Chapter 343. A Bounty Hunter

Alex was surprised the base wasn’t on high alert when he entered through the submarine bay. Dale’s raids had been underway for a full 24 hours, which was more than enough time for the organization to relocate personnel, secure assets, or abandon the facility entirely, yet the base appeared fully operational. He had expected to find the place emptied out by the time he began his infiltration, but submarines still crowded the docks, and every escape pod remained untouched.

Thinking it over, it was possible that Dale’s crew had executed their raids with such perfect stealth that the base had no idea it had been discovered, or that the new head of Team Dominion’s Kanto branch simply wasn’t easily threatened. Either way, it was good news for him, since he would be able to reap the maximum benefits.

Alex, along with Clarissa by his side and Rhea and Alvera at the back, made their way to the entrance of the base from the submarine bay, ready to start a fight, when Alex suddenly detected a suspicious amount of life force on the other side.

“I think they’re waiting for us,” Alex said, halting their advance.

“Easy,” Clarissa said as she released her Cetitan and Alolan Ninetales. “Just let me take the lead.”

“Hold on,” Alex said. “I don’t think it’ll be that easy.”

“It’s fine,” Clarissa insisted before ordering her Pokémon. “Go in there and start wrecking the place as a distraction.”

Her plan was relatively simple. She would let Ninetales’ Snow Warning double Cetitan’s speed, allowing it to rush out and create chaos. That opening would give them enough space to release the rest of their Pokémon and start taking down the bad guys.

Unfortunately, it seemed their opponents had upgraded their tactics ever since Alex had taken down their bases years ago. The moment they noticed a snowstorm forming, the base went into high alert, sirens blaring.

When Cetitan stepped out, she was met with a solid wall of gunfire that nearly killed her. She fainted before she could even hit the ground, overwhelmed by the thousands of rounds fired her way. The damage was so devastating that she would have died if Clarissa hadn’t been ready to recall her at a moment’s notice, an instinct drilled into her since childhood.

“Ceitan!” Clarissa shouted before immediately administering a Full Revive.

Alex, meanwhile, found himself in a bind. The rate of fire was so high that he doubted even his full team could stave it off with their Special Attacks. Chances were high that a stray round would slip through and start wearing down his team. He could also try blitzing his attack team through and creating chaos, but given the rate of fire, he doubted they would survive long enough to begin evasive maneuvers. Still, he wasn’t about to give up that easily.

He released all his Pokémon capable of using the Expanding Force combo to buy them some space on the other side, including Gardevoir, Espeon, Gallade, and Knight the Iron Valiant.

“Psychic Terrain, then Expanding Force. Push them all away from the entrance,” Alex instructed.

Gardevoir nodded, coordinating the others. After setting up Psychic Terrain, they unleashed an Expanding Force just outside the submarine bay doors, but it was a futile attempt.

The moment the army on the other side saw the attack coming, they opened fire, including bullets infused with Dark type moves. At the slightest touch, the Expanding Force was immediately punctured like a soap bubble, destroying all four attacks in an instant.

“Damn,” Alex cursed, realizing his only way through would be to destroy the base from the outside and flood it entirely.

Off to the side, he noticed Gallade concentrating before turning to Gardevoir with a look. Gardevoir considered his proposition before turning to Alex and explaining his plan.

“Are you sure?” Alex asked. “I know you’ve been training really hard, but you’re only at the Expert rank. Are you sure you can pull it off?”

Gallade concentrated again, thought it through, and finally nodded seriously.

“Alright,” Alex said, trusting his Pokémon. “Set it up, Gardevoir.”

She nodded before requesting Rotom to release all of Alex’s Pokémon. Then they began forming a standard assault formation, with the attack team at the front, the water team in the center, and the defense team on the wings.

“What’s the plan?” Clarissa asked, now much more open to Alex’s ideas after her own plan had nearly caused her to lose Cetitan.

“My team will burst through and handle the army while your team focuses on the Champions,” Alex answered.

“What about us?” Rhea asked.

“You stay in the back until Clarissa has the Champion handled, then begin taking out any strays who try to flank us.”

“Alright,” Rhea said before taking Alvera’s hand. “You’re with me this time, sweet pea.”

“Okay,” Alvera said, nodding with a serious demeanor.

“Ready when you are,” Alex said to Gallade, who began enveloping the entire attack team in his psychic energy.

Then, in the blink of an eye, all twelve Pokémon on the attack team vanished.

When they reappeared, they found themselves on the back line of an army of a thousand gunmen, arranged in a concave formation, all pointing their guns toward the submarine bay entrance. Nearly a hundred autocannons were planted on the ground among them. It was a devastating force that a single Champion wouldn’t be able to approach while they held a choke point.

Behind the army, the other workers on the base scrambled to pack everything into space bags. It seemed Dale and his crew had executed their raids stealthily enough that the base hadn’t had enough time to complete their evacuation.

Their rush was compounded by the Teleport Gallade used. Unlike Gardevoir’s more commonly used teleportation technique, Gallade’s had no visible indication of psychic energy being used at either the departure or destination point. It completely bypassed the usual guarantees of a successful teleport, which was precisely why it was both dangerous and remarkable.

Without the telltale light of teleportation, the army waiting on the other side of the submarine bay doors was caught completely off guard. They didn’t notice the attack team’s presence until strikes began raining down on them, and by then it was already too late.

Once the attack team was teleported safely, they wasted no time wreaking havoc. They split into their designated teams, each taking a different direction. Raticate and Arcanine blitzed the army’s left flank with Quick Attack and Extreme Speed, while Ceruledge supported them by breaking through any Protects with a perfectly timed Phantom Force. Arcanine then unleashed a devastating Heat Wave that literally cooked the exposed humans.

Kommo-o rushed the right flank and immediately unleashed a massive Earthquake, swallowing gunmen into the ground and pulverizing them with the tremors. Dusknoir used Gravity to ensure anyone trapped in a crevice couldn’t simply jump out, leaving them vulnerable to being crushed, while Togekiss supported the pair with Wish, After You, and Life Dew.

Lucario’s team, with Lopunny and Gallade, took the center of the formation and began striking everything in sight. Their teamwork was both chaotic and precise. They moved freely, attacking anyone within reach, but any gunman who tried to target one of them immediately received a devastating kick to the chest, sending them flying like ragdolls through the army. No matter how scattered they became, they always covered each other’s backs.

Finally, Grim’s team took to the skies and targeted the sniper nests atop the buildings. Grim swooped down like a bird of prey, grabbing humans and tearing them apart, while Knight, riding Grim, unleashed Dazzling Gleams at anyone who tried to attack them. Hydreigon meanwhile used Roar and Snarl to prevent them from being focus-fired.

Needless to say, all hell broke loose.

Gardevoir, on the other side of the submarine bay door, waited until the army had turned in response to the chaos before immediately ordering the rest of Alex’s Pokémon to rush out and take up a defensive formation. Before anyone realized what had happened, they were on the other side of the door, bombarding the scattered army with area-of-effect attacks, the most prominent of which was Surf, used to destroy mounted guns, destabilize footing, and clean up the blood and death for Alvera.

Alex, with Clarissa at his side, rushed out as well and took in the sight with a tingling warmth in his chest. There was just something about a lone human and his Pokémon taking down an army with an advantageous position that both filled him with purpose and, for some reason, gave him a throbbing erection.

Perhaps he was mentally ill, which wasn’t a surprise, or it was a side effect of his recent psychic treatment. Either way, he reveled in the sensation, took out Stormline, and opened fire on any clumped-up group of enemies he could find.

Clarissa took in the sight and came to a completely different conclusion. Alex was an absolute monster.

She was confident in winning tournaments through official battles, relying on her strength and strategy to win against Alex’s top Pokémon, but in the real world, where unseen advantages and disadvantages existed, Alex would win hands down.

She realized then and there that she had to do better. She couldn’t just win through official battles; she had to win in real ones as well.

She released all her Pokémon and immediately focused on a trainer at the far back. He was surrounded by his Champion ranked Pokémon and yelling at two people, one who seemed to be the leader of the army and the other, a secretary who appeared to be in charge of the workers. Without hesitation, she charged toward him, her Pokémon at her side, ready for a serious battle.

Rhea and Alvera quickly followed suit and were stunned by the blood, death, and devastation. Even Rhea, who had been eager to start a rampage and was unafraid of killing, was shocked by the magnitude of the battle. It was far more dangerous than she could have possibly imagined. She felt glad that she had come along with Alex to witness a real battle firsthand, all for the sake of her future plans.

Alvera, meanwhile, was absolutely shocked. She could never have imagined how horrible her dad’s job really was. In her mind, he ran around winning Pokémon battles and then arrested people one at a time. Now, she had a front-row seat to the level of battles her dad actually participated in.

It made her realize even more than the harsh lesson she had learned when she was 8 just how dangerous the world truly was, and how many evil people were constantly running around. There were at least a thousand bad guys here, and her dad had supposedly taken down even more.

From that day on, she could no longer see her dad as just another trainer whose job was called bounty hunting. She realized he was an entirely different kind of human altogether.

He was a bounty hunter.

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