Pokemon: Bounty Hunter Alex

Alex smiled to himself when he heard Alvera’s voice asking for help on the other end. His daughter completed him in a way that made him feel needed, as though his violent thoughts were validated, necessary to protect her. It wasn’t merely his own belligerent craving for battle fueling those deadly impulses; they were also necessary to protect his family, a realization that felt amazingly refreshing.

“Go,” Alex said, allowing Gardevoir and Gothitelle to move ahead while he followed closely behind.

Before long, he spotted Alvera in her exosuit between tightly packed wooden buildings, the structures at risk of being torn apart if the battle continued. She was being defended by her Arctozolt and a dozen Alolan Raichu. An Electric Terrain surrounded them, crackling across the ground in bright yellow arcs, ready to facilitate their escape with the Alolan Raichu’s Surge Surfer ability.

In front of them stood the Champion ranked trainer overseeing the city's drug distribution. Surrounding him were a Kommo-o, Toxapex, Alolan Ninetales, Galarian Weezing, Vikavolt, and Mudsdale, all at Champion rank.

He wore a furious expression, his bed hair only further justifying his anger. After all, he had likely been dragged out of bed in the middle of the night to discover that his entire operation had been destroyed beyond repair. Whoever was in charge of Team Bones would almost certainly have a scolding waiting for him.

“You little bitch! You think you can just destroy my warehouse and get away with it?” he screamed, pointing at Alvera. “Kill her!”

His Pokémon opened fire from a distance, launching a sustained bombardment of precise, single-target attacks while her Pokémon responded with hastily formed, untrained Protects. Fortunately, Gardevoir arrived in time, effortlessly intercepting the incoming attacks with an impenetrable Protect of her own.

Gothitelle followed immediately, projecting Psychic Terrain across the battlefield, saturating the area and priming it for a counter-bombardment if needed. Kommo-o moved forward for melee to bypass the shields, followed by Alolan Ninetales and Galarian Weezing, spreading Snow and Neutralizing Gas.

But that was when they detected danger coming from behind, stopping them in their tracks. Alex was spotted approaching in stealth while covered in Dark type energy by the trainer’s Fighting, Fairy, and Bug types, prompting them to abandon offense in favor of defense for their trainer from the rear.

Alex, having been detected, didn’t stop his charge. He accelerated while releasing the rest of his Pokémon to act as a distraction. Espeon, Seismitoad, Breloom, and Raichu, all at Elite rank, charged forward while spreading out, drawing the Champion’s Pokémon to do the same.

Gardevoir took command of the battle, coordinating with Alvera’s Pokémon and began bombarding the trainer with single-target attacks as well as plenty of empowered Psychics thrown left, right, and center. Fortunately for their enemy, they were only at Expert rank, so they were easily ignorable. They only had to really pay attention to Gardevoir and Gothitelle’s attacks, each of which was likely powerful enough to outright kill their trainer.

Caught in a crossfire, the Champion was forced to split his Pokémon into two groups. Three moved to defend against the two Champions and rabble on Alvera’s side, while two split off to take on Alex’s Elites in a two-on-one, while Kommo-o charged at Alex specifically.

Right as they were about to clash, a shadow sprung from Alex’s feet, blocking a deadly Close Combat heading for him with King's Shield, allowing Alex to simply pass and head straight for the trainer. With the other Pokémon distracted, he managed to reach the Champion and start a melee of his own.

“The fuck?” the Champion shouted as he began dodging Alex’s attacks, pulling attention away from Alvera’s side of the battle.

They moved to intercept Alex but stopped to turn and defend against Gardevoir and Gothitelle’s bombardment, leaving a Mudsdale free to pursue Alex in an attempt to stop him. It was futile however, as Alex’s watch transformed into a Kommo-o that grappled Mudsdale like a rodeo, leaving Alex free to chase after his prey.

They jumped over buildings, blitzed through side streets, and made a mess of the place with their powerful physiques until Alex finally managed to catch him with a Thunder Wave from his modified pistol, made to look like a Walther PPK.

“Shit!” the Champion shouted as he felt his movements slow ever so slightly, allowing Alex to finally catch up.

Alex reached out, grabbed him by the back of the neck, and kicked his knees out from behind, forcing him to kneel. Then he grabbed the man’s head with both hands and twisted, killing him in an instant without mercy.

Before the Champion’s Pokémon could rampage, Alex reached for the man’s Poké Balls and used his fingers for the biometrics to lock all his Pokémon inside, finally ending the fight.

Alex looked around at the devastation they had caused in the northern side of the city. There were destroyed shops, potholes everywhere, an entire warehouse that had been flattened, and a high probability of complaints from the League coming his way. Still, it was a relatively cheap price to pay for six Champion ranked Pokémon that would be fed to his own team.

“Dad!” Alvera shouted as she ran over and hugged him tightly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know the warehouse belonged to a Champion. We thought it was just a common drug storage unit.”

“I can see that,” Alex said with a chuckle, hugging her tightly. “You really take after your old man when it comes to causing trouble. You’re making me a bit too proud.”

“I…” Alvera blushed, unsure if that was a good thing. She wasn’t supposed to be a troublemaker like him after all.

“Come on, I’ll teach you how to handle the police when shit hits the fan.”

Sure enough, the police came and started asking questions. Strangely though, they immediately became hostile once the Champion’s corpse was shown. It seemed there was a bit of complication in their situation.

“You’re under arrest for destruction of the city, unsanctioned combat within League jurisdiction, use of lethal force against a registered trainer, endangerment of civilians, illegal deployment of Champion ranked Pokémon in a populated zone, obstruction of public safety operations, and failure to contain battle-related collateral damage,” the officer said, training his weapon at Alex.

“Don’t they teach you what happens to police who pick a fight with Elite ranked trainers and above?” Alex asked, raising his brows.

“That doesn’t give you the right to do as you please.”

“Which is why I have this nifty little thing,” Alex said as he produced his International Police License. “This allows me some immunity when it comes to taking down criminals. So, officer, do you want to die for something like this?”

“That still doesn’t—”

“Gardevoir, read his memories,” Alex interrupted.

The police opened fire but were brought down by a few psychic jolts, leaving them and their Pokémon incapacitated. After a thorough reading of their memories, Alex discovered that they were part of the “good” faction of Team Bones, the ones who ensured they weren’t on the hook with the League when their organization got into trouble.

From these memories, he was also able to understand the power balance at play. They were currently under the authority of the criminal side of Team Bones, with the man at the top, who was only slightly more powerful than the “good” side, which preferred to protect their organization from being hunted down by the League for criminal activity. It seemed they warranted a visit to correct that imbalance for the sake of promoting peace in the region.

After neutralizing the police, Alex waited for higher authorities to arrive, and sure enough, a member of the Elite Four came. It was a beautiful woman with short purple hair, a stitched black-and-purple dress, and a tired expression.

“What’s all this then?” Acerola said, clearly having just gotten out of bed.

“Champion ranked drug dealer and corrupt cops,” Alex said, waving his license around.

“Team Bones?”

“Yup.”

“Figures. Alright, I’ll have them clean up their mess, but don’t think you’ve gotten off scot-free. I expect you to pay for the damages.”

“At least have them pay for it first before you come after me,” Alex protested.

“That’s fair, but don’t expect them to be able to pay for all of this. They’ve gotten smarter about where they hide their money and who they entrust it to, so you can consider yourself still on the hook.”

“That’s fine.”

The damage to the city wasn’t as serious as the devastation he and the girls had caused in Unova. At most, it would only cost him a few million Pokédollars in damages. An extremely cheap price to pay for six Champion ranked Pokémon.

“Bye,” she said before flying away on a Champion ranked Drifblim.

“Is it usually like this?” Alvera asked.

“No,” Alex said, shaking his head. “There’s usually plenty of intimidation, threats, or a thank you, but it looks like she’s just too tired to deal with us.”

Alex had heard rumors that Acerola was an energetic, cheerful, optimistic young woman with a mischievous and macabre streak, but perhaps that disposition was reserved for children and official Pokémon League duties, whereas cleaning up after a Champion ranked city battle that could have been far worse simply didn’t warrant much energy.

Or maybe she had been through enough Champion ranked battles on this island that dealing with the aftermath had become tiring. Alternatively, she could just be sleep-deprived. Either way, they were off the hook, and Alex managed to finish his raid on Malie City.

All that was left was to clean up the rest of the northern section of Ula’ula Island, which would inevitably mean visiting Po Town, Team Bones’ base of operations.