Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or associated characters, only characters of my own invention.

Chapter 6 – Like Brother Unlike Sister

As the Beedrill swooped down towards Kieran, aiming for his exposed neck, a sharp gust of air speared in on an angle, knocking the bee out of the sky. Clutching her chest in relief, Tirrielle quickly scanned the direction from which the attack had come, attempting to locate its source. Kieran spun around quickly, surveying the surrounding forest, before turning back to Marcus with an icy stare. Marcus returned the glare, looking around to see how many of his colleagues had regained consciousness. Most hadn't, while the ones that had looked rather unwilling to continue the battle. Growling in annoyance, he reached down to grab another Pokeball.

'Give up,' Kieran told him.

'Why should I?' Marcus retorted.

'I'd listen to him,' advised a female voice, coming from the same direction that the air attack had. Tirrielle craned her neck more to see the speaker, watching as a woman dropped from the back of a large flying Pokémon. Her hair was long and dark brown, the same shade as Kieran's, and she looked to be in her twenties. Kieran looked over to her, and to Tirrielle's surprise he rolled his eyes.

'Why are you here?' he asked.

The woman frowned in response. 'What sort of a greeting is that?'

'An unwelcome one,' said Kieran shortly. 'I don't need your help...'

The woman rolled her eyes. 'What about that Beedrill then bro?'

'Meh. I had that covered,' said Kieran dismissively.

'Whatever,' the woman muttered sceptically, before turning her attention to Marcus. 'Get lost.'

'What are you doing here?' asked Marcus, and Tirrielle thought she detected a slight note of fear in his voice.

'Just thought I'd come check up on how my baby bro is doing,' she stated cooly, while Kieran looked annoyed at the term of reference.

Marcus backtracked several steps, and then motioned to those around him, all of which had by now managed to recover from the Earthquake. 'C'mon, we're leaving,' he said, turning to face the forest slightly to the left of Tirrielle.

'Why?' asked one. 'She's just a girl...'

'Just shut up and run!' Marcus shouted at him, sprinting towards Tirrielle, who hid behind the thickest tree she could find as he passed her, followed by the others, some of which were looking distinctly confused by the sudden retreat. Tirrielle was also a little mystified. The woman had called herself Kieran's sister. Could it be possible that she was actually stronger than he was?

'Why did you scare them away?' questioned Kieran as the last of them scrambled away from the wrecked campsite, dragging an unconscious colleague with them.

'Wasn't it you who told him to get lost?' the woman replied, raising her eyebrows.

'No, I told him to give up,' said Kieran a tone of annoyed disapproval. 'Wasn't I meant to capture them?'

'My bad,' the woman shrugged. 'Just capture them in the town.'

'I would have captured them here if you hadn't interfered,' Kieran muttered, turning away from her to recall his Dragonite. His sister frowned.

'You would have been lying on the ground dying if it wasn't for me,' she said quietly.

'I had it covered,' he said, and then cried out in surprise a second later as she hit him over the back of his head with her hand. 'What was that for?' he demanded angrily.

'Honestly Kieran, start acting more responsible and stop being such a child. You're so arrogant it's going to get you killed soon. You can't just go walking into an enemy camp without carefully observing and planning beforehand.'

Kieran glared at her, but didn't seem to have anything to say, and Tirrielle took the momentary break in the conversation/lecture to step out from behind the tree and enter the campsite, clearing her throat nervously to announce her presence.

Kieran's sister twirled around in alarm to face her, her flying Pokémon starting menacingly towards Tirrielle, who saw the intent in its eyes and threw up her arms in panic.

'Wait!' she cried out as the bird lifted itself from the ground, aiming for her. 'I'm with him!'

The woman glared angrily at Tirrielle, but motioned for her Pokémon to stop momentarily.

'That's honestly the worst excuse that I've ever heard. If you knew my brother at all, you would know that he doesn't travel with anyone. And even if he was travelling with someone, the last kind of person I would expect to find him with is a girl like you!'

'It's true!' Tirrielle proclaimed desperately, sensing the woman was about to set the bird on her.

Wearing a look of drop dead scepticism, the woman turned to Kieran, who was facing the other way. 'Is she with you?'

No reply. The woman gave Tirrielle a "told you so" look, before motioning the bird forwards again. 'Piiiiiidge,' it screeched out a long syllable of its name, before flapping its wings a swooping forwards towards Tirrielle, who screamed, her hands in front of her face.

'Yes,' answered Kieran finally, just loud enough to be heard over Tirrielle's screams.

Immediately the woman called for the Pokemon to halt just in time to stop its beak tearing through the flesh on Tirrielle's arms, and goggled at Kieran with a mixture of surprise and amusement, circling around so that she was facing him.

'You have a girlfriend?' she asked, a broad grin now spreading over her face as she looked up at Tirrielle, as if appraising her.

'She's not my girlfriend,' muttered Kieran, refusing to look at his sister.

'It's okay, you can tell me...' she said in a mock soothing tone, grinning mischievously.

Kieran glared at Tirrielle, as if blaming her for all this. Tirrielle blinked back, a little taken aback by the sudden change in demeanour of his sister.

'So you have a sister?' Tirrielle asked, asking the first question that came into her head. Kieran scowled and turned away from the both of them.

The woman shook her head with a smile. 'Guess I'll have to introduce myself then. I'm Alexa, Kieran's big sister and the fourth member of the Elite Four.' She smiled at Tirrielle, whose eyes widened in surprise.

'E-Elite Four!' she spluttered.

'Yeah,' said Alexa. 'And let me apologize in advance for my brother... Nobody is sure why, but he seems to have been born without a heart.'

Tirrielle laughed, nodding. 'Yeah, I think I've seen that side of him once or twice. I'm Tirrielle.'

'So how did you two meet?' Alexa asked, pulling up a log and sitting down, appearing thoroughly interested.

'It was a couple of days ago, I was being attacked and Kieran saved me with his Dragonite.'

Alexa nodded. 'So then how did you end up travelling with him?'

'I kinda, followed him,' Tirrielle muttered, blushing slightly.

'Wait, and he didn't just disappear the next morning before you woke up?' Alexa seemed surprised.

'Well, almost,' said Tirrielle. 'He woke me as he was leaving, I didn't even get to change...'

'But he woke you up though, which I think is a first,' said Alexa thoughtfully. 'Kieran actually attracts a lot of girls, but he either disappears on them or they get sick of his personality and leave.'

'What girls?' Kieran muttered, still looking away. Alexa grinned at Tirrielle.

'Girls talk, rumours spread, my bro,' she replied, before turning back to Tirrielle. 'He must really like you if you're still around,' she said in a mock whisper, winking.

Tirrielle blushed. Kieran said nothing, but she was sure she could hear his teeth grinding in frustration.

'So are you a trainer?' Alexa asked, and the conversation switched to Pokémon. Tirrielle was surprised to find Alexa was almost the exact opposite of Kieran, and not all what she would have expected from an Elite Four member, a very select group comprising of the most powerful trainers in the world. Tirrielle was also surprised at how quickly she seemed to have been accepted by Alexa, and found herself greatly enjoying the female company as the afternoon turned into evening, and they ate dinner and fed the Pokémon. Tirrielle learned that while on missions Pokémon were only fed once every few days unless used in battle or other purposes, as being in a Pokeball they expended little energy, and feeding them less often meant that they could pack less food and therefore travel faster and more efficiently. Alexa also explained to her that it was common for them to only carry a party of four Pokémon while on missions, for the same reason.

'Any news on Mikhael?' Kieran asked his sister, breaking the temporary silence that had fallen as they sat around the campfire.

Alexa should her head, looking grim. 'Who's Mikhael?' asked Tirrielle. The name sounded familiar to her for some reason.

'The Champion,' said Alexa, answering the question of where Tirrielle recognised the name from. The Champion was known as the most powerful trainer alive.

'He went missing not long after the League Championships last year, and hasn't been seen since,' Alexa explained. 'But that's classified information,' she continued, looking seriously at Tirrielle, who nodded.

'Well anyway,' said Alexa with a yawn. 'I'm going to get some sleep.'

'Night,' said Tirrielle cheerfully, while Kieran looked pointedly in the opposite direction.

'Would you like me to wake you up tomorrow so he doesn't leave without you?' Alexa offered, smiling.

'Yes, please,' said Tirrielle gratefully as she stood up to head to her own tent. It had been another long day...

Author Note: Apologies for the delay between chapters, I've been busy with Uni exams. Six weeks of holidays now before next semester though, so hopefully updates will be fairly frequent. =)