Hi everyone! I just wanted to say (before the chapter) that LTL has been nominated for a few categories in the Fanfic Awards, and to check out the voting topic to choose your nominations! This isn't a request for votes of course!!!! It's just me saying "hey, look, I got nominated". Yes. I'm a show-off.

ahem. Chapter 34 is what you were looking for?
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Chapter 34 – The Flight of the Phoenix.


Lisa thought she could still feel the icy water flooding over her and numbing her body, but she soon realised that she was not drowning at all, but she was laying flat somewhere. It was still cold, but not wet at all. Not even damp.

She couldn’t see – her eyes were still screwed shut in terror - but she sensed that Gavin was definitely beside her. Finally, unable to stand the knowledge of the unknown, Lisa opened her eyelids and felt like she had just shut them.

Total darkness! There was no difference between opening or shutting her eyes. Lisa couldn’t comprehend. For one horrifying second she thought she might be blind, but of course her commonsense took over and she tried to be calm and rational. It’s just very dark, she told herself firmly. It’s very dark and we’ve fallen under the ice. But then she remembered, the ice had melted after Suicune attacked Entei. Her and Gavin were underwater, somewhere, but not wet. Very cold and very dry.

“You alright, Lisa?” Gavin asked suddenly, his voice echoing in Lisa’s head as there was a soft shuffling sound. He sat up. “I am, if you were wondering.”

“I’m fine,” said Lisa quickly, hearing her voice as though it was a long way away. Gavin’s voice seemed very distant, too. “But why? Shouldn’t we have drowned by now?”

“I think so,” came his soft voice again. “But it’s really dark, I can’t see.”

“Neither.” Lisa was comforted that Gavin was feeling the same as her – blind and terrified.

There was silence. Lisa pulled herself up to a sitting position, expecting to feel her back ache from the fall or a rough surface underneath her, scratching her legs, but there was nothing. She couldn’t feel anything beneath her – Lisa went to feel the ground again, but her hand went straight down, as though she was floating somewhere. It was so very eerie. The panic rose up in her again. She reached out blindly for Gavin, and found his arm. But he jerked away.

“Don’t!” he said in an oddly constrained tone, his voice breaking and squeaking as he shifted away somehow. “Don’t touch me …”

He sounded so frightened that Lisa burst out. “Why not!?”

There was a long pause, while Lisa continued opening and shutting her eyes to see if there was any difference. There wasn’t. Somehow she lost track of whether her eyes were open or closed.

“I’m not … wearing anything,” spluttered Gavin suddenly, and then he burst into laughter and Lisa could hear him moving away again. She found herself blushing, and with a jolt realised that she, too, had no clothes on at all. It was so unreal, so frightening, so embarrassing, that she too began to giggle. She pushed herself away from Gavin, although she didn’t know how. It was as though she had just propelled herself through the air away from him.

Then, while she was deciding whether her eyes were open or shut, there was a faint light coming from above her, but also below her, and at the same time in front of her and behind her. Her eyes had to be open, then, she decided, as the light filled the place where she and Gavin were. Within a few seconds, the light was overpowering, and she could see nothing but strong, almost solid, golden light, engulfing her entire being. And it didn’t recede at all.

*

Lisa wasn’t sure how long it was before she could see again, but slowly the light did actually give way. She was glad to see that she was wearing her pair of short black pants and a sleeveless red top. Thank God, she muttered to herself, but where am I?

It was a good question. She could feel her hair being thrown back in the cool wind, which pelted at her face from up ahead. All she could see was a soft blue sky, and some pure white, fluffy clouds. She was flying somehow. Slowly she looked down to see that she was sitting on something. And her mouth fell wide open.

She was perched on the back of a giant bird. It was brilliant to say the very least. Lisa had never been at such a loss for words – the thing she was grasping loosely with her hands was so very huge that she felt incredibly fearful, yet at the same time the calmness flowing over her like a liquid was so real. The bird, she soon realised, was not ‘just a bird’ after all. Its vibrant golden crest pulsated as it flew along, regal wings swooping up and down rhythmically, radient gold and crimson feathers so bright it was like they were reflecting the sunlight; but even as Lisa watched she decided the plumage could not be doing that – it seemed to have a brightness of its own.

There was a sparkling, tinkling kind of a sound behind her, and Lisa whipped her head around to see more light; not white, or golden, but a rainbow streaming out behind the glittery tail plumes of the bird. And then it clicked in her overwhelmed mind. The bird was truly special after all.

It was a Phoenix.

The Phoenix.

Ho-oh.

Although she knew it would have been normal to, Lisa could not feel any trepidation or even wonder. It was like she had been wiped blank somehow. By the brightness that had engulfed her before, when her and Gavin were in that eerie, dark place. She also knew it would have been normal of herself to begin assuming scenarios and trying to work out what was going on, but she simply couldn’t. The calming feeling was so pleasant. Lisa actually released the golden feathers, staying onboard only by the slight grip of her knees.

The phoenix – Ho-oh – had not turned to look at her yet. It dipped below a thick patch of cloud, and Lisa smiled as the cold mist fluffed up around her face. Ho-oh weaved its way throughout the maze of clouds for a few minutes, its regal wings beating majestically against the air currents. After passing through a light fluffy cloud, the Rainbow pouring out from behind became more clear than ever, and Lisa could see a landscape below them, not very far down at all. A thick forested area, with some rocky patches. As Ho-oh flew lower, Lisa saw how close they were to the world below. But the landscape was changing now. There were soon some large fields and bare land, and then soft beach sand for a long way. Lisa could almost feel it crunching warmly beneath her feet, and indeed her feet were only a few metres from the ground.

Within minutes, Ho-oh was taking her across the pleasant-looking cornflower-coloured ocean, coming down so low that Lisa felt the seaspray playing across her bare feet. Then Ho-oh lifted up again, not as high as the clouds but at a safe height not to be seen but still be able to see. Lisa looked down to see some whirlpools spinning madly, and a long, narrow strip of brightly coloured coral reef. It was so relaxing she could feel her eyelids flutter closed. But before they could, some islands came into sight. Four islands, all very close to each other. Lisa knew they were the Whirl Islands, where she had met Marina and Anna in November. And it was clear now why they were named the way they were, because from the viewpoint upon Ho-oh’s back, Lisa could see everything. One island was stacked with dazzling silver rocks, which reflected the sunlight heavily; Silver Rock Island. One was covered in rocks with the colouring of dirty scarlet, the rocks scattered between towns. Lisa could see the large stadium on the far east side of the isle; Red Rock Island, and beside it was an island covered in bluish beach sand – not a chemical blue, but a natural wonder, an almost pastel shade. Blue Rock Island. The fourth Island soon came into clearer focus, as the phoenix beat its wings against the wind and soared down. Yellow Rock Island was not populated, Lisa saw, but a small crater rose up within the centre; remnants of the extinct volcano that had tainted the rocks with sulfur-yellow hue. The rest of the island was cluttered with dense jungle-like growth of lush tropical trees and green patches of grass. Lisa stared at it with fascinating, as Ho-oh began to lower again. The magical bird swooped down, and Lisa clenched her teeth as it began to pick up speed – it was going to hammer into the ground – no! – the rocky crater of the volcano itself! The trepidation had sparked in Lisa only for a moment, somehow she knew that everything would be alright. Lisa saw the crest of Ho-oh glitter and pulsate with a golden light, before it bowed its head and plunged into the centre of the dormant volcano.

It was easily the most fascinating experience Lisa had ever had. Compared with this, seeing Suicune or the other legendaries or even riding on them was a dull monotony; this was mindblowing.

There was a strong scent of sulfur present as Ho-oh barrelled down through the solidified magma, but no rock flicked up into Lisa’s face, and nothing grazed her bare arms. It was like Ho-oh was making its own safe path for both of them; for the first time it occurred to Lisa that Ho-oh may not know that she was atop its back at all. But she couldn’t stop to dwell on any possibilities. After a few seconds, maybe a minute, Ho-oh turned sharply and Lisa felt that they were tunnelling horizonatally under ground – underneath the ocean, for certain. Ho-oh was not flying now, but sliding along a sandy-bottomed tunnel, calm and cool.

They soon emerged into a huge hollow cavern. Lisa could hear, far above, the distant echoes of water lapping against rocks. They were underneath an island, but … which one?

Ho-oh hovered up to the very top of the hollow, sand-floored cave, and twisted against a ledge in the natural rocky wall in such a way that it was positioned totally on the ledge. A small hole in the wall let a shaft of light through, and just as Lisa was staring curiously at it, Ho-oh itself turned and looked with huge, knowing, golden eyes at her. It seemed to want her to look through – which she did.

A man with blonde hair and greenish blue eyes was at a desk, sifting fervently through some papers. Something very small sat in a cage on the desk. The man glanced at the thing, whatever it was, then picked up a tiny mobile phone and spoke into it. Lisa tried to look at the thing in the cage, but it was dark and she could not make out any features. There was some sort of dull glow about it, though. She then tried to listen to the man’s conversation, but he was not speaking English, and the note of his voice did not alter; it stayed in the same vicious tone.

With a sudden rush, Ho-oh moved off and Lisa sat down with a jolt. This time, Ho-oh was moving fast and rushed, as though it was late for something important. It took only a few seconds to reach the surface, and then the ocean was receding behind them as Ho-oh flew swiftly and deftly over the fields and rocky mountain ranges. Once or twice Lisa thought she saw a town in the distance, but whether intentionally or not, Ho-oh steered clear of any of these places.

Lisa could feel the exhileration of the flight rushing through her body, and she found herself longing it would never end. Ho-oh showing her the islands and the man had jerked her brain back into gear, and she was thinking about things all over again.

The Phoenix soared high over a huge valley, the borders of which were covered in rolling green grass and evergreen trees. Lisa could see some small cerulean ponds dotted around grassy hollows and ditches, and a waterfall which gushed crystal water down into the valley, forming a clear bubbling pool at the foot of the hill barrier and making a steady river which ran down into the valley, where it linked up with another stream. Trees and growth laced the rivers densely. Staring down in curiousity, Lisa could see a person on a small canoe, paddling down the river. She could not make anything else out but for the flash of blue as the person looked up at her. She could not determine the face.

Leaving the valley, Ho-oh flapped its wings and rose up again, the rainbow still stemming out behind it as it emerged onto plains of lush vegitation. And up ahead, a city, two towers rising up from it, one much larger than the other. Lisa felt – and saw – an odd layer of silvery light trickle over her body, and Ho-oh’s; they were flying into the city. Lisa knew what it was easily. Ecruteak.

Ho-oh hovered above the Burned Tower – the Brass Tower – and halted in the shadow of the Tin Tower. Lisa glanced up at the tower, then at Ho-oh. The Phoenix jerked its head toward the Tin Tower, then turned to Lisa, its eyes filled with an almost teasing mystery.

And then, as though it had only just realised she was there, it sped away at once, east of Ecruteak; Lisa had to grip the gold feathers very tightly and pull her body against the back of Ho-oh to reduce wind exposure. The sights flashed past her, once, out of the corner of her eye, Lisa though she could see Mahogany Town, followed by the Ice Path, and Ho-oh slowed slightly, before regaining its speed and zooming straight on.

A mountain range came into view, Lisa felt Ho-oh’s wings halt instantaneously, and they were falling to the ground. Lisa clenched her teeth again and prepared for the crash landing. But instead, she felt her hands lose their grip on the feathers, although one or two of them actually pulled out and remained in her hand, and she rolled off Ho-oh’s back, feeling soft grass upon her landing. Ho-oh raised its wings and rose into the air to leave.

“Ho-oh!!” Lisa yelled out, hearing her voice for what felt like the first time in her life.

Ho-oh blinked at her, sending a short, confusing telepathic message. //Ho-oh is not my name//

And with that, the Phoenix disappeared, and left Lisa laying alone on the grass, feeling like she had just awoken from a long dream, but a very very real one.

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Next up on Lisa the Legend

It’s about time! Lisa has finally arrived at her destination!

The cluster of buildings around the stadiums was looking only marginally closer now, but Lisa could make out specks of people wandering on the outskirts of the township.

And now that she’s arrived, it’s time to do what she came to do.

“Hey Hiro!” Lisa greeted. She reached into her backpack, which she didn’t even realise was still on her back, fumbled around awkwardly for a minute, then withdrew her hand. “I brought the Fog Badge for you!”

All that remains is to wish Hiro a hell of a lot of good luck in his match against Lance.

“WELCOME TO THE SILVER STADIUM MAIN ARENA!” roared the commentator.

Chapter 35 – Welcome to Mt Silver.