Pokemon: Bounty Hunter Alex

Team Bones had numerous businesses, safehouses, and properties spread across the island, but most were owned by peripheral members with only loose ties to the organization. They weren't criminals themselves, just people connected to the network, so shutting down their livelihoods over a few bad eggs wasn't justified. That left only locations directly involved in criminal activity as valid targets.

Alex had already dismantled the drug distribution network operating out of Malie City. Beyond that, there were no other criminal operations on the island he could reasonably justify targeting. The only place left to clean up was Po Town, the stronghold the Aether Foundation had once handed to Team Skull when they served as its lackeys.

It was surprising how little criminal activity Team Bones maintained on this island despite it being their headquarters. On reflection, though, it made sense. Ula'ula was effectively the region's endgame zone; powerful Trainers were everywhere, and anyone causing trouble risked attracting attention from people more than capable of crushing them.

As a result, Team Bones had expanded far less here than on Melemele, where there was plenty of prey and very few roaming powerhouses to keep everyone in check. Akala was similar, which was why they had been able to establish a trafficking ring there in the first place.

Now, Alex was planning to visit Po Town once they finished up in Malie City and continued their journey northwest before hopping onto the airship and returning to Akala Island.

“Alex Wattson?” a middle-aged, Champion ranked man asked from behind Alex.

He had detected him coming closer, of course, but didn’t sense any malicious intent, so he allowed the Champion to approach. They were in a cafe filled with civilians, while the girls were off shopping, so it was best to avoid confrontation when necessary.

Besides, Alex was confident he could more easily shut this man down from up close compared to being ambushed from afar. Also, he might be part of the League, although that was a bit of a stretch since Alex could bet he was part of Team Bones instead, here to negotiate or threaten him. Either way, it was better to talk with such a man at close distance.

“And you are?” Alex asked without turning as the man took the seat beside him, while Marlo sat nervously opposite.

“Jonah Rooke, one of the executives of Team Bones, here to ascertain your intentions.”

“Well, you’re polite at least,” Alex said, finally turning to the man as he sipped his coffee. “Now, tell me, why should I bother explaining myself to you, let alone entertain you at all? And don’t try threatening me, you’ll just give me a hard-on while I’m wearing shorts in public.”

The man was wearing shorts as well and a simple loose shirt, with a muscular build and blonde hair. He didn’t look like a native Alolan, who typically had black hair and tan skin. Alex had to admit, though, this man was powerful and would take a bit of effort to bring down if they started a fight. At minimum, the shop would definitely be destroyed, with quite a few people possibly dying as collateral.

“We don’t want any trouble, Mr. Wattson. I have investigated the incident leading up to your involvement, and it was clearly your daughter who started the altercation, unprovoked. Apparently, she, along with her friends, discovered our warehouse and decided to simply destroy it without reason, along with a bunch of other locations throughout the city. Hence, I am here to ask you and yours to stop messing with us.”

“First of all, I was the one who took out the other locations purely for my own entertainment. I’m a bounty hunter after all, it’s kind of my thing. Secondly, anything my daughter does is under my authority, and since she chose to destroy your warehouse, that means I chose to destroy it as well. As a matter of fact, I was about to when my daughter beat me to it. She did an excellent job too. I couldn’t be prouder as her father.”

The man narrowed his eyes, assessing Alex, trying to glean for any weaknesses to latch onto, but all he found was an enigmatic smile that dared him to cause trouble and give him a reason to use violence. From that alone, Jonah was able to tell that Alex was a madman, a psychopath who thrived in chaos, needing only permission from the League to do so. If it weren’t granted, no doubt, he would be even worse than their own leader at Team Bones. He was, without a doubt, a force of nature in human form.

“What can we do to get you to stop?” Jonah finally asked, surrendering his bravado and beginning negotiations.

It was pointless to threaten men like Alex, who thrived in chaos. It was better to seek an alternative route and point him in a different direction to bother someone else.

“Alright, I’ll throw you a bone,” Alex said with a smile, clearly pleased with his own joke, while Marlo rolled his eyes with a groan. “Give up your leader, replace him with someone from the ‘good’ faction, and I’ll leave you alone so long as the rest of your members play nice. I don’t appreciate that you were starting your own drug manufacturing and trafficking ring on the other islands, which is why I’m here messing with you in the first place.”

“Our current leader is part of the good faction,” Jonah said with a heavy sigh as he slumped his shoulders. “If we replaced him, our other members would just leave to start something else under our noses, so we settled for this drug distribution network to placate them. The problem isn’t him, but the fact that more than half of the organization wants a criminal network established.”

“He’s Master ranked and unable to control his own men?” Alex asked in disbelief.

“If they were just normal henchmen, it wouldn’t be a problem. But they’re family, and in order to keep them out of trouble we have to give them an outlet. We’ve already lost members before who went to the other islands, which you have no doubt already met. Now we’re doing our best to placate them without resorting to violence.”

Oof, that was definitely a tough one. The problem with misbehaving family members was that they couldn’t be convinced by authority if they were in their rebellious phase. Any logic, evidence, or attempts to convince them otherwise would only push them away to a place where they couldn’t be seen. They would pretend to behave with family while secretly running around committing crimes in another city. As was the current case.

The only realistic way to bring them out of that was through harsh life lessons they personally experienced themselves. Only after they returned, like a prodigal son realizing their mistake, would they be willing to listen to reason.

It was actually one of Alex’s own personal dreads, if his own children ever turned to the criminal side. That was why he was open to exposing the adventurous ones to harsh, near traumatic lessons when they were young, to ensure it never happened. The last thing he wanted was to put down his own children after all. It would absolutely destroy him.

“I sympathize with you,” Alex said, his tone softening. “I really do, but at the same time, you’d only be promoting criminal activity, leading to the same outcome as yesterday. It would be better to nip this problem in the bud.”

Jonah’s eyes sharpened, his muscles tightening as he said harshly, “Are you suggesting we start culling our own children?”

“There’s a point where they stop being children and turn into adults who cause trouble for you and society and need to be held accountable for their own actions,” Alex said sharply. “You need to learn to let go and allow them to learn their own lessons, otherwise they’ll drag everyone down with them.”

Jonah had heard enough, attempting to stand when he suddenly found he couldn’t. At some point, a rope had tied itself around his thighs and shins, preventing him from standing. He could force it off, but Alex continued speaking, distracting him from doing so.

“Which is why I’ll offer to do the culling for you,” Alex said, continuing before Jonah’s temper could skyrocket. “I happen to have a bounty hunter training organization. With a bit of tweaking to the program, I can separate the wheat from the chaff and hand them back as upstanding members of society with a better understanding of life. The chaff, meanwhile, will be tested. If they fail even then, you’ll agree to let them go under my terms rather than theirs. After all, at that point, they would eventually end up dead one way or another.”

Jonah opened his mouth to complain when Alex’s aura flared, silencing him.

“This is the only mercy I will offer. Ignore it, and I will not hesitate to proceed with my plan, likely killing many of you in the process. Take my offer back to your leader and decide. You have a month before I come for a visit. Either I arrive to begin a massacre in Po Town, or you present all your problematic members, young and old, for rehabilitation with the understanding that the worst of them will not be returning.”

With that, the rope transformed into a Ditto, which returned to Alex’s wrist and transformed back into a watch, allowing Jonah to stand and leave.

“Rehabilitation, huh,” Marlo said with a sigh. “Do you think Malia and Nohea would benefit from it?”

“No,” Alex said, shaking his head. “Your daughters are sexual deviants, but nothing more. My own daughter is more of a problem, yet I wouldn’t change anything about her. She has her problems, but they aren’t detrimental to society.”

“What do you have planned exactly?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ll have to talk to the girls about it first, which is why I gave them a month to decide. The vacation will be over by then, giving the girls two weeks to get back into the swing of things before we receive an influx of trainees,” Alex said before his expression turned serious. “What I do know is that this will be their last chance. They either learn to control their impulses, or they die trying.”