Pokemon: Bounty Hunter Alex

Alex, Celise, and Talia teleported straight to Alex’s room on the top floor of the main hub, where he was immediately laid on the bed before Talia began diagnosing him. She also released her Chimecho, who started firing Heal Pulse after Heal Pulse.

“Your vitals look weak, and you appear malnourished,” she said. “It’s like you’ve exhausted all your energy reserves, and your body is consuming itself through autophagy to compensate. You need a ton of food right now.”

“I’ll go wake Lina up to fix something for him to eat,” Celise said as she headed toward the door.

“Bring out the Master ranked meat from the vault,” Talia said. “He needs all the nutrition he can get.”

“Got it.”

Meanwhile, Talia left to retrieve a PN (parenteral nutrition) kit so she could get nutrients into his system as quickly as possible. It wouldn’t be nearly enough, but it should help stabilize him until he could get something far more nutritious into his body.

Alex, meanwhile, lay on the bed, his mind preoccupied with what he had seen. It was dreadful, incomprehensible, and, quite frankly, terrifying that he had somehow found himself there at all. Perhaps that was why Celebi had specifically chosen him. Perhaps that was what made him special and worthy of the gift of a second life in the Pokémon world. Either way, it didn’t particularly matter. He was already here, so he might as well make the most of it.

Next, he thought about what he had seen when he first arrived, the cataclysmic battle between Giratina, Palkia, and Dialga against a black hole. He wasn’t certain, but he could swear he remembered feeling a faint pull from it when he first regained his senses. Granted, it was a black hole, so being drawn toward it made sense, but there had been something else about it that bothered him. A sense of familiarity he couldn’t quite place. Perhaps if he encountered it again somewhere within the Distortion World, he would understand.

“Alex! What happened?” Vera shouted as she rushed into the room toward him, followed closely by Kaia, Iris, Maris, and Mira.

Lyra and Mika were off on a new journey through Unova, having just finished with Sinnoh and intending to scout the region for a new Silver Network base. Dale had already been handed a new base in Hoenn once they were able to save enough money for the expenditure, and with Emma and Lily having recently reached Champion rank, it was about time for them to get bases of their own as well. As a result, Lyra and Mika, as the girls’ mentors, had taken responsibility for helping them establish themselves while simultaneously expanding the Silver Network into Sinnoh and Unova.

Sable was off on another digging expedition, while Clarissa was still in seclusion to reach Master rank. Lina was cooking up a storm with Celise’s help, and Nyx and Rhea were preparing for their attack on Team Dominion, leaving only these 5 girls to attend to him while Talia ran to get medical supplies.

“I guess I might as well tell you girls my actual origins,” Alex said with a smile as he began recounting his entire past life, all the way up to what he had experienced during his trip down memory lane.

During his extensive retelling, Nyx, Rhea, and the other girls were included in a secure live chat, allowing everyone to stay updated on what had happened. Clarissa was the sole exception, as her seclusion prevented any form of communication. Talia also returned and hooked him up to a PA line, while Lina and Celise brought in a massive bone-in thigh the size of Alex’s chest for him to eat as he recounted his story. The room remained silent, broken only by the occasional concerned glances exchanged among the girls as they listened.

“So whatever place you found yourself in was the reason you and Sabrina almost died?” Vera asked once Alex finished his story, focusing on his well-being rather than his shady, supernatural past.

“Pretty much,” Alex said with a shrug as he licked his fingers clean, his complexion looking far better. “Whatever that place was, it wasn’t meant to be experienced by living beings. Sabrina got the worst of it since she was still alive, while my body simply deteriorated from forceful recollection.”

“Are we just going to gloss over the fact that you’re from another world and are probably inhabiting a corpse?” Rhea asked over the intercom. “That is just the coolest! We have to do some experiments. Can you still transfer into another body? What about the obvious existence of souls? Gasp! Can I inhabit a giant robot?”

“Not really,” Alex said, shaking his head. “My soul was ‘handled’ by a Master ranked Dusknoir, so if you want to play Frankenstein, you’ll need one of those with extremely high proficiency in soul manipulation before you should even consider it.”

“You’re right, you’re right… silly me,” Rhea said as she opened a catalogue for Expert ranked Dusknoir to purchase.

“Can’t we remove those memories from your mind?” Vera asked, fully focused on Alex’s potentially deadly situation.

“It’s the same problem,” Nyx pointed out. “Whatever this memory or link was, it’s attached to his soul, not his mind or brain, so a psychic solution wouldn’t work. It would have to be excised from his soul, and even if we found an expert on that, would it be as easy as Sabrina’s problem, or would it mean having to clean up the contamination? Like a glass of water that’s been mixed with coffee. The bottom line is that we’re just going to have to live with it and hope there are no nasty side effects.”

Nyx, having reached Champion rank over the years with a Ghost type specialization, was very well acquainted with anything paranormal, including the existence, manipulation, and empowerment of ghosts and the soul. Hence, Vera and everyone else listened when she spoke about this topic in particular.

“He was fine for over 40 years without a problem, so if he just avoids poking at it, he’ll be able to live just fine from this point on,” Kaia added, rather optimistically.

“But what if he isn’t fine at all? What if it’s killing him, or he relapses when he thinks about it?” Vera asked as tears started streaming down her face with worry.

Iris and Kaia both moved to console her, being the most passionate and emotional compared to everyone else when it came to Alex.

“I think it’s fine for one very simple reason,” Alex said, catching everyone’s attention. “Gothitelle is a very good indicator that I will end up living a long life. That means whatever this is, no matter whether it is a danger to my life or not, will eventually not be a problem. Even if it was, I would likely be able to find a solution for it. Trust in the fact that a Gothitelle’s instinct says I’ll be fine and that everything will work out.”

The lack of scientific evidence or proof wasn’t exactly comforting to Vera, but it was enough hope for her to latch onto. As a breeder, she had to admit Alex’s Gothitelle was the happiest she had ever seen, one that didn’t exhibit the typically expected depressed behavior. Even now, it was probably having fun with the Eevee nest in their section of the forest.

“Well, after that meal, I feel perfectly fine,” Alex said as he stood. “What do you think, Talia? Am I discharged?”

“I… I guess. Your muscles have fully recovered from that meal and are even stronger than before. You should be good to move around and train.”

“Excellent,” Alex said as he stretched and changed his clothes. “Anyway, I’m sorry, girls, for all the trouble so early in the morning, but I have Team Dominion’s coordinates in my head, and I’d like to get a plan going by the end of the day. Nyx, Rhea, meet me at the command center to discuss it.”

“Do you need our help?” Lyra and Mika asked through the live chat.

“It shouldn’t be necessary,” Alex replied. “But you can listen in if you want. It shouldn’t require anyone but me and maybe Rhea to clean this up.”

Alex made his way to the command center and was joined a moment later by Nyx and a distracted Rhea. He then brought up the coordinates on the holographic display above the long table, revealing nothing but deep waters somewhere in the northern hemisphere of the planet, between Alola and Unova.

“What a random ass place,” Nyx commented. “No wonder no one’s been able to find them all these years. Not only are they employing stealth from satellite detection, they’re also away from any major shipping lanes. I’m pretty sure that area is designated as an underwater danger zone.”

“Maybe that’s why they’ve been able to hide so well,” Alex said. “They’re the reason that area is a danger zone. As long as they keep up that ruse with submarines, they’ll be able to stave off the general public. Plus, given the cold climate, there won’t be any trainers flying over it on the back of a Pokémon.”

“So, what’s your plan?” Nyx asked. “I remember you saying you would give them your respect.”

“Yes,” Alex said as he turned to Rhea. “Rhea, is the latest version of the B.O.M.B. ready?”

“Huh? What?” she asked, looking away from her tablet, still distracted by her search for a Dusknoir.

“I asked if the latest version of your B.O.M.B. was ready.”

“We’re finally using my baby!?” Rhea exclaimed, bringing up the schematics of a 5-meter-tall metallic sphere. “You bet your ass it’s ready!”