Pokemon: Bounty Hunter Alex

Alex and his Pokémon spent the entire week living in luxury. They were massaged, bathed, deep-cleaned, clipped, waxed, oiled, brushed, powdered—the works. Even Alex got in on the action, indulging in massages and the spas of Celadon City.

Their meals might not have been made from Elite-ranked meat—since they hadn’t received any bounty rewards yet—but the food was still delicious, expertly prepared, and curated by professional chefs. They even dined on Pokéblocks specifically designed to enhance their appearances.

On top of all that pampering, they also underwent extensive health checkups and received targeted nutrition plans to keep their bodies in perfect balance.

At the very least, Alex and his Pokémon had never felt so relaxed, so healthy—or looked this good—before.

Conversely, they had never been this poor either. With eighteen members in total, each of them spent 30,000 Pokédollars per day over the course of a week for all the services.

It was a bargain for an average poor trainer with a team of three, but for Alex, it cost every last Pokédollar of his remaining 4 million.

Not that he was overly worried. If the League truly stiffed them on the reward, they could always hunt a nest on their own.

Nests were organized groups of Pokémon, typically led by a Champion- or Elite-ranked Pokémon. These groups moved as one, following the leader without question.

Some nests were maintained by the League, led by retired Pokémon once trained by humans. These League nests promoted peace and stability and were usually located near cities or populated areas to act as buffers against wild nests. In contrast, wild nests were far from civilization—and far more dangerous.

League nests were protected under strict regulations and typically marked as illegal to hunt, noted clearly at local Pokécenters. Wild nests, on the other hand, were fair game, though Pokécenters kept maps of their general locations as a warning for trainers to avoid them.

Nests were the reason Pokémon posed a threat to cities. When they moved, they moved together—and sometimes, they targeted human settlements for food. If led by a Champion-ranked Pokémon, most cities wouldn’t stand a chance.

Everything between the nest’s location and its destination would either be consumed like a plague of locusts or absorbed into their ranks, leaving behind a path of devastation and ruin.

The primary role of Rangers was to ensure that these nests remained peaceful and didn’t rampage across the land. Depending on the nest, Rangers would either protect them or destroy—or capture—them for food or for the League’s purposes.

And that’s where the cheap Pokémon meat came from.

To Alex’s knowledge, the League collected the corpses of dead novice Pokémon, threw them into a massive grinder, packaged them into single-serving meals, and sold them to the poor—for just 10 Pokédollars each.

It was, as far as the League was concerned, their best attempt at supporting the homeless and underprivileged population.

In any case, Alex and his team were in no real danger of starving.

Today was the day the League would issue payment for his services, and judging by the 27 million Pokédollars sitting in his account, the rewards for the bounties had already been processed.

Alex glanced through the breakdown: Monica’s bounty was listed at 15 million Pokédollars, Lucan’s at 10 million, and the combined worth of over a hundred grunts totaled 5 million. After subtracting the police’s 10% cut, Alex was left with 27 million Pokédollars.

Since the bounty had been issued by the League, the payout was technically tax-free—but the police still took their share, so it wasn’t entirely untaxed.

As for the rest of the compensation, Alex needed to head to the local police station to collect the distributed belongings. The League usually sorted through confiscated property—using the contents of bank accounts for victim compensation—while personal items were either returned to remaining family members or sold off to fund further compensation.

The Pokémon, on the other hand, were typically handed over to the individual responsible for the capture—or turned into Pokémon meat.

As the one who had captured them, Alex was entitled to claim their Pokémon. Still, he was curious about how the League would handle any regulated Pokémon in the bunch. It wasn’t like they could just hand those over to him—not yet, at least. He didn’t have the authority or clearance to own such Pokémon.

He still needed to prove himself further to the League.

As Alex arrived at the police station, he was greeted by Officer Jenny, who looked haggard but satisfied.

"Alex, here to pick up your spoils?" she asked.

"That’s the plan. By the way, did you guys ever manage to find Gardevoir and Zoroark?"

"Yup. We sold them on the League market. Got quite the paycheck from it too."

"Oh? Aren’t those two... you know, horny Pokémon? People actually bought them?"

Horny was the unofficial term for Pokémon that had been bonded with and trained by perverted trainers. These Pokémon typically required regular sexual attention from their trainers to remain emotionally stable—otherwise, they’d spiral into depression.

To ’fix’ them, they had to undergo targeted psychological rewiring to erase that dependence. But for some species like Gardevoir and Zoroark, it was either impossible or ineffective. Gardevoir could rewire herself back to her conditioned state, while Zoroark was simply unaffected by the procedure.

Given Jenny’s mention of the market, Alex assumed they’d been sold to buyers who appreciated that specific trait.

"They paid handsomely, especially since they were regulated Pokémon," Jenny added.

"A shame I didn’t get to them in time. I bet they sold for a fortune." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"Are you kidding me? You earned more than the entire station combined from that raid. Leave something for the rest of us, will you?" Jenny grumbled as they reached the release desk.

Alex handed over his case number and ID. The clerk behind the counter placed a space bag on the table.

"You’ll need to return the bag once you’ve emptied it."

"Understood," Alex replied, opening the bag to inspect its contents.

Inside were over four hundred Adept-ranked, one hundred Expert-ranked, and over a dozen Elite-ranked Pokémon. After some quick calculations, Alex estimated he had about a month’s worth of Elite-ranked meat, six months’ worth of Expert-ranked meat, and a full year of Adept-ranked meat—about a year and a half of food in total.

It’s worth noting: lower-ranked meat requires more volume to fuel Pokémon growth. Meals were also typically supplemented with berries, Pokemon produce, and grains. Realistically, the stash could last them ten years if the goal was simply survival. But Alex wasn’t feeding his team just to live—he was feeding them to grow stronger. Which meant this was a year and a half’s supply, at best.

He checked through the Elite-ranked Pokémon and was unsurprised to find the absence of Monica’s Malamar or Lucan’s Abra.

"What happened to the regulated Pokémon?" Alex asked Jenny, who stood beside him.

"Knew you’d ask," she said with a smirk. "Didn’t you check your League credits? Monica had an Alakazam, Gardevoir, Beheeyem, and Malamar. Lucan had an Abra. You were compensated for all of them."

Alex pulled up the League’s credit interface. Sure enough, his balance had jumped from 0.8 million to 6.4 million credits. A 5.6 million increase.

"All that... just for regulated Pokémon?" he muttered.

He had previously received 10 million from the League for Don due to the man’s extensive assets spread across multiple regions. In contrast, Monica’s operation was practically a charity—her earnings went toward funding Poképhilia clubs, kidnappers, and rapists, rather than legitimate industries like Don’s.

Receiving 5.6 million credits made it clear just how highly desired regulated Pokémon were in the League market.

"It’s normal. The League’s always in need of them —security, surveillance, communication, transportation, psychological treatment, interrogation, the works. That’s one of the reasons why they regulate them in the first place."

"A shame about the Abra. I could’ve used a reliable teleportation option," Alex sighed.

"That Abra was probably half your total payout. It’s young, so training will be cheap for the League. The others might need ’convincing,’ but the value’s still there."

"Any word on the victims?"

"Each compensated enough to live comfortably without working for a lifetime."

"So, 10 million apiece. What about their psychological trauma?"

"Erased, for those who wanted it. Others chose to keep their memories. Surprisingly, not all were traumatized by the prostitution—it was the captivity that broke most of them."

Alex nodded. That made sense. In their shoes, he would’ve done the same: make the best of it rather than wallow as victims and waste years of training in captivity. Their training wasn’t just in sex—it was legitimately useful.

Vera had mentioned lessons in etiquette, fashion, psychology, mixology, communication, and in-depth biology. It wasn’t just prostitution—it was elite-level grooming in social mastery.

If they retained those memories, they’d be able to spot manipulation or control from a mile away. They’d been trained to be manipulators, after all. There was plenty to gain from their situation.

The nightmares, though—those would have to be ignored like everyone else. Or... maybe he’d just get a Dream Eater Pokémon to consume them.

Problem solved.

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