Phenac City was as busy as if no-one ever fled Cipher. Merch stands lined streets. The Gym Challengers were on international TV. It was the first time Parvor and Grason were asked for autographs. Even Amber, Cassia and Seth weren't used to this much attention. Jaxon handled it well. He was quietly, surprisingly confident he would be the one to defeat Michael.
Parents couldn't get through the throngs to wish their kids good luck. Leon and Abbey, with Charizard and Cinderace back on its feet, settled for waving to Amber. Fayiz just nodded. Cassia groaned when she saw Flygon above. Raihan whistled.
'Go Cassia! Go Cassia!'
Inside, Wes silently took his seat amongst Gym Leaders and his fellow Elite Four members. Rui watched with Suzie on her hospital room's TV. She was disappointed she couldn't attend, but satisfied that she would be well enough to see Seth's battles at Citadark Isle.
Feet thundered. Fans began to pour in. Tightly packed crowds remained outside. They waited for autographs from Leon, Raihan and Olivia. Barriers tipped when Michael arrived. Security scrambled to hold them steady. Resix and his Camerupt struggled to control the traffic.
Trip pushed Camden's stroller to Happiny Psychiatric Hospital. Lyndon would watch the battles with him in person, but he had a guest that morning. Amber urged Trip to go. As soon as he saw Lyndon awkwardly avoiding Alfie's gaze in reception, he wanted to turn back, but he couldn't. Was it genuine, the way Alfie's face lit up when he saw Camden? Trip had no idea. Lyndon seemed surprised. Maybe it was.
Officer Johnson's back was turned. He waved dismissively when Alfie asked if he could go outside with Trip and Lyndon. He still wore his dull grey jail uniform. People stared. Lyndon didn't have much to say to his dad, but Alfie had plenty to say to Trip and Camden, asking an endless stream of questions about Camden's growth and Trip's ambitions as they walked circles around the hospital.
'Jeez,' Lyndon grumbled, 'You talk too much.'
'Sorry... I've been in jail too long. Well, not too long, because I deserve it, but... 17 years mostly talking to Ardos about world domination is... well! Now I actually want to talk, I have verbal diarrhea.'
He smiled down at sleeping Camden, clinging to his Zubat plush. 'I definitely don't deserve this... but I sure am happy about it.'
Lyndon voiced what Trip wondered. 'If you actually care... and you want to know me and Trip and Camden... why? Why did you...?'
'I... don't know.'
Alfie shrugged. He looked genuinely, unusually uncomfortable.
'I could blame my dad... for beating me up because I was too short, or because I didn't want to be a military man, or because I was "too soft" on my own kid–'
Lyndon snorted. 'Oh, yeah. You were too soft, using me to get you out of jail and promoting me to Grand Master of your criminal syndicate. Totally disappearing from my life until I was useful was real soft, too.'
'I know, Don. I know. That's why I said I could blame my dad. Because I was a terrible dad, obviously... but you aren't like me.'
'I guess I don't remember hating you before you cleared off. But you still cleared off.'
'I could blame fame. That was definitely why I disappeared. I wasn't "allowed" to have a son. I was meant to be single and desirable, not an unmarried dad. But again... I'm still to blame. I could have quit. I was so desperate to get away from my dad, I...'
His voice cracked. 'I don't have any valid excuses, Don. If I could turn back time, I would. I'd treat you better. I'd treat Abbey better. I'd help you stop Gretchen. I'd never have got involved with Cipher.'
'Yet it was only this year you let Gretchen help you... and proclaimed "Cipher lives" as you escaped, apparently.'
'I know! I know, I know, I know. I was desperate to get out. To come home. I don't care about Cipher. I don't know why I ever cared about Cipher. But in that moment it represented freedom. And it was all I had. I knew you already hated me. I knew Trip wouldn't want to know me. I knew no-one cared about me, because no-one ever–'
'I don't hate you.'
Alfie was startled. He stopped walking. Lyndon stared blankly at him.
'I never said I hated you.'
'You have every right to hate me.'
'Doesn't mean I do.'
Trip, too, looked down at Camden and his plush. 'And I'm here... for better or worse.'
'I know. You're here for Camden. And I appreciate that, Trip. I really, really do. But I don't know if I even deserve...'
'That's for Camden to decide.'
A Pokémon's cry resounded in a purple blur. Lyndon released Alfie's Crobat.
'Look, dad... if you're for real... and I think you are, for once... I almost lost my son. Maybe you aren't... you weren't... the dad I wanted or needed. But I wasn't the dad Trip wanted or needed. It wasn't my fault, but I wasn't. And I'm lucky. Very, very lucky that my son wants me in his life. I don't know if it was really your fault, or your dad's, or the industry... but... I've been thinking the whole time you've been talking too much... if you really did love me and Trip... and Abbey... you've paid for what you've done. Not by spending 17 years in jail with Ardos... but by what you did to yourself.'
'You don't have to make excuses for me. I can't ever really pay for what I've done. Leon will never be the same again. His kids will never know him as he was and... I don't know if I've really matured enough to care about him, personally, but I've matured enough to care about him by extension of Abbey. And my actions... my actions robbed her of the life she deserves to live with someone who treats her as she deserves.'
'Then you've matured enough for me to admit... this has been really hard... discovering what I've really done... to myself... to the innocent people in Cipher... being told I have to stay on this medication my whole life if I want to hear silence in my own head again... and...'
Lyndon's voice cracked. 'I want my dad... I just want my dad.'
'Then I'm here.'
Alfie tried to blink back tears, but he couldn't. He hesitantly held out his arms. Lyndon stepped, equally hesitantly, forward. Alfie pulled him close. At first, he stood awkwardly, but he let his head fall onto his dad's shoulder.
'In every way I possibly can be from jail... dad's here, Don. I promise.'
'Mom is a better person than you'll ever be... but...'
'I know. My mom is a better person than my dad could even have dreamed of being. But there were still times... I wished, more than anything, I had a decent dad. So I tried... I tried to think better of him, again and again... but I only ever got a black eye for it. I never want to be like him. Ever. So please... if you need your dad's shoulder to cry on... I'll never pretend to be perfect... but please know I love you and I want to be here for you.'
Even Trip was choked up. He saw himself in his father. He was happy for him... happy that even if it could never be as he wanted, the love he longed for was real. They stood in silence until Lyndon pushed his dad away.
'I kept Crobat all this time... because it made me feel close to you. But I think you should take him back. I think he feels like I do... and I think he misses you.'
'Well, I'd love that, but only if you're sure, Don. Only if you're sure, Crobat. I'm sure Don treated you better than I did... and you've achieved some incredible things together. Don't feel you have to come back.'
That was the moment both Lyndon and Crobat knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, Alfie was acting no more. His first Pokémon inched nervously towards him. Fresh tears spilled down his cheeks rounded by his bright smile.
'People have told me... ever since what happened... how I had it all. But I didn't. All that money didn't make me happy. I was naturally a great actor because I spent my life acting to please my dad. I never felt I escaped him because I never stopped. Not even when the lights were out and I was safe in my mansion with every door and window locked. The whole world claimed to love me... but no-one really did, because even I didn't know who I was. Now, they'd say I have nothing... but if I can be part of your life, Don... Trip... Camden... now I have it all.'
Lyndon wiped his face with his collar. He rolled his eyes.
'So dramatic.'
'By the way, Trip...'
A supermarket bag rustled. It contained all that was left of Alfie's possessions returned to him by Lyndon.
'I don't know if you'll want to share this with me, but... you think you'll ever propose to Amber?'
'Erm...'
Trip wasn't sure what to make of that random question. 'Maybe when I'm sure she'll say yes.'
'Well...'
Alfie pulled a plain white box from his bag. 'I was gonna ask her mom to marry me with this, but it's even more perfect for Amber. It matches her eyes.'
He placed it in Trip's hand. His grandson uncertainly opened it. A piece of sunshine yellow topazolite, flecked with fiery orange, glinted amongst diamonds in the morning sun.
'Dude... I can't take this. How much did it cost?'
'Much less than I wasted on Cipher. You don't have to take it. Maybe you'll want to pick out your own ring for her. But if you want it, it's yours.'
He smiled down at the floor. 'If she's anything like her mom, she'll appreciate recycling.'
'It does match her eyes, but...'
'Seriously... what am I gonna do with an engagement ring I had made for Abbey? Even if I sell it, I'll give the money to you or Don. Take it if you want it... I wonder now if it was meant for you all along.'
'Then I guess I'll take it.'
He shared his grandpa's sheepish smile. 'Hope I actually get the chance to use it.'
'Don't revive Cipher or try to kill her childhood sweetheart – I guess that's you, actually, so try not to die – and you'll be good.'
'Thanks... grandpa.'
'I finally live up to my grandpa name. I changed it legally, you know, but my mom still calls me Alfred.'
A family sitting on the garden's stone balcony, overlooking the stadium, stood to leave. Trip and Alfie sat. Lyndon wandered off, yawning, to the main doors.
'Gotta pee.'
Trip felt less uncomfortable now. 'You know Camden's named after the Deoxys Files character, right?'
'I didn't. But I love it! He defeats me! I hated filming that movie... the spacesuit was as uncomfortable as it looked...'
His eyes, vacantly wandering over the crowds below, locked onto something. He kept talking, but he was suddenly distant. Trip peered over the wall. He saw orange. Leon and Charizard had just escaped a group of journalists. He was talking to Abbey. That made sense. If Alfie still had feelings for Abbey, it probably hurt to see them together. Maybe he was uncomfortable because Leon didn't look too well... though it wasn't Abbey or Leon he appeared to be watching.
Camden abruptly awoke. He hurled his plush. Trip jogged to retrieve it. Lyndon, returning from the bathroom, picked it up first.
'Another quarterback right there!'
They both laughed. Trip was so focused on feeding Camden, he didn't notice how Lyndon froze.
'Trip...'
He glanced up. His father was ashen. Trip's eyes followed his... to the empty seat occupied by Alfie.
'No... I turned my back for, like, five seconds!'
He leaned over the wall, desperately scanning the dispersing crowds, but there was no sign of Alfie or Crobat. It was as if Camden somehow threw his plush to allow his great-grandpa to get away.
'He has to be nearby!'
'Does it matter?'
Lyndon's voice was flat. 'He was lying... as always. And I was stupid enough to believe him. As always. He didn't come to see me, or you, or Camden... he was hoping to get away the whole time. And as always, I've failed everyone! A criminal is on the loose because I trusted him! Hooray! Oh, no. I don't think there's room for another sticker in my book of failures!'
'It's not your fault, dad. If that was all an act... that was his best performance ever.'
'I don't think he was lying when he said he's always acted because of his dad. But maybe that's why he can't ever stop acting. I can't... I can't believe it... I trusted him...'
'Come on. Let's go tell Johnson.'
'What's Johnson gonna do? Why is he even employed?!'
'He can tell Anabel and Looker. They'll catch him.'
Trip coaxed Lyndon inside. His eyes glazed over. Staff assured him it wasn't his fault. Johnson panicked. He didn't know what to do. He charged off without saying goodbye. Lyndon broke down. He sobbed incoherently. The doctor he hated arrived. His answer to any of Lyndon's outbursts was to sedate him. Security threw Courtney out when she tried to stand between them. Trip pulled Camden's blanket over his eyes.
'Go!' Courtney screamed outside, 'Get Camden out of here! I'll stay with Don! I promise!'
Trip wanted to argue with the doctor, but Camden was already upset. He knew something was wrong. He didn't dare let his son hear his raised voice. Lyndon's shaken nurse let Trip stand for a moment at his motionless father's bedside before he left.
'Dad... he was... we were going to the stadium together.'
Though Amber wasn't battling. She grabbed her bag and left via the fire exit. Abbey, Cinderace and Fayiz knelt amongst garbage in an alley that reeked of urine. Leon was slumped against the wall.
'Dad!'
He was incoherent. Abbey was reluctant to call an ambulance, because the journalists were already looking for them, but she had no choice. It wasn't until they were inside, sirens blaring, that Amber saw Trip's text.
We looked away from Alfie for like 5 seconds and now he's on the loose. We think he took Crobat. Dad was so upset that he got sedated by that doctor no one likes. I'm outside with Courtney. I don't know what to do
She showed it to Abbey. Her face fell.
'I... I thought better of him. I really did.'
'Who?' Leon abruptly asked, 'Who did you think better of?'
Abbey's lip wobbled. Throughout the Cipher crisis, even when the shadows that almost killed Leon consumed Orre, he defied everyone's expectations and remained calm. Now Charizard was missing again, she felt like his painstaking progress faded to warp them back to 17 years ago.
'Alfie. I thought better of Alfie.'