Pokémon Obsidian | An Orre Fanfiction

Chapter 30: Headlines

Zileh's rented Charizard landed outside the hospital in Nascott City. She wanted nothing more than to find Reira and their Pokémon, but if she stayed still for too long, engulfing panic attacks set in. She couldn't keep staring at CCTV from everywhere Reira might have wandered. Orvil had to take over.

Scarlet, an International Police officer herself, was dropped off by her Hawlucha behind Zileh. She was usually based in Alola, but was on paid leave after both of her parents, Guzma and Lusamine, died within a week of each other. Her bosses were admittedly relieved when she asked if she could take on the Orrean case. They needed more officers and she needed a distraction.

Zileh had worked with her before. Even when she stopped dyeing her hair fiery red, her personality remained even louder. It was unsettling to see her so quiet and withdrawn. Her Pokémon were subdued. They never warmed to Lusamine, because she was a questionable Trainer and even more questionable mother, but they adored Guzma. They also knew their Trainer was upset about Lusamine, despite feeling let down by her; though that was partly what made the loss so upsetting.

Lusamine didn't attend Guzma's funeral. Scarlet tried to reach out to her regardless. She wanted to give her the chance to shed the guilt of her past neglect to show she cared, deep down; but she said she was 'busy.' Only two days later, her half-brother Gladion called to let her know their mother collapsed. Like Courtney, she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. In Lusamine's case, though, it was caused by radiation from her meddling with Ultra Space.

Scarlet rushed to Aether Paradise. She thought Lusamine was perhaps so troubled by her diagnosis that she simply couldn't face her kids at first, but her right-hand man Faba still told Scarlet to get lost. Cassia argued. He only whispered homophobic slurs.

Gladion and his sister Lillie, however, were at Lusamine's bedside. As she profusely apologised to them both for her inability to be the mother they needed, Scarlet had no choice but to leave, before Faba called the police to drag her away. She didn't want hugs or sympathy. She wanted to either arrest GoD if he was truly a heartless serial killer, or help him if he was mentally ill.

They took the elevator to the second floor. Voices floated from Jamie's room. He was still recovering from shoulder and jaw surgery. He, too, tried to tell Laila to go away, but she was too stubborn. Scarlet stopped Zileh pushing the door open. She squinted through the gap between the curtains. Jamie held a newspaper. On the front page were screenshots of the countless headlines criticising him and even Lavender.

'I know they think they're being nice giving me the ONBS paper because they're the only ones standing up for me, but I don't want to see this shit! Her body's hardly cold and they're talking shit about her!'

'It says more about them than you, Jamie.'

'I know it does. But I've been dealing with this shit since the World Championships.'

Some champions – Wes, Zileh and Alfie – refused the title. Of those who kept it and reigned as official Orre League Champion – Michael, Zane, Lyric and Jamie – he was the only one who never even came close to winning the World Championships. The first time, Island Kahuna Hau trounced him in the second round. After the vicious response from battling fans in Orre, he was so nervous the following year that he lost to an elderly member of Hoenn's Elite Four, Sidney, in the first round. He never entered again.

'That wasn't your fault, either. Hau had, like, 50 years more experience–'

'Then lost to a 13 year-old.'

'Well, yeah, but then she lost to Steven bloody Stone! I know he was a great Trainer once, but he's a walking corpse now. Her beating Hau was a fluke. As for Sidney, if people want to give you shit for it, maybe they shouldn't have given you shit in the first place! Then you wouldn't have lost!'

'Part of being a great Trainer is conquering battle anxiety. And to be honest, I can't do it.'

'Neither can Raihan – at least not when he's battling anyone related to Gramps, anyway. People don't give him shit.'

'Yeah, but he's all theatrical about it. People literally watch his battles to see him lose to Gramps. It's shipping material, innit? I don't want people to ship me, even if there was a hot guy to ship me with.'

'They ship you and Cam.'

'That's disgusting.'

'It is a bit, but I can't talk. Me and Aiko wrote that Eldes-Maxie fanfic and neither of us want to delete it because it's so popular.'

'I mean, yeah, that was a bit weird, but at least they're not related! Honestly, I thought fame couldn't get any worse than Dad's fans following us home from school, but no, they'll start on my murdered girlfriend before her body's even cold. If they wouldn't accuse me of dumping my title because I'm too pathetic to keep it, I would. I never called myself unbeatable. No-one else even calls me unbeatable. They just have to obsess over every Fayed through their Leon Specs.'

'They do. You are unbeatable. No-one other than me and Wisteria has come close. And I only did because I'm your #1 fan.'

'Was I really a "jerk rival?"'

'I mean, I wasn't on the Gym Challenge with you so I guess I can't say for sure, but you know I find that incredibly hard to believe. I think we're just... different. Yeah, people will say the kids of famous people should just go dry their tears with daddy's P10,000 bills, but let's be real – they don't have a clue. And then they cry when celebrities commit suicide. As if they didn't contribute to it by shitting all over their problems just because they're rich.'

'Money does make your life easier. I get it. But if it really buys happiness and security, why is Lavender dead? Why am I so miserable?'

In the waiting room, a muffled TV announced that Jamie was now being criticised for his silence. He was yet to publicly speak about Lavender's death.

'You ought to tell them what the coppers said. That she was dragged out of bed with a hand over her mouth while you were practically sedated by your meds. They thought you were dead! It's not like you've never mentioned your insomnia, is it? I thought they watched every interview! I'll stand up for you, Jamie.'

Zileh knew that was true. There was no doubt, from the bruises on Lavender's face, that she was aggressively silenced as she was dragged from bed. Jamie was indeed knocked out by the heavy sleeping medication he usually avoided taking. The family doctor advised him to 'sedate' himself when he complained that he only slept six hours in the last week. The police wondered if the doctor was paid off to give that advice, so Cipher could be sure Jamie wouldn't fight back, but there was no evidence; unlike the hastily-covered trail of bribes exchanged between Wilmot and the doctors who treated suicidal Camden.

There was also no doubt that Jamie didn't kill Lavender. He was initially the prime suspect, because he survived and was the only person known to be in the apartment at the time. His injuries, however, were genuinely inflicted only minutes after Lavender's were. Unless he was GoD and somehow time travelled to kill her, it was physically impossible, but no-one reported GoD having a fractured shoulder. It was indeed a baseball bat, not a boot heel, that broke Jamie's jaw. The fingerprints on the baseball bat weren't his. They didn't match any recorded in the local or International Police systems.

Of course, it was also possible that GoD instructed his minions to injure him further, if he was that desperate to hide his identity. The point of Zileh and Scarlet's visit was to interview Jamie, to study his reactions just in case, but they weren't sure they still needed to. Speaking to Laila, he seemed genuinely upset. It also seemed she wasn't about to leave any time soon. They didn't want to impose if the anaesthetics numbing his grief had worn off, so they returned to the main Nascott City PD office to review their findings so far.