Hey!
It's been a week since the last chapter, and so, here is the First Installment of the two-part Electric Buggy to Victory & Lisa the Legend Crossover!
Link to EBTV: Electric Buggy to Victory
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Chapter 28 - The Meetings and the Mystery.
Gavin stirred, and rolled onto his stomach, subconsciously missing his broken right arm. Rays of sunlight pierced the tent’s canvas and lit it up. Outside, waves rolled up, eating up the damp beach sand. Aipom leapt through the flapping tent door, squealing, while the ignorant fifteen-year-old slept on as the morning sun rose to its ten o’clock position.
The purple, hyperactive monkey jumped on Gavin’s head, bit his ears twice, then took off outside again, to run around excitedly. Gavin moaned, now wide awake, and threw a heavy, over-proportioned, bandaged and healing arm out to slap Lisa to consciousness and tell her to deal with Aipom.
Gavin was stunned as his hand landed on an empty bed and deserted pillow.
He sat up, and looked around the cramped, low-roofed tent. Lisa’s sleeping bag, beside his, was empty. He looked around in rising desperation and found her pokeball belt was gone too. He stood, ducking his head, to go outside and as he emerged into the rising daylight, he saw Aipom sprinting in circles around a deep impacted mark in the dew-burdened grass. There were three sets of footprints, somehow left in the long grass, but curiously only one pair left the area. Gavin suddenly noticed two lengthy tracks which dragged through the grassed area and onto the beach sand below the tiny cliff, where two long furrows were half filled with sea water.
Dashing back inside the tent for a moment, Gavin produced his camera from his backpack, and quickly took a few hurried shots of the crime scene. The camera immediately began developing the photos. He almost hoped something amiss had happened last night, something evil, something sinister – just so he could be like a detective. But he definitely didn’t want Lisa hurt, or in danger. Gavin pondered for a minute before working out what to do – he’d check his assumptions first. Lisa wouldn’t go somewhere without leaving a note – or taking Aipom – so where was she?
He slung the camera over his neck, where it hung heavily, and ran back into the tent to throw a shirt on over his shorts. Emerging, he called to Aipom, and, abandoning the tent site, he rushed back up to the road which stretched into town, and pelted down it, heading for the Library.
*
Lisa stirred slightly, her mind throbbing with confusion. Thousands of questions cluttered her confounded mind. Where was she? What had happened to her? She didn’t know, and she began to worry. Painfully, she tried to sit up and failed, her body refusing to move and of its limbs. She tried to cry out for help, but no voice came, just a feeble wisp of speech escaped her ruby lips. She began trying to struggle, but all that happened was that she began shaking slightly. Her body refused to work.
‘ Don’t panic,’ she told herself, her panic subsiding slightly. ‘ Just breathe in and think rationally.’
As the ebony-haired girl took ten deep breaths slowly, she acknowledged her surroundings. She had been deposited inside a room, with a low ceiling and filthy baby-poo-brown carpet which was torn, and in some places seemed blackened – charred? The walls were wooden panelled and very old looking, but apart from a couple of misused chairs and desks – and herself - Lisa couldn’t see anything else …
Her heart thudded. Laying next to her, moaning and sighing, was another girl. Her bright green eyes were wide open, and she was throwing her head about slightly, a long mass of blonde hair messed onto the carpet beside. Her hand was inside her handbag which Lisa thought looked very barbieish, and her eyes showed pure shock. Lisa half-wished she could help her out, but as it was her own limbs wouldn’t work, or her voice. By now, she felt her brain starting to master its control over her body. She rolled over and breathed slowly.
A scuffle from the girl’s direction made her look around again. The other girl had pulled herself across the surprisingly well-lit room and was hauling at the doorknob of a heavy metal door, probably soundproof. The girl slammed her fist on the door in a rage, and dropped to the floor sulkily. At this point, she seemed to notice Lisa there, and she wrinkled up her nose at her. She straightened up her hair and began to recompose her looks when her face turned to a look of horror.
The girl turned to Lisa’s unmoving form and shook her, and as Lisa tried again to speak, the girl slapped her across the face.
“ What was that for?” Lisa yelled, her voice returning. In anger, she slapped the girl back.
Before any more slapping took place, a sudden thought darted into Lisa’s mind. Her eyes widened as she panicked, and checked her pokeball belt. It was empty, completely stripped of the four pokemon it had previously held.
*
Gavin stood listlessly at the police station reception. The library hadn’t been open yet – so Lisa wasn’t there. He had done a quick glance inside all the street cafés he passed on his mad dash to the Police Station, and no Lisa was there to be found.
So, at eleven o’clock, Gavin found himself pacing before an incredibly slow receptionist, who, after about ten minutes, told him to wait for an Officer to arrive on the scene. He moaned as Aipom bounced dangerously close to a potplant which sat on the tiled floor. Not wanting to get into any more trouble, Gavin released Natu from its Moon Ball, and it hovered around Aipom’s face swiftly, distracting the naturally hyperactive monkey.
The door swung open and three people entered – two were an aged couple who looked rather worried, and the third was the punkish guy Gavin had seen the day before on the buggy. He was about his height, maybe a little taller, and had spiked, bleached hair. He wore a leather jacket and scruffy jeans, and looked far too different from the couple to be related to them closely.
The punk held out his hand as he entered, and Gavin noted that despite his physical appearance, his face looked almost as worried as he himself was feeling. Then Gavin stretched out his unbroken left hand and shook the newcomer’s hand with difficulty.
“ Hi, I’m Andrew,” the guy said, his forehead sweaty and creased with concern. A faint smile darted elusively around his mouth as he spoke. “ Why are you here? The usual – Murder, Arson or Drugs?”
Gavin almost laughed, but the result was a bitter, half-hearted chuckle. He chose his words carefully, realising that Andrew’s appearance didn’t really match his personality, either. He seemed very normal, and looked like he could be funny. “ Hi I’m Gavin, and I’m here for fraud.” He joked, grinning. Then he remembered to be serious, and sighed. “ I’m actually here to get some help, my friend’s disappeared and well … she left behind someone,” Gavin said, pointing at Aipom who was snapping his teeth at Natu. “ So I think she’s in trouble.”
Before Andrew could reply or introduce his elderly companions, an Officer came up to them all.
“ How can I help you?”
*
The girl didn’t hesitate once Lisa had abruptly checked her pokeball belt. She slapped her back at once, with an angered cry. “ How DARE you! I’m trying to save us here!”
Lisa took the last slap across the cheek, and although she was burning with revenge inside she forced it back down with difficulty and tried to be cool, calm and collected. “ Well sorree, I don’t comprehend things too well when I try to save someone in my pyjamas and get jabbed in the arm for it!” Lisa replied, rubbing the spot on her arm where her attacker had jabbed a needle of some sort.
Something flickered across the girl’s face, and suddenly, she smiled sweetly at Lisa. “ So sorry about that, I’m Jessica, nice to meet you.” Lisa smiled vaguely, and began staring around the room while the girl – Jessica – kept talking. There were no windows in the room, so Lisa couldn’t tell if it was morning or still night. The only light came from a dim lightbulb fixed into the wall, looking out of place.
“ I love your bandana,” smiled Jessica, apparently unaware that they had both been seemingly kidnapped.
Lisa glanced down to her pokemon belt again, as though hoping her pokemon had mysteriously reappeared. Evidently, they hadn’t, and she turned to Jessica.
“ I guess my pokemon ARE gone, eh?” she muttered disappointedly. “ Oh … sorry, I’m Lisa. Nice to meet you, Jessica. But … right now it looks like we’ve been kidnapped.”
Something like triumph glittered in Jessica’s eyes. “ Well, let’s fix your hair up, we can’t go anywhere with people looking like this! What will people think?!” she said, reaching into her handbag.
“ I really don’t think we have time for this,” Lisa was stunned that Jessica could even suggest anything like hairstyles at a time like this. What was going on? How long had they been trapped in this dingy room? What was going on outside? Lisa had a terrible, vivid flash of Gavin reporting his case to the police, Aipom, confused and alone, and a search party, unable to ever find her. She shook her head firmly. She didn’t mean for that to happen – she still could overcome this problem. Against Jessica’s protests, she stood up and tried the steel door – locked, of course.
Smiling, Jessica produced an entire cosmetics kit from her handbag. “ I already tried that. Come ON, sit down and I’ll fix you up. It looks like we’ve been kidnapped, obviously…”
Unfortunately, Lisa couldn’t find anything more useful to do at that moment – so she sat down in a rickety chair, trying to formulate a plan while Jessica pulled and shaped her hair, which was admittedly not very well kept since Lisa had been on her journey. While Jessica clicked her tongue over the state of Lisa’s hair, Lisa began talking.
“ There’s no point yelling for help, because for one thing, they’ll have us isolated and soundproofed if they were professional criminals,” she said, while Jessica pulled her hair into a kind of bun with a fringe and strands of strategically-placed hair. “ - which I think they are cause they had the forethought to use an anaesthetic to knock us out without much struggle – and for another thing, they’d know we’re awake and we’d lose our element of surprise.”
“ Hm,” said Jessica blankly, sounding like she was thinking of shopping.
Lisa moaned under her breath but continued. “ I already decided that the walls – although they look like flimsy wood – must be brick underneath – otherwise it’d be too easy to get out and the steel door would have no purpose.”
Jessica made “hmms” and “mmms” while she began putting light make up on Lisa. “ I’ll just check, but I’m quite sure …” Lisa stood up the moment Jessica had released her from the makeover, and tapped lightly on the wooden panelled wall. Then, mustering all her strength, she slammed her clenched fist into the wall – but on a thirty degree angle, so she barely splintered the wood. After some pulling and tugging, she revealed a solid – not brick but METAL – wall behind.
She smiled grimly. “ Anyone who tried punching their way out through here would have a VERY sore fist,” she stated, as Jessica packed away her handbag, looking satisfied. But now even Jessica seemed to be becoming serious.
“ Well, we should escape now,” Jessica said. “ We’re both ready.”
Lisa was still puzzling over how to escape from the tiny room, when a flash of a scene from a movie she had once seen – Shockdown – shot into her mind and back out. And her eyes shot rapidly to the ceiling where, yes, there was an air-conditioning vent in the far left corner of the room, farthest the door.
“ The vent!” Lisa cried. “ We can escape through the ceiling!”
Instead of seeming vague and shopping/fashion-minded, Jessica responded quickly by grabbing a couple of chairs and dragging them underneath the vent. Lisa obliged by stepping up onto the chairs and pulling at the cover on the vent, yanking it until there was a loud thud and the cover swung off, hanging from one side of the hole which was now gaping in the ceiling.
“ This seems very cliché … you’d think that if they went to all the trouble of sealing us in metal walls and doors, they’d block off the roof too.” Lisa muttered, grabbing the sides of the ceiling and trying to haul herself up. “ Jess, can you maybe give me a boost?”
Jessica’s reply was a soft mumble before she grabbed Lisa’s feet and pushed as Lisa pulled. Lisa, eventually and with great difficulty, made it into the ventilation, and began pulling Jessica up with her. Once both girls were in the dusty place, they both realised instantaneously that there was no ventilation; that the vent was just a way to escape into the normal ceiling. It was a set up.
Jess was already gingerly crawling onto a section of the ceiling, and it began to creak, it was so flimsy. Before Lisa could pull her newfound-friend back onto the supported section, there was a crack, and the gyprock shattered, Jess plummetting down.
Without thinking, Lisa threw her body down after Jess. She couldn’t allow her to face whatever danger was down there alone.
*
The police said they would help out as much as they could with the disappearance of Lisa, and Andrew’s little sister Jessica, but there was little they could do apart from be on the lookout. The village was only a fairly new one, although the library had been there for many years before, and the police force was less than adequate.
Gavin wanted to wait in the police station, but Andrew had insisted that would achieve nothing, and they would be better off to relax as much as possible. He suggested an ocean cruise, so Gavin tagged along. Within minutes they were slowly circling in the cool blue waters, searching for any trace of disappearance.
The elderly couple introduced themselves as Glenys and Edward, but Edward told Gavin to call him Ripper, as that was his nickname. They drove the luxury boat out, and said that they hadn’t seen Andrew’s friend.
“ Are you absolutely positive you haven’t seen Phil anywhere today?” Andrew urged, looking not really upset, but concerned all the same.
“ Yes, certain,” replied Glenys quickly, as though she had been replying to Andrew’s whining for a long time. Gavin guessed that maybe she had been doing exactly that.
“ Hang on …” he interrupted suddenly. “ Is Phil the guy who was with you and your sister before? In the hotel?”
Andrew nodded. “ Yeah, that’s him. Why, Gavin, have you seen him?”
Gavin shook his head. “ Not since last night, just when you walked past us in that hotel.” He grinned. “ Speaking of which, how did you manage to afford the rooms?”
A wide grin spread across Andrew’s face. “ What’s wrong with our prices, eh?” Glenys said, with mock-anger, though Gavin didn’t realise. He blushed deep scarlet.
“ Sorry … there’s nothing wrong … er …” Before he could make himself look any MORE stupid, Glenys went up to the front of the boat, chuckling to herself. Gavin’s embarrassment receded and he leaned on the side of the luxury liner.
Andrew laughed and threw out two pokeballs – a Starmie and a Dragonair appeared and began swimming around in the water. Gavin released his pokemon too, Natu fluttered and landed on his shoulder, while Staryu and Lanturn splashed down with Andrew’s pokemon. Aipom was already fidgeting and playing with Gavin’s short black hair, which was really the least of his worries. Ditto also appeared on the deck.
Lanturn was very well behaved this time; Staryu splashed through the sea gracefully, or as graceful as a Staryu could be, accidentally spraying Starmie with foam. Starmie got angry quickly, it’s core glowing redly, and it spat out a blast of water. Staryu replied within seconds with it’s own gun.
Gavin smiled at the two starfish, but Andrew got annoyed. “ Hey, Starmie, stop!” He turned suddenly to Gavin. “ We need to get down to business.”
“ Right,” Gavin replied. “ Guys, you need to search for Lisa, or Jess or Phil. Ditto, you transform into a Natu and search with them.”
Andrew gave his pokemon similar orders and they swam off, along with Staryu and Lanturn, while the two Natus flapped away towards the resort. Gavin could see, somewhere a bit further out, a cluster of boats with people all sending out their own water and flying pokemon, to search. Glenys and Ripper had asked everyone they knew to help out.
“ So, Gavin, what brings you out here?” Andrew asked abruptly.
Gavin actually had to think about that question for a moment, as the last day had been taken up with more important events. “Well Lisa and I were searching for a book on Suicune that we had heard was here,” he said, trying to slap Aipom as he pulled and twisted his hair around.
“ Suicune? You’re joking right? That’s nothing more than an advertising scheme! Just like all those other so called Legendary Pokemon!” cried Andrew, almost bursting out laughing.
Gavin was furious. How could someone be so naďve? Legendary pokemon had been seen by so many people, Lisa and him included. He tried his best to give a death stare at Andrew. “ How could you say that? Honestly, you don’t know the first thing about these Pokemon!” He almost yelled. “ Lisa and I have run into them a few times.”
“ Well for a start you don’t have any proof,” said Andrew disbelievingly.
Nearly exploding, Gavin spat a few hasty words out. “ You’ll see, I’ll get some real proof, that’ll show you!” he declared arrogantly. And then, as Andrew looked quite shocked, he glanced out to sea, at all the searching pokemon, and tried to ignore Aipom’s fidgeting.
“ Yeah …” said Andrew, sounding like he would never be convinced. “So what happened to your arm?” he asked, gesturing to Gavin’s plastered right arm.
Still annoyed at Andrew, Gavin decided to ‘polish up’ the story. Maybe if it sounded good, Andrew would believe in legendaries. “ I don’t know if you’d call this ‘proof’ or not, but I got this from a Legendary Pokemon,” he lied, motioning to his arm before continuing, trying unsuccessfully to keep the annoyance out of his voice. “ And a good friend of mine died from Entei. If this isn’t ‘proof’ enough, then screw you!” He was getting worked up now, and Anna’s death wasn’t a pleasant thought.
“ Sorry Gavin” Andrew said softly, as Gavin stalked away and onto the other side of the boat, annoyed that he had been almost losing his temper completely.
*
Lisa’s body was tensed for landing as she plummetted into a room which looked almost exactly the same as the one they had just been escaping from. Jessica gave a soft squeal and then came a loud moan.
Lisa landed, but it wasn’t too hard, it fact her landing was soft. Another loud moan came through the dust and hazy air, and when it had cleared a bit more both girls exchanged surprised glances. A man was lying there, looking crushed.
“ Gee thanks girls, I think you broke my ribs,” he moaned, trying to stand up, but his eyes crossed and he keeled over again, as there was a loud snap.
“ Oh my god! Phil! Sorry!” Jessica cried, immediately rushing over to help him recover. Lisa recognised him as the guy who had been with Jess and her brother earlier in the hotel. She decided it was best if she introduced herself.
“ Hi I’m Lisa … you made a nice landing. Sorry ‘bout that,” she said, barely suppressing a grin.
Although Jessica seemed to be trying to help, Phil still looked almost unconscious. Lisa was wondering if she could do anything to help, when the massive metal door (identical to the one in the girls’ room) swung open. Lisa let her jaw drop in shock.
A woman stood there, half-silhouetted against the light. She looked about fifty or so, with her grey hair flying back behind her.
She smiled menacingly. “ Well I can see you’re all awake now, we can start the fun!” Lisa suddenly realised this was the woman who had kidnapped her last night, and made motion as to stand up and rush at the door, but the woman broke in. “ Don’t bother trying to escape, my Psychic Pokemon will stop you. Now if you’d like to follow me please.”
She sounded almost peaceful. The woman strode out of the room, Jess and Lisa staring at the Slowbro she had left behind. They had no option; the Slowbro looked very mentally strong. Lisa and Jess helped Phil to the door, while he clutched his ribs in pain. They all followed the woman, who was waiting just outside the room, with Slowbro taking up the rear. Lisa was planning a form of escape when Jess began to whisper to her.
They were all led down a set of stairs, which led into a big circular area, which may have once been a research centre or something. Before the girls could sort something out, Phil was enveloped in a blue aura, and Lisa knew that the Slowbro was controlling his body. Phil floated away to a distant room, where the metal door slammed on him. He was locked in. Alone.
Lisa considered rushing at the Slowbro, along with Jess, but what good would that do? Chances were, the woman would have millions more pokemon at her command. And when the woman pulled out two pokeballs and a belt, Lisa though maybe she was going to attack them, but then she recognised the belt as her own pokemon belt, and from Jessica’s muffled cry, the other pokeballs were hers.
Imagining her poor pokemon stuck in those balls, Lisa burst out, “ Give them back you old HAG!” and rushed at the villainous woman. Before she could attack her with her fists, Lisa felt a her body lift the ground, and knew that, just as Phil had had done to him, she was lifted through the air via Slowbro’s powers, and Lisa was returned to her place, beside a shocked Jessica.
As Lisa was returned, she noticed the woman’s clothing – beneath the swirling white lab coat was a black two piece suit, a red ‘R’ emblazoned upon it … it was painfully obvious now.
“ God Damn Team Rocket! Give me back my Pokemon! NOW!” Lisa screamed, making the realisation that the Woman was a Team Rocket villain, similar to the one who attacked Lisa back in Ecruteak. She heard Jessica snort after this statement, but her mind was on other things. What was it exactly that made Team Rocket come after her?
The woman looked barely flustered. “ Girls, Girls, I’d much more like it if you called me Lenina, its so much nicer,” she insisted, and if Lisa hadn’t been kidnapped by the woman – Lenina – then she would have thought she was a nice person.
Then, out of nowhere, Jessica spoke.
“ Say Lenina, can I please go to the toilet?” she asked in a sickly-sweet voice. Lisa glanced at her in shock; how could she leave her alone? But then … maybe she had a plan?
“ What, I need to go!” defended Jess, a slight glint in her eyes.
Lisa caught the look, and stayed silent, but Lenina either caught the glance or was just not dumb enough to be fooled.
“ No. You may not. Right now you’re going to be battling,” she grinned evilly at the girls.
“ BATTLE!” cried Lisa.
Lenina looked like a child on Christmas Eve, her eyes were filled with excitement. “ Yes; whoever wins gets to live. Simple enough? Here are your Pokemon,” Lenina said quickly, throwing across Jessica’s pokeballs and a belt for Lisa. Lisa’s mind rapidly set to work, thinking of a way to use Elekid, Fiskmire and Dratini to help her out. If only she still had Aipom … he could escape excellently.
“ Don’t you even think of using them to escape,” Lenina said, reading Lisa’s thoughts. “ I have a gun, ready for use on both of you.” Lisa and Jess gulped simultaneously as she revealed the shiny, black, deadly gun.
Lenina had all the bases covered. They couldn’t escape. They had to battle. One of them would die.
This would be the biggest battle in Lisa’s life, but unlike those people who train for League Matches, she had no forewarning or even desire to fight. It was really unfair.
Lisa selected her first pokeball with a sweaty hand, and threw it up and down nervously. If only Suicune were here to save her. But what were the chances?
Jessica held up her pokeball, and made a face of fear. “ Good luck Lisa,” she said shakily.
“ You too Jessica,” Lisa grimaced. With that, one glance at Lenina’s gun was enough to provoke the girls into action.
They both lobbed out their pokeballs, and prepared to face the outcome.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next up on Lisa the Legend
Lisa and Jessica are fighting for their lives … literally. Or are they?
“ Use Bubble attack!” called Lisa. And she willed her faithful pokemon mentally; ‘Go easy on it … this battle has to last!’
Jessica grinned back at Lisa, exchanging the same emotion; they had to go easy on it. “ Use your charm!”
But their battle can’t last forever, before something happens.
“ Hurry it up, girls,” Lenina smirked, handing her metal weapon. “ My gun is getting restless.”
It’s up to Gavin and Andrew … and Aipom, of course.
“ I think Natu found something … back on the mainland,” cried Gavin. Andrew came over to examine with Gavin what it was that Natu had found.
And it’s not just a matter of racing the clock …
“ It still doesn’t explain it,” Andrew exclaimed. “ Who took them both?”
Gavin shrugged. “ At least we know why.”
Chapter 29 – EBTV Crossover – Part 2: FIGHT!