Pokemon: Bounty Hunter Alex

Chapter 173: Chapter 173. A Trip to the Past 2

The planet had belonged to an advanced form of humans with technology beyond the present before Arceus came along and summoned Pokémon through portals. They wiped out civilization through sheer violence, forcing humanity back to the stone age.

Over time, the survivors scavenged what little they could from the wreckage and endured, surviving one day at a time. Generations passed, and memories of the old world faded into myths whispered around dying fires. So much time passed that all traces of their old civilization vanished, until eventually the Pokémon world Alex knew came into being.

During this time, it was likely that Celebi had still been quite weak and may have nearly died to these humans before sending Alex to save itself.

As for why Celebi had chosen him, perhaps it was because the act required too much energy to bring a Pokémon along. It had to be a weak human, yet someone strong enough to handle the problem alone.

Alex wasn’t sure if any of this was true or even made sense, but he didn’t particularly care. He would do as he was told, get back to the present, and continue on his journey as fast as possible.

Not that he had much of a choice. Celebi hadn’t exactly offered instructions or a convenient timeline. It dumped him in a death zone and expected him to improvise.

So, against the wailing cries of the commander, Alex finished them off one by one with Feint bullets to the head, then burned their bodies in a pyre using Flamethrower.

Alex waited, expecting something or anything to pull him back to his own time, but nothing happened. He remained by the smoldering pyre for an hour, then another. By the third hour, he finally stood, looked around at the unchanged forest, and muttered with quiet understanding,

”I’m fucked!”

There had been no indication or promise that Alex would return, nor in what shape or age he would be if he even did. He had mistakenly assumed he would be fine just because he succeeded, but Celebi had never guaranteed a return to the present.

”It’s like I signed a contract without even reading the fine print,” Alex complained.

Since standing around clearly wasn’t helping, Alex chose to explore instead. He started walking, quietly observing his surroundings as he moved through the forest.

The trees were massive, their thick canopies blotting out most of the sunlight and casting the area in a dim green glow. Thick vines draped from branches like ropes, and massive roots cracked through the soil like veins.

The air was heavy with moisture, humid enough to cling to his skin, and rich with the earthy scent of thriving plant life. It was the perfect environment for vegetation to grow wild and unchecked.

Animal tracks crisscrossed the soft earth, and fresh droppings littered the underbrush. Signs of an active and healthy ecosystem. Birds called in unfamiliar tones, and the rustling of unseen creatures hinted at a forest teeming with life.

Strangely enough, this untouched wilderness felt more foreign to him than a Pokémon filled forest. Despite growing up on Earth, he had never actually spent time in its natural forests. His experiences had always been with Pokémon habitats, not places where normal animals lived and thrived.

As he walked, Alex spotted a clearing up ahead, glowing with an unusual brightness. The closer he got, the more intense the light became until he finally realized the unsettling truth.

The sunlight here was far hotter and brighter than anything he was used to. The only reason he hadn’t noticed it earlier was because of the dense canopy overhead, which had completely shaded the forest floor.

He crept toward the edge of the clearing, stopping just short of the tree line. Cautiously, he extended his hand into the light.

It was hot. Uncomfortably so. Not enough to burn him thanks to his Elite ranked endurance, but it was certainly strong enough to cause a migraine. If he had been an ordinary human, his skin would have started cooking in seconds.

”I can’t leave the forest during the day without some form of shade,” Alex decided.

The sun wasn’t hot enough to threaten him outright, but given enough time such as the duration required for the trek, he would eventually dry out. He needed water, a vehicle, and shade to make it through. All of which were sitting comfortably in his bag in the present.

”This feels oddly similar to a game wall that stops the character from going too far from the mission area,” Alex mused before a sudden thought struck him. ”Celebi said I came and succeeded. Maybe the group I encountered was just the beginning and I need to find Celebi somewhere in this forest.”

It was a valid assumption and his only lead for now, so Alex ran back to his starting point and began examining the terrain.

”I can’t head in the direction they were running. That’s probably where their base is. I need to search around here, where they were hunting, and see if I can find Celebi.”

Thus, Alex spent the next few hours exploring the immediate area of the forest, moving in widening circles to cover as much ground as possible.

He came across more wild animals such as birds, wolves, hares, rats, and lynxes, but as he had expected, they were simply animals. Sure, they were noticeably larger and stronger than normal, but given his own enhanced strength, they were still just animals.

The wolves could easily be considered direwolves, while the hares and rats were the size of dogs. The lynxes were so large they resembled cougars, and even the birds were larger than expected, with wingspans that could easily startle anyone passing beneath them.

It was a fantastical world in its own right, one that Alex slowly came to appreciate.

While Alex continued his methodical search of the area, he suddenly felt a tremendous aura descending from the skies. It was Champion ranked and suffocating in intensity.

A powerful gust of wind swept through the trees as the creature let out a deep, guttural roar that shook the entire canopy, sending animals plummeting from the branches like rain.

Alex scrambled behind the nearest tree, cloaking himself in Dark type energy and pressing his body low against the trunk. He kept still, blending into the shadows as best he could.

He might be a powerful Elite ranked trainer, armed with enhanced strength and firearms, but at the end of the day, he was still just human. He could hold his own against Expert ranked Pokémon and barely scrape by against Elite ranked ones. But Champion ranked Pokémon? That was a death sentence, especially in this unfamiliar, primitive world he had been thrown into.

Unfortunately, Alex had misunderstood what had drawn the Pokémon to him in the first place. The moment he activated his Dark type energy, the creature blitzed through the canopy, tearing through every tree in its path. Sunlight poured in through the massive gap it left behind, harsh and blinding, as the beast dove straight for him.

The tree Alex hid behind exploded as the creature dove, raining chunks of splintered wood all around him. He remained crouched low, cloaked in Dark type energy, barely daring to breathe. Once the debris settled, he felt a hot breath on the back of his head.

Slowly, Alex looked up and froze.

Hovering just above him was a monster born of ancient violence and unnatural power. Its body was draconic and quadrupedal, covered in deep blue scales with a blood red underside and four glowing yellow markings along its torso. A long, tapering tail swayed behind it, decorated with red streaks on the underside. Its massive legs ended in three long claws, the front limbs thicker and bulkier than the rear, with jagged scales protruding near the knees like armored growths.

Its crescent shaped wings arched high over its back, beginning with a three pronged yellow pattern on each side and curling upward into sharp red curves. Blue tipped feather-like protrusions adorned the ends of the wings, while a cape-like structure with a black underside draped beneath them, shifting slightly in the breeze.

Its head was crowned with jagged light blue spikes on both sides, and raised white ridges above glowing red eyes gave it a permanent expression of cruel intensity. From its open maw, rows of sharp teeth glistened, three on each side of the upper jaw and one fang each on the lower.

Roaring Moon.

A Paradox Pokémon. Savage. Ancient. Unbound by the modern world’s rules. And this one was larger than anything Alex had seen in books. Its crimson eyes locked onto him, not with confusion or rage, but with the calm and terrifying scrutiny of a predator that had already decided what he was worth.

Alex felt like prey.

The Dark type energy wrapped around him flickered ever so slightly, and the beast’s head tilted in response. A guttural growl rumbled from deep within its throat, vibrating the air and rattling Alex’s ribs.

He didn’t dare move. Not yet. Not unless he wanted to die in the next breath.

And as the beast’s shadow loomed over him, Alex realized the coin had already been flipped. He was just waiting to see which side it landed on.

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