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

[Gavin Luper]

Here 'tis!

Lisa the Legend

Table of Contents


Lisa the Legend I: Legendaries. (Book 1 Synopsis)

Chapter 1 - Adventure in the Burned Tower.
Chapter 2 - Lisa's Quest Begins.
Chapter 3 - The Contest.
Chapter 4 - Friends and Rivals.
Chapter 5 - Inside the Radio Tower.
Chapter 6 - Recovery.
Chapter 7 - Journey for Cianwood.
Chapter 8 - Suicune's Return.
Chapter 9 - Battle on the Coral Reef.
Chapter 10 - Fighting the Ocean.
Chapter 11 - The Ungrateful Sailor.
Chapter 12 - Psychics.
Chapter 13 - The Colosseum.
Chapter 14 - The Water Washout.
Chapter 15 - Watered-Down Revenge.
Chapter 16 - Whirlpool Champion - Part I.
Chapter 17 - Whirlpool Champion - Part II.
Chapter 18 - Legendaries.
Chapter 19 - Sacred Suicune.
Chapter 20 - Animal Magnetism.

Lisa the Legend II: Night Falls. (Book 2 Synopsis - Part I ; Part II)

Chapter 21 - Diverse Destinies.
Chapter 22 - Ultimate Confrontation.
Chapter 23 - Repercussions.
Chapter 24 - Homeward Bound.
Chapter 25 - A Ghost of a Chance.
Chapter 26 - The Engagement.
Chapter 27 - Aquatics.
Chapter 28 - The Meetings and the Mystery. [EBTV Crossover I - Part 1.]
Chapter 29 - Showdown in Port Valeo. [EBTV Crossover I - Part 2.]
Chapter 30 - Juxtaposition.
Chapter 31 - Friends.
Chapter 32 - Tin Tower Terror.
Chapter 33 - Icy Inferno.
Chapter 34 - The Flight of the Phoenix.
Chapter 35 - Welcome to Mt. Silver.
Chapter 36 - The League Final.
Chapter 37 - More than a Battle.
Chapter 38 - Tyler versus Hiro versus Kristal.
Chapter 39 - Christmas Crush.
Chapter 40 - Missing.
Chapter 41 - Waterfalls and Warnings.
Chapter 42 - Invasion from the Inside.
Chapter 43 - Return to Port Valeo. [EBTV Crossover II - Part 1.]
Chapter 44 - Gavin's Tale.
Chapter 45 - The Court Case. [EBTV Crossover II - Part 2.]
Chapter 46 - Intuition.
Chapter 47 - Night Falls.
Chapter 48 - The Union.
Chapter 49 - Golden Horizons.
Chapter 50 - The Informant.
Chapter 51 - The Dream.
Chapter 52 - Mount Fairfax.
Chapter 53 - The Defector.
Chapter 54 - The Professor's Tale.
Chapter 55 - The Deceiver.
Chapter 56 - The First Battle.
Chapter 57 - The Beginning.
Chapter 58 - Behind the Glass.
Chapter 59 - Burnt Sunset.

Lisa the Legend III: Rogue. (Book 3 Synopsis)

Chapter 60 - Letters.
Chapter 61 - The Promise.
Chapter 62 - Union Supremacy.
Chapter 63 - Submission.
Chapter 64 - Heart of Ice.
Chapter 65 - Rogue.
Chapter 66 - Parity.
Chapter 67 - No Such Thing.
Chapter 68 - The Colosseum by Night.
Chapter 69 - The Awakening.
Chapter 70 - Island of Lost Souls.
Chapter 71 - Scars.
Chapter 72 - Lotus Lake.
Chapter 73 - The Sepulchre of Suicune.
Chapter 74 - The Diary.
Chapter 75 - Destiny Fulfilled.
Chapter 76 - Run Like Hell.
Chapter 77 - Council of War.
Chapter 78 - Underneath.
Chapter 79 - The Gathering.
Chapter 80 - The Midnight Armada.
Chapter 81 - Lance Hudson versus Joseph Sterling.

Lisa the Legend I: Legendaries.

Chapter 1 - Adventure in the Burned Tower.

"And a 12 year old boy reported sighting the mysterious pokémon Suicune today. The boy and his friend were training pokémon outside the Burned Tower. They are the third this week to report seeing the legendary pokémon. Police in Ecruteak are treating the reporting as possible but have declined any confirmation. In other news a man has pleaded not guilty to mistreating a Magmar at the ..."

Sitting at the bar stool at the kitchen bench, Lisa Walters craned her neck to the side to see the large television set in the carpeted lounge room. She munched on her cereal as she watched, interested. And at the same time, she murmured quietly to herself, "Could the legendary pokémon ... be so near?"

Tom, Lisa's older brother, entered the cramped kitchen, a scuffed grey backpack slung over his broad shoulders. Tom was meant to be babysitting Lisa and her younger siblings, Wesley and Jean, while their parents travelled around Kanto for two months, studying Omanyte fossils or something like that. Lisa didn't see the sense of it, but all the same, it brought in good money for the family. Lisa's parents had already got enough money from the job they began not three weeks ago that they had bought Lisa an Aipom - her very own pokémon!

"You kids are alright for today," Tom stated casually, casting an eye over the kitchen. "I'm going to the gym for some training."

Tom was a gym trainer at the Ecruteak Gym. Now that he was eighteen, he no longer lived at home; for several weeks, he had been sharing an apartment with his girlfriend Miki, on the other side of town. Since the children's parents left for Kanto, however, Tom had been staying at home until his younger siblings became accustomed to living without their parents, then he was required to check on them twice a day.

Lisa sighed as she finished her cereal and drained her glass of orange juice. Finally she turned to Tom and said, in a rather bitter voice, "OK then, have fun."

Her bitterness was as could be expected from a young, budding trainer who had a poor way of accepting defeat. Lisa had attempted to fight the gym trainers many times, but her Aipom was unable to leave even a scratch on the Ghost-type pokémon in the gym, no matter what attacks she used.

So why didn't she catch more pokémon? Lisa's parents were quite strict, and no matter how much Lisa pleaded, they were not going to let their fourteen-year-old daughter roam the cities and fields of Johto, a wide and vastly unexplored county. Although she greatly wished she could, her moral restraints drilled into her from birth seems to tug her back each time her mind wandered. But she often longed to roam the fields, forests and oceans of the country.

"Lisa, are you listening to me?" Tom broke into Lisa's thoughts.

"Sorry, Tom. Go on," Lisa said, standing up and clattering her bowl and glass into the sink, and absent-mindedly turning the taps on heavily. She rolled up her sleeves, brushed a tendril of shiny ebony hair from her eyes and plunged her hands into the warm water.

"I said could you take care of the kids today?" Tom said, impatiently. He was obviously itching to battle trainers at the Gym. "After you wash the dishes, of course."

"Sure," replied Lisa, vaguely at first before realising what she had just agreed to. "I'll look after 'em for you."

"Thanks, Leese," Tom said in a rushed voice. "Seeya at lunch time."

Tom raced through the kitchen, to the entrance in a blur. The front door slammed shut. The second Lisa heard Tom's car pull out of the drive, a thought fluttered into her mind. By the time she had washed two plates, an excited smile had spread across her face.

Drying her hands on a clean handtowel, Lisa tied her favourite red bandana onto her head and ran upstairs to her room, forgetting about the dishes. Her bedroom was a large, airy room, the source of light being a sliding door which led onto a balcony. Lisa ignored the beauty of her room, as her mind rejected the thought of babysitting her younger siblings.

"Wes! Jean!" Lisa bellowed, slipping her sneakers onto her feet. She took her pokégear from atop her unusually tidy desk and hung it around her neck, like a necklace. It was a substitute for a necklace she had lost a few days ago, and because it was so large and cumbersome, she had yet to use it. But now, for the first time, she both wanted and needed to.

Lisa had a plan.

*

Wesley, a cheeky, twelve-year-old boy, and Jean, an even cheekier ten-year-old girl stormed into Lisa’s bedroom.

“Yeah, what is it?” snapped Wesley in his husky, pre-adolescent voice. “Hurry up Lisa, an elite four battle is on TV now.”

Lisa ignored him. “Nanna’s coming to look after you today.”

“That old bat?” Jean laughed, picturing her ancient, wrinkly grandmother who lived in a elderly home on Tower Street. “Since when has she been looking after us?”

“Since now,” Lisa said firmly. “I’m going for a - walk.”

“Where to?” Wesley asked. “Come on, Leese, Koga could be on his last Pokemon by now!”

“ OK, OK,” Lisa said. “I’m going to the Burned Tower to do a little training with Aipo-”

“Ah-ma!” Jean called in a childish voice, her pale brown eyes alight at the thought that she would be able to get her older sister into trouble - one of her favourite pastimes. “I’m telling!”

“Who are you gonna tell?” Lisa demanded, feeling her temper rise slightly as she always did when Jean gave her grief, but she tried to look as smug as possible on the outside. She was sure her plan was watertight. “Nanna won’t mind at all, she'd love an excuse to come and visit you two. And Tom's busy at the gym until lunch time - he'd be more angry at you than me if you tried to call him at work to dob."

Jean paused for a moment. “I’ll ring Mum and Dad,” she answered finally, her eyes still bright.

Wesley nodded in agreement, then strained his ears to hear any noise from the Elite Four battle on the downstairs TV.

“One step ahead of ya,” Lisa said, once again making sure her chin was jutting forward confidently. “Right now they’re in Mt Moon: no mobile phone coverage. They’re probably knee deep in Omanyte by now, anyway.”

Jean's eyes lost their fiendish glow. She knew she was beaten, and it seemed that she had little support from Wesley - it did not seem that he much cared who watched over him, as long as his anticipated television viewing wasn't interrupted.

"It's not fair!" Jean spat childishly, and she tramped very loudly to her bedroom, whining under her breath about how much she hated listening to her grandmother's boring war stories. Wesley, meanwhile, made a hasty retreat to the lounge room to watch his programme.

Lisa watched them leave her room before turning to survey the view of Ecruteak City through the glass doors that led onto the balcony. In the distance, on a slight crest above the red roofs and fawn-barked trees that defined the city's western suburbs, nestled among a thicket of shadowy foliage, stood the dark ruins of the Burned Tower. The place had sprung into Lisa's mind quite unexpectedly as she washed the dishes - but where better to go for a day's training than at the place where, according to the news, there might be a chance of glimpsing the legendary pokémon Suicune?

Excitement flooded through Lisa at the thought. Most of her training sessions with Aipom had been mundane to say the least, merely half-hour visits to the nearby park, where they were occasionally lucky enough to battle a low-level Rattata or Caterpie. Lisa usually spent the time conversing with her Aipom, wondering if he could actually understand what she said or not. But the prospect of training at the Burned Tower was infinitely more exciting than anything she had done before. It offered, at the very least, encounters with different kinds of pokémon, and quite possibly a battle with an actual trainer. And, at best, it could result in Lisa seeing that notoriously elusive beast, Suicune.

"Alright!" she thought, excited by her prospects. "Nothing stands in my way now, except maybe getting Nanna to come …"

*

One hour later, Lisa was strolling up the windy gravel road that led to the Burned Tower. That tower has a really odd past, Lisa thought, as she threw Aipom’s pokéball up and down in her hands.

Almost 750 years ago, two towers had been built in Ecruteak City, to signify the importance of the bond between humans and pokémon in Johto. One tower was in the west, The Brass Tower, and one in the East, the Tin Tower. Two majestic, flying pokémon lived at the top of the towers. They were rarely ever seen by humans, and one was rumoured to be a glittery phoenix pokémon known only as “ Ho-oh”. Six centuries after the construction of the towers, the Brass Tower was caught in a blaze of fire that burned the tower and reduced it to almost rubble. The pokémon at the top had flown away, never seen again.

Lisa brought her mind back to the present day. She had finally reached the end of the road: behind her, Ecruteak City was spread out, an enormous patchwork of green parklands, red house roofs, straight, well-trafficked grey roads and, in the centre, a cluster of white and grey office buildings.

Lisa turned back to the structure before her: the Burned Tower. She was standing in the shadow of the building, and the day seemed suddenly colder than it had a moment ago. Lisa glanced down at the red-and-white pokéball in her hand.

“Alright, Aipom! Come out!”

She opened the ball in a flash of light. Aipom, a small, purple and cream-furred monkey, appeared in mid-air with an enthusiastic cry of "Ai!". He landed on the gravel quite clumsily, scraping his foot, but he confidently shook the injury off and climbed up Lisa's leg, establishing a perch on her right shoulder.

“That's better,” Lisa said quietly. “It was almost scary standing next to this tower alone."

Lisa glanced up the height of tower. Even though most of its levels had been destroyed by the inferno decades ago, it was still an imposing edifice. Even an Onix would probably be dwarfed by the tower, Lisa estimated. She felt like some form of bug in comparison. The bushes around the sides of the tower rustled suddenly. Lisa shivered. Her initial excitement at training here was beginning to wear off.

“Ai!” Aipom said impatiently, tugging at her hair and pointing toward the entrance.

Lisa steeled herself. “You’re right," she said, making her own interpretation as to Aipom's words. “Let’s just go in.”

The girl placed her hand on the splintered wooden door gingerly; it creaked open, revealing the insides of the tower. It looked extremely dark and dreary within.

“Um ... maybe we should go back out,” Lisa said slowly.

“Ai!” Aipom shook his head firmly.

Lisa regarded her companion curiously. He had a certain bravado and determination that she had often envied in her friends at school. Perhaps this would be a good time to learn a lesson from her pokémon.

“Alright,” Lisa said in her strongest voice. “ Let’s keep going.”

She pushed the door open fully, and they entered into the gloom within. After a minute or two of fossicking around, Lisa's fears ebbed. After all, there was nothing scary about the piles of debris, wooden planks, pieces of tarp and cloth and general litter that covered the floor of the Burned Tower.

“I hope we find a pokémon soon," Lisa said eagerly, as she negotiated her way past a collection of rotten planks. "Maybe we’ll see Suicune, the legendary pokémon ..." she added quietly. She knew it was a bit childish, but she couldn't help but hope to stumble across the water-type legendary while she was here.

Aipom scurrying behind her, Lisa finally made her way past the rotten boards and found herself behind a flimsy, ancient wall - she had entered an annexe of the tower's main chamber. And, just a few metres ahead, a bright light was apparently suspended in mid-air.

“Suicune?” Lisa said, without thinking; the annexe had an air of mystery about it.

There was a derisive chuckle somewhere ahead. “Nope,” a male voice said loudly. "Unless you think I’m legendary, too.”

A bald, portly man stepped out of the gloom. He had an unfortunately egg-shaped head, and his ugly red T-shirt did nothing to hide his enormous gut. “I’m a fire breather,” he said. “Name’s Ray.”

"Um - I'm Lisa,” Lisa said after a long pause, shaking hands with the man. She had imagined any trainer she might meet to be perhaps her age, maybe even someone she might make friends with, but she supposed she couldn't be too picky about who she battled. “Do you train Pokemon?”

“Sure do,” Ray boomed, producing two Great Balls from the pocket of his slacks. “I have a Charmeleon and a Koffing.”

“Cool," said Lisa, feeling it was probably proper battling etiquette in this kind of random encounter to offer some kind of initial compliment. "Would you like to battle me and Aipom with them, then? We came here to train.”

“Alrighty then,” Ray said, and without further ado he set down the torch he had been carrying on the blackened floorboards and threw one of the Great Balls to the ground. “I choose Koffing.”

“Go Aipom!” Lisa cried, quickly pointing out at the wood-panelled floor before her.

“Ai po!” Aipom leapt out to face Ray’s Koffing, which had appeared in a flash before them, a foul-looking, gormless thing, hovering in mid-air.

“Koffing – Tackle attack.”

“How pathetic,” Lisa said, without even thinking. “Oops … did I say that aloud?”

“Uh huh,” said Ray, with an annoyed look. “Um … you’d better tell your Aipom to do something, kid.”

“Huh?” Lisa said, turning her attention to the battle. Koffing, for all its weak looks, had slammed its entire mass against Aipom, and was recoiling to have a second shot.

“Aaah!” Lisa cried, annoyed at the loss of battle time. “Aipom, Doubleslap attack.”

“ Ai!” Aipom squealed.

Koffing, displaying a relentless battling ethic, had just launched into a third tackle when Aipom's tail swung around before him. Aipom cried out enthusiastically as he first blocked the offensive with his odd, hand-shaped tail, and then slapped Koffing into a spin.

“Now Swift!” Lisa cried, feeling the excitement of a new, unknown battle coursing through her.

“Pom!” Aipom cried, launching dozens of luminescent stars at Koffing, who fell onto the wooden floor with a thud, instantly defeated.

“Aah! Koffing!” Ray yelled, his belly wobbling as he jumped up and down in frustration. “Return!”

As Koffing was snuffled up into it’s pokeball, Lisa shot a broad grin at Aipom. “Great job!” she called to him, her voice ringing with the hitherto unexperienced feeling of victory. “We finally won a round!”

“ Ai pom!” echoed Aipom, dusting himself off nearby. His smile was even wider than usual.

“You’ve won the round, but you haven’t won the battle yet!” Ray called to Lisa. “Koffing was my weakest Pokemon – so now here’s my strongest. Go Charmeleon!”

Lisa cringed, her joy somewhat diminished, as the crimson lizard-like pokemon jumped onto the wooden floor and leered overbearingly at the comparatively small Aipom.

“Come on Aipom – use your Agility.”

“Pom!” Aipom cried, running swiftly in circles around Charmeleon, who quickly became confused.

“Charmeleon, close your eyes. Don’t try to watch it!” Ray ordered sharply. He suddenly seemed determined to win; perhaps he had taken Lisa for an easy win at first. If he had, he was now regretting it.

“Char!” Charmeleon said in a deep voice. The fire lizard closed its eyelids and soon got its sense back.

“Aipom, stop with the agility, and try Swift!” Lisa ordered, keen to maintain her lead.

“Pom!” Aipom skidded to a halt and launched another series of stars, which slammed into the unsuspecting Charmeleon.

“Mee!” Charmeleon cried in pain.

“Charmeleon, Flamethrower!” Ray cried. “Full power!”

“Char!” Charmeleon roared, opening its mouth and absorbing fire from the inner parts of its body. A huge fireball began to form within its jaws.

“Aipom – Quick attack!” Lisa commanded, flustered. If the flamethrower hit Aipom, the battle would probably be over.

Aipom sprinted on all fours at the powerful Charmeleon, slamming with considerable force into its weak belly just before the flames were launched. However, as Charmeleon tumbled over, it opened its mouth and the flamethrower poured out in a gush, bowling Aipom over, before an explosion of ash and smoke obscured the battle from the trainers’ view.

“Aipom!” Lisa cried. Aipom had been so good. Lisa couldn’t stand losing in anything, especially not a battle.

“Charmeleon!” Ray cried.

The smoke cleared, revealing a fainted Charmeleon, and – miraculously – a weak, but conscious, Aipom.

“Aipom - you're alright!" Lisa cried, relieved. Then a greater rush of elation shot through her. "Aipom - we won! We won a battle!”

“Ai!” Aipom cried, running up to Lisa and hugging her.

Ray recalled his Charmeleon and picked his torch up from the ground.

“You’re not a bad trainer,” he said slowly, as though struggling to congratulate her. “I hope you two win a lot more battles.”

His tone was unenthused at best, but Lisa appreciated his sportsmanship nonetheless. “Thanks Ray, good luck to you, too,” she called after the man as he walked out of the tower.

“Ta,” Ray called back, his sizeable stomach giving him some difficulty as he squeezed through the narrow gap between the annexe and the rest of the chamber. There was a temporary burst of light from outside that lit the tower up for a second, before the ancient door closed again and they were plunged into darkness again.

Lisa looked around and knew there was nothing more to be gained by training in here. “Well, Aipom, I don’t think there are any more pokémon or trainers in here,” she said, taking a few steps toward where the door was; something creaked beneath her foot. “Let’s go … oh!”

The section of floor beneath Lisa and Aipom suddenly gave way and disappeared beneath them. Lisa didn't have time to do anything; before she knew it, she was plummeting downward, pieces of rotten wood beside her and Aipom in their sudden descent. She screamed all the way down until, with a painful thud, they landed in what appeared to be the basement.

“Oww,” Lisa moaned, checking herself for injuries, but she had landed on her backside, and she was thankfully not in very much pain. She had not even begun to think of a way back upstairs, however, when something utterly astonishing caught her eye.

“Oh my God ... Aipom, look!”

Aipom and Lisa fixed their eyes on a mysterious glow coming from a platform only a few metres away. There were what appeared to be three strange pokémon there. One was yellow, one red and one blue; all three were staring at the source of this sudden intrusion. Lisa immediately recognised the blue pokémon from the news report earlier that morning, and she gasped in shock, surprise and awe.

“Suicune!” Lisa gasped. “It’s the three legendary pokémon!”

The three creatures stared at Lisa, giving her such an odd look that Lisa felt like her feet were rooted to the spot. Suddenly, the yellow creature dashed away to the left, and the red one to the right. Suicune looked right at Lisa for a moment, right into her golden-brown eyes, and then appeared to prepare himself to run away.

“No, Suicune!” Lisa called. The excitement and rarity of seeing the legendary pokémon had dawned on her, and she realised that this could be her only chance to ever do so. “ I can’t let you get away!"

Lisa stood up and leapt at Suicune, as Aipom ran slightly ahead of her. She managed to grab hold of Suicune's glowing aurora fur. “Aipom, come on!” Lisa yelled, pulling her feet off the ground and leaping onto Suicune’s back. A second later she noticed that Aipom had already joined her on the legendary pokémon's back ... And then, with speed Lisa had never witnessed before, Suicune bounded upward, through the hole in the floor, charging through the ancient wooden door of the Burned Tower and south – out of Ecruteak.

[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!

[Andrew]

Hey Gavin! Looks like you're going great guns already!

I guess you'll continue re-vamping as such and I guess we'll get to the crossover again soon! But well this Pokemon fic (Can I call it trainer?) is way better than mine when I started out!

Good work mate!

[Gavin Luper]

Oz: Ah, I was wondering when the guilt would take over you and you'd be forced to come crawling back here.

JK!

Yeah, the later chapters still need to be renovated and have their titles changed. No title is safe! You can call this a trainer if you REALLY must, but otherwise, no.

And besides, this has been edited once or twice, so of course it's better than the original version of it. And as for EBTV, it's better than LTL!

Seeya mate!

As promised!

------------------------------

Chapter 6 - Recovery.


Lisa’s heart was in her throat, thumping loudly and seemingly trying to move right up into her mouth. She turned to Gavin; sweat was pouring down his face in long channels. Lisa knew how he felt, although she had only met him barely fifteen minutes ago.

The black beast was still absorbing energy, and Lisa was almost certain it was a new, undiscovered type of pokemon. She also knew there was no form of escape. The black Beast had circled around then, and was now standing next to the steep flight of stone steps which was the only exit.

Lisa reached for her pokegear. She began fiddling with it, not knowing what to do to save herself. Natu fluttered to Gavin’s shoulder again. Lisa saw the whole scene in slow motion, and her eyes seemed very hazy. The green orb of light was almost blinding her now, and the beast was growling ferociously. Gavin suddenly clasped both hands onto his head, and screamed.

“ Gavin?” Lisa asked, as Natu glowed purple, along with Gavin. “ Gavin, what’s wrong?!”

Gavin screamed again, and suddenly a huge blast of purple light emitted from his head; at that same moment, the beast’s green energy launched at them, and collided with the purple blast. Lisa was absolutely dumbfounded, but she had no time to think. There was suddenly a huge explosion, and Lisa felt as though everything was wiped from her mind in one swift blast. The walls of the Radio tower were no match for the attacks combined; they snapped, crushed and splintered as easily as walls of flimsy wood.

Lisa watched in horror as the ceiling gave way and the upper floors began to collapse down on top of them. Desks from the above offices crashed down onto Lisa, as she shielded Aipom with her arms. Natu, seemingly unaware of the disaster and looking very calm and relaxed, turned blue and suddenly began to vanish. Lisa watched in surprise as her body disappeared, and Aipom and Gavin’s. The last thing Lisa saw was a huge bookshelf falling down to crush her to death.

*

Lisa opened her eyes slowly and carefully. Her whole body was aching, as though she had just been crushed by a Snorlax. A soft wind blew through the trees; she was outside. What had just happened? Lisa scanned her mind but could find nothing; no trace of any recent happenings. Lisa lay still for a long time, staring up, hypnotised, at the cloud-covered sky. Where was she? Lisa again attempted to recall the recent happenings, but her mind couldn’t draw any events from the depths of her memory.

Someone laying on the ground near Lisa groaned, and Lisa suddenly recalled something. A blast of green light; an explosion. Everything came flooding back, the Radio Tower, Gavin, The Video Vault; and the legendary Pokemon. What WAS that thing? But Lisa still could not remember what had happened exactly. The last thing she recalled was the black dog pokemon absorbing energy, and then a great deal of pain.

Lisa pulled her body up to a sitting position, and her back cracked loudly in several different positions. However, she shrugged the slight pain off, and crawled over to Gavin, who was laying a few feet away. He had landed on a hard area of flat dirt, and when Lisa looked back behind her, she realised she had landed on a fluffy-looking patch of deep green clover, which had cushioned her fall.

Gavin was still out cold. Lisa had no idea what to do; what could she do with a knocked out boy? The girl brushed her hair with her fingers and sighed. She still had no bandana; it had blown off during that sprint with Suicune. She’d have to buy a new one from Goldenrod – but where was she now?

“ Ai?” Aipom’s voice sliced through the silent air. Lisa twirled around to see a battered and beaten up Aipom on the dirt, taking small, dizzy steps every few seconds.
“ Aipom!” Lisa called, hearing her voice for the first time in what seemed like an age. “ Are you alright?”
In response, Aipom breathed out, and collapsed in a muddled, fainted heap on the sandy ground.

Lisa held out Aipom’s pokeball, tears welling up in her eyes as she recalled it. Where was she? What should she do with Gavin and Aipom? And how did she get here? A bird pokemon screeched loudly in the background, but Lisa shrugged it off. She had to remember everything else, like what happened

*

Officer Jenny came roaring down Route 34 on her shiny motorbike; there had been a reporting of trainers in distress – a short phone call with little information whatsoever. Jenny rode on, hoping not to run into any of the roadblocks that had been set up –seemingly in vain – to stop the mystery Pokemon that had destroyed the Radio Tower, killing 20 people.

The young female officer screeched to a halt at the end of a small country road which led to the sea. There she saw two trainers laying down on the dirt, along with a tiny flying pokemon – Jenny squinted her eyes to make out what Pokemon it was, but failed.

“ Wake Up!” Jenny yelled frantically, as she dismounted her motorbike and raced down towards the people; off the gravel road and onto the flat, dry plain.

Lisa’s eyes flickered open, and then she sat up, seemingly wide awake.
“ Officer.” She gasped. “ I’m lost.”

Officer Jenny looked at her with an inquisitive stare, and then her face showed some form of recognition.
“ Oh.. no.” she said, holding her head in her hands. “ You were in the Radio Tower when it collapsed.”
“ That’s right.” Lisa said. “ And so was Gavin.”

Jenny sighed deeply, and looked at Lisa with watery eyes.
“ 20 people were killed in the tragedy.” Jenny explained. “ You were the last person to enter the building.. according to the Security cameras.. and everyone presumed that you were..”
“ Killed?” Lisa said. “ Oh.. no. I’m alright, but I feel so confused.”
“ You look confused.” Jenny admitted. “ And extremely tired. Why don’t you take a rest in Goldenrod.”

Lisa sighed. “ If we can take Gavin…”
“ Of course!” Officer Jenny cried. “ I’ll call the Hospital right away.”

*

Four hours later, Lisa found herself laying in a soft, comfortable bed in the Goldenrod District Hospital. She and Gavin were in the same room, and Gavin had been awake for a short while. They had spoken few words to each other, but they were both feeling better; Lisa’s back was, anyway.

Doctor Roberts entered the room, ducking a bit to avoid hitting her head on the door frame, which was poorly painted and gave Lisa splinters when she attempted to close the door. Dr. Roberts had a thick mess of flaming orange hair on her small head, and she had a problem when she said the letter ‘p’; she sprayed spit everywhere which really annoyed the recovering Lisa.

“ Good morning, Lisa.” She said. “ Oh, hello … er …” Dr. Roberts looked at her clipboard and grinned. “ Hello, Gavin. We have some people here to see you.”

Gavin sat up against his high, white pillow. “ Who? What? When? Whe-”

His question was answered without any words. A man walked in at that moment. He had brown hair and wore a funny looking purple cape. His eyebrows curved inwards mysteriously, and he had an odd look on his face; Lisa couldn’t decide if it was a look of disappointment or intrigue.

The man walked over to Gavin.

“ Uncle Eusine.” Gavin said, in surprise. “ What are you doing all the way over here, in Goldenrod?”

“ I came here as soon as I heard about the Radio tower collapse on two days ago.”

Lisa shook her head. Did he say TWO days ago? Surely she and Gavin hadn’t been laying on the dirt on Route 34 for two days? Gavin was thinking the same thing. Lisa could tell by his expression, but he didn’t say it. “ Uncle, why did you come?”

“ To see the legendary Pokemon, of course. It left within seconds. In fact, in just disappeared into thin air. Nobody has ever seen a Pokemon like it before.”

“ But how did you know I was here?”

“ It’s all over the news. You two are the only survivors of the disaster.”

Gavin still had many questions to ask. “ So why aren’t my parents here?”
“ In one word, roadblocks.” Eusine answered, his face looking rather grim. “ In my opinion they’re pointless. That Pokemon would be long gone by now. Everyone saw it running out of the city.”

“ So nobody’s allowed into the city?” Gavin asked, sighing heavily and looking disappointed. “ How long are the roadblocks up for?”

“ Don’t know.” Eusine said, looking out of the open window. “ But I do know that the Black Beast is a long, long way away by now.”

Lisa, who had been listening intently to hear any info on the legendary pokemon, sighed. She began to fiddle with Aipom’s pokeball on her neck, feeling strangely depressed. Doctor Roberts smiled at her, and left the room, promising to return with a cup of tea.

As soon as Dr. Roberts had left the wide, airy room, Eusine lowered his voice and began to talk to Gavin in a harsh whisper. Lisa strained to overhear, but she couldn’t make out any words at all. In the end, she reached out of her bed and pushed her plastic cup and plate off the table, and they clattered to the ground making Eusine and Gavin look up in surprise.

“ Oh, sorry Lisa.” Gavin said, guessing at once what Lisa was getting at. “ This is my Uncle Eusine, who I told you about. He’s kinda like an expert on Suicune, and knows a fair bit about other legendaries, too.”

“ Pleased to meet you.” Lisa shook hands with the man, who had a strong handshake, and looked at Lisa oddly.

“ Are you a Pokemon trainer?” he asked, sternly. Lisa had no idea why he was speaking so harshly, but she managed to reply with a timid “ Yes”.

“ Ah, good.” Eusine said, sitting down on Lisa’s clean white bedsheets with a smile. “ Um.. could you maybe do me a favour?”

Lisa nodded, then shook her head also. It wasn’t every day a stranger asked you abruptly to do a favour for them. “ I suppose; but tell me the favour before I promise.”

Eusine laughed. “ Oh, it’s quite a simple delivery job.” The man pulled out two pokeballs from behind Lisa’s ear.

“ Hey, where’d they come..” Lisa began, snatching the pokeballs from Eusine’s hand in surprise.

Gavin laughed. “ Lisa, he’s a magician too. I should have mentioned that.”

“ Oh, right.” Lisa said, blushing stupidly. “ So what do I do with the pokeballs?”

“ You have to deliver them to my friend Jack Criddle in Cianwood Town on the island.” Eusine said, placing the pokeballs on the bedside table. “ That is, if you will do it for me. I’m too busy with my research. The Black Beast’s appearance has made my office increasingly busy.”

Lisa nodded again. “ Alright, so I take them to Jack. Got it.”

“ He’ll be in the house at the top part of the town.” Eusine said, then he shook his head. “ No, actually, I’ll phone him and tell him to meet you at the Pokemon Centre. Will you be there soon? It may take a while – a week?”

“ Sounds good. You can count on me, I’ll get those pokeballs delivered before you can say ‘Aipom’!”

“ Aipom!” cried Gavin, stupidly. Eusine slapped his head, then, seeing Dr. Roberts arrive back with a metal tray which looked very flimsy, loaded with a teapot, two tea cups and cakes, he winked at them and left.

“ Wonder why he didn’t give them to me?” Gavin wondered.

“ Maybe he didn’t know you HAD pokemon.” Lisa said, taking the cup from Dr. Roberts with a smile and pulled the rickety wooden table in front of her. She placed the saucer and a cake next to the two Pokeballs Eusine had left her when suddenly Gavin yelled out.

“ My Pokemon!” he yelled. “ Natu!”

“ What is it?” Lisa cried, spilling hot tea all down her shirt.
Gavin breathed in slowly. “ Natu… it’s not here. I didn’t notice before … oh no ... it’s still in the Radio Tower.”

Lisa gasped. Her mind flashed back to the scene when she had first awoke on Route 34. Natu was there – she had heard him for sure! Suddenly a few things fitted into place, like a puzzle.

“ Natu teleported us to Route 34.” she said slowly, as more information slotted into place. “ I remember it screeching.”

“ Really?” Gavin asked. “ But where is it now?”

“ I guess it’s still there. We must have left it behind when we were taken here.”

Gavin breathed deeply, but when he spoke again his voice still shook. “ If it’s safe, that’s alright. But if someone catches it…”

Lisa continued slowly, ignoring Gavin’s mumbling. “ I remember what happened now.”

“ What?” Gavin said. “ Oh, yeah. I don’t remember much … an explosion, green light …”

“ Gavin, you saved us.” Lisa said. “ I don’t know what happened, but you screamed, and you fired like a Hyper Beam or something, from your head.”

Gavin stared at her with a quizzical look. “ Pull the other one.”

Lisa let her mouth hang open as she gaped. “ What, you don’t believe me?”

“ Lisa, I may be psychic, but the most I ever did was predict a Pokemon would evolve, ok? If you seriously think I’m a great Psychic, fine, but I’m not. Don’t pressure me, either, I get enough of that from my family.” Gavin turned his back to her and looked out the window. Lisa felt sad that he wouldn’t believe her.

“ It’s true.” Lisa said. “ I saw it. Your beam countered the beasts’ and saved both of our lives.”

“ Lisa I said not to say that. Look, I could try now.”

“ Go on, then, really focus.” Lisa told him.

Gavin turned and simply stared at her with an icy look; the stare was so penetrating Lisa had to turn away.

“ Gavin, why are you so touchy on this subje-”

“ LISA, look, I don’t want to talk about this stuff to you yet, I hardly know you. Maybe when we become closer I can tell you, but seriously not now. Don’t push it.”

“ Get closer? What?! Gavin -” Lisa, for once, just didn’t know when to stop.

Gavin finally cracked, his voice also jumping up and down as emotion crept stealthily into his tone of voice.
“ LISA! SHUT UP OK? YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT, AND I DO. JUST LEAVE ME ALONE AND MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS! SERIOUSLY. IF WHAT YOU SAY IS TRUE, THEN SOMETHING TERR – LOOK, THE POINT IS … JUST … GO AWAY!!”

Lisa could feel the tension and emotion from the other side of the room; the air was so thick with feeling Lisa felt she could take out a knife and slice through it. “ Gavin – Sorry.” Lisa said, as the boy turned back to the window angrily, his face bright scarlet.

Lisa slipped under her sheets and sighed. Gavin really was touchy about the whole Psychic thing. She silently decided to ‘forget’ he was Psychic, and take a good long sleep.

“ Goodnight, Gavin.” Lisa whispered to herself, before drifting off to a deep sleep once again.

[AquaBabe727]

Wow, you two are great! ^_^ I have to say, you can't really compare the two fics. They have completely different themes and feel to them. I like both. This is a really great fic, Gavin. Just letting you know i'm standing by. What about the Crystal League? You gots to post both! ^_^ Peace!

[X-Wing]

Originally posted by Gavin Luper
SSM: Yeah, of course I remember, you used to reply all the time about a year back, but then you sort of evaporated. It's great to have you back here!

Take your time catching up ... I'm not going too fast at the moment. In fact, I only did something like 10 chapters for the entirety of 2003. There's about 13 chapters until the story of LTL ends for good, and I hope to finish it all off by June.

Cheers!

*looks around the corner*

Hi Gavin!!!!

I'll take this opportunity to say that I am back online too, I'm sorry I couldn't be here more often as I'm teaching full time now, but hey, I was missing that community here so there I am. I am aware that this thread is not necessarily the best place to announce my come back and I am not going to do it again...

I'll start catching up ASAP and it's nice to see your still there writing us such a nice fic.

*goes back in his grotto to start catching up...*

[Andrew]

Hey Gavin, only two more exams and its all over! You know, some people might be kinda disterbed by the whole crashing building Sept 11 and all...

But well I think Lisa negotiated her way to Quaggie better this time, I was able to sympathise with the big blue thingie...

But well I like Gavin's Natu and Giraferig *Cannot spell that God forsaken name for the life of me *

But could perhaps you could explain how exactly would a Gym Badge help control her Pokemon? *Is clueless ^^; *

Good work Gav!

[Last Exile]

Good stuff, Gavin! I'm currently watching a 9/11 doco, so Chapter 6 gave me the chills. Chapter 7 was a good one. Loved how Aipom smacked up that reporter! Quagsire's temporary departure in 8 was touching. Lisa didn't mean to leave it on the beach, but seeing it from Quagsire's point, of course it makes sense why it left her.

[SuperSonicMewtwo]

Oh no, how sad!
So, hurry up! BOREDOM IS EVIL!

[Gavin Luper]

Blastoise007: One of my most loyal readers ever! Thanks!

Oz Andrew: Two more exams? Woohoo! Oh, freedom is just so close! Cool! And yeah, i thought the whole sept 11, crashy building thing could be a bit controversial at first, but it was something i really couldn't edit out.

I'm gonna give Natu and Girafarig a bit more attention this time I think. Maybe not straight away, but soon I will give them more coverage. We'll see them battle, I think. And one of them might be ... special?

CCC: Hey! Yeah, like I said to Oz, the whole Radio Tower thing was a bit dodgy I thought, especially at this point in time. But hey, what could I do? And Aipom just has that effect on peopel i spose. heh heh! I wonder what'll happen to Quaggie? Chapter 9 shortly!

SSM: Eeep! OK, OK. I know, boredom is really evil. I'll get the next chapter up soon!

[Gavin Luper]

Chapter 9 - Battle on the Coral Reef.


Lisa stared out at the still, clear ocean. Not a ripple disturbed it’s calm surface. Tears welled up in her eyes, and one gradually spilled over, trickling down her cheek. Quagsire had abandoned her; that was virtually unheard of in Pokemon Training.

Lisa waded slowly back to shore from the knee deep water she had been standing in, her soaking shoes picking up large amounts of mud on the way. She straightened her face and made it into a would-be-determined expression, but inside she was burning with shame. Gavin stood, dumbfounded, as Lisa walked straight past him.

“ Lisa, go find it,” he murmured, half-hoping his friend wouldn’t hear him. Lisa looked up, and, although she was trying to put up a rather brave face considering the circumstances, Gavin could see in her eyes that she was deeply hurt by Quagsire’s quick getaway.

“ How?” Lisa inquired, saying the word slowly as though it hurt her to speak. Gavin pointed to his Staryu, swimming leisurely around in a rocky pool twenty metres up the beach. “ Take Staryu. Surf on it, and try to find Quagsire.”

Lisa’s sadness and shame vanished, and the space it left within her was replaced instantly with determination and hope; as though she had just been given a new lease on Pokemon Training. “ Thank you, Gavin.”

“ You’re welcome,” Gavin winked. “ Go on, get going. But don’t sit on his gem, it’s still a little fragile.”

Gavin and Lisa raced up the beach together, as the cool morning sea breeze blew on their faces, cooling the two friends down from their run when they finally reached Staryu.

“ Staryu.” Gavin panted. “ Go … with Lisa … obey her.”

“ Hi yaah!?” Staryu cried, ‘looking’ at the newcomer trainer to whom it was unfamiliar with.

“ Obey her, Staryu.” Gavin repeated firmly to Staryu. The water Pokemon agreed; it was either that or return to the pokeball … and Staryu detested it’s pokeball!

Staryu wobbled over to Lisa, looking very unbalanced as it used two legs to walk and the other three flailed around, more of a hindrance than a help to Staryu. Finally, it staggered to it’s position in the shallow water behind Lisa.

“ Alright, Lisa. I’ll wait here for ya,” Gavin called, as Lisa clasped her hands around one of Staryu’s points. “ Good Luck with your Quagsire Search! And be quick, it’s cold out here.”

“ Thanks, Gavin.” Lisa called back. Aipom leapt up onto her shoulder once again, and Lisa was ready to go. “ Alright, Staryu, full speed ahead, out to sea!”

Staryu pushed it’s body off the bottom of the shallow water, and surfed out to the clear sea. Lisa looked over her shoulder back at the beach, watching as Gavin shrank to a small speck. Then she turned to the front, and felt the cool seaspray blow in her face.

“ Ai! Pom!” Aipom laughed, thoroughly enjoying the ride. Staryu pelted on, slicing through the sea like a Pidgeot sliced through the air. After a good half hour, when Lisa was rapidly becoming bored, a small island came into sight.

“ Slow down, Staryu.” Lisa ordered her temporary Pokemon. The trainer and two pokemon approached the island sluggishly, and a closer inspection revealed that the island was in fact not an Island, but a surfaced reef. Staryu stopped a couple of metres away from the reef, and Lisa dismounted the pokemon and paddled awkwardly to shore, avoiding sharp pieces of coral on the way.

The reef was quite sharp and fairly small; it was about 5 metres long and 2 metres wide. Lisa scanned the island in a few seconds, seeing no Quagsire anywhere. Lisa sighed, disappointed, and began to walk back to Staryu, when suddenly she heard an odd squeak behind her.

“ What was that?” Lisa said aloud.

“ AI Aipom?” Aipom called out, swivelling around on Lisa’s shoulder. Lisa copied her Pokemon’s actions, making Aipom face the opposite way again. After some confusion, both Aipom and Lisa found themselves facing a tiny pink pokemon, standing next to a shallow and empty rock pool.

“ Ooh!” Lisa breathed, taking cautious steps toward the pokemon. “ A Corsola!”

“ Cree!” Corsola squeaked shrilly, grinning mischievously. It’s pink, coral-like body shone in the sunlight and it was quite large for a Corsola.

“ Alright, this thing is mine.” Lisa said, moving her hand down to her belt. “ Butterfree, go!”

Butterfree popped out of the ball, flapping it’s wide, regal wings hard to stay in the air. Corsola looked mildly amused, as though it knew nothing could happen to it. “ Sleep Powder.” Lisa ordered, despite the looks from Corsola. Butterfree flapped it’s wings again, and this time a fine blue powder drifted down upon Corsola, who, as soon as it felt the sleep powder taking effect, jumped into the rock pool and washed it off.

“ Dammit,” Lisa cursed, infuriated that her attempts had not worked. “ Butterfree, try Gusting it!”
“ Free! Reee!” Butterfree flapped it’s wings yet again, the wind blowing Corsola out of the pool and back onto the reef. Lisa hoped this had done some damage, however Corsola looked only mildly injured.

“ Pokeball, go.” Lisa threw a pokeball, hoping that she could catch a new Pokemon; she hadn’t really had one since Girafarig, and that was with Gavin now. The ball flew towards Corsola, but one second before it hit Corsola, a blast of water knocked the ball into the rock pool and out of the way.

“ What?!” Lisa cried, looking up in the direction of the blast. Standing there was a young girl of about 12 years old. She had a bright aqua shirt on, along with pink and orange shorts. Lisa thought she looked very vibrant, especially since she had purple hair. She was quite tall for her age, and her eyes were so blue they looked fake. But very soon, Lisa didn’t care what the girl looked like; she had noticed the girl’s pokemon.

“ Quagsire?” Lisa asked, sighting the large, upright, cerulean-blue water pokemon standing just behind the girl’s left leg. “ Hey, when did you get that Quagsire?”

“ Caught it today.” The girl said. “ Oh, my name’s Irene. I’m a water Pokemon trainer.”

“ Lisa.” Lisa began, but she couldn’t help not to ask questions … “ Where’d you get the Quagsire?”

“ It swam up to me and my Lapras while we were surfing. I spose near the Shellder Beach …”

Lisa had heard all she needed to. “ That Quagsire is mine!” she cried. “ I know it!”

Irene glared at her. “ Don’t be stupid.” She said. “ This Quagsire is MINE.”

Lisa gaped, the situation seemed so unreal.

Irene gasped. “ Look, kid, I caught this Quagsire in the wild. It’s mine, OK?”

“ It’s mine, I tell ya.” Lisa said. “ I can just tell by it’s smile, and it’s shiny coat…”

“ Lots of Quagsire have shiny coats!” argued Irene.

“ Well, mine was REALLY shiny.” Lisa cried.

Before either girl could say anything again, both received a sharp, stinging slap to the face. They both shut up at once, and began rubbing their faces. “ What was that for, Aipom?” Lisa moaned, massaging her cheek.

“ AI Aipom!” Aipom called. “ Pom!” Aipom gestured along with it’s speech, punching wildly at the air.

“ Translation please?” Irene asked impatiently.

“ Aipom says we should have a battle to see who should keep it.” Lisa said truthfully.

Irene snorted. “ You expect me to believe that?”

“ Well, if you’re too weak to accept..” Lisa said, putting on a superior voice.

The two-year-younger Irene fell for the trap immediately. “ I’m not too weak! I accept your challenge!”

“ One on one then.” Lisa set the rules. “ I choose Aipom!”

“ Well I choose Quagsire!” Irene said smugly.

Quagsire waddled out onto the reefy field, and Aipom leapt off Lisa’s shoulder to face it. Both Pokemon tensed their muscles. Aipom stared at Quagsire; it knew this Quagsire was Lisa’s, but the Quagsire was showing no recognition of Aipom or Lisa.

“ Begin!” Lisa called. “ Aipom, start off with your Swift attack.”

“ Quagsire, dodge it, then go in for an Ice Beam.” Irene said.

Lisa laughed. “ You’ll find it hard to dodge a Swift attack.”

Lisa was proved to be correct. Aipom curled up in a small, purple and white ball, and launched an array of bright, stinging stars directly at Quagsire’s wobbly body. Quagsire sat patiently as possible until the last moment, when the stars were nearly upon it. Quagsire jumped up into the air to avoid the attack, but Swift was the most accurate attack known to man. The stars averted course, curving upwards and stinging Quagsire’s large, floppy feet, knocking it down to the ground.

“ Take that.” Lisa called, although actually feeling slightly sorry for Quagsire.

“ Quagsire, get up now! Use Ice Beam.” Irene ordered sternly.

“ Aipom, try Agility.”

After issuing the commands, Lisa and Irene stood back to overview the outcomes of their orders. Quagsire absorbed energy in it’s mouth, while Aipom stood poised on the ground, ready to spring away at any moment. ‘ It won’t really attack ME, will it?’ Aipom thought to itself. ‘ I’m it’s friend…’

*

Lock the bug catcher sat quietly, his chubby frame hidden securely behind a thick bush. His wary, sly-looking eyes scanned around over the spiky leaves of the bush, onto the route to Shellder Beach. The Weedle he had been stalking for so long was waddling around, apparently unaware of Lock. The boy prepared the pokeball for it, and stealthily crept around the bush and peered out onto the gravel road, approaching his target with confidence, until …

A black shape shot out of a tree branch high above, dropping down with a whoosh onto Weedle. There was a flash of light as Weedle disappeared and Lock leapt out, enraged, at the person who had captured his Weedle.

“ That’s mine!” Lock demanded furiously, running at the man who stood there, clothed in black. He sent out Growlithe immediately, but the man held out a hand and produced a Great Ball, and threw it with a placid air onto the road. Opposing Growlithe was an evil-eyed Rhyhorn, it’s grey rocky horn pointed at the fire dog with ease. Lock recoiled as he realised Growlithe stood no chance, and recalled him angrily.

“ Excuse me!” Lock was still annoyed, and spat at the man, whose Rhyhorn was plodding menacingly towards Lock. “ What was that for?!”

The man grinned fiendishly, and ignored him. “ I believe you can help me with something … I’m sure I might be able to offer you something in return for a favour …” he held out Weedle’s pokeball to Lock, and the boy knew what he wanted.

After a few hasty minutes of talking between each other, Lock pointed a chubby finger down the road to Shellder Beach. “ She went THAT way!”

*

Quagsire wasted no time in idling – it fired the cerulean beam, catching Aipom off guard as it whispered to itself. Aipom was flung back toward Lisa, and landed on the hard, rocky reef, knocked out. Aipom had lost.

“ Alright, Quagsire.” Irene rejoiced. “ Looks like you lose, Lisa.”

“ Yeah, I guess.” Lisa said, trying to swallow a lump that was swelling up in her throat. Her first loss since fighting Kris, and this came with worse sideaffects. ‘ That Quagsire was mine, I know it.’ She thought angrily to herself.

Irene jumped on Quagsire’s back, even though they were both about the same size, and sped off. “ Sorry, Lisa.” Sounding completely like she didn’t mean it one little bit.

Lisa sat on the reef, dejected, all alone with her knocked out Aipom. All alone? “ Wait a sec!” Lisa yelled out. “ Staryu, where are you?” Lisa combed the entire reef, and finally sighted Staryu, floating in the sea, fainted. Lisa could not believe her eyes.

“ Staryu, what happened?” she cried, as she pulled the starshape Pokemon onto the shore. However, asking an unconscious Staryu a question is one of the dumbest things to do … so Lisa sat down with Staryu and Aipom and sighed deeply. She suddenly felt an urge of stubbornness within, and knew she wanted … she needed … to find Quagsire and Irene again, but how?

“ Now how am I meant to get away from here?” Lisa muttered, voicing her thoughts. “ I’m stuck on this tiny reef and I can’t get off!”

“ Tini!”

“ What was that?”

Lisa peered over the low, coral ridge which bordered the reef island. Behind it, in the clear saltwater of the Cianwood Sea, splashed a tiny blue Pokemon; which Lisa recognised as a Dratini.

“ Hey, maybe that Dratini can help me out.”

Lisa crawled slowly up over the edge of the ridge, and landed with a splash, scaring the Dratini away. Her clothes were saturated straight away, and the cold water froze her body. However, Lisa managed to tread water long enough to see Dratini slowly edging back toward her.

“ Hey, little Dratini.” Lisa said in a sickly sweet voice. Her voice charmed the dragon pokemon, and Dratini swam up so close that Lisa could touch it. Lisa stroked the smooth, silky body of Dratini before turning it’s face to hers.
“ Dratini, I have a problem …” Lisa began.

*

Five minutes later, Lisa was clinging to Dratini’s back, riding the cool waves and enjoying the sea breeze to it’s full extent. They were following the scent of Quagsire; Aipom was now awake and could sniff out it’s Pokemon friend for miles across the sea.

“ Land ahead!” Lisa cried, more to herself than to Aipom or Dratini. She sighed; finally she would see Quagsire again, and hopefully he would return to her. Lisa’s belt was feeling empty without Quagsire, even though she currently had six pokemon on the belt – she had recalled Staryu for Gavin and kept it with her – however, Quagsire was the first pokemon she actually CAUGHT, and she was sad without it.

Dratini finally arrived at a flat reef again, but this one was at least twice the size of the previous one. Lisa felt the last of the powerful wind whipping her hair back and then quickly brushed her hair through with her fingers. Dratini came to a complete halt, and Lisa dismounted the dragon. “ Thanks, Dratini.” She said, “ Wait here for me … I think Irene is here with my Quagsire.”

Dratini looked sadly at Lisa, it felt lonely all over again. Having been rejected from most of the other Dratini in its Deep Sea Colony for many months, it had learned to keep to itself. But now a human had opened up to it, and treated it with kindness, even told it to wait. However, Dratini wasn’t wanting to be left behind for even a moment … how could it stay with the human the whole time?

“ Tini! Dra ti neee!” Dratini called after Lisa, trying to jump out of the water at her. Lisa, who was walking slowly away, turned around at once . Aipom was confused by Dratini … it apparently wanted something, from what Aipom had heard.

“ Ai?”

“ Tini!!!”

“ What’s up, Aipom?” Lisa asked, curious about the conversation going on between the two Pokemon.

Aipom ignored Lisa, which was nothing new to the trainer. Instead, the Monkey like Pokemon reached down to Lisa’s belt with it’s arm-like tail, and pulled off an empty Pokeball. “ Hey, Aipom, that’s mine!” Lisa protested. Aipom continued to ignore her, as he threw the ball at Dratini, who called out a final, happy “ Dra!” and smiled as the ball hit it on the head, and snuffled it up in a swift movement. Lisa was stunned.

“ Did you just catch Dratini for me, Aipom?” Lisa questioned her Pokemon.

“ Pom!” Aipom nodded. “ AI ai pom!”

Lisa reached down to the water and picked up the ball. “ Dratini, I hope you like being on my Pokemon team. And Aipom …” She reached down to the purple monkey and picked him up, hugging him tightly. “ Thank you very much.”

Aipom clambered back onto it’s owner’s shoulder, suddenly feeling satisfied by the praise from Lisa, and the two friends continued along the reef, where on the far side they spotted Irene and Quagsire, eating some pizza. Lisa briefly wondered where they got the pizza, but she put that thought out of her mind. Sneaking up on them, Lisa called to Quagsire “ Oy, Quagsire.”

Quagsire turned around instantly, and saw Lisa. It almost ran up to her, then recalled that it had abandoned her. Quagsire glared at Lisa again, as Irene turned around.

“ Back again?”

“ Sure am.” Lisa said. “ I’m back for a rematch … 3 on 3.”

“ Let me see … alright,” Irene said. “ Winner keeps Quagsire.”

Irene took two paces back, and Lisa mirrored her foe’s actions. “ First up, I choose Poliwhirl.”

“ Whirl.” Poliwhirl gurgled, popping out of the pokeball that Irene threw. The large, purply froglike Pokemon had a large, swirling circle on it’s belly.

“ Go, Aipom.” Lisa called, sending out her best pokemon. Aipom jumped onto the flat reef, and growled at Poliwhirl.

“ Poliwhirl – start with Water gun.”

“ Aipom, begin with Sand Attack.”

Poliwhirl fired off a blast of water from his swirl, which Aipom just managed to dodge. Then the monkey-like creature turned it’s back on Poliwhirl and started trying to kick up sand. However, Lisa had made a critical error; there was no sand on the reef! Aipom kept trying, and ended up burning it’s feet on the warm, dry coral. Poliwhirl took advantage of the situation, and aimed a Water gun at Aipom’s back, knocking it over. Lisa, determined not to miss this time, ordered a Swift attack, while Irene called for a … Hyper Beam!?

Poliwhirl powered up for a Hyper Beam, slowly absorbing energy. It began to spin around very slowly at first, then more and more rapidly until it was barely distinguishable as a Poliwhirl. Aipom fired off the beam of stars, and as usual they hit right on target. Unfortunately, Poliwhirl was spinning too fast for the attack to damage it. Lisa was shocked. “ Aipom, agility! Jump into the air just before Poliwhirl fires the beam!”

“ AI!” Aipom sprinted around the small island, picking up speed and getting ready to jump. Poliwhirl had a large circle of bright white light around it now, and was ready to fire. “NOW!” cried Lisa. Aipom jumped up, and Poliwhirl fired. The beam was right on target, and somehow managed to hit Aipom in the air, knocking him directly. He fell into the surrounding ocean, knocked out, and slowly sank down into the icy, deep, swirly ocean currents …

[Master Kirby]

AIPOM! NOOOOOOOO!

Keep Posting. We're reading!

[Master Kirby]

Where is everyone? Am I the only one still reading this story?

[AquaBabe727]

No, i'm just waiting for it to catch up where it left off. Where are ya, Gavin?

[Gavin Luper]

MTR: Hi!!!! Yeah, finally something 'new' to read. I personally don't think I created the 3-way battle to it's full potential the first time around, so I will be editing a little bit!

I think it's good that Lisa remembered her original goal. After the Whirlpool Cup finishes, the plot really deepens and begins to get a bit more serious. Much of the first book is just getting to know Lisa, Gavin, etc, and building up to the real stuff!

Only 4 chapters til the end of the book!

[AquaBabe727]

Alright!!! New chapters! ^_^ I really like this fic. But there's only four chapters left? It still seems like it's just starting to me. How many books are there? Can't wait to read more!

[Gavin Luper]

Aquababe727: Hey! Yeah, only four more chapters (17,18,19,20) but the new book will be posted in this topic straight away. As of yet, there are only and will only ewver be 2 books, but it depends how i feel at the end of the book.

So far, I am up to chapter 10 of book 2. The amount of chapters in that book will be between 15 and 20 (most likely 20!)

Oh, and the story really is JUST starting. Chapter 18 is really like the start. The first 17 are to build up, drop hints, etc etc!

Thanks! Cheers!

- Gavin.

[Last Exile]

Well, that was an interesting turn of events! Knew it couldn't have been a Lugia! And our dear Lisa is into the pages of history at last! Hopefully she makes even grander entries! Good stuff, Gavin!

PS. I'd like to be sympathetic with you about Collingwood losing the Grand Final, but you know I'd be lying. So therefore, I won't!

[Gavin Luper]

SSM: hi there! I know Ditto is supposed to turn into a rock, but what the hell? It didn't say they ALWAYS do. Maybe that was just one stupid Ditto?

Westwood's podgy, but not huge. I think he's really just clumsy and that makes him seem big for some reason./ By the way, Gavin might have gone with Westwood, but he didn't. I wonder why ...

Yeah yeah, new chapter in a few days!

Ryan: Yeah, it should have been pretty obvious that it wasn't actually Lugia ... as if it could be caught so easily. Even if it was a little baby! We'll be hearing from Westwood again sometime, and Lisa will be put on the map of Pokemon pokedex studiers! Lol ... maybe. Thanks mate!

Oh, I'm over the Collingwood thing. But I still think we played VERY well, don't you? Lol.

Cheers!

[Last Exile]

Yeah, they did play well. I'm more of a fan of free-flowing footy rather than dirty and pushy. But then again, North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs play that style all the time, and I really don't like them! My main quibble with Collingwood is Eddie McGuire. He has helped that club a lot, but that doesn't disguise the fact that he's a wanker and he's an overexposed knobhead! Still, that beats being John Elloit, the redneck boofhead in charge of Carlton, but hopefully he'll be extinct soon!

[Gavin Luper]

Ryan: Eddie ... is er, OKish! I can't say he's that good. But I agree he's way too overexposed!!!!!

I like it when they start fights. It was really typical when the camera zoomed in on some pushing, and while we watched them pushing each other around, someone scored a goal. That was cool. But I usually prefer it to be nice and normal!

Chapter 19 up in a few days! Cheers!

[Last Exile]

At least he isn't Sam Newman! Now there's a real wanker! He's actually better behaved drunk than sober! Have you seen how many times ladies flash him, morons do burnouts for him, the innuedo that follows him? *pukes*

[Gavin Luper]

Ryan: LMAO! ... I don't really have anything more to say!

Andrew: LMAO again! I say, my readers are quite humerous peoples, are they not?

Damn, why do you always pick out things that I don't see? Vulpix needs to have emotions ... of course ... why did you have to point that out??? Ugh. Lol. And all that stuff you mentioned will/may come soon! Oh, and it was 5 100 words or something I think!

X-Wing: Hey!! Long time, no see! I was just wondering where you went the other day. Nice to see that you're "back". I suppose once we get back to the crossover you will be replying more regularly? I certainly hope so.

Cheers!!