S'more's countenance switched instantly, from casual to grave, and he nodded. "Of course," he said. "There are a few things that, surprisingly, we can narrow down the actions of at least one spy, and we know for sure that there is at least one."
"Because there's no way they could have pulled off what they did without some inside knowledge," Owen surmised. "And someone who can avoid mind reading or being discovered that way, too."
"It would be highly unlikely any other way," S'more said. "Too unlikely to pool resources into exploring when time may be a factor."
"So, someone with inside information," Cal guessed. "Who could that be?"
"I unfortunately cannot eliminate the possibility that one of our own have turned traitor," S'more said. "While I have no evidence against any of my fellow Legends, I also do not have alibis for many of them. Technically speaking, Lugia, Ho-Oh, or any of the captured Legends, too, could be working for Giovanni. Particularly the Psychics. They could mask any mind-reading and so on. Dark Pokemon as well. And, in general, any Pokemon with warding abilities."
"And for people with inside information," Owen said, "that's... anybody on Poppin' Arms... anybody with a high enough status to be in-the-know with Destiny Village's Legends... and the Legends themselves... and God Squad. And, uh, us."
"At this point, I'm ruling you all out," S'more replied flatly. "Far too many traps have been laid against you, and frankly after what I heard from the Tree of Life, if there was any time for you to betray us, it would have been then. Now, yes, it is possible that you are waiting for an even greater opportunity... but if you are, there is little we can do in the way of preventing it until we see a misstep."
"Y-yeah. Right." Owen nodded. "So basically, anybody in-the-know who might be able to secretly report to Giovanni without being noticed. And to avoid being detected, Psychics or Darks or... wards?"
"Like Truffle's talents, for example," S'more said.
"And... there's also the possibility of, um, people whose memories have been sealed, maybe secretly being a spy and even they don't know it." Owen didn't like admitting that because he still wasn't sure if he had everything back just yet. It still felt like something was missing, a tiny nugget of information...
"We didn't really have a whole lot of things to do in the Voidlands," Owen explained. "Had a lot of time to think. The team over on that side talked about it a little, this spy stuff, I mean."
"The same for our side," Cal agreed. "That's where you got some of this speculation from, right, S'more?"
"Indeed." S'more looked to Zinc, who had reentered the room with some food for Diyem. Back to simple meals for him. "And then there's the matter of the replicated badge..."
"Just another person who could possibly get inside info," Cal said.
"And I wouldn't put it past Giovanni to be capable of modifying this technology. Between the Regis being missing, as well as the Unown, it's entirely possible that the technology is being crafted that way, somehow."
"Aghhh, there's just too many people!" Cal exclaimed. "Who can we even start ruling out?! Like, do we rule out Balm and Cepa because they're heroes? Hell, how about all the heroes? What if Pine just, like, got bored and decided to be evil?!" Cal smashed her hands over her forehead, merging with them, before pulling them out.
"Let's just breathe and think," Owen said gently, looking at Luz. "What do you think about all this? I don't think I ever heard from you about this ever since we got back. Anything about this change since we died?"
