Pokemon: Bounty Hunter Alex

"Welcome to Ever Grande City, home to the Pokémon League of Hoenn, where battle junkies and Champion ranked trainers are everywhere," the teleporter announced.

They didn’t teleport to the city itself, but rather to the eastern mountainous shoreline. The cliffs jutted sharply into the sea, waves crashing against jagged rocks below, while the sunlight caught the surface of the water in glittering shards. It gave Alex’s Pokémon a chance to take note of the area.

"We’ll be spending the night here since Alakazam is tapped out and will continue teleporting tomorrow."

"Sure."

The teleporter made his way toward the city while Alex waited for Arcanine and Gardevoir to finish taking their bearings.

Once they were done, he recalled them and set off for the city. He planned to check in at a decent hotel for the night.

Ever Grande City rose from the eastern cliffs where the mountains met the sea. Its terraces were stacked with towers of glass and polished stone, marble plazas, and wide immaculate streets. Shops flaunted imported goods and rare luxuries, while hotels and restaurants carried names known far beyond Hoenn, each one advertising itself as the pinnacle of refinement. At its summit stood the League headquarters, a citadel that loomed over the city. The harbors below funneled in the trade and resources that made Ever Grande both the political heart and economic center of the region.

Prestige defined the streets as much as the architecture. Trainers in tailored coats and high-grade battle gear carried themselves with the confidence of the accomplished, their powerful Pokémon serving as open symbols of status. Elite ranked trainers were as common here as regular people, Champion ranked trainers blended into the crowd, and fortified arenas rang with contests of overwhelming power. Even bystanders seemed to measure one another by their aura.

Though Alex had never seen the Indigo Plateau, he recognized Ever Grande as Hoenn’s counterpart, its crown jewel. Everything here was costly, from a simple meal to a night’s lodging, prices set as much for exclusivity as quality. This was the mecca of the region, a city built to embody power, wealth, and ambition, unlike any place he had ever walked before.

As Alex walked along the city’s spotless streets, he was reminded of the charged battle energy of Olivine City in Johto, which lay right next to the Battle Frontier. With the Hoenn Pokémon League nearby, it made sense that this city was equally ready for a battle at the drop of a hat.

He also couldn’t help but notice that some of the elites were carrying firearms. Guns had become popular enough in Hoenn that elite ranked trainers seemed justified in purchasing them and bringing them along for protection.

Over the years, Alex had observed a similar trend in Kanto. Guns were slowly being integrated into the trainer world. It wasn’t yet to the point where even children starting their first journeys were armed, but adults had begun realizing that simply commanding their Pokémon from the back was no longer enough.

By carrying weapons, trainers could better protect themselves on their journeys, especially before reaching elite rank, when guns began to lose their combat effectiveness.

This was generally bad for Alex, considering Move crystals would likely skyrocket in price. He couldn’t compete with tech giants who wanted a piece of that market, but he could certainly steal from those who did, like Team Dominion, for example.

Alex eventually found a decent-looking hotel for the night. It wasn’t the most luxurious in the city, but it was more than enough to meet his needs. It was certainly as lavish as the hotels he typically stayed at in other cities.

He was therefore completely taken aback when he saw the price for a single night. He thought he understood wealth, until confronted with the cost of the luxury room he had chosen.

’One million Pokédollars per night!?’ he complained inwardly, keeping his expression steady.

"That’s fine. Book me for a night," he said with practiced ease.

"You’ll be in room 1054. Here are your key cards. The elevator is down the hall to your right. Check-out is at noon."

The receptionist barely made an effort to be welcoming, even for wealthy guests. By the city’s standards, this hotel was likely considered subpar despite the insane price.

"Thank you."

He took his key cards and made his way to his room. Once inside, he wasn’t overly impressed. It looked the same as any other luxury hotel he had stayed in, and the amenities weren’t much better once he checked the list of services.

"These people are fucking crazy," Alex muttered.

Everything here was marked up for people like him, those who believed they deserved the best and were willing to pay for it. They weren’t wrong. He would still pay, but that didn’t mean he liked being taken advantage of.

As Alex was preparing for bed, he suddenly received a call from Jenny.

"Hey, Mom. How’s it going?"

"Alex! I’ve been trying to reach you all day."

"I’ve been teleporting between Kanto and Hoenn the entire day. I may have been out of cell service in some places. What’s wrong?"

"Vera told me you’d be heading to Hoenn, and I happen to have something for you to do there."

"Oh? Do tell. You never ask for my help except when it comes to taking care of your Pokémon’s puppies."

"Well, you know how we have a deal with Devon Corporation to supply all the Jennys with guns and combat gear, right?"

"Yes, I’m well aware. They made my guns and gear, after all."

"Well, they seem to be in trouble."

"Mom, Steven Stone, the Champion of the region, owns and runs Devon Corp. I don’t see how they could get into any actual trouble."

"You’d normally be right, except when human supremacists suddenly take out their Champions and place them in cities that don’t generally mind their presence."

"Human supremacists, you say?" Alex asked, as if he had heard the magic words.

If he had previously been only mildly interested for the sake of getting some Move crystals from Devon Corp., now they had his full attention.

"Yes, they call themselves Team Dominion, and they have been slowly worming their way into Hoenn. There have been some clashes with them, but it stayed relatively minor until recently, when they suddenly sent Champion ranked trainers to man cities they considered conquered by raising the priority of human lives over Pokémon."

"You know, as a peace-loving ancient family, I had expected that the Jenny and Joy clans would be on board with their propaganda."

"There have been some who were in favor of their views until reports showed how brutal they were with their own Pokémon. You also forget that we are not interested in just peace, Alex. We prioritize stability as well. This means we will always choose the path that leads to the most people keeping their peaceful lives. Team Dominion has it out for Pokémon to the point that they would force regular people to brutalize their own Pokémon. If it weren’t for that, we would likely have been more supportive."

That was a close call for Team Dominion. They almost succeeded in ruling the world for a moment there. If they had been just a tiny bit less extreme, they would likely have achieved their goals with the backing of the Jenny and Joy clans.

"Well, you never ask me for anything, so consider my participation included," Alex said. "What did you need me to do specifically?"

"Head to Devon Corp in Rustboro City and meet with their representative. He will explain the specifics of what they need help with. The Jennys can’t do it because we are limited to police work, which is below the scope of what needs to get done. Steven also has his hands tied because they don’t want to escalate the problem beyond elite ranked combat. That puts you in the ideal position to move between both battlefronts."

"Alright, I’ll swing by tomorrow after I complete my tour of Hoenn and build a teleportation network. You can let them know to expect me by the afternoon."

"Alright."

Alex hung up after a bit more chatter. He hardly ever talked with Jenny now that he had a daughter. Lately, it had always been Vera whom Jenny would regularly call, not that he was complaining.

Alex finished preparing for tomorrow before heading to bed, reflecting on how lucky he was to have landed this job.

His original plan had been to meet with the local Umbraline branch to gather information on supply depots owned by the human supremacists. The operation carried some risk, depending on who led the branch.

He had been understandably skeptical, but this opportunity from Devon Corp might be exactly the ticket he needed to secure his ammunition. On top of that, he could even earn a sizable reward from the tech giant, perhaps even a certain stone that Steven was known to hand out freely, almost like candy to children.

Either way, he was eager to dive back into intense battles now that he was back in the saddle.

-----

Support me on Patreon

patreon/babywrath