Pokemon: Bounty Hunter Alex

Chapter 361: Chapter 361. Lines Drawn

In a penthouse in Castelia City, Leonard Carter reviewed Alex’s bounty hunter profile, obtained through their contacts in the police. He had to admit it was an impressive hunting record, one that spoke to the capability of a veteran Champion ranked bounty hunter, despite Alex having been only Elite at the time.

Years later, Alex had reached Champion rank, making his confidence in picking a fight with them entirely justified. After all, he had even taken down a Master ranked trainer.

”We’ve got a real problem on our hands,” Leonard muttered after reading Alex’s bounty submissions. ”He managed to take down a Master ranked trainer with only a handful of Champions? What kind of bullshit is this?”

An alert suddenly came through on his device, indicating that their base in Nimbasa City was under attack and that Cassandra wasn’t responding.

”Shit,” Leonard cursed, already knowing Alex was the cause, since he had last been seen exiting the police station in Nimbasa City that afternoon. ”How the hell am I supposed to get rid of this guy?”

He realized he had no realistic options, given how powerful Alex was. Alex also wasn’t part of the League, which meant he couldn’t be controlled through threats to the public. Reading further through the files, Leonard discovered Alex’s base of operations in Kanto. Perhaps threatening his family there would work as a deterrent.

”It’s worth a shot.”

He made a call, patching into the intercoms of the base in Nimbasa City while watching the live feed of the destruction Alex had wrought.

Over a thousand gunmen lay dead or injured across the training grounds, while scientists and support staff ran about like headless chickens. Pokémon ran amok, destroying everything in sight and occasionally looting important technologies and resources. At the center of it all stood Alex, inspecting the destruction with nonchalance, as if he had done this a thousand times before.

Interestingly, certain camera angles flickered on and off, as if something was being deliberately kept out of view as it moved through the base. Leonard shook his head and ignored it for the moment. He had more pressing concerns than questionable camera feeds.

”Hello, Mr. Wattson. I see you’ve made yourself comfortable in our Nimbasa base,” Leonard began as he watched Alex turn his head toward a camera, utterly unbothered. ”You may not know who I am, but—”

”Leonard Carter,” Alex said, loud enough for the cameras to record. ”Champion ranked trainer. Head of Team Dominion’s Castelia base. Married, with two children living with you in the Crownmark penthouse. I know exactly who you are, Mr. Carter, and honestly, I’m disappointed.”

Cold sweat broke across Leonard’s back despite the room’s climate control. He had no idea how Alex could possibly know any of that, especially after scrubbing the internet of every trace of his personal information, including his involvement with Team Dominion.

”You have a loving family and a genuine bond with your Pokémon,” Alex continued, ”yet you work for an organization that would see them reduced to mindless slaves. What kind of legacy do you plan to leave your children?”

”One in which they would be able to survive.” Leonard answered.

”Sounds like your family is being threatened,” Alex said, shaking his head. ”I know exactly what I would do if anyone dared to threaten mine, let alone harm them while I was still alive.”

Alex’s aura spiked as Dark energy enveloped him, garbling his voice as he spoke harshly. ”I would hunt them down to the ends of the earth, destroying everything that stood in my way. I would throw away the mask of civility the League has us wear and trample on the hidden rules of the Underworld. Once I had them within my grasp, I would ensure they suffered a fate worse than death.”

The camera began to shake as power bled freely into the air. ”I would find their loved ones, kill them in front of them, and do my best to keep them alive, reminding them every day of the consequences of their decisions. I would make sure that, if nothing else, they lived forever while being constantly reminded of their failure to protect their own.”

Then, just as suddenly, all the energy Alex radiated collapsed back into his body, and the room returned to normal.

”Anyway,” he said calmly, ”it’s a good thing you called, Mr. Carter, because I have a proposition just for you.”

”Do tell,” Leonard replied, relieved that he hadn’t made the threat yet.

”I want you to blow up the base you’re in charge of in Castelia City and cut all ties with Team Dominion from this point on. Of course, you don’t have to decide now. You have until your base is destroyed to make your choice.”

Leonard scoffed. ”Team Dominion is an international underworld organization. Do you really think you can survive running from them forever? Do you really think I can pull it off?”

”You make it sound as if they’re already the world’s new government,” Alex replied. ”In reality, the only region they firmly control is Unova, which I am in the process of dismantling, largely because of your little partnership with Argent Solutions.”

”You think Unova is Team Dominion’s greatest achievement?” Leonard shot back. ”It’s a mere side effect. The level of technology they’ve achieved is beyond even the League’s ability to comprehend.”

”And yet they remain hidden, biding their time instead of operating openly with that technology,” Alex said evenly. ”Face it, you were sold promises and hypothetical futures, not facts. Do you even know how much the League is hiding from the public? I don’t, and that terrifies me far more than anything your organization thinks it has built.”

Leonard sighed, understanding Alex’s point. Team Dominion had been on the back foot ever since they began spreading themselves thin to indoctrinate people into their new world order. In an attempt to gain more ground, they had tried that stunt in Hoenn, with devastating results. It proved that the League was, in fact, quite terrifying when it threw all caution to the wind and adopted the same outlook as Alex when dealing with criminal organizations.

He also realized from his conversation with Alex that there was no stopping him. Alex had already made up his mind to wage this little war to bring Team Dominion down in Unova. Threats simply didn’t work on him. It would come down to a fight, which meant using everything they had to stop him.

”In the interest of finding common ground, what would it take for you to leave us alone?” Leonard asked.

”Dismantle Argent Solutions and hand over its owners on a silver platter, and I’ll gladly keep my hands off your operations.”

”Understood,” Leonard replied with another sigh before cutting the call.

At the same time, the outgoing feed from the base was cut off, likely the work of a Rotom.

Leonard leaned back in his chair and thought deeply about Alex’s offer. It was tempting, but difficult to pull off. How would he even manage to hide from Team Dominion and their retaliation?

”Maybe spending a few decades in Hoenn isn’t such a bad idea,” he muttered.

Hoenn was still off-limits to them because of Steven Stone’s absolute control over the region. Perhaps finding a quiet villa there and teaching his children to become trainers wasn’t such a bad option.

”We’ll see. For now, I’d better show some effort, otherwise Orvan will have my head.”

Thus, he set about preparing a strike force to deal with Alex and Rheabel, issuing strict instructions to conduct only ambushes and avoid direct confrontation. Alex seemed to thrive in frontal assaults, so perhaps a constant attempt on his life would produce some unexpected results.

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Meanwhile, at Team Dominion’s base in Nimbasa City, Rhea, clad in her Mauler, approached Alex after the call ended.

”Do you think he’ll take your offer?” she asked.

”He’s thinking about it,” Alex replied. ”On one hand, he’s afraid of Team Dominion. They have some kind of trump card, likely the reason the League hasn’t erased them from the map after the stunt they pulled in Hoenn. On the other hand, he isn’t convinced the League can dismantle Team Dominion and guarantee his safety if he defects. In the end, it’ll come down to how terrified he becomes of me when his attempts to kill me start failing.”

”Hm... well, I hope he just gives up Argent Solutions.”

”He probably doesn’t have the authority, so don’t count on it. Anyway, we’re done here.”

”Cool. Where to next? No, wait. Who are we going after next?”

”Black Transit.”

”So, Driftveil City?”

”Yup.”

”Are we going to look for their leverage as well?”

”No. They have a decentralized hierarchy, which means we’ll be targeting cells based on how interconnected they are. How far this hunt goes depends entirely on Nyx and Rotom finding their hiding spots.”

”Ugh... more legwork?”

”Yup. More legwork.”

Alex and Rhea headed out once the cleanup was finished, leaving the dead and injured for the police to find. Alex had already submitted all the leverage Nightshade Productions held over its people, effectively dismantling the organization.

The pair then teleported back to their hotel in Castelia City to get some rest. Tomorrow, they would head to Driftveil City to begin hunting Black Transit, a human-trafficking syndicate backed by slavers, human experimentation labs, and brothels across the world.

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