This funny short story was an entry to the Guess-the-Author competition at The Pokemon Tower Forums. I was given permission to host it. It was untitled, so I decided to give it a name. I hope you enjoy reading it.
"How many times have I told you you're an idiot now?"
"Four thousand, three hundred and eighty-two, Misty."
"Let's get it up to five thousand by this evening. You are a total moron."
"How was I supposed to know Team Rocket could play cards that well? It's not as if they'd won against me before," Ash whined.
"And yet when you ran out of money, you let them pressure you into betting Pikachu. If they'd already cleaned you out, why did you think one more game would help?"
"I dunno, I just felt lucky."
"You don't even know how to play Chinese poker!" She shouted.
"Jessie, the girl twerp is coming."
"Good. Now we can get enough to pay the boss back for the last six months. That tween is loaded."
"Now who's the idiot, huh?" Ash said.
"I thought I was the best pool shark this side of Mount Silver. I still can't figure how they won."
Brock pulled his hand over his face. "They're criminals, they cheat."
Ash and Misty both had the decency to look embarassed. "Oh," Misty whispered. "Well, now what do we do?"
"The big one is coming now, Jess."
Meowth laughed. "Put up the dartboard, we won't even have to gimmick the merchandise this time."
"How many Pokémon do we have left?" Ash groaned.
Misty looked in her bag. "Psyduck. They wouldn't take him."
"Any ideas?"
"None whatsoever."
An officer walked in. "There was a raid recently of a criminal den. We believe these belong to you." She pulled out a handful of Poké balls and a wad of money.
Brock took them and was only able to wink before Misty pulled him back and thanked the officer.
"Just doing my duty, miss."
Duplica thought of their predicament again and rolled her eyes as she was getting out of the police uniform. Talk about suckers on both sides. Team Rocket had been able to gimmick the games, but she could screw with people. They wouldn't forget in a hurry the little old lady who'd sold them that house. In their rush to get a property so beautiful for so little money, they'd neglected to even ask for the papers she'd forged. They'd be trying to explain to Giovanni why they'd stolen his summer home for months.
© Saliaven Chronotis 2006
