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

[Gavin Luper]

Hello readers,

Here we are on the precipice, one chapter away from a thick and fast acceleration.

Enjoy it.

Cheers!

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Chapter 72 – Lotus Lake.


“We are close.”

Joseph Sterling swirled the remains of a vodka martini and downed it swiftly, a dark grin stealing over his swarthy face.

Veronica Stawell smiled and flicked her blonde hair over her shoulder. With a cautious glance around the rest of the Red Rock Island’s exclusive Emerald Club cocktail lounge – almost completely empty in the wee hours of the morning – she turned back to her black-clothed boss.

“How much longer before you have a location, Joe? My teams are restless. Especially after what happened at the Colosseum …”

“Don’t talk to me about that little bitch getting away, I’ll only get pissed off again,” Sterling snarled, glancing at the bar. “Barman! BARMAN!”

A blond-haired man in a waistcoat timidly emerged from behind the bar.

“Another martini,” Sterling barked.

“Y-yes,” the barman muttered meekly, clattering glassware nervously.

“Well?” Veronica prodded, tapping her nails on the table in front of Sterling.

Sterling smirked.

“Patience, Ronnie. I should have an exact location by tomorrow night. And within two days, I assure you, the Third Key will be ours.”

*

It was still dark when rough hands woke Lisa. She stirred.

“What’s going on?”

“Just me, Leese,” came Jack’s gruff voice. “C’arn, we gotta get an early start back to the mainland … C’arn … follow me …”

Making sure she had her new pokéballs on her person, Lisa allowed Jack to deck her out with rubber boots and wrap her in one of his wool-lined jackets; it smelled pungently of Seaking scales. Lisa mumbled a sleepy goodbye to Jamie, who winked by way of farewell, and, Marina and Gavin by her side, allowed Jack to walk her out of the hut and down to the nearby beach, where Frank’s white fishing vessel awaited.

Despite the stench of her jacket, Lisa was glad of it when she stepped outside: at five in the morning, the sun had yet to rise, and the salty sea air was frigid against Lisa’s cheeks. Jack seemed to sense that she was still half-asleep and helped her wade out to the boat, where she climbed the ladder onto the deck and, following Jack’s instructions, crawled below deck into the warm cabin, where two double bunks awaited them.

Lisa collapsed onto the bunk and immediately returned to a deep sleep.

*

“Tu tu!”

“Hrrrrmph?”

“Tu!!”

“Ouch!”

A sharp scratch on the cheek awoke Lisa: her eyes flew open to see a small orb of green feathers perched on her chest, talon digging into her band T-shirt slightly.

“That hurt, Natu …”

“Tuuuuu,” cooed Natu, completely oblivious to Lisa’s pain. He extended his yellow beak toward her: there was a folded piece of paper within it. Rubbing crusty sleep from her eyes, Lisa took the note and opened it.

Gavin had scrawled, in his messy handwriting, a single word.

Sorry.

Lisa was not sure that Gavin was the one who ought to be apologising – she felt rather guilty after realising where his fears stemmed from – but upon reading the note, she felt what remained of her animosity toward him dissipate completely. A smile crawled over her lips, and a weight that she had not even known she was carrying seemed to lift off her heart.

“Tu?”

“What is it, Natu?” Lisa asked.

The green bird’s eyes were darting around the cabin, as if searching for something. It looked quite distressed. Suddenly, Lisa understood.

“Aipom’s not here, Natu … He – um – he’s gone for now …”

The bird’s enormous eyes suddenly filled with tears; there was a small explosion of cobalt-coloured light and it disappeared, leaving behind an array of green, feathery motes cruising calmly to the floor.

Lisa sighed. Checking the small, white clock on the curved wall of the cabin, she was surprised to find that it was almost noon; sunlight was flooding through the four portholes. Neither Gavin nor Marina were anywhere to be seen, although their belongings were strewn over their bunks. Lisa caught her reflection in a small mirror near the clock and sleepily set about trying to tie her hair back into a ponytail before realising she no longer had enough hair to do anything with – it didn’t even reach her shoulders now. She regarded her blonde hair for a moment, still oddly enamoured with the new look it gave her, before finger-combing it as best she could and climbing up to the deck to find the others.

It was possibly the most gorgeous day since summer. The sky was an impeccable cerulean blue, punctuated sparsely with cirrus clouds that looked quite as crisp as new curls of butter. A cool sea zephyr blew in Lisa’s face, but it was not too strong to be unpleasant, and the day was warm enough for it to be more than welcome.

“Evenin’, sleepyhead,” boomed Jack, trudging from the bow to the stern.

“Morning,” Lisa grinned.

There were gleeful cries and shouts from the side of the boat. Lisa spied Gavin leaning against the silver railing on the edge of the craft, calling out something to his Seel, Staryu and green Lanturn, who were in the water, surfing alongside the vessel, along with Marina’s Golduck, Tentacraw, Starmie and Mudkip and, making Lisa laugh aloud, Marina herself, who was perched atop one of Starmie’s purple arms, playing with her Guardian Butterfree.

Gavin’s Natu fluttered around her head happily.

“Hey Lisa!” Marina called, waving a tanned arm.

Gavin turned at this; apparently he had not noticed Lisa behind him.

“Hey,” he said gently.

“Hey.”

Lisa strode over to join him, leaning her bare forearms against the cool steel.

“I got your note.”

She looked up and found him looking directly into her eyes.

“I mean it,” he said slowly. “I – I shouldn’t’ve said that thing about this being ‘typically Lisa’.”

Lisa broke his gaze – it was oddly intense – and stared out at Marina and the water pokémon racing alongside the boat.

“It’s fine, it was a stupid argument anyway,” she conceded.

“It’s just – it seemed like you were – well –”

“Being ‘typically Lisa’,” Lisa finished.

“Well, yeah.”

Lisa closed her eyes and allowed the crisp sea breeze to fill her lungs.

“Gavin, I know it seems like –”

“I know,” Gavin interrupted her. He sighed. “I thought about it a lot last night … and Marina talked to me this morning … I think going straight for the Sepulchre is probably the smartest and bravest thing you could do.”

Lisa smiled.

“I don’t want to run away anymore,” she said, opening her eyes and facing Gavin again. “I wanna actually do something.”

“Me too,” said Gavin, holding his arm out for Natu, who was fluttering over to perch on him. “I’m in, Leese.”

Lisa smiled.

“Awesome …” she said. “Listen, Gav, I need to apologise too … I’m really sorry if it seems like I take you for granted or whatever.”

Lisa cringed inwardly at her hideous apology-making skills; nonetheless, Gavin smiled gratefully.

“It’s cool,” he said. “Let’s just forget the whole thing, ay?”

“Works for me,” Lisa nodded, rather glad to put the entire argument behind her.

“So what’s your plan?” Gavin prodded, removing his navy beanie and wiping the sweat off his brow with it. “I mean – have ya thought about logistics or what?”

“A bit,” said Lisa, giggling as Staryu attempted to ride alongside Gavin’s green Lanturn only to receive a surprise Spark attack. “Actually, the way I planned it initially, I was going to go on foot to wherever Lotus Lake is, you know? But like, now that you’re here … I’m thinking maybe you could … help?”

Gavin nodded slowly, comprehending. “You want me to teleport.”

“Well, think how much safer that would be …” Lisa began, but her argument died in her mouth. She could already tell from Gavin’s face that he was not going to comply.

“There’s a couple of problems with that, Leese,” he said. “Firstly, for me to be able to teleport to a place, I need to be able to visualise it. I can’t visualise a place that I’ve never been to before.

“And secondly, the main advice the Seer had for me was to stop using teleportation. It drains me way too much and saps my other abilities. He said if I resist teleportation, over time my telepathy and telekinesis and other abilities will get a lot stronger.”

“Didn’t see that coming,” Lisa sighed. “But I guess that’s fair enough.”

“We should find a map, though,” said Gavin. “At least so that we can get an idea of how long it’s going to take us to get to Lotus Lake. And how we can get there.” He glanced around the deck. “Reckon Frank has any maps lying around?”

“I’m sure he’s got loads,” said Lisa, scanning the deck; but there were only crates and boxes tied down to pallets. “Maybe up on the bridge …”

“Let’s look. I wanna find out where this lake is.”

Waving a temporary farewell to Marina, they strode up to the bow of the vessel, where Frank stood stiffly behind the wheel, white mariner’s cap on his head and a plume of putrid grey smoke issuing from the pipe in his mouth.

“Excuse me, Frank?” Lisa ventured.

Abruptly, and without turning around to see Lisa, Frank burst into a cheerful tune:

“Oh the seven old seadogs of the seven seas!
They ruled the famous oceans with tremendous ease!”

Gavin guffawed; Lisa wasn’t sure whether to giggle or be offended that the old man had ignored her.

“Um – Frank – we just wanted to ask if –”

“Leese, he can’t hear you, look!” laughed Gavin.

Lisa looked: Gavin was pointing to two white wires that led from the pocket of Frank’s white jumper, virtually camouflaged, to his ears: he was listening to an mp3 player.

Lisa giggled.

“Is it bad that all I’m wondering is who the hell would record a song like that?” Gavin laughed.

At that moment, Frank continued with his song, completely oblivious to the two laughing teenagers behind him.

“Oh the seven fine women of the seven ports!
They entertained the seadogs until they were caught!”

“It’s awful …” Lisa remarked.

“Tell me about it,” said Gavin. “Oy, look – there’s a couple of charts right there.”

Lisa followed his line of sight: posted upon the shelter wall of the bridge were a couple of maps, one which looked like a marine chart of the Whirl Islands area and the other which showed the Orange Archipelago.

“Neither of those will help us much,” said Lisa disappointedly. She cast her eyes to the shelf below the charts and located a thick lever arch file with ‘MAPS’ written on the spine in heavy black texta. “But I’m thinking this will …”

Throwing a surreptitious glance to a still-unaware Frank, she lifted the heavy folder, grasping at small pieces of paper as they slid out of the pages, and grinned at Gavin.

“Let’s take this downstairs, ay?”

*

Lisa and Gavin were clustered around the small pine table that sat by the portholes in the cabin, poring over three maps they had found of Johto and trying to make sense of a mysterious omission on the most recent one.

A clatter of footsteps on the stairwell announced Marina’s arrival in the cabin; she entered, towelling her wet blue hair and chaperoned by Mudkip and Gavin’s Staryu.

“What’s cracking, kids?” she asked breezily, throwing the towel on top of the mess of possessions she had strewn across her bunk. “Seriously, you guys should’ve come in – the water was gorgeous.” She looked over and glimpsed the charts. “Aw, you guys are starting without me?”

“Yup, it’s all Lisa’s plan. I think she’s trying to edge you out of the group,” Gavin quipped.

“You’re a loser,” Lisa sighed. She turned to Marina. “We found these in Frank’s collection of maps, but there’s something weird going on, to be honest.”

“What do you mean weird?” asked Marina, taking a sip from her bottle of mineral water and, as there were only two chairs, she perched herself unreservedly on Gavin’s lap. His eyes bulged slightly but he swiftly put an arm around Marina’s waist.

Lisa felt something stir within her as Gavin’s arm slinked around Marina, but she abruptly realised that she must be staring at them. Breaking her gaze and clearing her throat loudly, she explained the map situation to Marina.

“Okay, so we’ve found three maps of Johto, but they’re all from different eras,” she explained. “This one,” she said, smoothing out a grubby, black-and-white chart. “Is from 1974. We managed to find Lotus Lake here.”

She pointed to a tiny grey circle situated approximately twenty kilometres north-east of Goldenrod City. The circle was inscribed ‘Lotus Lake’.

“So you’ve found it then, that’s awesome,” said Marina, tapping her water bottle absent-mindedly against the leg of the chair.

“Well, yeah, it seems so, but it’s weird because – the other maps don’t show it at all.”

“Huh?”

Lisa hunted beneath the current map and produced an enormous, dog-eared fold-out map of black ink on yellowing paper.

“This one is the oldest one … nearly as old as Frank,” she grinned. “It’s from the early fifties. Now, if you look at the same place on the map … about twenty k’s from Goldenrod … there’s the same circle but it’s called ‘The Lake of Purity’.”

Marina peered at the faded chart intently.

“Hmm … okay, so they changed the name by the ‘70s. ‘The Lake of Purity’ is pretty froofy.”

Gavin snorted.

“Well, that could make sense, seriously,” Lisa said, chuckling. “But the really bizarre thing is what happens –” (She foraged beneath both maps and produced a sleek, full-colour chart.) “– on the newest map, which is from –” (She double-checked the date.) “– 1991.”

Marina’s eyes scanned the place twenty kilometres north-east of Goldenrod; after a moment, her eyes widened.

“There’s nothing there.”

“Exactly,” said Gavin.

Marina’s brow furrowed.

“But – how does that happen? Unless the lake was filled in somehow …”

“That’s all we can think of, too,” Lisa said. “But the chart I saw at the Union’s base was pretty new, and it definitely showed Lotus Lake as – well – existing.”

“That’s really weird,” remarked Marina. “But … I suppose that at least tells us where Lotus Lake should be, right? So that’s where we’re headed?”

“Yeah,” said Lisa.

Marina seemed to be crunching numbers in her mind; her eyes rolled upwards for a moment.

“Jack’s dropping us just outside of Olivine. If we walked from Olivine to Goldenrod, plus one extra day to get to the lake … it would take something like two weeks, right?”

“That’s what I figured too,” Lisa said. “And I suppose that’s going to be the best option. We can’t hire a car without the Union probably picking up on it – and flying is way too dangerous. If we hike on the back roads, we should be relatively safe.”

Marina nodded.

“We could try taking the Dunmore River system – you know, surfing our way up,” she said half-heartedly. “Although I ran into trouble with the Union following me via water once before …” she muttered.

“I’ll teleport,” Gavin said suddenly.

Both Lisa and Marina looked at him in surprise.

“But I thought you said you couldn’t,” said Lisa.

“I think I can,” Gavin countered, shrugging. “Think about it … I’ve been to Goldenrod City a million times, I used to live there. I can visualise it easily. Plus, I haven’t used my powers since the hospital, so they should be charged up. If I get Natu and the others to add their psychic energy to the mix …” An excited grin stole over his thin face. “I’m sure we could teleport, all three of us.”

“But it’ll completely drain your powers,” Lisa argued, but feebly; the thought of Gavin teleporting them excited her.

“So what?” Gavin shrugged again. “They’ll build up again over time. The more important thing is how quickly we’d get to the Sepulchre. If we land in Johto tonight, we can teleport tonight, be in Goldenrod instantly and set out for the lake tomorrow.”

Lisa and Marina exchanged excited glances. Tomorrow! It barely seemed possible.

“The upshot of that is that we’d be less exposed to the Union, too,” Gavin continued. “Instead of two weeks out in the open, we’d only be trekking for, like, a day.”

Lisa couldn’t stop smiling. This was really happening …

“And you’re sure one of us won’t be left behind this time?” Lisa said, only half-jokingly.

Gavin nodded. “I’m pretty positive, yeah. I’ll have my pokes to back me up, we’ll be right.”

“So, really, the only question will be what happens when we get to Lotus Lake,” said Marina pensively. “You know, if there’s even a lake there anymore or not.”

“And if it’s actually the location of the Sepulchre or not,” added Lisa cheerily.

They sat at the table for perhaps only half an hour more, discussing their plans and playing with their pokémon. At one point, Gavin took the psychic pokémon of the group above deck to prepare for the planned teleportation. Once he returned, Lisa released Altaria, Cubone and Kingler to mingle with Gavin and Marina’s pokémon, with mixed results. Kingler took an immediate liking to Starmie and Staryu, and the three reposed near Marina’s bunk, apparently deep in a conversation that involved a great deal of arm-waving and pincer-snapping. Altaria struck up a warm relationship with Herby, although it came over to Lisa after a few minutes for a rub. Unfortunately, Cubone had to be returned to his pokéball after five minutes after he spent the entire time sobbing melodramatically in the corner.

As Lisa, Marina and Gavin sat at the table, now talking about music, Jack gave a loud cry from above deck:

“LAND HO!”

*

It was almost four in the afternoon when Jack and Frank finally decided to depart. After they had arrived at the deserted stretch of coastline east of Olivine City, they had decided to disembark along with Lisa, Gavin and Marina for a picnic lunch, which had evolved into a picnic afternoon tea.

The three teenagers had tried not to show their impatience, especially as Jack was providing them food – and had transported them – free of charge. Nonetheless, as four o’clock approached, Gavin said, “Well, we need to get going, guys, otherwise we’ll be stuck walking in the dark.”

Thankfully, that hint had been enough to mobilise Jack and Frank. They had packed up their remaining foodstuffs and farewelled each of them in their own way: Frank had grunted mildly in each of their directions, and finished up with a particularly warm, “’Bye.” Jack, on the other hand, had shaken Gavin’s hand firmly before taking first Marina, then Lisa, and sweeping them each into his bulging arms, crushing them slightly with the force of his hug.

“Take care, buds!” he boomed. “And Leese, next time I wanna see Electabuzz again – no excuses, ay? Hahaha!”

Lisa smiled and agreed: she had lied and told Jack that Electabuzz was temporarily in the care of her younger siblings; it had seemed impossible to tell him that the Union had stolen the pokémon he had once owned.

“Thanks so much for everything, Jack,” Lisa said.

“Pleasure, Leese – like I said, we were headed to Olivine anyway, got some freight we gotta drop off,” Jack grunted. “Anyway – if yer ever on Red Rock again, don’ be a stranger, orright?”

“Deal!” said Lisa. “Take care! Bye!”

She, Gavin and Marina watched as the dusty-haired, muscular sailor and the old, wizened captain waded through the shallows and clambered aboard their boat.

“I thought they’d never leave!” said Marina exasperatedly.

“I know!” Lisa laughed, as she waved in the direction of the boat. “I mean, it was a really fun arvo with them all … but all I could think of the whole time was that we were wasting time.”

Gavin was kneeling down on the sand, riffling through his rucksack.

“Just making sure I didn’t forget anything,” he explained. “You got everything, Marina?”

Marina patted her own backpack.

“I was taught to pack by Azura Frost, which may or may not mean anything to you,” she said with a wry grin. “Suffice it to say: I’m all sorted.”

“As am I,” grinned Lisa, patting her poképort and the Buzzball and two pokéballs in the pocket of her shredded jeans. “I’ve gotta say, not having a backpack is pretty stress-free.”

Marina smirked.

“Alright, I reckon they’re far enough away now, right?” Gavin asked.

Lisa glanced out onto the crystalline shallows, off which the sun’s setting rays were beginning to shimmer. Frank’s boat was now chugging slowly out to sea.

“I reckon,” she said.

“Awesome,” Gavin said. “Alright – go Natu, Girafury and Staryu!”

“Go, Starmie and Golduck!” Marina cried.

There were five explosions of radiant light. The five psychic pokémon in the group materialised around them.

“Alright guys, now remember your instructions from the boat,” Gavin said sternly, as Natu fluttered onto his shoulder and the rest of the creatures interspersed themselves among the humans and held hands with them, creating a circle. Lisa took hold of Golduck’s slimy webbed mitt in her left hand and knitted the fingers of her right hand into Girafury’s thick mane.

“Is everybody ready?” asked Gavin loudly.

“Tu tu tu!”

“Goooold.”

“Fuuuuuuur.”

“Hi yaaah!”

“Staarr!”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Marina added, amid the cacophony of pokémon cries.

Lisa laughed.

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

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

“Two …”

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

“THREE!”

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

“Everyone here?” called Gavin’s voice.

Lisa heard the calls of five pokémon, and then Marina’s voice said, “I’m here … feel like death, though.”

“No shit,” said Gavin. “At least we all made it!” He let off a weary cheer that was echoed by a couple of the pokémon. “Leese – you alright over there?”

Hearing the voices around her was all Lisa needed to calm her down: her heart stopped hammering, her throat cleared and she gulped down deep breaths of stale – but welcome – air, suddenly aware that she was acutely thirsty.

“Yes, I’m okay,” she said, a little feebly. “God, teleporting really takes it out of you …” she added, trying to explain her weakness to the others. She didn’t want to admit that she had had a mild panic attack before they teleported, struck by the fear that she would be left behind again, as she had been in Redwood Hospital.

She opened her eyes gingerly and surveyed her surroundings. They were all sprawled on the dirty brown carpet of what seemed to be the combined living room, dining room and kitchen of a seedy, cramped apartment. All the curtains were drawn, giving the apartment a dreary, depressing vibe that was exacerbated by the bland décor: the walls were all painted beige, the curtains light brown. Even the kitchen bench was fawn. Oddly, there was almost no furniture in the room, aside from a small table with a teetering pile of mail by the door and a thick, chocolate-brown rug spread out before an ancient wooden TV set.

“Where are we?” Lisa wondered aloud, clambering to her feet as Marina and Gavin followed suit, returning their pokémon in flashes of translucent red light that briefly illuminated the apartment.

“This,” Gavin said ceremoniously, “is my old apartment.”

“Ritzy,” said Marina dryly.

Lisa caught Marina’s gaze and smirked. She scanned the kitchen bench and approached the sink; her throat was parched.

“It’s a heap of shit,” Gavin admitted unabashedly. “But it’s all me and my mate Dave could afford when we lived here.” He glanced through a beige-coloured door into a tiny bedroom. “Looks like he leased it out to someone else after I left …”

Lisa hovered by the sink. “Uh – is it safe to drink the water?”

“Should be fine,” Gavin smirked.

Lisa hunted in the cupboard for a glass, and eventually located a solitary china mug, coated in a thin layer of dust. Rinsing it off gingerly, she filled it up with tap water and gulped it down gratefully. The water tasted mildly chemically, but otherwise satisfied Lisa’s thirst completely.

“Man,” Gavin muttered, flipping through the stack of mail on the table near the door. “I haven’t been here for ages … not since before the trial in Port Valeo …”

“Has anyone?” Lisa quizzed. “It looks like nobody’s been here for a while.”

“Dave works up on the mines now, near Azalea Town,” explained Gavin. “He’s only here for one week out of every three. I guess his roommate does the same thing.”

“Oh right …” Lisa muttered, stealing another drink.

Marina pulled the curtains open, allowing the late afternoon sunlight to gush into the dusty flat.

“Well, that’s a bit better,” she sighed.

Hunkering down for the evening, they resorted to clustering onto the rug, leaning on Dave’s pillows and watching soap operas on the flickering TV set. When the six o’clock news came on, Lisa watched intently for any news that could relate to the Union. She wasn’t entirely disappointed – there was a short report that the Ecruteak Library had been ransacked, possibly by Union agents – but there was no news of a particularly grand scale.

As the six-thirty current affairs programs came on, Gavin slunk out of the apartment for dinner, returning with an enormous stack of oily pizzas, which both the humans and their pokémon tucked into heartily. Returning their pokémon, the teenagers passed the rest of the evening talking over bottles of cool drink and, as the night grew late, they rehashed their plans by re-examining the charts they had stolen from Frank’s boat.

When at last it came time to turn in, Lisa and Marina took Dave’s double bed, while Gavin took his old single one in the other room. As she lay down, Lisa wrinkled up her nose against the acrid smell of dirt and sweat: it seemed that Dave habitually fell asleep on his bed whilst still wearing his dirty work clothes. Trying to ignore the smell, Lisa stared up at the ceiling, and long after she whispered the words, “Night, Marina”, her eyes remained open, her mind conjuring up what was going to unfold when she finally located the Sepulchre of Suicune.

*

Lisa awoke early the next morning. Even the depressing décor of Gavin’s old apartment couldn’t dim the excitement surging through her veins: in a matter of hours, they would be arriving, hopefully, at Lotus Lake. At long last, she would be doing something constructive to fight back against the Union.

She eagerly woke Gavin and Marina, and after having some much-needed showers, they left the apartment shortly after eight o’clock. Despite the fact that she was now blonde, wore a grotty band T-shirt and face-obscuring aviators, Lisa still felt slightly on edge as they strolled down the main thoroughfares of Goldenrod City: from what she had heard, it was the city in Johto with the highest population per capita of Union agents. However, despite the statistics, she found that, at least in appearance, Goldenrod had scarcely changed from the last time she had been there: it was still a bustling metropolis, with streets packed with buses and sleek limousines and footpaths loaded with jostling tourists, businessmen, students and pokémon trainers.

After an hour of solid walking, Lisa, Gavin and Marina found themselves away from the throng of the city centre and in clearer, more open parklands, scattered with young trainers.

“If one more kid asks me to battle his Weedle, I swear I’m going to scream,” Marina said under her breath to Lisa as they strolled through a field populated by bug-catchers.

“Weedles can actually be pretty powerful,” Lisa remarked, thinking back to Hiro’s, which she had seen perform an acrobatic display to defeat Lance’s Dragonite.

“Right,” Marina drawled, swatting a fly away from her face and taking a sip of her mineral water.

They continued onwards down a route known as Armitage Road, avoiding more eager trainers and some artisan markets. As the day heated up, Lisa found herself wishing she wasn’t wearing black, as it was becoming oppressively warm; nonetheless, she soldiered on, swigging at her water, her eyes on each crest as it approached, hoping that it would reveal a sign that Lotus Lake existed, but no such sign ever appeared.

Presently, they came across a roadhouse and a turn off for the Bug-Catching Contest.

“God, I remember coming here,” Lisa said, and she nostalgically recounted the story of how she, Hiro and Kris had participated in the contest, despite the fact that both Gavin and Marina had heard it several times before.

They followed the route onwards, until encountering other trainers became first uncommon and then rare. The parkland became more heavy forest, with trees surrounding them from all angles; and the route, initially a broad bitumen path, dissipated into a track of orange gravel.

“Okay, according to the map, we’re right about where the lake should be,” said Gavin, at around noon, as they turned a corner into a deeper part of the forest.

A few minutes later, he stopped in his tracks and stared around at their environs.

“This is supposedly it,” he declared. “According to the old maps, there should be a lake right alongside this track at this point. To the right.”

Lisa did not say anything; indeed, she had fallen progressively more silent as they had walked deeper into the forest. The lack of signage for Lotus Lake had stopped worrying her. Her mind had been tingling ever since they walked past the Bug-Catching Contest.

As Marina fanned her face and sighed, Lisa walked a little further along the track, sure that she would find what she was looking for. A moment later, her heart leapt into her mouth.

Cutting into the thick maze of ferns and shrubs was a narrow, loamy track, almost overgrown completely.

“Through here!” Lisa cried out, and then, without waiting to see if Gavin and Marina were following, she charged down the path, jogging at first before breaking out into a full-scale pelt. She bounded over several Metapod and a rotting old log that crossed the path before, gloriously, the vegetation cleared, and she arrived.

Footsteps pounded on the orange dirt behind her; Gavin and Marina came running to join her, their faces alive as they, too, clapped eyes on the sight before them.

“Oh my God …” breathed Lisa, as she took in the sight before her.

The lake that geography had forgotten was sprawled out before them at the base of a stunning hundred-metre high cliff. Spanning an area the size of a soccer pitch, it was murky brown and covered in green algae, but it was undeniably a lake.

Lotus Lake.

Lisa’s mouth had fallen open. She took in the impossible details of the sight before her: the grey, rocky cliff wall framing the lake; the murky brown, almost opaque surface of the water …

Her heart was vibrating as never before; her mind spun. How could this be?

“Lisa – are you okay?” Marina ventured, a note of fear in her voice.

“I’m fine,” breathed Lisa. “I’m … I’m better than fine. I’m … fantastic.”

She felt, rather than saw, a curious look exchanged between Gavin and Marina behind her back as she approached the shoreline of the lake.

“How come?” Gavin asked seriously.

“Because I know now that the Sepulchre of Suicune is definitely here.”

There was a short silence, then Gavin said, “How can you be so sure?”

Lisa felt as though she had swallowed some kind of drug: the whirling in her head and stomach was making her slightly dizzy.

“Because …” she said, trying to contain her excitement; she spun around to face her bemused friends. “Because I’ve been here before.”

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

“When?” he asked.

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

“Last October,” she said.

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

[Sike Saner]

“What is it, Natu?” Lisa asked.

The green bird’s eyes were darting around the cabin, as if searching for something. It looked quite distressed. Suddenly, Lisa understood.

“Aipom’s not here, Natu … He – um – he’s gone for now …”

The bird’s enormous eyes suddenly filled with tears; there was a small explosion of cobalt-coloured light and it disappeared, leaving behind an array of green, feathery motes cruising calmly to the floor.

D'aww, Natu...

She looked over and glimpsed the charts. “Aw, you guys are starting without me?”

“Yup, it’s all Lisa’s plan. I think she’s trying to edge you out of the group,” Gavin quipped.

Heh, good one.


There's definitely something ominous about that first scene. With that and with where Lisa and company arrived at the end of the chapter, this chapter certainly did give the sense of something big about to happen.

[Gavin Luper]

It took nearly a decade, three reposts on three different versions of TPM, and lots of blood, sweat and tears, but we finally got Lisa the Legend to 1,000 replies! I can't believe we made it - I'm quite excited.

Thank you all for your loyal readership over the years, this is quite a cool milestone for a fic on this forum to reach, and I'm not sure if even The Emerald League, SAI, and others of their ilk even ever achieved it. So, hoorah for the readers of Lisa the Legend who have made this fic what it is today - much appreciated, guys!

There's definitely something ominous about that first scene. With that and with where Lisa and company arrived at the end of the chapter, this chapter certainly did give the sense of something big about to happen.

Sike: So prompt! Yeah, big things ahead, followed by some even bigger things. Wish I could just post it all at once but I figure that would result in everyone instantly being unable to follow it all and everyone would abandon the fic, so I'll restrain myself to drip-feeding the chapters out methodically. Glad you liked Gavin's quip, I loved that line and it was quite typically HIM. Thanks and see you next chapter!

Cheers!



1,000 replies WOOOO!

[Dryk]

A timid, blond-haired man in a waistcoat timidly emerged from behind the bar.

This annoyed me a little.

“Aipom’s not here, Natu … He – um – he’s gone for now …”

I really liked this, just because it felt right for Lisa to be missing her Pokemon right now. It was pretty fulfilling even if I wish that she could get her Pokes back.

“God, I remember coming here,” Lisa said, and she nostalgically recounted the story of how she, Hiro and Kris had participated in the contest, despite the fact that both Gavin and Marina had heard it several times before.

This one also felt good, probably because it captured what I feel that I do all the time.

Sorry I didn't comment on the last one, which I enjoyed. It also helped me to truly "see" the Gavin-Lisa relationship in a better light and cleared a few things up for me.

I'm still in awe of you writing skills, just as I was in the first chapters when you were building tension, but one of my problems is that I can only mostly remember the chapters (all 400-500 pages of them) and everything that happened, so sometimes I miss some of the allusions to past chappies. I do think that your characters are growing in a realistic way (although you do have a lot of them, which must be hard), and you have done a good job of characterizing many of the characters.

Overall, another good chapter from a long string of 'em. Can't wait for the next ones. That's all.

P.S. Congrats on 1,000!

[Shadow Wolf]

HI Gavin! Congrats on the 1000th replies. Now Lisa's truly a Legend, woot!

...if a battle was never challenging, there would be no fun in Pokemon.”

Wise words young trainer.

...and about her best friends Tuscany and Charmaine.

Ah, Tuscany... on Tuesday... *is lost in thoughts*

“ 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.

I have to say that this part made me laugh and feel annoyed at the same time. It definitely is funny to see this in a story, but is definitely NOT funny when you know someone like that. I know, we have to learn to listen, but when you know there's a "rambling trigger" in someone, it's best to leave it off. Nice scene you portrayed here!

That’ll be three hundred dollars.”

You might be wonderign why I quote this, right? Well, think of the face I will put after reading this... priceless right?

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

For some reason, I thought of all the soccer players who do this in the FIFA world cup, so it made me laugh a lot. Again, nice scene portrayed here.

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.

Did you predicted how some 2010 artists were going to be seen?... Nah, I think it always has been like this...

" 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.”

Now that's a wise and loving brother. A big applause for Tom.

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.

This was a pretty raw description, and it molded in perfectly, because it makes the reader feel empathy for the pokemon. Maybe the word "pathetic" sounds a bit strong, but it was well used on this moment. I almost shed a tear of anger here, honestly.

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.

Have you tried comady Gavin? Because this had me laughing for a while (and I'm still chuckling while writing this.

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.

Poor Hiro, maybe if Kipp asks him about bugs, this will be less boring, hahahahaha

Overall, this chapter has been one of the funniest so far, so well done Gavin. And only three chapters and already three pokemon (if she got to keep Caterpie, which I'm not sure), but Lisa is taking a fast step into this long journey. By the way, I also read somewhere in this chapter (too tired to quote it) about Lisa wishing for company through the journey so.... WHERE ARE YOU GAVIN!?

[Gavin Luper]

Dryk: Man, that "timid" repetition shows how little I proofread that particular scene - it was added in after the rest. Good that you liked Lisa's personality quirks in this chapter - the scene with her missing Aipom quite suddenly, her tendency to rehash the same stories over and over to the same audience, etc. Yeah, the last chapter was exciting from a character perspective because it was a real boiling-over moment which had to happen between Gavin and Lisa.

I'm still in awe of you writing skills, just as I was in the first chapters when you were building tension, but one of my problems is that I can only mostly remember the chapters (all 400-500 pages of them) and everything that happened, so sometimes I miss some of the allusions to past chappies. I do think that your characters are growing in a realistic way (although you do have a lot of them, which must be hard), and you have done a good job of characterizing many of the characters.

Thanks. I remember one time early on thinking I didn't have enough of a real 'cast', but over time that sorted itself out, to the point where there is a pretty extensive cast. I'm working hard to make them realistic - I think I've definitely improved with that over time and will continue to get better. In terms of previous chapters, I reckon that's partly because of how long it's been between those chapters being written and then later referenced. And maybe partly because it's not written down in a book form where you can just flip back to the chapter and rehash it. Do you think there's any way I could improve on making the allusions to past chapters better? Or is it just an observation?

Shadow Wolf: Yep, she's a legend now!

Tuscany was totally inspired by the whole Tuscany of Tuesday thing, I won't pretend otherwise!

I have to say that this part made me laugh and feel annoyed at the same time. It definitely is funny to see this in a story, but is definitely NOT funny when you know someone like that. I know, we have to learn to listen, but when you know there's a "rambling trigger" in someone, it's best to leave it off. Nice scene you portrayed here!

Cheers. Yeah, lots of people have that one subject that, once they start talking about it, they don't shut up. Hiro's is bugs, unfortunately. Lisa has learned her lesson on that front!

For some reason, I thought of all the soccer players who do this in the FIFA world cup, so it made me laugh a lot. Again, nice scene portrayed here.

Hehe, nice observation!

Did you predicted how some 2010 artists were going to be seen?... Nah, I think it always has been like this...

Are you referring to Bieber? Heh. He's just one in a very long line, from Elvis to the Beatles to Justin Timberlake and so on (in fact, I wrote this in 2001 and that was right in the tail end of the teen-pop, boyband era - so there was plenty of fodder there that Kipp was based on).

Have you tried comady Gavin? Because this had me laughing for a while (and I'm still chuckling while writing this.

I haven't, not properly, and I dunno how successful I'd be, but parody and stuff like that I quite enjoy doing and have done a bit during my younger days. Comedy writing could be fun to explore further down the track, actually.

Overall, this chapter has been one of the funniest so far, so well done Gavin. And only three chapters and already three pokemon (if she got to keep Caterpie, which I'm not sure), but Lisa is taking a fast step into this long journey. By the way, I also read somewhere in this chapter (too tired to quote it) about Lisa wishing for company through the journey so.... WHERE ARE YOU GAVIN!?

She does keep the Caterpie! And Gavin is on his way - read on to see!

Dryk and Shadow Wolf, thanks to both of you for your well-wishes for LTL hitting 1000 replies!

Chapter 73 will be up in about a week. It's ready to go, but I know that there are at least a couple of readers (mattbcl and Becky - as well as Louis of course) who are/may be reading through older chapters trying to catch up, plus some other readers (mr_pikachu, mistysakura, PancaKe, and maybe some other now-closet readers?) who are still catching up on the sidelines, so I don't want to leave them all in the dust by going too fast. But it will be up soon!

Cheers!

- Gavin.

[Shadow Wolf]

Chapter 73 will be up in about a week. It's ready to go, but I know that there are at least a couple of readers (mattbcl and Becky - as well as Louis of course) who are/may be reading through older chapters trying to catch up, plus some other readers (mr_pikachu, mistysakura, PancaKe, and maybe some other now-closet readers?) who are still catching up on the sidelines, so I don't want to leave them all in the dust by going too fast. But it will be up soon!

Hey, don't worry about me. I like to go at my own pace while reading, and I get more motivated when new chapters are up, so don't hesitate to keep posting new chapters (I don't know what the others think, but these are my two cents about it, so for me, no worries )

Well, chapter 4 went by really quick, so I don't plan to quote this time. However, I do have some things to share.

-Well, Tyler is an arrogant idiot, that's for sure. I expected that he also used a starter, but the stealing of it is not shown (or if it did happened, then it hasn't been said yet). In any case, I think Hiro might need a water pokemon to deal with Magmar and Golem, since those two are an annoyance to his dear bug pokemon and to his Cyndaquil too (I believe Golem is a Rock/Ground type, so is he can't get a water pokemon, then a ground pokemon will be a nice addition to his team. Overall, nice job describing Tyler.

-The rivalry between them reminds me of the many movies where this has been portrayed (Dodgeball, Grandma's Boy, Just Go With It...). It doesn't matter is it happens in series, movies, games, animes... rivalries are a nice addition; and when their backgrounds are portrayed, it becomes an essential part of the story. Watch out Lisa... a rival-in-the-making might appear soon (for some reason, I thought of Eusine... but who knows. )

-Finally, the last scene was very funny because at first, it seems like a meditating thought, but it suddenly turned to be a funny scene. So nice twist there! You had me laughing for a minute with that one.

Well, Let's see what awaits for young Lisa in the future. Later!

[Gavin Luper]

Well, Tyler is an arrogant idiot, that's for sure. I expected that he also used a starter, but the stealing of it is not shown (or if it did happened, then it hasn't been said yet). In any case, I think Hiro might need a water pokemon to deal with Magmar and Golem, since those two are an annoyance to his dear bug pokemon and to his Cyndaquil too (I believe Golem is a Rock/Ground type, so is he can't get a water pokemon, then a ground pokemon will be a nice addition to his team. Overall, nice job describing Tyler.

Thanks mate. Looking back, he's kind of a cliche, at least at this stage. But when I was a teenager I did know people pretty similar to him in terms of being obnoxious douches. So maybe cliches ring true.

The rivalry between them reminds me of the many movies where this has been portrayed (Dodgeball, Grandma's Boy, Just Go With It...). It doesn't matter is it happens in series, movies, games, animes... rivalries are a nice addition; and when their backgrounds are portrayed, it becomes an essential part of the story. Watch out Lisa... a rival-in-the-making might appear soon (for some reason, I thought of Eusine... but who knows. )

Interesting comment. I do agree about rivalries, they can really enrich a story's plot and also bring out a lot of background and information about both the rival and the main character themselves! I won't spoil anything for you - read on.

Finally, the last scene was very funny because at first, it seems like a meditating thought, but it suddenly turned to be a funny scene. So nice twist there! You had me laughing for a minute with that one.

Thanks for reading, Louis. I'm glad you're enjoying those early chapters - I think you will like chapter 5!

Chapter 73 up tonight or tomorrow hopefully. I'm gonna do one more edit (don't want another "timid"/"timidly" situation arising again) before I put it up. So many precious secrets are about to be unfurled in this chapter.

Cheers!

[mistysakura]

Those recaps are sorely needed. It has been way too long since I've read a chapter of LTL. I liked how Lisa and Gavin were fighting again so soon after their reunion. Some stories get this strange idea that once people are reunited, everything is rainbows and butterflies... And I had a strange feeling about the location of the Sepulchre of Suicune.

Sorry I can't come up with much more to say, but it's like the calm before the storm. Or the bit where Harry, Ron and Hermione go camping and bicker with each other until stuff happens.

So, when is this "tonight or tomorrow" going to come?

[Gavin Luper]

Those recaps are sorely needed. It has been way too long since I've read a chapter of LTL.

Do you mean the intro recaps at the start of each chapter are a good idea, or an overall recap of what's happened so far is further needed?

I liked how Lisa and Gavin were fighting again so soon after their reunion. Some stories get this strange idea that once people are reunited, everything is rainbows and butterflies...

Indeed - I didn't want their reunion to be perfect, because there were way too many unanswered questions about it.

And I had a strange feeling about the location of the Sepulchre of Suicune.

Sorry I can't come up with much more to say, but it's like the calm before the storm. Or the bit where Harry, Ron and Hermione go camping and bicker with each other until stuff happens.

So, when is this "tonight or tomorrow" going to come?

^_^ Tonight or tomorrow is going to come ... tonight or tomorrow! Literally. I'm off sick today so I'm finally doing my edit. Chapter very soon!

Thanks for reading and replying again, Ada - glad to see you back and hopefully you'll like the next chapter when it comes tonight. Tonight. I'm sure of it.

Cheers!

[mistysakura]

Nah, I just mean the chapter recaps. Did you end up doing a recap of the whole thing? I seem to recall you did, but my mind may be playing tricks on me.

[Gavin Luper]

Ada: You're right, I did, about two years ago! Completely forgot about that. I posted synopses of Books 1 and 2 and Book 3 until chapter 64 - I never linked them to the contents page, though. Had to do some hunting, but here they are, and I'll link them into the contents so they can be easily found, too.

Book 1 Synopsis
Book 2 Synopsis - Part I
Book 2 Synopsis - Part II
Book 3 Synopsis (to C64)

Spent the last few hours editing and deliberating over Chapter 73. It's because I'm scared of plot holes, especially when revelations are this big. After so many years and hundreds of thousands of words and different incarnations and directions of the story, it's so so hard to be sure that I've covered all my bases. But now I'm vaguely sure that I have, and if I haven't, I'll need to learn to be less hard on myself. After all, any regular novelist would have the opportunity to redraft their story as much as they want before publishing it; but LtL is published one chapter at a time, so although I've made improvements to past chapters I've never edited out actual facts that are crucial to the plot, because that would feel like misleading the reader. So we'll just have to see what happens. But I'm pretty sure we are watertight now. I hope. So the chapter will be here in a minute. Yes. A real minute.

[Gavin Luper]

Hullo readers,

May the revelations flow!

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

Previously on Lisa the Legend:



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



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

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

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

“Why the hell not?”

Lisa fought the urge to snap at him.

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



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



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

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

“Two …”

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

“THREE!”

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



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



"I’ve been here before.”

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

“When?” he asked.

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

“Last October,” she said.

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


+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+


Chapter 73 – The Sepulchre of Suicune.


“Oh wow,” breathed Marina.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lisa was already reliving that day.

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

“Ew,” Marina contributed.

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

“Did you see anything?” Gavin pressed.

Lisa swore loudly.

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

“What do you mean?” asked Marina.

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

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

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

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

Her jaw dropped.

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

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

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

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

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

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

There was a hint of disapproving grandfather to his tone.

“Oh – of course not – but –”

//Your friends shall await you here//

“O-okay.”

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

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

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

Déjà vu.

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

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

Behind her, Gavin gave a low whistle.

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

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

//Hold on//

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

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

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

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

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

“Oh my God …” Lisa breathed.

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

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

“It’s so beautiful,” Lisa gaped.

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

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

The Sepulchre of Suicune.

She pressed her palm gently against the left door.

//NO!//

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

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

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

Suicune’s aurora flared slightly.

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

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

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

Lisa gulped and stepped cautiously away from the oak doors.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What for?” she asked, vexed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lisa stiffened.

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

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

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

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

“Oh.”

Suicune growled.

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

His tone was caustic.

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

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

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

//Humans never have// said Suicune.

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

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

Lisa grappled with the information overload.

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

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

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

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

//That is correct//

“Something like … hundreds of years ago …”

//Seven hundred. Yes//

“And then they hid the keys …”

//Yes//

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

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

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

//YOUR PARENTS HAVE LIED TO YOU!//

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What are you saying?” she asked nervously.

Suicune’s inky eyes swamped her.

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

*

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

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

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

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

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

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

“No way …” she breathed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Good or bad?”

“I suppose good.”

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

“Read it to me.”

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

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

An enormous grin broke out on Lance’s face.

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

“I know!” Sarah grinned.

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

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

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

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

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

Lance frowned.

Sarah bit her lip.

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

Lance deigned an appreciative smile.

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

*

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

The knot building in Lisa’s chest eased slightly.

“You mean they were lied to?”

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

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

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

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

Lisa’s skin turned to gooseflesh.

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

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

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

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

Suicune’s eyes glinted.

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

The regret in his voice baffled Lisa.

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

Suicune’s eyes fell.

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

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

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

Lisa nodded blankly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

//Do you see the problem now?//

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

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

The derision in Suicune’s tone was palpable.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

//Your Quagsire is a Guard spy//

*

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

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

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

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

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

Beep.

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

Lance pressed a button and the line went dead.

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

Sarah smiled back.

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

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

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

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

Sarah pressed a button on the receiver.

“Hello?”

A restrained, fatherly voice crackled down the line.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lance gave Sarah the wind-up signal.

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

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

“Will do, Dad! Love you! Bye!”

“Love you too, sweetheart.”

Click. The line went dead again.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sarah’s eyebrow rose.

“You think they’ve all met up?”

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

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

Lance shrugged, exasperated.

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

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

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

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

“Oh, and Sarah?”

“Yup?” She paused on the threshold.

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

She nodded her head.

“I’ll do my best!”

*

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

“What?!”

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

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

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

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

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

Suicune remained placid.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Suicune’s jaw hardened.

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

A bitter chill came over Lisa.

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

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

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

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

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

Lisa nodded.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She continued to press him.

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

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

Suicune did not smile.

//Yes, I do//

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

Lisa stared after him in exasperation.

“Well, what is it?!” she demanded.

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

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

*

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

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

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

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

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

“Of – of course.”

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

Honey-brown eyes surged into violet-black.

“I promise.”

Suicune’s jaw twitched.

//Then, let us enter//

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

“Oh my God …” Lisa gasped.

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

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

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

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

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

Lisa searched for Suicune’s gaze; he nodded.

//Yes. Open it//

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

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

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

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

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

She removed the object and gasped.

A foot-long silver sceptre was in her hand.

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

She had seen it before.

//You seem shocked//

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

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

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

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

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

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

The azure flames crackled for hours.

“W-?”

Lisa stared in horror at Suicune’s expressionless mask.

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

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

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

An electric shiver coursed through Lisa’s spine.

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

//It’s impossible. You must kill me//

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What are you saying?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“N-nearly done,” Lisa quavered.

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

[mistysakura]

That was an epic chapter. Very reminiscient of the Half-Blood Prince. The surface of the lake, pulling out the sword (although I guess that's more Chamber of Secrets/Deathly Hallows), what happened at the end... I was actually quite suspicious that Suicune was lying. Just because it seemed that we could no longer trust "revelations". But after what happened at the end, I don't see how Suicune could have been lying. And I wonder whether the guarded power will ever be revealed to us... because we can't pin it down, it seems more horrible than anything that could be put on paper. I really enjoyed the Jenna O'Brien bit, injecting a bit of humour at a crucial point. But it seemed like Lance and Sarah were acting way too young -- especially Sarah, who actually acted like a high school girl. And the phrase "I assume you are still young enough to believe that power and wealth can be dangerous and corrupting things" felt awkward. It felt like Suicune was saying that Lisa was naive for believing that, and that the truth was that power was not corrupting. Like when people say "you are still young enough to believe in the tooth fairy".

Looking forward to the next chapter!

[Chris 2.1]

Just caught up with everything. I'm in awe at how much of your recent work ties in with that you've written at the very beginning. It's a true testament to your vision for the fic that this has become so much more than a Pokemon fic.

The last chapter was interesting, especially the notion that Lisa's loved ones and ancestors lied - but not conventionally. All the information passed down over 700 years had to suffer, especially with Suicune's notion that humans have intentions and traits which he does not.

I'm curious about this vast power - I'm thinking it's something very unusual as opposed to a huge force. Could it be something supernatural? All I can think of is something really comic book-y (mind reading, precognition, something with death?) but Suicune noted it was a terrible power.

Gripped for the next chapter!

[Gavin Luper]

That was an epic chapter. Very reminiscient of the Half-Blood Prince. The surface of the lake, pulling out the sword (although I guess that's more Chamber of Secrets/Deathly Hallows), what happened at the end...

Yes, I couldn't help shake those vibes off, too, especially when re-reading the part when Suicune is all "promise you'll do what I say in the Sepulchre", etc. - very directly reminiscent of Dumbledore. The funny thing is, I wrote this chapter back in 2009 (yeah, that's how many chapters I have stockpiled ...) so I don't even remember if I was directly inspired by HBP or not at the time. It actually happens for a couple of other things in future chapters - I have moments where I try to remember if I had had a particular idea before or after I read Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows. There is at least one plot point coming up that I had planned years and years ago, and then when I read Deathly Hallows in 2007 I was like "oh crap, now it looks like I'm copying Harry Potter". But them's the breaks. And let's face it, Harry Potter was a huge influence on the direction this fic took circa 2002-3.

I was actually quite suspicious that Suicune was lying. Just because it seemed that we could no longer trust "revelations". But after what happened at the end, I don't see how Suicune could have been lying.

I won't confirm or deny anything here.

And I wonder whether the guarded power will ever be revealed to us... because we can't pin it down, it seems more horrible than anything that could be put on paper.

Hmm, yes, I agree - the unknown is a lot more frightening than something known. Unless, perhaps, the thing, once known, turns out to be truly terrible.

I really enjoyed the Jenna O'Brien bit, injecting a bit of humour at a crucial point. But it seemed like Lance and Sarah were acting way too young -- especially Sarah, who actually acted like a high school girl.

Yeah, it probably was a bit lighter in tone, but as you pointed out ... the chapter needed it. It would have been way too heavy otherwise - the revelations and then Suicune's sacrifice. For the record, Sarah is eighteen years old, so not far off a high-school girl, really.

I hope Lance didn't seem too young-acting - I know I hate it when characters act out of character in a story, it really hurts the plausibility of the world created. Did it jar badly, or just slightly?

(One of the pitfalls of starting this fic when I was thirteen, of course, is the slightly unrealistic ages of the characters. Having Lisa and Gavin running around as fifteen and sixteen year olds seemed entirely realistic at the time, but as an adult now I kind of wish I could scrap the whole thing and age them up - it would give me a lot more room to move and be a lot more plausible. But hey, this isn't a novel, it's a fanfic from my youth and it's drawing to a close, so I'm gonna enjoy the innocence of it while I can.)

And the phrase "I assume you are still young enough to believe that power and wealth can be dangerous and corrupting things" felt awkward. It felt like Suicune was saying that Lisa was naive for believing that, and that the truth was that power was not corrupting. Like when people say "you are still young enough to believe in the tooth fairy".

Ah ... I didn't realise it could be so easily interpreted that way. What I (or Suicune) actually meant was that power and wealth ARE indeed dangerous and corrupting things, and young people tend to recognise that, but as they grow older they often end up becoming corrupted by power and wealth themselves and no longer view them with the same suspicion they once did. Does that make sense?

Looking forward to the next chapter!

I hope you like it - will post once the other readers have had a chance to catch up, roughly a week or so from now, I hope. NaNoWriMo is just three weeks away, which is terrifying ... I think I may end up finishing LTL altogether by the end of November. So, chapters will be in abundance!

Thank you so much for returning to read and reply - appreciated muchly, as you know. See you next chapter, Ada!

Just caught up with everything. I'm in awe at how much of your recent work ties in with that you've written at the very beginning. It's a true testament to your vision for the fic that this has become so much more than a Pokemon fic.

Hey, Chris - great to see you back here, too. Thanks very much - yes, this will start happening more and more as we draw nearer to the end of the fic. Lots of things, even seemingly insignificant ones, that happened very early on - in books one and two - were made specifically with a view to being clues to later plot points, or to making much more sense to a reader once they had read the conclusion of the fic.

You're right: it's true that this is scarcely a pokemon fic anymore. If anything, I like to think of it now as a kind of adolescent action-adventure. I have even toyed with the idea of stripping it all back to something original, but as soon as I do that (I've tried drafting it), the essence of the fic gets lost in translation. So I think I've finally made my peace with enjoying this for what it is - a fanfiction and a fun relic from my youth - while simultaneously looking forward to finishing it off and moving on to some original long form work at last.

The last chapter was interesting, especially the notion that Lisa's loved ones and ancestors lied - but not conventionally. All the information passed down over 700 years had to suffer, especially with Suicune's notion that humans have intentions and traits which he does not.

I wanted it to be realistic, and the reality is that humans are far from perfect: they usually act with their own interests at the forefront of their minds when making decisions. Even if that is sometimes at the cost of the truth.

I'm curious about this vast power - I'm thinking it's something very unusual as opposed to a huge force. Could it be something supernatural? All I can think of is something really comic book-y (mind reading, precognition, something with death?) but Suicune noted it was a terrible power.

Of course I can't say anything yet, but Suicune was right in what he described it as.

Gripped for the next chapter!

Excellent, glad to hear it! Thanks again for stopping by to catch up and read LTL again, it's great to have you back here.

Chapter 74 ... as you can probably determine from what I said to Ada above ... was written in 2009 and has been edited a lot since then. So, I'll give it another week or perhaps a fortnight, and then press on with that. So exciting now.

Cheers dudes!

[Gavin Luper]

Okay, it's been a fortnight, so here's the next chapter!

A couple of things I want to ask all my readers:

1. I hope I'm not going too fast for some of the regular readers who haven't yet had a chance to read the last chapter - do I need to slow it down a bit? I know LTL chapters over the past few years have always taken several months to be posted, so I know I'm breaking the pattern by updating regularly again, but I would hope this is a good thing! ^_^ But if you guys want me to slow down a bit, I can. Let me know.

2. Do you guys like the "previously on" section at the beginnings of chapters? I know Ada liked them for one, but does it work for the rest of you? And those of you who do like it, should it be a bit shorter - as it seems to take up quite a large part of the post now - or is that totally okay for you guys as readers?

And a couple of things I just wanted to note down:

1. This is Chapter 74, and, incidentally, some of the events referred to in this chapter originally happened in Chapter 47. Just thought I'd note that 1) the numbers were the reverse of one another and 2) that's how long it's taken for something I foreshadowed in 2004 to come to fruition now, at long last.

2. Remember when I changed the name of Book III to "LTL III: Rogue"? Well, scrap that: I've reverted to the original title. So, Book III (this current tome) is now (once again) entitled: Lisa the Legend III: Revelation.

Hope you enjoy this one, guys. And again, if I'm going too fast with these and you'd like more time to R&R between chapters, let me know!

Cheers!

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

Previously on Lisa the Legend:


Lisa and Gavin discovered the apparently dead body of a legendary beast on their return trek from Port Valeo:


Raikou, the legendary beast of electricity, was lying spread-eagled on the rocky ground of the gorge, clearly dead. Lisa stared at the beast, completely overcome with disbelief and confusion. The creature did not appear to be breathing; it’s chest was not moving at all and it’s yellow underbelly was oozing blood from a deep gash. The image seemed familiar to Lisa, but she could not recall why.

“ Oh – oh my God …” Lisa gaped, unable to articulate her shock.



Lisa discovered the truth of her relationship to the Legend ...



Her father was still speaking, but Lisa heard his voice as if he were calling to her down a cold, dark well. “When you were four years old, Suicune bound itself to you, Lisa. I was there … I saw too late what happened … there was nothing I could do … And so the same thing happened to Lance and Azura … Darius became bound to Entei, and Marina to Raikou … everything changed … by the Legend, it means you kids … the three of you … are now the ones bound to protect the secret … guard the legendaries … you are the ones …”



... and the truth of her relationship to Suicune:



“Exactly,” Dad said. “The only way anyone can take the fragment of key hidden within the Sepulchre of Suicune is to have you enter it, Lisa, as you are the guardian of Suicune. That’s why the Union tracked you down so vehemently over the past four months, Lisa; that’s why you’ve been the object of their attacks so many times. Once they possessed you, they could effectively force you into the Sepulchre of Suicune, once they found it, and lo and behold, they’d be a step closer to having all the keys and finally having access to the secret in the shrine of the legendaries.”



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



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

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

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

“Why the hell not?”

Lisa fought the urge to snap at him.

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



And Lisa's date with destiny came to a tragic end:



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

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

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

“N-nearly done,” Lisa quavered.

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


+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

Chapter 74 – The Diary.


“Nooooo!”

Blood trickled from Suicune’s dead body onto Lisa’s arms.

Tears splattered from her cheeks onto the bloodsoaked sapphire floor of the Sepulchre, the scene lit by the surreal glow of the azure torchlight.

“No, no, no …”

She repeated the word to herself a million times, a tormented mantra sustaining her through the horrific sight of the mangled corpse strewn before her. Vaguely, she was aware of the Sepulchre shaking more violently than ever, but it all seemed rather irrelevant.

The creature that had guarded her from the beginning – who had just revealed the truth about the Sepulchres – the real truth – was gone forever.

She tried to ignore the rising tide of betrayal in her chest; the mounting certainty that Suicune had never intended to just ‘spill some blood’: he had tricked her into murdering him.

The cavern lurched violently again. There was a metallic clatter: the golden tabernacle, previously affixed to the sapphire wall, had been thrown to the floor by the force of the tremor, its gold bracket twisted and broken.

The fragment!

Lisa’s eyes scrambled over the floor: Suicune had said that the fragment of the key would be released after his death … but where was it?

Her eyes came to the bloody body still leaking over her arms. The visceral smell of it hit her suddenly and her vision blurred. Mustering all her strength, and closing her eyes as she did it, Lisa yanked her arms and the sceptre from beneath Suicune’s broken form; there was a disturbing sucking noise and she felt some slimy organ slide over her hands as she finally extracted them.

She opened her eyes: her arms and sleeves were completely soaked in red blood and small morsels of flesh. Somehow, the urge to vomit did not overcome her: the shock was simply too great.

Unexpectedly, the crystal blade at the head of the sceptre in her hands, despite being covered in blood, too, was glowing: instead of transparent white, it was now as blue as any of the tiny sapphires that encrusted the silver sceptre itself, and even more resplendent: it looked almost like it was pulsating.

Lisa’s fuzzy mind tried to connect the dots. Suicune had said the sceptre was not the fragment. And yet, he had also claimed his death was not necessary to obtaining the fragment. Lisa shook her head. Surely he wouldn’t completely mislead her … the key must be elsewhere in the cave …

On her knees, she shuffled over to the golden tabernacle and shook it vigourously, but nothing fell out of it. She scanned the cleft where it had previously resided, but there was no sign of any key there, either. Desperate, she glanced up at the azure torches affixed to the wall and saw that one of them had been extinguished.

For a moment, her eyes were glued to the top of the sconce. The extinguished torch was comprised not of a thin wooden rod but rather, a tiny, ornately-shaped stick of what looked like glass.

Lisa hauled herself to her feet and, gripping the sceptre in her left hand, reached her right hand tentatively up into the sconce; however, it was not hot to the touch: on the contrary, it was cold, as if a flame had not burned in it for centuries. Lisa closed her fingers over the piece of glass-like material and pulled it out with ease.

She held it up to the light of the still-burning azure torch: barely an inch long, it was made of clear crystal and featured a series of small bittings and a shallow groove down its length.

Feeling nothing, Lisa tucked the fragment into the tightest, most secure pocket in Jamie’s jeans.

She had taken about two steps toward the enormous doorway when the Sepulchre heaved its almighty final tremor. She fell to the floor, slamming the side of her face into the sapphire and almost losing the sceptre as around her the Sepulchre of Suicune tore itself to shreds: the torches collapsed from the wall as if there was nothing fixing them to it; they clattered to the floor and, in the same instant, the cleft in the wall suddenly exploded, showering the chamber in a fine mist of sapphire dust before, unexpectedly, an enormous jet of water gushed into the Sepulchre from where the cleft had been.

The volume of water gushing into the tiny chamber was immense: before Lisa had even reacted, water had covered the floor of the entire Sepulchre and was splashing against the closed doors and Suicune’s destroyed corpse. The final torch – still burning on the floor – fizzled out underwater; the only source of light came from the sapphire luminescence of the sceptre.

Lisa lifted her head from the floor just in time to avoid a mouthful of water. Her head was throbbing. She squinted through the pain and realised that the Sepulchre would fill with water in a matter of a minute or so; amid the cacophonous roar of the incoming flood of water, she gripped the sceptre, clambered awkwardly to her feet and, patting her pockets, waded for the door, the foamy water already swirling around her knees.

She never reached the door. Just as the water level reached her thigh, there was a deep, resonant crack beneath her that reverberated through her entire body; it sounded like an iceberg breaking apart.

Her feet searched the floor and found empty space.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!”

Surrounded by a whirl of cold, foaming water, Lisa plummeted into a crevasse, propelled by the water. Holding her breath and barely able to shield her head and face with her arms, she slid down a dark, narrow tunnel for a terrifying twenty seconds, her face battered by water and dank air, until, quite abruptly, the rock tunnel around her disappeared, replaced by cool, fresh air and blinding sunlight; but before her eyes adjusted to the brightness, she was plunged underwater again.

Her lungs were about to burst. Eyes darting around the pearly, submarine landscape, Lisa realised with a rush of relief where she was. Kicking furiously, she propelled herself to the surface, emerging, exhausted, in the middle of Lotus Lake.

She glanced up: a waterfall was now cascading from the hole in the rocky cliff face that she had shot out from. The water frothed and eddied around her shoulders, the noise of the cascade and the tingle of bubbles popping on her skin forming an unlikely residue of the terror chamber from whence they had come.

“Lisa!”

Though it was Gavin’s panicked voice that reached her from the shoreline, it was Marina’s strong, well-practised arms that took her under the shoulders and pulled her back toward the shallows.

“Are you okay?” Marina panted breathlessly, hauling Lisa’s weight along with her as she sidestroked in Gavin’s direction.

Lisa murmured something unclear: she wasn’t even quite sure of what she had said. She felt dazed, the horrible reality of what had happened in the Sepulchre chasing her mind. She knew she ought to help Marina by kicking her legs, but every droplet of energy seemed to have left her.

“There we go,” Marina said gently as they reached the shore.

The pebbles grazing her arm shook Lisa from her daze. She sat up gingerly, blinking against the sun, before clambering out of the shallow water and onto dry land.

Gavin knelt down beside them and placed a hand on Lisa’s shoulder.

“Lisa, what happened to you?!” he demanded anxiously.

Lisa followed his eyes down to her formerly green-and-black T-shirt and ripped jeans: although the rush of water had given her a thorough clean, everything was now stained with Suicune’s blood.

“It’s not mine,” she managed, forcing words past the lump in her throat.

She felt, rather than saw, Gavin and Marina exchange glances.

“Are you okay? Did you get the key?” Gavin pressed.

“I got it,” Lisa said weakly, patting her pocket.

Both Gavin and Marina beamed; Gavin’s elation extended itself into a mighty whoop.

“That’s awesome!”

Marina’s smile, however, tumbled into a concerned grimace.

“What happened, Lisa?”

Lisa felt Marina’s gaze burning the side of her face, but she couldn’t bear to make eye contact. A wave of something like shame, or guilt, overcame her: she couldn’t shake the knowledge that, even if Suicune had conned her, it had been at her hand – thanks to her own naïveté – that he had died. The fact that she had retrieved the key fragment was meaningless: all she could think about was Gavin and Marina’s faces when they discovered what she had done in the Sepulchre; when they found out that Suicune was dead.

“Lisa? Are you alright? Tell us what happened in there …”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Her voice was quite as empty as her heart. She rose to her feet.

“We should head back,” she announced robotically, looking in Gavin and Marina’s direction but deliberately fixing her eyes on the waterfall behind them.

Without waiting for a response, she turned and strode aggressively toward the main path, her bones groaning silently and her eyes brimming with salt.

*

“Food and drinks are on me,” Marina chirped, brandishing a fifty dollar note and smiling encouragingly at Lisa.

Lisa couldn’t manage a proper smile back, instead briefly parting her lips and flashing her teeth in an apologetic gesture to show Marina that she knew what she was trying to do, but it wasn’t going to work.

“Lisa, what do you want?”

“Nothing, I’m fine.”

She didn’t know why she said it. The walk back from Lotus Lake had been long so far, and the sun had given her a headache.

“Right … okay … Gav?”

Gavin was scrutinising a row of protein bars at the counter with a look of mingled contempt and curiosity.

“Coke and a burger. No, I’ll pay, it’s cool …”

“I’ll find a table,” Lisa muttered, only half sure that they had heard her.

She pushed through the queue for the slushie machine and navigated her way through the crowded cafeteria. They had stopped for a rest break at Gatehouse 42, a popular hangout for trainers and travellers situated at the west end of the National Park. The gatehouse was particularly busy today: it was a Wednesday afternoon and by the looks of it, the results of the some kind of special Bug-Catching Contest – ‘Weedly Wednesdays’ – had just been announced; groups of teenagers Lisa’s age or younger were clustered in the lounge, boisterously comparing their finds.

“Well, I was going to go for like a Butterfree or something pretty like that,” a blonde girl gabbled to her friends as Lisa pushed past, “but I decided on a Caterpie, because I want to really take part in her evolutionary journey and, like, really be there for her at each step, you know?”

“That’s so, like, down to earth, Tahnee,” cooed an almost identical-looking girl.

Lisa’s frown – already a firm fixture on her face – deepened.

She eventually located an empty table at the back of the cafeteria, positioned right underneath an extravagant floor-to-ceiling poster of local personality Kipp Anderson. Her muscles breathed a deep sigh of relief as she sank into the wooden chair, and yet she was already itching to escape. While walking, she at least had plenty of fresh air and silence to calm her down; on the contrary, Gatehouse 42 was a throbbing adolescent hangout, complete with a miniature game arcade, beanbag-laden lounge and buoyant dance-pop music blasting through the speakers. The vibe was insouciant, and nothing could have been further from how she felt.

She stared into the sugar bowl on the white table. The walk had mellowed her somewhat, but she still felt numb with shock and disbelief. Almost unconsciously, she tipped some sugar crystals onto the table and drew lines and patterns through them with her fingers.

“Grub’s up!” came Gavin’s voice.

He and Marina appeared at the table with a red plastic tray loaded with three plates and several drinks.

“I said I didn’t want anything,” Lisa said shortly, as Marina placed a burger, salad and chips before her.

“I know, Lisa, and I know you’re in a funny mood, but that doesn’t mean your body stops needing nourishment,” she said matter-of-factly, placing a tall glass beside the plate. “I got you an iced coffee because I know you love them, and a bottle of water too in case you’re dehydrated.”

Lisa bristled and pushed the glass away deliberately.

“Uh-oh, it’s serious now,” Gavin laughed. “She’s even refusing coffee.”

“Could you just shut up and not be a complete tosser, for just once in your life?” Lisa snarled.

Gavin blinked.

“I was just muckin’ around, Leese.”

“Yeah, well, for once just stop making light about serious things,” Lisa spat. “Just stop it. You have no idea what I just went through so stop treating it like I’m overreacting or something!”

“Well, how are we meant to know what you went through if you won’t even tell us?” Gavin shot back.

Lisa felt a sudden urge to punch him in the face; before she could, however, Marina stepped in.

“Guys, chill. Gavin, just –” She stopped short; Gavin muttered the word “mustard” and left the table swiftly. “– just do that then …” She turned to Lisa, an exasperated expression on her face. “Lisa, I know what you’ve been through was probably really hard –”

“You have no idea!”

“Well, actually I do, Lisa.”

She stared soberly into Lisa’s eyes until, suddenly, comprehension dawned on Lisa, a cold veil draped over her shoulders, chilling her core.

“Oh … oh my God …”

“Yeah. I was there when the Union entered the Sepulchre of Raikou, remember? I mean, I was their key to getting in, obviously.”

“You should have told us the truth about that when we rescued you,” Lisa said shortly. “Why didn’t you?”

“I already told you, I was … in shock. Kind of like you are now, Lisa.” Marina stirred her milkshake distractedly with her straw. “I just wanted to get home and tell my mum what had happened … Surely you can understand that?”

Lisa hesitated. “Yeah, I can, I’m sorry. It just hurt when I found out you already knew about the Legend …”

“I didn’t know that much. Still don’t,” she replied bracingly. “But I’ve been through the Sepulchre thing myself so maybe I know a little how you feel.”

Lisa’s flesh turned to goosebumps. Oddly, her heart felt a little lighter. If Marina had entered the Sepulchre of Raikou, she too must have had to perform the same ritual as Lisa. The image of Raikou’s dead body sprawled in the Ikoswit gorge resurfaced in her mind. Had the fatal gash on Raikou’s underbelly been Marina’s work after all?

Marina looked around fervently and lowered her voice so that only Lisa could hear her. “I know I was terrified when the Union took me down to the Sepulchre of Raikou. It was terrifying. Having to battle those Spinarak, walking in the dark tunnels wondering if they were going to collapse in on me …”

“Did you do it or did he make you?” Lisa said all at once.

Marina’s eyebrow tilted sharply.

“What?”

“Raikou. Did he talk you into killing him or did he trick you, like Suicune tricked me?”

Marina’s jaw went slack.

“What?! You mean Suicune – you killed – he’s dead?!”

She clapped her hand to her mouth, eyes wide with shock.

Electric terror buzzed through Lisa’s mind.

“You said you’d been through the same thing!” she hissed.

“Lisa – oh my God … what did you do?”

“It wasn’t my fault!” Lisa whispered quickly, her face burning and eyes prickling. “He made me! He tricked me! He said the only way to get the key fragment was to spill his blood. He –” The tears began to flow freely. “– he forced me to do it. I didn’t have a choice.”

“Oh God … Leese …”

Marina’s arms were around her at once; Lisa let go and, silently and unabashedly, she let the tears fall on Marina’s shoulder for a minute, unperturbed by the whispering of some nearby teens.

“You poor thing,” Marina said presently, rubbing her back.

Feeling as though a great weight had lifted from her chest, Lisa wiped her eyes on the dirty sleeve of her black T-shirt and pulled away from Marina. Even in her fragile state, her mind was churning: something wasn’t adding up.

“Marina,” she said slowly, reaching for her iced coffee and taking a quick, revitalising sip. “Are you telling me Raikou didn’t make you do that at all?”

Marina’s brow furrowed.

“No, of course not.” Her eyes bulged suddenly. “No, the Union had both me and Raikou captured and they made us both enter the Sepulchre against our will. I was blindfolded and handcuffed to that bitch, Veronica …”

“Then how did they get the key fragment?” Lisa pressed urgently, almost forgetting to keep her voice at a whisper. Something was bubbling inside her chest.

“Well, I never saw,” Marina admitted slowly. “I know they attacked Raikou and then, I dunno, I heard them moving around. They said they’d got the fragment. They were really happy. And then we bolted, because the Sepulchre started to self-destruct or something – there were massive explosions … it was terrifying …”

Lisa remembered laying on the beach and hearing the first of those explosions, distantly, through the forest.

“So you never actually saw them get the fragment.”

“Well, no, as I said … but Leese, they’d got it, obviously, otherwise they wouldn’t be celebrating.” Marina stirred her milkshake nervously. “What are you thinking?”

“Just before it happened, Suicune told me that only I could access the key fragment. Only the human Guardian, with his sceptre, may spill the blood of the Legendary Guardian and claim the key fragment. That’s what he said.”

Marina frowned. “Sceptre?”

“I think that backs up my case even more,” Lisa said pensively. Her mind was accelerating now, darting to new conclusions. “Marina, what if Raikou duped the Union and gave them a fake key fragment?”

“How could he have done that?”

Lisa shrugged. “I don’t know, but let’s say he did. Let’s imagine there’s some kind of inbuilt safeguard in the whole set-up, you know, in case the wrong people get access to the Sepulchre. That would mean the real key fragment is still sitting there. That would mean that Raikou is still alive!”

“Leese, it’s a bit out there. Maybe there’s more than one way to get the fragment.”

“If there is, why would Suicune voluntarily choose the one where he has to, you know … be killed?”

“Maybe it doesn’t have to be the Guardian who does it, though,” Marina ventured, although her voice wavered.

“Suicune said it did. Only the human Guardian may spill his blood and claim the key fragment. I’m telling you, this adds up …”

“You said he tricked you once, though. Maybe it’s not true.”

“He tricked me into killing him by telling me I only had to make a flesh wound. Then he –” Lisa steeled herself. “– threw himself onto the sceptre and killed himself.” She took a hearty gulp of iced coffee. “He knew all along what he was doing. It’s true.”

Marina mulled it over for a moment.

“Lisa, if you’re right,” she said evenly. “This could be huge.”

“I know …”

“I … I could retrieve the fragment myself. Do you think Raikou would be at his Sepulchre still?”

“Suicune appeared to me the moment we got to Lotus Lake. He wanted me to get the fragment. Maybe Raikou wants the same thing. Maybe they planned it together.”

Abruptly, Marina’s mobile phone vibrated violently on the white table. Despite the phone being set on silent, the resonance of the vibrations was not too far from deafening.

“It’s just Lance’s office again,” Marina said dismissively, talking over the top of the vibration. “They’ve been calling me and Gavin all day, more or less.”

The vibrating ceased. Marina seized the opportunity and switched her mobile off.

“If we can give them two fragments at the end of all this,” she said, “they might not hate us quite as much for not telling them what we’re up to.” She sighed. “Mum must be going absolutely spare.”

“We’re doing the right thing,” Lisa said firmly.

“Then why do I feel so guilty?” Marina demanded. Her voice was suddenly frail, though her face remained tightly drawn. “Seriously, Lisa,” she pressed, “I keep thinking about what I did, not getting on that plane. Mum and everyone will be so worried about me.”

“We’ll tell them what’s going on as soon as we can,” Lisa said uneasily; she wasn’t used to Marina showing any vulnerability, nor was she sure that she possessed the emotional strength to comfort Marina so soon after needing such comfort herself.

“And I fought so hard to be allowed to go to Red Rock to get you. Mum too. She’s going to absolutely slaughter me.” She bit her lip and swallowed what must have been a lump of anxiety in her throat before leaning toward Lisa. “If we go after this second fragment, that’s the end of it, right? We give them to the Guard and go back to the safe house, as sucky as it is, yeah?”

Lisa squirmed. She had not yet communicated to Marina – at least, not fully – her distrust of the Guard and its members. The knowledge of how easily the organisation had been infiltrated in the past disconcerted her. However, the potential acquisition of a second fragment offered a solution to a dilemma she had until now been unable to solve: what to do with the first fragment. If they managed to acquire both fragments, perhaps they could give Marina’s to the Guard, while she, Lisa, hid hers somewhere only known to her.

“Yeah, I think that sounds about right,” she replied.

“This is exciting, though,” Marina said eagerly, her voice regaining its usual confidence. “Getting another fragment, by ourselves …”

“You’d have to, you know, kill Raikou, though,” said Lisa solemnly.

“Mm. I know. But … if it’s how it’s meant to be, it’s how it’s meant to be, right?”

“Guess so.”

“And if the fragment’s not there, or Raikou doesn’t want to enter the Sepulchre, we haven’t lost anything …”

“I know,” Lisa said, and she was a little surprised that she finally managed a smile.

With a subtle cough, Gavin returned to the table, mustard bottle in hand, and sat down heavily in his seat.

“What took you so long?” Marina asked brashly.

Gavin lifted the top of his burger and squirted an obscene volume of mustard onto the top of the beef patty.

“What kind of tight arses run this place? I had to fight the rest of the cafeteria for the one and only bottle of mustard. Well,” he smirked, looking up at Lisa, “that, and I wanted to give someone’s hormones a chance to return to normal levels.”

Lisa winced.

“I’m sorry Gav, I know I totally snapped at you before. I’m really sorry.”

“Forgiven,” Gavin shrugged, picking up his burger and regarding its dripping form almost lustily. “So, what’d I miss?”

Lisa’s honey-brown eyes met Marina’s laughing hazel ones.

“You tell him – I’m starving,” Lisa said, tucking into her burger heartily.

*

The beep of a new text message arriving woke the woman from a sleep riddled with bad dreams.

Her hand scrambled on the nightstand and found the pink-and-silver mobile phone; the time on the phone was 1:21 AM.

1 new message received – Joe.

She opened the message, rubbing her eyes vigorously.

Check your emails. You fly to Goldenrod City tomorrow. Told you I’d have the 3rd Key’s location within 24 hours.

“Bastard,” Veronica Stawell smirked.

*

A soft-skinned hand touched Lisa’s arm.

“Lisa, it’s just me, Marina.”

“Mmmph.”

“I know it’s early but you wanted us to wake you up before we left, remember?”

“Before we go-goed, even.”

“At least you make yourself laugh, Gavin. Leese? C’mon, wake up.”

“Here, let me.”

The soft hand was replaced with a rougher, tighter grip. Gavin shook her gently before, all of a sudden, a blast of cold air rushed over Lisa’s body.

“Gavin, you idiot!” Lisa cried, finally torn from her half-slumber.

“That’s mean, Gav,” came Marina’s voice.

“Works every time, though.”

Deprived of her covers and shivering, Lisa opened her eyes. Gavin and Marina stood before her, rucksacks already loaded on their backs. Satisfied that Lisa was now fully awake, Gavin graciously returned her doona, smirking.

“So you guys are off already then?” Lisa murmured, tightening the doona around her body. She glanced at the clock on Dave’s bedroom wall: it was only six o’clock in the morning.

“Yeah, Mel said she’d give us some breakfast before we leave,” Gavin explained.

Lisa nodded in comprehension. After returning to Gavin’s dingy apartment in Goldenrod City the previous night, the trio had plotted the next step in their plans over another round of greasy pizzas and soft drinks. Emerald Plains – the location of the Ikoswit Gorge and the Sepulchre of Raikou – was a long walk away, a couple of weeks at least, but after calling his old friend Melanie (“She owes me a favour.”), Gavin was able to persuade her to drive them to Emerald Plains in her car.

“Are you sure we can trust Mel, though?” Lisa had demanded, licking mozzarella off her fingers. “We can’t alert anyone to what we’re up to.”

“She was my Uncle Eusine’s best friend and companion, and she always looked out for me ever since my parents – well – you guys know the story. She’s a real friend, and she’d never rat us out, I’d bet my life on it. Besides, we won’t tell her any of the dirty details.”

“Alright,” Lisa had said eventually, “I trust your judgment.”

“My biggest worry,” Marina had said, brandishing a slice of margarita pizza, “is that the Union will catch us, and we’ll lose the one fragment we’ve got. Maybe we should split up?”

“I agree,” Gavin had said.

“Yep, me too,” Lisa had nodded vehemently. “I don’t want to do all that work just to run the risk of losing the key we gained. How about I stay here with the key and you guys go with Mel, then?”

In the end, her suggestion became the adopted plan, though she did not disclose to the others that her other motivation for staying behind was to recover from the previous day’s ordeal. Nevertheless, she sensed they were both quite sensitive to her emotional state: Marina had given her an enormous hug goodnight, and even Gavin had offered to let her have the final slice of pizza, a thoroughly out-of-character gesture.

“Well, good luck then,” Lisa said, embracing Marina warmly and patting her on the back. “Stay safe, won’t you?”

“Please!” grinned Marina, winking; her Guardian Butterfree hovered resolutely over her shoulder.

Gavin moved forward and swept Lisa into a forceful hug.

“Don’t answer the door to strangers,” he said, mock-seriously. “Look both ways before you cross the street.”

“You too,” Lisa chuckled.

As they parted, Lisa felt Gavin’s lips brush gently against her cheek, almost missing her skin entirely, but the move was so swift it was impossible for her to tell if it was merely an accident or if he had tried to kiss her.

In any case, his chestnut-brown eyes did not betray his intention. He simply smiled and waved cheerily.

“See you tonight, hopefully, or tomorrow morning. We’ll text you, okay?”

“Cool.”

“Seeya Leese!” Marina called, waving as she left the room.

“Seeya guys! Take care! Bye!”

They left, closing the door of Dave’s room on their way out. A moment later, Lisa heard the front door click shut.

She considered going back to sleep, but already her mind was buzzing. Although it had really been her idea to stay behind, she suddenly felt left out. Already, Gavin and Marina were embarking on an adventure that she wouldn’t be a part of.

She sighed heavily and stared at the low ceiling. Maybe there was such a thing as too much adventure. Had she become perversely addicted to it, after everything that had happened? After all, most of her experiences had been terrifying or almost fatal at the time; it was only when she looked back upon them that they became exciting rather than scary. Was she some kind of warped adrenaline junkie?

She quickly tired of watching dust motes float around Dave’s smelly room. With sunlight breaking through the venetian blinds, she realised that sleep was going to elude her for good, and so she decided to take a shower.

The bathroom in Gavin and Dave’s apartment was quite as depressingly decorated as the rest of the place. Small brown and cream tiles covered the floor and walls, the grouting between them a sinister black colour: it seemed the bathroom had not seen a mop or sponge for months, if ever. The basin was littered with a small cluster of men’s products – hair wax, shaving cream, cologne – most of them coated in their own residue.

Lisa stripped off her dirty clothes and regarded herself in the dingy, spotted mirror. She had obtained quite a few bruises in the Sepulchre. Aside from the one on her cheek, she had also received a nasty purple bruise below her right breast and a graze on her stomach. She stared at length at her short, bleached blonde hair. It still amazed her how different she looked with it: she could have been an entirely different person, as far as the Union were concerned. She spent several minutes, too, obsessing a little over her eyes: how tired they now looked, compared to when she had been at Redwood Hospital.

Already, it seemed like another lifetime. Yet another.

Eventually tearing herself from the mirror, she pulled the stained and slightly mouldy shower curtain back and ran the water. The pressure wasn’t great, but there was enough of a stream for her to stand under, and it was hot. She spent the better part of a half hour under the warmth of the cascade, letting the water massage her head and cleanse her eyelids. She soaped and rinsed herself three times over before she finally felt that the last of Suicune’s blood was completely off of her; that she was a clean human being once again. By the end of the shower, she even found herself humming her favourite Julienne Brextar song, albeit a slightly slowed-down version.

Draping the spare towel around herself, Lisa stepped out of the shower recess. As she rubbed her hair dry, her eyes fell on something brown that had half-fallen out of the pocket of her jeans.

The diary!

Though she had not forgotten about the small, leather-bound diary that she had discovered within the Sepulchre, it had certainly been pushed from her mind by the excitement of Gavin and Marina’s new quest. She rapidly finished drying herself off, pulled on a pair of knickers, a pair of blue jeans and a black top – all of which Marina had loaned her – and, removing the diary and the crystalline key fragment from the pocket of Jamie’s jeans, took them back into Dave’s bedroom.

Sitting down on the end of the bed, she hastily pocketed the fragment before running her palm over the smooth front cover of the leather-bound diary. Suicune had said it would be useful to her later – what could possibly be within?

Her skin tingling, she twisted the tiny gold latch on the side of the diary and opened it up to its first page. Written on the thick, yellowing, parchment-like paper in slanted black ink was Johto’s old mantra:

Freedom, equality, brotherhood.

And just below those words, a longer dedication:

For the exclusive eyes of any son of the Walters family:
may this aid your quest to do what is right
and to fight corruption in all its many forms.
Ryan, if you should find this, please do not judge your father too harshly
– and of you, Thomas, or any of your descendants, I ask the same –
if and when you should read this,
The Diary of Theodore Walters

“Oh my God,” Lisa gasped.

In her hands was the diary of her grandfather.

*

A strong hand rapped purposefully on the roughly-hewn door of the seaside shack.

“It’s pretty quiet inside,” noted Gideon, standing a few paces back from the door and wiping his sunglasses on the inside of his black T-shirt. “If they’re in there, they saw us coming.”

Giles, the shorter of the two, leaned impatiently against the door, before recoiling sharply.

“Haha! What was that all about, dude?” Gideon guffawed.

“Splinter,” snapped Giles, readjusting his own aviators in an attempt to regain composure. “Shut up, someone’s coming.”

The door creaked open. A young man with dusty golden hair and muscular, tattooed arms extending from a blue wife-beater stood on the other side of the threshold, looking as though he had just woken up.

“Can I help ya?”

“Hi there, sorry if I woke you. My name’s Giles and this is Gideon, we’re friends of Lisa Walters.”

A lopsided grin broke Jack Criddle’s tanned face; he extended a meaty, calloused hand.

“Ah, yer a mate o’ Leese’s ay? Nice t’ meet ya! Name’s Jack Criddle.”

“Nice to meet you too, Jack,” said Giles cheerily, shaking his hand. “Listen, we’re looking for Lisa and she said she was staying here with you. Is she in?”

“Leese? Nah mate, yeh missed ‘er by a coupla days ay!”

Giles exchanged a serious look with Gideon.

“Darn it. We really need to see her as soon as possible. Do you know where she is now?”

Jack scratched his head. “No idea mate, sorry! I dropped her an’ her mates off on the mainland on Monday, just outside of Olivine. But I dunno where they were off to.”

Giles fought the broad grin off his face.

“Oh right? Which mates were they again? Was it Marina Frost and Gavin Luper?”

“Yeah, that’s them ay. Gavin and Marina, yeah.”

“Terrific,” said Giles, his voice controlled. “Well, I can get in touch with Marina or Gavin and pass the message on to Lisa through them I suppose! Thanks for your help anyway, Jack. Sorry to have taken up your time!”

“Not at all, matey, not at all! Mates o’ Leese are mates o’ mine I reckon! Top sheila, she is!”

“I agree Jack, she’s a great friend,” Giles smiled, shaking Jack’s outstretched hand again; Gideon flashed a grin from his position near the letter box. “Thanks again.”

“Cheers!” Jack called.

Not until they were back on the coast road did Giles and Gideon begin to speak.

“Third time lucky, hey?” grinned Giles.

Gideon nodded.

“I kept an eye on the back exit while you were talking to Jack – nobody left the house,” said Gideon sleekly. “I also kept an eye on his tattoo – it’s pretty fucking cool.”

“You’re an idiot,” said Giles, retaining his professional tone. “So, either Jack’s lying – which I doubt, the dumb bugger told us pretty much everything we wanted him to – or all three kids have banded together for some reason and are now on the mainland.”

“Give Lance a call and let him know, then,” said Gideon, as they reached the restaurants and stalls that comprised the busy foreshore of Red Rock Island.

“Will do,” said Giles, pulling out his sleek, silver mobile phone and pressing ‘2’ on the speed dial.

*

“This is mad,” Lisa said to herself, flipping through the worn pages of her grandfather’s diary. There were entries in it dating back as far as the late 1960s, and very few were personal. Almost all the entries that Lisa skimmed through chronicled important discoveries that Theodore Walters made in regards to the Legend, and the history behind it.

Her heart drumming, Lisa forced herself to go back to the front page and start from the start. However, as she turned over from the title page, she felt her jaw drop once again: her grandfather had inscribed a brief table of contents in his own diary:

Pages 5 - 60 : Research notes, important discoveries, theories, journalling.
Pages 61 – 64 : Vital information for quick reference.

Lisa struggled with her own sense of restraint for a moment before flipping frantically to page 61. An amused smile crossed her face when she saw that her grandfather had even written a header – Vital information for quick reference – and underlined it twice with his fountain pen. Her eyes scanned the page greedily, but page 61 was a disappointment: the scrawled text was in the form of antiquated glyphs. A little nervous, she flipped over to page 62.

And her heart almost stopped.

[dratinihaunter13]

Hey there! I thought I'd read a chapter of your fic as well, and even though I'm lost on the background I really enjoyed it.

You do a great job at one of my favorite things - describing with all five senses. Often writers rely on lots of visual descriptions but you really set the scene multi-dimensionally. The visceral smell of the blood was great. I also love your handle on this story's pacing and content. You really own these characters, and I can tell by the immersed perspective that you can easily place yourself in each of their positions.

Another thing I like in fics, especially big long ones like this one, is when the author has the setting down to a tee. Technically, this is the pokemon world, but you're version of it is unique. Most importantly, you can easily operate within its limits because you know it so well. Plot twists, descriptions, everything comes across seamlessly when you have that command, and you certainly do.

The trio kinda reminded me of Harry Potter. Lisa (Harry), Marina (Hermione), and Gavin (Ron).

Awesome work! Congrats on 74 chapters!

[Sike Saner]

Damn. Some pretty memorable moments in that next-to-last chapter there...

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

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

Cue a couple of moments of fairly wide-eyed staring. Hindsight or something like it quickly turned it from a "...what?" moment into a bit more of an "oh shit... yeah, that would make sense" moment, but my point is that yeah, the way that it was executed made it initially hit as a surprise.

And then there was this:

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

I'd had my doubts that just wounding him would suffice from the moment that he offered that option. I suppose there is an element of "it's good that he had it in him to do what had to be done" on the one hand. On the other, gotta feel bad for Lisa seeing as how she was tricked. Not fun to have your hand forced.

And then the next chapter. Oh man. First the seeming reveal of Marina having done the same thing with Raikou as Lisa had with Suicune--immediately chased by the actual reveal of that not being the case. Two-hit combo right there. Very nicely executed.

And oh man, that ending. I wonder what she found there...

So anyway, yeah, I'd say switching the name of this part of the story back was a fitting move. Revelation indeed.

Oh. And one more thing:

“I know it’s early but you wanted us to wake you up before we left, remember?”

“Before we go-goed, even.”

Yes, I will admit it: that amused me. :B

[mistysakura]

What I love about this fic is how some plot twists simply scream "you should have seen this coming". Seriously, after we found out what happened to Lisa in the Sepulchre, we had all the imformation to piece together what Marina had/had not done, and yet it's still such a surprise. But I have a bad feeling about Marina and Gavin splitting up with Lisa. The tension between Gavin and Lisa was done really well; it stil surprises me how Gavin seems to take everything so lightly despite all he's been through, but it makes sense that he doesn't let his sombre side get to him. And I'm okay with the length of "previously on".

Probably shouldn't be expecting a new chapter until next month, eh?

[Gavin Luper]

Hola readers,

I just finished writing the epilogue to Lisa the Legend.

There was a moment of numbness, followed by a few unexpected tears (I rarely cry, so this is a big deal) and, now, a bottle of champagne and some generalised numbness.

It's now 2am, so I'm tired and wired and rapidly becoming tipsy, so I don't have my thoughts in order about all this yet, but I just wanted to share with you all who have stood by me and this story for so long that after ten whole years (TO THE DAY!) of Lisa the Legend being posted here on TPM, I have finished it at long last.

That means no more months of waiting between chapters; I can now say with confidence that chapters will be regular, because they are all written.

Writing the climax of the series was amazing, and I hope you guys enjoy it when it finally comes around. I just got Cadmus (aka. my bf) to read over the epilogue and he thinks it's a fitting conclusion to the entire series, and, might I add, "way better than the epilogue to Harry Potter" (though, as that was roundly criticised as being somewhat awful, that doesn't really praise my epilogue as much as say it's not horrible. But I'll take it.)

This feels fantastic.

This NaNoWriMo has been the biggest writing exercise I have ever undertaken. I wrote 120k words+.

More chapters coming soon, then, now that I no longer have to worry about plot holes!

I will reply to all your posts above when I am more coherent.

Thank you all for all your support over the last decade, and happy 10th birthday, and happy completion, to Lisa the Legend.



Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

Hello readers,

Although I finished LTL nearly two months ago now, it took me this long to be able to open the word document again. I think I needed time away - even though all I needed to do was proofread and edit each chapter before posting it. In any case, I've done it now, so here's the next chapter.

Three quick notes:

1. Firstly, now that I've started posting, I've decided each chapter will go up EVERY SECOND SUNDAY. I've hesitated to post regularly before for fear that nobody will read in time and will get left behind, but I'm doing it now, so please be advised that chapters will be fortnightly from now on.

2. Secondly, as chapters will be regular again, this chapter (chapter 75) will be the last one with the "previously on" segment beforehand. It's a bit time-consuming and won't really be needed now that updates are regular (I might include it when a chapter harks back to a really old chapter, though).

3. I'm reverting back to the other title for Book III of LTL. It's Lisa the Legend III: Rogue once again. You'll see why soon enough.

Without further ado, here's chapter 75 - hope you enjoy it! Chapter 76 will be up in two weeks!

Cheers!

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

Previously on Lisa the Legend:


Lisa discovered the truth of her relationship to the Legend ...



Her father was still speaking, but Lisa heard his voice as if he were calling to her down a cold, dark well. “When you were four years old, Suicune bound itself to you, Lisa. I was there … I saw too late what happened … there was nothing I could do … And so the same thing happened to Lance and Azura … Darius became bound to Entei, and Marina to Raikou … everything changed … by the Legend, it means you kids … the three of you … are now the ones bound to protect the secret … guard the legendaries … you are the ones …”



... and the truth of her relationship to Suicune:



“Exactly,” Dad said. “The only way anyone can take the fragment of key hidden within the Sepulchre of Suicune is to have you enter it, Lisa, as you are the guardian of Suicune. That’s why the Union tracked you down so vehemently over the past four months, Lisa; that’s why you’ve been the object of their attacks so many times. Once they possessed you, they could effectively force you into the Sepulchre of Suicune, once they found it, and lo and behold, they’d be a step closer to having all the keys and finally having access to the secret in the shrine of the legendaries.”



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



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

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

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

“Why the hell not?”

Lisa fought the urge to snap at him.

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



Lisa's date with destiny came to a tragic end:



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

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

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

“N-nearly done,” Lisa quavered.

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



And Lisa discovered that an old diary, left in the Sepulchre of Suicune decades ago, belonged to none other than her dead grandfather:



Lisa struggled with her own sense of restraint for a moment before flipping frantically to page 61. An amused smile crossed her face when she saw that her grandfather had even written a header – Vital information for quick reference – and underlined it twice with his fountain pen. Her eyes scanned the page greedily, but page 61 was a disappointment: the scrawled text was in the form of antiquated glyphs. A little nervous, she flipped over to page 62.

And her heart almost stopped.



+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+


Chapter 75 – Destiny Fulfilled.


Lisa stared in utter disbelief at page 62 of her grandfather’s leather-bound diary. The words on it encompassed a lifetime, surely; they certainly encompassed hers.

In her grandfather’s slanted fountain pen scrawl was written:

Locations of the Seven Keys

Key 1 – buried beneath the only mixed deposit of Moon Stone and Sun Stone located in cave m1-r3 of Mt. Moon in Kanto region. (see page 11)

Key 2 – secured beneath a glyph-engraved tablet in cave w3-b12 of Mt. Fairfax cavern system in Johto region. (see page 15)

Key 3 – planted within the Sacred Statue of Celebi, found in Ruins of Alph, grand mausoleum, later moved to foyer (!) of Blackthorn Museum of the Arts Goldenrod Radio Tower’s Museum Wing. (see page 22)

Key 4 – secured beneath a glyph-engraved tablet in the most blinding cave in the Silver Rock Island network. (see page 34)

Key 5 – still undetermined; but I have two main theories (see page 63)

Key 6 – 1/3 Sepulchre of Suicune (Lake of Purity Lotus Lake); 1/3 Sepulchre of Raikou (the Ikoswit Gorge, near Emerald Plains); 1/3 Sepulchre of Entei (Mt. Fairfax). (see page 47)

Key 7 – the most perplexing mystery of all.

The Iron Lock

It is written on a turquoise tablet that we found within the Ruins of Alph, in their ancient language:

“He who opens the Iron Lock will obtain the fire of the Phoenix.”*

*Hudson, Westwood and I have discussed this at length. It could mean ultimate power or eternal life or the ability to resurrect dead souls. Or all of these?

Lisa glanced at the final page of the diary, but it had been torn out.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!”

Lisa repeated the phrase what felt like a thousand times. She read and reread the information contained in the pages before her, completely mindblown by the enormity of her grandfather’s work. So was this what Suicune had referred to before they had entered the Sepulchre? Ultimate power or eternal life? They didn’t sound so horrible.

Disappointment tempered her excitement suddenly: here was the empirical proof that her grandfather had, indeed, known full well about the Legend and the Guardianship. Suicune had been right in assuming that he had lied about Bernard Hudson’s alleged ‘rediscovery’ of the Legend – he had played dumb, either for money or some other motive. With a mild surprise, she noted that Westwood, Hudson and her grandfather had evidently all worked together: that explained why the Union had been so keen to kidnap Westwood. Lisa realised, with another jolt, that it also explained why Westwood had been so hospitable to her, allowing her and Gavin to stay at his mansion in November: though he had never addressed it, he had known who she was; he had been friends, or at least colleagues, with her grandfather.

Lisa re-examined the diary. Unless her grandfather had been mistaken, he knew even more than the Guard seemed to about the power within the Iron Lock. Lisa’s mind buzzed. Eternal life? It couldn’t be. The ramifications of that would be too titanic to fathom …

Her skin broke into gooseflesh. The thought of eternal life danced before her brain. What did that mean? Eternal life for the person who opened the Iron Lock? Eternal life for all? How could that be the same power that Suicune described as terrible?

For the first time, the fire within her flickered. If she tried to dispose of her key fragment, or hide it somewhere unfindable, the Union would never be able to access the ‘fire of the Phoenix’. At the same time, it would be her decision for the world to never discover the full extent of the magic within the Iron Lock.

She shook her head, trying to clear it of the clotting confusion, and instead flipped back and forth through the diary, amazed. The work that must have gone into acquiring all that knowledge must have been tremendous. How had he discovered so much? And why had he kept it a secret, and not passed it on to Ryan? Why had he decided to store it, of all places, in the supposedly never-to-be-entered Sepulchre of Suicune?

Flabbergasted, Lisa stared at the description of the third key’s location. Had she really been mere metres away from the Third Key, back in October? The Museum Wing was an opulent annex of the Radio Tower, standing slightly separate from the tower proper. Lisa frowned. Had the statue survived the Radio Tower’s collapse in October? Had it been destroyed, blown to pieces, perhaps, and the Third Key found by a staff member or, worse, a Union agent?

Her heart, almost vibrating, was attempting to occupy her throat: if the statue hadn’t been destroyed, did that mean the Third Key was still located in this very city, only a few kilometres away?

She had to find out.

After noting with dismay that the last page of the diary had been torn out – and roughly – she flipped back to the front page of the diary and stared curiously at the dedication. Something definitely wasn’t adding up … but now was hardly the time to dwell on it. Lisa clapped the diary shut, locked the tiny gold bolt in place and slipped the diary back into her jeans. Her heart still racing, she pulled on her sunglasses, shoes and socks and ran into the living room before stopping abruptly in her tracks.

She hesitated anxiously: her mind had darted to the key fragment in her pocket. If she went outside and by a turn of bad luck was captured by some Union agent, the fragment that Gavin and Marina had entrusted her with – and their greatest weapon against the Union – would be lost too.

She scanned the apartment for somewhere unassuming to hide the fragment. She would only be gone for a couple of hours at the most, probably: she needed somewhere inconspicuous just in case. Returning to Dave’s room, she hunted through the messy chest of drawers by his bedside.

“Oh, perfect!” she giggled, after fishing through the mess of the bottom drawer. Among Dave’s boxers and briefs, a couple of chains, a belt, a sea of old receipts, a belt buckle, a deflated football and some loose change, she had found a box of condoms. Unable to suppress another giggle, she opened the half-empty box and dropped the fragment into it. She hesitated. If someone broke in and shook the box, they’d hear something odd within. Or was she being too paranoid?

Sure that all would be fine, she closed the drawer and then, vacillating, opened it up and reopened the box. Feeling slightly as though she had strayed into forbidden waters, she used the sharp edge of the key to make a tiny incision in one of the condom packets, and then slid the fragment into the packet completely. She closed the box up and rattled it: it was impossible to tell that there was anything unusual within. Laughing at her own thoroughness, she hid the box well in the sea of clutter in the drawer and went to wash her hands in the bathroom.

Jogging back through the apartment, she noticed a note on the bench from Marina:

Hey Leese,

I know you’re too proud to take this from me face to face, but I also know you’re out of cash, so here’s some dough for food, male company, etc.

Love you,

Marina.

And at that exact moment, Marina’s mobile buzzed in Lisa’s pocket. She checked the screen: a text had come through from Gavin’s phone:

breakfast over, on the road now wooo! stay safe! M. xo

Lisa grinned; Marina’s sign-off had given her a James Bond flashback. Feeling incredibly grateful, she took the three fifty-dollar bills from beneath the note and, pocketing them and the key to Gavin’s apartment, she left.

*

The owner of the Internet café on Madison Street was surly and his rates were excessively dear (five dollars for half an hour), but Lisa paid happily and scrambled to get online at the nearest computer terminal. She tapped her fingernails on the desk impatiently as the homepage loaded, image by image, and then, finally, she typed in the search bar, ‘Sacred Statue of Celebi’ and clicked on the online encyclopaedia entry that popped up first on the list of results:

Antoknossos’ Celebi

Antoknossos’ Celebi (pictured), also known as the Sacred Statue of Celebi, is one of the most renowned works of art extracted from the Ruins of Alph in the Johto province.

The statue is a feat of ancient sculpture. Constructed by Alphian sculptor and poet, Adrian Antoknossos (1305 – 1351), it is comprised of almost pure jade, standing at a staggering 1.8 metres high and up to a metre wide. The piece is notable for the fact that it was sculpted not from one block of stone, but from two blocks that Antoknossos fused together to create a perfectly symmetrical statue. The work dates back as far as 1339 and is considered by many to be Antoknossos’ master work.

Finally extracted from the Ruins of Alph in 1975, the statue was initially housed in the Blackthorn Museum of the Arts from 1975 through to 1982, when it was purchased by Charles Druos for the Museum Wing of the newly-constructed Goldenrod Radio and Communications Tower (Radio Tower). Though the statue survived the 2002 Radio Tower Collapse, the Museum Wing itself was greatly damaged and had to be demolished. The statue is temporarily being stored in the Goldenrod City Library, pending the reconstruction of the Radio Tower, currently slated for early 2006.

Lisa bit her tongue with mingled excitement and wonder. She had learned about Antoknossos and his works at school: he was one of the most famous artists of his era. She shivered. So he had known about the keys, then. Was he an ancestor of her, Darius or Marina, perhaps? Or had the Guardians of that time simply entrusted him to protect the key for them?

She tapped her fingers on the desk again. How on earth was she supposed to extract a tiny key from within a solid block of jade, short of blowing it to smithereens? And how on earth was she meant to get away with it in a public place?

She pulled out the leather-bound diary and flipped through to page 22, looking for guidance. She squinted at her grandfather’s slanted writing, reading through his musings until she came to a diagram of Antoknossos’ Celebi, and a scrawled note from Theodore Walters:

According to the texts I have found, the key was embedded in the exact centre of the statue’s head, right behind the eyes.

“So now what?” Lisa mumbled aloud; the dark-skinned, dreadlocked girl at the computer beside her smirked and cast her an obtuse look. Lisa shrugged it off and went back to scanning the internet page, as though it would also offer information on how to extract hidden keys from within the statue.

After a few minutes, she gave up and left the Internet café, setting off down the crowded sidewalk of Madison Street toward Goldenrod’s Central Business District, where the library was located, hoping that some kind of genius idea would hit her before she got there.

*

The door of Lance Hudson’s drawing room swung open and he stepped into the stunningly well-lit reception area. Sarah sat at her desk, typing up an e-mail.

“Need a refill, Lance?” she asked blankly, tapping away at her computer.

“Not right now, Sarah. I have some great news from Giles and Gideon.”

“Ooh!”

Sarah tore her rust-coloured eyes from the screen and devoted her full attention to Lance who, having just returned from an important meeting, wore a black, pin-striped suit, complete with shiny shoes, a red silk tie and a grey fedora.

“What is it, then?” she asked.

“They just got confirmation about the kids from Jack Criddle, one of Lisa’s listed associates. It looks like all three of them – Lisa, Gavin and Marina – have banded together, like we thought. And apparently they’re now somewhere in mainland Johto, though we don’t know where.”

“Incredible,” Sarah breathed. “Man, I can’t believe them. What on earth are they up to?”

“And if they’re alive and well, why aren’t they answering their phones?” Lance added bitterly. “Anyway, Giles and Gideon are going to keep investigating for me, but in the meantime, I need you to get the heads of the teams together for a meeting ASAP so we can brief them on this. We’re going to need the whole Guard involved if we want to find them.”

“Righto!”

“Oh, and call Darius and tell him I need to see him right away.”

“I’m on it.”

*

The Goldenrod City Library was one of the oldest structures in the metropolis: an imposing edifice of white marble columns and ornately decorated windows, its eight levels cast half of Madison Street East into its shadow.

As Lisa stared up at the library, Marina’s mobile vibrated in her pocket. She took it out of her pocket and saw that a new message had come through from Darius Hudson:

Hi Marina. We’re all really worried about you and hope you’re safe. Text me back if you are able to.

Lisa felt a sudden pang of longing. She had tried to put Darius out of her mind with the events of the past few days, but with his words right before her eyes, it was impossible to forget him. Sitting down on a park bench immediately before the entrance to the library, she closed her eyes and imagined a day – just one day – alone with Darius, perhaps just going for a walk at the Lakeside Mall in Ecruteak or seeing the latest film at the Octoplex. She rolled the moment around on her palate for a few seconds, enjoying the sweetness and the otherworldliness, before sighing and shoving Marina’s phone back in her pocket.

She reopened her eyes and set about scanning the entrance to the Goldenrod City Library. The staircase that led to the edifice was no less decadent than the building itself: white marble steps, framed on either side by thick black and gold balustrades, rose sharply to the elevated sandstone archway that led into the library’s foyer.

“Here goes,” Lisa muttered to herself, stepping onto the bottommost stair.

She had only taken a few steps when she heard it: a familiar voice – the voice of a woman – barely a metre to her right.

“ … actually built inside the statue. Right in the middle of the head, behind the eyes.”

Her heart skipped a beat and her mind seemed to frost over instantly, but the sheer panic forced her to keep ascending the stairs slowly. She didn’t dare look to her right, but rather, focused on the enormous shape of the grand archway ahead; nonetheless, she was aware with each thudding footfall that Veronica, Joseph Sterling’s right-hand woman, was exactly in step with her.

She was almost halfway to the archway when her brain managed to regain some authority over her limbs. Feeling as though she were practically shining an enormous spotlight on herself, she reached a landing and knelt down, ostensibly to tie her shoelace. Blood rushed to her head and her vision blurred – she half expected to hear a cry of shock and then the sizzle of a beam of energy rushing at her – but there was only the sound of the morning traffic in the street below, the bad singing of a nearby busker and the general hum of pedestrians and tourists.

Catching her breath and thanking her lucky stars that she had bleached her hair at Jamie’s house, Lisa untied and retied her shoelace and surveyed the people who were now several metres further ahead than she. The sleek length of platinum blonde hair draped against a black-clothed back, combined with the unmistakeable voice Lisa had heard, confirmed for sure that the woman on the steps ahead was Veronica. Amid her panic came a sense of rising dread: Veronica was flanked by no fewer than four men, no doubt some of the most highly-skilled agents the Union had to offer.

Without really thinking about what she was doing, Lisa unknotted her other shoe and set about slowly retying the lace. Veronica’s words rang in her ears.

The Union knew about the statue. They had discovered exactly where the key was.

*

Trying to align herself with the tail end of a guided tour, Lisa walked as casually as possible through the sandstone archway and into the alfresco foyer of the Goldenrod City Library. Her eyes bulged behind her dark aviators: the foyer was yet another exercise in antiquity-style opulence. Colourful tapestries decorated the sandstone walls and verdant creepers dotted with violet flowers clung to the glassless windows and balustrades. Various artworks and sculptures adorned the corners of the foyer, but none quite so great as the enormous jade sculpture in the very centre of the room.

Six feet tall, Antoknossos’ Celebi was raised on a granite podium, surrounded by eager tourists who seemed to vary in their interest in the piece: some took photos of themselves beside the sculpture as a kind of jaded ritual; others traced their hands over the smooth surface in an apparent trance, clearly fascinated by the work.

“And yes, I know what all your eyes have immediately gone to, but we’ll touch on Antoknossos’ work at the end of the tour,” boomed the auburn-haired tour guide, tapping her clipboard impatiently as the entire tour group – like Lisa – gawked at the jade Celebi. “For now, let’s start with an overlooked gem of the Renaissance: the first tapestry of Soliono of Ecruteak!”

There was a vague buzz among the other tourists. Lisa shuffled along behind them, keeping close enough so that anyone watching would think she was a part of the group, while maintaining enough distance between herself and the tour guide so that she would not be seen and asked to pay.

As the tour guide launched into a tired introduction of Soliono’s tapestry, Lisa scanned the foyer for signs of the Union agents. The reason she had not spotted them when she entered the foyer quickly became apparent: they had split up. Though Lisa had not seen any of the men’s faces, she could only spy one of them for sure – a bulky man in torn blue jeans and a leather jacket – standing at the concierge desk, apparently asking for information. Lisa’s eyes darted around the foyer: where had Veronica gone? Had the others entered the library itself, perhaps?

“And next, we have a well-known piece that is sure to delight you all: Garbaddi’s famous fresco, The Mourning Light. Keep up, please!”

Scarcely avoiding having her foot impaled by an elderly woman’s walking frame, Lisa shuffled along with the group, trying to feign interest. Once the tour guide launched into a discussion of Garbaddi’s use of light in his painting, she wheeled around again to scan the foyer – and at once, her eyes fell on Veronica.

She was standing behind Antoknossos’ Celebi, previously obscured from Lisa’s line of sight. The oversized pair of brown sunglasses that covered most of her face gave her the unassuming impression of a bimbo. Indeed, as Lisa watched her, it seemed that Veronica’s plan had been to disguise herself as a bottle-blonde moron: she wore an uncharacteristically revealing black halterneck and frayed denim shorts, and rather than overtly appraising the structure, she seemed bored by it, instead texting on a bright pink mobile phone while one of the other Union agents read the long inscription beside the statue, apparently fascinated.

“If you’re not going to keep pace with the group, at least have the courtesy to stand right at the back!” snarled the elderly woman behind Lisa, roughly clattering past her as the group moved on to the next piece.

Lisa flinched, not because she was fazed by the woman’s outburst but because she feared it would draw attention to her; however, for the second time that day, she was proven to be somewhat paranoid: neither Veronica nor either of the two visible Union agents looked up from what they were doing. She reminded herself for the umpteenth time that with her short, bleached hair and different clothes, she looked nothing like the Lisa Walters the Union knew.

She reluctantly followed the group to the third, fourth and fifth pieces of interest, casting surreptitious glances at Veronica and her agents as often as she dared. They weren’t making any obvious movements, and yet they were lingering for a long time at the statue. Was the foyer about to be rocked by a massive explosion? Were the agents biding their time for something to happen before they took the Third Key – from right beneath Lisa’s nose?

Lisa frowned. There were two security guards in the foyer and a handful of large cameras affixed to the sandstone ceiling. Given her knowledge of what the Union was capable of, she knew that such security measures amounted to little more than a picket fence.

“And now, the moment I can tell you’ve all been waiting for: Antoknossos’ Celebi!” declared the tour guide, her voice loaded with empty excitement. At once, the throng of tourists abandoned the latest tapestry and swarmed toward the statue.

Lisa didn’t idle: she rushed forward with the rest of them, keen to avoid the vengeful clatter of the elderly lady’s walking frame, and at once found herself mere metres away from an unsuspecting Veronica, who still had not moved an inch. Amid the camera flashes and teenagers posing for photographs in front of the statue, Lisa saw Veronica turn her head and say something to the Union agent nearest her, but over the cacophony of the tourists’ excited chatting, Lisa couldn’t make out what was said.

And then, suddenly, shielded by the crowd, Veronica moved.

Standing firm against the jostling of the tourists, Lisa glued both her eyes to the blonde woman before her. Veronica reached into her pink handbag and produced what looked like a compact. She opened it, gouged her fingers into whatever was within, and placed it sleekly into the bag once more.

“No! Move, move, move!” Lisa hissed, as an obese man wearing a Hawaiian shirt moved into her line of vision, sipping at a slushie, apparently unaware of the artistic wonder before him.

When the man finally moved, Veronica had too – but not far. She had crept around the other side of the statue and was now tracing her fingers slowly around its middle. Lisa squinted and moved a little closer, so that she was now close enough to touch the statue itself. Veronica’s fingers seemed to be coated in some kind of vermilion-coloured powder, but her tracing around the statue left no mark at all.

Heart pounding, Lisa instinctively took a step back from the statue, anticipating some kind of sudden explosion, but her brain caught up with her: if Veronica was still standing right beside the statue, there was clearly no imminent danger. Gingerly, Lisa stepped back onto the granite podium and began tracing her hand around the statue, much as Veronica had. Pushing past a couple of bored-looking kids, she circled the statue until she was right beside Veronica, who now stood in the statue’s shadow, sending a text on her mobile phone.

Lisa’s breath had left her: she raised her head as if appraising the Celebi’s ornate antennae and then, beneath her aviators, sneaked a peek at the screen of Veronica’s pink-and-silver mobile. For a moment, nothing happened, and then the screen flared to life and a notification appeared:

1 new message received – Joe.

As her heart thudded, Lisa readied her legs. Was Joseph Sterling sending through the order to blow the statue to pieces? Would she need to run to save herself? She took a surreptitious snatch at oxygen with her nostrils and pretended to check the time on Marina’s mobile before she shot an electric glance at Veronica’s mobile one more time and saw on the screen, just before Veronica deleted it, a text message:

It will take several hours. Go back at 8pm and retrieve it.

Veronica clapped the phone shut and stowed it in her pink handbag. Lisa jolted and returned to gazing solemnly at the statue. For a terrible, blood-curdling second, she felt Veronica’s eyes burning into the side of her face. Mustering all her confidence, she reached a leaden arm out and traced her fingers over the statue’s surface, apparently entranced, before turning deliberately away from Veronica and pushing very gently through the crowd, toward the plaque that described the statue.

Adrenaline electrified her veins as she stared blankly at the plaque on the floor, pretending to read it. She didn’t dare look up to find out if Veronica was looking at her, but stared resolutely at the shiny plaque before her, the words on it utterly meaningless. Seconds passed and then, mercifully, minutes. Slowly, her face cooled.

After a good five minutes – and most of the crowd of tourists – had passed, Lisa scanned the foyer gingerly and found no sign of Veronica or any of the other agents. Her heart struggling to regain a steady rhythm, she walked in a controlled manner toward the ladies’ toilets, locked herself in a cubicle and, putting her head in her hands, shook uncontrollably.

*

A fierce April sun bore down on the Ikoswit Gorge, a ribbon of sunburnt rock that divided the thick, verdant foliage of the Ikoswit Forest from the vast landscapes of Emerald Plains to the east. Unhindered by the midday heat reflecting off the rock walls, two teenage figures hiked down the centre of the gorge, keeping their path close to the narrow sliver of water that ran the length of the canyon.

“This is looking more and more familiar,” said Gavin, wiping his sweaty forehead on his sleeve. “I think we’re just about on it. Maybe one more bend.”

Marina squirted a jet of water into her mouth from her bottle, gulping it down gratefully.

“I wish I hadn’t been blindfolded at the time, otherwise I’d have some clue as to where it is,” she sighed, veering around a jagged orange-brown boulder.

“I’m sure we’re close,” Gavin said confidently.

They approached a sharp bend in the gorge.

“I think it’s just after this bend,” Gavin said. “Are you nervous, then?” he ventured gingerly.

Marina seemed to stiffen. She turned and faced Gavin, her face chalk-like.

“I’m rationalising it like this,” she said, her voice rigid. “Lisa went in there and had no idea what she had to do. At least I know what to expect. I know what I have to do, so it won’t be a shock when Raikou says it.”

She seemed to verge on saying something more, but decided against it, and strode onwards, ever closer to the bend in the gorge.

“Of course, there’s still the chance that we’re completely wrong, and the Union already have the fragment,” she added seriously.

“I reckon Lisa’s right,” Gavin said, shaking his head. “If Suicune told her only the guardian can do the deed, then he’s right.”

“I know. But I really wish it was the other way,” Marina sighed heavily.

Their path curved around the bend. For a few paces, nothing was visible except the opposite wall of the gorge, red and shimmering with reflected heat. Then, they rounded the bend and a new stretch of canyon unfurled before them, looking almost identical to the last stretch except for one detail.

“Oh wow,” Marina gasped.

Standing on a high boulder in the middle of the gorge was the legendary beast of electricity: Raikou.

*

Marina Frost kept her head pressed firmly against Raikou’s furry violet back as the legendary dog pelted down one rocky tunnel after another, yellow sparks exploding from his jaws as he ran, setting fire to the formerly dormant wooden torches fixed along the walls.

After a few minutes, the beast slowed; Marina shifted her head ever-so-slightly off Raikou’s fur and saw, through tendrils of her own ultramarine hair, that the tunnel had opened up into a larger antechamber.

“Wow,” she breathed.

Raikou’s antechamber was no less breathtaking the second time around: at the broadest side of the cavern, a dais made seemingly of pure gold glittered gorgeously in the yellow light of the torches. A six-foot-tall golden statue of Raikou, eyes made of dark amber, guarded the giant, gem-encrusted oak double door that led to the Sepulchre of Raikou. In other circumstances, the excess of gold might have been gaudy, but the sheer grandeur of the scene rendered such a thought impossible.

//Welcome, Marina Frost//

Marina tore her gaze from the glittering cavern; Raikou, whose back she was still clinging to, had turned to regard her kindly, the black-and-blue face uncharacteristically soft.

“Thank you,” Marina said, slightly timidly, as she slid awkwardly off the beast’s back. She hurriedly straightened her flyaway hair and brushed it out of her face as Raikou paced toward the golden dais and then turned to face her.

//Your second visit to my Sepulchre// Raikou said telepathically. //And the last time anyone will see it ever again//

Marina felt a pang of fear and tragedy; so, Lisa’s hypothesis had been dead on.

“S-so … when the Union brought me here last time … you tricked them?”

//One of the many security measures the Guardians put into place, in case we were ever forced to enter the Sepulchre under duress// Raikou said, scraping his claws nonchalantly against the golden dais; a deep swipe mark appeared in the soft metal. //Assuming, of course, that the party placing us under duress didn’t already know that we had to be killed with the Sceptre – which, luckily, the Union didn’t. They thought a bit of Entei’s powers and a machete could finish me? HA!//

Marina couldn’t muster up the strength to laugh; her hands were beginning to tingle slightly, her heart fluttering.

//Ah – yes// Raikou said suddenly. //You are aware of what must happen within the Sepulchre, aren’t you?//

“Yes. Lisa told me,” Marina breathed.

//Ah, Lisa Walters// Raikou said. //Truly an inspirational young woman. She is the reason we are here now, of course. Had she never dropped into our Brotherhood’s meeting in the Burned Tower, Suicune never would have come up with his scheme to open the Sepulchres prematurely, and Entei would never have turned against us quite so violently// He shook his enormous head bitterly.

“Where is Entei now?” Marina asked.

Raikou pawed his own statue casually.

//He has abandoned the Brotherhood and our true cause. Apart from that, I will never know. We will not speak again//

Marina flinched.

Raikou fixed her with a serious gaze.

//So I am to take it that Lisa has entered the Sepulchre of Suicune, then. And my brother is dead//

Marina shivered.

“Yes. She did it just yesterday. That’s when we realised I hadn’t actually fulfilled my duties here.”

//And what is the great plan? Has the Guard decided to do what Suicune once planned – and I agreed to? Enter the Sepulchres, hide the fragments elsewhere, away from the Union’s grasp?//

“Well – that is the plan – yes,” Marina said slowly. “But it’s not the Guard’s plan – it’s ours. Well, Lisa and Jamie came up with it, but we’re playing along. We’re not telling the Guard anything.”

For the first time, Raikou looked mightily impressed by the blue-haired teenager before him.

//Youth never ceases to inspire me// he boomed. //That you have done this without the Guard’s knowledge is a pleasing truth to hear before my end. I have never truly trusted the Guard//

“Suicune said the same thing to Lisa.”

//We were in agreeance, then. The Guard always were a little too good to be real, I think// Raikou said, his electric-blue bolt-shaped tail bouncing slightly in amusement.

His face suddenly sharpened.

//Well – there is no sense in delaying the inevitable, nor is there any sense in keeping Gavin Luper waiting. Let us enter the Sepulchre and be done with it all. Before we enter, though, I wish to say that I admired your courage a great deal when you were brought here by the Union. Indeed, it has been a great honour to serve your mother, and grandmother, and the rest of your bloodline before that – a line of truly impressive women and men//

A painful silence lingered in the air; searching for the right thing to respond with, Marina said awkwardly, “Thank you so much. I suppose – on behalf of all of us – it’s been great to serve as Guardians with you, too.”

Raikou laughed suddenly; a loud, non-telepathic guffaw. Once he calmed down, he fixed Marina with his deep crimson eyes and smiled.

//You don’t mean it in the same way as I do, but thank you for saying it.

//And now, let us meet our destiny//

*

The Sepulchre of Raikou was a tiny chamber, its floor, walls and ceiling all constructed of what looked like solid, translucent amber. Two torches were fixed in golden brackets on the far wall, but only the yellow flame on the right still burned, its light reflecting brilliantly in the glassy room.

Beneath the bracket was a golden tabernacle.

“My sceptre is in there, right?” Marina said, her heart beating faster than ever.

Raikou had stalked over to the tabernacle and sat down, tail sparking mildly.

//It is. You should act quickly. You will want enough time to escape this cavern before it self-destructs//

“Right,” Marina said firmly, but her palms were sweaty and she was feeling progressively more woozy. She gingerly made her way to the tabernacle, threw it open and groped around inside; her hand closed on something unexpectedly soft. Bemused, she pulled her find from the tabernacle: it was a foot-long silver sceptre, encrusted with amber, its tip a deathly-sharp white crystal.

A thick piece of paper had been tied with a strand of red ribbon to the handle.

//From your grandmother// Raikou said. //She summoned me one day, years ago, to enter this place and leave that note for her descendent//

“She felt guilty,” Marina surmised, untying the ribbon and tucking the note into her pocket. “She agreed to lie to my mother about the Legend, apparently for money.”

Raikou’s face soured.

//I wish I had never had to know that//

Marina felt a wave of guilt.

“I’m sorry – on her behalf.”

Raikou tilted his head in a way to say that he did not mind.

//No time for this. You have your sceptre and only seconds of calm remaining. You must do it now//

As he spoke, there was a sudden tremor; a growling was coming from somewhere beyond the amber walls.

“Okay,” Marina said. “Okay, I can do this …”

//You must!// Raikou urged. //Come closer//

Marina shuffled forward, her shoes scarcely lifting off the sleek amber floor, her limbs stiffening as she reached Raikou’s side.

Her head was spinning as she stood over Raikou’s calmly breathing body, sceptre at hand. She raised the weapon high as Raikou shifted his foreleg, revealing an exposed underbelly, heart beating beneath ice-white fur.

Gasping, she froze.

“I can’t. It’s too much, I’m sorry – I can’t!”

Raikou’s scarlet eyes locked with her frightened ones; in the same instant, the floor shook violently, and the ominous rumbling began to grow louder.

//You are a Frost. You have the courage to do this//

Marina swallowed; her throat was swollen with a ball of fear.

“Can you do what Suicune did for Lisa? If I hold the sceptre to your chest, can you kind of –” Marina gestured to indicate Raikou impaling himself.

//Yes. Go, you must do it now or there will be no time! Be brave, Marina!//

Gritting her teeth, both hands gripping the handle, Marina held the tip of her sceptre to the ice-white fur near Raikou’s heart, and steadied her footing as the floor shook again.

Raikou smiled toothily, said, //Take the fragment and run, child!//, and threw himself onto the razor-sharp tip of the sceptre.

Abruptly, chaos reigned: hot blood spilled over Marina’s arms as she screamed; Raikou’s body fitted wildly, sparks flying from his back; the floor trembled again; and the final torch was extinguished, plunging the sepulchre into pitch blackness.

“No!” Marina spluttered, pulling her arms from Raikou’s carcass. Panic begin to stalk her heart: she was blind and the world was shaking violently. She reached for her belt, picked a pokéball at random and pressed the button on it; a burst of radiant white light exploded from the ball, briefly illuminating the chamber and reflecting off the golden tabernacle and the sconce; Marina lunged for the place where the right torch had once burned and felt her hand close over something small and glassy.

Bitterness and joy mingled in her hammering heart as an explosion rent the air, throwing her roughly to the amber floor beside Raikou’s body.

Destiny fulfilled.

[mistysakura]

I'm impressed that Lisa's grandfather managed to gather so much information. I wonder if he really did it purely to preserve his power, or whether something else is going on... seeing as Marina's grandmother also left her a message... Marina had so much courage. It must be even worse for her, knowing exactly what she has to do, and having to go ahead and do it anyway. Her struggle was depicted really well. But how on earth did Veronica know where to find the key? And is it really a coincidence that she and Lisa are looking for the same key at the same time, or does Lisa somehow have another spy around her? Unless the diary itself was planted to lure Lisa to the statue, but I don't see how that's possible. Waiting for the next chapter!

[Sike Saner]

She had only taken a few steps when she heard it: a familiar voice – the voice of a woman – barely a metre to her right.

“ … actually built inside the statue. Right in the middle of the head, behind the eyes.”

Why hello there, "oh shit" moment.

As he spoke, there was a sudden tremor; a growling was coming from somewhere beyond the amber walls.

That was a nice, ominous little detail. It was pretty suspenseful, I must say, reading and waiting to find out if Marina would do what Raikou required of her before anything could go awry.

Oh, and I rather liked Raikou's personality.

[Gavin Luper]

Thanks for your feedback, guys.

I'm impressed that Lisa's grandfather managed to gather so much information. I wonder if he really did it purely to preserve his power, or whether something else is going on... seeing as Marina's grandmother also left her a message... Marina had so much courage. It must be even worse for her, knowing exactly what she has to do, and having to go ahead and do it anyway. Her struggle was depicted really well. But how on earth did Veronica know where to find the key? And is it really a coincidence that she and Lisa are looking for the same key at the same time, or does Lisa somehow have another spy around her? Unless the diary itself was planted to lure Lisa to the statue, but I don't see how that's possible. Waiting for the next chapter!

Hullo Ada, and thanks for the comments and questions! Lisa's grandfather certainly did a studious job documenting it all. I wonder how, and why? ^_^ As for Marina's grandmother's message ... you are on the right track in linking the two together, but there's more to all this than meets the eye. I felt for Marina too - and I agree, it would have been much harder to do it knowing what was coming. She's a very fierce soul. Veronica's information came from Sterling - but how did he find out? Lots of good questions and I don't want to reveal anything because it will all spill out in good time. Thanks again, next chapter is here!

Why hello there, "oh shit" moment.

That was a nice, ominous little detail. It was pretty suspenseful, I must say, reading and waiting to find out if Marina would do what Raikou required of her before anything could go awry.

Oh, and I rather liked Raikou's personality.

Howdy Sike - thanks for the read. Hehe, I do like to throw those "oh shit" moments in there, I'm pretty sure LTL is now peppered with them, though hopefully not overly so. Glad you liked the suspense that came with Marina's foray into the Sepulchre of Raikou - and that you dig (or dug) Raikou's personality. I think he complements Suicune well, whereas Suicune is more passionate and paternalistic and direct and engaged, Raikou tends to be a bit more distant and yet quite kind in a tough, no bullshit kind of way. Or tended to be, rather; have to use past tense now, poor beast. Thanks for your reply as always.

It's a couple of days late but here's Chapter 76! No more extended 'Previously on Lisa the Legend' intros as they tend to be a bit time-consuming and now that chapters are regular, unnecessary. But here's a quick recap on where we left off:

- Gavin and Marina travelled to Emerald Plains, where Marina killed Raikou and obtained, with some difficulty, her fragment of the Sixth Key.

- The Union's Operations Manager, Larry O'Brien, revealed himself to Lisa as a double agent. His Guard contact is Lance Hudson's personal assistant, Sarah Venner, their exchanges made though a series of coded telephone calls.

- Alone in Goldenrod City, Lisa found her grandfather's diary, which led her to the location of the Third Key, however Veronica and the Union looked to be on the verge of beating her to it.

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

Chapter 76 – Run Like Hell.


If he hadn’t known what was taking place in a cave somewhere around him, Gavin might have fallen asleep in the warmth of the sun. He lay on a flat rock in the middle of the gorge, his bare feet dangling in the shallow creek and his eyelids closed when, quite abruptly, his mobile vibrated in his pocket.

Blinking against the sun, he slid the cover open and read the new text message. It was from Marina’s mobile: a message from Lisa:

Any chance you will make it back here before 8pm? Just wondering. L.

Gavin checked his watch: it was already two-thirty. Marina had been gone for almost half an hour, but he wasn’t alarmed: Lisa had taken well over an hour in the Sepulchre of Suicune. Still, he hoped Marina wouldn’t be too much longer, or their chances of returning to Goldenrod today would be slim. After an arduous six hour drive, Melanie had taken Gavin and Marina as close to the Ikoswit Gorge as possible, eventually parking her sedan at the end of a gravel track that led from the Dervine Expressway deep into Emerald Plains. Nonetheless, they had trekked a further kilometre or so to reach the Sepulchre.

Sunlight crackling on his eyelids, Gavin crunched the numbers. Even if Marina returned within the hour, they wouldn’t make it back to Goldenrod until late that night, definitely hours after eight o’clock.

Gavin typed out a quick reply:

No chance. Maybe 9ish at the earliest. M in Sep. now. Waiting. Why do you ask?

He pocketed the mobile and closed his eyes again, inviting a nap …

BOOM!

The explosion came out of nowhere. A column of thick grey smoke erupted from the wall of the canyon; rocks, dust and debris flew into the air, cloaking Gavin in a world of opaque grey. Coughing and rubbing the specks from his eyes, he lunged for the ground, but it was no escape: smoke had consumed the entire gorge, carrying with it a wave of intense heat.

“MARINA?! MARINA!” Gavin roared, amid a second, and then a third explosion. “MARINA, WHERE ARE YOU?!”

There was nothing but the resounding echo of the explosions in his ears.

“MARINA!”

And then, gloriously, between the third and fourth blasts, there came through the opaque haze of smoke the imposing cobalt form of a Golduck, carrying a slender, blue-haired teenager.

“Gavin – I got it – it’s okay – I got it …”

*

Lisa regarded Gavin’s text message without surprise. She had known it would be a long shot for him to return during the daylight hours, but she had been desperate for help. Sighing, she typed back a reply:

No worries, just wondering. See you tonight.

She finished towelling her short hair dry and stared with mild horror at her own reflection in Gavin and Dave’s dull, spotted mirror. The supermarket she had stopped by had only offered two shades of hair dye that weren’t a type of brown or black: blonde (which the Union had already seen, or Veronica had, at least) and crimson. Feeling roguish, Lisa had picked up the crimson and rushed back to Gavin’s apartment to put the rinse through her hair. The result was awful, but she at least looked completely different to the girl who had visited the Goldenrod City Library earlier that day.

Changing into a pair of Marina’s denim shorts and a summery top – and reminding herself oddly of Veronica – Lisa checked her reflection one more time before, steeling herself, she jogged out of the apartment and headed for the nearest park, for the first training session with her new pokémon.

*

The shadow cast by the Goldenrod City Library was even greater now that it was almost six in the evening. Though she still had two hours before the Union agents were due to return for the Third Key, Lisa didn’t plan on idling. She took the marble stairs at a brisk walk and slipped in swiftly through the sandstone archway, passing the sign that said:

Welcome to the Goldenrod City Library
Johto’s First Library, est. 1621
Open 7am – 10pm, 7 days a week.

As she had anticipated, the foyer was much less crowded than it had been that morning. There were no tour groups scouring the art works; rather, barely half a dozen people were scattered about the place, not including the two security guards and a robust middle-aged woman at the concierge desk.

“You can do this,” Lisa whispered to herself, picking up a brochure and casually weaving her way toward Antoknossos’ Celebi. For the second time that day, she found herself staring at the plaque, pretending to read it while her mind raced. Was she really about to deface one of the best-known artworks of all time? She ran through the rationalisation in her head again. The Union was almost definitely going to blow the statue to pieces in a matter of hours. If she didn’t do it, they would, and they’d have one more key toward opening the Iron Lock.

It was the far, far lesser of two evils.

“It has to be quick,” she muttered under her breath, still fascinatedly regarding the plaque.

Regardless, she found herself hesitating. There were eight other people in the foyer. Too many. She waited impatiently, silently willing them to drift away, but it took precious time. Finally, at about ten past six, a group of three thanked the concierge and drifted back down the staircase toward the street.

“Now or never,” Lisa whispered. She took a deep breath and said a silent prayer. “Revelum, Altaria!” she hissed, touching her thumb and forefinger to the pendant on her chest; the light had barely issued from the pendant when she plunged her hand into her pocket and hurled two red-and-white pokéballs to the ground and then, amid the loud explosions of radiant light, she whipped the Buzzball from the same pocket, span on her heel to face the direction of the two bewildered security guards and screamed:

“ELECTRIFY!”

Lisa saw the guards react: their hands leapt for the weapons at their belts, but neither of the two men were fast enough for the Buzzball. A streamer of ultramarine energy crackled through the foyer, forking in mid-air and striking each of the men squarely in the chest; they were both blasted off their feet, collapsing to the ground.

At the same moment, Altaria cooed pleasantly and opened its mouth, building a pulsating ball of rainbow energy within before discharging it with a proud squeak; the Aurora Beam slammed with spectacular force into the middle of Antoknossos’ Celebi and for a moment, the jade statue was completely illuminated by the beam before the energy tore it apart: there was an almighty crack as the Celebi split cleanly in two; the two halves seemed to hang in the air for an instant, as though suspended on an invisible hinge, and then the aurora engulfed them completely, and the two halves disintegrated into a shower of fine jade crystals which rained to the ground, clinking like shards of broken glass.

People were screaming; the female concierge shrieked and lunged for the telephone behind her desk. Lisa wheeled around and held the red Buzzball in her direction.

“ELECTRIFY!” she bellowed again.

She didn’t wait for the streamer of electricity to connect: the anguished scream a moment later told her that she had been on target. She leapt over the remains of the statue scattered across the granite platform and began scanning the jade crystals for the Third Key. Her newly-caught Kingler and Cubone, along with Larry’s Altaria, fanned out, as they had been instructed to do, searching for the key, but it was mercifully much easier than Lisa had anticipated. After only ten seconds or so, Lisa’s eye fell on something large and translucent twinkling in the light of the grand chandelier, far bigger than any of the almost powdered jade crystals:

A thin, glass-like key.

“Yes!” she yelled, grabbing it at once. She recoiled as the sharp jade crystals cut her fingers, but there was no time for pain; people were now spilling out from the library and crying out in mingled shock and fear.

“Stop her!” someone yelled.

Lisa pocketed the third key, her blood pumping. The thought of yelling out something like, “Don’t attack me, I’m good!” briefly raced through her mind, but her mouth never found the time to articulate it; she swung her legs over Altaria’s back and screamed, “Let’s go!”; amid the panicked cries of Kingler and Cubone, she gripped their two pokéballs and cried, “Return!”, their bodies dematerialising into red light as Altaria lifted off.

“Oh, crap!” Lisa cried.

Beneath her, a teenage trainer had broken away from the pack of frightened library staff, intellectuals and students. A Tyranitar stood beside him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he cried out boldly.

Altaria’s wings beat frantically at the air. Despite being six feet in the air, Lisa felt intensely vulnerable.

“Please, don’t try to stop me!” Lisa cried frantically; her face was boiling hot and her vision was blurring; she had prayed that something like this wouldn’t happen.

“We’ve already called the police!” the teenager boomed, rather righteously. “Come back down and we’ll tell them you co-operated.”

“I’m really sorry,” Lisa called. “Altaria, Dragonbreath now!”

“Tyranitar, Hyper Beam!”

“Oh crap!” Lisa cried. “Altaria, attack and fly us out at the same time!”

“Awoooo!” Altaria cried.

The only disadvantage to Hyper Beam was that Tyranitar took a moment to power up the orb of energy in his mouth: Altaria opened its mouth and issued an ice-hot blast of blue flames directly at Tyranitar’s face. Tyranitar gave a guttural scream of pain and fired off the golden orb of energy in its mouth in a random direction; it hurtled across the foyer and slammed into the wall, tearing Soliono’s tapestry to shreds.

The crowd of onlookers gasped; some of them cried out; a few of them threw out their own pokéballs. Lisa wove her right hand tightly into the fur on Altaria’s back as it flapped its wings and zoomed for the broad sandstone archway.

“Not so fast!” the boy cried from behind them. “Tyranitar, Shock Wave!”

“No!” Lisa cried, panicking. She had feared Shock Wave ever since Tom had warned her about it years ago: like Swift, it was an unavoidable attack. She glanced ahead: they were almost through the archway … Altaria was singing sweetly … but even if they made it outside, they would be hit …

“Oh!” Lisa cried, an idea dawning on her. “INFLATE!”

Twisting around, she held the Buzzball out to protect herself and Altaria; instantly, it ballooned to ten times its usual size, swelling rapidly; barely a second later, as Altaria swooped through the archway and into the twilight, a bolt of yellow light arced through the air behind them and connected with the Buzzball.

At first, Lisa thought it had worked – certainly, the ball glowed an odd colour – but she found herself momentarily paralyzed, unable to move or process a thought – until the spell on her was lifted, and she realised even the Buzzball could not stop the attack from hitting home. Smoke billowed into the air from Altaria’s wing, and yet it was still flapping, trying to rise higher into the sky.

“No!” roared the boy from below, pelting onto the staircase.

“Sorry!” Lisa cried, but she could not help but laugh as she said it. She glanced at the back of the enormous Buzzball and saw that it was now charred black: it seemed that it had taken the greater force of the Shock Wave.

“Deflate,” she said sharply, and it began to hiss with escaping air.

“Awwoooo!”

Lisa spun back to face Altaria: it was struggling to stay in the air now. Indeed, they had only ascended twenty feet into the air and were slowly drifting back down.

Looking down on the collection of people on the staircase, Lisa saw the teenage boy and his Tyranitar still in furious pursuit, along with several other trainers. And then, her blood running cold, she saw a collection of five people standing on the sidewalk at the very base of the staircase, their faces almost identical masks of shock.

The blonde woman at the centre of the group went deathly pale.

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Veronica’s scream reached Lisa even a hundred metres down the street. Lisa’s brain locked up: this couldn’t be … she had planned it two hours in advance …

“STOP!” Veronica roared, her voice shrill. “STOP NOW!”

Lisa heard a pokéball opening, but didn’t linger to find out what it was; gripping Altaria’s back, she whirled around to face the streetscape ahead, trying to scope out a low roof to land on and regroup.

“Dammit!”

She cursed loudly: every building was a high-rise; they were nowhere near high enough to land somewhere safe yet.

“Rise up, Altaria, come on, let’s get some height!” she encouraged, patting Altaria’s back eagerly.

Altaria flapped vigourously again, but there was a note of exhaustion to its voice. They rose a metre or two before fluttering back to the same level.

“Come on, Altaria, you can do this, we’re almost safe, come on!” Lisa egged on, as Veronica’s screams drew nearer; she could hear police sirens now in the distance.

“Awoo,” Altaria cooed sadly, flapping its burnt wing frantically, but to little use; they were descending markedly now, and had barely made it three hundred metres down the street.

“Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!” Lisa panicked, as the pavement spiralled closer.

To its credit, Altaria managed a decent crash-landing: they hit the sidewalk with a great deal of force; Lisa was only thrown off at the last minute, rolling relatively gently into an organic herb garden at the front of an apartment building.

“Awooo!”

“I know, I know, you’re hurt!” Lisa cried frantically, spitting out a mouthful of organic basil leaves. “Retrahere, Altaria!”

No sooner had Altaria’s shimmering form dematerialised into the poképort than an enormous ball of black sludge soared mere inches over Lisa’s shoulder and slammed into the front window of the apartment building, caking it in a poisonous-looking goo.

There was nothing for it. Lisa scrambled to her feet and ran for her life.

Thankfully, the sidewalk ahead was relatively clear of pedestrians: the after-work rush had long since passed. Lisa bolted her way down Madison Street East, dodging lamp posts and recycling bins, her sneakers hammering the concrete like urgent claps of thunder.

She chanced a glance over her shoulder. A hundred metres behind her was a small pack of Union agents, led by Veronica, whose face was contorted with genuine fear; she looked deranged. A Persian raced alongside her, its eyes an odd crimson colour; the other agents had a variety of Weezing, Arbok and Houndour beside them as they ran.

Lisa checked the street ahead of her in time to dodge an old man with a walking stick before she wheeled back to take another look behind her. The trainer with the Tyranitar and his friends seemed to have disappeared – perhaps the Union had taken them out?

“No!” she screamed; another Sludge attack soared toward her, courtesy of one of the Weezing; she stopped in her tracks and ducked in order to avoid it, before picking up speed again.

“Shit!” she cursed, trying to push herself harder and faster. She heard Veronica’s cackle from behind her. Even though the Sludge hadn’t struck her, it had slowed her down for a moment, and the Union agents were now in closer pursuit than ever.

“Electrify!” Lisa screamed, holding the newly-deflated Buzzball over her shoulder and firing it in the direction of the Union agents. Blue sparks crackled through the air. “Electrify! ELECTRIFY! ELECTRIFY!”

“Augh!”

“YES!”

She whirled around: she had hit one of the agents, at least, taking him out; one of the Weezing had disappeared, too.

“Flamethrower!” bellowed one of the male Union agents.

“Thunder!” screeched Veronica.

Remembering something she had read in a book once, Lisa began to vary her running pattern, cutting a zig-zag path across the sidewalk to make it more difficult for the Union to target her. She spied a major intersection ahead: a two-lane, one-way street met with Madison Street East, and the WALK light was still green. If time was on her side, maybe she could manage to leave the Union behind …

“MOVE!” Lisa yelled, almost slamming head-on into a young man in a checked shirt as he left his apartment block; she managed to zig-zag around him at the last minute.

“What the fuck!” he cried, throwing his hands up into the air.

As she turned around and cried, “Sorry!”, her eyes were scorched by the horror before them. The Flamethrower intended for her erupted from the Union’s Houndour’s mouth, enveloping the young man in a blindingly hot column of fire.

“No!” Lisa roared. She tried to turn around again, but a bolt of Thunder sliced the air behind her, missing her by scarcely a metre.

She faced the street ahead and almost threw up in panic: she had already made it onto the intersecting street – the concrete beneath her feet had become bitumen – but the traffic light had changed to a bright red DON’T WALK.

“Aaaaargh!” she screamed, as two sleek sedans roared toward her.

In sheer panic, she leapt for the opposite sidewalk.

CRACKKKKKKKK!

Miraculously, her head landed against her arms, preventing any major damage, but as she rolled, the back of her head struck something extremely solid. Silver stars exploded into existence before her eyes; the skin on her arms was burning; she tasted blood in her mouth. The pain was too much: she struggled to her knees, but it was a task to stand. The world swam before her eyes: grey concrete slabs, a frightened old lady looking on, a colourful roar of cars beside her …

“YOU WON’T ESCAPE, LISA WALTERS!”

The cry sharpened her vision. She focused her sight and saw, though the stars and the rush of vehicles, the pale, pointed face of Veronica, frantically slamming her fist into the button on the traffic light.

They knew who she was.

She clambered to her feet and took an almost drunken step forward. If she stopped, this would be the end of her valiant attempt to get the Third Key … her escape, Larry’s sacrifice … it would all be for nothing …

Vaguely aware of the old lady calling out to her, Lisa stumbled onward down Madison Street East. A row of neon signs barely twenty metres ahead caught her eye: a popular fast-food chain, a Megaplex … an Underground train station …

“Come on, come on, you can do it!” she muttered to herself, trying to move her body into something more than a slow jog. She began to hum to herself. By the time she reached the entrance to the Underground she was almost hobbling, but she continued to hum to herself, focusing on the goal, sure that if she could just catch a train – any train – she would be able to escape the Union’s grasp.

She cast a quick glance behind her – the DON’T WALK sign was still red, a seamless buzz of evening traffic keeping Veronica and the other Union agents at bay.

“Come on …” Lisa said, spurred on by the sight. She entered the arcade that led into the Underground and began the descent.

“Damn stairs!” she muttered, negotiating them as quickly as possible, her bones sparking with pain with every step.

After what seemed like an eternity, she reached the main platform, filled with people and the screeching of train brakes. She scanned the red digital readouts of the overhead schedule. There were four train lines that converged at this station. The next train was due to depart in one minute from platform two; the second would leave in two minutes from platform one. Lisa’s mind raced. There was almost no way she could make the first train in her injured state … but she could make the second, and it would probably throw the Union off course …

Hobbling more frantically than ever, she crossed the underground footbridge over the tracks and descended the steps to platform one. Reaching the train, she collapsed with exhaustion onto the floor, panting heavily as her lungs clutched at oxygen. The doors seemed to hang open forever. Lisa waited in terror for Veronica’s black boots to step through the door and announce her capture.

The train at platform two squealed and its doors hissed shut. Lisa had to know. She clambered onto her knees and peered cautiously through the glass window at the first train as it pulled away.

Her eyes prickled with relief.

Veronica strode down the length of the first train as it chugged away from the station, her expression cruel and victorious, pushing past commuters to track down Lisa. Her three agents were behind her, harassing everyone in their path.

Lisa slumped to the floor in relief, oblivious to the frightened stares of the other passengers, as the doors of her train hissed to a close and tears poured down her bloody face.

*

The electric hand dryers never seemed to work. Wiping her wet hands on her dark blue jeans, Sarah Venner returned to her desk outside Lance Hudson’s office. The view from the window was black: the sun had set hours ago, but working in Lance Hudson’s office had never been a nine to five job.

Sarah’s hands were poised over the keyboard, ready to resume the urgent email she had been composing, when she noticed that her silver mobile phone was flashing red: she had a missed call.

She flipped the cover open and bit her lip. One missed call from Larry O’Brien. One voicemail. Twenty-three seconds.

She frantically dialled the voicemail number, her mind reeling.

“You have one new voicemail,” the electronic female voice stated. “Voicemail received on Thursday the third of April at twenty hundred hours and forty-six minutes.”

There was a sharp beep. Larry’s voice reached Sarah’s ear. This time, among the gravelly, fatherly quality, there was something Sarah had never heard in his tone before: disguised fear.

“Hi sweetheart. Just … uh … thought I’d give you a quick call. Angela’s made me think about taking some time off work so … we might be able to spend some more time together. Nothing’s … uh … definite yet, and it won’t be for a few days at least, but I’ll let you know. Uh … don’t bother calling me back, I know you’re busy with study. Love you.”

Sarah closed her phone and said a word she had never said before in her life:

“Fuck.”

*

It was nine o’clock when Lisa turned the key in the door of Gavin and Dave’s apartment and gingerly stepped inside.

Gavin and Marina were huddled on the thick rug before the wooden TV set, Gavin with his phone to his ear; when they heard the door open, their faces both changed into curious expressions of mingled relief and concern.

“Oh my God, Lisa!”

“What the fuck happened!”

They were both at her side within seconds.

“Lisa, you look … are you okay?” Marina spluttered.

“I’m alive, I’m okay,” Lisa said, her voice unintentionally vague. She felt as though she could float off the ground at a moment’s notice. She wriggled out of their grasp and collapsed gratefully on the dirty, chocolate-brown rug, her bones sighing with relief and her mind whirling.

“Why didn’t you answer your mobile?” Gavin demanded, his tone almost accusatory.

Lisa reached into the pocket of her denim shorts and produced Marina’s mobile phone, brandishing it in Gavin’s direction to show the deep crack that ran through its screen.

“Sorry, Marina, but the Union broke it.”

Lisa almost heard the silence that followed.

“Leese … the Union … what?!” Gavin spluttered.

Lisa stared dazedly at the ceiling, still numb from the day’s events.

“I have a lot to tell you guys, but first up … what happened at the Sepulchre of Raikou?”

“Get her a glass of water and something to eat, Gav. I think she’s dehydrated or something.” Marina’s bushy blue hair appeared in Lisa’s line of vision; she sat down beside Lisa and took her hand comfortingly.

“You were right, Leese. About Raikou. I got the key fragment.”

Somewhere in the depths of her numbness, Lisa felt a ripple of sentiment; a distant, muffled echo of victory.

“Good stuff,” she said, slightly giddily.

“Lisa,” Marina held her face firmly, “we got back here almost half an hour ago and you weren’t here. We’ve been worried sick. Where have you been? Did the Union attack you? Are they still around?”

“They’re always around,” Lisa sighed.

Gavin’s face swam into view, a glass of water and a slice of cold pizza in his hands. Lisa downed the glass in the space of five seconds before taking the pizza and munching the corner eagerly.

“Feel better?” Gavin prodded, mirroring Marina and kneeling beside her.

“Mm,” Lisa murmured through a mouthful of pizza.

When she had finished eating, despite a wave of nausea, her head felt slightly clearer.

“Lisa, fill us in,” Marina pressed. “What happened to you?”

“I’ll give you the short version,” said Lisa slowly, “because I seriously feel like I’m about to throw up or fall asleep or something. That okay, Marina?”

“Okay,” Marina said gently, her alarmed face betraying her cool voice. She rubbed Lisa’s arm comfortingly. “Go on.”

“Well, I found the locations of all the keys,” Lisa said, getting onto her back once more and fixing her gaze on the ceiling. “My grandfather’s diary – I found it in the Sepulchre of Suicune – he’d hunted it all down, he’d written it, he knew everything except the Fifth Key and the Seventh Key, he doesn’t know where they are, but he found the rest, and the Third Key was in the library so I went to get it, but the Union – Gavin, you remember Veronica? She got to it too, so I had no choice, so I had to like, I just destroyed Antono – Antononno - Antoknossos’ Celebi basically, you know what I mean, and got the key, then Veronica and them chased me with pokémon, and me and Altaria crashed, of course, but then I ran and I crossed the road in time but I hit my head and I think I broke my nose. That’s when your phone died. But then I got on the train and it took me on the circle route for a few hours and then I got lost and then I found my way back here to you guys. So yeah, I got the Third Key.”

She reached into her pocket and withdrew the thin glass key, pressing it into Marina’s hand.

“Lisa … wow … this is incredible …” Marina breathed.

“You’re welcome,” said Lisa, giggling slightly as she said it.

Gavin, however, was not quite so congratulatory.

“Lisa, how sure are you that you weren’t followed?”

Lisa felt a spark of indignation within her; she sat up carefully, Marina hauling some of her weight.

“Gavin, I just got the goddamn Third Key. A ‘thank you’ would be nice you know!”

“Thanks, Leese,” he said pacifyingly, clearly in no mood to squabble. “I know you’ve been through a lot and you’re clearly overtired, but I need to know, did you see anyone following you?”

“Well, I didn’t see anyone, Gav, no.”

“But you didn’t take any precautions?”

“Well, I got on a different train to them, they never saw me.”

Gavin audibly tapped one of his canine teeth against his bottom teeth.

“I guess it’s possible that you lost them,” he said. “But just in case …”

He finished his sentence, but Lisa didn’t hear the words over the five heavy thuds that sounded from the front door.

There was a moment of dead silence within the apartment. Lisa, Gavin and Marina’s terrified eyes all locked in a triangle of panic.

“Could it be Mel?” Marina breathed to Gavin.

“Don’t think so, and I won’t chance it,” Gavin whispered. “Get yours and Lisa’s packs, hurry!”

“It never ends,” Lisa said blankly, her mind numb. She gave a kind of half-scoff to herself. “Peace. There’s no such thing.”

BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck,” Gavin panicked. “Leese, wait here, I’ll get my pack, I’ll be two seconds –”

“No, don’t leave me!” Lisa hissed. She lurched to her feet, every muscle aching, as Gavin darted into his bedroom. For a moment, she stood in the lounge room alone, waiting for the door to cave in, and then Marina raced out from Dave’s room, her rucksack slung over her back and Lisa’s in her hands. Her Guardian Butterfree hovered alertly over her shoulder.

“Here we go,” she said in a high-pitched whisper, securing Lisa’s pack onto her back. “I’ve got the Third Key, don’t worry …”

Ice cracked in Lisa’s veins suddenly.

“The fragment,” she gaped. “Did you get my key fragment?”

Marina’s hazel eyes widened.

“I thought it was with you …”

Gavin came pelting out of his room.

“Guys, I can pop the window frame on my bedroom window, come on!”

Before Lisa and Marina could even turn to face him, the front door exploded in a billow of dust and debris. Lisa and Marina ducked; splinters and shards of wood whizzed past their faces as five black-clothed figures stormed the room, led by Veronica.

She stood in the doorway, her platinum-blonde hair sleeked back into a ponytail, her dark eyes alive with triumph as she levelled her Stunner at Lisa.

“I’m not going to immobilise you this time, sweetie,” said Veronica, casting a poisonous smile at Lisa as she pulled the trigger.

“This one’s set to torture.”

[Sike Saner]

Oh man. First this happened--

“MOVE!” Lisa yelled, almost slamming head-on into a young man in a checked shirt as he left his apartment block; she managed to zig-zag around him at the last minute.

“What the fuck!” he cried, throwing his hands up into the air.

--and I laughed, and then the above was immediately followed by this--

As she turned around and cried, “Sorry!”, her eyes were scorched by the horror before them. The Flamethrower intended for her erupted from the Union’s Houndour’s mouth, enveloping the young man in a blindingly hot column of fire.

--which was an "oh my God" moment. Hell of a contrast there, and in such a short frame of time, too. Nice.

“YOU WON’T ESCAPE, LISA WALTERS!”

The cry sharpened her vision. She focused her sight and saw, though the stars and the rush of vehicles, the pale, pointed face of Veronica, frantically slamming her fist into the button on the traffic light.

They knew who she was.

OH SHIT.

Sarah closed her phone and said a word she had never said before in her life:

“Fuck.”

Someone should make her a "Congratulations on Your First Use of the Word 'Fuck'" cake.

“I guess it’s possible that you lost them,” he said. “But just in case …”

He finished his sentence, but Lisa didn’t hear the words over the five heavy thuds that sounded from the front door.

Oh shit again.

Ice cracked in Lisa’s veins suddenly.

“The fragment,” she gaped. “Did you get my key fragment?”

Marina’s hazel eyes widened.

“I thought it was with you …”

And again I say OH SHIT.


Great, fast-paced chapter there, really fun and exciting. :)

[Gavin Luper]

Someone should make her a "Congratulations on Your First Use of the Word 'Fuck'" cake.

Hahaha, I love this idea - good call!

Thanks for reading - I'm glad you liked the chapter and that it took you on a bit of an "oh shit!" rollercoaster. It was a bit of an adrenaline-fuelled one.

Thanks again for your feedback, Sike, and sorry about the wait to all readers - have been a bit preoccupied with some health issues and a new job all at once! Suffice it to say all is going well now and my mind is freer now, so here's the next chapter!

Cheers!

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

We last left Lisa, Gavin and Marina in Gavin's old apartment in Goldenrod City - and Veronica had just broken down the door to attack them ...

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

Chapter 77 – Council of War.


Thousands of volts of pure pain coursed through Lisa’s body. She felt knives grinding against her spine, needles stabbing her chest and a blunt axe cutting into her forehead. Her arms twisted as she spasmed; her scream barely audible over the thrashing of her body. It was uncontrollable hell: there was no mercy, no escape, no end …

“NO!”

The blanket of pain lifted with a righteous shriek. Lisa blinked, trying to regain her sight. The room emerged from a pool of oppressive blackness: Veronica still stood at the door flanked by her grunts, her Stunner slung across her front, however, she was rubbing her eye in apparent pain.

Her body still sensitive, Lisa turned to see Marina standing behind her looking slightly bewildered herself; over her shoulder, her Guardian Butterfree hovered indignantly, a faint wisp of smoke issuing from it.

“GET THEM!” Veronica roared, clawing at her eye.

She was almost knocked to the floor as the male Union agents stormed the room. Lisa plunged her hand into her pocket and closed it around the rubbery form of the Buzzball as Marina pulled a Lure Ball from her pocket; and in the same instant, Gavin dived behind the two of them, grabbing both their hands and shouting, “Please, please, please work!”

The world went black once more; Lisa felt her body squished by pressurised blasts of cold air – but the sensation lasted much less longer than usual – almost within the same second, Lisa felt her battered body slam against a hard, thinly-carpeted floor.

“Oh God, it didn’t work,” she squealed, pulling the Buzzball out of her pocket and holding it out in the direction of the apartment door. “Electrify!”

“Lisa!” Marina cried.

Lisa opened her eyes in time to see a streamer of blue electricity arc through the lobby of Gavin’s apartment building and sizzle the wall of mailboxes.

Lisa pressed a hand to her heart.

“I thought it didn’t work or something,” she breathed. “How come we’re still here?”

“I knew I wouldn’t have enough power to teleport us very far,” Gavin conceded, clambering up off the lobby floor and pulling Lisa to her feet. “I’m actually pretty grateful I got us all this far on my own …” He hauled Marina up to a standing position, too; she was patting her Guardian Butterfree gratefully.

“Thanks, Gavin,” Lisa said slowly, moving toward the front door.

“No worries and no, don’t try the front,” Gavin hissed swiftly. “I planned ahead. Come through the back way. Hurry, they could be after us already.”

Lisa and Marina followed him through the back exit of the lobby. They tiptoed through an overgrown communal garden and a row of half-empty vending machines before they reached a cramped gravel car park.

Gavin crept over to a white sedan; it looked like it was about fifteen years old.

“Hop in,” he hissed.

Lisa hobbled over the gravel and clambered into the front passenger’s seat, while Marina took the back seat. Gavin slid skilfully into the driver’s seat and started the car before slamming the door and swiftly reversing into the driveway.

Lisa locked her door; there was a chorus of clicks through the car as the other doors followed suit.

“Central locking,” she said, slightly awed.

“It’s Mel’s car,” Gavin explained, as he shifted into ‘drive’ and floored the accelerator, rolling quickly toward the street. “I got her to leave it with me tonight, just in case.” He gave a laboured sigh and then guffawed loudly. “Thank fucking God.”

Gavin turned onto the street and wheeled away at high speed.

“The fragment!” Marina said suddenly, as they turned onto a major road. “The damn fragment! Lisa, where did you put it?”

Lisa massaged her temple and rolled the window down an inch, feeling rejuvenated somewhat by the cool night air.

“I hid it when I left the apartment today,” she said slowly. “It’s inside one of Dave’s packs of condoms.”

Perhaps it was the adrenaline still pounding through them all, or perhaps it was the overload of emotions and thoughts that their nervous systems were struggling to process, or both, but suddenly, all three teenagers burst into a fit of riotous laughter, as though the word ‘condom’ was the most hilarious thing they had ever heard.

“Man …” Gavin muttered, still chuckling slightly as he wiped a tear from his eye and turned onto Madison Street West. “Okay, so seriously, that’s where you hid it?”

“Yeah,” Lisa grinned. “I wedged it right into one of the little individual packet things, you know the ones …”

“I do,” Gavin guffawed.

Marina giggled.

“In all seriousness, it’ll be the last place they look for anything,” she laughed.

“Let’s just hope they never do find it,” Lisa said. “But even if they do … it’s not the worst thing in the world. We have Marina’s fragment still, and the Third Key. We’re set.”

Gavin pulled up at a set of traffic lights. Madison Street West was Goldenrod City’s number one place for nightlife, and Thursday night was student night. Scores of youths prowled the streets, wandering from one neon-lit nightclub to the next bar, half of them singing in groups or drunkenly throwing their arms around one another.

“God, to be young again,” remarked Marina, as two young women in short dresses walked past arm-in-arm, singing at the tops of their lungs to a Julienne Brextar song.

“That’s ‘All Your Love’,” Lisa said, recognising the tune. “My friends and I used to do karaoke to it. Do you know it, Marina?”

“Hells yeah!” Marina laughed.

The girls locked eyes and, almost cracking up, they rolled down their windows and joined the drunken women in the song’s chorus:

“It’s just a mistake so baby don’t punish me
I’m free to be myself so don’t objectify me
I’m just a girl who wants a boy to love me
So baby, don’t take away all your love from me!”

“HAHAHAHAHA!”

“That was classic!”

“Did you see their faces when they realised we were singing over the top of them?”

“HAHA! I know! Madness!”

The traffic light finally changed to green; Gavin smirked and rolled onwards down Madison Street West.

“Can the world ever really have enough cheesy 90s dance pop?” Marina pondered.

“Yes,” quipped Gavin.

“Oh, shut up Gav, I heard you singing with us, too!” Lisa cried, rolling her window up almost to the top.

“So what? Guys are allowed to sing too. Don’t be sexist, now, ladies!”

After the laughter had subsided, Gavin pulled into a drive-thru fast food chain just before the freeway entrance.

“Anyone else hungry?” he asked.

Aside from the cold pizza she had rammed down her throat, Lisa couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten anything substantial. She ordered an extra-large Beefy Burger meal, slightly buoyed by the fact that both Gavin and Marina were ordering similarly indulgent meals.

After they pulled away from the fast-food diner, Gavin drove into the underground tunnel that led to the Western Freeway.

A green sign was affixed to the left of the tunnel entrance. Lisa pointed at it with one of her chips.

“Old Acres Town – 102 kilometres, Olivine City – 436 kilometres, Redwood City – 491 kilometres …” she read, before they zoomed past the sign. She turned to Gavin. “Where are we going?”

“Who knows, I just wanted to get the hell out of the city,” Gavin shrugged, his face half dappled with passing slats of fluorescent light and half shadowed.

“The question is, what are we going to do next?” Marina said thickly; she put her hand to her mouth in a slightly awkward manner and attempted to swallow her mouthful of burger.

Lisa took a sip of cola and reached into the pocket of her denim shorts, flipping to page 62.

“My grandfather’s diary says that the Fourth Key is in a cavern within Silver Rock Island.”

Gavin almost swerved into the wall of the tunnel.

“You can’t be serious!” he cried, straightening up. “After what happened to you today, you’re seriously thinking about going for another key?”

Lisa felt slightly flushed.

“Well, I’m not saying we try it straight away or anything …”

“Besides that, have you even thought about what you’re talking about? Silver Rock Island, Lisa! That’s where the Union have their base.”

Lisa clicked her tongue: she had not even begun to think through the practicalities. Silver Rock Island was where the Union’s headquarters were located. There was absolutely no chance of them retrieving the Fourth Key.

“So the Union are basically sitting on the Fourth Key and they don’t even know it?” Marina asked.

Lisa frowned, still bitterly digesting the realisation; Gavin, on the other hand, spoke up.

“I’m not sure that they don’t know it,” he said seriously. “I mean – when they had me prisoner … well, I know this isn’t much, but I know they were digging and drilling within the caves.” He screwed his face up. “Granted, they might’ve just been looking for something valuable, or something else, who knows …”

Marina placed a cool hand on Lisa’s bare shoulder.

“Leese, I know your grandfather’s diary has all these locations, but … well, didn’t we kind of agree that we’d go back to the Guard after we got our two fragments?”

“Yeah. Yeah, we did,” Lisa muttered.

She mulled things over in her mind, the slats of light from the walls of the tunnel playing across her face as the sedan rolled onward. Even though her fragment of the Sixth Key was still (as far as she knew) stuck in Gavin and Dave’s apartment, her acquisition of the Third Key and Marina’s acquisition of her fragment gave them exactly the sort of power she had banked on. If they offered the Guard the Third Key, perhaps they could keep Marina’s fragment a secret, to protect against the corruption that Lisa knew could be present among the Guard. Even if the Guard were fatally betrayed, Marina’s fragment would be in neither Guard nor Union possession, but rather, somewhere Lisa had hidden it, somewhere that even ancient texts and hidden diaries wouldn’t be able to locate it.

“What we need is somewhere safe to spend the night,” Marina said presently. Lisa turned, listening keenly. “If we find somewhere to hunker down, we can call Lance and then sit tight and wait for the Guard to pick us up.”

“Well, decide soon. The junction’s getting close,” Gavin said testily. “We can either head toward Olivine or toward Redwood.”

“Ecruteak would be better,” Lisa ventured.

“Well, Ecruteak would be north and not on the Western Freeway, wouldn’t it?” Gavin snapped. “Quickly, decide!”

“Okay, here’s a thought,” Marina gushed. “We don’t really know anyone in either city, but we do know Jack on Red Rock Island. Let’s go toward Olivine, surf over to Red Rock and use Jack’s place to sit tight in. Sound good?”

Lisa was still nodding her assent when Gavin veered the car to the left and onto a very sharply-curved off-ramp.

“Hold on!” he cried.

Grateful that few other cars graced the Western Freeway in the middle of the night, Lisa clung to the handrest as Gavin sped onto the offshoot and then rapidly spun the steering wheel the other way, almost sending them flying into a concrete wall as he overcorrected.

“Where did you learn to drive?” cried Marina, as they finally emerged from the tunnel and straightened up on a new, bushland highway.

“We’d’ve been fine if you two old women made up your minds faster,” Gavin scowled.

Marina laughed and hurled a chip in his direction, giggling as he grimaced and flicked it off his lap. Lisa caught something on Marina’s face – a coyness that wasn’t usually there – but before she could make much sense of it, Marina stretched her arms and yawned.

“I think I’m gonna try to sleep. You alright to drive for awhile, Gav?”

“Yeah, it’s cool,” Gavin said, his chestnut-brown eyes smiling at Lisa. “Me and Lisa can keep each other company.”

Lisa nodded in agreement, but when Gavin’s hands shook her arm four hours later, she had no recollection of chatting with him at all.

“Gav, I’m sorry, I think I dozed off,” she murmured, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

“No, you were a great conversationalist,” Gavin said sardonically. “I really liked your point about the snooooooooooooooooooorrre.” Gavin imitated Lisa’s snoring before breaking into a fit of guffaws.

“We both know I don’t snore,” Lisa shot at him.

She clambered out of the car, feeling extraordinarily rested. Her sneakers coming to rest on an overgrown dirt track. She tried to glimpse more of her environs, but it was still the middle of a dark, cloudy night: almost nothing was visible beyond the dim interior light of Melanie’s car. However, nearby, Lisa could hear the sound of waves breaking furiously against a coastline.

“We’re here already?” Lisa said incredulously, shivering against the chill.

“You slept for ages,” Gavin said, adjusting the grey beanie he had apparently designated for use only when on the sea.

Marina’s eyes were almost still closed as she emerged from the car, shivering violently.

“It’s the middle of the night, I don’t wanna swim,” she moaned in a childish voice.

Lisa decided not to point out that the plan had been Marina’s idea: she wasn’t much of a morning person, and even less of a middle-of-the-night person.

“Actually, you girls are gonna love me,” Gavin said smugly. He removed the last of their backpacks from the car and, before locking it up, he flashed the headlights four times into the darkness ahead; Lisa glimpsed a rolling grey wave ahead. “We don’t have to surf.”

“How’s that?” Lisa said, hoisting her rucksack onto her back.

“Well, while I was driving, all on my lonesome, you know … nobody to talk to … a lone wolf, a man on a mission …”

“Get to the point, drama queen,” Lisa sighed.

“I stopped for a coffee to keep me awake,” Gavin continued. “And for petrol, too, which I paid for myself by the way … just saying … but anyway, I thought it would be worth calling Jack to find out if he was still around Olivine.”

“Oh, good thinking!”

“If I do say so myself,” Gavin smirked, locking the car with the immobiliser. “Because it turns out he just came to Olivine Harbour again for a fishing trip this arvo, and he’ll be able to take us back to Red Rock first thing in the morning. He’s going to pick us up now and take us back to his boat for the night.”

“If I wasn’t scared of your ego exploding, I’d kiss you, Gavin,” Lisa grinned.

“I accept cash payments,” Gavin said seriously. “No, for real … that petrol was really expensive …”

Marina mumbled something which could have been construed as happiness; Lisa had a feeling she had gone into a state of semi-sleep whilst still leaning against the side of the car.

The saltbushes nearest the front of the car rustled suddenly. Lisa spun around to face the direction of the disturbance. The bulky form of Jack Criddle emerged from the salty gloom, his body wrapped in an enormous black parka.

“’Zat you, Gav?”

“Hey mate!” Gavin moved forward, wringing Jack’s hand.

Lisa fought the urge to roll her eyes; she had only ever heard Gavin use the word ‘mate’ when around Jack and Frank.

“Can’t thank you enough for this,” Gavin said.

Jack shrugged.

“What’re mates for?” he said nonchalantly. “Let’s go then, me dinghy’s waitin’.”

His eyes fell on Lisa holding up Marina’s half-sleeping form.

“Bloody hell, girl, every time I see yeh, yer hair’s another colour!”

Lisa smiled, shaking his hand and following him down toward the beach through the scrub.

“I like to change it up,” she said wryly.

*

A chilly Friday morning had dawned over Silver City. In the main street, office workers headed for early meetings, cardboard-encased cappuccinos in hand. At Silver Stadium, wannabe pokémon masters gathered for the seasonal qualifying matches, having spent the night camping outside the edifice, jostling for pole position. And in the drawing room of Lance Hudson, built into the side of Mount Silver, six people took their seats around the reflective mahogany drawing table, their faces all set in a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.

They had all been called at less than a day’s notice: Ryan and Maria Walters had flown in from their strategic operation in Ecruteak; Azura had brought her private jet from the Tokor region; Jim Donovan had taken a commercial flight from Olivine. Only Alison Venner, and her daughter, Sarah, had been in Silver City already.

The double doors of the drawing room opened and a suited Lance Hudson strode in, his right hand clutching a fawn-coloured manila folder and a steaming ‘World’s Best Dad’ coffee mug.

“Morning, everyone,” he said, reaching the head of the table and smoothing the file out before taking an eager sip of his black coffee. “I’d like to thank you all for coming on such short notice, but this is extremely important.”

The people seated in grey tub chairs around the drawing room inclined their heads in an almost uniform indication that they understood. Two people didn’t conform: one, Sarah Venner, was staring rather distractedly through the enormous glass wall behind Lance, where she could see the distant shape of Silver Stadium filling with people; the other, Jim Donovan, furrowed his brow and cleared his throat twice in a disgruntled manner.

“It’d better be, mate,” he drawled. “Dunno if yeh realise, but I had to cancel a recon mission with Jasmine because of this.”

“Glad to see you’ve put aside your feelings from our last argument, Jim,” said Lance crisply; the exasperated faces around the table seemed to echo his impatience with Donovan. “You’ll probably be glad to know that the recon mission was going to be cancelled regardless. We don’t need to track the kids down; we’ve found them.”

“Terrific!” said Maria Walters, gripping her husband’s hand instinctively.

“How did that happen?” Ryan asked enthusiastically.

“Yes, how?” pressed Azura, looking similarly ecstatic with relief.

“I received a call from Lisa Walters about three hours ago.”

There was a chorus of surprise and delight around the mahogany table; Donovan’s ire briefly forgotten, he whooped heartily, while Ryan and Maria beamed.

“She, Marina and Gavin are currently staying at a location on Red Rock Island. Now, the reason I called this meeting yesterday was because intelligence retrieved by Giles and Gideon suggested that all three kids had joined forces and were apparently AWOL. I can confirm that they took a boat to the mainland on Tuesday, disembarking somewhere near Olivine City, and that they were up to something on the mainland until this morning.”

Maria cleared her throat.

“Your text this morning just said that Lisa was alive and well – what else did she tell you?” she prodded; Azura nodded enthusiastically.

“More than any of us bargained for,” said Lance seriously. He opened his file and regarded a printed document. “Much more than I thought I would be sharing with any of you this morning.

“What I am about to reveal will come as a surprise, but I ask for the full support of all of you, and of all your teams, in the mission I am proposing. Due to the new intel Lisa was able to provide, I have decided that we will launch a major offensive on the Union’s base on Silver Rock Island.”

A resounding silence followed: Maria and Azura exchanged bewildered glances; Alison glared at her daughter for not telling her about the plan. Then, with the air of someone at the end of their rope, Donovan slammed his palms down onto the table and cried, “I’m out!”

“Sit down, Jim,” said Lance flatly.

Ryan’s dark eyes darted from Donovan’s ruddy face to Lance’s pale one.

“Lance – he has a point,” he said slowly, his tone controlled. “When did you decide the best thing for the Guard would be for us all to suicide?”

Maria chuckled nervously; Lance, on the other hand, maintained his stoic façade.

“Jim, sit down,” he repeated, “and all of you, give me a chance to talk this through before you get up in arms.”

A silence fell over the people seated around the mahogany table, as though someone had thrown an invisible blanket over them all. Donovan held his ground for a few seconds, his eyes locked in combat with Lance’s, before he scowled and, shrugging as though acting of his own accord, he slumped back into his chair with a muffled thud.

“Okay, now, let me explain my rationale before we all go jumping up and down,” he said curtly, taking a sip of coffee before launching into an explanation.

“First of all, I may have glossed over a few of the details that I conveyed to you all when Marina interrupted us in our meeting on Sunday. That is, the story Lisa told me is not the one I conveyed to the rest of you.”

“So you lied.” It was Donovan.

“I did what I had to do, as you will understand in a minute,” Lance said stiffly, not making eye contact with anyone. “Suffice it to say, it was a lie that Lisa was taken to a Union holding cell on Red Rock Island and escaped of her own accord the following day.

“The true story is that when Lisa was abducted at Redwood Hospital, she was taken – as we all initially guessed – to the Union’s headquarters below and within Silver Rock Island. The morning after, Sterling arranged for a helicopter to take her with him directly to the Sepulchre of Suicune.”

Maria and Ryan gasped; Azura frowned.

“Yeah, he wasn’t wasting any time,” Lance continued, “especially not after what happened on Mt Fairfax. However, due to a fortunate turn of events, Lisa managed to escape the helicopter in mid-flight –”

“WHAT?”

Lance recoiled slightly from the volume of the exclamation; it seemed that everyone at the table had cried out the same word at the same time.

“What do you mean, she jumped out of the chopper mid-flight?” Maria almost screamed, clutching at the back of her dark bun.

“What do you mean, she managed?” Donovan said sharply.

Sweating slightly, Lance purposefully faced Maria.

“Yes, Maria, she did, but she escaped unscathed.”

“But how –”

“Yeah, HOW,” Donovan snarled, interrupting Maria and leaving her with an expression of muted bewilderment. He levelled his gaze at Lance. “Two days ago, Jasmine and I rescued a museum curator after the Union interrogated him for info on the Third Key’s location. They had him handcuffed to an agent from the second he was kidnapped to the second they left him in that fucken basement to die.” His lip curled. “Are you telling me that they had one of the three Guardians in their possession and didn’t even bother to do the same?!”

Five faces swivelled toward Lance. He felt his heart hammering beneath his suit jacket and, in the recesses of his mind, he heard his father’s voice.

“We are doing the right thing, son. Sometimes it’s necessary to tell a lie for the greater good. Surely you know that by now?”

Feeling comforted, Lance spoke.

“Okay, it’s time to admit something that I’ve kept secret from you all. Well, except Sarah.”

All eyes swung around to face the demure teenage girl at the end of the table; though her cheeks reddened under the sudden scrutiny, she maintained her composure.

“You told her, but not us?” Azura said shortly; Donovan seemed to be going purple in the face trying to work out how to express the same sentiment.

Azura shifted in her tub chair and tapped the end of her pen on the table. “This’d better be good, Lancelot.”

“I don’t trust Sarah any more than I trust any of you,” Lance said, as bracingly as possible. “It’s just a fact that I need someone to help me here in Silver City with admin work, and – well, it’s just a reality that Sarah needs to be in the loop …”

His voice seemed to falter slightly as he spoke.

“Right,” Azura frowned. “So, what’s this secret, then?”

“Well, after Derek defected and you all found out that I had a double agent in the Union’s ranks, I assured you he had been the only one …”

“So he wasn’t,” Azura said swiftly.

Lance bit his lip.

“No, he wasn’t,” he said solemnly, opting to look in Sarah’s direction as opposed to any of the others’, especially Donovan’s. “There was one more. Larry O’Brien. None of you have ever met or probably even heard of him. He’s an old associate from my days working up in the Mt Silver wildlands. He infiltrated the Union for me years ago, in the bad old days, just after all that drama in the early 90s. A few weeks ago he worked his way up to Operations Manager of the Union. Sterling trusts him almost completely.”

“This is unbelievable,” Ryan said slowly.

“This is fantastic,” Azura added. “But then … why didn’t he warn you about the ambush on Redwood Hospital?”

“He didn’t know,” Lance said crisply. “It turns out that when it comes to infiltration, Sterling keeps his cards close to his chest.” Like I do, he thought, before trying to fight the comparison from his mind. “Probably only Joseph and his top two or three agents knew that the Union had infiltrated the Army Reserve.

“My association with Larry has, however, proved enormously beneficial over the past years. When Team Rocket tried to rebuild throughout the 90s, Larry’s intel helped us thwart them at each turn. Even after the Silph Co. affair, Larry kept passing info and enabled us to knock Team Rocket on the head once more. When Sterling finally allied himself with other gangs for support, Larry lost some of his influence, but since he was promoted to Head of Operations in February, he’s been on top form, initially positioning Derek to do our dirty work right under Sterling’s nose, and then, just a few days ago, he responded to my request to help Lisa escape from the Union.”

There was a resounding silence in the drawing room; Lance stole the moment to pick up his ‘World’s Best Dad’ mug and gulp down something that was close to pure caffeine.

“So it was you,” Ryan said, looking immensely grateful. “You saved Lisa.”

“Sorry, Ryan, but I couldn’t tell you,” Lance muttered thickly, his throat burning. “I didn’t want anyone but myself and Sarah to know.”

“It’s fine, I’m just a bit speechless,” Ryan said, his black eyes looking suddenly soft. “Thanks.”

“Yes, Lance, thank you, thank you,” Maria gushed, reaching into her pocket for a tissue as her mascara ran. “Remind me to invite you and Susan over for pasta once this is all over, okay?”

Lance nodded awkwardly; he was aware of Donovan smouldering to his right. Rather hoping that Donovan’s embarrassment at his screaming match with Lance a week previous would outweigh his indignation at being lied to, Lance continued.

“If I can get back to my main point, then, since time, as you’ll all see shortly, is of the essence …

“So, with Larry’s invaluable help, Lisa escaped from the helicopter and landed safely on Red Rock Island, on the back of Larry’s Altaria. Once there, as we all know, she managed to contact Marina and spoke to me directly.

“The rendezvous we arranged was legitimate, of course. Giles, Gideon and uh, Marina – at her insistence –”

“Christ’s sake, Lance!” Azura boiled over suddenly; she slammed her pen onto the table and gave Lance a dirty, threatening look. “For the last time, I authorised it. Stop making my daughter sound like some kind of pushy brat!”

“I didn’t say anything –”

“The way you said it!” Azura snarled; her eyes were wild. “I get that you think I was reckless in agreeing to her request. I do too, now. But – no, listen to me – she’s sixteen years old, she’s travelled half the province alone in a canoe, independent of any adult, and the Union already has her fragment of the key: most of her strategic value was and is gone. I just treated my daughter like the mature young adult that she is. I never said – no, let me finish, Maria – I never said you had to do the same with Darius. So for the love of God, stop rolling your eyes every time Marina is mentioned, and if you’re gonna talk shit on me or my daughter, at least have the goddamn courtesy to do it behind our backs!”

“If we can continue,” Lance boomed decisively, before there was so much as a second of shocked silence. “We arranged the rendezvous at the trainer’s entrance of the Water Colosseum. Giles, Gideon and Marina –” (He said the three names almost in one syllable.) “– were to meet Lisa there. However, when they arrived, the trainer’s entrance was blown apart, and Lisa was nowhere to be found.

“We were forced to assume that the Union had tracked Lisa down and recaptured her. However, after Sarah and I finally made contact with Larry on Wednesday, he revealed that Lisa was not in Union custody. This meant, then, that Lisa was in neither Union nor Guard custody, and was not making contact.

“We might have assumed she had had an accident, except her disappearance coincided with two others. Gavin Luper – who, as we know, was nearby on his mission to Cianwood – stopped making contact with us on the same day that Marina Frost went missing from Red Rock Airport. With all three children somewhere on Red Rock Island and refusing to answer their phones, Sarah and I became suspicious.

“We sent Giles and Gideon to investigate any of the group’s known contacts. After two of Marina’s contacts proved futile, the boys visited a sailor named Jack Criddle, who lives on the coast of Red Rock.”

“Lisa’s mentioned him before,” Ryan said quickly. “He was the sailor who gave her her Elekid.”

“Correct,” said Lance, “and Lisa sought to benefit from his friendship once again, just a few days ago. He ferried Lisa, Marina and Gavin to the mainland.”

“But why?” Maria said, a note of angst to her voice. “Why didn’t they just come back home?”

“Lisa’s explained this to me in detail,” Lance said. “You see, while she was in Larry’s office in the Union’s headquarters, she discovered the location of the Sepulchre of Suicune: a small lake in the bushland to the east of Goldenrod City.

“After the Union attacked her at the trainer’s entrance of the Water Colosseum, Lisa came to her own decision regarding – her movements.” Lance’s tone became stilted suddenly; he fought to keep the disdain from his voice, and he fought even harder to keep his eyes averted from Lisa’s parents. He stared at Alison and Sarah Venner at the far end of the mahogany table and took solace in their neutrality. “Basically, Lisa decided that the only way to ensure the Union stopped pursuing her was to take the key fragment herself.”

“SHE WHAT?!”

“So she did,” Lance sped on, ignoring the faces of his underlings; the second hand on his watch seemed to tick louder with every digression. “Lisa now possesses her fragment of the Sixth Key.”

“Oh wow.”

“Far out.”

“Fucken little ripper!”

“Quite as impressively,” Lance continued quickly, ignoring his coffee, “is that, within the Sepulchre of Suicune, Lisa found an ancient text, thankfully in English, that charted the locations of the first four keys and the Sixth Key fragments, which led her to obtain the Third Key yesterday.”

Another exchange of stunned smiles and whoops took place.

“How did all that happen?” asked Azura, who had been uncharacteristically silent since her earlier outburst.

“You guys might not have seen the news yet,” Lance said, almost excitedly. “But there was a major disturbance at the Goldenrod City Library last night. The Union finally discovered the location of the Third Key – at the same time as Lisa did. Lisa took the key from beneath their very noses!”

“This is a headfuck,” said Donovan.

“Maybe we should have been letting the kids do the work for us this whole time,” Ryan said jokingly, his expression one of mixed bemusement and glee.

“Don’t joke, Ryan,” Maria sniffed.

“So what were they plannin’ to do?” Donovan quizzed. “Open the lock themselves or summat?”

“According to Lisa, she wanted to ensure the end of her persecution,” Lance said slowly. “She wants us to inform the Union that we have the key fragment, so that they will no longer seek her so fervently.”

“Then we should!” said Maria fiercely.

“And we will,” Lance said calmly. “But for now, the important thing is that we get ourselves to Red Rock Island and take all three kids back into our custody.

“And the second most important thing,” he added, electric excitement coursing through him, “is that Lisa’s list revealed the location of the Fourth Key. It’s located within the caves of Silver Rock Island – right within the Headquarters of the Union itself.” He took an enormous breath. “So, long story long, my first reason for launching this offensive on the Union’s base is, obviously, to get the Fourth Key.”

He clapped his hands together by way of conclusion and, unperturbed by the stunned faces that framed the table, he reached for his mug and let his brain cells dance with a fresh hit of caffeine.

“Lance – if I could ask something …”

Everyone turned toward the end of the table to face Senior Agent Alison Venner who, along with her daughter, had remained silent throughout the discussion, until now.

Lance swallowed.

“Of course, Alison.”

Alison brushed a long strand of glossy black hair from her eyes as her rust-coloured eyes – much like her daughter’s – glanced down at a notepad she had been scribbling on throughout the meeting.

“Well, I just want to put this out there: If our aim is to stop the Union getting through the Iron Lock, the fact that Lisa now possesses one key and another fragment should be enough, shouldn’t it? Even if the Union get all the other keys, they’ll never succeed.”

There was a mixed reaction around the table: Maria and Sarah nodded vaguely; Donovan, Ryan, and Azura, on the contrary, looked almost insulted.

Lance, too, seemed perturbed.

“In simplistic terms, you’re right, Alison,” he agreed, “however, the more keys we have, the stronger a position we’re in in the long run. If we sit back and let the Union accumulate the other keys, we run the risk of eventually being ambushed and losing what little we have.”

“Exactly,” said Ryan, regarding Alison harshly.

“Still,” Alison persisted, “doesn’t this operation present an enormous risk for us? The Union has a thousand-man army, still growing constantly, and the bulk of those agents are stationed on Silver Rock Island.” She frowned. “We’ve got around twenty people on each of our teams,” she said soberly, looking at Ryan, Azura and Donovan. “Including ourselves, and our sympathisers and assets, the Guard still totals probably just over a hundred members. It’s a ridiculous statistic. Like everyone said before, it’s a suicide mission. Unless you’ve got something miraculous planned, wouldn’t it be better to use your double agent to find the key in his own time?”

All eyes were on Lance.

“I do, in fact, have something miraculous planned,” he said, a wry smile breaking over his face. “And the retrieval of the Fourth Key is not my only reason for this mission. But as for Larry, I’m afraid he’s paralysed. He left a voicemail for Sarah last night, telling us in code that he’s afraid that Lisa’s retrieval of the Third Key may have prompted Sterling to become suspicious of him. You see, Larry only just managed to save his reputation in Sterling’s eyes after Lisa’s escape. He framed a subservient agent, a young man named Jovan. Sterling murdered Jovan before Larry’s own eyes. Twelve shots to the head and heart. Larry believes Sterling killed Jovan in front of him intentionally, as a warning of the end result of treachery.”

“Fuck,” said Donovan.

“His cover hasn’t been blown yet,” said Lance. “But he’s being closely watched, and he seems convinced he only has a few days left before he’s made. Sarah and I have … well, theorised … that Sterling is probably checking through communications records for most of the high-ranking officers in the Union, not just Larry, so that could explain why it might take a few days. Nonetheless, despite the fact that we’ve been extremely careful in our coded communications with Larry, there will be patterns in our conversations that might trigger off Sterling’s suspicions and blow Larry’s cover. And that’s assuming there’s nothing else that gives him away.

“It goes without saying that the greatest weapon at our disposal – aside from the keys that Lisa has acquired – is Larry.”

“Hence the haste,” Alison said, nodding slowly. “You’re saying it’s now or never.”

“I’m saying it’s now,” Lance nodded firmly. “Lisa’s intel and the … precarity of Larry’s situation … give us a unique – let’s call it opportunity.”

Ryan laughed humourlessly.

“My plan, then,” said Lance, feeling slightly less apprehensive now that his party was brought up to speed; indeed, they were all listening intently now, “is to ambush the Union’s base on Silver Rock Island, for four reasons. Firstly, for the Fourth Key. Secondly, to try to get the Union’s other stash of keys: I know Larry knows where they are. Thirdly, to wipe out as much Union scum as we can get our hands on, especially Sterling.” (Sarah was the only one whose skin prickled with fear at his words.) “And last of all, if we possibly can, to save Larry’s life.

“The way we’re gonna do it is via the miraculous means I mentioned earlier,” Lance continued. “That is, we’re using Larry to play a nice practical joke on the Union.”

“A diversion?” ventured Azura.

“A big one,” Lance smirked, unable to help himself. “A few hours before our ambush, Larry will inform Joseph Sterling that he has intercepted a communiqué that the Guard is mobilising to a cave on the west coast of Johto’s southern peninsula, just west of Azalea Town, where we have located the Fourth Key. According to Larry, there are about eight hundred Union agents on base at any one time. He is going to try to scramble about half of them if possible, to head us off in Azalea. Ideally, that will leave us to contend with just four hundred agents.”

“Four each,” Donovan boomed, thudding his fist on the table. He seemed oddly excited by the prospect of battle.

“Assuming they take out none of us,” Alison said curtly, her lips thinly drawn. “That ratio’s still way too far into suicide territory for my liking.”

“Looking at the raw numbers, I’d agree with you, Alison,” Lance said, resting his hands on the edge of the table and checking for the umpteenth time that power had definitely been cut to the intercom and telephone unit built into the mahogany; he was paranoid about accidentally broadcasting their secret conversations. “But you’re forgetting the pragmatics. Sterling will send his best fighters to intercept us in Azalea; the weakest grunts will be left to face an onslaught of around eighty of the most skilled trainers and fighters in the region.

“The other thing you’re forgetting is that while the Union agents still do use pokémon by means of habit, these days they favour their pistols and stun guns. According to Larry, most agents only carry three or four pokémon at the most. So, to make the most of this,” he said, grinning, “I’m planning on bringing a veritable army of my strongest pokémon with me, including my Dragonite and my Steelix, just to shake things up a bit.”

Donovan and Ryan exchanged broad grins.

“You’re putting everything into this, aren’t you?” Azura said, her expression half-excited and half-bemused.

Lance nodded.

“I am, and I want all of you and all your teams to do the same,” he said. “If we pull this off right, if everything goes to plan, this could be the end of Joseph Sterling. The end of the Union.”

The atmosphere in the drawing room was suddenly palpable.

“I’ll get Tom to bring my Blastoise from home,” Ryan said at once.

“And my Nidoqueen,” Maria added.

“I’ll kill Sterling myself, and if he gets me first, my Machamp’ll finish ‘im off,” Donovan grinned venomously.

“Okay, that energy is exactly what I want you all to pass you on to your teams,” Lance said, energised. “They need to be ready to do battle for the fourth key. They need to be pumped.

“So, that’s the plan,” Lance said. “Sarah’s emailed you all with a briefing, so check your phones. I’ll notify Larry in a few minutes, and we’ll mobilise ASAP. All teams will converge on Red Rock Island as subtly as possible. As we have no base or safe house there, we’re going to use Jack Criddle’s house as a meeting point: it’s not big but it’s big enough, it’s coastal, for us to mobilise quickly by sea, and it’s well out of town, so we likely won’t be seen.

“There’s just one more thing.”

“I was going to say …” Alison said under her breath, just loud enough for the others to hear her.

Ryan, Maria, Azura, Donovan and Alison faced Lance, waiting keenly on his final comment.

“Aside from my dad, the seven of us in this room are the only people in the Guard who know that there is a mole within our ranks.”

Realisation dawned on the faces of the others.

“There’s still no lead?” Azura asked.

“None, other than it’s not one of us,” Lance sighed. “However, I plan to use this mole to our advantage.

“You’re going to tell your teams the exact same thing we’re leaking to the Union. That the Fourth Key is located in a remote coastal cave west of Azalea Town. We’ll chopper it to a bare stretch of beach between Olivine and Goldenrod and surf from there. We’ll say Red Rock is a rest point before we surf onward to the hidden cave. Not until we leave Red Rock will any of our members know that we are heading for Silver Rock Island. The mole, whoever he or she is, won’t have a chance to warn Sterling, and his agents will be too far away to help him, in any case.

“The added advantage of this is that, if Sterling is really that suspicious of Larry, he might contact his mole within our ranks for confirmation that the Guard is headed to Azalea. And he’ll receive that confirmation.”

“You realise you’re proposing we lie to our entire teams,” Maria said blankly.

“In order to save their lives, probably,” said Lance.

“He’s right, Maria,” said Ryan.

“I know, love … I know there’s no way around it … it’s just that … we’re going to catch the mole, but after that’s all said and done, we’ll end up with an entire team that no longer trusts us.”

“They’ll understand why the measure had to be taken,” said Alison briskly; it irritated her when people dwelled on things they had already resolved to accept.

“Exactly,” said Lance. “And if all goes well tonight, we might not even need teams ever again.”

Maria’s frowning face broke briefly into an appreciative smile before resuming its deep frown.

“That’s it,” said Lance, clapping his hands together in a macho gesture once more. “Grab your phones and things from Sarah, and I’ll see you all down in the foyer. We leave in thirty minutes.”

Azura, Donovan, Alison and Sarah slid their grey tub chairs out from the table and rose.

“We’re gonna kill some Union scum!” Donovan sang to himself in a toneless voice, as he headed out into Sarah’s reception area.

“You don’t seriously take issue with this, do you, Maria?” Lance asked her incredulously.

Her dark Italian eyes weighed down with years of suffering, Maria Walters stood up slowly, helping her husband into his coat.

“I’m afraid after everything we’ve seen in last twenty years, Lance, I still get those pangs of Catholic guilt. I’m not going to oppose you, and I can’t even disagree with your logic. I just … I still believe it’s wrong to lie.”

Lance pressed his lips together and inclined his head slightly.

“I know, Maria. Me too. And hopefully this whole business is going to be done and dusted soon. But until then, it’s the reality of what we do.

“Sometimes it’s necessary to tell a lie for the greater good.”

[Sike Saner]

“The rendezvous we arranged was legitimate, of course. Giles, Gideon and uh, Marina – at her insistence –”

“Christ’s sake, Lance!” Azura boiled over suddenly; she slammed her pen onto the table and gave Lance a dirty, threatening look. “For the last time, I authorised it. Stop making my daughter sound like some kind of pushy brat!”

“I didn’t say anything –”

“The way you said it!” Azura snarled; her eyes were wild. “I get that you think I was reckless in agreeing to her request. I do too, now. But – no, listen to me – she’s sixteen years old, she’s travelled half the province alone in a canoe, independent of any adult, and the Union already has her fragment of the key: most of her strategic value was and is gone. I just treated my daughter like the mature young adult that she is. I never said – no, let me finish, Maria – I never said you had to do the same with Darius. So for the love of God, stop rolling your eyes every time Marina is mentioned, and if you’re gonna talk shit on me or my daughter, at least have the goddamn courtesy to do it behind our backs!”

Damn, she sure told him off.

That last scene gave off this nice "major stuff is about to happen" sense. Liked that.

Also the burger mention earlier in the chapter made me want a burger.

[Gavin Luper]

Damn, she sure told him off.

That last scene gave off this nice "major stuff is about to happen" sense. Liked that.

Also the burger mention earlier in the chapter made me want a burger.

Hey, Sike! Thanks for reading and replying. Yeah, Azura's a feisty one - you can see where Marina gets her gumption from, albeit perhaps a less intense brand. Yep, major stuff is about to go down my friend.

I can't believe four weeks has passed now. I'll edit the next chapter and post it up as soon as I can.

Thanks for your feedback as always - huge stuff is not far away!

Cheers,

Gavin.

[mistysakura]

Argh, every time they're talking about going to Jack's place, I want to scream warnings at them... just like talking to the TV It's really scary how much Lance knows, and the spin he's putting on it. It's also interesting to see how the parents are reacting -- Ryan seems like such a yes-man... The whole bit with the trio doing karaoke and scoffing huge burgers seemed a bit weird, given that they still weren't completely safe -- I guess they just went delirious with 'freedom'? Looking forward to the next chapter!

[Gavin Luper]

Argh, every time they're talking about going to Jack's place, I want to scream warnings at them... just like talking to the TV It's really scary how much Lance knows, and the spin he's putting on it. It's also interesting to see how the parents are reacting -- Ryan seems like such a yes-man... The whole bit with the trio doing karaoke and scoffing huge burgers seemed a bit weird, given that they still weren't completely safe -- I guess they just went delirious with 'freedom'? Looking forward to the next chapter!

Thanks, Ada! Hehehe ... yeah this is one of those cases of dramatic irony, isn't it, where the readers know just a little more than the characters. Or is that the case? You shall soon find out. Yeah, I agree Lance is a powerful character and with that comes the inevitable corruption that power brings, to an extent at least. I think the dynamic between Ryan, Lance and Azura is an interesting one: you're right in that Ryan will generally be closer to Lance's point of view and echo him, while Azura acts as this fierce voice of reason and, sometimes, passion. And yes, the bit with them celebrating was a bit out-of-kilter, but I tried to think about the adrenaline of freedom and escape from near death/capture, and there would be a dizzying elation that comes with that, I think, maybe slightly inappropriately, I don't know.

Here is the next chapter. A whole lot of stuff is about to go down.

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Chapter 78 – Underneath.


Lisa hung up the dirty, cream-coloured receiver of Jack Criddle’s phone and sighed. Had it been the right thing to do, not telling Lance the whole truth? She had omitted any mention of the fact that the text she had found was her grandfather’s secret diary, lying further by telling Lance she had lost the text while escaping from the Sepulchre, but that she had memorised the key locations; likewise, she had said nothing about Marina’s fragment of the Sixth Key.

She stared blankly through the tatty flywire that covered the enormous window of Jack’s kitchen. Though the sun was not quite up yet, and the sky still a deep umber streaked with orange in the east, the old sea captain, Frank, was sitting on a deck chair among the enormous mess of junk, rubble and curios that comprised the back yard of Jack’s beachside hut, smoking tobacco from a smooth wooden pipe.

Lisa regarded him with mild amusement. He had sung his bizarre sea chantys throughout their voyage from the mainland, where Jack had picked them up, to where they had moored the boat, just off the beach near the hut. Lisa watched as he puffed little white plumes of nonchalance into the crisp morning air, his eyes knotted over a crossword puzzle that he could surely scarcely see in the half-light. Was it really possible that there sat before her a man in his sixties – seventies, even – who was apparently completely carefree and content, while there she was in the kitchen, a stressed teenage girl of fifteen who, she knew, had already experienced more pain and seen more terrors than most people would see in a lifetime?

Life didn’t seem to make sense.

She turned away from the window and, tucking a tendril of newly-black hair behind her ear, she located the least grubby glass on the stainless steel sink and poured herself a glass of water. After they had arrived on Red Rock Island, she had asked Jack to buy her a black rinse from the all-hours deli beside Shane’s Shark Shack: the crimson bob was just a little too attention-grabbing, especially as the Union had now seen her new look. While Marina, Gavin and Jack had all collapsed wearily into bed when they returned to the hut an hour ago, Lisa found the prospect of sleep impossible, not least because she had slept for the entire naval voyage. Moreover, she had been too keyed up to rest; after dying her hair back to its old black (it felt odd to return to looking like herself) and showering, she had decided not to put off the phone call she had to make to Lance, and had dialled him at once.

Was it a mistake? Lisa felt oddly empty at having brought the Guard back into her loop – displaced, even. In just a few days of independence, she had learned to live, more than ever, without parents, without the Guard, without rules. It had been exhilarating. To think that, according to Lance, her parents and most of the Guard would soon be descending secretly upon Jack’s little hut made her suddenly regret her decision. It felt as though she had discovered a world and a life of her own, and then sold them for a price she wasn’t even sure she cared about.

At least she still had some secrets. The diary and Marina’s fragment. There was no way she was ready to part with them yet.

She was glad that Marina and Gavin had agreed to the decision. Just after they boarded Jack and Frank’s fishing vessel, and the night waves battered the craft as it sailed for Red Rock, she had explained her fear of the Guard being infiltrated and suggested that they not mention Marina’s fragment but, rather, hide it somewhere themselves.

“Fine, whatever,” Marina had muttered sleepily, trying to curl up in her bunk; she was still half-asleep, it seemed.

“Sounds good,” Gavin had said, pulling his grey beanie tighter over his shaved head. He reached into the pocket of Marina’s jeans, which lay on the floor of the below-deck cabin, and removed the tiny, glassy fragment, handing it to Lisa. “The question is, where the hell do we hide it?”

Lisa had struggled with the same question for some time. Even the hot spurts of steaming hot water rinsing the tides of purple from her hair had not cleansed her mind enough for her to make a decision on where to hide the fragment. Part of her wanted to hurl it into the ocean and simply lose it forever, or, similarly, bury it in a patch of salty scrubland and forget where it was. But her mind looped back to the scrawled text in her grandfather’s diary and his description of the power behind the Iron Lock. The fire of the Phoenix. Eternal life. If Lisa lost the key forever, the secret of the Iron Lock would be lost, too. Maybe she would be better off hiding the key somewhere it could be found if needed? Would it be too much of a risk to hide it, say, under one of Jack’s splintery floorboards?

She checked her watch and sighed. She would have to make a decision within the next twelve hours. According to Lance’s rigidly-spoken words on the telephone, that was when the Guard was to descend on Red Rock Island – on Jack’s little hut – and prepare for the invasion of Silver Rock Island.

Lisa was surprised that Lance’s stern words had cut her.

“We will attack the Union’s base. You kids will stay put on Red Rock Island. No arguments.”

Even as she absent-mindedly poured herself another glass of tap water, Lisa found her face screwing itself up in contempt. Did Lance think she was some kind of idiot? She smiled savagely. He had no idea what she had lived through … what the three of them had experienced together. They had escaped the Union yet again; they had found and retrieved keys. Didn’t that prove their mettle?

Lisa remembered something Jamie had said while he helped her bleach her hair.

“My ex-mum always said bleach damages your hair. You’re meant to use some wanky dye.”

He had taken a sip of lukewarm beer and locked eyes with Lisa’s wide-eyed reflection in the mirror.

“I’ll tell ya one thing I’ve learned, girl padawan. Adults are fucken pussies when it comes to their kids.”

Lisa smirked. For all his obliqueness, Jamie was right in that regard: adults seemed to have developed a collective habit of treating their teenage children like incapable infants. Her parents had done it, keeping her in the dark for so long. And now Lance was doing the same, cloistering them in Jack’s house while the adults – who, from what Lisa could see, had never had as much success against the Union as she, Gavin and Marina had – played the starring roles.

Indeed, as Lisa unwrapped one of Jack’s high-protein muesli bars from the peeling, faded green cupboard, she realised exactly what bothered her. Not Lance’s disregard for her achievements – after everything, she wasn’t sure she cared what anyone except Gavin or Marina said anymore – but the pragmatic thud in her soul: she was going to sit on the sidelines while the war was finally – maybe – won.

For the millionth time, the old fear returned to Lisa: had she become a crazed adrenaline junkie? Why did she even want to fight? The jets of deadly light sizzling the air, screams and explosions of gunfire, blurred vision and heart hammering … it was terrifying, not exciting … but her body seemed to feel otherwise.

Suddenly, the urge to run overcame her. Gulping down an arid ball of muesli (how did Jack manage it?), Lisa double-checked that Frank wasn’t on sentry duty (he was now draped over the deckchair, eyes closed and the steaming pipe lolling dangerously close to his collar) before reaching for her backpack, scribbling a note for Gavin and Marina and bounding toward the front door.

Jack, Gavin and Marina would only be asleep for a few more hours. She couldn’t bear the thought of not making the most of her last few hours of freedom; the last few hours of being alone.

She had to breathe.

*

Larry O’Brien sprinted down the spiral stone staircase, his heart pounding. The torches were already burning in the sconces on the walls: was he too late?

He reached the small cavern he needed to visit and turned the corner to where the cell was located. Behind a series of ceiling-to-floor iron bars, crumpled in a corner of a bare cell with just a bed, toilet, sink and desk with texts sprawled across it, was Professor Geoffrey Westwood. The man was a shadow of his former self: he had lost a great deal of weight over the past four months, and was now skinny and more wizened-looking than ever before. His eyes drooped with weariness as he gnawed on a slice of bread.

“Geoff,” Larry said.

“What is it?” Westwood asked tiredly. “What do you people want from me now?”

“I only have a few minutes, and I can’t be seen leaving here. You must do exactly as I say. My name is Larry O’Brien. I am a double agent working for Lance Hudson and the Guard, sabotaging the Union from the inside.”

A flicker of hope crossed Westwood’s face.

“You’ve come to rescue me!”

“In a manner of speaking,” Larry said matter-of-factly. “I’m not here to bail you out myself, but I’m here to help you get free in the end. Listen: the Guard is leaking false information to the Union that the Fourth Key has been discovered near Azalea Town. Sterling will come and ask you if this is congruent with the texts before he takes any action. It’s imperative that you lie to him and confirm the bogus info.”

Westwood looked bemused.

“But to what end is all this?”

“We are luring the Union’s forces away so that the Guard can attack this base. I have already told the Guard your location. They will liberate you when they get here. But you have to promise me you will do this. Tell Sterling that the Fourth Key is indeed somewhere on the coast of the peninsula, west of Azalea Town, and only when he asks you, which he will.”

Westwood nodded sharply.

“I will do it, I give you my word,” Westwood said.

“Thank you, Westwood – now, I have to get out of here before he comes …” Larry paused, teetering on the cusp of doing something before deciding to go through with it. “Listen, Westwood,” he said solemnly. “I think Sterling is onto me, and what I’m going to try to do tonight might be my death.” He removed a silver chain from around his neck and passed it through the bars of the cell; Westwood took it soberly. “If I die tonight, please give that to my wife, Esther, and my daughter, Jenna.”

Westwood’s eyes were wide as he curled the chain into his hand and placed it securely in his pocket.

“I will,” he said.

Larry nodded curtly, and turned to leave, but Westwood called out:

“Thank you, Larry. And good luck.”

Larry turned and deigned a troubled half-smile.

“Thank you, Geoff. You too.”

*

The office was lit by a single candle placed on the corner of the polished granite desk. It burned not with a yellow-orange flame, but of a deep, bloody vermilion hue.

His dark eyes burning in the eerie illumination Joseph Sterling picked up his mobile telephone and dialled a number while Veronica Stawell took a long drag on a cigarette in the seat opposite.

A voice answered through the receiver of Sterling’s mobile.

“Sir.”

“I have just received intel that the Guard has located the Fourth Key. Is this true?”

“Y-yes, sir.”

“Where is the key located?”

“We haven’t been told exactly, but it’s somewhere on the coast of the peninsula, west of Azalea …”

“Tell me everything you know.”

“They haven’t said much yet – we were only just informed – but we’re all converging in Olivine, it’s the closest to all the teams’ locations, and then we’re taking boats or something from Olivine to the key. Scheduled to arrive at 2am.”

“All of the teams are involved?”

“Yes, sir. Everyone who can help. It’s all hands on deck. Probably close to a hundred agents. You should send maximum force.” The voice suddenly rose an octave. “I-I m-mean, if you should decide, sir, it’s your deci-”

“Yes, it is. Don’t remind me of the extent of my power in the same breath as displeasing me,” Sterling hissed. “Now tell me, how is it that I learned of this mass movement via an intercepted communiqué, rather than from you?”

“S-sir … please, we were only just told …”

“I hope you haven’t forgotten our arrangement, maggot. I don’t need to remind you of your wife Natasha’s beauty. I’m sure neither of us wish for her to be … damaged.”

“N-no, please sir …”

Smirking, Joseph Sterling hung up.

“What a pussy,” Veronica snarled, blowing a ring of smoke into the air.

Sterling stood up abruptly.

“Assemble the best of the best on the floor of the cone in twenty minutes. I’m going to pay our mate Westwood a little visit.”

*

For the first time in Lisa’s memory, Red Rock Island was waking up to a gloomy sky and an aggressively cold zephyr. Reeking of dried salt and Seaking scales, she wrapped Jack’s wool-lined jacket around her and pulled Gavin’s grey beanie further over her short hair. As she hurried along the coastal promenade, she wondered if she might be mistaken for a boy, at a distance.

Her destination was mercifully a long way from the well-policed main mall. As the sun finally crested over the misty horizon, Lisa located the ivy-choked two-storey brick bungalow and pressed the doorbell.

There was a scuffling behind the white door, and then several seconds of silence. Lisa knew a bleary eye was scanning her through the peephole. Shaking her head, she removed Gavin’s beanie and her aviators.

A latch clicked and the white door swung open.

Jamie stood there, naked except for a pair of black-and-yellow beer-branded boxer shorts, his bleached hair sticking up like a Nidorino’s spine.

“Lisa. Hey,” he said simply, his deep voice muffled by the smouldering cigarette that dangled from his mouth.

“Hey Jamie,” Lisa greeted, stepping inside quickly. “Didn’t wake you did I?”

“It’s seven a.m.,” he grunted, locking the door behind them. “Haven’t slept yet.”

Without waiting for Lisa, he trudged through the corridor that led to the rest of the house.

“I’m in my room, dude,” he muttered.

Lisa couldn’t help but smile to herself: Jamie was supremely unconcerned by her appearance.

She picked her way carefully through the rubble strewn through what remained of his ‘ex-mum’s’ house. Lisa was flabbergasted by how much filth had accumulated since her visit just a few days previous. Clothes, empty cans of beer and cornflakes formed a steady track from the entry to the kitchen to the living room. The kitchen sink was dripping. Most of the lampshades were shattered; a golf club, a baseball bat and a pair of tennis rackets lay on the torn linoleum beside a collection of small rocks and cricket balls. A smorgasbord of bottles of spirits and ales – all empty – lined the full length of the half-wall in the dining room, like some kind of victory parade.

Lisa nearly jumped out of her skin as she passed through the living room: what she initially believed to be a pile of clothes on the futon suddenly moved and groaned, and a pair of arms stretched out from within the mess, followed by a second, hairier pair.

Lisa scuttled into Jamie’s bedroom and instinctively closed the door behind her.

“I thought you told me you don’t live here anymore,” she said. “Who are the people on the futon?”

Jamie was sitting cross-legged on his bed, unabashedly poring over a glossy magazine emblazoned with pictures of topless women.

“Rod and Amy? They’re boss. Let ‘em crash for the night. We had a wicked rave last night.”

Lisa screwed her nose up at the smell emanating from every corner of the room: it was an acrid mixture of sweat, alcohol and something pungent that she couldn’t quite identify.

“No kidding.”

“And not that it’s yer business, but I’ve been here ever since you made me come back. I felt like I owed my ex-mum somethin’ in return for all her good work, so I redecorated.”

He took a long drag on his cigarette before returning it to its at-ease position between his lips, his blue eyes fixed to a pair of printed breasts.

Lisa hesitated to sit down on the bed, but, to her surprise, Jamie obliged her, wordlessly moving his dirty jeans from the foot of the mattress and gesturing for her to sit. She did.

“So did you get your key then?”

He looked up from his dirty magazine, his pallid, malnourished face and bloodshot blue eyes suddenly keen with interest.

“Yeah. Yeah, I did.”

“Destroy it?”

Lisa tilted her head and grimaced.

“It’s indestructible.”

Jamie regarded her blankly for a moment.

“Flush it down the dunny then.”

Lisa almost laughed. For the millionth time, she recalled the words in her grandfather’s diary. The fire of the phoenix. Eternal life.

“I would – if it wasn’t so much more complex than that …”

She fell back on the bed and sighed, her eyes falling on the lurid yellow-and-black poster that she had woken up to four days ago:

SO YOU’RE JUST GONNA ROLL OVER AND GIVE UP LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO? OR ARE YOU FINALLY GONNA GET MAD AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?

Enormous globs of putty attached the poster to the wall.

A smile curled Lisa’s lips, replaced immediately by a sense of dread.

“Can I say something?” she said abruptly, staring at the poster with a swirl of something akin to affection in her stomach.

“No,” Jamie said dully. He guffawed suddenly and took a quick drag of his smoke. “Haha. Kiddin’. Yeah, what?”

“I know I’ll sound like an idiot but … I’m scared of this all being over,” Lisa said, forcing herself to say the words as her face flushed red.

“What d’you mean?” Jamie asked, saving a page of his magazine with his thumb and closing it, as though he detected a serious conversation in the air.

“I mean … I don’t know what I’m going to do with my life after this is all over.” Lisa felt the words tumble from her mouth, allowed to flow for the first time. “I was washing the dye out of my hair this morning … back to black … and I was just thinking, like … how boring my life will be once the war is over. The last six months have been the most horrible and exciting months of my whole life, and – okay, this is gonna sound kind of emo, but … it’s pretty much the only interesting thing that’s ever happened to me. I don’t want it to end.”

Her chest tightened as she disgorged her ugly truth. She winced, waiting for Jamie’s reply.

“Guess that’s fair enough,” he mumbled.

Lisa’s eyes moved from the broken lampshade on the ceiling to Jamie: he had reopened his magazine and was ogling a nude woman who appeared to have clambered out of a very cold lake.

“You don’t think that’s ridiculous?”

Jamie’s slate-blue eyes looked up briefly from the dirty magazine.

“What’m I, yer shrink?” He smirked, not unkindly. “I dunno, I get where you’re coming from. Life is boring as batshit.”

Suddenly, his expression became deeply serious: he removed the cigarette from his mouth as his forehead creased with sincerity.

“Look, the night we met at the Colosseum was the fucking best my life has ever been,” Jamie said flatly. “Running. Getting attacked. Getting my knee fucking blasted by an Ice Beam! Dude, it’s not ridiculous. I was fucking shitting myself the whole fucking time but it was fucking rad. I’d give good money to do that shit again.”

Lisa gave up trying to count expletives.

“You really feel the same?”

“Shit yeah!” he cried. “Rad enough for me to stay here at my bloody ex-mum’s place for the last four nights, hoping you’d come back.”

Lisa felt a shiver course through her skin: his utter vulnerability raised almost frightened goosebumps all over her body. She waited a few seconds for him to laugh, or say that he had been joking. He didn’t.

The silence stretched on as Lisa’s thoughts raced. Had she given him the wrong impression? Was he infatuated with her? Was that why he’d waited for her to come back? Or was it just because he wanted another glimpse of a life of danger? Lisa regarded him as he flicked nonchalantly through the pages of his porno magazine, completely unfazed by her presence. Certainly, he was attractive: his torso was slim but sinewy, and even with his bloodshot eyes and pallid skin, he had a handsome face and a strong jawline. If anything, the dark circles around his eyes gave him a rugged, dangerous appearance. Lisa watched him stub out his cigarette in the smoked-glass ashtray on the bedside table. Nothing about him was conventionally likeable. Indeed, everything about him was repulsive in her eyes: he swore, he drank, he smoked, he looked a porn in front of a girl he barely knew and he was clearly involved with some kinds of drugs. The image of Darius drifted across her mind’s eye and she felt her heart glow at the thought of his dimples. Her breath became shallow as she thought of his voice, his laugh, his attitude. She was attracted to him: a hopeless crush. But her feelings toward Jamie were different. She wasn’t sure she even liked him, but she found some kind of convergence with him. Perhaps it was the fact that he was someone outside the insane world of the Guard and the Legend: someone from the real world. A teenager who was actually allowed to be a teenager. Someone she could actually vent to about how she felt. She knew her friendship with Gavin and Marina was infinitely deeper, and yet both of them were embroiled in the same chaos as she: they all faced the same hell together, they shared every moment of fear and pain. But if she had told them how she felt about the war ending, would they have felt the same way? And if they did, would they have admitted it to her, for fear of, like her, being thought ridiculous by the other?

There was no such fear with Jamie. What did Lisa care if he thought she was ridiculous or selfish? Whatever his perception of her was, she didn’t care.

For an infinitesimal moment, the image of the two of them kissing flitted across her mind’s eye as her brain sorted itself out, sliding shards of confused light over one another. She grimaced in disgust.

“I don’t want to go out with you.”

The words leapt from her lips before she could lasso them back.

Jamie’s dark eyebrows shot up toward his peroxide-blond hairline. He burst into a fit of deep guffaws.

Lisa’s cheeks burned.

“That’s good,” said Jamie eventually, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. “I don’t do relationships, full stop. Only sex.” He crooked his head. “We can do that if you want.”

A wave of horror crashed over Lisa.

“No! No way!” she cried hastily. “EW. No. No no no. God no!”

“Okay, chill out dude, I was messing around …”

She shuddered. “I’m only fifteen anyway!”

“Big deal, I did it when I was thirteen.”

Lisa stared at him blankly.

“My dad would kill you if he knew what you’d just said to me,” she said haughtily.

Jamie put up his hands as a sign of non-violence.

“Okay, I misread my audience. Sor-ry, Prudy McPrude. You can go back to your meltdown if you like. You don’t know what you’re going to do with your life after the war, etcetera …”

Lisa scowled at him.

“I wasn’t melting down,” she snapped. “I just don’t know what to do next.”

“The war isn’t won yet, is it?”

“No, but the way Lance was talking on the phone … it sounds like he’s putting everything he has into this ambush we’re doing on the Union’s base tonight.”

The magazine slid from Jamie’s lap to the floor.

“You’re what?!” he almost yelled. “I’m coming with you!”

“You can come with me all the way to Jack’s hut,” Lisa said shortly. “That’s where I’ll be. Sitting pretty while the grown-ups fight …”

“Laaaaaaaame,” said Jamie.

“We’ve spent all this time fighting, so much time scared that the Union will win and we’ll be screwed. And now, it sounds like we’re the ones who are probably going to win somehow, judging from what Lance has planned, and of course that’s what we’ve fought and some people even died for. I’m not saying I’m not happy about it. But it’ll be all over, this whole thing will be over and everything will go back to normal, and I don’t even know what normal IS anymore. Normal to me is being with Gavin and Marina – and running away from people and searching for things and fighting the Union. That’s what I’m used to now.”

She sighed heavily and covered her face with her hands, massaging her temples.

“Seriously, what am I ever going to do with my life that’s, you know, as real as this?”

“Well, what did you used to wanna do?”

“Be a pokémon trainer,” Lisa answered at once. “I started out on my journey but didn’t really get far before I got more interested in the Legendary pokémon. I thought maybe I could study and be an expert on Legendaries and their myths, or something …”

“Not being a dick, but is that even a real job?” Jamie asked.

Lisa threw her hands up in despair.

“I don’t even know,” she sighed. “I worked part-time at a pokémon centre last summer. I suppose I could go into nursing or something … my mum would be happy, she’s always saying that I should become a nurse.”

“Mothers should be banned from telling their kids what to be,” Jamie said, a little too venomously.

Lisa hesitated, before her curiosity overwhelmed her.

“What did your mum want you to be?”

“My ex-mum, you mean.”

“Okay. Her. What did she want you to be?”

“You can’t laugh.”

“I promise.”

“She wanted me to be a priest.”

Lisa couldn’t help it: she snorted loudly.

“A what?!” she said, fighting off a smile by opening her mouth broadly, as if in shock. “She has met you, right?”

“Oh yeah,” Jamie scowled, his face darkening. “She’s a lovely piece of work, is my ex-mother.”

He reached for a green pack of cigarettes from the bedside table, withdrew a smoke and torched the tip with a white disposable lighter.

“What did she – I mean – well … yeah, what did she do to make you hate her so much?” Lisa asked in a hushed tone. She was suddenly gripped with the urge to leave the room, to escape Jamie and all his grievances, and at the same time, she found herself transfixed.

“Hate isn’t the word,” Jamie glowered, blowing an aggressive plume of smoke into the air with unrequited force. “I loathe her.

“She was a fucking cartoon. She still is. Fucking sweetness and light. Rabbiting on at community bake sales and bullshit like that. Seriously, people like that still exist. ‘My Jamie’s going be a deacon. My Jamie’s gonna be a priest. My Jamie absolutely adores Bishop Harding.’ Fucking crazy bitch. Couldn’t hear anyone but herself.

“When I told her I hated religion and think it’s all a load of bollocks, she went fucking apeshit. Screamed the house down. Said she didn’t have a son.” He chuckled suddenly, mirthlessly. “The next day she checked me into a Catholic Boys’ Wellness Centre.”

“Oh,” Lisa said. “That’s kind of … hardcore, isn’t it?”

“It was a fucking prison, and this was a year ago. I was sixteen,” Jamie snarled, his eyes flashing. “A prison where they indoctrinate you to be like JESUS.” He nearly yelled the name. “Fuck that. It was me, some heroin addict dude, and a bunch of closeted fagboys who were being ‘cured’.”

His voice was rising in pitch and volume now; his face was scarlet.

“So my ex-mother, bless her fucking soul, is gonna come home from prayer camp to find her Mary statue no longer has a head and her bible’s soaked in my piss.”

He took a long, violent suck on his cigarette.

“I need a beer. I’ll be back in a bit,” he said abruptly, suddenly embarrassed-looking. Not making eye contact with Lisa, he stole from the room, slamming the door.

Lisa found herself transfixed on the spot where he had been sitting, her heart thudding even though she had been still for some time. She wasn’t sure whether to feel sorry for Jamie, or to be utterly repulsed by his vitriolic revenge.

Perhaps she didn’t like him after all. Perhaps he only made her feel better by comparison.

Opting to distract herself from the misery of Jamie’s life, Lisa’s eyes moved to the poster on his wall. She had assessed it while he spoke. She knew it was right, even poetic.

Crawling over the mattress, Lisa removed the tiny fragment of transparent glass from her pocket and, checking the door to make sure Jamie wasn’t returning, she peeled the poster from the wall and pressed the key into the largest glob of putty. It was small enough to be completely consumed by the soft globule.

Heart racing, Lisa reaffixed the poster to the putty and regarded it from every angle, her smile broadening with each second.

Marina’s key fragment was now invisible.

[Gavin Luper]

Hey guys,

It's been a month and I can't wait any longer to post this - I'm too excited for the epicness to begin. Enjoy!

Cheers!

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Chapter 79 – The Gathering.


The scrape of knives and forks on plates amid the noise of a jovial conversation wafted down the corridor as Lisa strolled back into Jack’s hut. She emerged in the kitchen to see Jack, Frank, Gavin and Marina clustered around the rickety old dining table, plates loaded with baked beans, fried eggs, pillars of toast, rashers of bacon, and chipolatas.

“Speak of the devil!” Gavin said, not humorously, as Lisa appeared on the threshold. “Oh, so that’s where my beanie went!”

“Hey, everyone,” Lisa called.

“Leese! We were jus’ wond’rin’ where yeh were! Help yehself to some brekkie!”

Judging from the white and yellow spray that flew in Lisa’s direction, Jack’s mouth was stuffed with eggs and toast.

“I’ve just been for a nice morning walk down on the beach … thanks, Jack.”

Lisa ladled some beans, bacon, tomato and chipolatas onto her plate and grabbed a slice of toast before taking the empty seat between Gavin and Marina. They both fixed her with deeply quizzical looks as she sank into her chair and poured a glass of mango juice: Marina mouthed, “Where have you been?”; Gavin looked murderous.

“So what have you all been up to so far this morning?” Lisa asked cheerily, knowing full well that neither of them would grill her in the presence of Jack and Frank. “It feels like a real indoors day, doesn’t it?”

Gavin’s fork skidded off his plate.

“Not fer me ‘n’ Snowy,” Jack declared, shovelling bacon into his gob. “We’re goin’ on a little fishin’ trip to a lagoon off Blue Rock Island. Beach is mint there. You three can come along if yeh want.”

“That actually sounds so nice,” Marina said, her face lighting up. “I could have a nice swim, my pokémon could get some fresh air – or some fresh water, I guess. Although it’s salt water … anyway, you know what I mean. Leese, Gav?”

“Oh, does it matter what we think?” Gavin said, his voice rising an octave as he sawed through a greasy chipolata. “Apparently these days we just leave the group of our own accord and come back when we please.”

“Fair enough, then,” said Jack, completely missing the sarcasm in Gavin’s tone as he tucked into some more baked beans. Frank, too, nodded vaguely; Lisa had the lingering suspicion that he was too deaf to hear the majority of most conversations.

“That’s interesting,” Lisa said testily, meeting Gavin’s gaze. “I remember sitting by that hotel pool in Silver City for hours, wondering if you were gonna come back.”

Quite at random, Frank seemed to jolt back to consciousness.

“Oh, bin to Silver Rock have yeh, Linda?” he asked Lisa eagerly, a stray baked bean tangled in the wisps of his wiry white beard.

Gavin and Marina snorted loudly before both shaking with repressed laughter; Jack seemed completely oblivious to anything that wasn’t coated in a thick ham sauce; Frank, meanwhile, was waiting quite intently for Lisa’s reply.

“Um, no, sorry,” Lisa muttered, as politely as she could, before turning pointedly to face Gavin, who was sniggering openly, and Marina, was had turned a slice of charred toast into a shield so that Jack couldn’t see her giggling at Frank.

“Okaaaaay,” Marina said at length, after taking a few swigs of mango juice to calm her down. “So, Gavin-and-Lisa-bickering aside, I’m assuming we’re gonna go to the lagoon with you, Jack. Thanks for the offer.”

“No worries.”

“What time will we get back here, Jack?” Lisa asked.

“’Bout two this arvo.”

“Perfect.”

Gavin’s chestnut brown eyes probed Lisa’s honey-coloured ones. Perfect for what?

“I’ll tell you when we’re alone there,” Lisa whispered, tucking into her grilled tomato.

*

The pastel blue sands of Blue Rock Island clashed horribly with the crystalline azure waters of the lagoon, but Lisa couldn’t have cared less. She was sprawled on the fine sand, drawing a small circle with her big toe and listening to the soothing sound of the waves foaming and hissing on the shore, just five metres away. Gavin and Marina lay around her, their heads all resting against one another’s. Shaded by a chair-sized leaf that protruded from a tropical fern a little further up the beach, Lisa closed her eyes, revelling in the relaxation.

“Okay, girl, spill!”

“Ouch!”

Marina jabbed her index finger into Lisa’s rib.

“What was all that about, Leese?” Gavin asked, his soft voice indicating that his anger was clearly tarnished by the serenity. “Where the hell did you go? We freaked out!”

“More accurately,” Marina chimed in, “Gavin freaked out. I saw your note.”

“Gone for a walk, be back soon is NOT a note,” Gavin said swiftly. “I mean, it is, but come on … where’d you really go?” He lowered his voice. “Did you hide the key?”

“Why are you whispering?” Marina muttered. “Jack and Frank are like a mile away, and this part of the island’s deserted.”

“Answer the question, Leese.”

“Yeah, I hid it.”

“Hid it?” asked Marina. “Or did you … like, get rid of it somehow? Throw it into the sewer main or something?”

Lisa tapped her teeth with her tongue. She hadn’t yet shown Gavin and Marina her grandfather’s diary. Would they understand her reticence to dispose of the key fragment if they knew how significant it might be? Or would they chide her for not ending a gang war when she potentially could have?

“I hid it somewhere safe.”

“Whereabouts?” Gavin asked quickly.

Lisa decided to bite the bullet. She sat up.

“Okay, I’ll start from the start. After you guys went to bed, I called Lance …”

*

The mobile telephone vibrated on the granite desk. Joseph Sterling downed the last of a scotch on the rocks and answered it.

“Yes?”

“The Guard is mobilising now, sir. We’re flying to Olivine in five minutes, ETA 3pm.”

“Good. My first wave is on its way.”

Sterling clapped the mobile shut and licked his lips, savouring the taste of the bitter drug.

Game on.

*

“It’s bullshit, though!” Gavin cried hotly.

“I know that!” Lisa countered. “Don’t shoot the messenger!”

Gavin was on his feet, his hands behind his head as he paced aggressively along the shoreline, seafoam playing across his bare feet.

“Lance is so … arrrrgh!”

In frustration, Gavin kicked up a lump of periwinkle-blue beach sand; it sailed through the air, showering Lisa’s leg.

“It’s not really surprising for me,” Marina said seriously, rubbing suntan lotion on her arms and chest. “You should’ve seen him ark up when Mum allowed me to come to Red Rock on that mission with Giles and Gideon. He went the Lance equivalent of apeshit. He nearly swore.” She giggled; Lisa cracked a smile. “And he’s completely forbidden Darius from basically doing anything other than sit at the Safe House forever. Darius is so pissed off, I’ve never seen him so angry as when he came back from talking with Lance. He snapped at me, even. But it’s ridiculous, honestly, the way Lance treats him … it’s like Darius is ten years old or something.”

“But dear old Darry’s his son,” Gavin argued, excavating the beach with his big toe. “We aren’t. Why does he get a say in who gets to fight and who doesn’t?”

“He’s still the leader of the Guard. I spose no-one can really challenge him,” Marina shrugged, slopping half a litre of coconut-scented oil over her midriff. “I don’t think it’s fair though.”

“They’re being overprotective,” Lisa contributed, nodding to Marina’s wordless request to rub the lotion over her back. “Like my Mum and Dad were before. They don’t want us to get hurt. Or die.” She sighed. “I mean, duh, obviously I’m scared of that, too … but it’s kind of like – a detached worry. Like I can’t actually feel scared of dying because everything else outweighs it. And I know I’ve fought before, I know I can do it again.

“Plus, I really don’t think they get how involved the three of us are in this,” she added, tapping Marina on the shoulders to let her know she was done. “Lance said they need all hands on deck for this. We’re as good as three Guard members. We’d be a massive help. And if this is really the end of the war …” She felt a flame reignite in her. “Then I want to help them end it. I wanna do my part. I wanna fight.”

“Me too,” said Marina.

“Exactly!” Gavin cried, pacing toward them, his sodden boardshorts sliding down and revealing the white band of his underpants. “I don’t wanna just sit around and wait for them to get back! What if they all get blown up and die, and if we were there we could’ve saved them, hey? That’s it, I’m fighting. Even if they don’t admit it, they need us!”

“Good luck getting Lance to agree-ee,” Marina almost sang, standing up and brushing sand off her bare leg. “Alright, I need to de-stress, and my pokémon do, too … youse coming in for a dip?”

“Yeah,” Lisa said, readjusting Marina’s spare bikini. The thought of some cool water was promising, especially as the water in the lagoon was so clear and pristine.

They swam in the shallows for a good hour, and during that time, the topic of the Guard and the war was never mentioned. They instead frolicked with their pokémon: Lisa released Kingler, Cubone and a revitalised Altaria out to play with Gavin and Marina’s pokémon. Among all the others, Marina’s pokémon appeared the most relieved to be in the ocean again: Starmie performed an ecstatic series of cartwheels, which were eagerly mimicked by Gavin’s Staryu, who was graceful, and Marina’s Mudkip, who was much less so, and ended up tangled in Tentacraw’s ghostly tentacles; Herby, Marina’s water-loving Bayleef, began shooting off a series of small water cannons, which amazed Gavin as he had never seen it before; and Golduck, after treading water beside Gavin’s seel and Lanturn, decided to come over and braid a small section of Lisa’s hair, an action which made her decidedly uncomfortable; she was still not quite over her childhood fear of Golducks.

“That’s another thing,” Lisa said pensively, after managing to palm Golduck off onto the two Kinglers. “How do I know whether the Guard’s going to be able to retrieve my pokémon for me? I bet it’s not high on their priorities. I have to be there. It’s up to me to get them back.”

Gavin bounced Natu into the air and drifted over toward Lisa, his pale, slim chest glistening with water in the high noon sun.

“It’s final, then,” he said. “We talk to Lance and demand that he lets us go, too.”

Marina plunged underwater suddenly, re-emerging a second later with her cerulean-blue hair matted to her face.

“It won’t happen,” she said. A slightly devious expression stole over her face. “If we want to go – if we’re seriously gonna do this – then we have to do it ourselves. Secretly.”

“Tu!” Natu cried in the background, as Golduck and Altaria batted him between one another like a volleyball.

Lisa recalled how Gavin had once used her Magneton as a volleyball and felt a distinct pang in her chest, mostly of how negligent she had once been. She had thought of her pokémon so much over the past week, and despised the fact that she felt so limp, so incapable of doing anything at all to bring them back to her. Were they still the same as before? Had the Union performed Lenina-like experiments on them, transforming them into fighting machines? Lisa winced. She thought of Dratini, ever calm and serene, always the peacemaker of the group. There was Vulpix, with her sweetness and temper and battle ferocity and utmost loyalty; Lisa grinned at the memory of Vulpix biting down hard on Veronica. Even Elekid, with his rogue disrespect of Lisa’s authority … somehow, with distance and her changed perspective, Lisa didn’t feel quite so frustrated by him. And Fiskmire, the stoic battler and recreational clown … Lisa frowned. Her perception of Fiskmire was marred by what Suicune had told her in the Sepulchre. Was Fiskmire still a Sentry? She shook her head vigorously. Suicune had insisted that Fiskmire had been unconscious of his use. Lisa fought valiantly to think of him as the same lovable creature she had been friends with for so long.

And Aipom. Lisa had felt her heart shatter in Larry’s office, when he had refused to tell her the location of her pokémon. She would have liked to say that she loved them all equally, but it would have been a distinct lie. Certainly, she loved and liked her full team immensely … but Aipom had been there from day one. Through the beginning of the lonely summer holidays, they had enjoyed each other’s company, mucking around in the backyard or training against weak Rattata in Ecruteak’s parks. Aipom had stuck by Lisa’s side from the debacle with Suicune to gorging on maple syrup in countless grimy diners to her first major pokémon battles. His humour and hyperactivity energised her constantly, and she liked to think that her strength and skill kept him balanced. And his loyalty to her was and always had been remarkable; she owed him the same in kind.

“There’s no question,” Lisa said vehemently, as Natu continued to squawk as he was bounced around. “I need to get my pokémon back myself. Above and beyond the war, they deserve a trainer who would fight for them, and I have to do it.”

Gavin grinned excitedly.

“So how do we do this?”

Marina looked thoughtful, but just as she appeared ready to speak, the dull chug of an engine broke through the sounds of waves breaking and pokémon cheerfully splashing.

“What’s that?” she asked, peering toward the deeper water.

Lisa turned. The lagoon was quite secluded, cordoned off from the Cianwood Sea by natural groyne made entirely of pastel-blue rock. At the entrance to the lagoon, they saw a white vessel slowly drifting toward them, reflecting the brilliance of the sunlight.

“It’s just Jack and Frank,” Lisa said, squinting. “I can even see Jack – he’s waving to us.”

The vessel drifted closer and the distant sound of the motor seemed to amplify – and yet, it sounded more distant than just twenty metres away from them.

“That sound …” Marina said, slowly. “It’s not coming from Frank’s boat.” She whirled around to face them. “Why’ve they cut the engine?”

“I don’t think Jack’s waving,” Gavin said suddenly, wading toward the shore.

Lisa squinted again. Jack Criddle stood at the stern of the white fishing vessel, frantically waving his tanned arms in a frantic gesture for them to get on board the boat.

“Oh my God … what is it?” Lisa wondered aloud.

“You don’t think …” Gavin muttered.

The vessel bayed closer to them, just ten metres away from them and the shore; finally, Jack was within earshot.

“Pirates, fuckin’ pirates, get on the bloody boat!”

The motorised throb growing ever louder, Lisa, Gavin and Marina scrambled wordlessly for the shore. They hoisted their backpacks over their bare shoulders; the discomfort of the strap on skin was meaningless as they each hissed, “RETURN!” to their pokémon, and Lisa cried, “Retrahere!”

Altaria, along with the other pokémon, had an expression of utter bewilderment as it disappeared in a flash of translucent red light.

“Hurry!” Jack hissed.

Double-checking she hadn’t left anything behind on the blue beach sand, Lisa pelted for the water, led by Marina and followed by Gavin, who muttered behind her in a guttural voice, “D’you reckon it’s pirates, or …”

“Definitely ‘or’,” Lisa breathed back.

Jack’s thunderous right bicep hauled each of them aboard, his face panic-stricken.

“Keep yer mouths shut, don’t make a sound,” he hissed.

The boat gently drifted further, so that it was mostly concealed from view by the natural groyne. Nevertheless, the groyne was low enough for Lisa to see directly out to sea, which meant that anyone passing would still be able to glimpse enough to know that a vessel was in the vicinity.

“Frank an’ I spotted ‘em a few minutes ago,” Jack explained, throwing them a single, grubby towel that reeked of Seaking. Marina and Lisa both declined the offer with outstretched palms; Gavin, on the other hand, nodded at Jack by way of thanks and began roughly towelling his head. “Comin’ from Silver Rock d’rection, by th’ looks of it. Don’ reckon they’ll come in ‘ere, it’s jus’ a lagoon, no-one but fishermen around ‘ere. We should be right. Reckon they’re probably that gang o’ pirates from out near Tokor. Bastards, comin’ inta our waters. Fuckin’ Tokorese scum.”

“Uh … Marina’s from Tokor,” Lisa said.

“Oh shit – sorry, Marina … Jus’ meant the pirates, not you … no offence, ay …”

“None taken, Jack,” Marina shrugged.

“We should be right anyway … they’ll pass us by hopefully …” Jack added, folding his arms and gazing out to sea through his reflective wrap-around shades. His tattoo stretched with the bulge of his bicep; the instinctive quiver of his lip, however, betrayed his macho presence.

Lisa, Gavin, Marina and Jack watched silently, in mingled fear and awe, as the mechanical roar became a series of differently-pitched cacophonies, a veritable soundstorm that finally broke as the vessels flew past the entrance of the lagoon from west to east.

The first ones were speedboats, cutting the ocean at full-pelt and sending seaspray cannonning into the air, the water around them visibly churned and opaque. Even at a distance, the roar of their motors dug at Lisa’s ears. It was a veritable fleet of motorboats: Lisa lost count somewhere in the twenties, distracted as she tried in vain to identify the occupants of the vessels. They were definitely Union agents, there was no doubt about it: four to a boat, most wore dark jackets and pants in the trademark Union style, although Lisa spotted several men wearing flanellette shirts and denim, and still others in army-style fatigues and bandanas. More than ever, the Union members looked like dangerous guerrillas, most agents manned with rifles and AK-47s.

Lisa heard Jack cursing underneath his breath as the convoy of speedboats flashed by in a total of perhaps sixty seconds; and then the larger craft came. Gavin swore and Marina gasped. There were half a dozen boats about double the size of Frank’s, each armed with a mounted machine gun and ten or so (armed) Union agents on each side. They passed by almost as fast as the speedboats, chugging past the right side of the lagoon and into the distance.

And then came the mothership. Flanked by four more speedboats, it was a monstrous black warship, surging with deadly purpose through the water. Lisa had never seen anything like it: the deck was crowded with wooden crates and several Jeeps. Union agents clung to the deck like bees on honeycomb, shouting out excited whoops and exclamations among themselves. One or two of them faced the lagoon at various points, pointing at their visible boat. Lisa’s heart stopped. Machine guns lined the port and starboard sides of the ship. There was a moment of intense, unspoken panic on board – oxygen was a lost luxury – and then, the warship passed on by the lagoon, the deep throb of its engines reverberating into the air.

A thirty-second silence ensued.

“Holy crap,” Lisa gaped.

“Don’ think they’re pirates …” Jack muttered, bounding toward the bow of the boat, ostensibly to consult with Frank.

Once he was gone, Lisa faced Gavin and Marina, each of them pale despite the day in the sunlight.

“So that’s what Lance reckons is half of the Union’s force,” Lisa said breathlessly.

“So the same amount again is still on Silver Rock Island,” Marina breathed, still staring blankly at the place where the largest warship had been.

“Excellent,” Gavin muttered sardonically.

He threw the towel to the floor and sniffed curiously.

“Have they been cleaning fish here or something?”

Lisa and Marina exchanged a mildly amused glance, but it was impossible to laugh. Lisa wondered if the other two were thinking the same thing she was: the Guard was at a gross disadvantage in this battle.

“What is Lance thinking?” Marina wondered aloud, her face panic-stricken. “Does the Guard even have a single boat?”

“They have choppers,” Lisa pointed out.

“They do have some boats in Olivine,” Gavin chipped in, smelling his armpits with a look of dismay. “Before I went to Cianwood, Lance offered me a boat and stuff. I went with Jack instead. He’s easier to … well … trust than anyone else.”

Lisa frowned at him.

“No, I’m not saying he’s an idiot, I’m just saying he’s loyal, y’know? You know where you stand with him.”

“I spose it’s time to test that loyalty,” Marina said seriously, hunting around on deck for a cleaner towel. “We’re gonna have to tell him about the Guard taking over his house, right? Or will we just wait until Lance knocks on his front door?” She grinned. “I’m sure it’s an everyday occurance to have the League Champ rock up on your doorstep.”

“That would be easier than actually telling him about all of this,” Lisa said wryly. “He’s been so nice to us … I feel bad asking for another favour from him.”

“Especially ‘cause we’re not so much asking as telling,” Marina pointed out.

Gavin scratched his shaved head.

“I’ll tell him, then,” he shrugged, moving toward the bow of the boat. “I need to ask if I can borrow his deodorant, anyway.”

*

“Reckon we should’ve prepared something for ‘em?” Gavin asked, carrying his clothes into the spare room that he, Lisa and Marina were sharing. “A block of beer or something?”

Marina snorted.

“Yeah, cause that’s what we want, Gav, a load of drunk people rushing in to save the day.”

“It would probably help with their confidence,” Gavin shrugged.

Lisa listened to their conversation as she buttered their sandwiches on the kitchen bench, glad to have some normality abounding when such a terrifying event loomed before them all.

She glanced at the wall clock as she slopped mustard pickles onto Gavin’s sandwich. It was close to seven in the evening; the sun was low, painting the sky and the inside of Jack’s hut an overbaked orange colour. According to what Lance had told her in his most recent call at 3pm, the Guard would be arriving within the next couple of hours.

“We’ll get there just after nine,” he had said, the roar of an aeroplane screaming down the phone line, almost drowning him out. “Is Criddle in the loop?”

Lisa had hesitated to answer.

“He – he is,” she had said. “He agreed to it, but he’s not thrilled, to be honest.”

She didn’t relay to Lance what Gavin had told her: that Jack had initially refused point-blank to house any kind of rebel gang in his house. Gavin had eventually managed to convince him by telling him his efforts would mean the guerrilla war would be brought to an end tonight – and that Lance would generously compensate him for his help.

“I’ll talk to him, I’ll sort something out,” Lance said distractedly, as a voice called for him to get into a ute. Lisa quietly hoped that Lance would offer some kind of remuneration to Jack of his own accord: she didn’t exactly fancy telling him that it had already been promised on his behalf. “Have to go, Lisa!” Lance cried. “See you in a few hours!”

Lisa pressed the slices of bread together and lumped them onto three separate plates.

“Grub’s up, guys!”

“Thanks, Mum!” Gavin joked, taking the china plate from Lisa and sitting down at the dining table.

Marina wiped her hands on Jack’s grubby dishtowel and took the plate.

“Thanks Leese.”

They collected around the table and began to eat in silence, watching another repeat episode of The Goldeen Girls. Lisa tried telling herself how important it was to eat proper food before they went to fight, but her stomach wasn’t in agreeance: she had never felt less hungry in her life. Looking at the others, she noticed that they, too, seemed unable to stomach the food: Marina was nibbling feebly at the crust, and Gavin had pulled his sandwich apart, shoved the slice of ham into his mouth and was now picking at the remains with mild interest.

“Should we run over the plan again?” Lisa suggested eventually, after her attempts to soak her mouthful of food with mango juice and then swallow it failed to make eating more appetising.

“If we run over the plan again, I think I’ll scream,” Gavin said flatly.

Marina nodded. “I think we’ve got it down pat.”

“… you definitely got your Buzzball, right?” Gavin asked apprehensively.

“Buzzball, check. Pokéballs, check. Poképort, check. Diary, check. Third Key, check.”

“Did you tear the page out already?”

“Of course.”

Lisa hadn’t forgotten to be attentive to the details of her lie. She had torn page 62 from her grandfather’s diary and meticulously copied almost every detail onto a page of old yellowed paper to turn over to Lance, keeping the original for herself.

“All the pokémon are healed, right?” Marina asked nervously, taking a sip from her glass of mango juice; Lisa wasn’t sure if she swallowed anything but air.

“Done,” Gavin said. “The Nurse Joy was a bit of a hippie though. They’ve decked that place out with yoga mats and like, Caribbean music. It’s wicked.”

Lisa smiled briefly.

“And your Guardian Butterfree’s ready to go?” she asked.

“Totally,” Marina replied.

Another long period of silence followed; one of the Goldeen Girls announced that she had fallen pregnant at fifty-two years of age.

“Gav,” Lisa ventured. “If we get into real trouble – how much psychic power can we, I dunno, expect?”

“No idea, really,” Gavin said blankly, scratching his scar. “Little things I can do, I reckon. Like a little beam or a reflect or something … teleporting would be a big risk …”

“Right,” said Lisa.

“I’m shitting myself,” said Gavin.

“Me too,” said Lisa.

“Me three,” Marina added.

The sound of the front door slamming made them all jump. Glances of anticipation were exchanged frantically as a pair of heavy footsteps clodded down the hallway – and Jack Criddle emerged in the dining room.

“Ayyyyy,” he boomed, grinning broadly.

He swayed into the kitchen, grabbing himself a stubby from the fridge and almost tripping over the power cord to the TV before taking a seat at the head of the table.

“Sorry ‘bout before, mate,” he muttered to Gavin, his words slurred. “Jus’ had t’ get me head ‘round it all, y’know? So me ‘n’ Frank bin down at the pub – ‘e’s still there – an’ I had a good think an’ it’s all good, y’know, mate? S’all good, y’know?”

“No worries, mate,” Gavin said bracingly. “I know it was a lot to ask.”

“We really didn’t mean to make an imposition, Jack,” Lisa gushed; she felt bad about not having broached the subject with Jack personally. “It’s all out of our hands – Lance Hudson made the decision, not us.”

Jack shrugged his muscled shoulders.

“S’alright, Leese,” he insisted, and Lisa smelled the pungent odour of beer on his breath before he even took a swig from the new stubby. “I look up to Lance Hudson. Always have. What a fucken legend. Best trainer I’ve ever seen on TV. Saw him in person in ’96, he came t’ the Cossoleum – uh – the Cosso – y’know the place … yeah … He was fucken wicked, mate!” He slammed his fist down onto the table, almost sending the stubby flying. “DESTROYED Clair, assbolootly – absa – absolutely flogged ‘er. Fuck me, I wouldn’t mind floggin’ ‘er meself, ay …”

“Don’t think we have a problem after all,” Gavin winked at Lisa.

Jack belched loudly.

“Tell ya what, would love t’ flog that bird down at the pub. Little blonde thing, from Kanto I reckon …” he took a hearty swig from his stubby; the amber liquid bubbled as it gushed into his mouth. He paused for a moment, his face slightly green, and then he said, matter-of-factly to the table at large, “Gotta chunder.”

He bounded from the room toward his bedroom, slamming heavily into at least two doorframes before they heard the distant sound of retching.

Marina winced.

“I think that’s enough evidence against the beer-for-the-Guard plan.”

“I’ll go check on him in a minute,” Lisa said slowly. “This is good, though … if he’s passed out for the night …”

“… then it’s even easier for us to sneak out,” Gavin finished.

It was dark and close to nine o’clock when Lisa finished helping Jack into his bed. Leaving a glass of water on his bedside table and a plastic bucket beside him (just in case), she was about to leave him to snore away when she heard the front door creak open and Marina’s muffled voice, followed by several pairs of footsteps creeping into the house.

“Sweet dreams, Jack,” she whispered.

She closed his door and crept out into the corridor before entering the large dining room, her eyes immediately falling onto a teenage boy now seated at the table.

“Lisa!”

If she had expected anyone to be there less, it was Darius Hudson.

He leapt from his seat beside Marina, eyes shining, and jogged toward Lisa.

“Hey,” he said simply, smiling broadly at her.

Hello, dimples! “Hey, Darius!” Lisa grinned, before throwing her arms around him; he reciprocated the gesture with gusto.

They broke apart.

“Wow, you look good with short hair!” he exclaimed, gently taking hold of a tuft of her hair.

“You too,” Lisa muttered stupidly.

She felt instantly moronic for saying it: Darius’ dark brown hair was longer than she had ever seen it, shaggy and almost Beatles-esque. Indeed, he looked like he could’ve been in some kind of indie band. Lisa let her eyes play over his face – his deep brown eyes, his rugged jawline, and now, for the first time, the hint of stubble that was growing on it – and his then his body. Perhaps doing all the outside chores at the safe house had paid off: Darius now looked considerably stronger than the last time they had met: his shoulders were squarer and he was barrel-chested; his white T-shirt fitted him snugly, as did his dark denim jeans.

Something inside Lisa’s chest was excitedly doing somersaults.

“So, Marina was just trying to explain to me and the others what the hell got into you guys,” Darius smiled, holding out one of Jack’s old vinyl chairs for Lisa.

Lisa wheeled around and, to her utter surprise, realised there were several other people now in the room besides Darius, clustered around the kitchen bench. There were three men and two women, all of whom appeared to be in their late twenties and thirties and all of whom were strangers to Lisa.

“Oh, hi,” Lisa said nervously, waving to them. The full meaning of Darius’ words suddenly weighed down on her: she had forgotten that most of the Guard would still be furious about her, Gavin and Marina’s disappearance.

“Oh yeah – should do intros again, I s’pose,” Darius muttered, sweeping his fringe from his eyes. “Everyone, obviously you know who Lisa is. Lisa, this is Julia Thorne, who does all the legal stuff for the Guard –” A brunette woman in a business-like pant-suit smiled politely. “– and Stephen Wendt, the best welterweight in Blackthorn City –” A man with a shaved head and almost spherical muscles bulging from his tank top gave Lisa a warm grin. “– and Owen Carmichael, who takes care of weapons and stuff for the Guard –” A young, blond man wearing blue jeans and a leather jacket gave Lisa the thumbs-up. “Annette Flank, she does loads of field work around the place –” The youngest of the group, a purple-haired woman in her early twenties, waved jovially. “– and last but not least, Jason Firth, Olivine’s top police officer and an awesome guy to boot.” Jason, a bearded man in his late thirties, nodded in Lisa’s direction courteously; of all the Guard Members present, he seemed the only one outwardly disapproving of Lisa’s rogue quest.

“Nice to meet you all,” Lisa said meekly, taking her seat eagerly as Darius mirrored her. She looked at the group of five. “I thought Lance said the whole Guard was coming together, though?”

“We’re the early birds,” Annette smiled, happily sipping at one of Jack’s stubbies. “We came in on an earlier flight. Or an earlier Lapras, rather. The others are due pretty soon.”

“We were the only Guard members based at the safe house when Lance’s message came through,” Owen explained. “He said to bring all available manpower.”

“Which is why I’m here, too,” Darius beamed. “I don’t care what Dad says, I’m gonna fight this time.”

Lisa noticed the mood intensify among the five Guard members: Annette, Owen and Stephen looked supportive; Julia, on the other hand, looked quietly sceptical, and Jason’s face visibly darkened.

“You’ll have to respect your father’s orders,” he growled, his gravelly voice almost akin to the strum of a bass guitar.

“Yeah, well,” Darius shrugged defiantly. Lisa felt a sudden surge of attraction toward him, and instantly felt foolish that she was excited by his rebelliousness.

“I was saying, Darius,” Marina said, keen to defuse the situation, “that basically we were all sick of being attacked and chased all the time by the Union. It’s as simple as that. Lisa explained it all to Lance on the phone. We took matters into our own hands for once. I’m really sorry that I worried you.”

“It’s all good,” Darius shrugged, although there was a certain dignified angst to his tone; it looked like he was restraining himself from saying what he really felt about the matter.

Gavin regarded Darius for a moment, his expression one of mingled curiosity and distaste. Lisa rolled her eyes: she knew Gavin was in some way jealous of Darius.

“So when –” Marina began, but before she got any further, the old front door creaked open and the sound of muted footsteps – many more than before – carried down the corridor. “Never mind …” Marina muttered, exchanging an apprehensive glance with Lisa as the first Guard members entered the dining room.

Lisa couldn’t believe the sheer number of people who flooded into the room: the stream of Guard members, stranger and unknown, poured into the wood-panelled house, all of them greeting their fellow Guard members warmly while Darius introduced them all to Lisa and Gavin.

“And this is Natalie –” Darius began, as a blonde woman walked over the threshold.

“We’ve met before, in the ward at Mt Fairfax,” Natalie gushed to Lisa, before nervously double-checking her pokéball belt – it was loaded with six Ultra Balls – and rushing over to greet Stephen.

“And Marco – one of Dad’s oldest friends –”

Lisa recognised the handsome Italian man at once: he had dropped the bombshell about the Legend on her at the Fairfax Inn a month ago. Clearly embarrassed, he gave a brief nod and a fleeting smile to Lisa and Darius before moving to speak with Julia.

“And Lauren, she’s from the Orange Islands –”

A tall, big-boned woman charged into the room, her tanned face drawn in a serious expression.

“Hello, Lisa,” she greeted, shaking Lisa’s hand forcefully.

Taking in her gigantic frame, Lisa’s memory triggered.

“You’re Christina’s sister, aren’t you?”

Lauren’s frown broke for a brief moment.

“That’s right. She mentioned me?”

“In Redwood Hospital, yeah. Before …” Lisa paused; Lauren’s face had cracked and she looked almost ready to burst into tears. “Um … how is Christina?”

Lauren closed her eyes, straightened her face with what looked like a gargantuan effort and, with a mildly apologetic look at Darius, she moved further into the room to speak with the other Guard members, completely bypassing Lisa.

Lisa looked desperately to Darius.

“Christina’s still …”

“The Union still have her, yeah,” Darius said. “Not your fault, you couldn’t’ve known really.”

Gavin and Marina drifted over from the table to join them in greeting the Guard members. Lisa found that their welcome was mixed: some members were simply glad to see them all alive and well; others were distinctly cold and disapproving.

It was just after Jim Donovan entered the already-crowded room – which, Lisa thought, was taking on almost a party atmosphere, with everyone chatting excitedly and several members helping themselves to Jack’s beer – that Lisa felt two plump arms sweep her into a tight bear hug.

“Lisa!”

It pronounced in the Italian way, which made Lisa sure of one of two things: either her mother was so glad to have her back in her arms that she had become emotional, or she was about to ground Lisa for life.

“Mum!” she spluttered, through a mouthful of woolly jacket. “Hi!”

“Sono stato preoccupato, Lisa! I was soooo worried!” she gushed, kissing the back of Lisa’s head. “What happened to your hair?!”

Emotional, Lisa thought gratefully.

As her mother’s arms worked harder and harder to cut off the supply of air to her lungs, Lisa saw her father enter through the door. For a second, his black eyes were hard and unyielding as he surveyed her. The ability to speak precluded by her mother’s grip, Lisa mouthed to him, “I’m so sorry.”

Dad’s face broke into a soft, lined grin.

“The important thing is that you’re safe now,” he said, his voice sonorous.

Finally, the intensity of Mum’s grip lessened. Lisa gulped gratefully at oxygen before her mother turned her around and hugged her face-to-face.

“Yes, you’re safe now!” Mum gushed. “And how could we be mad at you, Lisa –” Lisa was relieved to notice she had reverted to pronouncing it the English way. “– you got us the Third Key!”

Her words were loud enough for the Guard members nearest to them to overhear; suddenly, there were scattered cries throughout the crowded dining room.

“Where is it?”

“Show us the key!”

Dad’s face was a mixture of alarm and delight. He turned to face the rest of the Guard.

“Please, everyone, try to keep it down, we’re supposed to be hiding here,” he said soberly. “As for the key, Lisa’s hidden it somewhere safe until this whole event is done and dusted!” he declared, prompting several groans of disappointment and at least one spirited, “Boooooooooo!”

Dad turned back to Lisa.

“You’ll show me later, of course,” he said under his breath with a mischievous grin. His eyes fell on the others standing beside Lisa. “Gavin, m’boy! Good to see you! Marina!”

Mum gave Lisa a final, bone-crushing squeeze for good measure and scuttled along to sweep Gavin into a similar embrace.

Lisa had barely re-oriented herself, taking in the cacophonous chatter of the surrounding Guard members and swapping glances with Darius, before another voice cried, “Lisa!”

If Darius had bulked up over the last month, he must have been taking instruction from Lisa’s elder brother, Tom. Typically weedy throughout his teenage years, he now looked almost as toned and heavy-set as their father, his chest visibly broadened beneath his polo shirt.

“Tom! Oh my God!” Lisa cried.

They embraced.

“How do you manage to do this all the time?” Tom whispered in Lisa’s ear. “It’s like drama follows you wherever you go …”

Lisa shrugged lightheartedly. “What can I say, I’m a magnet for the limelight,” she joked, finishing the quote from a TV show they’d watched obsessively as children.

Tom laughed.

“I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Me too,” Lisa said, grinning. “How have – oh my God, Miki!”

Tom’s fiancée, a pretty Asian girl named Miki, stepped over the threshold and into the dining room. Lisa ran toward her and hugged her enthusiastically: they had always had a great rapport.

“Thanks for squishing the life out of me, Leese!” Miki gasped, coming up for air. She stepped back, putting her hands on Lisa’s shoulders and looking her up and down. “Far out. It’s good to see you in the flesh again. Short hair works on you.”

Lisa laughed; Miki had a way of making the most serious of situations seem normal.

“So, how do I look?” she asked, gesticulating to her clothes.

She had opted for practical black leggings and a flowy, red silk top, adorned with countless black rhinestones; a pokéball charm in her resplendant black hair held, Lisa knew, her high-level Umbreon.

“I swear I didn’t have a clue what you’re meant to wear to, you know, a war, so I figured if I’m gonna get taken out tonight, I’ll go out in style. This top was like two hundred bucks from Macy’s.”

She laughed lightly, though Lisa knew from her face that she was petrified.

“You’re not going out, period,” Tom said seriously, pulling her nearer to him.

“Excuse me, could I see you for a minute, Lisa?”

A young girl with sleek brown hair and rust-coloured eyes appeared beside Miki. Unlike everyone else in the dining room, she wasn’t equipped with weapons or pokéballs: rather, she held a clipboard and pen, tucked under her left arm.

“This is Sarah Venner – she’s Dad’s assistant and receptionist and coffee-maker – pretty much everything,” Darius explained, in response to Lisa’s puzzled look. “Hey, Sar.”

“Hey, Darius,” Sarah smiled politely. “So, Lisa – a moment?”

“Oh – sure,” Lisa agreed, nodding to Tom and Miki. “See you guys in a minute.”

She followed Sarah down the dingy corridor and into the spare room in which she, Gavin and Marina had spent the night. Closing the door as they entered, she found the pandemonium from the dining room was nothing more than a distant murmur.

“I suppose this will do,” Sarah said, brushing off Gavin’s quilt before setting herself down squarely on the foot of the mattress. “Do you want to take a seat?”

“I’m alright standing,” Lisa shrugged. “What’s this all about?”

Sarah tapped her clipboard nervously.

“Lance wants to see you privately,” she said anxiously. “He should be in any minute, he was just finishing up with the boats, making sure they were all ready.”

“Okay …” Lisa said slowly.

Sure enough, a moment later she heard the front door creak open and several pairs of footsteps thudded down the hallway.

“What do they think they’re doing, making so much noise? You can almost hear them from the beach! Take care of it, Azura.”

“On it,” came Azura’s sharp cry.

The door of the spare room swung open and Lance entered. In the dim light of the single, dangling light bulb, his face looked much older than the last time Lisa had seen him: there were dark circles around his eyes and his forehead was particularly creased. Nonetheless, there was no denying the palpable aura that surrounded him as he entered: Lance Hudson, League Champion. His black cape billowed slightly as he closed the door behind him; his black hair was spiked up sharply, and he wore what looked like custom-made gear beneath his cape: black pants and an orange vest, completed with a pair of extremely durable-looking steel-capped boots.

“Hello, Lisa,” he said regally, extending his hand.

Lisa shook it back.

“Hi.”

“You’re probably wondering why I asked Sarah to cordone you off here,” he said curtly. “First things first: do you have the Sceptre of Suicune with you?”

Lisa blinked.

“It’s in my pack,” she said, gesturing to the three backpacks lined up in a row against the wall – Gavin’s, Marina’s and hers. She fervently hoped the arrangement wasn’t too obvious.

“Please get it for me,” Lance said swiftly.

Lisa fished around in her pack and unfurled Gavin’s old yellow shirt that she had wrapped around the sceptre after emerging from the Sepulchre of Suicune. It was still slightly bloodstained; the tip still glowed with an icy, cerulean light.

“That’s … perfect,” Lance said, open-mouthed; Sarah, too, looked entranced by the object.

“Perfect for what?” Lisa said, handing him the sceptre gently.

He took it by the handle, regarding the sparkling sapphires encrusted in the silver weapon, his fingers running over the handle and dangling dangerously close to the glowing, bloody blade.

“Perfect for … what I need,” Lance muttered enigmatically.

Without wiping the blood off it, he opened a hitherto invisible pouch in his black-and-orange vest, securing it tightly within, before nodding cryptically to Sarah, who jotted something down on her clipboard, and turning to Lisa with a blank face, acting as though nothing had happened.

“Let me explain the other reason I called you here,” he said sleekly. His voice was sharp and humourless. He regarded her sternly. “I appreciate what you have gained for the Guard and I trust that you will keep the Third Key safe for me until I return tomorrow. Nevertheless, as I said on the phone, I am deeply disappointed in your actions and I cannot reward your defiance.”

Lisa’s skin tingled; she suddenly understood where this was going.

“I know my son has mistakenly been brought here tonight, thinking he will fight with us, and judging from your past actions, I can anticipate a similar sentiment from you,” Lance growled. He looked Lisa dead in the eyes, his golden eyes meeting her honey ones. “This is not going to happen. Nobody under the age of eighteen will be fighting. You, Gavin, Darius and Marina – and Sarah –” he added, flicking his head toward her. “ – will wait here tonight. Is that crystal clear?”

Lisa fought to hold his gaze.

“No,” she said, with a great effort. “We want to fight. You told me you need all the manpower you can get. Well, you’ve got four of us right here, ready to help you out – five, even, if you let Sarah come …”

“Oh, I’m staying here,” Sarah said swiftly.

Lisa scowled at her.

“Fine, four of us. But we’ve fought before, we can do it again, we can help you.”

Lance massaged his temple.

“This is NOT a negotiation, Lisa. My word is final. Your parents have agreed. Azura has agreed. You are teenagers. We are not risking your lives in this fight. You will stay here until morning.”

“I can’t believe this!” Lisa cried. “I got the Third Key for you!”

“I don’t CARE!” Lance roared, agitatedly pacing. “I am telling you this now, Lisa, so that you can relay it to my son and the other kids. I am not having this same argument with him again. You must understand that, as your adult guardians, we’re just protecting you!”

“We don’t need to be pro–”

“You will stay put.”

“We want to fight –”

“ENOUGH!” Lance roared.

Lisa stood opposite him, seething, filled with the urge to punch him or push him … just to express her fury …

“There. Is. No. Argument,” Lance said, jabbing his finger at Lisa. His face was bright red. He turned to Sarah. “Sarah, take the information about the key locations that Lisa said she has and make a copy for us to take with us,” he said, abruptly resuming his usual, calm voice. “If you’ll excuse me, both of you, I have to go tell an army that I’ve lied to them.”

Without another look at Lisa, he swept from the room.

Lisa glared at the door for a moment, her fists clenched and her teeth grinding in rage.

“I understand you’re angry,” Sarah said gently.

Lisa fixed her with the dirtiest look she could muster.

“Some help you were,” she scowled. She pulled out the piece of paper, where she had dutifully copied the details from page 62 of her grandfather’s diary, while carefully eliminating the time-applicable references he had made; she was not ready for the Guard to know that she knew anything about her grandfather, or the theory that Suicune had told her about in the Sepulchre; she had copied the key locations in a way that made it seem that the text could have been a hundred or more years old. “Here, take it!” she snapped, hurling the page at Sarah’s clipboard before running from the room.

A few faces turned as she stormed into the packed dining room, but most people were focused on Lance, who had taken up a position at the far end of the room, standing on top of a couple of milk crates and loudly pontificating.

“What’s wrong?” Gavin whispered, as Lisa squeezed past Lauren to join Gavin, Marina and Darius.

“Tell you in a minute,” Lisa hissed, still fuming.

“ … ask for your co-operation and your dedication, as always. I know we can win this tonight!” finished Lance.

“Hear, hear!” someone cheered in a sarcastic whisper; clearly they had been chided for being too noisy earlier.

“There is a final point that I must mention before we take off,” Lance said. He checked his wristwatch. “It is nine-thirty right now. Several hours ago, the Union deployed half of its number to the coastal cave west of Azalea Town. They are anticipating our arrival at two in the morning.”

There was a collective gasp of horror and dismay throughout the room; Lisa, Gavin and Marina, however, listened attentively.

“So they’re onto us, fuck!” someone cried; Lisa thought it was Stephen.

“Yes,” Lance said. “Fortunately, the intel we told you about the location of the Fourth Key was a decoy.” There was a collective intake of breath. Lisa watched Lance closely, wondering how he would word his bombshell. “For some time, we feared that the Union had managed to intercept our communiqués. Tonight is the proof. Fortunately, we have used this to our advantage, sending them to the wrong location to make our job a little easier.”

Guard members were exchanging delighted glances around the room, as a murmur of excitement began to build. Lisa realised with a jolt that somewhere among them, someone – the mole within the Guard’s ranks – was probably sending a frantic text to Joseph Sterling.

“The great thing about this is that, even if Sterling were to find out our change of plan now,” Lance continued delicately, scanning the faces of his subordinate agents; Lisa wondered if he was trying to pick out the rogue agent, “it would be too late to stop us with full force. Half of his army is more than four hours away. For now, then, our aim is to retrieve the Fourth Key. We will surf to its location, about twenty minutes away. It is located within the Union’s base on Silver Rock Island.”

Cries of shock and dismay replaced the buzz.

“WHAT?”

“Nooooo …”

“You’re fucking kidding me, Hudson …”

“This is bullshit!”

“The team leaders,” Lance pushed on, apparently oblivious to the chorus of dissent below. “Are already aware of this plan, and we agree that the element of surprise will be key to our mission. The volcanic cone at the centre of Silver Rock Island provides the Union with protection, but it also makes it far easier for us to smoke them out.

“Your team leaders will give you exact details, strategies and co-ordinates once we are en route,” Lance continued hastily. “So, without further ado, move into your teams and let’s move! We can do this, guys!”

Lance stepped down from the milk crates and was immediately obscured from view by the nearest Guard members, who had risen to their feet to argue with him. Lisa noticed that her parents, Azura, Donovan and Alison were attempting to get a round of applause happening after Lance’s speech, but nobody was having a bar of it. There was utmost dismay on every face: everyone looked enraged.

“What, does he think we’re gonna fight half the Union on our own?” Lauren spat, exchanging an incredulous look with Natalie. “Why not just tell us to point a bloody gun to our heads and cut to the chase?”

“And why didn’t he tell us before?” Natalie demanded, though her soft voice did not lend itself to anger. “Why tell us twenty minutes before we land?”

She looked as though she were about to hyperventilate.

Lisa, Gavin, Marina and Darius stayed standing, pressed against the wood-panelled wall of Jack’s dining room as the throng was ushered out toward the corridor by a much-abused Lance.

“This is bull,” said a man with salt-and-pepper hair that Lisa didn’t know.

“We’re mad to do this, we’re fucking mad,” added Owen, walking alongside him.

As the crowd thinned, Lisa spotted Mum and Dad near the door, apparently searching the room for her, too. Abandoning the others, she raced over to him.

“Dad!” she cried. “Lance won’t let us come with you to fight! He practically yelled at me!”

Dad’s face creased painfully.

“Lisa, you know what my answer will be. Don’t make this any more difficult than it already is.”

“But you need us! You need all the help we can get, and we’re good for it!”

“The important thing,” Mum said passionately, pulling Lisa into another tight hug and kissing her on each cheek, “is that you’re safe, Lisa. Knowing that will get me through this. We’ll take care, we’ll be alright.” She gave Lisa a final kiss on the forehead. “Take care, Lisa. Love you.”

“I love you too,” Lisa said despite herself, returning the embrace.

Apparently overcome with emotion, Mum bustled toward the corridor, joining a red-headed woman along the way.

“Dad … come on …” Lisa pleaded.

“It’s final, honey,” he sighed, hugging her tightly and kissing her on the forehead. “Stay safe and we’ll see you in the morning. Love you.”

As he moved to go, Lisa struggled with herself. She wanted to scream “I hate you!”, but the fear of her parents being killed in the fight and her last words with them being something as detestable as that made her feel sick to the stomach. Choking down her anger, she hugged him back tightly and said, “I love you too, Dad. Good luck.”

He winked at her.

“She’ll be right,” he grinned, jogging down the corridor energetically.

Even though his back was turned to her, Lisa waved to him until the old front door creaked to a close. She sighed and turned back to the dining room to find it almost deserted: only Gavin, Marina, Darius and Sarah were left.

“Wow …” Lisa muttered.

The dining room had filled and emptied so quickly that it almost seemed as though it had all been a dream. The empty beer bottles and general clutter of left-behind backpacks were the only evidence that some kind of mass migration had just taken place.

“Here’s what I don’t get,” Gavin said, leaning against the kitchen bench and regarding Darius. “Lance has just told everyone – including the mole – that they’re heading to Silver Rock. What’s stopping the mole from calling Sterling and warning him? The Union will have twenty minutes to prepare.”

Darius shrugged.

“Don’t look at me, he doesn’t tell me anything.”

“Forethought,” Sarah answered abruptly.

Everyone turned to face her: she was seated on one of the torn vinyl chairs, jotting something down on her clipboard.

“Care to elaborate, Sar?” Darius asked.

“I guess it’s okay to tell you guys,” she said. “Lance and I organised something with Albert Cripps – you know old Albert, Darius. Telecommunications across the Island will be down for the next twenty minutes, as a precaution.”

Lisa gaped.

“The Guard can do that?”

Sarah swept a strand of hair from her face.

“Albert can, yes. We’ve got quite a few really well-placed contacts. They might not be fighters, but they’re useful in other ways.”

“Clever,” said Gavin. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced, by the way. I’m –”

“Gavin Luper, I know,” Sarah finished smoothly, a small smile on her face. “I’m the one who organised your mission to Cianwood. And got you and Lisa those hospital beds in Redwood City. I’m Sarah Venner, by the way, Lance’s assistant.”

She held out her hand professionally and shook Gavin’s with considerable force.

“Ah right,” Gavin muttered. Lisa chuckled to herself. She had a feeling he had been about to flirt with Sarah but had realised that she was a little too high-flying for him.

“Not meaning to be rude,” Sarah added, “but Lance wanted me to read over a few things before I relax for the night, so I’d better knuckle down to it.”

Lisa stepped in quickly.

“Not a problem,” she said, flashing Sarah a brief smile to repair any damage done by her earlier spat. “We were actually just going to go out onto the deck and watch the Guard take off if we can see them … We’ll see you out there?”

“Sure,” Sarah nodded, before her rust eyes refocused on the clipboard. “Nice to meet you guys, by the way,” she added, frantically scribbling on the page.

“You too.”

Lisa motioned to the others to follow her onto the decking, closing the flywire door behind them. Unconvinced that they were out of earshot, Lisa led them down into the dark backyard, amongst the mess of old wooden crates and car bodies and boat bodies and rope and other curios that had accumulated over the years.

“Did you know she was coming?” Lisa shot at Marina.

Marina’s eyes widened in the moonlight.

“How the hell could I have known?” she protested.

“She seems a bit … straight-laced …” Gavin muttered darkly.

“Sarah’s a nice girl,” Darius chipped in, tapping Lisa’s shoulder. “What’s going on?”

“We’re going to Silver Rock anyway, without permission.”

“What? MAD!”

“It’s awesome, isn’t it?” Marina grinned.

“But I’m guessing Sarah won’t have a bar of it …” Lisa added.

“So what?” Gavin said. “I’m going, end of story. I say we give her the choice to stay here or join us.”

“Hear hear!” said Marina.

“You guys are really doing this?” Darius muttered excitedly, his eyes aglow.

“For real,” Lisa said.

“Let me talk to Sarah, then,” he said. “We’re friends, I might be able to persuade her. She knows a lot of secret stuff, too, she could be really useful.”

“Deal,” said Lisa.

Darius scrambled back up toward the deck, almost tripping over a blown tyre in the process.

“You ready, Marina?” Lisa asked seriously.

“I think I can do this,” she said. “Well, I’ll have to. We just need to be far enough behind them to not be heard.”

“Which is why I want to get some kind of visual on where they’re leaving from and where they’re heading,” explained Lisa. She clambered up onto the decking and peered out in the direction of the coast, but she couldn’t see anything through the nearest row of screen trees.

“Try the roof,” Gavin suggested. “I have a pair of binoculars in my pack, actually … gimme a sec …”

“Get our packs, too, while you’re there, Gav!” Marina called.

“Pfft!” muttered Gavin, though Lisa knew he would probably do it nonetheless.

Lisa and Marina stood in the darkness outside the wooden shack for a couple of long, silent minutes. At one point, Lisa thought she heard the front door creak open and a couple of male voices mutter to one another, but before she could listen in, Marina spoke.

“This could be it,” Marina said solemnly. “Tonight. Us, them. It could finally be over.”

“I know.”

“I don’t know what I’m more scared of: the war not ending tonight, or the war ending tonight. Does that kind of half make sense, or have I finally lost my mind completely?”

Lisa’s lips curved in the dark.

“Nope. I feel the same way.”

The sound of several pairs of footsteps approaching reached their ears. Lisa and Marina looked up to see Gavin emerging onto the decking, laden with their three backpacks; behind him was a teenager with peroxide-blond hair and studded wristbands; and trailing them was Darius, looking excited, and Sarah, still clutching her clipboard, her face a pale mask of terror.

“Lisa, did you invite this clown over for drinks?” Gavin demanded hotly, hurling the three rucksacks to the wooden deck.

“Don’t call me a clown, fuckface,” Jamie snarled.

“Don’t start fighting, for God’s sake!” Lisa cried. “I just mentioned to Jamie that we were gonna be stuck here tonight …”

“Yeah, fuckface,” Jamie snapped, eyeing Gavin with immense disdain.

“Fuck up,” Gavin growled back at him.

“There’s been a change of plans, Jamie,” Lisa explained. “We’re – um – we’re going to fight the Union after all.”

“Wicked. I’m coming.”

“What?” Gavin cried. “Mate, you’re not invited.”

“Gavin, knock it off,” Marina said swiftly, rolling her eyes.

Sarah followed the exchange in the dark, her eyes bewildered.

“Okay, everyone stop talking for a minute!” Lisa cried.

Silence fell.

“Let’s get this cleared up. Gavin, I don’t care if you like Jamie or not, the fact is, we need as many people as we can get to fight the Union and get my pokémon back.”

“I thought you didn’t have any pokémon, though, Jamie,” Marina’s voice floated through the cold night zephyr.

“I don’t,” Jamie said flatly. “I got a good right hook though.”

“We can share our pokémon around,” Lisa said seriously. “Darius, did you bring a full set of six?”

“Yeah. I guess I can share one.”

“Great. And Sarah, I’m assuming Darius has brought you up to speed, otherwise you wouldn’t be out here, right?”

Sarah’s voice was surprisingly calm and professional, despite her frightened stance.

“I don’t agree with what you’re doing, Lisa,” she said at length, “but if you’re going to do it anyway, I’ll be able to help. I helped Lance plan this mission, I know where they’re leaving from and where they’re arriving. I will help you, but please don’t ask me to fight.”

Lisa raised her eyebrows.

“That actually – I mean – that sounds fair to me. So, if everyone’s got their crap together, let’s get this show on the road before we miss the party!”

“Woooo!” Jamie cheered, scrambling down the steps from the decking to the dirt.

“Alright, let’s do this!” Marina called, hoisting on her backpack before jogging toward the path that led from the back of the house to the beach. “Here, Jamie, you can borrow my Golduck if you want …”

Darius and Sarah clattered down the steps behind them.

“This is gonna be awesome,” Darius said, his grinning teeth sparkling in the moonlight as he jogged past Lisa and tapped her on the shoulder energetically.

Sarah followed beside him, still looking thrown by the sudden turn of events.

Gavin slung Lisa’s rucksack toward her; she caught it easily – they had packed light, taking only the bare essentials – and used the momentum to swing it over her shoulder.

“This is it, Leese.”

“I know,” she said heavily.

“Scared about going back?” he asked, his tone serious.

“Petrified,” Lisa said baldly. She fiddled with the strap of her rucksack. “Even more than I’ve ever been before. I’m not even sure if we’re doing the right thing …”

“You did a good job of sounding convinced,” Gavin said simply. His chestnut-brown eyes met hers gently. “The others believed you. I would have, too, if I didn’t know you better.”

Lisa’s forehead creased.

“What if one of us gets killed, Gavin?” she said, her voice brittle. “This was all my call. I could never live with myself.”

Gavin shook his head vigorously.

“Lisa, buck up,” he said, not unkindly. “You can’t psych yourself out like this. Not before a battle.”

He took a single step toward her.

“This battle is going to happen whether we’re there or not. You didn’t force anyone to come along. We all made our own choice; I know I did.”

Lisa dug her fingernails into the durable strap of her rucksack, losing the fight against the apprehension building in her chest.

“What about the Guard?” she said. “They’re just following Lance’s orders. If I’d never told Lance about the Fourth Key location – if I hadn’t gone into the Sepulchre of Suicune – then we wouldn’t be here right now.”

“Leese, I already said –”

“I know, I know what you said, Gav!” Lisa interrupted. “But it’s easier for you to say that. I can’t help the way I feel.” The reality struck her like a thunderbolt. “People are going to die tonight. Union members. Guard members. Even one of us. It’s all on me.”

She half expected Gavin to roll his eyes and chide her for being ridiculous; to her mild surprise, he cocked his head to the side and regarded her with pity.

“The way you feel accountable for everyone else in the world … I don’t think I’ll ever get that,” he grinned. “But I kind of like it.”

Lisa met his smile with a questioning look.

From the far side of the yard, Marina’s silhouette waved wildly to capture their attention.

“Hurry up, you two!”

“We’re coming!” Gavin called back.

He turned back to Lisa.

“Lisa, Lance is the one who made all this happen tonight. Whatever happens, it’s on him, do you hear me?”

She winced against the intensity of his gaze.

“Yeah … yeah, I guess so.”

His chestnut-brown irises softened.

“If it helps, Leese, just forget about the Guard. Forget about the Legend. You know the reason I’m going? Revenge.” His voice bubbled with latent anger as he spoke the word. “The Union has fucked up our lives for months. They’ve tried to kill us, they cut my face open –” He jabbed his index finger at the scar on his face. “– and they kidnapped you and stole your pokémon.”

He suddenly took her hand in his and squeezed it gently; his palm was sweaty.

“This isn’t about the war, Lisa. It’s personal. It’s time we paid them back.”

[Chris 2.1]

OH GOD ITS ACTUALLY HAPPENING

I was so excited reading this. I feel like I'm watching an episode of 24; the suspense, the sneakery, the fact that so many characters' lives at stake (don't make Lisa an orphan, please!? And Tom's girlfriend seems nice too...)

I like the little gang Lisa formed, also great to see Jamie back (found that guy hilarious). I just don't know how this is all going to pan out. Excitedly awaiting the next instalment Gav.

Descriptions were brilliant, loved reading the trio in the lagoon, and the description of the Union's boat drifting past.... that was chilling.

See ya!

[Gavin Luper]

Chris: Thanks for reading and replying mate. Hehehe I know, it's all coming together! Glad you like the gang ... it has been a really long time since I sketched that out so it was nice to share it, at last. More on that front now.

Stoked that you liked Jamie, too.

I waited so long to post again because - well, I know I have to do some brief editing and spellchecking for each chapter, so I put it off and procrastinated. But I just forced myself to do it and it took all of ten minutes.

More importantly, I think I'm going to post chapters up weekly now, otherwise I'll never finish posting this. I simply hope that you guys can keep up, but if not, reading two or three recently-posted chapters at once would be no different to how you would read a book, so I hope it doesn't put you off.

So I'll be committing myself to weekly chapters now, each Sunday. Stay tuned!

On that note, here's Chapter 80! Boom! It's all happening now!

Cheers!

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Chapter 80 – The Midnight Armada.


Shrouded by darkness, the six teenagers sprinted through the salty scrub, bashing sticks and leaves out of their way as they hurtled toward the beach.

“Look out, sleeping Ekans ahead!” Jamie shouted.

“Cheers!” Lisa cried, looking down at her sneakers just in time to see a thickly-coiled mass of purple only a foot ahead of her. Throwing all her weight forward, she leaped over the snake, clearing it safely, her sneakers landing with a thud on the dirt on the other side, her legs crunching slightly with the shock.

“Gav, look out for the Ekans!” Lisa called over her shoulder.

“Cleared it!” he bellowed back, grunting as his shoes landed safely on the other side.

Barely twenty metres past the sleeping Ekans, the box-thorns, blackboys and saltbushes began to dissipate, until the sound of breaking waves tugged at Lisa’s ears and the strong scent of salt teased her nostrils.

Lisa slowed herself down to a halt, as Jamie, Darius, Sarah and Marina were doing before her. The bush cleared completely: they were standing on fine beach sand, the coastline spreading out either side of them. Straight ahead, in the distance, Silver Rock Island glinted in the moonlight.

“Oh wow,” Lisa gaped.

Her eyes had fallen on the dark, tiny dots that seemed to be floating in the distance, close to Silver Rock Island. There were dozens of them, barely visible except when a moonbeam fell upon them.

Gavin came jogging to a halt beside Lisa.

“Gav, let me borrow your binoculars,” Lisa asked him.

He handed them over – a sleek, metallic silver set – and she pressed them to her eyes, gazing out at the tiny dots near the island. Sure enough, the dots were boats – fishing vessels and speedboats and pleasure craft – all of them crowded with tiny figures that must have been Guard members.

“It looks amazing,” Lisa breathed. “It’s like a silent armada.” She grinned. “The Union won’t know what hit it.”

She removed the binoculars from her eyes and handed them to Gavin, who eagerly took them and gazed out at the sight before them. Sarah, meanwhile, was pointing out to the others a small headland about a hundred metres to their left.

“That’s where the Guard left from … there’s no rips there, no dangerous current. We should leave from there.”

“Just as well you’re here, then,” Marina said dully. “Because our plan A is a no-go.”

She gesticulated to the old wooden jetty that jutted into the Cianwood Sea, about three hundred metres to their right. It was completely abandoned; a loose rope dangled from one of the piers.

“Oh no!” Lisa moaned.

“What was plan A?” Jamie asked.

“We were going to nick Jack’s dinghy,” Marina sighed. “I’ve sailed them before so I thought I could do that … but it looks like the Guard stole it first, or something.”

“They must have run out of boats …” Sarah muttered.

“So, what’s plan B?” Darius asked urgently, eyeing up the distant dots, which seemed to be almost atop Silver Rock Island now.

Lisa and Gavin exchanged wry smiles.

“We surf.”

*

The Cianwood Sea was frigid by night: Lisa wanted to scream as Gavin’s Seel surfed purposefully through the water, occasionally dipping an inch or two deeper and wetting a little more of her jeans with the ice water.

“Aaaaaargh!” she shrieked, as a small swell rose over them, drenching her right leg from the knee down. “This is insane!”

“I think my leg is falling off,” said Sarah, from the back of Darius’ Dragonair.

“Toughen up!” said Darius sharply, though even from her distance, Lisa could see his teeth chattering violently.

Looking around, she was glad they had managed to surf on relatively small pokémon: it would make them less visible by either the Guard or the Union as the silhouette of Silver Rock Island loomed ever closer. Gavin was seated on his half-submerged Staryu, his legs crossed to keep his feet dry, while Marina and Jamie each took one of Starmie’s horizontal arms, her grubby sneakers and his black-and-white Converse All-Stars trailing through the seaspray.

“Reckon the Union’s got someone on lookout duty?” Lisa called to Gavin.

Gavin shrugged, scratching his leg.

“I would, if I were them,” he called back.

He grabbed the pair of silver binoculars from around his neck and peered up ahead at the armada of Guard boats, all of which were now either in the shallows surrounding Silver Rock Island, or actually disembarking.

“Looks like they’re arriving undetected,” he remarked, impressed.

Lisa patted Seel gently on the head.

“G-good job, buddy,” she grinned falsely, trying to appear grateful for the ride instead of resentful that she had taken one of the pokémon lowest to the water level.

Silver Rock Island was now only a few hundred metres away. Although the island itself was largely no more than a gigantic, conical silhouette, the jagged silver rocks caught the moonlight in various places, giving the island a twinkling aura.

“The Guard members are taking too long to get out of the way,” Gavin observed through his binoculars. “Some of them have already gone into the island through a cave … I think it’s through a cave anyway … but there’s a bunch still hanging around on the shoreline. They’ll see us if we get much closer …”

“That’s D-Donovan’s team,” stuttered Sarah, her teeth clattering together. “They’re meant to act as a back-up for Azura’s team. They’ll only go in when they’re called.”

“So what, we’re gonna float around and wait for ‘em to go in?” Jamie demanded brashly.

“What are they gonna do, tell us to turn around and go back?” Lisa laughed. “Once we’re there, they’ll need us … OH!”

Her cry of shock was echoed by the others.

An enormous streak of flame had suddenly exploded from the core of the extinct volcano within the island, illuminating the island and the sea. Lisa and the others watched in awe as the tongue of flame rocketed into the air like a nuclear warhead, apparently bound for the stratosphere, before it reached its zenith, hung delicately in mid-air for a moment, and then arced back down toward the ground, gathering velocity.

“Are they battling inside the cone – OH MY GOD!” Marina screamed.

Lisa screamed with her: the gigantic ball of flame had not returned to the inside of the cone, but rather, had streaked down the outside of the island, illuminating the silver rocks around it before slamming with almighty force into the centre of Donovan’s team; silhouetted bodies went spinning backward into the beach sand; a second later, a barrage of anguished screams reached Lisa’s ears.

“Fuck!” Jamie yelled.

“Oh no,” Sarah whimpered.

Lisa and Gavin exchanged glances.

“The Union saw them coming …” Gavin muttered.

Lisa’s teeth were chattering and she felt a surge of self-hatred overcome her as she cried, “Seel, get deeper into the water and surf as fast as you can!”

Her mind churned; the voice she had successfully repressed for the last few minutes reared its head with a vengeance.

It’s on me … it’s my fault if they die …

Icy needles pierced Lisa’s arms and torso as Seel dove, almost submerging himself; around them, Starmie, Staryu and Dragonair followed suit, accompanied by curse words from the boys and a whimper from Sarah. Marina alone seemed immune to the water’s frigid wrath.

“Shit!” Gavin muttered, peering through the binoculars as Staryu pulled in closer to the other pokémon. “The Union’s got troops coming to finish the job.”

Lisa didn’t need binoculars: they were close enough now for her to see what was taking place on the beach, which was illuminated by the blaze that had sprung up in the wake of the massive fireball attack. Union agents in camouflage gear and bandanas were streaming from a hidden cavern near where Donovan’s team were writhing on the ground; all of the agents were equipped with either Stunners or AK-47s.

“No!” Lisa cried, as the agents levelled their weapons and began to fire.

The rat-tat-tat of rapid gunfire echoed across the water, followed by bloodcurdling screams; one of the Guard members on the beach, a male, judging from his bulky silhouette, bellowed, “NOOOOO!” and hurled something at the nearest group of Union agents.

BANG!

The grenade exploded; a wave of flame blossomed over the beach, enveloping the three Union agents, accompanied by a wave of airborne sand, which rained over the others.

They were just twenty metres from the shoreline now; Sarah was looking around wildly at the others, as if demanding to be taken back to safety, but nobody was even capable of returning her gaze – least of all Lisa. She firmly redirected her eyes at Gavin, her mouth hanging open as a vortex of horror and guilt swirled in her gut.

She knew Gavin understood what she was feeling, but he offered no word of comfort. Instead, he called out to the group at large.

“Let’s attack from here,” he said firmly. “At the ready, guys, with your quickest, strongest ranged attacks. Go!”

And at once, Lisa’s anxiety was supplanted by the call of duty; life and reality and the world ceased to exist, and the world became war.

“Staryu, Psybeam!” Gavin roared.

“Hydro Pump, Starmie!” Marina bellowed.

“Dragonair, Hyper Beam!” Darius cried.

Lisa hesitated just a moment.

“Seel – use an Ice Beam!”

The Union agents on the beach turned at the commotion, but they were too slow to react: an ice-white beam of energy flew from Seel’s mouth, grazing the top of the seafoam before smacking directly into a Union agent’s leg, sending him tripping over his own feet and into the fire; a ray of purple blasted through the night air, slamming directly into an Umbreon and its trainer; by the time Starmie’s cannon of water flooded the beach and sizzled half the inferno, there was an explosion of gunfire and bullets sizzled the surface of the water around them, pinging off with a distorted twang sound.

“There’s some more coming from the wat-aaaaargh!”

A Union agent decked out in leather copped a Hyper Beam to the head as he tried to call for back-up; he slammed into the ground as a deadweight.

Screams echoed from the beach as the battle continued to rage in the semi-dark, illuminated by the flames.

Abruptly, Lisa felt Seel slow down, and then her feet scraped against sand.

“Everyone stay back!” she commanded to the others, pelting onto the beach and hurling her rucksack to the sand.

She supposed it was abject fear, rather than genuine conviction, that caused her to say it; she knew at once that her desperate cry would have no pull over the others. Around her, Gavin and Marina were clambering to their feet and launching pokéballs into the air; Darius followed suit, wading toward dry land, edging past the Guard’s moored vessels.

Sarah, meanwhile, was floating half-submerged in the shallows, looking completely stunned; and Jamie stood beside Starmie, a pokéball in his hand and a vacant look on his face.

“Don’t just stand there, you’re an easy target!” Lisa roared. “Go, Kingler! Revelum, Altaria!”

Lisa had perhaps one full second in which to survey the battleground before her: she realised the beach was only a small alcove, home to about a dozen battling Guard members and about double the number of murderous-looking Union agents; motionless bodies littered the sand. Before Lisa could get her head around anything else, she saw a bolt of blue light streaking from nowhere toward her head, and threw herself to the ground; she rolled in terror, her ears caked in wet sand; her heart was pounding; she was sure that staying still would seal her doom in an instant …

“Nooooo!”

There was an explosion of green light just feet away from where Lisa lay; a second later, a sweaty hand gripped her arm and hauled her onto her feet.

“I got your back, Leese!” Gavin screamed. “Yeah, Natu, peck his fucken eyes out!”

“DIE!”

A Union agent seemed to materialise from the darkness, a machete in his hand and madness in his eyes; he lunged at Lisa, brandishing the blade …

“ELECTRIFY!”

The Buzzball crackled to life; a blue streamer sparked through the wet air and connected with the tip of the machete, only a foot from Lisa’s face; the agent screamed as he was blasted off his feet …

“NO, LISA!”

Donovan’s voice came from nowhere; Lisa spun around almost a full three hundred and sixty degrees before she realised that he was in front of her.

“Why’re yeh HERE?” he growled furiously. “LOOK OUT!”

He threw his entire weight on top of her; Lisa’s bones crunched audibly as they slammed into the dirt together; Lisa didn’t even have time to see what attack they had just escaped; she yelled an indiscriminate, “Electrify!” and clambered to her feet.

“Thanks, Donovan,” she called, hunting around the beach until her eyes caught something white and blue being pummelled by a red-eyed Raichu.

“Altaria, don’t take it lying down! Speed Star!” Lisa cried.

“Fucking hell, it’s the Walters bird!” roared Raichu’s owner, a bearded bikie. “Get ‘er!”

“Not likely!”

Stephen appeared from somewhere in the shadows, delivering a deft uppercut to the bikie before smacking him neatly in the nose; in the same instant, amid a renewed round of gunfire, Altaria squealed a series of high notes and released a volley of golden, resplendent stars, which slammed into the Raichu’s side, almost throwing it off its feet.

“Quick attack!” Lisa bellowed, exchanging an awkward wink with Stephen by way of thanks. “AARGH!”

She would never know where the attack had come from: blackness overcame her; her body was shaking, spasming; her bones were being loosened, screwed from their joints by a grinding screwdriver; her nerves were being cleaved by a blunt saw … her brain was screaming …

“GET OFF!”

The pain lifted; Lisa found herself lying face down on the beach, her mouth half-filled with mud. She spat it out and pushed herself back up, her arms shaking uncontrollably.

She wheeled around to see Darius standing over her, flanked by his Stantler and holding Lisa’s Buzzball out before him.

“Electrify!” he cried. “Stantler, Double Team!”

As a bolt of electricity crackled toward the nearest agent, Stantler multiplied itself; suddenly, the beach was filled with dozens of brown stags, each one as real-looking as the last; just as the nearest Union agents cried out in confusion, Darius spun round to face Lisa.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Before Lisa could answer, a Hispanic agent lunged out from the shadows, a pistol outstretched, and pulled the trigger twice.

Bang! Bang!

Darius hung for a moment, as though suspended in time, and then collapsed backwards into the soft sand.

A crystal of black ice blossomed in Lisa’s chest.

“NO!” she screamed, scrambling toward Darius’ body, thoughts of her own safety forgotten.

Don’t be dead … don’t be dead …

Darius’ face was frozen in a stunned expression, his eyes rolling around in his head. Her heart burning, Lisa scanned his clothes for a deep red stain and finally located one slowly flowering – on his right shoulder.

There was a metallic click nearby. She whirled around: Anthony, the Union agent, had levelled his pistol at her chest.

“We both know you won’t do it, Anthony!” Lisa screamed. Knowing his name – and using it – somehow made her feel powerful. “You know Sterling needs me too much …”

Anthony’s yellow-toothed grin broadened. He lowered his pistol toward her leg and pulled the trigger just as Lisa dived to the right; the slipstream of the bullet grazed past her thigh moments before she slammed roughly into the ground once more …

Sprawled on her back, Lisa saw Annette, the purple-haired Guard agent, run at full-pelt at Anthony, pulling the trigger of her Stunner at point-blank range. A jet of blue light burst from the tip of the Stunner; Anthony spasmed as though he had been kicked in the solar plexus; he crumpled to the sand.

“You okay, Lisa?!”

Annette hauled Lisa to her feet. Behind her, another grenade exploded, showering both of them in wet sand; somewhere in the mêlée around them, Marina cried, “COP THAT, BITCH!” and Donovan let off a tirade of curse words as he fired off a Stunner relentlessly into a Union agent’s gut.

“We rock!” Annette cried, appraising the beach around them.

The chaos had somehow petered out into a series of isolated fights, though Lisa spied at least four Union agents retreating back into the cave. Bodies covered the ground; only a few people were left fighting; the Guard’s sheer number of pokémon had tipped the scales in their favour. A gang comprised of an Ivysaur, a Wigglytuff, three Beedrill, Marina’s Bayleef and Golduck, Gavin’s Girafury, Lisa’s Altaria, a monstrous Golem and a Treecko was systematically taking down one Union agent after another, impervious to most attacks thanks to the constant Reflect and Light Screen provided by a Xatu in their midst.

Lisa scanned the scene – Marina had now apparently disappeared, but Gavin was still locked in a fierce pokémon battle with a female Union agent, and Jamie was engaged in fisticuffs with a Union agent who looked no older than he; as they watched, Stephen ran up and decked the Union agent definitively, before high-fiving Jamie in triumph.

“Where’s Sarah?” Lisa cried, looking back into the shallows, but there was nobody there.

“That’s her!” Annette said in astonishment, pointing behind Lisa.

Lisa whirled around in time to see Sarah perform a lightning-fast kick to a slender Union agent’s head; the female agent’s nose broke with a loud crack; she reeled backwards, stumbling, as Sarah ran forward and delivered a swift backhand to her bleeding nose. With an anguished roar, the woman collapsed to the dirt.

Sarah spun on her heel, her arms twirling around her in a distinctive martial arts formation.

“I learn karate,” she said, looking slightly shell-shocked at what she had done as Annette and Lisa stared on in disbelief. “For – for self-defence.”

Lisa barely had time to express her astonishment; a shout of victory from Gavin, Donovan and some other Union agents signified the battle’s end. A relative calm fell over the beach, broken only by the crackling of the fire and the groans of various agents sprawled across the sand.

“Lisaaaa!”

The hoarse cry came from just a few metres away. Lisa’s blood ran cold once more. She rushed back to Darius’ side.

He lay spread-eagled on the shimmering sand. Marina knelt at his side while Stantler presided over affairs, cooing miserably.

“I’m here,” Lisa muttered, as Darius’ pained eyes found hers.

“Am I okay? How bad is it?” he said in a panicked voice.

The wound, a few inches east of Darius’ collarbone, was trickling with hot blood. Marina held a scrap of black material to the spot, her eyes wide.

“It’s going to be alright,” Lisa said in the calmest tone she could muster, though tears had sprung to her eyes. “He only got you in the shoulder.”

Marina gaped at Lisa, her voice strangled, tears tumbling down her cheeks.

“Lisa – I don’t know what I’m doing –”

“I can help!”

Annette came rushing up to them, pulling two red-and-white pokéballs open; a plump, bright pink Blissey and a robust Wurmple emerged in a flash of radiance.

“All good battlers should always carry a Blissey and a Wurmple,” Annette said seriously to both Lisa and Marina. “Blissey, try a Softboiled and let’s see if we can’t do something about that wound with Wurmple!”

Not convinced that Annette was going to have much success, Lisa gripped Darius’ hand tightly before turning around to survey the rest of the beach. There were only a dozen figures on their feet, all of them Guard agents.

“Leese!”

Gavin came lumbering forward clumsily; as he got closer, the flames from the still-raging blaze illuminated his thin face; his nose was crooked, bent violently to the right, and blood flowed in a thick stream from his nostrils into his mouth.

“Gav – you okay?” Lisa cried, suddenly aware that her heart had slowed to a rapid pounding; she suspected it had been veritably vibrating before.

“I’m fucking wicked!” Gavin cried, spitting a mouthful of blood and saliva to the sand. He threw his arms around Lisa. “I’m alive, so I’m fucking wicked!”

Lisa managed a smile; though bruised, she had somehow escaped the scuffle unscathed.

Over her shoulder, she glimpsed Jamie rubbing his head gingerly; it looked like he had sustained several bruises during his fistfight, including a heavy hit to the face which seemed to be swelling into a black eye.

“Eddie is dead,” Donovan announced.

“No!”

There were screams and cries from the surrounding Guard agents, only a few of whom Lisa knew by name or face.

“Tamara too,” said Donovan. “And Jonas, Adam and Travis.”

Lisa barely heard the second chorus of grief. Her ears were ringing, her throat swollen as the truth hit her: five Guard agents were dead.

“It’s on me …”

She didn’t realise she had said it aloud until Gavin, his arms still embracing her tightly, pulled away slightly and locked eyes with her.

“Lisa – it isn’t on you. Stop punishing yourself,” he said sternly.

Lisa swallowed a dry sob and hummed to herself, visualising her five pokémon’s joyful faces when she rescued them.

It was just enough.

“Roxanne is unconscious and wounded, but not seriously; we will have to abandon her here,” Donovan continued. “Same as the others; we don’t have time for grief or diagnostics. Azura’s team will need their back-up now; we have to go into the caves, and now. Wartortle, Hydro Pump,” he added in the same breath; a Wartortle waddled up to the blaze and, with several bursts of cold, refreshing water, extinguished the fire in a matter of seconds, the hissing of steam echoing into the night.

Stephen, Owen and some other agents began picking up various weapons from the unconscious or paralysed Union agents at their feet.

Donovan regarded Lisa and Gavin with an expression of incredulity.

“You kids … nothing will stop you, will it?”

Feeling as though she were repeating a hypnotic recording, Lisa pulled away from Gavin and faced him.

“I need my pokémon back,” she said firmly. “And you need us.”

Donovan ground his teeth.

“I need you to stay here on the beach and take care of our wounded members,” he said gruffly, “but I have a feeling that’s not going to happen.”

He sighed heavily as he picked up a revolver from Anthony’s holster and took it for himself. He trudged through the beach sand toward Lisa and Gavin and placed a hand on Gavin’s shoulder.

“If you kids are going to fight no matter what, then at least do me this favour, and stay the hell away from the main cavern. Most of the fighting will take place there, if it isn’t already.”

“If you help us out with some info, we’ll be able to do that,” Lisa said quickly. “I need to know where the Union’s lab is – where they do tests on pokémon – I want to get my pokémon back …”

Donovan’s beady eyes flicked to the top of his head, as though he were racking his brains.

“Each team had a set objective,” he explained quickly. “Ryan and Maria’s team is freeing trapped Guard operatives, including Professor Westwood; Lance and a few other agents are basically kicking arse and takin’ out as much Union scum as they can; Azura’s team and mine are hunting for the Fourth Key.” He paused for breath. “Alison’s team went in to liberate the pokémon and destroy as much infrastructure as possible … it’s them you’ll need to rendezvous with. Oy, Venner!”

Sarah jogged over from Darius’ side.

“Yes?”

“You and Lance plotted this thing – you got any idea where the pokémon are being kept?”

“No – we didn’t have enough intel. We only know cavern codenames,” Sarah said anxiously. “But … if I knew what cavern the lab was in, I could probably find my way to it.”

Donovan grunted and reached down for the nearest Union agent he could find sprawled on the dirt; he hauled a red-haired teenager a foot off the ground by his hair and held Anthony’s pistol directly against the young agent’s face, the barrel resting on his forehead.

“Yeh’ve got two seconds to gimme the fucken codename of the cave where the pokémon lab is kept, Red, or I blow your fucken brains out all over this beach.”

The agent began to scream hysterically.

“It’s codename Cyprus! Cyprus cave! Please, don’t, don’t kill me – don’t! –”

“Fucken treacherous prick,” Donovan growled, releasing his hair and sending him face-first into the dirt; he aimed the revolver toward the sky and fired a single bullet off with a deafening bang!; the agent convulsed and shrieked in terror.

“Cyprus cave is your best lead, even if he’s lying,” Donovan said to Sarah. “And on that note, we’re off.” He sighed heavily, surveying them with bemusement. “Stay safe, kids.”

He jogged toward the rock wall that comprised the foundation of the volcanic cone, Stephen, Owen and the others following him eagerly.

“One more thing,” he called as he jogged, “Lance always tells us the main objective to keep in mind is to STAY ALIVE! Remember that!”

“We will!” Lisa and Gavin called in unison.

No sooner had the Guard agents disappeared into the crack in the rock wall than there was the renewed sound of gunfire and anguished screaming. Lisa jumped as she saw a blast of light high above them, from within the cone itself; clearly, another battle was taking place in there, too.

“I think we’re done!” Annette declared, stepping back from Darius.

Lisa, Gavin, Sarah and Marina looked on as Annette recalled her Blissey and Wurmple. The colour had returned to Darius’ face, and his shoulder was no longer bleeding, bandaged organically with Wurmple’s thick, sticky String Shot.

“Wurmple String Shot is the best for wounds,” Annette said confidently. “I bound it nice and tightly … so it shouldn’t come loose. You should be okay, Darius.”

“T-thanks,” he muttered, sitting up slowly.

Annette surveyed the sea of bodies before her, clutching her hands to her bushy purple hair. For a moment, the moonlight fell upon her face and Lisa realised that she was emotionally shellshocked; but before she could comfort her, Annette gave them all a distracted wave and, muttering, “Stay safe, kiddos!”, she bounded toward the tunnel entrance that Donovan and the others had taken.

A set of waves crashed over the shoreline, water rushing over Darius’ backside and the hiss of seafoam almost blocking out – for a second – the pandemonium of at least two separate battles on the island.

“What are we waiting for?” Jamie drawled, tapping his knee with Cubone’s bone.

Lisa looked around at the others: Gavin’s bloody nose, Jamie’s black eye, Marina’s grazed arm, Sarah’s bruised face and Darius’ wounded shoulder. The guilt finally overcame her.

“Look, I dragged you here to get my pokémon back, essentially … and I feel really bad that out of all of you, it’s me who comes out of the first battle, you know, without a scratch …”

“Lisa, what are you babbling about?” Marina asked, regrouping with her pokémon. “Have you even seen your arm?”

Lisa followed Marina’s finger to the underside of her right arm: it was grazed so badly it looked as though someone had grated it; flakes of skin dangled loosely while blood seeped from the holes.

“I can’t even feel anything …” Lisa muttered.

“It’s called adrenaline,” Darius said, miraculously sardonic as he allowed Sarah and Gavin to pull him to his feet. “I can barely feel anything in my shoulder, either. I mean, it’s killing … but I’m kind of numb …”

“Then let’s get going while we’re still pumped!” Jamie urged.

“Well, that’s what I was starting to say. The Union aren’t fighting fair; they’re using bullets and we’re not. We could be killed tonight. If you guys want to wait here and avoid any more fighting, then I’d –”

“Oh, fuck’s sake, don’t pull this shit, Lisa!” Jamie cried indignantly. “I was just starting to like you, jeez. Get your bloody hand off it and let’s go!”

Gavin’s face wrinkled into a grin.

“First time I’ve agreed with him,” he muttered. “For the last time, Leese, stop thinking you’re responsible for us, for God’s sake.”

Without another word, Gavin and Jamie leaned over the bodies of some of the Union agents, collecting weapons for them all. Marina gave Lisa a friendly elbow before following suit, along with Sarah.

Lisa felt the burden in her chest lift, if only slightly. She turned to Darius, who was gingerly brushing wet sand off himself.

“I was so scared for a minute there,” Lisa admitted.

“No kidding,” Darius breathed. And then, while the other four were busy scouring for weapons, he leaned toward her and pressed his lips against hers.

Lisa froze, taken completely off-guard. She had never been kissed before, had never experienced the sensation of a warm pair of lips against her own. Her heart seemed to lift in her chest, suspended by elation, her mind wiped completely blank by the new sensation; and then, quite as suddenly as it had happened, Darius pulled back and their lips broke apart.

Lisa locked eyes with Darius. She could see her own reflection, pale and battered, shining in his brown irises. She searched the depths of his eyes for meaning. For an infinitesimal moment, time seemed to wait for them. And then –

“Take a Stunner!” Marina called, her voice deliberately loud. She pushed in between them and thrust a stun gun into Darius’ hands before pressing a second one into Lisa’s and dragging Lisa along by the arm.

“Okay, let’s move!” she bellowed, trudging determinedly toward the cleft in the rock wall that led to the inside of the cave.

Lisa looked back at Darius, who held her gaze until Sarah came up by his side and spoke to him in a whisper; Lisa felt a surge of jealousy rise within her.

“Focus, Lisa,” Marina said knowingly in her ear, as they reached the tunnel entrance.

“Right. I know. I am,” Lisa said, tearing her eyes from Darius and facing front. She recalled Altaria into the poképort and jogged onward.

Gavin had somehow come into possession of the Buzzball: as they strode into the pitch-dark tunnel, he held it before him and said quietly, “Illuminate.”

A globule of light materialised from nowhere and began orbiting gently around the red Buzzball, sending sparks of golden light glimmering to the ground and illuminating the tunnel ahead.

“Okay, that’s fucking awesome,” said Jamie.

The tunnel stretched out a long way before them; echoes of shouts and bangs could be heard further ahead. Almost at the end of the illuminated section, there was a dark shape curled up on the ground.

“Let’s … uh … proceed with caution, ay?” Gavin suggested, slowly creeping forwards.

“Cyprus Cave is actually very close to here,” Sarah’s voice echoed from behind Lisa and Marina. “The first tunnel to our right should take us to an antechamber, and Cyprus Cave leads right off that, I’m almost positive.”

“Okay,” Gavin said, adopting a tone of faux-machismo. “Stunners at the ready? Let’s march, boys!”

Gripping the handle of the Stunner with her left hand and holding her right index finger on the trigger, Lisa shuffled forward. As Gavin walked, the tunnel lightened further and further. Before long, they had reached the dark shape that lay slumped in on the edge of the tunnel.

Lisa was only a few metres from it when she realised it was a body.

“Oh no …” Marina breathed.

It was the body of a man in his mid-thirties: his polo shirt had been torn to shreds by what looked like a vicious pokémon attack; his gut, still visibly hairy, was sliced in a thousand places, leaving red, bloodied slashes across his torso. His face was also shredded, the gashes even deeper here, with what was left of his nose dangling from his face on a precarious thread, leaving a bloody, gooey mass exposed beneath. One of his eyes, mercifully, was closed, but the other had been clawed out, leaving a mess of white and black jelly leaking over the side of his face.

The bile rose in Lisa’s stomach; she pushed Marina out of her way and vomited violently.

She wasn’t the only one affected so strongly, either; Gavin made a retching noise, and Sarah was quietly throwing up at the back of the group, while Marina clapped her hand to her mouth in terror, and Jamie covered his eyes and walked around in a small circle, muttering, “Christ, no, no, no …”

Darius had gone pale, biting his lip repeatedly, as if in a petrified trance.

“Please tell me it’s a Union agent,” Lisa managed eventually, wiping her mouth on her sleeve; all thoughts of decorum were antiquated, silly.

“It’s not,” Darius groaned. “His name was Jon, he worked with Donovan’s team.”

A collective cry – something between a groan and a scream – went up from the group.

“What d’you think did this to him?” Marina wondered in terrified awe. “It almost looks too vicious to be a pokémon, doesn’t it?”

“Who knows …” Darius muttered darkly. “Let’s just … keep an eye out …”

A shiver ran down the length of Lisa’s spine. Focusing her gaze anywhere but on Jon’s body, she glanced at the dimly illuminated cave ahead and felt slightly relieved: there was a wide opening to their right.

“Is that the tunnel?” she asked nobody in particular.

“If it’s the first one to the right, then, yeah,” came Sarah’s voice.

Eager to escape the corpse in the tunnel beside them – though Lisa did not think the image burned into her retinas would ever leave her – they turned down the auxiliary tunnel, jogging. The sound of fierce battle echoing through the glittering ceiling above them instilled a sense of urgency: Lisa’s knuckles grew white on the trigger of her Stunner.

“Slow down, Gavin, we’re nearly at the antechamber!” Sarah cried suddenly. “Cyprus Cave will be dead ahead – the pokémon lab is within – but the tunnel that intersects with this one leads from the Union’s barracks!”

“You’re telling me now!” Gavin bellowed, extinguishing the Buzzball at once; they were plunged into total blackness.

Lisa ground to a halt; Marina slammed into her heavily.

“Well this is helpful,” Jamie muttered snidely.

“Shut up,” Gavin snapped.

“Gav, I can’t even see my hand in front of my face,” Lisa muttered, feeling around for his shoulders.

“Well, according to Sarah the barracks are ahead – they’ll be friggin’ flooded with Union bastards …”

“THERE’S SOME MORE DOWN HERE! HEADED FOR THE LAB!” a hoarse male voice bellowed from behind them.

“SMOKE ‘EM OUT!” barked another man. “Charizard, Blaziken, use Fire Blast!”

“I’m thinking we don’t have a choice!” Lisa screamed, as the roars of the fire pokémon behind them were followed by torch-like sounds.

“RUN!” Marina screamed, pressing into Lisa.

It was chaos in the inky blackness. Lisa felt at least three bodies crushing against hers as she fought to run forward; her sneaker catching what she assumed was a stray rock, she lost her footing, slamming her cheekbone against the rock floor.

“Arrgh …”

Stars sprung into existence before her eyes. Though she could still see nothing, the darkness seemed to take on a vibrating, fluorescent glow.

“Stop moving, I think Sarah fell over –” Jamie cried.

“I didn’t,” Sarah said. “I think it was Lisa.”

“I’m okay!” Lisa tried to say, but she didn’t hear any noise come out.

At that moment, several things happened all at once. The tunnel was momentarily illuminated by a flash of translucent scarlet light; a Machoke emerged from a pokéball held in Darius’ outstretched hand; and at the same time, the tunnel in the direction they had come from was filled with a two jets of orange flame, rocketing toward them.

“Rock Slide!” Darius yelled.

The silhouetted Machoke leaned forward and wound up his fist before slamming it devastatingly into the wall; the entire tunnel shook before a cascade of silver rocks tumbled from the ceiling, slowly at first before an avalanche seemed to trigger itself; dust flooded the air around them and an almighty roar accompanied the ceiling’s collapse.

“GET BACK!” Darius roared.

Already sprawled on the ground, Lisa was forever struck by the colossal image of Darius hurling his body to the tunnel floor as a metre-long tongue of deadly vermilion fire exploded through the final gap in the blockage, missing his head by centimetres; the wave of intense heat hit them all a millisecond later; Lisa felt as though her face had been smacked with a hot iron.

“CLEAR IT!” roared the Union agents on the other side.

BANG! BANG!

They were firing at the blockage in their rage; feeling as though she were about to pass out from the combination of the heatwave and the blow to the head, Lisa clambered to her feet gingerly.

“Gav, we need the Buzzball. Let’s run for it!”

“Amen!” Marina cried.

The globule of light once again lighting their way, the teenagers took scarcely ten seconds to regroup – helping each other to their feet and thumping smoked-out Darius heartily on the back – before Gavin led the charge down the tunnel.

“I see it!” he cried at last.

A bright glow was visible ahead; Lisa could see a torch burning in a bracket against the rock wall; they had reached the antechamber. They tumbled out of the tunnel almost at once, temporarily blinded by the brightness of the enormous, well-lit antechamber. As her eyes adjusted, Lisa felt acid eating through her gut.

The entire antechamber was strewn with dead bodies, the floor grotesquely adorned with bleeding, bullet-riddled pulps, some dark-clothed, some denim-clad, all of them bloodstained.

The walls weren’t silver: they were crimson.

The smell was nauseating.

Her vision blurring, Lisa’s eyes fell on the only figure still standing in the antechamber. Directly opposite them, standing before a metal door marked ‘Cyprus’, was Veronica, her entire body sprayed with scarlet blood, her platinum-blonde hair matted and red, and an AK-47 in her arms. Wincing against the deep, oozing gash on her face, she stared down at the writhing, bleeding, purple-haired woman whose throat she currently rested her boot on and roared with triumphant laughter as she pulled the trigger a dozen times, the flashes of light illuminating her maniacal expression as she tore Annette’s body to shreds.

“NOOOO!”

Lisa wasn’t sure if the five others were screaming with her, or if her ears had just been so badly damaged that everything echoed. In any case, her shriek jolted Veronica; the blonde agent looked up and regarded them with an expression that bordered on savage delight.

“Lisa! My favourite guardian! You made it to the party!” she cried, her tone mockingly sweet.

She kicked Annette’s head out of her way and took a step closer to them, examining their faces with keen interest.

“Not that I don’t have a special place in my heart for you, Marina …” she grinned. “And this must be the famous Darius Hudson. You certainly inherited your father’s good looks, boy …”

“Don’t talk about my father!” Darius barked, glaring at Veronica with venom; behind her back, Lisa heard Sarah mumble something indecipherable.

Lisa regarded Veronica curiously. There was something inscrutable on her face – she looked almost intrigued by Darius, more than any of the others – but a second later, the look was gone; she returned to scanning the remaining faces in the group.

“Now let me see – which ones of you am I allowed to pick off without getting fired …” Her eyes fell on Sarah. “You’re cute,” she smiled, raising the black AK-47.

“NO!”

Lisa lunged to her right, straddling Sarah from Veronica’s range. Around her, she felt Darius and his Machoke shuffle in front of Gavin, while Marina threw her arms over Jamie.

“You wouldn’t shoot a guardian!” Lisa barked at her triumphantly, aiming the Stunner at Veronica’s head and pulling the trigger swiftly.

A jet of blue light issued from the tip of the Stunner; seconds before it connected with Veronica’s gored face, however, a bubble of ethereal brown light materialised around her head, shimmering as the blue bolt struck it and then sending it flying back at Lisa’s face.

“Aaaarrgh!”

Instinctively, Lisa ducked; she heard Sarah scream as she was thrown backwards, paralysed.

“What the hell?!” Marina cried.

“Oh, we can invest in Battlemagic too, Marina Frost,” Veronica snarled. “You’ll be pleased to learn that your Guardian Butterfree’s little stunt in Goldenrod City inspired me to invest in a hundred Guardian Eevee for the Union.”

She smirked.

“They specialise in Light Screens.”

Marina scowled darkly; Lisa felt her hackles raise: a tiny, caramel-brown Eevee was perched, infuriatingly insouciant, on Veronica’s shoulder.

Sarah groaned as she returned to her feet, idling cautiously behind Lisa.

“I suppose you’ve bested me, Lisa,” Veronica sighed heavily; her tone was laced with dangerous irony. “You’re right. I won’t dare shoot at a Guardian.”

Abruptly, Gavin screamed “Electrify!”; a spear of electricity arced through the air toward Veronica and the reflective bubble kicked in again, forcing both Gavin and Darius to duck in unison as the spark sizzled past them.

From the intersecting tunnel to the right of the antechamber, Lisa heard a dull, metallic grating; aggressive male voices were shouting epithets as the sharp, regimented sound of booted footsteps grew louder and louder.

“Unfortunately, I can’t guarantee that my grunts will have the intellectual capacity to distinguish between you,” Veronica laughed, backing toward the high, rectangular metal door behind her; she slammed her fist against a large white button and the door hissed open, revealing a sleek, metallic lab within.

“Good luck!” she grinned savagely. “I might just pop into the lab and see how your lovely pokémon are coming along, Lisa!”

“BITCH!” Lisa screamed, pulling the trigger on the Stunner once more, but she was too late; the barrel of the AK-47 disappeared through the silver door as it slid shut once more; the bolt of blue light bounded uselessly off the door.

There was no room for thought: rage propelled Lisa forward; she hurtled across the antechamber, leaping over dead bodies as she rushed for the door to the lab. She threw the useless Stunner to the ground as she climbed over the body of a Union agent, substituting it with a loaded Mini-Uzi …

“Lisa!” Marina cried from behind.

“What?”

Lisa spun round to face the others in the antechamber, her hand poised over the white button beside the door.

“Get in, get your pokémon, get out!” Marina cried frantically, hurling pokéballs to the ground as the roar of booted footsteps grew louder. Her eyes fell on the Uzi. “And be careful with that!”

“I will!” Lisa said brashly. She didn’t think she possessed the guts, even in hot blood, to fire a bullet, but perhaps the threat would be enough for Veronica.

“And take Jamie and Sarah with you!” Gavin cried, bodily pushing Sarah and Jamie toward the metal door; Jamie nearly fell face-first onto a mangled corpse before recovering and deftly grabbing the dead agent’s AK-47.

“You’re not a guardian either, Gav!” Darius cried, a full team of six pokémon surrounding him. “Machoke, try heading them off before they get here, cave the tunnel in on them with Rock Slide!”

“Yeah, but I got a plan, it’s cool!” Gavin winked, Natu clinging to his shoulder as he squeezed the Buzzball.

Holding hands, Jamie and Sarah ran the gauntlet of bodies and reached the metal door beside Lisa, their faces pale.

“Go, hurry, we’ll hold them off!” Marina cried, waving her hands frantically at Lisa. “Starmie, Hydro Pump them as they come through!”

“Whaddaya waitin’ for?” Jamie shouted in Lisa’s ear, punching the white button fixed to the wall.

The silver door hissed open instantly. Lunging forward as one entity, Lisa, Jamie and Sarah tumbled through into the lab; glancing back, Lisa caught a glimpse of several beams of blue, green and yellow light arcing through the air before the silver door slid to a close.

“Uh, Lisa … maybe stand in front of us …” Sarah breathed, gripping Lisa’s shoulders and about-facing her.

The lab was enormous, almost the same size as the antechamber, except that there was no sign of roughly-hewn archways or glinting silver rocks: every surface of the lab – floors, walls, ceilings, benches, sinks, shelves – was made of smooth stainless steel.

A couple of duelling agents had clearly made their way through the door during the earlier mêlée: two bloodied bodies were sprawled, motionless and facing each other, on the steel about three feet ahead of Lisa, each with a revolver in hand. They had shot each other in the forehead at the same time.

“Mutually assured destruction,” Jamie muttered darkly, regarding the AK-47 in his hands. “How the fuck do you use this …”

Lisa levelled the sleek, black Mini-Uzi at the blonde agent at the far end of the lab. Veronica was hunting through a steel cabinet near a second metal door, glancing surreptitiously at the teenagers like a child caught sneaking into a cookie jar.

“Get out of it!” Lisa snarled, fury blossoming in her chest. “Leave my pokémon alone!”

“Ha!”

Veronica burst into a fit of almost girlish giggles as she hauled a plastic sleeve from within the cabinet. Five red-and-white pokéballs were contained within it.

“They’re MINE!” Lisa screeched, hurtling past the dead bodies and approaching Veronica. “GIVE THEM BACK!”

As she reached the bench opposite Veronica, Lisa saw the blonde woman’s battle-scarred face curve into the cruellest smile she had ever seen.

“But sweetie, I was always going to,” she said innocently, opening the plastic sleeve and hurling the five pokéballs to the ground.

As five blasts of radiant crimson light flared in the fluorescently-lit laboratory, Veronica cried, “Goodbye!” and pressed the white button on the silver door nearest her, disappearing in a flash of silver metal before Lisa could process what she had meant.

But as she watched the five globules of red light form into pokémon, Lisa knew something was wrong.

“Oh God …” she breathed, stepping back in alarm.

“You have an Electivire?” Jamie asked, his voice less urgent now that Veronica was no longer with them; from the antechamber, though, Lisa could still hear the screams and explosions of battle; she hoped Gavin and the others were holding up … but for the moment, something else was deeply amiss.

“No, I don’t,” Lisa said, slowly, regarding the other creatures. “Nor do I have a Ninetales, or …”

Five pokémon – Electivire, Dragonite, Ninetales, Fiskmire and Aipom – rested on the steel floor before Lisa, all affixing her not with looks of joy or recognition, but rage.

Their pupils glowed red.

“Lisa, get back from them, now!” Sarah cried sharply.

Lisa couldn’t. She stared in disbelief at the creatures before her, sure that, yes, they belonged to her; and yet, she had never felt more detached from them; never had she been so abjectly frightened of beings that she knew and loved. A deafening buzz rose in her ears, drowning out Sarah’s words: her nightmare – the thing she had dreaded the most – had happened.

“They’re mutated, Lisa, get back!” Sarah cried warningly.

Lisa gaped as Electivire’s behemoth form began to lumber toward her, its black-fingered hands outstretched; Ninetales advanced with a smooth, deadly gait, pearly teeth bared.

“They’re my pokémon …” Lisa breathed, a lump forming in her throat.

Dragonite lumbered closer, behind Ninetales; Fiskmire’s canine teeth were bared as he waddled toward Lisa.

All of their movements were slow, deliberate, controlled.

“Lisa, get back!” Sarah called again. “Listen to me, I know about this. The Union have used this technique before. Your pokémon won’t respond to you as their trainer.”

Lisa’s eyes fell on Aipom. The purple monkey scampered toward her, white claws appearing from its erstwhile blunt hands, its tail erect.

“Aipom … it’s me …”

Lisa stared into Aipom’s eyes, her heart cleaving.

“Aipom … it’s me … Lisa …”

Tears tumbled from her eyes as nothing but red, deadened pupils met her gaze. Aipom growled menacingly.

“Aipom … it’s me … Leeeeeeeee –” She sobbed as she imitated the way Aipom had learned to say her name. “–eeesa …”

“Appealing to them is useless!” Sarah cried hoarsely. “You’re an enemy in their eyes, Lisa … GET BACK NOW!”

Her shriek broke Lisa’s attempt to connect with Aipom; Lisa glanced up again just in time to see Electivire’s furry, black-and-yellow form descend on her. She backed up a step or two in fright, but it was too late: a massive, furry arm swung through the air.

WHACK!

Lisa’s cheekbone cracked as Electivire’s black fist slammed into the side of her face; her skull burst in renewed agony as she fell against the stainless steel floor, the Mini-Uzi spinning away …

“Rrruuuuuuu!” roared Electivire monstrously, its red, beady eyes feasting on Lisa as though she were prey.

“No!” Lisa shrieked, blinking against her tears and the silver stars before her eyes. “Electivire – it’s me – back off – OOOOOOF!”

His leg swung at her from nowhere, the clawed foot driving hard into her solar plexus and jarring the base of her rib cage; Lisa moaned but no sound came out; Electivire had winded her.

A second kick slammed into the side of her head and the world went temporarily black. Her nerves were ablaze as clawed feet slashed down her arm, her left side suddenly damp and warm …

As her vision returned, Lisa saw the maniacal red glow in Electivire’s eyes intensify as he ploughed his fist once more into her solar plexus; she retched on reflex, vomit dribbling down her chin; and already, Electivire was robotically winding his arm up again …

“NO!”

The rapid-fire of the Mini-Uzi shattered what remained intact of Lisa’s eardrums. Mid-punch, Electivire recoiled, roaring in pain.

Lisa craned her neck backwards and gaped: Jamie stood behind her, his feet apart, the Mini-Uzi held out directly before him, exploding with flashes of light as bullets ripped through the air, rapid-fire, and pierced Electivire’s body.

The electric pokémon howled as the twentieth bullet tore through his torso: he stumbled backwards in blind terror, sending Ninetales and Dragonite reeling back in turn. Electivire teetered for a millisecond, his red eyes rolling back in his head, before he gave a bloodcurdling howl and toppled over, thick squirts of blood spraying the ceiling before his body fell to the stainless steel floor.

[Gavin Luper]

The silence will not deter me like it once did!

Here is the next - enormous, climactic and emotional - chapter. We are nearly at the end of book three.

Happy reading everyone!

Cheers!

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Chapter 81 – Lance Hudson versus Joseph Sterling.


Lisa’s silent scream haunted her forever: she mouthed Electivire’s name, roared it at the top of her lungs, screamed that she loved him as his furred body fitted violently on the laboratory floor before, abruptly, falling limp.

A sweaty hand grabbed at Lisa’s arm and a searing pain coursed through her skin: her arm had been slashed by Electivire’s claws.

“Lisa, come on, get up!” Jamie cried urgently. “No, back off!” he shouted, pointing the Uzi at Ninetales’ paws and letting off a loud round of bullets, which pinged deafeningly off the steel floor.

Ninetales recoiled instinctively, before slowly advancing again.

“Electi – elec –” Lisa spluttered, breathless and winded, as Jamie repositioned his grip on her arm and dragged her away from the pokémon; her body slid smoothly over the blood-splattered metal.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” Jamie cried, firing off another round at Ninetales, Dragonite, Fiskmire and Aipom. “I had no choice … he was going to kill you …”

Sliding along the floor, Lisa looked up at his face: he was sprayed with deep crimson blood and his black eye was now so swollen it was almost shut, but through the battle scars, she saw devastation in his eyes for the first time, his lip spasming.

Lisa stared soullessly at Electivire’s body and felt a gaping nothingness within her. She knew, although her mind grappled desperately with the thudding reality before her, that she would not be able to feel it right then … or perhaps ever …

“Wait there!” Jamie ordered, releasing Lisa’s arm. He had dragged her behind a steel lab bench, protecting her from view of the pokémon. “Sarah, we need to get them back in their pokéballs …”

“Right …” Sarah’s voice was a panicky wisp of smoke.

“If I hold them back with the gun, reckon you can get their pokéballs and recall them?” Jamie cried.

“I – I’ll try –” Sarah spluttered anxiously, her face pallid.

The lab reverberated again with the jarring throb of gunfire. Still trying to catch her breath, Lisa stayed on her back, glazed eyes fixed on the ceiling as waves of pain rushed over her, her gut contracting with agony. When Jamie took a second to change from the Uzi to the AK-47 – he had run out of ammo – Lisa was able to hear, through the closed metal door, the chaos of battle still raging in the antechamber. Someone screamed, “TAKE HIM OUT!” and another voice bellowed, “FIGHT LIKE A MAN, COWARD!”

And then, her aching heart buoyed slightly, Lisa heard Gavin’s cocky yell:

“Better luck next time, fucktard!”

There was a tortured scream, followed by a new burst of gunfire – both within and without the lab.

Lisa tuned her throbbing ears back into the scuffle at the far end of the lab: after a final clatter of gunfire, Sarah’s voice emerged triumphantly, “RETURN!”

“YES!” Jamie cried; Lisa heard them high-five one another.

Their footsteps clattered on the metal before their pale faces swam into Lisa’s line of sight.

“Are you alright, Lisa?” Sarah asked breathlessly.

“I will be …” Lisa muttered.

Jamie’s eyes were wide, his expression sneer-free; he looked utterly devastated.

“Lisa … I don’t know how I can ever make up for what I did … I … I’m so sorry …”

Lisa couldn’t return his gaze, and yet she was not sure whether she hated him for killing Electivire or not.

“So much for pokémon rights, hey Jamie?” she said acidly, her emotions polarised. “You took one’s life.”

Jamie’s dark eyebrows bounced off his peroxide hairline; shame morphed into solemnity.

“It’s life wasn’t as important as yours,” he said simply.

“It was going to kill you, Lisa,” Sarah added fervently.

Lisa turned to her keenly.

“You said the Union had used the technique before,” she said slowly. “What have they done to my pokémon?”

Sarah retied her brown hair into a ponytail as she spoke.

“Lance and I have discovered that the Union are evoking three ancient techniques for using – or in this case, abusing – pokémon for means other than simply battling,” she said quickly, before abruptly muttering, “Oh!”

“What is it?” Jamie asked.

Sarah flicked her hand as though she had just burnt it on a hot plate.

“Stabbed myself with a bobby pin,” she muttered surreptitiously, removing her hands from her hair.

“So what are the techniques?” Lisa pressed, wincing as a residual wave of pain tumbled through her gut once more.

“One is Sentrying, where pokémon can be used as sleeper guards, their vision or knowledge tapped into by another force, usually without their knowledge. And what we just saw here is known as Puppeteering, where a pokémon’s entire conscience – its body, its mind – every function it has – is put into the enslaved service of the employer. The employer – in this case, the Union – has total mind and body control of the Puppet.

“The results I’ve read about in some of the Guard’s op debriefs have been … gruesome … to say the least,” Sarah shuddered. “Some of the Union’s enemies have been murdered in their sleep by their own pokémon. Torn limb from limb. Sometimes as their families watched.”

Lisa gaped; Jamie swore loudly.

Sarah fixed Lisa with a keen, level gaze.

“Electivire would have been programmed to kill you, Lisa,” she explained. “Jamie saved your life.”

Amid the pain in her stomach – which had now become a dull, nearly bearable ache – Lisa felt a spark of rage ignite.

“This was Veronica’s idea of a joke.”

“Seems like it,” Sarah sighed.

“What’s the third technique?” Lisa asked at length, when it became clear Sarah had finished.

“What?” Sarah asked, her brow wrinkling with mild bemusement.

“There’s Sentrying, Puppeteering, and … what’s the other technique? You said there were three.”

“Did I?” Sarah asked incredulously.

“You did,” said Jamie.

“Then this night has really mucked around with my head after all. There’s just the two,” she shrugged.

All three of them jumped suddenly: there was an ear-splitting explosion from beyond the silver door. Panicked shouts rang out. “THEY’VE CALLED FOR BACK UP!” Marina screeched.

Someone pounded on the silver door; Darius’ muffled voice came through.

“GUYS, HURRY UP, WE’RE ABOUT TO BE TOTALLY OUTNUMBERED!”

Jamie threw the empty AK-47 to the ground and stole the dead Union agent’s silver revolver.

“I’m thinking we get outta here the same way that blonde bitch did …”

Lisa let them haul her to her feet.

“Can you walk?” Sarah asked gingerly.

“More importantly, can you run?” Jamie asked, his hand raised to the white button beside the silver door that linked the lab to the antechamber.

“I’ll have to, let’s go,” Lisa said, taking a deep breath and wincing as her rib cage stuck her lungs like a needle.

“THERE’S AN EXIT THROUGH THE LAB!” Jamie roared through the silver door.

Darius’ hoarse voice rose over the chaos of gunfire and pokémon cries beyond.

“WE’RE GOING THROUGH THE LAB! GAV, GET BACK DOWN HERE; MARINA, C’MON; JIM, ROD, AMY … COME WITH US!”

“NO CHANCE!” roared a deep voice that Lisa thought sounded like Donovan’s. “YOU KIDS GO, WE’LL HOLD ‘EM OFF –”

The silver door hissed open: at once, the deafening noise of mixed close and ranged combat struck them; Lisa glimpsed a female Union agent clawing at a Guard member’s face; above them, Gavin rode atop his Skarmory, flitting rapidly above the agents below, avoiding gunfire with Agility as he rained electric fire down upon the Union agents with the Buzzball.

Darius rolled through the door, the Stunner in his hands accidentally discharging as he hit the ground; a yellow bolt of light smashed through a shelf of beakers, dusting the floor in shattered glass. Marina charged through next, a trickle of blood tainting her blue hair, a Stunner in her arms, followed by a string of pokémon belonging to her, Darius and Gavin. Just before the door slid shut, Skarmory gave an almighty battle cry and swooped down from the ceiling of the antechamber, sliding with needle-like precision through the door and landing on the steel with a spine-shredding metallic scrape.

“Woooooooo!” Gavin roared, guffawing, his face bright red as he pumped the air with his fist.

“Adrenaline junkie,” Marina shot at him pejoratively, recalling some of her more battle-scarred pokémon. She gasped. “Lisa – what happened?”

“I got my pokémon back … mostly …”

There was a hiss as the door slid open once more: everyone whirled around as a very tall, lean man entered. His bare arms were covered in tattoos; a black and white bandana held his short bleached hair back.

His jeans were draped with long metal chains; odd, rectangular plastic devices hung from them.

Lisa waited for one of them to shoot the Union agent down. She was completely thrown when Marina cried, “Rod, you’re meant to be holding the Union off!”

Rod seemed impervious to her contempt: he stroked his stubbled chin and reached for one of the plastic devices.

“Donovan and the others can take care of that,” he shrugged distractedly, eyeing up the complex-looking scientific equipment on the left wall of the lab; there was an almost hungry look in his eyes. “Mmm mmm … I’m gonna have a little party here …”

“Rod’s a demolitionist by trade,” Sarah said in response to Lisa and Jamie’s worried looks. “We brought him here to … wreak some havoc, basically.”

“And wreak I shall,” Rod muttered, chuckling as he gnawed on a toothpick he held in his mouth. “This place is gonna go sky high … I’ll be buggered if the whole fucking volcano doesn’t fall to bits.”

“He’s an optimist,” Sarah added.

“Okay, let’s move, guys, seriously!” Lisa urged; her heart was pounding. Several realities had returned to her as she recovered from Electivire’s attack: namely, the fact that her parents, and Tom and Miki, were also on the island somewhere, questing for the Fourth Key and battling the Union, too. Were they all still fighting, or …

“No,” Lisa said firmly to herself as she and the other five jogged to the far end of the lab, leaving Rod to his work; she refused to entertain the thought that anything should have happened to her family. “No, they’re still alive, they’re okay,” she muttered obsessively, ignoring Jamie’s obtuse glance.

Marina, Darius and Gavin cried out in shock at Electivire’s blood-drenched body still sprawled on the floor; Lisa did her best not to look at him. She closed her eyes and steeled herself, humming gently, and as she did so, she felt the terrible wound in her heart crust over.

“The pokéball – it wouldn’t take him back in,” Sarah whispered apologetically.

Lisa ground her teeth and said nothing.

Marina slammed the butt of the Stunner into the white button beside the silver door through which Veronica had disappeared. It hissed open. They filed through quickly and the door breathed to a close behind them.

The lab was another world away. They were once more in a poorly-hewn rock tunnel, lit only by flickering wooden torches, their iron sconces affixed to the shimmering wall.

“What?” Sarah said blankly, realising that every eye was on her.

“Well, where do we go?” Gavin demanded.

“That depends what the plan is!” Sarah cried defensively. “We’re getting out of here, right?”

Lisa and Gavin shook their heads in sync; there was no need to communicate.

“Mum and Dad and everyone else needs help …”

Sarah’s rust-coloured eyes seemed to bulge in disbelief.

“Lisa, come on … you got beaten up really bad in there … and most of your pokémon have fainted. Your arm’s still bleeding!”

“The Union have done worse to both of us before,” Gavin said resolutely, his chestnut-brown eyes ablaze. “You can all do what you want, but I’m not done giving ‘em what for yet.”

“Nor am I,” Lisa said firmly. “And the Guard needs us …” And my family needs me, too.

Sarah blinked.

“But we’ve all nearly been killed! So many times!” she cried.

“That’s why they call it a war,” Marina said sardonically.

“We’re not weak,” Darius said. “We’re not retreating now. We’re Guard members. We should stick with the rest of them.”

Sarah crossed her arms, her lip quivering apprehensively.

“You realise the odds of all six of us surviving this are astronomically bad, don’t you, Darius?”

“Not really,” Darius said seriously. “The Union still thinks Lisa, Marina and I are Guardians … and they probably know that Gavin’s somehow involved, too.”

“If you or Jamie want to leave now,” Marina said, abandoning her sarcastic nature, “and get back to the beach, and wait for us in one of the boats, then you can. None of us would think less of you for it.”

Sarah looked desperately for Jamie.

He tilted his head, wincing apologetically, and spun the barrel on the silver revolver.

“I’m in.”

“Then I’ve got no choice. We go left,” Sarah said flatly, marching past them all and stalking further up the tunnel, apparently in high dudgeon.

Marina frowned in dismay.

“Sarah, nobody’s forcing you –”

She wheeled around to face them, her hair slipping from its ponytail. Her pretty face was set in a mask of suppressed fear.

“I’m choosing to come with you,” she said through clenched teeth. “Trying to get back to the beach completely alone? Suicide mission. Let’s get this over with.”

She trudged onward, the torches silhouetting her slender form.

“I’ll lead the way,” she said. “The teams were due to rendezvous about now if possible in the cone at the centre of the volcano. I know a shortcut through the Union’s rec centre … come on!”

*

Sarah led them through a complex labyrinth of tunnels and chambers, each one deserted and silent. It was an oddly eerie feeling to be jogging along in silence when mere metres away, vicious battles were raging … people and pokémon were being murdered in hot blood …

“This is the mess hall,” Sarah cried, leading them through a drab green-and-grey hall crammed with graffitied pine tables. “We’re getting close now!”

Flanked by Darius, Stunner at the ready, she bounded through a set of double doors at the far end of the mess hall.

Lisa heard the commotion before she saw it: Sarah’s shriek prompted her to run, pushing past Jamie and throwing the double doors open, Buzzball in hand.

She ground to a halt: they had entered what looked like a high school gymnasium, except the walls were draped not with medals, honour boards or photographs, but with broad strips of black material emblazoned with a silver, runic symbol.

There was another set of double doors at the opposite side of the gym. Above the doors was another strip of black material: enormous silver letters proclaimed, “ONCE UNITED, NEVER BROKEN”. At the base of the doors, the gored body of Larry O’Brien was strewn, clearly dead.

Sarah was screaming hysterically, standing by the body and pulling at her hair in absolute terror. Darius cried out to her, tried to scream reason and calm in her ears, but to no avail.

“It’s too much!” she wailed, hyperventilating. “Too much! I used to talk to him on the phone! I pretended to be his daughter … we talked about casual stuff, stupid stuff …” She clutched at her chocolate-brown hair, tugging at her ponytail. “WE WERE SO CAREFUL!” she screamed. “HOW – HOW DID THEY KNOW IT WAS HIM?”

Darius pulled her into a forceful embrace, stroking the back of her head gently as she sobbed hysterically into his shoulder; over his back, he made an alarmed face at the others.

“He was a double agent for us,” Lisa elucidated dully. “He’s the reason I escaped the Union a week ago … It’s thanks to him that any of this happened tonight.”

“Guess someone was onto him,” Gavin observed blankly.

“Guys – what’s that?” Marina asked, pointing at a dark shape beside the body.

Lisa glanced to where she was pointing, taking in the grotesque sight of Larry’s corpse along the way, and finally she knew that she had reached saturation point: no sight could shock her anymore, not after tonight. Not even the deep red ‘X’ gashed across Larry’s chest, or the blind look of horror in his white, open eyes, or the slimy clear substance that mingled with the pool of blood nearest his gut.

Lisa surveyed the object Marina had pointed out: it was a long, rectangular box made of ebony, sitting about a metre from Larry’s left hand.

Its black velvet-lined lid hung open: the box was empty.

“That’s where the Union kept their keys,” Lisa said, her memory catching up with her optic nerve. She recalled Joseph Sterling brandishing the box – complete with the first two keys – in the caves of Mt Fairfax. She felt a sudden surge of pride in Larry. “He stole the Union’s only two keys.”

“And he was murdered for it,” Darius said, still patting Sarah, who had stopped making noise but was still shaking uncontrollably.

“And whoever killed him took the keys,” Gavin sighed, tracing his finger over the velvet lining.

“It must have been Sterling,” Lisa scowled, wincing as her solar plexus gave its regular two-second convulsion.

“I can’t take this anymore,” Marina said flatly. “Guys – we have to keep moving. I’m gonna be sick if we don’t …”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Jamie chipped in quickly.

Lisa nodded, all too keen to sterilize her brain. What better way to remove the stain left by Larry’s corpse than with a shot of adrenaline to the head?

After Darius had calmed Sarah down, she resumed her role as navigator, albeit with a significant deficiency of gusto. Indeed, the group’s morale was shot: the energy that had propelled them from the lab – the Union in hot pursuit – was now almost nothing more than a memory.

“We haven’t seen anyone for ages,” Gavin remarked, vocalising Lisa’s thoughts a second before she did. “Where the hell’s the war?”

“Sarah said this was a shortcut,” Jamie said, his tone only just falling short of accusatory.

“It is a shortcut,” Sarah sniffed, as she led them from the gymnasium to another antechamber, a second barracks, a string of offices and several adjoined supply caves, most of which were crammed with wooden crates marked either ‘AMMO’ or ‘FOOD’.

She halted in her tracks suddenly, leaning against an anomalous crate marked ‘DEFENCE’, wiping her tearstained eyes with the back of her left hand.

“I’m taking you guys through the quickest and safest route,” she said stiffly. “The Union’s barracks and offices are totally abandoned at the moment – the battles are all taking place in the entrance tunnels and in the cone of the volcano, which is where we’re heading.”

“I wasn’t having a go at you, dude,” Jamie said hastily.

“Then don’t say things with that tone!” Sarah cried hoarsely.

“Guys, let’s not fight,” Lisa said tiredly; it suddenly hit her that it must have been well into the wee hours of the morning and yet they were still preparing to charge into an armed mêlée.

“I’m not fighting with anyone. I’m not in the mood,” Sarah sighed.

She pointed at a low, wooden door at the end of the supply room, about five metres ahead.

“That door leads to a kind of baggage dock for the Union; right off that is the cone itself. Unless something huge has happened, we’ll be running into the middle of another battle.”

She swallowed with clear difficulty.

“Be ready.”

Her words – spoken in her soft, wounded voice – rang out as a battle cry. Everyone responded like clockwork, like trained soldiers: Gavin readied Skarmory’s pokéball and the Buzzball; Darius and Marina checked their Stunners; Jamie flicked the safety off his gun; and Sarah stretched her arms in an ethereal, Oriental style. Amid the scuffle, Lisa listened for the sound of battle, and heard it. There were dull thumps, the frequent rattle of gunfire … it sounded close.

A cartridge clicked in her brain: a vial of adrenaline was crushed into her bloodstream, a drug she loved and loathed. Her heart began to hammer anew, her face hot with raging blood. She was going into the fire, again, like a braindead bull charging at an electric fence time and time again. But this time, she was going into the fire for what would, hopefully, be the last time …

Setting her Stunner to immobilise, she faced the others.

“Let’s do this,” she said.

Her frightened face remarkably resolute, Sarah wrenched the door open; and at once, the sound of screams and explosions intensified. Lisa exchanged a determined look with Gavin before charging through the door after Jamie.

The metallic baggage dock was little more than a glorified vestibule: they jostled for space, Lisa jumping with fright as she felt someone’s Stunner poking into her ribs.

“Go, go, go!” Gavin roared, slamming his fist into a white button beside the silver roller door on the far side of the dock that divided them from the cone. It gave an almighty mechanical whirr and rose slowly into the ceiling, revealing, piece by piece, the chaos that raged within the cone.

No words were spoken – none coherently, at least – as Lisa and the others ducked under the ascending door and into the madness beyond.

For a second, there was utter blackness, and the melange of inky blindness and frightened screams sent a shiver through Lisa’s spine; and then, someone very close by screamed, “MAGMORTAR, USE FIRESTORM!” and in the radiance of the ensuing explosion of flame, Lisa garnered a true impression of the battlefield.

The silver-encrusted inner cone of the extinct volcano was infested with duelling agents. There was scarcely an inch of terrain that wasn’t occupied with Union and Guard agents firing off shots from Stunners, or launching their pokémon at each other in what looked like highly unethical battles: two metres before her, Lisa glimpsed a hulkish, leather-clad Union agent taking potshots with a black pistol at Azura Frost, while she used her Vaporeon to defend her and commanded her Feraligatr to battle the agent’s Machamp.

As the swirl of fire formed a tornado in the centre of the cone, Lisa saw her own parents, back-to-back, fighting off three Union agents each, their full pokémon teams spread out before them; one of the agents was Den, one of Sterling’s right-hand men.

Across the other side of the cone, Owen and Stephen were fistfighting a couple of skinheads, ducking knuckledusters before delivering swift uppercuts. Lisa chanced a quick glance upward and saw that the silver catwalks built into the walls of the cone also housed several intense battles: Veronica was locked in a fierce match with Lauren, while Anthony, the Union agent, held an AK-47 from one of the uppermost metal catwalks, picking off Guard agents at will.

Lisa’s blood boiled. She lunged into the fray, and at the same moment, something wet slammed into the side of her face. She reeled back, barely regaining her feet as she tasted something putrid and bitter in her mouth …

“Sludge that bitch again, Muk!” roared a Union agent with a throaty voice.

As Lisa wheeled around, Stunner levelled, to face him, the column of fire in the centre of the cone exploded outwards; a wave of furnace-like heat threw her off her feet and into the rocky ground, grazing her nose.

“Leese – you okay – AAAARRRRGGH!”

“MARINA?!”

Lisa struggled to her feet, hunting for Marina, but without Magmortar’s attack, there was nothing but the faint twinkle of the stars above to illuminate them. She scanned the mob of dark shadows running around her frantically.

“MARINA! MARINA, IS THAT –”

She shook the shoulders of a figure on the ground, hoping it was Marina; to her horror, a male voice screamed and grabbed hold of Lisa’s arm with a vice-like grip.

“YOU FUCKIN’ BITCH!”

“No you don’t!”

Darius emerged from nowhere; Lisa only knew it was him from his voice. A jet of blue light exploded from the tip of his stunner, striking the man squarely in the face; he cried out in shock before falling back, his grip on Lisa’s arm relinquished …

“Thanks!” Lisa cried.

“Got your back!” Darius called, disappearing instantly.

Lisa returned to scanning the ground.

“MARINA?”

At once, something slammed into the same side of her head with the force of a large rock; she reeled, again tasting bitter muck …

“HA!”

“WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU COMING FROM?” Lisa screamed, spitting a globule of mud from her mouth. Panicked and incensed, she spun in a rapid circle, firing off shots from her Stunner completely at random; jets of ultramarine light issued into the air, whizzing and hissing, before at least two male voices cried out in shock; she heard bodies crumple to the ground with loud thuds.

“Cop that!” Lisa cried, a rush of vengeance rising within her.

She scanned the ground and knew that finding Marina in the darkness – or, indeed, finding any of the others – would be an exercise in futility; she spun on her heel and bounded toward the centre of the cone, searching for some kind of clarity, some kind of information. Had the Fourth Key been located? Were the Guard ready to retreat, victorious, or had the mission failed?

“NO!”

Lisa whirled around in time to see Owen take a roundhouse kick to the face; he collapsed to the ground in a spray of blood. Without thinking, she pulled the trigger of the Stunner, firing a bolt of cobalt-blue at the silhouette who had delivered the kick; the man crumpled instantly.

“Thanks, Lisa!” Owen mumbled, staggering to his feet. He did a double-take. “Wait – LISA?!”

“We thought you might need help!” Lisa cried, ducking a stray Psybeam and leaping over a still-living Union agent who was writhing on the ground, his intestines leaking from his torn gut as he tried, feebly, to grab the heels of every passing Guard operative.

“No shit!” Owen muttered. “Heads up!”

He hurled something cricket ball-sized at her. She caught it as she jogged toward him, barely dodging a Union agent’s ill-timed kick (he received the full force of the Stunner’s business end directly to his groin) and avoiding a volley of bullets fired from above by pure luck.

“What is this?” Lisa quizzed Owen, reaching his side. The ball he had thrown her appeared to be made of black rubber and was about the same size as the Buzzball.

“Darkball!” he said, eyes illuminated by a nearby Jeep exploding into flames. “The Union use them – they’re Battlemagic items imbued with the essence of Dark energy! Bloody useful, you’ll need it!”

“Thanks, but how do I –”

“It projects Dark Screens, really good for protection and stealth, and also Dark Waves!” Owen roared distractedly, rushing to Stephen’s aid; the black boxer was fighting off a vicious attack from Mick, an agent whose kneecap Lisa had shot once before.

“What the hell is a –”

Lisa’s breath was stolen from her as something sharp struck her in the side; she fell to the ground for what felt like the millionth time that night. Her head struck something hard and her vision, already limited, blurred again, pain piercing her consciousness and dulling the cacophony so it was barely audible: it was as though she had fallen underwater, the membrane protecting her from the war. She lay on the rock floor, dazed, unable to even see who or what had struck her – they had already disappeared into the fray …

Lisa fixed her cloudy irises on the patchwork of stars above and realised with abject horror that she had nothing left in her. She had fought and fought and been knocked to the ground like a rag doll … her body had taken all it could …

If it had not happened at that moment, Lisa was not sure she could ever have gotten up from the dirt: the leather-clad Union agent appeared before her, his ugly face and thick neck illuminated by the hot flicker of the burning Jeep.

“Lisa Walters,” he said in a thick, Eastern European accent, holding a Stunner toward her. His beady eyes gleamed with reflected fire. “You have no idea what kind of commission I’ll get for being the one who took you down.”

“You won’t take me down!” Lisa spluttered, trying to stand, but he had landed a gargantuan foot on her solar plexus; she writhed in renewed agony. “I’M – TOO – IMPORTANT … YOU – NEED – ME – TO – GET – THE –” She coughed, gasping for air. “SIXTH KEY!”

The agent glowered.

“Fucking smart bitch,” he snarled. “You always got off way too easy with that one, didn’t ya?” She pressed his black boot a little harder into her gut; she screamed in agony: it was too much … she was going to retch … she was going to pass out from the pain …

“Not anymore,” the leather-clad agent continued. “The secret’s out, you lying little slut. We know you already got the key fragment – Suicune is dead …”

A tsunami of gaping terror crashed over Lisa, extinguishing the only flame of hope in her chest. There was no oxygen left in the world. The Union knew … and she had nothing more to protect her … no bargaining chip, no inherent value … she was naked, exposed …

“Why don’t you –” began the agent.

“DARK SCREEN!” Lisa screeched.

She had no idea what the attack would do – she didn’t even know if she had uttered the right words to activate it. In an instant of final, desperate defiance, she held the Darkball out between her and the agent, face clenched …

… and then he fired his Stunner at her, victorious. A bolt of toxic green light exploded in a shower of sparks from the tip of the Stunner; Lisa closed her eyes, anticipating the final delivery of utmost pain … a blow she did not think she could handle … but it did not come …

Lisa opened her eyes in astonishment to see the leather-clad Union agent reeling back in pain, his hulking form thrashing about as green sparks crackled across his arms and chest, piercing his skin; his boot lifted from her stomach as he roared, bear-like, at Lisa, his eyes wild as though he could not see her and his canines bared, before thudding to the ground and twitching erratically …

Lisa clambered to her feet, not quite sure how the Dark Screen had worked – she couldn’t even see it – but feeling a rush of gratitude toward Owen.

She whirled around: both Owen and Stephen had evaporated; Gavin and the others were nowhere to be seen. Pocketing the Darkball, Lisa took up the Stunner once more, firing it indiscriminately before her as a type of ferocious defence mechanism: she saw silhouettes collapse as she jogged painfully toward the burning Jeep, hoping that, perhaps, the light of the blaze would help her find an ally …

Just as she reached the wreckage, there was an almighty explosion from above. The eyes of every dueller seemed to arc skyward as a high-up section of the glittering volcanic cone was blasted to pieces in a burst of flame and white light, raining sparkling dust down on the battlers below …

Lisa closed her mouth instinctively, keen not to inhale the dust, but she could not tear her eyes from the sight before her.

Lance Hudson sat astride his rose-gold Dragonite, Draco, suspended in mid-air, his face lined, the aura of fury around him palpable as he glared into the sallow face of Joseph Sterling, who flew on his Murkron, a black welt spewing blood from the side of his face.

At once, everything on the volcano floor ground to a halt: there arose an almighty cheer and storm of applause from every agent, Union or Guard, each screaming his support for his leader. Lisa found herself screaming and clapping her hands in excitement; when she looked around, she saw a young Union agent in Army fatigues standing beside her, doing the exact same thing.

“FOR THE LAST TIME,” Lance bellowed, so loud that Lisa could hear him as clearly as if he were right beside her, and not suspended fifty feet in the air, “FIGHT. LIKE. A. MAN.”

Sterling’s face darkened.

“You are the coward, Lance Hudson,” he sneered. “Launching a sneak attack – trying to deceive me.” A malicious smile curled his thin lips. “You failed, of course. I caught your double agent trying to escape with my two keys. Larry died telling me how loyal he was to me. Hardly a courageous, straightbacked thing to do, is it?”

“LARRY WAS A GOOD MAN!” Lance yelled, red-faced; his clothes were torn badly and looked stained with crimson.

“Like you, he was a snake!” Sterling roared.

A jet of inky energy issued from Murkron’s mouth, forming an arrow-head in mid-air, aimed at Lance’s head; Draco cooed defiantly and breathed out a stream of sparkling, effervescent cerulean mist, neutralising the black beam of energy, which fizzled out with a hiss of smoke …

“FOR ONCE,” Lance cried, “LET’S FIGHT FAIR, JOE!” He lowered his tone to a deathly serious hush. “One-on-one. No weapons. No armies.”

Sterling’s lip curled further.

“Deal.”

Another ear-splitting roar came up from the ranks below; Lisa included; she was screaming Lance’s name as if he were a football player she particularly needed to score a goal.

One massive goal.

Murkron and Draco circled around each other threateningly, each growling as they descended slowly toward the floor of the cone. An excited grin stealing over his handsome features, Lance pulled at the golden collar of his black cape, unfurling it with a flourish and flinging it toward the ground; as it billowed down through the air, a hundred violet-and-indigo Master Balls tumbled from within the cloak, as though they had been magically suspended within it all along.

The crowd gasped and cried out in surprise; the Union agents jeered and hurled insults at Lance, some of them trying to aim their weapons at him; the Guard agents, Lisa included, cheered excitedly; it was like they were suddenly spectators at a high-stakes battle at Mt Silver – only this time Lance seemed to be holding nothing back.

As Lisa watched, transfixed, mirrored by the young Union agent beside her, the Master Balls began to pop open in luminous bursts of white energy. Suddenly, a hundred pokémon were cascading from the sky above, some of them flying types – Pidgeots, Charizards, a Gyarados, three Scizors and two other Dragonites – and some of them enormous, flightless creatures – Nidokings, Tyranitars, and two mammoth, crystalline Steelixes – who were no more than deadweights plummeting toward them all, threatening to crush whoever stood below them.

Screams erupted all around Lisa; she found herself wordlessly transfixed on the feet of the impending Nidoqueen above her … there was nowhere to move … anywhere she ran, she would be crushed …

“Ooooof!”

A flutter of caramel-coloured feathers obscured Lisa’s vision seconds before the Nidoqueen landed; two sharp talons dug into her bloody shoulders; she screamed in agony as her body was carried swiftly backwards through the air, the Nidoqueen thudding down to earth mere feet from her face.

The Pidgeot relinquished its razor grip on Lisa’s shoulders; as she crumpled to the ground, right beside a cluster of Union agents and a trio of Blastoise, Charizard and Venusaur, she realised that the flying pokémon all around the cone were picking people up one by one – human or pokémon, Guard or Union – and flinging them to the very edge of the rock ring that bordered the cone, clearing the centre circle as Lance and Sterling hovered ever-nearer to ground level.

Joseph Sterling’s face contorted into a mask of utter confusion and fury and, for the first time that Lisa had ever seen, utter fear. Lisa gazed around at the sight before her – an army of humans being forcibly relocated by an army of what were probably Level 100 pokémon – and, as the final pieces of the puzzle fell into place, she finally understood the depth of Lance’s genius; the reason why he, above all the green and weedy contestants he allowed to defeat him each season at the League Tournaments, had remained Champion of the Elite Four for so long: he was a Pokémon Master.

The final collection of flying pokémon removed the last of the agents from the centre of the cone’s glittering rock floor before fluttering above the motley group of mixed agents as if supervising them sternly. Lisa heard the Union agents nearest to her cry out her name and attempt to fire a shot from a Stunner at her; before she could even duck, a shimmering, gold-coloured Xatu flew down from above them, a bubble of glimmering yellow light encircling it and Lisa; the bolt of electric green light from the Union agent’s Stunner bounded back at the agent who had fired it, but even as he yelped out in shock, Lance’s Gardevoir flew down and shielded him, too, with a Light Screen: the jet of green light sizzled off harmlessly into the rock wall.

Lisa gaped: the pokémon had been assigned to protect them all … regardless of affiliation … Her brain knotted. How on earth had Lance managed to train his pokémon to such an advanced level? And what was he playing at, immobilising and disarming them all?

Pulling her middle finger defiantly at the Union agent who had attacked her, Lisa wheeled back to face the showdown. The two crystalline Steelix finally touched down, as though they had been enchanted to merely drift, defying the true nature of gravity. Their silver, glistening forms coiled around the edges of the cone, pressing everyone against the walls of the cone: Lisa was coerced backwards, squeezed between a stray Charmeleon and Lauren, the Guard agent, who looked rather the worse for wear: she sported a massive, bloody gash on her forehead, but still managed to nod stiffly to Lisa by way of salutation as their eyes met. Lisa could tell from the blank expression on her face that she, too, was completely blown away by what Lance was doing.

Lisa’s heart rose in her chest as she glimpsed Gavin and Sarah across the other side of the ring, their faced battered and bloody, but they were clearly in good shape; both of them waved frantically at Lisa, mirroring her.

At last, Lance’s rose-gold Dragonite and Sterling’s pitch-black Murkron landed firmly on the ground, well illuminated by the light of the still-burning Jeep. Cheers and shouts rang out from all sides of the cone; Lisa and Lauren screamed Lance’s name in a kind of melodic tune, while the Union agents seemed to be reciting some kind of gothic chant in latin. Lisa rested her aching arms against the Steelix’s body – she was just able to see over it and into the centre of the cone – and watched the scene unfold with bated breath.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Sterling snarled, his hand flinching toward the holstered revolver on his belt before he seemed to regain control over his limbs; he instead shoved the hand into his pocket and produced a Master Ball.

“I never could trust you, Joe,” Lance said coolly, disembarking from Draco and patting his resplendent back reassuringly. He took two neat steps toward Sterling, not in a threatening manner, but rather as though they were about to shake hands in the street, or engage in a friendly game of bocci.

His demeanour was inconceivably casual.

“You fight like a coward,” Sterling snarled, enlarging the Master Ball in his hand.

“Au contraire,” Lance said, rummaging in the folds of his cape, which had swirled onto the ground when he dropped it, and producing yet another blue-and-purple Master Ball. “I seem to remember being simultaneously attacked by three of your other agents the last time we battled, Joe. I should remind you that not a single Guard agent stepped in to defend me, nor should they.

“We are going to do something we should have done that day – what was it, more than a decade ago, now? We’re going to battle the old-school way. Six pokémon on six. May the best man win.”

And looking Sterling directly in the eye, he screamed, “GO, PYTHIR!”

Sterling grinned venomously and hurled the Master Ball toward Lance, “RHYDON, TAKE HIM DOWN!”

An enormous black-and-purple python coiled out from Lance’s Master Ball, its patterned head rearing back and rising into the air as a grey, rock-solid Rhydon emerged for Sterling’s team.

No commands were issued: Rhydon roared, “RHUUUUUUU!” and at once began charging at Pythir, whose tail suddenly leaped up into the air of its own accord … The purple snake was suspended in mid-air for a second, a perfect parabolic shape, before it hissed viciously and launched itself head-first toward the confused Rhydon, a hundred dripping fangs bared …

Lisa screamed: Pythir detached its jaw as it was just metres away from Rhydon; she watched in wonderful horror as Pythir swallowed Rhydon’s entire head before sinking its fangs deep into its neck; Rhydon roared with agony, its bulky grey body twitching as the poison seeped in. Still without any verbal instruction from Lance – and without ceasing its devastating bite – Pythir wound its long body around Rhydon’s gut three times before constricting tightly; it took scarcely ten seconds before the rock-type stopped moving and fell to the ground, defeated.

“GOOOOOOO LANCE!” Lisa and Lauren screamed in unison, hugging each other tightly.

A gunshot sounded from beside them; Lisa jumped, facing the commotion … the antagonising Union agent had been joined by the leather-clad agent who had attacked her before. Lisa glanced around for the Xatu that had no doubt stood in to protect her and saw a bundle of green feathers sprawled on the ground, bleeding. Nevertheless, a second, shiny Xatu had seemingly materialised from nowhere, hovering at her side with a collection of semi-automatic weapons telekinetically suspended in a green plasma above its head; it had disarmed the Union agents, who were now swearing more profusely than ever.

Lisa’s mind grappled with what was happening. She had thought, fleetingly, that Lance had somehow managed to link psychically with all his pokémon, commanding them to protect every agent … Perhaps while his attention was on the battle, the psychic link had become weaker, allowing Xatu to be killed? Then again, powerful though his pokémon might be, they were still mortal …

She turned to Lauren.

“I thought they were protecting us …”

Lauren shrugged her enormous shoulders.

“I have no idea what the fuck’s happening, Lisa …”

In addition to the second Xatu, a Nidoqueen stepped in protectively between Lisa and the agents; feeling a little more secure, Lisa turned back to the fight.

Sterling let off a string of expletives – “FUCKING COWARDLY COCKSUCKER!” – and recalled Rhydon’s motionless form before throwing out an Ultra Ball.

Lisa barely saw the cream-furred Persian; it streaked out from the Ultra Ball, still half-illuminated by white light, and raced at Pythir in a zig-zag pattern, using agility; it was almost invisible …

Pythir ducked several Slash attacks deftly, its snakish form bounding from one part of the field to another, before, in the blink of an eye, Persian pounced on its prey, grabbing the python by the throat and slitting it cleanly; a gruesome, bone-chilling sucking sound came from Pythir’s throat as it clutched helplessly for air, luminous green blood gushing from its neck as its golden eyes reeled back in its head, replaced by blank white eyeballs.

“No!” Lance screamed, his composure gone in a flash. His face was instantly pallid; he reached for the Master Ball and returned his bleeding Pythir, adjusting something on the side of the Master Ball as he thrust it back into the pocket of his black pants.

“TOO FAR, JOE!” he raged, face scarlet. “I DIDN’T MORTALLY WOUND YOUR RHYDON, I ONLY PARALYZED IT – YOU BLOODY –”

“LANCE HUDSON IS ON HIS KNEES!” Joseph Sterling roared, his oiled black eyebrow raised and his lips curved into a savage grin as he called out to his faithful. “SOON, VICTORY WILL BE OURS!”

The Union’s ranks rang out with deep, guttural cheers; the Union agents on the other side of Nidoqueen heckled Lance and shot a round of bullets into the air. A second later, Xatu’s telekinetic plasma enveloped their last gun; Lisa grinned with vicarious victory.

“You are vile,” Lance spat to Sterling; Lisa had never seen him look so murderous.

“Go ahead, get mad. For once in your life, say what’s on your mind, Hudson,” Sterling mocked, buoyed by the catcalls and jeers of his army.

Lance plunged his hand back into his pocket and held a Master Ball out before him.

“DRACO, HYPER BALL!”

Lisa did a double-take; her eyes – like Sterling’s and Persian’s – were still trained on the Master Ball in Lance’s hand when the rose-gold Dragonite beside Lance squealed, “Waaaaoooooh!” and opened its mouth, jettisoning a boulder-sized orb of crackling golden-white energy at Persian’s head.

The cat screeched “Rrrrreeeowww!” as the ball slammed into its head, hurling it into the air as sparks of Dragon energy pierced its skin and fur. When Persian’s body landed on the ground a second later, there was no sign of cognition or recovery: it was limp.

“CHEAT!” Sterling roared, recalling Persian in a blast of crimson light and lobbing another Master Ball into the arena.

“I’d never cheat, Joe,” Lance said, voice dripping with glorious sarcasm as he pocketed the Master Ball smoothly. “You shouldn’t have assumed I wouldn’t use Draco next.”

Sterling’s face purpled as a Houndoom materialised before him.

Lance’s eyes sought Draco’s and found them; without a word, Draco took flight, swiftly dodging the Fire Blasts that Houndoom sent at him from its mouth before suddenly, having risen almost twenty metres into the air, diving rapidly, his rose-gold head barrelling down and crashing with incalculable force into Houndoom’s side …

Before the dog could get back to its paws, Draco had delivered a Thunderpunch to its head before grabbing hold of its canine jaws and, wrenching its mouth wide open, opened its own mouth and delivered a Hydro Pump directly into Houndoom’s fire sac.

The drenched dog collapsed to the ground, motionless.

The crowd roared.

“NO!” Sterling cried, hurling another Ultra Ball out as he recalled Houndoom.

“ICE BLADE!” the dictator roared.

A Sneasel appeared, bounding onto the field with a blade of ice in its clawed hand; Draco shot a well-aimed Ember at Sneasel, who deftly evaporated into thin air, reappearing on Draco’s shoulder, wielding its ice blade and preparing to plunge it into Draco’s neck.

Undeterred, Draco cooed gently and opened his mouth wide, a veritable column of pure flame erupting from his mouth and enveloping both pokémon. Both Sterling and Lance leapt back from the heat; the column of flame towered into the starry sky, as high as the very top of the cone. Even Lisa, Lauren and the others were forced to crouch behind the Steelix’s protective body, shielding themselves from the wave of extreme heat.

When Lisa dared to peer back over Steelix’s crystalline vertebrae, her mouth fell open in amazement. The column of fire was gone in a wisp of smoke: in its place was Draco, still standing resolutely, his face alight and hard.

Sneasel’s shrivelled form was curled up on the ground, unconscious.

“NO!” Sterling roared; another volley of gunfire echoed around the cone from the agitated Union agents; people everywhere were swearing and screaming.

“Keep going, Lance!”

“You can finish him!”

“FLOG HIS FUCKEN ARSE!”

Lisa would have recognised Donovan’s voice anywhere; she guffawed with Lauren, her aching gut and bones all but swept away by the rush of adrenaline; she almost felt as though she, too, were fighting Sterling – and winning.

Sterling turned and regarded the dark form of his taloned Murkron, standing by in the wings. His sallow face wrinkled; he looked as though he were considering something very carefully; then, quite abruptly, he reached his hairy hand into his half-unbuttoned shirt and grabbed something on his chest, screaming, “DO YOUR WORST! REVELUM!”

A blast of gold light exploded from a charm around his neck. The radiance arced through the air, ringed by globules of vermilion light, forming a gigantic, canine creature.

The blood drained from Lisa’s face; her long-suffering stomach churned.

Two hundred people gasped in shock.

It was Entei.

“No …” Lisa heard herself mutter.

Entei stood ten feet tall, his legs as thick and rigid as tree trunks, his furry, red-and-yellow face fixed in a mask of utmost rage.

Draco cooed with apparent surprise, tensing himself; Lance, on the other hand, looked impossibly calm.

“Don’t pretend you knew, Hudson!” Sterling skited gleefully, his dark eyes flashing as the Union cheered once more. “You had no idea …”

“You’re right,” Lance said; he was almost smiling. “Certainly, I had deduced that Entei had betrayed the brotherhood … there was enough evidence to prove that. I even suspected he was loyal, in part, at least, to you. But I never imagined he would have lost so much of his dignity as to submit to you this fully.”

Lance looked Entei in the eyes; Lisa felt her own limbs lock in instinctive apprehension.

“Hello, old Guardian,” Lance said, quite casually. “You really have fallen from grace, haven’t you? Estranged from your brothers … killing innocent humans … and now you let this cad keep you in a poképort? A disgrace indeed – and a dangerous mistake, I might add.”

Entei barked sharply and spat a tongue of flame at Lance; Draco conjured up a glittering, rainbow-coloured Light Screen that not only held the fire back, but wrapped it up in a shimmering rainbow cocoon and crushed it; a fine mist drizzled to the ground where the flame had been.

To Lisa’s complete surprise, Entei turned his head sharply toward Sterling, his face hard.

//Fool// he snarled at Sterling, perplexing Lisa; she neither knew why Sterling was being called a fool, nor why she was able to hear Entei’s telepathic messages; but judging from Lauren’s face, everyone else could, too.

“Yes, Sterling is an idiot, to put it mildly,” Lance drawled laconically. “But Entei, mate – yes, look at me – believe it or not, Sterling’s been a bigger idiot than you’d think! Remember how you wanted to keep the Sepulchres sealed, at any cost? Sterling went and did it behind your back. He tried to send Lisa into the Sepulchre of Suicune a few days ago!”

Entei growled.

//Sterling obeys the Legend, unlike some// Entei spat, leering at Lance. //You have no proof for your treacherous claim//

“Suicune is dead, and his fragment of the Sixth Key is now in my possession,” Lance said smoothly. “I’ll be happy to show you the material proof, if you will consider abandoning the Union and returning to the true purpose of your guardianship.”

//YOU LIE!//

“I’m telling the truth,” Lance said, reaching into his black-and-orange vest and into a barely visible pouch.

Lisa gasped, comprehension breaking over her, as he withdrew the bloodied Sceptre of Suicune, its tip glowing with an icy azure hue.

Entei’s canine mask froze.

//No …//

“Yes!” Lance cried, brandishing the sceptre in front of him. “Lisa Walters killed Suicune! Your old defence is outmoded, Entei!”

//NO …//

“The Guardianship is broken forever!” Lance cried, now beginning to laugh. “And Raikou will see sense, too … Come back to the Legend, Entei … end this now …”

Entei spun around to face Joseph Sterling’s rigid form.

“He lies!” Sterling roared, beckoning reason from Entei with his black eyes. “Great beast, he is trying to divide us …”

//That is the Sceptre of Suicune// Entei said blackly. //It is illuminated … My brother is dead//

“It is deception, no more!” Sterling bellowed hoarsely. “Hudson seeks to lie to you again … he arranged Walters’ entrance to the Sepulchre himself …”

//Then when and how did he discover the location?// Entei demanded. //I thought only we knew of it …//

Sterling spluttered, unable to find the answer Entei sought; the fire dog was now advancing steadily on him, his back turned to Lance. But in the exact moment that Lance cried, “DRACO, DISABLE HIM!”, Sterling’s hand leapt back to his chest and he shrieked, “RETRAHERE, ENTEI!”

//NOOOOOOOOOOOO…//

Entei roared with rage as he was recalled back to the poképort against his will; Lance laughed heartily and placed the sceptre back in the compartment in his vest.

“If it helps, Joe,” he said, as Sterling buttoned his black silk shirt up and attempted to regain some composure by regarding his supporters, who rallied and cheered, “Entei would have been pretty useless against me. Guardians aren’t meant to do battle with each other. It would be like forcing two negative poles of a magnet together, you know?”

“You will not defeat me, maggot,” Sterling growled; the poképort was still shaking violently.

“We’ll see,” Lance said simply. “I have five pokémon left. You have one. Use it wisely.”

“ENTEI DOESN’T COUNT!”

“HE DOES TOO, YA DIRTY FUCK!” Donovan yelled from somewhere behind one of the Steelixes; at once, a renewed volley of insults came from the nearest Union agents.

“Yes, he does count!” Lance countered Sterling smoothly. “He launched an attack, and Draco countered it. That round ended with you recalling your fifth pokémon. You can either send Entei back out – for your own good health, I wouldn’t advise it; I doubt Entei will show as much restraint with you as I may – or you can choose your final battler.”

Sterling’s face blackened.

“It matters not what happens,” he smirked. “The other half of my force will return here, soon. I alerted them the moment I spotted your boats. You will be outnumbered – you will all perish!”

He cackled mirthlessly; his agents guffawed in turn.

“For about the millionth time tonight, you’re wrong,” Lance said brashly, his voice deep and resonant. “Having orchestrated every one of tonight’s events, I can say pretty securely that half your army is in either Guard or Police custody right now. You see, I had one of my covert teams stake out the decoy key location in that cave west of Azalea Town. You remember Clair, right?” He smirked, clearly savouring a moment that only he and Sterling seemed to fully comprehend. “She and a few other old friends of mine trapped your army in the cave – it’s a dangerous place, you know, only one way in or out – and they called the cops.”

Lance’s grin broadened.

“I think you’ll find you’re screwed.”

“LIAR!” Sterling screamed, his eyes bloodshot and his sallow face now a deep shade of pink. He whipped a Master Ball from his pocket and, at the same moment, Murkron’s mouth opened and released a ray of pure darkness: Lance’s eyes were trained on the Master Ball, as were Draco’s; the jet of black formed a spearhead and plunged with lightning speed directly through Draco’s chest.

“NO!” Lance shouted.

Draco’s eyes bulged in surprise; the jet of black energy seemed to have a consciousness of its own; the spearhead evolved into the shape of a human hand, which plunged once more, unstoppably, into Draco’s chest, pounding and piercing his lungs, grasping with murderous fingers for the beating heart …

At last, Draco seemed to regain his bearings, opening his mouth and firing a thin ice-white beam of light; the beam speared the air, slicing toward Murkron, who was forced to use Agility to avoid the ranged attack; and the moment Murkron shifted its winged form, its concentration broke, and the dark hand in Draco’s chest lost its power, sliding down to the ground before disappearing into thin air …

Draco stumbled, its chest open … rose-gold blood was leaking down his front …

“No – Draco –” Lance gasped, staggering. He seemed almost unable to control the urge to run at the Dragonite and hug him. “Draco – come on – stay with me …”

A shiver slid down Lisa’s spine: Lance was frightened.

“Murkron, Shadow Ball!” Sterling ordered, unfazed.

If Lisa had never seen it with her own eyes, she never would have believed it. As Murkron took to the air, a globe of dark violet energy forming in his beak, Draco – barely breathing – leapt into the air too, tunnelling at Murkron in what looked like a super-fast Headbutt attack, except Draco was oscillating, spinning on his vertical axis; and as he spun, beads of aquamarine light slid over his rose-gold skin, sliding into one another, coating his entire, scaly form in a liquid layer of aquamarine energy; Murkron’s Shadow Ball launched at point-blank range, as Draco was scarcely two metres away from the bird pokémon’s beak …

… the crackling violet orb struck Draco’s coated head … and then, as if it were made of water, it splashed over Draco’s body harmlessly … coating his aquamarine skin with another layer … a layer of black …

… and then Draco crashed fearlessly, headfirst, into Murkron’s underbelly, imbued with the power of the Shadow Ball; Murkron squawked in agony as sparks of violet tore through his soft underbelly; and at the same time, Draco’s retractable claws burst from his hands and he reached up a thick, muscular, scaly, black-coated arm, and slashed Murkron’s eyes to bleeding shreds …

“Krooooo!”

“Ryyuuuuu!”

Draco landed, feet-first, on the ground, its skin still glowing with a mixture of aquamarine and black coating; Murkron gave an earsplitting screech and crumpled to the ground in a feathery, bleeding mass.

Unconscious.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Sterling shrieked madly.

The roar from the crowd of Guard members almost drowned him out: Lisa and Lauren screamed and embraced each other; across the other side of the cone, Gavin and Sarah high-fived with a look of sheer astonishment; curse words flooded from Donovan’s mouth like blood from an open wound; Lisa even thought she heard her father call out, amid the chaos, “Good one, Lance!”

“Enough!” Lance called to the armies trapped behind the two Steelixes.

He turned to recall Draco back into the poképort, muttering something in a gentle voice, but Draco waved a hand before him as if to say, “I’m fine.”

Apparently satisfied in his pokémon’s ability to self-diagnose, Lance faced Sterling obliquely and produced four more Master Balls from his pocket.

“I win, Joe,” he said definitively, his fingers playing casually with the Master Balls. “Fair and square. Hand me the three keys and I’ll ask the Supreme Court for leniency when they prosecute you, I promise.”

Lisa’s heart thudded. The three keys? That could only mean one thing: Sterling had got to the Fourth Key before the Guard had … or he had stolen it from them … In any case, he held the majority of the power: the first two keys, and now the fourth …

“You lose again, Hudson!” Sterling sneered, reaching for his pocket once more.

“NO!”

Lance launched a single Master Ball from his hand; the orb opened on its hinge in mid-air, a slender, glowing form emerging from the brilliance: an indigo-and-white Dragonair appeared, instantly wrapping itself around Sterling’s body and constricting him; his arms, both plunged into his pockets, were immobilised.

“COWARD!” Sterling screamed, amid shouts and screams of dismay from the Union agents trapped on the sidelines.

Lisa flinched as more bullets pinged off the walls of the cone: apparently the Union had kept at least one weapon concealed. She saw Draco suddenly lunge forward, staggering as if drunk …

“I offered you a chance, Joe,” Lance said irascibly, unaware of Draco; his eyes were rock hard, focused on Sterling. “You missed it.” He nodded his head to Dragonair. “Find the keys.”

Still constricting Sterling’s arms – though Sterling appeared to be desperately fighting to reach something on his belt – Dragonair began to wriggle over his body, using its tail to turn out the contents of Sterling’s pockets: a sheathed dagger, a few Ultra Balls, a folded square of parchment … no keys …

Its watery eyes showing nothing but determination, Dragonair flicked its beady tail over the front of Sterling’s black silk shirt, tearing the top three buttons away in one sleek movement.

“Bingo!” Lance hollered.

Lisa peered over the reflective form of the Steelix and gasped: strung along a thin band of brown leather that was tangled in the forest of thick black hair on Sterling’s broad chest, barely obscured by Entei’s poképort, were three small, shiny, glassy keys.

In a deft movement, Dragonair yanked the leather band upwards and over Sterling’s head – the dictator tried desperately to bite at the dragon’s tail with his yellowed teeth – and then, moving as swiftly as it had before, Dragonair relinquished its Constrict and lunged for the ground, slithering toward Lance; and in the same moment, Draco, still staggering, finally lost his strength, tumbling toward the ground, blood streaming from his open chest …

Freed for a split second, Sterling’s eyes flashed; his hands grabbed for the revolver in the holster on his belt.

“Nice try!” Lance grinned, grabbing the leather band from Dragonair and throwing it around his neck, still unaware of his pokémon collapsing to the ground. “Draco, block it!”

Lisa’s scream caught in her throat.

Sterling roared with triumph as he aimed the revolver and fired three times.

His body half-silhouetted against the light of the blazing Jeep, Lance Hudson staggered backwards, his strong legs crumbling as two white-hot bullets tore through his gut and one tore through his chest, blood exploding from his back in warm, beautiful geysers.

Sterling roared with maniacal laughter and fired a fourth shot at the distressed Dragonair; the bullet went straight through its petite head and indigo blood sprayed over Lance’s crumpled chest; the dragon flailed; its head slammed into the earth … dead.

“No!” Lisa screamed. Her heart had turned to black ice. Everyone was screaming. Lisa tried to scramble over the Steelix’s back – she had to help Lance … she had to save him – but the Steelix roared and shook her back, pressing them all even more firmly against the walls of the cone.

Sterling advanced on Lance’s spluttering, gasping form, the revolver held out before him – and then, gloriously, two figures burst through the gap between the two Steelixes, apparently allowed: Lisa’s father, Ryan Walters, his ruddy face alive with rage; and Marco Trippolo, Lance’s oldest friend …

“You’re fucking dead, Joe!” Lisa’s father roared. He levelled a Stunner at Sterling and pulled the trigger; Sterling dived to his left, avoiding the bolt of green light by inches. Lisa’s father shouted in blind rage and charged at Sterling, pulling the trigger again.

Marco, meanwhile, had rushed to Lance’s side.

“Ma-a-rr-!” Lance spluttered, his chest rattling. Lisa felt sick.

“I’m here, mate …” Marco cried.

“Sorry – tell – Su – Dar …” Lance gasped, unable to form full words. Shaking almost uncontrollably, he removed the leather necklace from his neck and held it out for Marco, who snatched it up swiftly and held it tightly in his left hand.

And then, Marco plunged his right hand into his pocket, whipping out a flick knife, and drew the silver blade swiftly across Lance’s throat.

The Champion’s eyes bulged wide for just a second; his mouth opened, as if in surprise, as if he were about to exclaim something; and then, without ceremony, scarlet blood gushed from his throat, flooding his lungs and mouth, drowning him before his pale, blood-splattered body arced gently backwards and fell, motionless, to the earth.

“What?!” Lisa screamed.

“What’s Marco DOING?!” Lauren shrieked, tugging at her blonde hair madly. “WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING?!”

Marco regarded Lance’s body for just a moment before he glanced up at Joseph, who was still ducking the bolts of light from Ryan’s Stunner, while Ryan dodged the poorly-fired bullets.

“Master! I have the keys!” Marco called, running within five metres of Sterling – barely three metres before Ryan – and lobbing the jangling leather necklace across to Sterling, who, having run out of bullets, threw the revolver aside and caught the three keys with his right hand.

The Union roared with delight; Lisa couldn’t hear anything amid the cacophony and the gunfire; her eyes alone documented what happened next.

Sterling looped the keys around his neck and then, weaponless and still in the line of Ryan’s Stunner fire, he reached to his belt, producing a small, circular, metallic object, a red, digital light blinking on its surface, and hurled it in Ryan’s direction.

Lisa screamed; her father leapt back instinctively as the electronic grenade rolled toward him; Marco, however, looked temporarily confused; he glanced at the blinking bomb in apparent disbelief for just a second too long:

BOOM!

A giant flower of flame blossomed from the mine, and the man that was Marco Trippolo was silhouetted against the light for a fraction of a second before his body disintegrated, ripped into a million pieces by the blast.

Consumed by the inferno.

Sterling looked over his shoulder with mild surprise at the thick, putrid black smoke billowing from Marco’s burning corpse. He shrugged indifferently and turned away.

Bile rose in Lisa’s stomach: this was a nightmare – it couldn’t be happening …

Sterling hurled a Master Ball to the ground, revealing a jet-black Scizor. He bounded onto its back swiftly.

“It’s been fun!” he grinned through savage yellow teeth, before the Scizor flew in an agile, evasive zig-zag pattern, up toward the top of the cone and toward the star-encrusted sky.

“NO!”

Lisa’s father hurled an Ultra Ball into the air, leaping onto the regal Charizard that emerged from it and yelling, “Charizard, chase him!”

In a matter of seconds, the Scizor and Charizard were soaring into the moonlight, leaving two stunned, seething armies in the cone below.

A potent cocktail of emotions bubbled in Lisa’s chest, the strongest of which were rage, grief and terror. Without even thinking about what she was doing, she launched herself at the Steelix’s side, however her hands slid off the steel pokémon’s chunky segments as though they were slick with oil; she lost her balance and slid unceremoniously to the rocky ground, grazing her face.

“Ooof!”

“Lisa …” came Lauren’s voice.

Adrenaline still buoying her, Lisa pressed herself up and clawed at Steelix’s side once more, but it was impossible to grasp the metallic segments.

“What the HELL is wrong with these Steelixes?!” someone screamed nearby; clearly Lisa wasn’t the only one struggling to circumvent the odd, inflexible barrier the steel pokémon had created; indeed, incensed and frustrated cries were going up all across the chamber.

Lisa looked at Lauren desperately; the thought of her father battling alone against Sterling gnawed at her as the seconds pressed on. The older woman’s eyes glinted and she grabbed a Great Ball from her belt, hurling it to the ground with gusto. A Pidgeotto emerged from the ensuing radiance.

Lauren leapt aboard the Pidgeotto’s back and immediately rose into the air, making a break for it by flying over Steelix’s body; however, a hovering Magneton appeared seemingly out of nowhere and delivered a sharp thunderbolt to Pidgeotto; both the bird and it’s rider were thrown back to the ground roughly.

“What the …” Lisa muttered angrily; why were Lance’s pokémon preventing them from doing anything? “COME ON!”

Just as she thought she might explode from the force of her restrained anger, a soft, bell-like sound rang out in the hollow cone, and in an instant, the chamber was awash with the vibrant glow of a hundred-odd pokémon being mystically recalled to their erstwhile homes; the Steelixes evaporated into enormous globules of cinnabar light.

Lisa didn’t care how it had happened; she roared with detached triumph and, without wondering if Lauren’s Pidgeotto would obey her, she pounced upon its back, clung to the caramel feathers and cried, “FLY UP HIGH, PIDGEOTTO!”

Lauren, still recovering from the fall, shouted something warningly to Lisa, but Lisa’s ears were suddenly filled with the rush of wind as Pidgeotto took flight, rising high into the centre of the cone and zooming skyward.

I have to help Dad … I have to …

Lisa took a fleeting glance at the arena below, only to realise with a sinking feeling that she hadn’t been the only one to take to the skies: below her, Union and Guard agents alike were throwing pokéballs to the ground and releasing their winged companions; battle cries were reverberating across the volcanic cone.

Biting her lip against the tide of terror in her gut, Lisa delivered a hearty slap to Lauren’s Pidgeotto’s back and set her sights on the star-studded sky above – and the two airborne shapes locked in battle directly above her.

“Okay, Pidgeotto – LET’S DO THIS!”

[Chris 2.1]

Gripping chapter; when I saw Lance and Joseph would battle, with Pokemon no less, I didn't think it would feel right given that the fic has grown away from Pokemon, but the 6-6 battle was brutal, and so quick. It felt like what wild animals fighting should feel like: blood thirsty, vicious, and with each party trying to kill.

I also kind of hoped Entei would turn on Joseph and destroy him, but I loved seeing Joseph turn the tables - and in such a villainous way.

Excited for the next chapter. Excellent work as ever, some beautiful descriptions and Lisa's reaction to Electrivire was brilliant.

[Gavin Luper]

Gripping chapter; when I saw Lance and Joseph would battle, with Pokemon no less, I didn't think it would feel right given that the fic has grown away from Pokemon, but the 6-6 battle was brutal, and so quick. It felt like what wild animals fighting should feel like: blood thirsty, vicious, and with each party trying to kill.

I also kind of hoped Entei would turn on Joseph and destroy him, but I loved seeing Joseph turn the tables - and in such a villainous way.

Excited for the next chapter. Excellent work as ever, some beautiful descriptions and Lisa's reaction to Electrivire was brilliant.

Hey mate - thanks for reading and the response.

I'm glad the battle defied your expectations. I think wayyyyy back when I was still on book 2 I said something like "there will be far fewer pokemon battles, but they will be much higher stakes". Part of me thinks it was this chapter that I had in mind, but I might be retconning that, since it was only a few years ago that I really got this scene clear.

Now that you mention it, I think this was the first actual straight-up battle I've written since the second EBTV crossover (which featured Andrew vs Gavin and Jess vs Lisa) - and that was written and posted back in late 2003/early 2004 (!). Ever since then, pokemon have only featured as plot/character devices, or as fighting in war/action sequences where guns and death and real danger have also been present. I think that's why this battle had to be so brutal and lethal, as you pointed out - it made no sense to hark back to some sense of innocence and restraint: this was a duel to the death, quite literally for several players.

Also, it had to reflect the magnitude of who was fighting: Hudson and Sterling. Both are immensely powerful; it followed that they would be incredibly fierce trainers as well as fighters and leaders in their own right.

That said, Hudson owned Sterling in his own, righteous way, and Sterling owned Hudson in a far more underhanded and devious way.

Also, it felt like a good way to tie the bow on that whole era, as we close off the third book with the next chapter. Since battles and pokemon are hardly the focus of this fic and we've moved way beyond that, I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say that this was the final pokemon battle that will feature in Lisa the Legend, and as such, I wanted to make it as spectacular and as high-stakes as possible.

Thanks for the feedback, Chris. Much appreciated, as ever.

Chapter 82 will be up tomorrow morning - I'm tired and editing is always done better with fresh eyes.

Cheers!

[Gavin Luper]

Okay, well Matt's post in The Writer's Lounge triggered me to post this chapter that I've been sitting on for almost an entire year. First of all, sorry to all the readers, active and lurker alike, who have been waiting for an update. There are reasons for the wait. And I hadn't forgotten about LtL by any means. I actually had a reminder going off on my phone literally every Monday for the last year telling me to post the chapter, but I kept putting it off. I basically delayed posting more chapters because I felt like I had to announce something first, but I still don't know exactly how to say what I need to say. I'm still a bit torn about it. So no announcements or anything yet.

Instead, here's the new chapter. I hope any of you old fans still hanging around will enjoy it!

Cheers!

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

Chapter 82 – Last Night on Earth.


As Pidgeotto speared through the air, reaching the narrow upper section of the extinct volcanic cone, a fierce, heavily-accented voice caught Lisa’s ears.

“Don’t even try it on, you little bitch!”

Lisa looked down instinctively: a Union agent with platinum-blonde hair – none other than Veronica Stawell – was perched on a sleek black Fearow several metres below her – but rising rapidly.

“Pidgeotto, speed up and use a Gust attack!” Lisa cried.

A moment later she regretted her commands: Pidgeotto was all too willing to obey; it began to flap one wing ever faster in the hope of speeding up, yet at the same time it batted its left wing in sharp, deliberate bursts, sending powerful but time-consuming gusts of wind at the agent below. The bird seemed to lose its balance in mid-air; Lisa clung on in fright as she realised they were scarcely ascending – and that the Gust attack was having little effect on the sharp-beaked Fearow tunnelling toward them.

“Forget what I said – just evade it!” she screamed, not a second too soon; the Fearow had almost caught their tail and was swooping in for a Fury Attack when Pidgeotto squawked with fright and curved sharply to the right.

Dozens of flying pokémon were now both battling each other and rising rapidly within the cone beneath Lisa and Veronica. Lisa’s eyes darted around her: she and Veronica were hovering near the upper lip of the igneous cone – the diameter of the cone here was barely fifteen metres – the flying pokémon below were only seconds away from crashing right through them.

“It’s over, sweetie, dear old Lance is as dead as a doornail!” Veronica laughed, her face twisting pleasurably at Lisa’s pale mask of disgust. Lisa knew at once that Lauren’s Pidgeotto was going to be no match for Veronica’s Fearow; she plunged her hand into her jeans, scoping for the Buzzball, but her hands closed instead on what she realised was the Darkball.

“The Guard is caput, Lisa, and now, so are you! HYPER BEAM, FEAROW!”

“Dark screen,” Lisa hissed, drowned out by Veronica’s shrieked command.

Once again, it seemed that nothing had happened; a radiant orb of golden light formed out of nowhere within Fearow’s beak; Pidgeotto began – too late – to dart away; and just as the jet of light exploded from Fearow’s mouth, Veronica cried in panic, “WHAT – NO – WHERE THE HELL DID SHE GO?!”

Lisa flinched as the Hyper Beam collided with Pidgeotto’s slow-moving form; but the force of the attack never struck.

Lisa’s eyes flew open in time to see the Hyper Beam – double its previous size – reflected with a vengeance directly at Fearow and Veronica. For an instant, there was utter astonishment on both faces, followed by a screamed command by Veronica; to Lisa’s dismay, Fearow dove down into the cone, narrowly avoiding the blast of the Hyper Beam; the golden explosion of energy instead slammed into the wall of the cone, eliciting an enormous cloud of dust and debris that rained down on the battlers below; screams resounded.

Lisa’s eyes hunted for Veronica and saw the back of her head as Fearow plummeted away from the impact zone of the reflected Hyper Beam. Indeed, there was a renewed chorus of panic from the flying battlers below, and nobody seemed to be ascending anymore. Lisa searched the faces of the battlers below and realised they were looking at the wall of the cone, transfixed in terror.

Slowly, dread mounting within her chest, Lisa followed their gaze; and just as her eyes fell on the enormous crater the Hyper Beam had made in the side of the cone, there was an ominous, earth-shattering crack!

The cone had begun to cave in.

“Oh my God … NO!” Lisa screamed, holding her arms out before her as if somehow the action would prevent the chamber from falling apart; but it was too late; a massive fissure was spreading rapidly down the rock wall of the cone; any second now, the cone would crumble in a slow, terrible arc toward the Guard and Union agents below.

The battlers below screamed and dived for the edges of the cone. Amid the chaos, Lisa’s eyes darted up and down, and she knew there was only one option for her; she slapped Pidgeotto firmly on the back and bellowed, “Fly up, Pidgeotto, fly up, FLY UP!”

But the bird was having no part in heroics: with a panic-stricken flap of its wings, it wheeled around and began to descend, away from the collapsing wall but beneath its line of fire.

“No – NO!” Lisa screeched – in its panic, Pidgeotto was putting them both directly in harm’s way. “NO – GET AWAY – MOVE AWAY FROM THERE!” She dug her heels into the bird’s sides, but there was no response – they were soaring directly toward the impending cascade of boulders and rubble.

“LISA, MOVE!” screamed Gavin’s voice from somewhere beneath her.

It was this, more than anything else, that saved Lisa’s life; she released Pidgeotto’s feathers and launched herself into freefall, pressing the poképort between her thumb and forefinger and crying out, “REVELUM, ALTARIA!”

Lisa would never forget the momentary gap between the flash of radiance exploding from the poképort and the instant her hands closed in over Altaria’s fluffy wings; for those three seconds, she was in freefall, plummeting to the rock solid earth as a wall of jagged rock began to cascade from above; images flashed across her eyes like a roll of burnt film; and then, gloriously, she was clinging to Altaria’s warm back, and her own voice rang out in her ears clearer than the screams of the warriors below:

“ALTARIA, GET US OUT OF HERE!”

And the strength of the respondant coloratura warmed her to her stomach.

“TAAA WOOOOOO!”

Altaria rocketed upwards through the disintegrating cone, weaving past the first of the oncoming rock fragments before swooping up brilliantly through the collapsing lip of the cone and into the cool night air beyond.

“YES! YES! YESSSSS!” Lisa whooped, pumping her fist in the air. She turned and watched the cone as it cracked ominously and began breaking apart completely. Her exultation evaporated as quickly as it had come on, replaced by a flood of panic. How bad would the devastation be? Would Gavin and the others escape in time? How many more of them would fall before the night was over?

Please, God … Please … let them be okay …

“BASTARD!”

The roared curse word, accompanied by a flare of orange incandescence in the near distance, suddenly reminded Lisa why she had risen all this way.

As Altaria continued to rise, putting as much distance between them and the collapsing volcano shell as possible, Lisa’s eyes traced the source of the explosion of light. It didn’t take long to find it: down on the coastline, illuminated by a burning helicopter, waves breaking around their feet, were Joseph Sterling and Ryan Walters, locked in a fierce and deadly duel.

“Dad!” Lisa cried, without thinking.

Her veins iced over and she froze, stiff as a board, on Altaria’s back, waiting for Sterling to wheel around and shoot her – but no response came from either of the battlers.

“I’m too high up …” Lisa muttered to Altaria breathlessly. “Oh, thank God …”

Altaria sounded a small note of comfort and slowed its ascent; it was clearly waiting on instruction from its master.

“Okay, okay … let’s think …” Lisa chattered to herself. She glanced down at the battle below: her father’s Charizard was circling above Sterling’s Scizor, firing down a rain of flames as the steel-type used a constant Faint Attack to evade injury. At the same time, her father and Sterling seemed to be firing off blasts of light from weapons in their hands – perhaps Stunners.

More out of desperation than actual hope, Lisa wheeled back around to the cone of the volcano, but there was no movement at all, just a growing cloud of dust and ash: she had been the only one to make it through.

The only one who could help.

Lisa fished fervently in her pocket and found the Dark Ball, still warm. An incandescent bulb exploded in her mind.

Of course!

“Okay, Altaria, dive down onto the beach, right behind Joseph Sterling – the one in black!” she commanded in a sober voice. She squeezed the ball in her hand and muttered, “Dark screen!” with a mounting sense of anxiety. Owen had told her the technique was ‘great for protection and stealth’ – but had she exhausted the Dark Ball’s power? How long would the shield of invisibility last for? Long enough for her to land on the beach, sneak up behind Sterling and snatch the keys from around his neck?

The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. It was madness. Sterling would surely sense her, or hear her creeping up on him … and yet there was nothing else for it. The strongest weapon in her arsenal was the element of surprise.

Altaria slowed; they had descended to a position about ten metres above the sand and about the same distance behind Sterling’s back; the sound of waves breaking gently mingled rather chaotically with the explosions and bangs of battle. Lisa could catch snippets of curse words being exchanged between Sterling and her father; both of them were screaming in a manner that was neither controlled nor particularly masculine; the coarse shrieks sent chills through her spine: this was a battle to the death.

Lisa leaned forward, positioning her lips near Altaria’s ears to whisper her command, when, quite without ceremony, a gigantic tongue of lurid flame exploded from the battle zone and speared through the air toward them.

Lisa’s mouth moved, but no sound ever escaped it; there was no time to move; something brushed her cheek just as a wave of searing heat blasted the side of her face before a second ripple of devastating inferno gushed at her cheek. At the same time, her insides seemed to ignite as her lungs billowed with hot air …

“AAAAARGH!”

The world screamed. Everything dimmed. Lisa’s eyes rolled in her skull … distantly, she was aware of her body moving … falling …

Bones crunched.

Ice … ice water steaming her skin … gritty mud … soft, sodden seaweed beneath her …

Sadistic laughter nearby.

Lisa forced her eyes to open; she glimpsed her own body sprawled in the mud, seafoam innocently hissing over her feet. Something was wrong. She reached a hand to her cheek and, without taking requisite care, prodded at her burnt face. Something was horribly wrong. She could feel the hot skin beneath her fingers … but her cheek could not feel the digits’ touch.

Indeed, the only thing worse than the deafening pain in her cheek was the complete lack of sensation …

“Shock,” Lisa heard herself croak.

Sterling was still cackling, but not advancing on her, and in any case Lisa could not muster the strength to turn around anymore. She didn’t move for what felt like seven nauseous years, aware of only the lapping of the seafoam and the resolute beauty of the star-encrusted sky. In reality, it could have been mere seconds after she crashed onto the sand that she became aware of the fact that she was humming – a slow, guttural hum from the solar plexus – and with time she felt as though she were waking from an intoxicated dream.

It was only when she reached this point, and stopped humming, that she realised she had not been producing the noise alone – and that she was not sprawled on a bed of seaweed.

“Ta-aa … wooo …”

“Altaria?” Lisa coughed weakly.

She turned her neck slightly, enough to glimpse a cottony wing stained crimson and charred black.

“Altaria! No!”

“Taaa …” Altaria hummed mildly. It did not sound as distressed as it should have: it sounded ominously peaceful. The sodden cotton wings pressed in gently against Lisa, holding her close against Altaria’s bleeding body; a portion of the wing grazed Lisa’s cheek, leaving an unexpectedly soothing tingle, as though a relieving ointment had just been applied …

Lisa scrambled to throw Altaria’s grasp off, and even in her weak state, she succeeded; Altaria was even feebler than she, and trembling quite significantly. She faced the aquamarine pokémon with horror: Altaria’s once unblemished face was mauled by the stray flamethrower, blackened and bloodied and matted with beach sand. The creature’s underbelly was similarly wounded, and its once fluffy wings were singed and bedraggled.

Altaria’s glistening black eyes blinked sadly at Lisa and rolled back in its head; with a final, high-pitched, almost hopeful note, Altaria’s body shuddered and fell still.

The closed blue eyelids gouged Lisa’s chest.

“No,” she breathed. “No, you can’t … you can’t do this to me …”

She absently picked up one of the limp, ribbon-like blue feathers that protruded from Altaria’s head, stroking it once, twice, three times, as though it might work some kind of deep healing magic. But nothing happened.

A lump welled up in Lisa’s throat. Larry’s slashed corpse flashed before her eyes … Lance on his knees, his throat sucking uselessly for air … Electivire’s chest exploding as bullets ripped through it …

“It was him,” Lisa choked venomously, wiping her wet eyes with the back of her forearm. “It was all him.”

She tore her eyes from Altaria and wheeled her gaze for the first time in the direction of Joseph Sterling and her father. They were still deadlocked in battle: her father was positioned behind a cluster of silvery rocks, using them as a small barricade as he issued bolts of light from a Stunner toward Sterling; meanwhile, Sterling was advancing on the rocky defence, with his Murkrow using a volley of Shadow Balls to break it apart, while a mêlée of Charizard, Scizor, Feraligatr and Infernape scrapped around them.

Lisa stared at the back of Sterling’s head with a fury she had never known before in her life. A righteous tsunami of rage bore down on her heart. So many lives could not – would not – be taken in vain.

She scanned the beach sand for the Dark Ball, and found it wedged beneath Altaria’s limp left wing. Holding her breath (she didn’t know why), she lifted the saturated cotton and pulled the black, rubbery ball out, exhaling only once she was no longer touching the pokémon’s corpse. She squeezed the ball tightly. So the Dark Screen’s invisibility effect had worked, then … Sterling and her father, still duelling ten metres away, seemed completely oblivious to her arrival, spectacular though it had seemed. Perhaps they had only seen Altaria’s flaming form streaking toward the beach and imagined they had only struck a passing wild pokémon. Or, judging from the steely gleam in her father’s eyes, they were both so intensely focused on not losing concentration on their foe that neither of them had even noticed anything at all other than the battle at hand.

Lisa closed her eyes and focused her thoughts on Sterling’s vile face. The thirst for revenge – for justice – bubbled in her veins, along with a renewed surge of adrenaline.

“Dark screen,” she whispered.

She rose to her feet, emboldened by the drug pounding through her blood, and the ensuing headrush only added to her giddy rage.

Joseph Sterling was only ten metres ahead of her in the semi-darkness, completely oblivious as he waged war on her father.

Lisa took a single, deep breath and began to stride forward over the bloodstained sand, each footstep delivered more deliberately and slowly than the last so as to make as little sound as possible. One metre forward, and the Radio Tower collapsed into debris around her. Two metres: Anna’s body fell into the deadly flames at the base of a burning oak tree. Three: her own backyard was razed to the ground as Marina screamed. Four: the Port Valeo courthouse exploding with smoke and gunfire. Five: Professor Oak’s body loaded onto the helicopter beside her. Six: Emma’s body slumped in the elevator. Seven: Suicune’s bloodied corpse. Eight: Electivire’s dead body. Nine: a parade of stolen lives … Annette, Larry, Lance, Altaria … dead bodies, death everywhere …

The work of one man.

Lisa took her final, measured, deliberate step. Invisibility had emboldened her. She could smell the sweat in Sterling’s greasy black hair and the foul, flat stench of blood on his dark clothes; the Ultra Balls at his belt were within her grasp, even his second revolver, but she had eyes for only one prize.

The brown leather necklace looped over his neck.

Lisa clenched her teeth and, poising her hands like pincers either side of Sterling’s neck, she pounced.

Sterling cried out in surprise as Lisa’s hands closed over the leather band; she yanked it upwards in one fluid motion …

“NO!” Sterling roared.

The band jagged Sterling’s chin; the glass keys jangled, taunting Lisa as terror flooded her …

“Off, get OFF!” Sterling bellowed, slapping at Lisa’s left hand and moving to whirl around. In panic, Lisa squealed and lunged forward, her right hand clinging to the leather band as she threw her full body weight onto Sterling’s back, wrapping her legs around his thighs.

“BITCH!” Sterling roared, twirling around awkwardly, encumbered by her mass.

“ARSEHOLE!” Lisa screamed in his ear. “YOU – FUCKING – ARSEHOLE!”

She yanked at the leather band once again; and once again, it caught on Sterling’s sharp chin.

“COME ON – AAAAAARGH!” Lisa screamed; Sterling had sunk his yellowed teeth into her left arm in desperate rage, while lumbering around in a semi-circle, trying to shift her weight …

“LISA!” Lisa’s father cried.

Sterling stiffened as he stumbled.

“YOU!” he shrieked, turning his head to glimpse her face.

“YES, ME!” Lisa shrieked back; an animal within her roared with triumph at the look on Sterling’s face; she pulled on the leather necklace once again; Sterling’s jaw snapped shut as the band jagged on his chin for a third time and then, finally, the necklace came flying off his neck altogether …

“HA!” Lisa cried –

- prematurely; no sooner did she have the necklace in her hand than Sterling launched himself backwards, slamming his crushing bulk against her …

“AAAAARGH!”

Several bones cracked and silver stars popped into Lisa’s line of vision as Sterling landed on top of her; winded, she watched uselessly as her hands released their respective bounties; both the Dark Ball and the leather necklace launched into the air in opposite directions and landed a few metres away.

“NO YOU DON’T!”

A beam of rainbow light sizzled through the air from Feraligatr’s mouth, catching Sterling in the back of the head as he wheeled on Lisa, about to deliver a backhand; the tyrant threw his hands in the air as he was knocked back to the sand; but within a second, he was already scrambling to his knees … crawling for the necklace …

Lisa’s father bounded forward, leaning down to pick the keys up; but Sterling’s Infernape delivered an inky burst of Smokescreen directly into his eyes; he coughed violently and reeled backwards, clutching his face …

“HA!” Sterling bellowed, his hands closing on the leather band.

Still winded, her body aching, Lisa lunged for the Dark Ball as Sterling, necklace in hand, reached his Scizor’s side and leapt onto its back.

“You should never have tried this, Lisa,” he snarled darkly, surveying her with regal disdain as she crawled toward the Dark Ball. He regarded her father, still clawing at his streaming eyes, and gave a frightening, high-pitched laugh. “Even your father was no match for me – you really thought you could defeat me?”

He pressed the Ultra Balls on his belt and hissed something to Scizor; Infernape and Murkrow disappeared in blasts of semi-transparent red light. Charizard, bloodied and battle-weary, issued a weak blast of flame, but it didn’t even reach Sterling and Scizor; Feraligatr lumbered forward, ostensibly preparing for a Rage attack; Lisa felt her hand close in over the rubbery Dark Ball.

“I would consider this a pivotal mistake for you, Lisa,” Sterling continued, reaching for his revolver. “Until now, I considered you annoying, certainly, but ultimately just a naïve and unusually lucky child. Definitely, I would never have dreamed of killing your father right before your eyes. But now that you have made your arrogance abundantly clear …” His black eyes gleamed as he cocked the pistol. “… I actually take a great deal of pleasure in this.”

“DARK WAVE!” Lisa screamed.

She had no idea what to expect, if anything; as Sterling’s finger reached for the trigger, a high-pitched drone – like an overload of radio static – erupted from the Dark Ball in Lisa’s hand; a thin disc of violet light emanated in a perfect circle from the ball, blazing through the air and slicing across Scizor’s torso and Sterling’s left hand; and as blood spurted from Sterling’s palm, the Dark Wave slicing like a knife through everything in its path, a bullet exploded from the barrel of the gun with a flare of light … and as Ryan Walters attempted to clear his eyes of the toxic smog, the bullet struck him and he dropped, a deadweight, to the sand.

“DAD!” Lisa shrieked.

“Away, Scizor!” Sterling cackled mirthlessly. As Lisa scrambled toward her father, heart pounding, she glanced numbly at Sterling as Scizor rose deftly into the air, dodging Feraligatr’s clumsy Rage attack. As the alligator pokémon began to charge up an ice beam, Sterling, the leather band clutched in his hand, smirked evilly and gave Lisa a sinister parting wave before Scizor’s eyes glowed scarlet and it shot up into the atmosphere at an almost inconceiveable speed, far outstripping the jet of ice that chased them.

Suddenly, the keys meant nothing at all; the war was nothing; Lisa stumbled to her father’s side as he lay sprawled on the silver sand, blood blossomming over his left shoulder.

“Dad! Dad … oh my God …”

Ryan Walters opened his eyes slowly, his complexion waxy and coated in cold sweat.

“Lisa …” he said softly, an unexpected smile appearing on his face.

Lisa cupped his head in her hands, tears splashing down her cheeks.

“Dad … I’m so sorry … I should’ve gone for him sooner, I could’ve stopped him …”

“Lisa, it’s okay. I think he only got me in the shoulder.”

Lisa’s eyes bounded over to the wound: sure enough, had she taken the time to process it the first time, she would have realised at once; Sterling’s shot had been sent off course by the Dark Wave; the bullet had entered her father’s shoulder. While the wound was ugly and the air reeked of blood, the red liquid was not gushing anywhere; rather, it was seeping from the wound slowly.

Relief iced Lisa’s overheated brain; she clutched her thumb and forefinger to the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, shaking with tears.

“I’m so sorry, Dad,” she spluttered. “I was so mad – I felt like I had to do something – I should’ve just let you take him and this would never have happened …”

She removed her face from her hands to find her father looking at her with inexplicable gratitude.

“Actually, Lisa, you showed up just in the nick of time. He’d overpowered me. I wouldn’t’ve lasted another five minutes in that fight if it weren’t for you. You saved my life.”

Lisa’s mouth fell open.

“All I can say is, thank God you grew up to be as stubborn and hotheaded as your old man,” he coughed, eliciting a mild giggle from Lisa. She hugged the crook of his right arm tightly before locking eyes with him soberly.

“So you’ll be okay – this …” she muttered, gesticulating at the wound.

“I’ve had worse. It’s not going to kill me … just need to apply some pressure …”

At once, Lisa began to pull at her top, but the fabric was sturdy and her hands were shaking too violently for her to tear any material off. Giggling nervously, she instead pulled her sneaker off and used her (previously white) sock to press against the wound and stem the trickle of blood.

“Ah … take it easy, Leese …”

“Sorry, Dad …”

Lisa eased the pressure off and helped her father to sit up slightly. She was suddenly aware of how much noise there was in the near distance. Others had finally escaped the caverns of Silver Rock Island and were beginning to spill out onto the long beach; a small number of silhouetted figures could be seen a few hundred metres to the north, where the motley collection of fishing boats was still moored.

Lisa felt her gut lurch suddenly.

“It didn’t make any difference,” she said heavily. “This whole thing – tonight – what happened to – to – Lance … to everyone … Sterling still got away …”

Her father’s pallid face became distressed.

“Every ounce of energy I have left is going into not thinking about that,” he said in a deadened tone.

The lump returned to Lisa’s throat.

“However,” Dad said suddenly. “At least they didn’t … they didn’t go … completely in vain.”

“How do you figure that?” Lisa said dully. “Sterling got away … and Lance and everyone is g-gone …”

“Look, Lisa, look,” Dad pressed, suddenly excitable, pointing at something behind her.

Lisa spun around, scanning the scene of the former battle: her eyes traced the nearly-fainted form of Charizard, slumped on the broken rocks, the silvery rubble and splintered driftwood, the pacing, restless Feraligatr, still sending precautionary Ice Beams into the sky, the Dark Ball, motionless …

… and, sitting lightly on the silver sand, a curved, frayed shred of leather, and three glistening glass keys.

“No …” Lisa gasped numbly, her heart gingerly resisting the surge of excitement. “No … he took them, he took them, didn’t he?”

“That Dark Wave you sent out cut the leather band – I saw the keys fall right before Sterling shot me.” Dad’s face, though pained, was alive with ecstasy. “He didn’t notice because the rest of the leather band was –”

“- STILL IN HIS HAND!” Lisa shrieked. “Oh my God – Dad … this means …”

“We have a whole bunch of keys, and the Union has none!” he grinned.

Lisa’s heart was hammering in her chest; with an apologetic look, she abandoned her father and crawled over the few metres of sand to the place where the keys were scattered loosely, having slipped off the leather band when they fell. She scooped them into her cupped hand and brushed off the excess grains of sand. Three small, silent keys in her hand; inanimate objects that hundreds had died in the name of.

Lisa furrowed her brow as the faces of some of those dead flashed before her eyes. No, now was not the time to think about any of it … if she did, the frail thread of sanity she was clinging to would surely snap. She gazed down at the keys and put every bit of energy she had left into seeing them as a symbol of their success. It almost worked.

“Lisa …” Dad’s voice came presently.

Lisa stirred from her reverie and turned to face him. He looked concerned; half a dozen silhouettes were gingerly picking their way down the coastline towards them.

“It’s okay, Dad … they’re Guard members, I think …” Lisa said, squinting in the moonlight. “I think I see Stephen and Donovan – and Marina – and Gavin!”

“Lisa, hide the keys,” Dad said sharply.

Lisa locked into his troubled gaze, shooting him a quizzical look.

“I still don’t know for sure who betrayed us tonight,” he said darkly. “I mean – Marco, obviously – it makes me sick …” He swore under his breath. “But there could have been two moles, or three. I’m not taking any chances. We reveal nothing until the moles have been outed for sure. As far as anyone else is concerned, for now, at least, Sterling took the keys with him.”

“Right,” Lisa nodded, fervently brushing off the last of the sand and tying a knot in the leather band to avoid any keys slipping off; she carefully packed the keys into her jeans pocket. She rested her hands on her haunches and gave a heavy sigh.

“He’s still out there. We didn’t end the war tonight.”

Dad coughed.

“I’m not convinced of that, Lisa,” he said slowly. “The contingent of Union agents who were tricked into the hoax mission in Azalea Town were almost all captured by the Guard and the law enforcement agents who met them there. And yes, it’s true that both sides lost a lot of troops in the battle tonight, but if I know my teammates like I think I do, what happened to Lance would’ve ignited a total and utter fury in them. Especially in people like Donovan and Azura – they usually show restraint and mercy, they do not kill if they can avoid it, of course … but I think they would have razed everything in their path tonight.

“I doubt many Union agents have survived outside of captivity; and of those that do, I wonder how many will regroup with Sterling. It would be much easier to disappear after what happened tonight – there will be no inventory of the dead – and so I expect only the most loyal survivors will respond to Sterling’s calls for a rally.”

“So in the end … you’re saying we won?” Lisa ventured; Donovan and Gavin’s excited shouts were getting closer.

“In a fashion,” Dad said bleakly, peeking morbidly at his wound before pressing the bloodied sock back over it again.

Lisa regarded him hopefully.

“Without Lance … who’s going to run the Guard?”

The response came as though he had prepared a statement in advance.

“Nobody.”

“What?”

“Nobody, Lisa. The Union as we know it crumbled tonight. Their manpower is gone. Their headquarters are destroyed. And we have lost more of our people and resources tonight than I would have dared to believe twenty-four hours ago.”

He blinked and looked at her dolefully.

“The Guard is dead, Lisa. It died with Lance.”

Lisa felt the bottom of her stomach disappear.

“But what about the Legend? Even if it’s just Sterling left by himself, we both know what he’s like. He’ll keep looking for the fifth key, he’ll come back at us and try to steal the keys that we have. It will never end until we end it!”

Dad shook his head.

“You’re still young, Lisa, and I don’t blame you for it, but you don’t see the bigger picture yet.”

Lisa frowned.

“But – I do! In a few months, or a few years, or whenever, Sterling is going to come back as big as ever! This nightmare will just start all over again … unless we fight him off, he’ll only stop once the Legend is complete.”

“And launching into another fight straight away, Lisa, means a host more lives lost on both sides. Not to mention half of what remains of the Guard would probably abandon their posts if we forced them to charge right back into battle after what we’ve all been through this year. If we can bide our time, capitalise on our successes … then we will be in a stronger position when Sterling comes at us again.”

Lisa felt sick.

“So he will still be out there – and you’re saying there’s nothing we can do about it!”

“Life isn’t fair, Lisa. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but it’s probably high time you did swallow it. Courage and optimism are two of the most important qualities in life – and I’m so proud, as your father, that you possess them both – but an excess of either can get you killed prematurely. It’s perhaps more essential to take a step back and realise that, despite your best efforts, the world isn’t, and never will be, perfect. Sometimes the Lance Hudsons of this world die, while the Joseph Sterlings get away scot free. Sometimes winning a battle doesn’t feel like winning. Sometimes, when we want everything at once, we have to be patient and wait weeks, months, even years, until we can get what we want.”

Lisa stared at him blankly, hating him but knowing that he was right. The bitter taste of reality tainted her palate and drizzled down her throat, deep into her chest.

“It’s not all bad, love,” Dad said presently, craning his neck as much as possible to sight the shadowy figures jogging toward them. “We lived. You and me and your mother and whoever else made it. And after a war is over, if you mourn straight away, or if you stop and think for too long, you will end up wanting to kill yourself, too.”

The cries between Donovan and the others were now becoming audible: they were calling out excitedly between one another and laughing; Gavin picked up a piece of seaweed and flung it at Marina, who squealed as the slimy leaves slid over her face.

“Roll with it, Lisa,” Dad said seriously. “We will come down from the high of surviving soon enough, and all that will be left will be bitterness and mourning and pain. But until then, the celebration of being alive is glorious, and even if it’s fleeting, it will be the greatest medicine for what we are all feeling right now. I think we deserve it.”

“Me too,” said Lisa weakly.

The silhouettes finally reached them: Donovan, Stephen, Natalie, Gavin, Marina and Jamie all jogged to a halt as they reached the scene.

“Youse okay?” Donovan bellowed.

“We’re fine, we’re fine!” Dad assured the group at large; the adults rushed to his side as the teenagers all clustered around Lisa.

“Leese!”

“Lisa, you’re alive, thank fuck!” Jamie cried.

“Oh my God, you were freakin’ legendary!” Marina boomed, squeezing Lisa’s hand with a vice-like grip.

“We won! We headed the Union off on the way out of the caves … they’re all trapped, every last sodding one of ‘em!” Stephen gushed enthusiastically, apparently to the beach at large.

“What happened to your face? Are you alright?” Gavin said urgently, locking eyes with her.

“I feel okay, Gav. I got burnt pretty badly but … I think Altaria … bore the …” The lump in her throat got the better of her.

“Let’s get ‘em back to the boats!” Donovan ordered. “I wanna get the fuck off this island.”

“Amen!” Natalie cheered.

Lisa laid back as Gavin, Marina and Jamie lifted her clumsily off the sand; she responded vaguely to their euphoric chatter as they marched up the beach, but seeing Stephen and Donovan carrying Altaria’s body was too much for her. The tide of adrenaline that had kept her afloat for hours was ebbing, and the raw agony of what had happened prevented her from engaging with the oddly inappropriate spirit of excitement that had overcome the others.

The next thing she knew, there were several other pairs of hands on her, and her body was hoisted onto a hard, metal surface. It was too dark to make out too much detail, but she knew she had been placed into a dinghy; everything was rocking with the mournful ebb of the Cianwood Sea. A few other figures were in the boat with her – some of them familiar, including – to Lisa’s delight – a sleeping Professor Westwood – while others were strangers to Lisa; some were seated, helping their comrades into the vessel, while others, like Lisa, were strewn on the floor of the dinghy, wounded or weak.

“I’ll go with her, too; you go on the next boat, mate,” came Dad’s voice; Lisa lifted her neck to see him clambering aboard, Gavin and Marina reaching out to help him. He shuffled toward Lisa, but the dinghy was too crowded for him to reach her side. She smiled and nodded at him in kind understanding, and he managed a brief smile in return.

A two-stroke engine roared to life and the boat began to speed away from the shore and into the dark expanse of ocean. Lisa watched numbly as the shadowy form of Silver Rock Island, its core destroyed, slowly vanished into the distance.

The star-studded sky was streaked with a pale, timid silvery-blue as the sun’s rising approached. Lisa drifted in and out of sleep as the boat chugged along, back to Red Rock Island. There was nothing on her mind, really, just the sensation that she was still alive and that, in a manner of speaking, the war was over. She couldn’t really process more than that. Some of the more lively survivors were passing around a bottle of scotch and gabbling about the night’s events, but Lisa sensed the mood already changing: as her father had predicted, the euphoria of survival was ebbing, replaced with a tide of misery.

“How much further to Red Rock, Donovan?” came Natalie’s voice.

“Five or ten,” Donovan grunted, from the back of the dinghy; it seemed that he was the one operating the engine.

A moment later, the two-stroke engine sputtered violently; everyone started, but Donovan pulled back on the throttle and the motor roared back to life. However, one of the silent, motionless forms sprawled on the bottom of the boat had awakened at the sound, and now began to lift his head.

Lisa saw her father and Donovan exchange a glance of complete, unmitigated horror; she did not need to wait for the teenage boy to turn and face her before she knew who had awakened.

Darius Hudson blinked bleakly at his surrounds. All eyes were fixed on him; there was a palpable air of spectacle.

His pallid face surveyed comrade after comrade – he stared lifelessly at Lisa as though he barely recognised her – and then, when his exploration was complete, he faced Donovan and spoke.

“I had a nightmare. I had a nightmare, didn’t I, Jim?”

Lisa had never seen the colour drain from Jim Donovan’s face, nor his lip quiver.

“It wasn’t – it wasn’t a nightmare, Darius.”

Even after all she had been through in war, the resultant shriek from Darius Hudson would, for the rest of Lisa’s life, become the most terrible sound she had ever heard. He flung his head back against the metal floor and screamed, “DAD! DAD! DAAAAAAAD!” He writhed in agony, kicking his limbs out in rage, striking those nearest him without regard. Paralyzed, everyone watched as his cry changed to a raw scream of, “NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!” and he began to bang his head repeatedly against the metal, each time his eyes bulging a little more as he reeled in blunt trauma …

After perhaps a minute of kicking any helping hands away, Darius burned out and fell still, tears streaming down his white cheeks as he choked and spluttered with grief.

Lisa gaped at Darius as the bitter reality sank its teeth into her numbness once again. The war was not over. Neither the lives lost nor the lives saved that night meant anything at all. Not really. Lance had lived his last night on Earth, but his work was not yet finished. Not until Joseph Sterling and the Legend menaced them no more.

Lisa clenched her fist as the first rays of sunlight broke over the glittering Cianwood Sea.

The Guard may have given up. But she had not.

END OF BOOK III

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I've genuinely forgotten. Did I previously mention that I also completed book 4?