Chapter 384. The Aftermath

With her revenge finished, Rhea met up with the others in Desert Resort and gave Nyx all the accounts and passwords Malamar had been able to take from the founders when she read their memories. This would give them even more evidence to ensure Argent Solutions was taken down without allowing Team Dominion’s spies the chance to simply bury it as usual.

In truth, it wasn’t really necessary to read their minds for her plan to work, even at this stage. They already had more than enough evidence from Umbraline’s and Julien’s documentation over the years. However, it was necessary for Rhea to know she wasn’t killing anyone who was in the same position as Julien Arset, who had truly just been trying to survive.

The results she found were even more damning. Apparently, they all secretly agreed with the proposed changes because the expanded scope of Argent Solutions would have given them more money to work with. In the end, Julien was the only one who cared about what Ray Argent had tried to build, a gaming company focused purely on entertainment.

Once Rhea found the truth in their own minds, she no longer hesitated to move forward with her plans and begin her torturous revenge, which ended quite well all things considered. That was until Alex told her about Orvan Kestrel, who had managed to escape before everything even began.

“Alex! My stud, my king, my hero, you’ll hunt him down for me, right?” Rhea asked with big, twinkling eyes.

“Don’t look at me,” Alex said, raising his hands. “I’ve never been good with investigations. Go ask Nyx to help you with that. Once he’s found, I can go and capture him for you, but I can’t track him down like a detective or online sleuth.”

Rhea’s head swiveled toward Nyx’s hologram, which looked like it was already busy managing the current stage of the plan. She let out a heavy sigh, realizing she would have to wait a little longer before her revenge was truly complete.

In the days that followed, multiple sites were set up containing complete documentation of Argent Solutions’ criminal actions, with claims that evidence was available upon request. This included Team Dominion’s involvement, along with proof that the Unova government had concealed it, and it identified the specific individuals responsible.

The news outlets understandably tried to suppress the story, but the sites were sent directly to everyone with the authority to act, including Champion Iris, who had already received reports of Team Dominion’s destruction across the region in a single night.

With support from Iris, the Elite Four, and the main Gym Leaders of each city and town in Unova, a witch hunt was launched to cleanse the government from top to bottom. Many spies belonging to Team Dominion and other Underworld forces in the region were incarcerated. This even included Umbraline’s own spies and Grimefold’s informants as well.

Everyone was affected by this decisive move by Iris, including many sympathizers among the Gym Leaders, companies, and organizations that had benefited from Team Dominion’s rise. Numerous government officials and their innocent assistants either fled the region before they could be reached or were caught and subjected to psychic evaluations before being freed, imprisoned, or executed.

Once the witch hunts began producing results, the final blow came when Julien Arset, his wife, and daughter returned to put the last nail in Argent Solutions’ coffin. As the sole remaining founder, Julien had the authority to decide the company’s future. He chose to bankrupt the enterprise, severing its deal with the Unova government. At the same time, he launched a new startup, Arset Innovations, which purchased all the assets Argent Solutions had been forced to sell to cover their debt to the government when the deal fell through.

Julien personally reviewed the employees, removing Team Dominion sympathizers and hiring those who, like him, had simply endured the company’s policies to survive. When everything was done, Arset Innovations became a virtual reality gaming company that focused entirely on Ray Argent’s original vision, with Umbraline as their backer. While the world-dominating organization might have been repurposed for public surveillance, at least it would no longer attempt to control the public’s mind.

The scandal captured widespread attention, greatly boosting Iris’s reputation. She had accomplished what the Champion of Hoenn had, and she did it without significant casualties. Since Alex had helped her succeed, it was only right to thank him in person.

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Alex was relaxing on a private beach in Undella City in front of the villa he had rented for the week, watching the aftermath of their operation with the girls. In truth, he simply hadn’t been able to refuse Iris, who had been disappointed by the sudden rush that robbed her, Lyra, and Mika of their chances to relax while traveling the region. After spending the past two weeks hunting, he agreed it was the perfect time to unwind.

Rhea, Lyra, Mika, Iris, Clarissa, Sable, and Nyx’s hologram accompanied him. Olivia was busy expanding her empire, which included taking over Grimefold and slowly rooting out its information network. The bounty hunters, on the other hand, immediately returned to Kanto to invest their newfound wealth in their Pokémon. It wasn’t enough to reach Champion rank, but it was enough to make meaningful progress toward it.

Alex lay on a lounge chair by the water, surrounded by the girls in skimpy bathing suits, who took turns teasing and ravishing him as they enjoyed the privacy and the sun. They took full advantage of the secluded beach, confident that nothing short of top tier surveillance equipment could spy on them, and even that was unlikely to go viral given Nyx’s and Rotom’s technological security.

Their peaceful break ended when a massive Hydreigon descended from the sky with a beautiful woman riding on its back. The dragon landed heavily on the sand, kicking up a cloud in its wake as the woman leapt down with grace. It was Iris, the Champion of the Unova region.

She had a toned, curvy figure, her long dark purple hair framing her glowing brown skin and smoldering red brown eyes. She wore a fitted cream blouse with a plunging neckline and a high slit pink skirt, paired with sheer leggings and strappy heels that accentuated her mature allure.

“I see you’re all enjoying yourselves after a job well done,” she said as the girls quickly got dressed and stepped away.

“Can you blame us?” Alex replied as he stood, unashamed of his nakedness. “We pulled off a pretty difficult job under an impossible timeline with minimal collateral damage. I’d say we more than deserve this little slice of relaxation.”

“Yes, except you also destroyed half of Twist Mountain, damaged several buildings that weren’t owned by Team Dominion, leveled a few city blocks, cutting off water and power to many people, and killed several hundred innocent civilians in the process.”

Quite a few bases were built within the city, deep beneath its infrastructure, so their use of destructive infiltration methods inevitably inconvenienced a large number of people. Clarissa’s battle, for example, only targeted the main building, but the resulting collapse also damaged the surrounding structures.

Alex turned sharply to Nyx. “Innocent civilians?”

“She means the people who worked for Team Dominion without a choice. Many of the staff who died were under mind control, coercion, or threats to their lives, so in a way, we did end up killing quite a number of innocent people.”

Alex nodded, then looked at Iris. “Send us the bill for compensation. This was a personal grudge and should have been handled more carefully, even with our limited options.”

“Good,” Iris said with a satisfied nod. “At least you owned up to it instead of brushing it aside. You will be held accountable once we’ve finished tallying the compensation. As for your reward—”

“Reward?” Alex asked. “None of them had bounties, so I wasn’t expecting one.”

“You deserve it after everything you accomplished, despite the collateral damage. It should have already been sent to your account.”

Alex glanced down on his phone to check and found a billion credits added to his account, along with 100 thousand contribution points. It was a staggering reward that effectively placed him among the world’s top elites, those who had accumulated vast wealth over generations.

“This is… generous,” Alex said.

“The penalties haven’t been tallied yet,” Iris replied.

Even after the fines were assessed, they would be pennies compared to the amount granted. It wouldn’t take more than a few thousand credits per affected individual, so at most 1-10% of the reward would go toward compensation, assuming the government could even identify all the civilians who had been proven innocent among those Alex and the others had killed. As for the structural damage, it would be even cheaper to address, since local tradesmen would likely be hired for the repairs rather than more expensive specialists.

“Thanks, I guess,” Alex said, genuinely surprised.

“Right, you’re welcome,” Iris replied before turning back to her ride.

Once she was mounted, she said, “The Unova region thanks you for your services. We will keep in touch,” and then took off violently, sending a spray of sand over Alex and the girls.

“That went well,” Clarissa said as she approached. “I expected a bigger scolding after all the damage we caused, but this was mild compared to what Dad would have done. Iris is a dragon trainer, after all.”

“I bet Alex’s raging boner helped,” Lyra said with a laugh. “Did you see her blushing while checking him out? It was so cute.”

“So, um… Alex,” Sable said shyly as she came closer. “What are you planning to do with the money?”

Alex thought for a moment, then smiled widely.

“I think it’s time we expanded the Silver Network into the other regions.”

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