Pokémon Bloodstone | An Orre Fanfiction

Chapter 28: Unfamiliar Face

The atmosphere at the Pokémon HQ Lab was tense. Everyone was on edge. There was no way to tell when the next police raid was coming. They returned after the blackout to check if the lab was somehow responsible, but concluded they couldn't tell. Jovi and Hop knew Ein was harassing Eldes. He threatened to involve the Pokémon League HQ if Theta's disqualification wasn't overturned, but they were in Kanto. They couldn't be as clueless as the Orrean police. Why would they listen to some washed-up mad scientist? Wouldn't he be laughed off the phone for imagining they might care?

Lyndon delivered the contents of Ein's computers on three hard drives. They answered some questions about the 'Alfie Cult.' Ein spied on Alfie as obsessively as Ardos did. He compiled countless tables of possibilities to 'expose' him as a liar. Every article written about Lovrina and Alfie, either early when he was blamed or later when she was exposed as the abuser, were stored as password-protected documents in a folder titled 'Truth.' Lyndon also included his countless screenshots from Ein's email accounts and P★DA messenger on the hard drives. He was disgusted when he handed them over. With every public photo or video of Alfie in jail were texts – usually initiated by Lovrina, but occasionally Ein – mocking him or expressing amusement that he was jailed and Lovrina was not. Ein apparently didn't mind listening to her rants about how she didn't cause Alfie enough pain. He also mocked her 'best friend,' Ballonlea's Gym Leader Bede, who took her in to train for the Elite Four because he was a victim of the abusive Chairman Rose... and believed Lovrina was a victim, too.

They hardly needed proof that the Gallegos were despicable people at this point. Several people wondered when they met Theta as a child. They brushed it off as Ein's influence. It was clear now that it was Lovrina, too. As furious as Lyndon was to read about them mocking his dad, now he knew Alfie was a victim of Cipher, he knew it wasn't the most relevant information. He separated the screenshots into folders. There was one email from Nascour, who was apparently involved in the sale of Sandile, sent in panic during the blackout. Jovi couldn't help smiling.

'I see you had some fun with this lot.'

Lyndon shrugged. 'We had to get Sandile back somehow.'

'Yeah. Amber actually already told Zane who told Hop. We approve.'

'Verzant should take that money and leave Orre.'

'But where would he go? He can't fly, or Ardos will know. The money won't last forever – and a cleaner's wages won't go far anywhere around Orre. Sunset City is ridiculous... anyway, good work. They have no idea it was you!'

'Yeah... Ein actually suspects Nascour. Who blames Collector Edwin.'

'That's hilarious. Cipher never change.'

'Is it Cipher, though? From those messages between Ein and Lovrina – and Nascour, even – there's no way they were working with Ardos until recently. They didn't even know for sure if Cipher still existed. Or who I was. I didn't know who they were, either. If there ever was any contact, I was either in an episode I don't remember or they only spoke to someone below me, who never relayed it. Which I doubt. Everyone was scared of me. They did what I asked.'

'I don't think they did ever contact Cipher, but I guess it could've been Verzant? He was cocky enough to stand up to you.'

'He was in the end. But I think we can be sure that Ein, Lovrina and Nascour – and any minions – were working alone. They were even laughing at us – my Cipher – when Lovrina came to help take us down. They thought they could take over our facilities.'

'Yeah... I'm just getting to those screenshots. "Who the fuck is Lyndon Massey?" I love it! "How did some washed-up football player catch the Swords of Justice?" Oh, my gosh! "He's so Alfie's little brat. Can't he be recruited because he hates daddy? We can so convince him anyway."'