radio transmission's stopped ... there's something wrong."

Nevertheless, Lisa had shrugged off the bizarre happening, and spent the day training with Aipom, Wooper and Caterpie, who all had had a very tough battle each, and Lisa was extremely pleased when Caterpie grew a level and learned Smokescreen after a fight with a Drowzee, and had subsequently evolved. Lisa was very proud of her Metapod, weak or not.

Lisa strolled up Goldenrod Avenue and crossed the road on the pedestrian path, finally reaching the Radio Tower, which, black and shining, rose up steadily above all other buildings in the city. The tower was situated on a slight escarpment, and when Lisa looked behind her she could see the Pokemon Centre, and the small bed-and-breakfast she had stayed in overnight.

“ Here we are again.” Lisa said to Aipom, who was swinging on her shoulder. “ The Radio Tower. Hopefully there’s a lot of people in here who know about Legendary Pokemon … especially Suicune.”

Just before Lisa could enter the tower’s sliding glass doors, a man in black appeared from behind a corner building, and pushed her roughly over. She stumbled but recovered, and then turned to face him. He was clothed totally in black, and had a menacing look on his face. “ Oy, kid. Watch out where you’re going.”

“ Me? You ran into me!” Lisa argued quickly, as Aipom spat out at the man. However, the girl was slowly backing towards the doors of the Tower.

The man shrugged angrily. “ Just stop snooping around, kid. We’ve got enough problems without you.” He began to leave, when suddenly, a very odd look crossed his face – something like stunned surprise. But when he turned, Lisa was gone.

She had thought the man’s behaviour was pretty bizarre, so she sidestepped swiftly and sprinted through the electronic glass doors, and entered the busy radio station tower, escaping the shady character before he got any closer or any more annoyed.

“ Welcome to the Radio Tower.” A young woman said abruptly, as Lisa walked past a desk near the entrance.

“ Thanks.” Lisa replied, turning to look around the enormous foyer of the tower. “ Um, could you please tell me where I can find information on the Legendary Pokemon?”

“ Floor Four,” the receptionist said. “ It’s a cluster of bookshelves to your right as soon as you enter.”

“ Thanks again,” Lisa said, rushing off.

Lisa walked up to the fourth floor, and looked to her right. There was a huge collection of shelves immediately there, all of which rose up to the high ceiling which Lisa felt would surely accommodate for a Steelix. Aipom forgot to be hyperactive while they were entering the room, which was crammed full of all kinds of books. Lisa wandered over to one lower shelf and flicked through a thin book … she looked at the cover – Habitats of North South African Snails – and hastily threw it back on the shelf.

She perused the aisle slowly until she found a book about Pokemon habitats … she was on the right type of creature, at least. Suddenly, somebody tapped her shoulder, and she spun around.

“ May I help you?”

A boy about Lisa’s own age stood behind her. Lisa looked him over, and quickly decided he would be very good looking if he wasn’t wearing those clothes. He stood behind her wearing a fake grin, glasses which looked far too big, an officy shirt, a tie which looked as though it were strangling him and too-shiny shoes.

Lisa wrinkled her nose up instinctively and frowned. “ No thanks Eugene," she said bluntly, without even thinking.

The boy snorted suddenly, and began chuckling. “ You think I’m a nerd?”

“ Oh no ... well ...” Lisa muttered, embarrassed that she had not held her tongue.

The boy laughed again and Lisa stared at him as though he was a retarded Mr Mime. He gave out furtive glances up and down the aisle of books, and then suddenly pulled off his glasses and loosened his tie. He wiped the salesman grin off and Lisa noted he now looked human.

“ They make me dress up in 'costume' for work,” he sighed, rolling his eyes, and refitting his uniform. “ Except the glasses – they’re my friend Dave’s – I use them to keep all the dust out of my eyes. Except they give me headaches like all the time. So if I look nerdy then sorr-eee.”

Lisa blinked. “ You work here?”

“ Of course. Why else would I ask if I could help you?”

She blinked again. “ Dunno. Anyway, I’m Lisa. Could you please direct me to the legendary pokemon books?”

“ It’d be a pleasure Lisa. By the way, my name’s Wayne.”

“ Wayne what?”

“ King.”

“ Wayne King, that’s diff – oy!!” Lisa’s jaw dropped as the boy went off into fits of laughter and she realised she had been tricked easily. "That's just juvenile," she said flatly, looking at the boy with distate. It was such an immature joke. Once the boy had stopped laughing at his own weak joke, he lead Lisa into another aisle of towering books.

“ My name’s Gavin. Gavin Luper.”

“ That’s your real one, right?.” Lisa shook his hand slowly, taking a liking to the boy who surely couldn’t be much older than herself. “ My name’s Lisa Walters.”

“ Pleased to meet you," Gavin said politely. " The legendary Pokemon books are this way, I think.” he continued, his brown hair messy as he led Lisa along the aisle towards . “ You see, I’ve only worked here for a week. I’m still getting used to the location of the books.”

“ I wish I had a job.” Lisa said. “ I don’t exactly have much money.” She jingled the pockets of her jeans, and reached inside them to produce barely fifty dollars. She wished she had taken her wallet to the Burned Tower two days ago, but who knew she would be swept away by Suicune?

“ There’s an opening on the fourth floor,” offered Gavin eagerly. “ Er … I think.”

Lisa laughed. “ I’m alright, really. I’m really on kind of a journey.” She paused. " Anyway, you do have any books here about Suicune?"

Gavin opened his mouth to say something, then closed it, and instead reached up to a high shelf and pulled down a fairly thin book. He opened it, and revealed pictures of Suicune, taken from many people over the last few years, including a picture of a Suicune statue in Ecruteak, which Lisa had seen many times before in the Floramenda Square, and an ancient drawing of the legendary beast which dated back 600 years.

“ So what do you need this for?” asked Gavin slowly, as he flipped through the pages. “ Essay for school?”

“ No.” Lisa laughed. “ I’m on a journey, remember? I’m a Legendary Pokemon Researcher.”

“ Really?” Gavin said, apparently interested. “ My Uncle’s a researcher too. Have you ever seen a Legendary?”

“ Yeah, two days ago. In fact, I actually rode one.” Lisa became suddenly quiet, thinking about Suicune and how it had been sighted so often lately in Ecruteak, and had now swept down south with her atop him.

“ Wow!” Gavin said, grinning, the pages of the thin book unturned as the two new acquaintances chatted. Lisa looked at him curiously; he didn't even doubt her. Most people would laugh or say "yeah, right", but Gavin just didn't.

His face turned dark. “ I hate people that don’t believe in Legendaries.”

“ Me too.” Lisa said, recalling Anna back on Route 36. “ They’re real, some have even been caught on TV for documentaries.”

“ Speaking of Documentaries, we have some videos of them in the video vault. I think. But most of out valuable videos have gone missing lately; nobody knows where they are. Someone might have stolen some, I dunno.” Gavin took a deep breath, looking concerned, presumably about the stolen - or missing - videos. “ Anyway, wanna rent one out?”

“ Sounds good,” Lisa agreed. She shoved the Suicune book back among the various other dusty volumes, and the two people set off behind the desk to a narrow door. Aipom perched itself tensely on Lisa’s left shoulder, as Gavin hauled the door open.

A musty stench arose from the flight of stairs behind the door. Lisa guessed the video vault had not been opened in a long while.

“ God – It stinks down here!” Lisa cried, pinching her nose and breathing in short, shallow gasps.

“ Ai!” Aipom agreed.

“ It didn’t smell like this on Wednesday.” Gavin said slowly. “ That’s when I last came here …”

Lisa sighed – her guess had apparently been wrong. “ How far down do these steps go?”

“ A fair way.” Gavin replied, a smirk on his face. “ Come on, you’ll really like this video I found, called ‘Sacred Suicune’.”

Lisa decided to distract herself by changing the subject, as they walked down the grey concrete steps. Aipom dropped from Lisa’s shoulder to the ground, and began sniffing around as he scampered ahead into the gloomy depths of the Video Vault.

“ So, Gavin, what do you do apart from work here? Do you live in Goldenrod?”

“ Yep.” Gavin said, still walking. “ I’ve lived here for about a year. My family live in Ecruteak still, but I came here to stay with my friend Dave – he’s fifteen too.”

“ Really? I’m fourteen!” Lisa cried, excited for no apparent reason. “ But … whoa, your parents must be really lenient to let you move cities when you’re only a year older than me. My parents wouldn’t even let me go training outside of Ecruteak.”

Gavin looked at her, and looked like he was about to open his mouth to talk when he seemed to think better of it. Moments later, he said something different.

“ So how many Pokemon do you have?” he asked, a slight shake to his voice.

“ Three.” Lisa said. “ A Wooper, a Metapod, and of course, Aipom.”

“ I train psychic pokemon.” Gavin told her. “ I’m kind of a weak psychic myself, but my abilities are too weak, because I never really had the time to practice them. I only have a Natu.”

“ Gee… why don’t you travel around to train it up, as well as train yourself?” Lisa was shocked to hear that her new friend was an actual psychic, but oddly enough she found herself believing him like he had believed her– usually people were cynical of psychics – she was too, usually – but she felt she could distinguish already between Gavin’s jokes and his seriousness. And it was proven that some psychics really could harness the power of their minds. " What can you do then? Do you perform telekinesis or what??"

" Just ... you know, uh ... premonitions," Gavin shrugged. “ But I don't really want to travel away. I like Goldenrod, y’know?”

“ Yeah, but travelling’s fun.” Lisa said, while they continued down the spiralling stairway, their steps echoing. Aipom crept around the corner rapidly, and Lisa suddenly lost sight of him. “ Don’t you have a dream Gavin? Like entering the Pokemon League?”

“ Well..” Gavin began. “ I guess I do. My dream is … uh … to be a great Psychic trainer; and have my own gym here in Goldenrod. Or my own really big company. Or a writer. Or even be an actor." He paused, and Lisa grinned - he had a lot of ambitions. " That’d be awesome!” he finished, and there was a broad, genuine smile on his face.

“ Have you ever even battled, though?” Lisa asked curiously. “ Once you do, it’s really fun, you get interested in Pokemon training. I tell you, it’s addictive – I never would've thought I'd be this into them until I got Aipom a month or so ago.”

Gavin shook his head. “ I haven't really done much battling ... Natus aren’t exactly the strongest battlers.”

“ Either are Caterpies, but I manage fine,” Lisa said slowly. “ Listen, I’ll tell you what. When we get into the Video Vault, you find me the video and in return I’ll battle Natu with Metapod for you, just to give it some experience.”

“ I can’t battle in here. I’m at work. I'll get in trouble.”

“ When do you get off?”

“ Five.”

“ It’s a date then," Lisa said in a final tone. " Meet me outside the Pokemon Centre, on the grassed area to the side.”

Gavin gave another genuine smile, apparently chuffed that he had made a friend so quickly. He opened his mouth to say something, when there was a sudden clatter from below. As as they rounded the stairway, Lisa and Gavin emerged into a vast, low-roofed room, stacked with Videos. Gavin explained that the video vault was kept on the ground floor, because they were actually too heavy to be kept on the weak fourth floor’s floor. Lisa was about to point out the floor managed to hold up with all the books, but suddenly she shivered, as there was another clatter. “ Hey, there’s someone in here.”

“ Yeah, us,” Gavin said.

“ No, I mean … someone else. In the Video Vault.”

The room was smelly and damp, not to mention gloomy. Lisa brushed Spinarak webs away from her face as Gavin led the way along the dark corridor. Aipom was standing still at the foot of the stairs still, not making any movement, except for sniffing the air with a sense of danger.

“ I don’t see any ...” Gavin began.

Suddenly an ear-piercing screech filled the corridor an echoed around the entire chamber.

“ Ow!” Lisa yelled, clasping her hands over her ears. The chilling screech echoed and rebounded within Lisa’s head, and she screamed too.

“ Lisa?” Gavin asked. Then he looked over her head, and leapt out swiftly in front of her, thrusting her down onto the concrete floor before leaping down himself.

There was a blast of green light which whooshed past Lisa’s head; it only missed because Gavin had pushed her head down two seconds before. There was a sudden silence. Gavin was on top of Lisa, who was now laying on the ground, mouth open and jaw dropped down.

“ You … risked yourself...” she muttered. She found her body shaking with fear and panic. “ You risked your own life ... Oh my God, What WAS that?”

Gavin blushed a deep red, and opened his mouth to say something when he, yet again, thought better of it, and shut his mouth. Then he said something different again.

“ Y’know – there’s a pokemon in here. That was a Pokemon.”

Lisa thought about it. “ You mean – it’s still here? But… I can’t see anything.”

“ WE can’t.” Gavin told her, his voice very strong and definite. “ But I know who can.”

“ Who?”

“ Natu, go.” Gavin called, throwing a Moon Ball into the air. “ Natu – Radar Eye now. See if you can pick up any form of other Pokemon in this room.”

“ Tu!” Natu called, zapping out of the odd pokeball in a flash of radiant light and opening it’s small eyes as wide as possible. Suddenly, it leapt up and down on Gavin’s shoulder.

“ Natu – show us where the pokemon is!” Gavin cried urgently. There was a strange look on his face, as if he were staring off into another world.

“ Tu!” Natu flapped it’s tiny wings while Lisa thought Natu should hardly be classified as a flying type pokemon; it could barely get five feet up off the ground.

After what seemed like an eternity, Natu came to a rest ten feet up in the air.

“ What’s Natu sitting on?” Lisa cried, confused.

“ A Pokemon!” Gavin cried, his face breaking out into a grin. “ And now I know where it is ... I can catch it!”

Gavin threw another pokeball; this one had a large “U” engraved into it. It headed for the mysterious invisible Pokemon, when suddenly there was a whoosh, Natu fell out of the air, and the Ultra Ball landed on the ground and shattered into a hundred, splintery pieces.

“ What the hell was ..?” Gavin began, panicking.

Suddenly, on the other side of the video vault, a shelf of videos toppled over. And then, beneath Natu, a huge, black pokemon appeared out of nowhere; it was at least 10 feet tall – yet it was similar to the legendary beasts; it had four legs and was growling. It had a head which looked too big in proportion with it’s body, and an enormous orb of green light was forming within it’s sharp jaws, growing rapidly, aimed for Lisa and Gavin, who stood there, unprotected and vulnerable.

“ Holy CRAP!” Lisa screeched, more as a conscious reaction than a reflex of fear. Then she figured, in an abrupt moment of realisation; this was a legendary Pokemon …

[Blastiose007]

its good being back on the old UBB and as before great job with lisa the legend

[Gavin Luper]

Blastoise007: Thanks to one of my most loyal readers! I hope you keep reading in future! I'll get the other chapters up later!

[Blastiose007]

i will keep reading as long as you keep writing chapters to lisa the legend and the crystal league

[Gavin Luper]

Blastoise007: Thanks. The only time I'll stop posting LTL is when it is completely finished. So it's always going to be around, at least until the start of next year. And TCL will be up again soon (ie tomorrow). Cheers!

[Blastiose007]

back on the UBB and Gavin's fanfics what a happy day and i contiue reading the crystal league as well

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

Ah, yes, it feels good to be back at the real TPM.
So, Gavin, you're here too? Well, I'm ready to reread what I've read on Lisa the Legend.

It's weird, they had EVERYTHING i had before. I wonder if it has all my posts. It said I'm a Senior Member. Heh, I feel old.

And my old sig. Wow, i have to add all those WHO AM I? things...

well, Gavin, let's have the next chapter!

EDIT: Fixed my sig, 1528 posts (YES!!!) Advanced Trainer, now I just need to make my avatar smaller to fit, add some catchy thing with the gender and age, and SuperSonicMewtwo will have truly returned!!!!!

*thunder and lightning flashes around as evil laughter fills everyones ears*

[Master Kirby]

I'm glad to be back on the old UBB. Yea! No pop-ups!

I wonder what trainers Lisa will meet in the semi-finals? They must be more powerful than any she has gone against yet.

[Gavin Luper]

Blastoise007: Heh heh ... i feel honoured!

SSM: Hello hello hello! You don't have to reread the old chapters you know, they're just for any new readers! Of course, I'm not stopping you, you can if you want to! But Chapter 16 will be up today! Woohoo!

Master Kirby: Yeah! No popups! It's so much more relaxed and relieving!! The semi-final trainer will be tougher than Anna, and Alicia (for Gavin) but I'm debating whether to write the battle or just have Lisa recount it mentally.

Chapter 6 up in a few minutes guys!

[Last Exile]

Hey hey! Good to see this up again Gavin! Hope all's well! Rock on, my friend!

[Gavin Luper]

HEY CCC! Ello!

Nice to have you back. Thanks for returning to read this! I'll put chapter 6 up soon, eh?

Cheers mate!

[Gavin Luper]

Aquababe727: OK, i'll accept a draw for the best then!

I suppose both fics are really different, aren't they? EBTV is very ... much better. OK, OK, very differently written - for one, it's in first person. Anyway, thanks!

Stand by Aquababe, more IS on the way. And the Crystal League will be up in a second!

Cheers!

[Blastiose007]

very well written gavin and glad crystal league is going to be up

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

That was always the weird chapter.
So, hurry up with the old ones! I'd like to read something new!

[Gavin Luper]

Blastoise007: Thanks, as usual. TCL is back up as you can see!

SSM: New chapters coming before next weekend, the forums change has set the chapters back slightly. Expect 7 + 8 tomorrow!\

Cheers!