Pokémon Fool's Gold | Orre & Galar Fanfiction

Chapter 6: So Much Trouble for One Van

Leon hadn't followed Amber. Charizard landed outside the Krabby Klub. Raihan, already tipsy, scrolled through Rotogram at the table he shared with Olivia. Abbey was nowhere to be seen. She'd left for Gateon Port early to make sure she didn't miss watching Fayiz's exhibition match live... but that finished hours ago. Leon knew from Olivia's expression that she wasn't in the bathroom. Forgetting the van, he went straight to their hotel.

Fayiz's voice echoed from tinny laptop speakers when Abbey opened the door. She was watching the locker room interview. Leon sat beside her to watch in silence. Their son recited a perfectly rehearsed speech about how hard his opponent, Marnie, tried.

'Fuck's sake,' Abbey tutted, 'I keep thinking about challenging him. Just to get him out. But I'm not even sure I could beat him.'

'I've thought about paying someone to rig it. Not like he'll need my money when I pop my clogs, is it? But I can't do that to my own son.'

'Yeah... how is Amber?'

'She's made a new friend. Wes's boy. Seth.'

'Oh, good! That's a relief.'

'She chose Eevee. Oh... and they're walking here. The van got stolen. Cassia forgot to lock it.'

Abbey sighed. 'Do Olivia and Raihan know?'

'Better tell them.'

Leon picked up his backpack, because it was never entirely safe to leave Poké Balls in an Orrean hotel room. Abbey covered her pyjamas with his long coat. She regretted it when a lurking woman, overdressed in a thick coat herself, snapped a furtive photo.

'Wasn't she at the lab?'

When Leon looked, she was gone. 'You'd think they'd find someone more exciting than ageing parents to spy on...'

After a few too many beers, Raihan was on the Krabby Klub's stage with local singer Kandee. Olivia filmed him, smirking. She claimed his Rotogram obsession annoyed her, but she secretly loved live streaming his drunken escapades – which he usually regretted the next morning – to his loyal followers. Raihan secretly loved her for it, too.

'Lee!' he yelled, a little too loudly, into the microphone, 'Come on! Join us!'

Leon leaned to shout over the music into Olivia's ear. 'Bad news...'

'Poor Marnie.'

Leaning back, she ended the live stream. 'If only my husband didn't get so nervous battling you and your relatives, Leon, he might still be Champion.'

'Well, yeah, we've been talking about that, but...'

'The van's been stolen,' Abbey announced bluntly, 'Cass forgot to lock it. They're walking here.'

Olivia blinked. 'Silly girl... she thinks she's still in Alola. Raihan!'

He stood like a soldier to attention. Kandee thanked the 'interesting man from Hammerlocke.' He stumbled off the stage.

'That lovely new van's been stolen... because our lovely daughter forgot to lock it.'

'What?!'

Raihan gaped. 'That didn't take long...'

The keys for Olivia's rental car jangled in her hands. 'Looks like we've got ourselves our own little quest.'

Her friends followed her to the parking lot. Raihan's Flygon flew after the car, keeping an eye on the roads, as they made their way around the city's car shops and garages. Outside the centre, many were still open to furtively sell drugs. Olivia wasn't afraid of approaching them. One man claimed he'd seen the van heading east out of town. They had to trust him. There was no sign of it anywhere in Gateon Port.