Pokemon: Bounty Hunter Alex

Chapter 164: Chapter 164. Dark Cave

Alex left Cherrygrove City the next day, heading north through Route 30. His destination was the Dark Cave, where rumors claimed the worst scum of Johto’s criminal underworld went to hide.

Even Lance, the Champion, had failed to locate their hidden base, despite placing guards at every known entrance and exit of the Dark Cave.

No one truly knew where they were hiding.

Even Umbraline refused to share that information.

This suggested that the base was likely protected by a powerful Champion ranked trainer. Someone so dangerous that even Umbraline dared not sell their location. At the very least, no one had offered enough money to convince them to betray the secret.

Alex hoped his own expertise in concealment might reveal a clue. He was not planning to storm the base, especially since he knew nothing about its backers, but he did plan to fish by the nearby stream, hoping to catch anyone passing through.

Route 30, much like Route 29, was a forested area dotted with clearings and lakes. The surrounding land was heavily controlled by League-owned territories, ensuring the local Pokémon nests remained under control. This was one of the main reasons Cherrygrove City remained so peaceful.

Its surrounding wilds were filled with both trainers who had purchased League territory and League-sanctioned nests, keeping the local Pokémon from running rampant.

Other parts of Johto offered similar programs to stabilize their areas, but Route 30 and Route 29 were already considered fully secured. They stood as prime examples of the League’s policies working as intended.

Even a Pokémon flood would struggle to disrupt the area, as enough powerful trainers had been stationed to serve as a buffer, preventing any disaster from reaching the city.

It took Arcanine a full day to reach Route 31, followed by a few more hours of travel before they finally arrived at the Dark Cave, located further northeast. By the time Alex had allowed himself and Arcanine some rest, it was already late into the night. The perfect time for hunting, at least from his perspective.

After storing Arcanine, Alex began stripping down completely and took out a special body suit that Rhea had developed.

It was called the SILENT Suit, short for Sensory Interference and Low-profile Environmental Neutralization Technology Suit. It was crafted from a special material designed to dampen light, sound, scent, and environmental traces.

The suit was all black, thick, and a bit heavy, covering his entire body, and included a head covering along with a non-reflective glass mask over the eyes. It was also equipped with space pockets sewn into the fabric, allowing Alex to carry enough supplies to fill the space of a small room.

He didn’t plan on invading a base, so he had no need for the extra storage. What he did need was the suit’s ability to completely erase his presence. It suppressed everything, his heartbeat, breathing, and body movements, along with the scent of his sweat and natural body odor, and even his physical impact on the surrounding environment.

All of this was achieved without relying on his Dark type energy, since he intended to remain undetectable for hours at a time, far longer than his energy reserves could sustain.

Once he slipped into the suit, Alex stored away his clothes and guns before stepping into the Dark Cave.

The cave was far more complex than Alex had imagined.

It was completely dark inside. No light existed, not even from glowing moss or crystals. But that didn’t matter to him. He could see just fine.

His eyes adjusted easily to the darkness, allowing him to take in every detail. The walls were rough and uneven, with jagged rocks jutting out from the sides. Narrow paths twisted deeper underground, branching off without pattern. Some tunnels were wide enough to walk through comfortably, while others forced him to crouch or squeeze through.

He moved carefully, staying quiet as he navigated the maze. The floor was slick in places, with small streams running through certain tunnels. The air was thick and cold, carrying the smell of damp stone and rot.

Wild Pokémon were everywhere. Zubat and Geodude clung to the ceilings and walls, while other species lingered deeper inside.

It wasn’t hard to see why criminals chose this cave as a base. The deeper tunnels were like a natural fortress. With enough knowledge of the layout, anyone could vanish here without a trace.

Alex’s priority, now that he was inside, was to build a map of the entire cave. He would do so through Rotom in his phone, which was in his pocket, and which would draw out the places traveled with precise measurements.

He checked every corner, marked every dead end, and explored every shaft, tunnel, and hole he could find. He even dove into the water-filled pools scattered across the floor, swimming as deep as possible to make sure nothing was hidden beneath the surface.

Four hours later, Alex checked his map of the area before he called out Gardevoir and had her teleport him back to the inn in Cherrygrove City.

The SILENT Suit wasn’t perfect. It could only maintain maximum stealth for about four hours at a time. After that, it needed to be cleaned using a special machine Rhea had made. Sweat didn’t simply vanish. It was absorbed into the fabric, and once the time limit passed, it began to seep through, reducing the suit’s effectiveness.

Still, it was far better than a fully insulated suit. At least it didn’t trap him in his own sweat while in use.

In the first place, the suit had been designed for long-term stationary stealth, where little movement meant less sweat production. That was how it preserved its effectiveness for longer periods.

Even so, Alex knew he would need to keep repeating the process. He would have to dive back into the cave for four hours at a time, then return to clean the suit. He would continue this cycle until he fully memorized every passage and identified the hidden routes used by the criminals who knew their way around the cave.

Only then would he start hunting properly, targeting individuals who were worth the trouble. Individuals who had credits on their heads but managed to escape anyway. Individuals like Gravik Drayne, who were still at large despite the sizable bounty on his head.

Alex continued to dive into the Dark Cave, mapping out as much of the layout as he could. He would sleep, train, and eat during the day while spending the rest of the time mapping out the Dark Cave at night.

He preferred to map at night because there was a greater probability of criminals moving actively compared to the day. Thus, he was hoping to get lucky and somehow catch a criminal scurrying in the darkness. He would then tail them until he found the base.

Unfortunately, for the next three months, he never found a possible suspect, trail, pathway, or clue. Still, he didn’t give up as he still hadn’t mapped the entire cave.

The complexity was even far more than Alex had initially expected. Not only was the cave filled with dead ends, there was also the clear lack of layers or floors, as the entire system was a complex three-dimensional maze.

It didn’t help that there were plenty of Elite ranked nests deeper inside, hindering his progress and forcing him to come back another time. Fortunately, the SILENT Suit did its job and prevented even Elite ranked scout-type Pokémon like Crobat from finding him.

During these three months, Alex had also taken breaks, as he would return to the farm once a month for some affection with the girls. He had his needs as a man, after all. This included Lyra, Mika, and occasionally Maris, who called as promised.

Vera, however, was another story. She refused every request for a visit, claiming she was too busy with work at Oak’s Lab. Apparently, her Pokéblocks had become a major hit with the Pokémon, giving her solid job security.

As a result, she had to dedicate more of her time to meeting the growing demand, often overworking herself. To satisfy her own needs in the meantime, she would sleep with some of the guys at the lab, who were undoubtedly taken with her.

Nothing strange as far as Alex was concerned. Maris, Lyra, and Mika did the same thing all the time.

As for his supply of Elite ranked meat, he traded the Steel types he had captured to Umbraline in exchange for it. It was a cheaper option than buying from the market, as he usually did. He even received a discount from Umbraline because he was somewhat working for them.

Today, Alex dove back into the Dark Cave as usual. He was confident that he had already mapped out more than half of the cave, shown by the fact that he was now closer to the other two entrances than the one outside Route 31.

As he skulked his way through the darkness, he suddenly spotted a Pokémon of interest. It was a Chingling, the Bell Pokémon known for its healing abilities. It was a rare find that could prove useful around the farm.

’This would be a great Pokémon for Talia,’ Alex thought.

Talia had been doing well at the farm, proving to be a big help now that Vera was gone. She made sure the Pokémon left behind could train freely without worrying about injuries. She deserved a Pokémon of her own, so Alex decided to catch it.

’As for Celise, perhaps an Indeedee to assist her would be a good choice,’ Alex thought.

Alex slowly crept closer, activating his Dark energy to cover himself. Psychic Pokémon were easy to ambush with Dark type energy, after all.

Suddenly, a Poké Ball was tossed from a side tunnel he couldn’t see, capturing the Chingling. It shook once, twice...

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