Chapter Six

"But why?" Natasha demanded. "Why didn't you tell me about Bjorn and Ursula?"

Richard Gregg frowned, grateful that he had the fact he was currently driving to use as an excuse to avoid looking at his niece, currently seated in the front passenger seat of his car. Bjorn and Ursula sat in the back as Gregg drove them to what he hoped would be a safe place, where they would never have to worry about the OCIB again. Since all his other attempts to create a human/Pokemon hybrid had ended in failure - with none still alive after five years - these two twelve-year-olds were all the more important to him.

"It's - it's kind of hard to explain," he admitted at last. "But I knew what I was doing was illegal - the OCIB once threatened me for using gene therapy on a Smoochum to counter accidental exposure to an Everstone. So I figured that, the less people outside my lab knew, the less chance there was of Bjorn and Ursula being exposed. Only . . ."

"Someone's found out already," Natasha cut in. "Uncle Richard," she added desperately, "who do you think it was that betrayed them?"

Gregg sighed. "I honestly can't tell you," he said. "Although my guess would be that it was someone with a grudge against them - a grudge strong enough to want them dead."

"Derek Holloway," Bjorn remarked from the back seat. "He got in trouble for calling me a cheat the same day we found out what we were. He could've listened outside Mrs Mather's office and . . ."

"No, Bjorn," Gregg replied, cutting the boy's litany of speculations short. "You must never say things like that without proof - and, besides, it would take more than a childhood quarrel to prompt such a betrayal."

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Bjorn sighed and sat back in his seat, wondering anew who had informed on the Chimera Children if it hadn't been Derek Holloway. Could it have been Mr Braithwaite, the crotchety old gardener at Greenview? He and Bjorn had hated each other for years, ever since the Chimera Children had left Greenview's Nursery Annexe at the age of four and moved to the main children's home. And one of the first things Bjorn had done afterwards was accidentally kill off Mr Braithwaite's marrows with what he now realised to be the Toxic Attack. Since then, the old man had liked nothing better than to threaten both children, Ursula being, in his eyes, guilty by association.

"If you can't control that Eevee, I'll wring its neck!" he had told Ursula once after the Eevee that Espeon was then had escaped and been caught digging up the flowerbeds.

"Bjorn?" Ursula was looking at her brother with a concerned expression on her face.

"Sorry, Sula - I was just thinking about old Braity," Bjorn explained. "D'you think he's the one who told on us?"

"I don't know. But I've been thinking - and I'm pretty sure whoever it was came from inside Greenview. There's no way an outsider would know."

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Richard Gregg lived in a detached house on the outskirts of Pasque Village, a modest dwelling paid for out of the profits he had gained from his work in Pokemon genetics. He had never married, the one young woman who might have been a potential wife having left him because she felt he was spending too much time at the lab. Genetic research had been his life for as long as he could remember - at the age of barely twenty, he had published an extensive paper detailing research which suggested that the many weaknesses that Magikarp displayed, their inability to learn any Attacks except Splash, Tackle and Flail, had arisen from a spontaneous mutation. This should have given them a distinct handicap, but Gregg also argued that the fact that Gyarados retained their original power levels was a compensatory factor.

"I've been trying to produce a genetically engineered Magikarp to overcome their current limitations," he explained as they passed through a large aquarium. "So I've been blending Magikarp DNA with that of other Water Pokemon and the results have been - pretty spectacular."

"Spectacular?" Bjorn echoed, unable to see anything exceptional about the several dozen Magikarp in the tanks that lined the walls. The fish-Pokemon were gaping stupidly at the four visitors, with nothing in their appearence to suggest that they were any different from normal Magikarp. And one of the first things a Pokemon trainer learned was that this was one of the weakest species known.

"I think a battle might show you what I mean," Gregg replied as he drew one of the Magikarp into a Poke Ball. "Bjorn, do you have a strong Water Type?"

Bjorn nodded and pulled out his Dewgong's Poke Ball. It had been some time since he had battled someone other than Ursula or Natasha and a trainer's skills grew rusty without practice against a variety of opponents. Even though Gregg was going to use a Magikarp, Bjorn was ready for the challenge.

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They assembled by the swimming pool in Gregg's garden, the two challengers taking opposite ends as they prepared to face off. Natasha volunteered to act as referee and stood with her right arm raised in a "prepare to battle" signal.

"Bjorn! Uncle Richard! Begin!" she called, letting her arm drop abruptly.

Seconds later, two Poke Balls span through the air, bursting open as they hit the water and releasing their respective contents. Before the battle began, Bjorn crouched down to whisper encouragement to his Dewgong as he swam up and down warming up for the battle ahead.

"I'm counting on you, Dewgong."

"OK!" Gregg called from the opposite end. "Magikarp - Bubble Beam!"

In response, the Magikarp Gregg was using sent a volley of bubbles streaming towards Dewgong who cried out in pain as they burst against his skin. Bjorn thought fast and quickly came up with what he hoped would be an effective counterstrike.

"Dewgong - Blizzard!" he ordered, watching with satisfaction as Dewgong opened his mouth and a powerful blast of snow wafted violently towards Magikarp. The smaller Pokemon struggled to stay in the water and not get blown away - seeing this, Ursula began to cheer for her brother from where she was standing watching the battle.

"You've got it now, Bjorn!" she shouted, jumping up and down in her excitement. "A quick Aurora Beam should do the trick!"

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But Gregg was not about to give up; aware that even a genetically engineered Magikarp was bound to have difficulties against an evolved Pokemon like Dewgong, he quickly hatched a plan to counter the Blizzard Attack.

"Magikarp - Endure!" he called. In response, Magikarp braced himself for the onslaught, exerting force against force as Dewgong swam towards him in a Take Down Attack. From that point on, no matter what Bjorn told Dewgong to do, Magikarp simply couldn't be budged. Gregg watched the two struggling Pokemon calmly, knowing victory was only moments away.

"Now, Magikarp!" he ordered, seeing that Dewgong was beginning to tire. "Lock On and use Hyperbeam!"

On hearing these words, Bjorn knew the battle was over; he had seen Ursula's Espeon - and Ursula herself - use Hyperbeam often enough to know that it was a very powerful Attack capable of knocking a Pokemon out instantly. And, when combined with Lock On, it became virtually unstoppable. All he could do was watch as Dewgong went zooming across the pool to land flat out on the concrete surrounding it.

"Dewgong is unable to battle!" Natasha called. "Magikarp is the winner!"

"I warned you, didn't I?" Gregg said as he and Bjorn recalled their Pokemon. "That particular Magikarp carries Remoraid DNA - much like you and Ursula each have the DNA of an Ursaring."

"I see," Ursula replied, joining the others. "It looks like a Magikarp but it has a Remoraid's DNA."

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There was something that had been troubling her ever since she and Bjorn found out that the people they believed had been their parents had been invented as part of a elaborate cover story. "Mr Gregg?" she ventured, wondering how she should broach the subject she wanted so desperately to ask about.

"Please, call me Richard."

"Richard," Ursula corrected herself, "who - who were our parents? I mean, we DID have parents, right?"

Gregg frowned as he considered what to say next. The truth was that, while Bjorn and Ursula both had the same human mother, Ursula had no biological father. She had been created by blending her mother's DNA with that of a female Ursaring, a process which not only guaranteed that the child produced would be a girl but also meant a father was unnecessary. But she would be better not finding that out for a few years, he mused - finding out she was a Chimera was enough of a shock in itself.

"It's all rather complicated," he said at last. "But I can tell you that your mother's name was Suzanne Hope and she was a key member of the project which created you. But there was some trouble over what would happen to you afterwards . . ."

"Trouble?" echoed Bjorn, intrigued to be hearing about his and Ursula's biological mother for the first time in his life.

"We asked all human parents to sign papers waiving the right to custody of any children born as a result of the project," Gregg explained. "We wanted them to stay in a protected environment as long as possible, you see. But Suzanne . . . took some persuading and, after she'd tried to claim you a few times, we had your last names changed to Olsson to keep her from finding you again."

A stunned silence followed. Natasha was shocked that a mother could have her children taken away from her without her consent. However, since Bjorn and Ursula had never known Suzanne, they had never missed her - Ursula's question had been prompted more by a need to know who she was, to find a sense of self.

"What - what happened to her?" asked Bjorn at length.

"I'm afraid she never really got over," Gregg replied, shaking his head sadly. "She took an overdose when you were five; her young son - your older brother - found her. But there was nothing the paramedics could do . . ."

Bjorn and Ursula exchanged looks, each of them wondering the same thing - who was this brother they had and what had happened to him? When Ursula put this question to Gregg, he shook his head again; he had lost contact with Suzanne's son some time ago and, for all he knew, the youth might be dead by now.

"I can't tell you much except that his name is - or was - Joseph," he explained. "It's been over seven years now and I haven't had any word from him since Suzanne died . . ."

He paused and decided it might be better to change the subject. "Listen - about what we said in the car," he told Bjorn and Ursula. "I don't know who informed on you, but the OCIB won't rest until they catch you. So I want both of you to be extremely careful - don't let anyone you aren't sure of know what you are and don't go off on your own."

"But . . ." Bjorn started to object, but Gregg held up his hand for silence.

"I don't like this any more than you do," he explained. "But it's your safety I'm concerned with - the two of you are too valuable for me to take any risks."