Pokémon Obsidian | An Orre Fanfiction

Chapter 43: Disguise

Scandal's practice space was a previously abandoned warehouse in The Under. Holly always arrived first. Ilirian usually followed a few minutes later, but she wasn't sure if he would even show up. No-one had heard from him since he took off from Laila's apartment. It was bizarre. Even when he didn't meet his best friends, they spoke by text every day... until then.

The lights laboriously flickered on. They usually practiced in the dim light of neon signs. Holly let the fluorescent strips above flood the walls vibrant with posters, photos and stickers. As she hung up her uniform's jacket and pulled off her boots after a long shift, everything seemed normal. The leather jacket Ilirian kept forgetting was as dusty as ever. Aiko's pastel guitars, decorated with stickers, were exactly where she left them; arranged slightly more carelessly than Holly's three deep black bass guitars.

Chess left one of his wide-brimmed hats hanging on the check guitar that matched his name. It was still there. The boxes containing Ilirian's spare drums and percussion they rarely used were as dusty as his forgotten jacket. So was their lone keyboard. Holly absentmindedly took a cloth from the makeshift kitchen to wipe them down. Everything seemed normal... yet she had an inexplicable feeling that something was wrong.

Someone uninvited had been in there. She was sure of it. What did they want? As far as she could tell, nothing was missing. She released her Gardevoir and took out her P★DA to shine the torch on the sound-absorbing rugs from the region of Abbey and Leon's ancestors. Gardevoir pointed. Holly knelt to examine the boot prints it spotted. Ilirian always wore the same boots – which everyone knew, because they stank – but Chess had a collection of 'festival wellies' from Galar, alongside the stack of sneakers he wore for gigs. Those imprints, though, looked like they were left by heavy combat boots.

The shutters rattled. Chess waved as Holly glanced up.

'I guess Liri isn't smoking outside?'

'No... haven't heard a peep out of him since he launched off. Why am I still surprised that Golurk flies?'

'If he ends up with Laila, they can launch off together. How's your face?'

'It could be worse, I guess... I still can't chew anything. But compared to some of the others...'

Chess knew he was a suspect. He knew Holly was wondering if there was any chance it was her boot that knocked his teeth out. Neither of them acknowledged it.

'Anyway. How was work?'

'Oh, same old.'

The shutter rumbled again. Aiko stepped in.

'No Liri...?'

'Nothing. He hasn't even texted.'

'Way to make himself look suspicious...'

'Yet I can just imagine what he's doing, as we speak – sitting on his living room floor, coughing a bit from the amount of weed smoke, thinking he's just hacked GoD himself when he's accidentally hacked Justy's PornBarn account.'

Aiko giggled. 'I think we underestimate him, really...'

'I still don't get,' Chess said, 'Why it's always Justy.'

'It's an unspoken thing. It just is.'

'My dad would've said "it Justy-is..."'

'And my dad would say that you'll get to a certain age and stop saying "my dad would've said," because you just say it.'

Holly sighed. 'As much as I'm 100% sure he's found GoD – who's actually Justy – on PornBarn, this is getting ridiculous. He'll end up arrested...'