Pokémon Obsidian | An Orre Fanfiction

Chapter 110: Catalyst

Horace's appearance at the court was the first time he left his apartment since he was discharged from rehab. Neither sobriety nor taking the oath wiped away his mischievous smirk. Laila was past the point of solemnity. She almost whispered to her parents that Horace was Impidimp Ready Dinner personified, but she suppressed the urge.

'Can you please confirm your name and occupation?'

'Horace Cail Vincent. Bounty hunter. I also sell delicious Impidimp Ready Dinner, in case anyone's hungry.'

'Is it correct that you were friends with the defendant?'

'Yeah. We were drinking buddies.'

'Were you aware of his involvement in Cipher?'

'That's a loaded question, ma'am. Was I aware he was making Shadow Pokémon and giving them to his Peons? Yeah. Was I aware there was an entire underground Orre planned? That my pal was lashing out after experiencing "Rose Moore's Pool Party" at the Selenite Resort? Definitely not.'

'How did you become aware of the production of Shadow Pokémon?'

'I can see auras.'

'Did you tell the defendant?'

'Yup. I was like, "what the fuck, dude? You got a Shadow Pokémon there." And he was like, "I know. I made it."'

'The defendant didn't share that kind of information with anyone else outside of Cipher. Why you?'

'Because we were both drunks. And crooks. I mean, I wasn't on the world domination level, but I'm a long, long way off perfect.'

'Why didn't you report it?'

'We struck a deal. He made the Pokémon, gave 'em to Peons who couldn't handle them, I snagged them, purified them and gave them back to their original Trainers for a small fee.'

'Were you ever concerned for the Pokémon you couldn't snag, because they were still in Cipher's care?'

'Yeah, but like I said, I had no idea how big Cipher was. I didn't think there were that many. And I thought that if Jamie was in charge, it couldn't be that bad. I knew he had a hard time with stalkers and his obsessed ex and I thought he was just protecting himself. Which he was.'

'Do you think the defendant was encouraged by your "deal?"'

'Definitely, man. If I'd known what was really going on, I never would've agreed to it. And by "what was really going on," I mean how badly he was being abused and manipulated. Even how bad his drinking problem got. But having an enabler outside of Cipher – of course it encouraged him to think that what he was doing wasn't so bad. And that, my friends, is what I'm here to ask y'all to think about. Abusers, enablers... sure, what Jamie did was bad, but what caused him to do it? What choice did he have? To keep being abused, or to fight back? Make himself too powerful to ever be abused again? I know what I'd choose.'

'Did you ever talk about the defendant's family?'

'Yeah. That Kalosian teacher of his convinced him they didn't care. She did a real number on him. Drinking made me insecure, but he was on a whole other level. He literally thought everyone who adored him actually hated him. I tried to tell him, but he wouldn't listen. He got it all drilled into him too young. And...'

Horace hesitated. His smirk disappeared. Jamie must have known what he was going to say, because he was glaring. Horace took a deep breath and spoke regardless.

'I don't want to speak ill of the dead, but... I don't think... his girlfriend helped.'

'Lavender Hexagon?'