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

[Gavin Luper]

Ta-da! Have fun guys!

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Chapter 41 – Waterfalls and Warnings.


Excluding a few bouts of summer drought, Ecru Lake had experienced a very pleasant year. There had been plentiful rain and the banks of the River Kymor, which flowed into the Lake through the Northern Mountains from Kohtu and Houen, were flourishing with new life. Plentiful ferns and reeds overhung the crystal clear river, which was always flowing steadily from the peak of Mt Myrias. The fauna fared equally as well, with many tadpoles already developing into strong little Poliwag. Even some Mudkip and Chinchou had been spotted at the bottom of the waterfall, where the river met the lake.

The waterfall ran down a steep rocky face, frothing at the foot into the lake, which was a very pretty crystalline azure colour. At the foot of this waterfall, on a thin stretch of sand, stood Marina and Lisa, each holding a fishing rod. Lisa was highly dubious of their spontaneous venture.

“How many fish d’you think we’re gonna actually catch at the bottom of a waterfall?” Lisa asked, dragging her fishing rod around in a small circle, wondering if the bait was still hooked on. “Still living fish, I mean,” she added, staring up the torrent of water rushing down the precipice.

Marina grunted, she was casting her line out for the third time – twice now it had snagged on some reeds which had popped up in the middle of nowhere. “Lots of fish can actually survive the fall downstream,” she said matter-of-factly. “And some Poliwag breed in the lake itself.”

“I don’t want a Poliwag,” said Lisa dully. The sun was beating down harshly on her tan skin, and it was beginning to burn. She looked longingly around at all the shade which bordered the lake.

Lisa had been to the lake a lot as a child but she had not noticed it as much as she did now, probably because she had not been at this side of the lake before. It was a large lake on the northern edge of town, probably a kilometre by two. Trees lined the lake all the way round, except for the cliff face and a short stretch of sand that was used as a beach by the people of Ecruteak. Even now as Lisa looked, she could see a couple of families swimming and splashing around at the distant end of the lake.

The girls were fishing about fifty metres from the waterfall. Lisa was gazing round at the treetops which were a part of the Emerald Forest when she noticed a tall formation that was not a tree.

“Is that the Tin Tower?” Lisa asked Marina, but she already knew the answer. The very top of the tower could be seen through the peaks of the foliage; it was made of shiny redwood, and there was a large shrine – Lisa had heard – at the top. The shrine would be very interesting … it was where Ho-oh was rumoured to roost.

Not Ho-oh, Lisa reminded herself. When she had had that awesome ride on the phoenix, it had said – very simply yet at the same time very confusingly, “Ho-oh is not my name.” Lisa had yet to figure out what that meant.

Sitting there, fishing serenely while the waterfall gushed distantly, Lisa very nearly blundered. She almost said to Marina “Do you think Ho-oh is still out there?” but she cut herself off after “Do you –”. Marina did not know about Lisa’s experiences with legendary pokemon and Lisa had resisted ever telling her. When she had told Anna, Anna had not believed her – she had laughed.

Marina did know a little, though, Lisa reminded herself. She had been at the funeral of Anna’s, she had learned of how she had died. And when Marina had asked her, Lisa, about the events, Lisa simplified them as best she could. She told Marina that her and Gavin had been driving in the buggy when they saw a fire. They approached the fire and there was Anna, up in a tree. Lisa had tried to stop the alibi there, maybe say the fire had begun of natural causes, but even the Police were curious. They admitted there was little explanation for the huge canine footprints found at the fire, and accompanied by Lisa’s statement to them and the fire, plus the appearance of Entei in Olivine only days before, the evidence of Entei attacking Anna was strong. So Lisa told Marina that she saw Entei attack Anna one final time just as they arrived, and then disappear as she died.

It was much much more complicated than that. There had been other legendaries there, Entei had argued, and of course Lisa and Gavin had not simply stood there. They had fought.

“Do I what?” Marina repeated loudly, breaking through Lisa’s memories.

“Hm? Oh …” Lisa said awkwardly. “Don’t worry …” she finished lamely.

Marina looked sceptical. “No, tell me,” she said firmly.

It occurred to Lisa that she could do, that she could explain everything to Marina, everything she didn’t know, but she was experienced at glossing over details – she had done that for the police a couple of times, and especially with her parents and Tom and Wes and Jean.

So she said, “Well, I thought about maybe having a quick battle … I’m out of practice and all … but I realised you’d rather fish, so …”

Marina shook her head, and instantly reeled her line back in. The hook eventually appeared from the water and the bait was still there, untouched. Marina muttered something, which sounded like “Not even a nibble,” then packed her rod back up and fished around in her bag instead, for a pokeball.

Lisa had already reeled her rod in. The bait was completely gone but she had not felt anything at all … perhaps if she had been holding onto the rod she would have noticed a Poliwag or Goldeen snapping up the bait. Too bad. Now she had to battle – for the first time in ages – and wondered if she could do it. But she had to – Marina was already throwing their bags to the side, under a rock, and taking many paces backwards along the sand. Lisa did likewise.

“Three on three sound good?” she called. “Non-continuous?”

“Perfect if you ask me!” replied Marina from many metres away. “Let’s start then! I choose Kingler!”

She threw the scarlet-white pokeball at the sand in front of her; it burst open quickly and returned automatically to her hands. From the radiance within emerged a large, intimidating crab, with shiny, metallic-looking pincers and vermilion spikes on its head.

Lisa held the little charm on the end of her silver necklace Gavin had given her; she had long since worked out how to use it. She held the Aipom-shaped charm between forefinger and thumb, and said loudly “Revelum Aipom!” The charm glowed a luminous orange-gold, then a searingly bright white, then exploded with a burst of light – Aipom appeared on the sand, tail upright. He was ready for action!

“Swift attack!” Lisa yelled.

“Kingler, jump into the water and use a Water Gun!” called Marina.

Aipom flicked his fawn-coloured tail and ran a few metres at Kingler, then curled into a tight purple ball. A volley of about five luminous golden stars appeared, hovering in mid-air, then shot out at Kingler with stunning speed and accuracy. The crab had already sidled over to the shallows of the lake and now released a large jet of clear water straight at the stars. The water gushing at the stars was quite effective; three of the stars were repelled by the water, leaving only two weakly glowing ones to crash into Kingler’s side.

“Nice work, Kingler!” said Marina encouragingly. “Now try using reflect, then crabhammer.”

“Aipom, quick attack then follow up with Doubleslap!”

Aipom went into action first, sprinting lightly towards its waterbound opponent and tackling it in the side without Kingler even seeming to be aware of what was happening. Aipom was already splashing his way back to the shore when the vermilion crab had the thought to set up the reflect.

Kingler squeezed its eyes shut tightly, then gurgled in crab language. The result was a reflective sphere around him, but it was evident that the reflect was not as effective as Marina would have liked it to be. It was flickering intermittently and was a paler brown colour than the ones Lisa had seen previously. Aipom had already moved in and was flicking at the reflect with his tail, trying to slap at Kingler. The reflect wavered dangerously, but did not shatter yet. Aipom was falling back into the shallow water when Kingler moved out from behind its shield and brought its claw down heavily on Aipom, who was shunted into the sand on the floor of the lake. Lisa craned her neck to see if Aipom would recover; he returned to the surface, panting, and Lisa was just about to order an attack when he took matters into his own hands.

The entire body of Aipom glowed a faint yellow, and Lisa felt a sudden thrill of wonder before Aipom opened his mouth and a huge tirade of electric bullets flowed out. Each bullet was electric energy, shaped like a tiny thunderbolt, spearing the air at Kingler. The first few bounced off the reflect, but after a moment the screen shattered and Kingler was pounded with the electric currents. He was knocked out very quickly.

“What the hell was that?” Marina demanded angrily, recalling Kingler into his pokeball.

“Zap cannon, apparently,” said Lisa, flabbergasted. “But I had no idea Aipom knew that attack … it just came out of nowhere.”

She was still pondering about it when Marina said, “Hurry up and choose a new pokemon.” Lisa looked up and remembered they had agreed to have a non-continuous three-on-three battle, in fact, she herself had suggested it.

“Alright,” said Lisa blankly. She turned to Aipom, who was shaking off the water from his fur. “Really good battle, Aipom, we’ll talk more later. Retrahere!” She cried, holding Aipom’s silver charm – Aipom and the charm both glowed a luminous rose gold colour, and the purple monkey disappeared into thin air.

“I choose Elekid!” Lisa withdrew a regular pokeball and lobbed it up in the air – it exploded into brightness halfway and the fuzzy yellow-black Elekid appeared on the sand.

Marina smiled. “No offence, Lisa, but I can read you like a book,” said Marina. “I choose you, Herby!”

Her pokeball revealed the one thing Lisa had definitely not expected – a pokemon other than a water type. The creature facing Elekid was quite a lot taller and wider. It was a pleasant yellow-green hue, with a collection of rolled up herbs around its neck, and a large, flat green leaf atop its head.

“Since when did you –” began Lisa.

“I found her on my canoeing trip. She’s getting really strong.”

“But you’re a water trainer.”

“Well … I decided to diversify a bit. Ready to go on?”

Lisa nodded. She had to win now. Otherwise she would feel even worse than ever about losing. She had underestimated her opponent, a real no-no.

“Elekid, Light Screen!”
“Herby, Leech Seed!”

Now it was Lisa’s turn to feel a bit disappointed at her pokemon’s performance. She had, admittedly, not spent much time training Elekid, but she had thought his moves were all quite perfected. Evidently not – his light screen did not look very healthy at all. It was a clearish colour with a rainbow tinge to it whenever it reflected the sunlight. Though it should have been a little stronger than Reflect, it looked weaker. Herby, Marina’s Bayleef, fired off a small emerald green seed from her mouth. It flew through the air and went straight through the barrier, sinking into Elekid’s left arm. It glowed a bright white as some of Elekid’s energy was transferred magically to Herby.

“No! Elekid, use Thunderpunch! I mean, quick attack!”

Elekid looked confused, and was still trying to pull the leech seed from his arm, which proved impossible. He then raced at Herby for a Quick Attack, but the leaf pokemon leapt up high and easily dodged the impending damage.

“Quickly now, Herby, use Water Blast!”

Lisa goggled. No way, she thought.

Yes way. Herby leapt into the shallows, just like Kingler had done, and opened her mouth. A stream of water issued from her mouth in a fairly wide stream, slamming into the Light Screen heavily. The screen wobbled for a moment, then gave way and dissipated, leaving the Water Blast to drive Elekid into the ground and knock him out.

The transparent scarlet beam had zoomed Elekid back to safety before Herby’s attack had actually stopped. Lisa was bright red in the face. “The decider, then?” she said, keeping her voice under control. Elekid had been KOed with only one attack, plus a small amount of damage from the leech seed. She felt awfully determined to win this last round at all costs.

Marina recalled her pokemon too, and Lisa was just about to yell out “Dratini, I choose you!” when a few things happened very suddenly and in very quick succession.

Somewhere deep inside the forest which laced Ecru Lake, there was a high-pitched noise and a deeper rumbling. A huge plume of smoke suddenly blossomed from the trees on the opposite side of the lake from Marina and Lisa. A burst of lightning appeared from nowhere, striking a point on the opposite shore of the Lake. Marina cried out in alarm as something arced across the lake right at her and Lisa.

It was Raikou.

Lisa was about to release Dratini to paralyse the incoming dog and keep it still, so she could finally question it, but this proved unnecessary. Raikou landed with a splash in the shallows, exactly where Herby had been only seconds before, and his eyes met Lisa’s. Their gaze was locked for a moment, then suddenly, he winked. Lisa only just caught it, then felt her body simply lift up; she recognised the sensation as her body felt lighter than usual. She was teleporting, Marina at her side.

They landed with a heavy thud in a clearing which looked like it was fairly close to where they had been before. Marina collapsed onto the ground, looking like she had just been beaten up, her eyes closed. She had fainted; Lisa, however, arose quickly – she was used to the feeling of teleportation.

“Raikou,” said Lisa blankly.

The wild dog was standing still near Marina, looking furtively from side to side. It took Lisa only a few seconds to realise he was injured – his yellowy fur was ruffled and there was a gash in his side, though no blood came out.

Raikou caught her eye. //Hello Lisa// he said telepathically. Lisa almost recoiled in surprise; she could not recall being so directly addressed by one of the legendaries.

“Hello,” she said timidly, suddenly remembering the huge plume of smoke and the explosion. “Why are you here, what’s happened to you?”

//Never mind// said Raikou calmly, but he winced slightly as he spoke. //I came to tell you something, Lisa, listen carefully. You must do what I say … time is beginning to run short. You are in much danger at the moment, more so than ever before. Entei has betrayed our kind … you are hunted at the moment.//

Lisa gasped, but the information didn’t really sink in.

Raikou was looking round more furtively than ever before, and now even Lisa could hear distant footsteps, and a branch cracking somewhere deeper in the bush. //You have to train hard, Lisa. Train your pokemon as much as you can, do you understand? You need to be able to protect yourself in the event of … something. Train yourself too … just focus on protecting yourself.//

Lisa nodded, her head feeling light and her brain struggling to understand this. She had to train her pokemon up, apparently.

Raikou began to say something, Lisa could feel the sensation in her head, but just as words began to travel into her mind, a huge stream of fire whooshed through the trees right into the clearing. Raikou cried out as the end of the feathery flames scorched his back. Lisa stepped back a bit.

//Remember what I said// Raikou said to her suddenly, firing a jet of blue at her, a teleportation beam. Lisa blinked, and the world disappeared around her.

*********

“Quick, go in for an Aurora Beam!” Lisa cried eagerly. Fiskmire turned towards his opponents and shot out a rainbow coloured beam at the two offending Poliwhirl. They were floored instantly, blasted backwards and landing on the lake’s shore.

“Great job Fisky!” Lisa congratulated it, before recalling him.

She was at the lake again, much later that same day. Marina was out shopping for a change, and Lisa was glad to have some time alone to simply train up her pokemon. Marina, thankfully, did not seem to remember seeing Raikou at all – Lisa thought that perhaps Raikou had wiped her memory – so she was completely clueless. Lisa did not have the patience to tell her about it.

Now Lisa was training as Raikou has instructed her, and was incredibly pleased with the results. The sun had almost set now, but she had made good progress with each of her pokemon, and was very impressed by their work and their techniques. Vulpix had been able to produce a Fire Tornado, a move which even very high-levelled dragons had difficulty pulling off. Dratini had even been able to use a Dragonbreath attack that was strong enough to knock out a wild Granbull in one shot. Elekid’s Light Screens were improving vastly, though Fiskmire managed to shatter Elekid’s Light Screen with a very accurate Ice Beam.

Lisa was proudest of Aipom and Fiskmire, though. Fiskmire’s Ice Beam was now strong enough to take out four Pidgeottos in one go, and Aurora Beam had fainted two Poliwhirl simultaneously. His Water Blast attack was a bit weak, but still defeated Vulpix in a practise battle.

As for Aipom, his restlessness seemed to have gone completely since Lisa had been keeping him in her necklace charm. He was more able than any of the others except perhaps Fiskmire; Speed Star was so accurate that it hit even when a wild Sandshrew had tunnelled away while maintaining a strong reflect. Lisa felt sure that her pokemon could handle anything thrown up against them now … maybe she could consider fighting Lance.

Filled with pride in her pokemon and hope that she would now be able to protect herself against any enemies that Raikou warned about, Lisa strolled happily home from the lake. She reached home well after dusk, and arrived home to a very nasty shock.