Pokémon Obsidian | An Orre Fanfiction

Chapter 96: Never Gets a Break

Cadeyrn remained at the International Police office. He had a comfortable makeshift bed in a broom cupboard. As harmless as he seemed, they couldn't let him go, because he didn't remember his address. They couldn't find it for him. There was no record of any Cadeyrn Woodward ever living in Orre. Cipher had no record of him, either. His name wasn't in Jamie's database of fake identities.

Emma suggested that he came from so far back in time, there were no records then. His clothes didn't support that theory. They were old-fashioned, but not medieval. Poké Balls hadn't changed much in the past 100 years and Cadeyrn's certainly weren't from before then.

'Did Jamie say who he thinks it is?'

Orvil shook his head. 'No. He was being kind of weird and paranoid.'

Volcarona flew Emma back to Agate Village. There were loose ends to tie up in her interviews with Jamie, but her main question was who he thought Cadeyrn was. Whether he felt more comfortable with Emma or his paranoia had subsided, he immediately replied.

'Evice.'

'Would you be willing to share your reasoning?'

'Similar clothes, same eye colour, same Pokémon. I don't know what he looked like when he was young, but his hair was curly in his Es Cade disguise. I guess he had some cartoon villain make-up artist for his Evice outfit. Like Nascour and his wind machine and red contact lenses.'

'Let me see...'

Emma typed 'young Evice' into Roto-Search. An Orrean musician named his child Evice since he died. The photos were of him.

'His real name was Everard Vice.'

'Ah. Thank you.'

She adjusted the search. The young Evice did bear a striking resemblance to Cadeyrn, but his hair was the wrong colour. Evice's was platinum blond.

'He was also a renowned Trainer, back in his day. He may well have been battling at Orre Colosseum on December 25th in the past.'

'So... you think it's possible that he came through the warp hole because he was there on the same day many years ago?'

'It'd be more likely than someone from some other day arriving, because you'd travel in a metaphorically straight line. Put it that way.'

Jamie hesitated. 'By the way...'

'Yes?'

'Did you... give Raidne that memory stick?'

'I did. I haven't seen her since.'

'Oh. OK. Anyway. You were about to say something.'

'Would it need to be at the same time on that day? Forgive my ignorance. Does Orre Colosseum host battles that late?'

'It wouldn't need to be, but it would help. Time as we know it is a human construct, but...'

Emma listened curiously to Jamie's explanation about the planet and solar system's orbits and how a person's own experience influenced their time travelling with Celebi. She didn't understand it all, but she didn't need to. That was a new side of him.

'...And yes. The schedule varies, but they host battles at all kinds of different times.'

'Thank you. Have you ever considered teaching, Jamie?'

'Me?'

He grimaced. 'A whole class of tittering students staring at me? No thanks... and anyway, it's not like I'll ever get a responsible job like that now, with my criminal record.'