A few hours into the night, Alex was woken by Metagross, who had been on sentry duty. Trainers were approachingâfast.
He got up quickly, told Metagross to start packing, and splashed cold water on his face to shake off the drowsiness.
After waking the rest of his team, he waited, already dressed and prepared for a potential battle.
âAlex?â a familiar voice called from beyond the trees.
âItâs me,â he replied calmly.
Moments later, twenty officers emerged from the bushes, Jenny at the lead.
If he ignored her posture, demeanour, and aura, he couldâve sworn this was his Jenny.
âYouâre Alex?â she asked, voice clipped.
Her tone told him this particular Jenny wasnât a fan. Maybe it was the pile of paperwork he indirectly caused, but it still felt unfair to blame him for criminals choosing to act like idiots.
âYes. Iâve captured about sixty of them. Theyâre tied up just behind that tree line. I wouldâve brought them over, but I ran out of rope.â
âAlright.â
The group followed him and visibly recoiled at the sight. Sixty people. Easy to say. Much harder to picture. That was nearly two full classrooms of adultsâpractically a small mob.
âYou caught all of them?â one of the guards asked, disbelief clear.
âThe first group fought back. The rest walked right into an ambush.â
âDo you have proof they were reinforcements?â
âRotom accessed their phones. We have timestamps, messages, and GPS logs. They should have already been sent online along with video evidence.â
The individual interrogations and slightly rougher handling didnât need to be mentioned. The League could find out about them if they really checked anyway.
âAlright. Tie them up to your PokĂ©mon. Weâll haul them to the station for processing. Long night ahead, boys,â Jenny ordered.
Groans followed. Sixty people was a lot to drag through the woods in the dead of night.
âOh, and Iâve already separated their belongings into pouches. Everythingâs labeledâyou just need to double-check,â Alex added, handing her a stuffed duffel bag. âCareful with this one, regulated Pokemon.â
âThank you. Youâll be contacted about your remuneration within the week.â
Alex nodded without a word. Jenny clearly wasnât in the mood, and he wasnât about to poke the Ursaring.
With the camp packed up and the Pokemon alert, he hopped on Hydreigon and took off. No point hanging around. The final stretch of his journey still waited, and he was wide awake.
A few hours later, with the sun rising, Alex arrived at the west gate of Celadon City.
Upon entering, he immediately noted the difference in atmosphere. Saffron City felt like a bustling metropolis, packed with people glued to their phones as they hurried from place to place. Celadon, on the other hand, felt like a tourist trap designed to lure in the wealthy and the elderly.
There were no flashing neon signs or congested walkwaysâjust wide, clean streets and calm, curated luxury. It was quiet. Too quiet.
Alex felt oddly unsettled by the lack of a bustling crowd. It almost felt like he was still in the wilds, as if danger could jump out at any moment. At least in Saffron, when someone targeted you, they couldnât look down on their phones and would be spotted within the crowd.
He had a week to spend before his appointed gym challenge so he made his way to the hotel district beside the casinos and booked an upscale room for 25,000 PokĂ©dollars a night. It wasnât a luxuryâhe had seventeen PokĂ©mon to consider. He needed the space to house, bathe, and feed them properly.
The next morning, bright and early, Alex headed to the black market. Most people imagined shady backstreets, alleyways, or sewer tunnels when they thought of such places. But this was Celadon City. The criminals here had class.
The market was on the third floor of the very hotel he was staying inâaccessible only to select individuals who presented proper invitations. There were no dress codes, just the right qualifications.
Alex arrived in a sleek black suit with an emerald green tie, his hair slicked back into a sharp undercut. He looked like a third-rate villain out of a soap opera. No one would recognize him unless they looked closely at his face.
Normally, Alex wore thick bodysuits, heavy long coats, and messy hairâthe look of someone who prioritized combat utility over appearance.
He walked confidently into the market, which resembled a high-end department store more than an Underworld hub. Everyone here was part of the criminal network governed by Ace Moniqueâan Elite-ranked criminal with a 100-million PokĂ©dollar bounty and the quiet backing of Champion-level individuals.
As far as the League was concerned, this floor didnât exist.
Alex made his way to a bookstore as instructed. Upon entering, he placed two key cards and an envelope on the counter.
The clerk silently slid a book across to him. Alex picked up all four items and headed to a quiet table in the back.
Inside the book were building blueprints, bounty profiles, manpower estimates, financial ledgers, and even a list of captives believed to be held by Monica AlfredsâLucan Thorneâs boss and the woman Alex had been screwing since his bounty hunting debut.
He let out a quiet chuckle, memorized the contents, and walked out.
PokĂ©mon werenât allowed inside, not even Rotom who could have helped record the information. Aegislash wasnât lurking in his shadow, either. But Alex didnât mindâhe felt safe enough given the scale of what his employer wanted done.
The mission? Take down Monicaâs main base of operationsâa high-class brothel that trafficked in both human and PokĂ©mon prostitutes.
The PokĂ©mon side of things wasnât even illegal. Pokephilia existed in a gray area under the âdonât ask, donât tellâ policy. As long as it was kept discreet, it was tolerated.
Pokémon could be groomed or trained to accept and enjoy such treatment, and the League had no means to regulate it without breaking the entire trainer bond system.
Pokemon getting bonded with perverts makes the Pokemon perverts as well. The League could not subject every future trainer to a psychic evaluation to specifically prevent perverts from bonding with Pokemon.
Human prostitution was legal tooâso long as it was consensual. The real issue was that Monicaâs staff werenât volunteers. They were kidnapped or missing persons from other cities, sometimes even other regions.
Clients didnât complain. The police couldnât actâMonica had too many government backers.
So, it fell to someone like Alex. A bounty hunter with a penchant for chaos and nothing to lose.
Alex visited a few shops and picked up some low-level disguises. He didnât dare buy anything outright illegal, like unregistered PokĂ© Balls or poached and stolen goods. He promptly left after his business.
Alex had some time to kill, so he wandered into the casino next door. He was curiousâwas card counting a thing in the PokĂ©mon world?
That hope was quickly crushed when he realized there wasnât even blackjack, poker, or roulette. Just rows of slot machines and a smattering of mini-game-style attractions. The place didnât feel classy at all, and it soured his mood.
In true Pokémon fashion, he headed toward the back of the casino where a bunch of portraits hung on the wall. He poked around, half-expecting to find a hidden switch or passage. Nothing. Another disappointment. With a sigh, Alex made his way to the rewards counter to see what prizes were on offer.
The lineup was impressiveâevolution stones, held items, PokĂ©blocks with unique effects, captured PokĂ©mon ranging up to Elite rank, and even eggs from pseudo-Legendary species. Tempting, but there was a catch.
The prices were outrageous. Far above market value if you wanted to buy them outright. The system was designed to entice gamblers into chasing prizes through sheer luck, driving most of them half-mad in the process.
Finding nothing worth his time, Alex returned to his room to prepare for the nightâs operation.
Suddenly remembering Jenny, he pulled her number from his mother and gave her a call.
The voice on the other end sounded like it wanted to commit violence.
âWhat do you want, Alex? Is one night of peace too much to ask?â Jenny grumbled, clearly having been woken up.
âI just wanted to give you a heads-up about something Iâm doing tonight,â Alex replied, his tone shifting to serious. âYouâll want a few psychic experts skilled in memory erasure. Otherwise, thereâs a good chance of mass suicides.â
Jenny groaned. âUghh, fine. What are you planning?â
Alex walked her through the operation, and just as he expected, her reaction was instant and visceral.
âARE YOU SERIOUS?â Jenny practically screamed into the phone.
âSomeone wants Monica gone. So yes, Iâm very serious. I donât have hard evidence, but I did get a good look at a list of missing personsâand it matches their staff lineup exactly.â
âIâm coming with you.â
âSo your squadâs spies can leak it? No thanks,â Alex said flatly. âClean up your unit first, or next time you wonât even get a courtesy call. I counted five spies among the twenty people you brought earlier, and you didnât notice a thing.â
He had been watching closely. Three of them had visibly recognized people among the sixty captives, while the other two had shown an unnatural lack of interest in the whole affair.
âFine. Just call me when it's done,â Jenny relented easily.
âSure thing,â Alex replied, ending the call.
With due diligence out of the way, he went for a quick nap before getting ready. He had a long night ahead of him.
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