Chapter Six: Julia and Aaron

Ira followed Algol forward. His nose was towards the ground, sniffing, like a hunting Arcanine. Every now and then, he flicked his ringed ears and looked up, then continued sniffing.

Eventually he came to a door. “Bre,” he whispered.

Ira walked forward, and through the crack between the door and the wall, she could hear raised voices:

“Look at all this stuff! We’ve hit a treasure trove! We’re rich, Aaron, we’re rich!” exclaimed a sharp female voice.

“Uh... we are?” replied another voice, this time male.

“I mean, I am.”

“But you said each time we found money it’s both of us.”

“Oh yeah? Well, you aren’t getting any of this. Why? Because all this time, you have done nothing but drag me down.”

“But you’re my sister, Julia! Please! Pretty pretty please with a cherry on-”

“Fine! You get a portion of it! Just wait until-”

Ira turned to Algol. “I say we wreck down that door and crash their party.”

“Umbreon!”

“I could use a Gyarados for this... of course, Osiris will do fine to. Osiris, I choose you,” Ira whispered.

The Tauros appeared with a luminous flash. “Taur,” he said. Ira put her finger over her lips, then pointed to the door.

“Break it down,” she whispered.

“Taur, tauros,” said Osiris with a smile, and charged at the door. It came down with a thud and a pile of dust. When it cleared, there were two people in there. A boy and a girl, yes, but they were about sixteen, and the girl was a blonde and the boy a brunette. They were wearing black.

“Good evening,” said Ira.

“Who the he-” began the boy, but the girl cut him off.

“What do you think you’re doing, you stupid freak, intruding in our house like this! That’s breaking and entering, and you’re liable to be-”

“You call this your house?” asked Ira.

“Um, well, it was Mother and Father’s, but they were arrested. Aaron! Quick! The motto!” She cleared her throat and struck a pose like a fashion model. “Prepare for trouble,” she announced.

“Huh?” asked the boy. The girl stomped on his toe. “Ow! Oh, uh, on the double!”

“Ahem,” said the girl, more loudly this time. “Make it double,” she muttered between gritted teeth.

“Oh, sorry, uh, make it double.”

Ira coughed.

“To protect the world from devastation,” said the girl.

“To unite all people in starvation- oh, wait a minute, in our nation-”

“To denounce the evils of truth and love.”

“To reach all the way to-”

“Excuse me,” shouted the girl (by now Ira and her Pokemon were starting to crack up). “Can we talk?”

“Uh, sure, yeah.” He listened as she angrily whispered something to her. “Okay,” he said loudly when she was done. He made a pathetic attempt to form a similar pose to the one she was in. She glared at him out of the corner of her eyes, then continued with the motto.

“Julia,” she declared.

“Aaron.” After a moment’s pause, “That’s right, isn’t it, Julia?”

Julia didn’t answer. “Team rocket blast off at the speed of light!”

“Surrender now or we will bite!”

“AAAGH!” screamed Julia. “You fat freaking-”

“Okay, okay,” interrupted Ira. “I get the idea, you two are sadly pathetic freaks of nature. Now I want to-”

“Julia,” Aaron said, sounding very fearful, “what if she’s going to try and steal our treasure?”

“MY TREASURE!” roared Julia. “Bonnie and Clyde nearly ruined it at the Pokemart, but you’re worse than them!”

Bonnie and Clyde. Making mental note, thought Ira.

“Settle down,” said Ira happily. “Let’s have a Pokemon battle. If you win I won’t bother you. If I win I get some of your ‘treasure.’”

“Not fair odds,” said Julia. “We want one of your Pokemon.”

This made Ira angry. “Oh? Maybe I’ll just take your treasure by force, then. Algol and Osiris, return! I choose Taglio!” yelled Ira. The Aerodactyl appeared from his Pokeball. “Now,” said Ira, “you can go ahead and accept my challenge, or I’ll have my Aerodactyl Hyper Beam you to the Moon.”

“Fine,” snapped Julia. “But it won’t end where the battle ends. Tournament, full or single?”

It was the battle rules that had been devised ten or so years ago. Tournament was where you agreed on how many Pokemon you’d use and use them one by one. When one Pokemon won against the other, their trainer would score one point. Whoever had the most points at the end of the battle was the winner. Single was just one Pokemon against the other, and whosever Pokemon won was the winner. Full was like in a Gym Battle, where, like a Tournament fight, you used all your Pokemon. But instead of withdrawing them if they beat the other Pokemon, they went on to fight the next one the trainer sent out.

“Full,” said Ira. “Return, Taglio.” The Aerodactyl disappeared. “I choose Osiris.”

“Go, Magmar!” called Julia. A Magmar appeared from the Pokeball.

“Osiris, Take Down!”

“Fire Blast, Magmar!”

The two Pokemon attacked each other. Both were dazed, and when Osiris got the recoil, it appeared that that turn was to Julia’s favor.

Time to gamble, thought Ira. “Osiris, Fissure!”

“Fire Blast again!”

Strangely, both moves missed. Osiris dodged the Fire Blast, which went on to hit... the opposite wooden wall.

“Uh-oh,” muttered Ira as the fires began to spread across the wall.

Julia swore. “Where’s a water Pokemon when you need one?” she snapped. “Aaron, grab some of the treasure and I might let you have a little. We’re out of here. Return, Magmar.” She looked at Ira. With every second the flames took hold of more of the wall. “So long for now, but we’ll meet again. Go, Fearow! Get on, Aaron!” Aaron climbed on the Fearow’s back and they soared past Ira. As the Fearow turned, Aaron dropped a piece of yellowed paper from the “treasure”.

“Return, Osiris! Go, Taglio,” shouted Ira. Before she climbed on to Taglio’s back, she picked up the paper.