Pokemon: Bounty Hunter Alex

Alex charged at the Alakazam, easily twice the size of a normal one at ten feet tall, its eyes glowing red. Dark type energy enveloped him as he pushed through the invisible psychic force it hurled. He felt a few light shoves along the way, but his momentum never faltered.

The Alakazam, realizing its Psychic was useless, tried everything else in its repertoire. Confusion, Psybeam, and even Future Sight all failed to stop him. In a panic, it fell back on the instinct it had developed since it was young and used the only move it trusted to work, Teleport.

Alex reached it just as the move activated. He grabbed the Alakazam and flooded its body with Dark type energy, canceling the escape. The Pokémon slashed at him with Psycho Cut, swinging its spoon like a blade, but the attack lacked power and did little to slow him down.

Alex tightened his grip and pulled the Alakazam into a chokehold while continuing to pour Dark type energy into it, preventing any resistance. A sharp crack sounded, and the Alakazam went limp. He stored it in a Poké Ball, then took a moment to consider his next move.

"Given the circumstances, I could definitely use it to move around. But that would require bonding with it, and I’ll most likely not be able to bring it with me."

Alex was confident he could return after passing through the portal because he was betting on Celebi to come and pick him up. He didn’t even hesitate to sacrifice himself to save the girls. He was sure he hadn’t done anything significant yet that would inevitably result in saving the world from whatever disaster his presence was supposed to fix.

Now, he was avoiding bonding with any Pokémon because he was afraid of having to leave them behind if Celebi did come to take him back. He didn’t want a repeat of Grim’s incident, which he was currently working to fix.

It wasn’t like he really needed a Pokémon to defend himself anyway. At most, he would just have to stomach the inconveniences of traveling alone without their help.

Hence, he ultimately decided to eat this Pokémon. It was more powerful than most in the area at Elite rank, so it would make a sufficient meal, and it was large enough to last him a month along with the Ursaring he still had.

With the ambush behind him, he continued his journey, traveling through the day before deciding to rest for the night. He didn’t have his camping gear since it had been destroyed along with the platform in the Distortion World, but he knew how to build a fire. He took out the Ursaring from earlier and started butchering it, roasting a leg over the open flame.

As the meat cooked, he noticed a few Shinx gathering nearby, curious but keeping a safe distance.

"You guys want some?" Alex asked.

The Shinx edged closer, still wary.

Alex smiled and tore off a few pieces of meat, tossing them toward the Pokémon. They backed away in fright at first, but the smell proved irresistible, and they eventually took a tentative bite.

Their eyes brightened from the first taste, and they immediately approached, abandoning their caution and eager for more. Alex obliged, feeding them a few more pieces until they were full and slumped near him, having gained their trust.

"They don’t act any different from the Pokémon back home. Wait, that’s not right. They’re acting like normal Pokémon. It’s the Pokémon back home that aren’t normal. They’re more feral and instinctive than these ones. So the question is, why are they so different?"

Alex pondered the question while eating his dinner but came up with nothing. There was nothing in the games he had played that would suggest why Pokémon might go feral. Maybe the other games held some clues, but he hadn’t played them, so there was nothing he could do about it.

Once he finished eating, he leaned back against a tree, closed his eyes, and finally allowed himself some long-awaited sleep.

The next day at noon, he woke to the feeling of soft fur surrounding him. The group of Shinx he had fed seemed to have decided to protect him while he slept, or perhaps they were hoping for another meal.

Two Shinx stood at his sides, their bodies stiff and alert as they kept watch over the area. Another two lay stretched across his legs, their tails flicking lazily in the sun.

This would normally form a bond between them, but Alex kept his energy to himself to prevent it. They were cute and would make excellent mounts, but he couldn’t risk leaving them with no way to get them back, so he had to be careful.

"Alvera would have loved it here," Alex said with a smile.

The Pokémon were defensive, skittish, and didn’t seem to form powerful nests, so there was no serious danger in the wild. Her Aegislash would be more than enough to protect her.

He took out some leftovers from the night before and shared them with the Shinx before continuing his journey north. As he was leaving, the Shinx tried to run after him, but they were too slow, so all they could do was watch as he faded into the distance.

Alex took a week to reach the valley entrance, and throughout that time, he had been growing anxious. Not because of the new place or the lack of supplies, but because Celebi was taking its time.

It was a Time Pokémon, so surely it should have been able to pinpoint his location and come for him immediately. Even if it took Celebi a long time, it would seem like only a blink of an eye to Alex, yet a week had passed with no sign of it.

"What if this is it? What if this is my new life? Should I just start capturing Pokémon?" Alex thought as he mindlessly made his way through the valley.

His first thought was that it was a pity. The Pokémon here were hardly feral and mostly kept to themselves. At most, they would attack to defend themselves or their territory, and he didn’t have the stomach to pick fights.

His next thought was of the family he had left behind, specifically Alvera. As for the girls, he realized he mostly missed the sex before admonishing himself. A normal person would miss them first, before what they offered in a relationship.

"I’m a piece of shit!" Alex said, shaking his head.

He kept blaming his inability to feel love, when in truth he valued fights first, then responsibility, and only finally his relationships when it came to loss. He realized it wasn’t normal in any sense, but that was simply how he was.

Tossing the thought to the back of his mind, he continued running through the valley for a day and a night before finally reaching its end.

Ahead of him lay a lake surrounded by a serene forest, and in the center was a small island with a cave. It was an unmistakable sight given the research he had done before coming to Sinnoh.

"This is one of the lakes of the legendary trio. It should be either Lake Verity or Lake Valor. Wait, Lake Valor was connected to a river, so this is Lake Verity where Mesprit can be found. This means I’m in Sinnoh in the past," Alex muttered. "Is this the Hisui region?"

There were no sprawling cities or signs of people, so it was possible this was still the Hisui region before it had been named Sinnoh. It was also possible that it was even earlier, but without anyone to confirm, all he could be sure of was that he was definitely in the past.

"If this is the Hisui region, the only place to go would be Jubilife Village, which should be north of here. If this is even earlier than that, then the only signs of people would be around the area that would eventually become Eterna City, since the ancient statues were built there."

The Celestica people would have lived here in the more distant past, since they were the ones who created all the ruins in the area for the Diamond and Pearl clans to later explore.

Alex didn’t know much of the history beyond that, but he did know this was his chance to meet the legendary Mesprit without the bureaucracy of the League.

Ever since Team Galactic had attacked the legendary lake trio, they had been placed under strict surveillance to ensure they were never disturbed again. As a result, there was quite a bit of red tape involved in trying to meet them, the kind that made it impossible for Alex to see them without breaking the law.

He was interested in Mesprit specifically because it might be able to fix his mind and let him feel love and care for the girls. Back in Sinnoh, he hadn’t been desperate enough to break the law for it, but his current situation gave him the opportunity.

"I’d better take this chance while I’m here," Alex said as he approached the lake.

He stripped off his heavy gear, leaving only his bodysuit, and jumped into the lake. He wasn’t particularly afraid of anything in the water given his power, so he swam freely until he reached the lone island.

He walked to the entrance of the cave and stepped inside, finding it mostly empty, until he felt the familiar sensation of a psychic presence attempting to probe his mind. He allowed a connection to form.

"Another human? Do you want a Red Chain as well?" came a feminine, excited voice.

"I am here to ask for your help in allowing me to feel love," Alex declared.

"Interesting."

"Is there anything you can do?"

"I’m afraid not. After all, you can feel love just fine."

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