Pokemon: Bounty Hunter Alex

Chapter 42: Chapter 42. New Profession

Later that night as Alex was having dinner with Jenny, he asked how trainers managed to make enough money to train their Pokémon while ensuring they had access to the best resources. She simply laughed.

”I truly admire your dedication to training your Pokémon, Alex. Your job at the Dojo is on the upper end when it comes to acquiring resources, yet you spend every single Pokédollar on food,” Jenny said.

”Arcanine has been getting jealous of the treatment, and he’s specifically noticed that Raticate and Growlithe have already caught up to him in rank. I’ve had to buy premium goods for my own Pokemon for a few days while starting up on training them again,” she continued with a sigh.

”Trainers typically don’t have a full team until they’ve traveled all over Kanto, collected badges, spoils, resources, and gained access to better League missions. That’s where most of their money comes from while nutrition comes from their spoils.”

”League missions range from taking down Elite-ranked Pokémon rampaging in the wild, retrieving valuable resources that are being protected, gathering intelligence for the League, taking down criminals, and following League directives. All of these have substantial payouts.”

”How do you think your parents’ money still added up to a million otherwise? They were paid handsomely for answering the League’s call in defending the city.”

”The way you’ve been living, Alex, makes it seem like you’re part of the top 1%. You’ve been spending 5,000 to 15,000 Pokédollars per day ever since you joined the Fighting Dojo, and your progress has been phenomenal. But now, you’re treating all your Pokémon to 10,000 Pokédollars’ worth of premium food every day for each one? That’s extravagant and unsustainable.”

”Why have you never told me?” Alex finally asked after shaking off his bewilderment.

”You’ve managed just fine over the past two years. You even earned us millions on top of that. I’d say you’re doing a fine job—better than most in your situation. That’s why I never said anything. Whatever you’ve been doing has been working.”

”Back to your original question, there are a few options to maintain your daily expenditure of 100,000 Pokédollars daily.”

”You could keep writing papers for the League’s benefit until they grant you higher security clearance and start getting grants, start a business that rakes in millions per week, or—what you’ve secretly been doing—catching criminals and taking their money,” Jenny said, giving Alex an accusatory look.

Of course, she knew about the stolen money from the man, the director, and the drug den. Jenny had been covering for him because she knew he was getting desperate. It had worked out well enough in the end.

”You knew,” Alex said somberly.

”Of course I knew. Arcanine has been tracking the scent of the stolen money back to you and has been trying to cover for you, you know.”

”Sorry,” Alex apologized sincerely.

”It’s not good, but it’s not really harming anyone—except the League, which has more than enough money to cover for you. It’s also why Sabrina didn’t call you out over the director’s case. She’s secretly nice like that.”

”This is why I’d like to suggest you join the police force and officially hunt criminals. That way, you can collect listed bounties without the police dipping into your pockets. You’d still get taxed, but you could either raid the place yourself or hand over the intel to the relevant authorities, which is the most common approach. If you do that, you’d get 30% of the bounty rather than the 10% finder’s fee for civilians.”

”You can do that?” Alex asked, shocked.

”Once you graduate from the Pokémon Academy, you can enter a one-year training program at the Police Academy to gain official law enforcement status. After that, you can take a test to qualify as a Bounty Hunter. They specialize in hunting down criminals as bounties posted by the League, the police, and the private sector.”

”These bounties are considered official and are extensively vetted to ensure they’re legally justified. On top of that, your new status would grant you security clearance for special Pokémon, rare resources, and enhanced access and capabilities for your Rotom.”

”This police career path is also why we don’t have competent officers patrolling the streets—they’re too strong to waste on routine patrols who make little, so they choose to become bounty hunters instead. It was the police’s desperate effort to keep trainers targeted at criminals rather than just Pokemon to hunt”

That was right up Alex’s alley. Freedom. Power. Violence. Unfortunately, he was woefully unprepared for the intelligence-gathering aspect of the job.

”Why haven’t you told me before?”

”You weren’t ready. If you had joined earlier, you would’ve become a regular cop with just Growlithe and Raticate. But now, you have nine Pokémon and enough money to accelerate their growth. Once they go through the academy’s special training regimen, you can be sure they’ll have your back.”

”What’s so special about the academy? The Pokémon Academy just teaches general knowledge, and I’m already a year ahead—I only rely on their discounts to save money. The Dojo provides physical combat training for both trainers and Pokémon, plus perks like early access to wild Pokémon. What could I possibly learn from the Police Academy?”

”First, they teach you the laws you’ll have to follow across all regions. Second, they train Pokémon to fight as a team. Third, they teach Pokémon how to track criminals. Fourth, they teach trainers to use their heads. Fifth, they provide self-defense training—not that you need it.

”Don’t expect the high-level battles you experience at the gym or school, nor any secret tricks for using moves—you can find those online. That’s why police officers who graduate from the academy are considered weak, and they know it. But if you give them enough specially trained Pokémon, that’s when they’ll truly shine.”

Jenny kept pitching the idea to Alex, though he was already fully on board with the program. He was growing bored with his classes and planned to test out of them, allowing him to move to his final year by next year.

Next, he decided to take a break from the Dojo to focus on personally training his team. With two baby Pokémon on the way and Snom requiring high friendship to evolve, most of his time would be consumed by their development.

The next day, he spent another million Pokédollars on premium goods and got Alcremie her two missing moves. She wasn’t thrilled about adding more techniques to her already full arsenal, but she complied in exchange for a dollop of matcha cream in his coffee.

Alex then went to school to request testing out of the rest of the year, as well as the following year. If approved, he would enter his fourth year as a senior once the new school year started. The school accepted his request, scheduling all his exams on a single day to ensure he was competent in each subject.

Afterward, he visited the Fighting Dojo to inform the receptionist that he would be taking a four-month leave to raise new Pokémon. They accepted his request without issue and wished him luck—raising five new Pokémon was no small feat.

Alex spent the following week reviewing and studying for his exams. By the end of the week, he had completed them all with high scores, officially skipping the remaining four months of the current year and advancing a full grade level.

The school had little hesitation in approving his request, given his high academic performance, his clear boredom in class, his outstanding battle record in the arena, his excessive spending, and his widely popular research paper—still a hot topic among breeders and psychologists.

With four months secured, Alex devoted himself to raising his new Pokémon to fighting potential, hoping that the Dojo would accept their unique battle styles and integrate them into its regular battlegrounds. If that happened, he could recoup some of the financial losses he was about to incur over the next 19 days.

A month into training, Snom and Honedge hatched. Snom was adorable and affectionate, while Honedge wouldn’t stop practicing its moves—no complaints there.

Both Pokémon accepted their ”baptism” of moves before moving on to proficiency training.

To evolve Snom as quickly as possible, Raticate temporarily gave up its usual spot on Alex’s arms, allowing Snom to take its place. With the premium resources Alex provided—especially the EV-reducing berries that also boosted friendship—evolution shouldn’t take long. To further accelerate Snom’s growth, Alex prepared a specialized bed of Ice Stone powder and Silver Powder.

By the end of the four-month training period, Clauncher had evolved into Clawitzer, Pineco had evolved into Forretress, and Snom had successfully become Frosmoth.

The only ones left unevolved were Growlithe—who had been growing envious—Swablu, who was taking her time, and Honedge, whose evolution timeline was expected to match Swablu’s. They’re expected to evolve by the time the new school semester begins.

Alex was excited to return to the Dojo, eager to unleash the chaos his newly trained team would bring.

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