Pokemon: Bounty Hunter Alex

Seeing the incoming reinforcements approach with power even greater than that of the Adept and Expert ranked trainers in the army, except for a few Elite ranked commanders at his feet, Alex decided to seize the upper hand in the negotiation by suppressing them first and proceeding from there.

“Gardevoir, send Grim to intercept that Dragonite, and send Altaria’s team along with Lucario’s team to bring down that flight of approaching dragons,” Alex commanded.

Altaria, with Alcremie on its back and Frosmoth following behind, flew to meet the approaching flight of dragons to the west. Lucario, along with Lopunny, was teleported by Gallade to the west as well, ready to receive their guests.

Altaria, Alcremie, and Frosmoth greeted the flight of dragons with a coordinated release of Dazzling Gleam, instantly overwhelming the dragons in one brilliant explosion of pink energy. Half the dragons were instantly knocked out and fell from the sky from the first attack, while the rest scrambled to take evasive maneuvers. Unfortunately for them, they were too slow, and a second release of targeted Dazzling Gleams finished off the flight of dragons, causing them to fall from the sky like flies.

Lucario and Lopunny ensured none of the dragons died by catching them as they fell. Meanwhile, Gallade, by himself, caught all the falling trainers and used his psychic energy to deliver them to Alex in the center of the battlefield.

They were made to kneel with the rest of the officers after a few Heal Pulses were applied to them. Through Gardevoir and Gothitelle’s psychic force, they were restrained and forced to keep their mouths shut as Knight brought in the other guest.

Grim’s team flew off and intercepted the Dragonite, but it wasn’t as easy to take down despite the numerical advantage. Dragonite tried to bypass the intercepting pair of dragons with Extreme Speed, but a sweeping Dazzling Gleam from Knight managed to clip it and disorient it. Grim and Hydreigon swooped in with Dragon Rush, knocking out the only Champion ranked Pokémon on the battlefield, while Knight used psychic force to grab its trainer and forced him to kneel in front of Alex.

Seeing this, one of the officers who had been forced to kneel flew into a rage, causing Ghost type Pokémon to threaten to explode from her shadow. However, Knight coldly placed a glaive at the Dragonite rider’s throat, preventing the officer from pulling anything, at least for the time being.

“Now that we’re all here, let’s discuss this like adults,” Alex said as he pressed a button on his vambrace.

His Deep Suit unraveled, folding in on itself until it tucked itself away into the vambrace of his left arm, where the return beacon was sitting comfortably. It was the only place on his body that didn’t have to be changed when he equipped or unequipped his suit, making it a fitting place to keep the very important device that shouldn’t leave his body no matter what.

With the Deep Suit fully retracted, Alex was revealed to be an ordinary muscular man with short blonde hair and black eyes. He was wearing a Master ranked bespoke suit without a tie, shocking many of the commanders who had thought the interloper was some powerful alien who had come for their regions.

“My name is Alex Wattson, and I was dropped into the middle of this war through a botched teleportation. I don’t particularly care if you all kill each other, but since you want to drag me into this conflict, even by accident, I don’t mind helping both sides achieve their goal of annihilating each other before leaving,” Alex said, his tone friendly but carrying an obvious threat. “Having introduced myself, can someone explain to me what’s going on?”

Everyone immediately turned toward the person they considered the strongest among those who had been captured. The officers from the west turned toward an old man who had flown in with the flight of dragons, while the others were split between the Dragonite’s rider, a young man, and an older woman.

Seeing that the three appeared to be the ones most qualified to explain the situation, Alex wasn’t fussy about who spoke first. He had Gardevoir bring all three forward to kneel before him while he placed an outdoor table and four chairs in the center of the battlefield. Once they were in position, he had the psychic force restraining them released.

“Sit,” Alex commanded as he took a seat.

With little choice in the presence of such a powerful trainer, all three took their seats. The two elderly commanders sat opposite each other, while the young man sat across from Alex, his eyes gleaming with interest as he stared at all the unfamiliar Pokémon surrounding them.

“You can start,” Alex said, turning to the oldest person sitting at the table.

“Young man, must you treat your elders so harshly?” the elderly man said as he rubbed his knees.

“I’m over 60 years old,” Alex replied, shocking everyone. “Some might even argue that I’m already over 80.”

Despite his claim, Alex looked no older than someone in his late 20s. His body was definitely over 60 years old, but since he had been in his late 20s when he was transmigrated, his mental age was well over 80.

“How does that work?” the older woman asked with interest.

Alex merely shrugged before his expression sharpened.

“Now, answer my question.”

The elderly man sighed but finally began taking the situation seriously.

“In essence, this war came about because the Johto and Kanto regions are the final two powers left competing for superiority,” the elder began. “Our history started with tribes expanding into new territories and exploring lands beyond their borders. Inevitably, those tribes came into conflict as they sought more land and resources. Over generations, smaller tribes were conquered, absorbed, or allied themselves with others until they gradually consolidated into two major powers, Johto and Kanto. With no other major tribes left to challenge them, the rivalry between these two regions eventually became a struggle to determine which would stand as the superior power.”

“You make it sound like no one was at fault,” the woman snapped. “You brought all these tribes together with the intention of conquering our region, even though we wanted nothing to do with you. You invaded our lands and forced us to band together to drive you and your forces back. You were the ones who started this! Just look at where this battle is being fought. We are deep within our Kanto territory, well past our borders, because your forces invaded us one-sidedly.”

Alex nodded. It was as he had expected.

He recognized some of the landmarks around him. On the modern map, this area should be west of Viridian City, just before Victory Road along Route 22. For the Johto side of the conflict to reach this location, they would have had to travel past Tojō Falls and through Routes 26 and 27, meaning they had gone quite a long way to reach this battlefield.

Now that he was taking a closer look, he could recognize some of the people kneeling before him. The woman sitting beside him bore a striking resemblance to Giovanni, while the elderly man was unmistakably a member of the Blackthorn Clan. The woman who had flown into a rage among the officers was a much younger Agatha. Off in the distance, he could also recognize teenage Lance and Clair tending to their Expert ranked dragons, while on the other side, he could see Koga skulking around, Lt. Surge tending to his Raichu, and a younger Giovanni looking on with concern. And, of course, sitting directly opposite him was a younger Professor Oak, who had stars in his eyes as he stared at Alex’s Pokémon.

He had somehow found himself in Kanto’s past, right in the middle of the war between Kanto and Johto that would eventually lead to the unification of the two regions and the creation of the Indigo League. As for the outcome of this particular battle, had Alex not intervened, it would have been Professor Oak’s victory. His Dragonite was simply far superior to the dragons belonging to the Blackthorn Clan.

Alex clapped his hands sharply, cutting through the rising tension between the elderly man and the older woman as their argument grew more heated. He then clasped his hands together, rested his elbows on the table, and leaned forward, resting his chin on them.

“As far as I’m concerned, I don’t care if you continue this battle and massacre each other,” Alex said plainly. “However, now that I’m involved and have effectively become the obvious winner of this war, I propose a tournament to determine who will form a council of five to govern both regions moving forward. The winner of the tournament will serve as the council’s champion and hold the highest position among the five.”

Alex glanced between the representatives of Kanto and Johto before continuing.

“There will be 16 participants in total, with 8 chosen from each side. They will compete against one another in a series of 1v1 Pokémon battles, and the five strongest will earn seats on the council. The tournament will be decided entirely by the results of the battles, so neither side can simply claim more seats through politics or numbers.”

He leaned back in his chair.

“As for me, I’m an outsider. I have no interest in ruling either region, so I will neither participate in the tournament nor interfere with its outcome. Once the five council members have been chosen, they will be responsible for making decisions for both Kanto and Johto moving forward. How does that sound?”

“How is that fair?” the elder complained. “We have the stronger army! If this battle had continued without you, we would have won!”

“Your age is showing,” Alex said, turning toward the young Oak. “If I hadn’t been here, he would have intervened, and your side would have lost.”

Both the elderly man and the older woman turned toward the young Oak, who was still distracted and apparently hadn’t been paying attention to the conversation.

“Either way,” Alex continued, enveloping the area in his oppressive Aura, which cowed even the strongest dragons nearby, “you can either do as I say and finally settle this conflict peacefully, or I can kill you and change the leadership on your side to someone capable of understanding their situation.”

The elder immediately backed down out of fear, though he remained unconvinced. It seemed there would be a part two to the conflict between these regions in the future.

“Moving on to my business,” Alex said, dumping samples of Master ranked raw materials onto the table. “Who can tell me where I can find these in abundance?”