Pokemon: Bounty Hunter Alex

Alex took note of the name, then pushed the information to the back of his mind as he continued listening to Rotom’s report.

"Profile located. Compiling report..."

"Grand Director Alaric Graves is the current leader of Team Dominion, a human supremacist organization seeking to enslave all Pokémon and dismantle the Pokémon League. A former chief scientist specializing in Poké Ball technology and virtual reality, Graves believes that Pokémon are nothing more than biological tools, resources humanity has failed to properly control. He sees compassion as a flaw, and partnership as a historical mistake."

"His ideology stems from a traumatic childhood incident in which he was gravely injured by a wild Pokémon, leaving him both physically scarred and emotionally hardened. Since then, he has devoted himself to the belief that Pokémon must be dominated with total authority, and that emotional partnerships only weaken humanity’s rightful place at the top."

"Under his leadership, Team Dominion has developed several dangerous technologies. Their signature tool is the Dominion Restraint, a revolutionary Poké Ball that overrides a Pokémon’s will, turning it into an obedient weapon."

"Field reports include accounts of captured Pokémon screaming as the device took hold, their minds visibly snapping before falling silent. Even species known for their loyalty or empathy were rendered hollow-eyed and mechanical, their personalities erased in seconds."

"Graves also oversees the Genesis Protocol, a classified project focused on forced breeding and genetic tampering to create enhanced, emotionless Pokémon. His team has further advanced cybernetic augmentation, merging living Pokémon with machine components to create powerful, human-controlled war beasts."

"Team Dominion’s paramilitary force is equipped with move-based firearms, energy-resistant armor, and autonomous Pokémon drones, making them a formidable threat in the field."

"Graves is cold, efficient, and calculating. He shows no emotional attachment to either Pokémon or his subordinates, but remains a charismatic figure capable of rallying followers to his cause. He dismisses all opposition as naïve idealists clinging to outdated traditions."

"His personal roster includes a cyber-enhanced Metagross capable of acting on artificial intelligence protocols, a Shadow-augmented Tyranitar whose mind has been broken for absolute obedience, and an Aegislash, a relic of traditional battling that Graves uses as a symbol of his ideological supremacy."

"Most disturbingly, he views Mewtwo as the ultimate challenge. If he can suppress its will, he believes all Pokémon will inevitably fall in line."

"Graves’s ultimate objective is the global activation of Dominion Restraints. Once achieved, he intends to abolish the Pokémon League and replace it with a ruling technocracy of elite humans. Once the world submits, he believes utopia can finally begin."

"Any resistance would be swiftly crushed by the very Legendaries the world once revered, now enslaved and weaponized under Dominion control."

"Report complete."

Alex thought about the information before shrugging it off. This didn’t seem to be the end-of-the-world type of plot, so he didn’t particularly care about their motivations. Besides, even if they could mind control Mewtwo, it didn’t guarantee they could do the same with Arceus.

Either way, it was useless information as far as he was concerned. He was more interested in finding out why there was so much information regarding the supposed top of the organization in a database the League could easily access.

"Source of the data?"

"Compiled reports from multiple sources through profiling."

Basically, a bunch of people made profiles of Graves with what they each had on hand before storing it in a server.

"He’s not very popular, is he?"

"No," Rotom replied.

"Ah, well. Contact the League and let them know what we have here."

"Understood."

Alex waited an hour before League forces arrived, and it wasn’t just the average police response accompanied by a Jenny. Clair, the Dragon type Gym Leader of Blackthorn City, had personally come to assess the situation, likely due to the prominent presence of Gyarados in the Lake of Rage.

She had long blue hair tied in a high, spiked ponytail and sharp red-violet eyes that reflected her pride. Her outfit, a sleeveless dark teal bodysuit with a high collar, a split cape resembling dragon wings, thigh-high black stockings and heeled boots, marked her as a seasoned Dragon type specialist.

"Are you Alex?" she asked.

"Yes, ma’am," Alex responded instinctively, something about her strict appearance prompting him to reply like a soldier.

"You did an excellent job taking down Gravik without alerting the nearby Gyarados nest," she said, then looked him over from top to bottom. She smiled slightly before continuing. "You will receive the full bounty from Gravik, as well as a small thanks from me once the investigation is complete. Come see me at my gym in Blackthorn City in a few days."

"Yes, ma’am," Alex replied. He couldn’t exactly refuse when he was being ordered so firmly.

"Good. You may go."

"Thank you, ma’am."

Alex quickly ran off, not quite sure why, as he summoned Arcanine and teleported out with his spoils in hand. He had Arcanine bring them back to the house in Violet City.

Once there, Umbraline delivered the spoils to the farm before he slept off the rest of the night.

He woke up around noon and resumed his journey along Route 44 on Arcanine. The route offered more of the same forested paths and sparse clearings, but with the addition of several lakes scattered along the way.

Like Route 43 leading to the Lake of Rage, the Pokémon here were unusually aggressive, suggesting that few trainers had settled in the area.

They traveled through the afternoon and into the late evening before reaching the entrance to the Ice Path and deciding to continue the next day. The Ice Path was considered a danger zone for most trainers, who generally avoided it unless they were confident in their skills.

Alex didn’t see the point in personally going through the Ice Path just to establish teleportation points, especially with the real risk of cave-ins. So instead of continuing through the path the next day, he decided to take Route 46 instead.

They teleported to the midway point of Route 26 before heading north through Route 46. It turned out to be even more dangerous, as trainers only lived near Route 26. Still, none of it posed a problem for Alex and Arcanine.

They traveled for three days through the danger-filled forest paths of Route 46 and then Route 45 before finally arriving at Blackthorn City by evening, just in time for the scheduled meeting with Clair the next day.

Blackthorn City sat nestled between mountains and mist, isolated from the rest of Johto by sheer cliffs and winding trails that made it a pain to get to without teleportation. The place was old, older than most cities in the region, and it looked it.

Legends claimed the first Dragon tamers settled here centuries ago, carving homes into the cliff walls while raising Dratini in sacred pools. Their descendants still lived in the highest dwellings, where outsiders were rarely welcomed.

Buildings were made from dark wood and stone, with steep roofs built to survive heavy snowfall. The air was colder here, even in summer, and a constant fog hung around the edges of the cliffs that ringed the city. It gave the place an eerie, watchful silence, broken only by the distant cries of wild Dragon types that lived in the surrounding caves and ridges.

Locals didn’t speak much, but they watched everything, and their Pokémon were often just as intimidating as their trainers. Everyone here either trained to become Dragon type specialists or supported those who did. There wasn’t much in the way of nightlife or modern convenience. Even the Pokémon Center looked like it doubled as a dojo. People didn’t come to Blackthorn by accident. It was a destination only for those trying to earn Clair’s badge, which wasn’t easy.

The city itself didn’t sprawl. It was compact, built upward rather than outward, with wooden bridges and narrow walkways connecting homes that clung to the cliffside.

At night, the fog thickened, and the city would grow quiet, lit only by the soft blue glow of lanterns powered by Dragon energy. It was the kind of place where you either earned your place or didn’t stay long.

With Alex’s visit to Blackthorn City, he had officially completed all of Johto. He could finally return home to the farm and end his nearly 7 month long journey.

Looking back, it had been a significantly more relaxing experience than he had anticipated. The only real complication had been his time in the Dark Cave, though the credits he earned from that ordeal more than made up for it.

He would return if he could, but he was afraid of pissing off an unknown Champion ranked trainer. Sure, he had beaten Gravik, but that was only because Gravik was the weakest Champion ranked trainer around. If Alex had to fight a real Champion ranked trainer, he doubted his team could match up, even with the Stormline.

Alex teleported back to Violet City to rest for the final time in Johto before getting up early the next morning and teleporting back to Blackthorn City to meet with Clair.

He was looking forward to claiming his credits, but something told him he was about to receive far more than just a reward.

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