Pokemon: Bounty Hunter Alex

Chapter 562: Chapter 562. A Strange Ditto

Alex didn’t expect much when he reached the area with the densest Pokémon population. He had no idea whether the inhabitants would be hostile, friendly, or indifferent, nor how intelligent or organized they might be. His main goal was to investigate the world and determine whether there was anything worth exploiting before he left. Once he had gathered enough information, he planned to abandon the planet and head to Ultra Space to farm for Ultra Necrozma. Even so, he was completely unprepared for what he found.

It was a town.

Neat homes lined the streets alongside compact Pokémon habitats and communal spaces, including cozy cafés, flower-filled gardens, and lush greenhouses. A Pokémon Center stood at the heart of it all, surrounded by trimmed grass, flowering shrubs, and carefully maintained paths. The settlement was vibrant with life, clean and orderly in a way that seemed impossible in a world Alex had expected to be nothing more than a barren wasteland.

Pokémon were everywhere, peacefully going about their routines. Some tended the gardens, others maintained their habitats, while a few wandered between the buildings carrying out whatever tasks kept the settlement running. Despite the absence of humans, the entire community was clearly being maintained by its Pokémon inhabitants.

It looked as though humans had built the settlement from the ground up, yet there wasn’t a single one in sight except for a strange little girl with an oddly familiar face.

”Is that a Ditto?” Alex asked no one in particular as he watched the girl dart between the gardens, gleefully spraying Water Gun from its mouth across the flowerbeds.

Slowly, Arcanine approached with Alex on his back, drawing shocked expressions from the surrounding Pokémon as they made their way toward the Pokémon Center. The little girl noticed the commotion and immediately ran over, its face lighting up as it flailed its arms excitedly. Alex dismounted and released Gardevoir, knowing he’d need her help to communicate. He could read basic body language, but that was hardly enough for a meaningful conversation.

Gardevoir stepped forward and began communicating with the strange Pokémon, translating everything directly into Alex’s mind through telepathy. The story she relayed was almost unbelievable. The planet had been struck by one environmental disaster after another until it reached a point of no return. Crops died, ecosystems collapsed, and humanity could no longer reliably produce food or secure clean water.

They captured the planet’s remaining Pokémon and placed them in long-term storage devices, preserving them until the world could recover. Meanwhile, humanity evacuated into outer space, intending to return once the planet had become habitable again. The Pokémon Conservation Project Rotom had mentioned in passing from the satellite logs had been created for that very purpose. Once the planet recovered, the stored Pokémon would be released gradually, allowing them to repopulate the world and restore its ecosystems before humanity’s eventual return.

The Pokémon living here had been among those released from storage and tasked with restoring the surrounding environment. Much of their progress was thanks to the Ditto speaking with Gardevoir. It had learned to operate the technology left behind by humanity and could transform into other Pokémon, allowing it to perform tasks no single species could manage alone.

The Ditto was especially excited to learn that the humans had finally returned, only for Gardevoir to quickly explain that Alex was a special case who hadn’t come from the colony in outer space. That revelation did nothing to dampen its enthusiasm. Instead, the Ditto eagerly led Alex to one of the nearby homes and proudly presented it as his new residence.

Alex looked down at the little Ditto and slowly realized how much responsibility it had carried alone. It had spent who knew how long building up the settlement and preparing for its trainer’s return.

”You’ve had it rough, little one,” Alex said, kneeling before it and gently stroking its head.

The Ditto melted under the affection, its face stretching into a radiant smile as tears welled in its eyes. It was obvious how deeply it missed its trainer and how much hope it had placed in her eventual return.

Alex didn’t have the heart to tell it that reunion was unlikely. Too much time had passed, and unlike Pokémon, ordinary humans couldn’t survive centuries in stasis. Unless its trainer had reached at least Elite rank and gained an exceptionally long lifespan, she was almost certainly either elderly or long dead.

Alex couldn’t change that, but he could at least give the Ditto a bit of help. He released his Pokémon and brought out Kaia’s gardening kit, placing everything where it could easily access them.

”You can put them to work however you want while I’m here. You can use this kit to diversify your gardens, too. There’s enough food-producing technology here to support an entire city.”

The Ditto let out an excited cry and immediately got to work, rummaging through Alex’s supplies with renewed enthusiasm. It emptied the entire crate, carrying each item to the storage boxes scattered around the town before rushing back for more.

Meanwhile, Alex toured the settlement with Larvitar sitting on his head, Espeon at his side, and Gardevoir and Gothitelle following behind. The rest of his Pokémon scattered to explore the surroundings, sending their findings to Gardevoir, who relayed their reports to Alex.

The settlement was less a functioning town than an effort to build hope for a future. The soil was watered and tended, the plants carefully cultivated, and the sewage and garbage properly managed. The buildings had also been constructed to give humanity a place to begin rebuilding when it finally returned.

Beyond the settlement, however, the planet remained polluted and barren, with vegetation struggling to take root. Restoring the rest of the world to a livable state would require an enormous amount of time and manpower. By Alex’s estimate, it would take centuries even with additional helpers slowly released from the long-term storage devices scattered across the world. If the little Ditto truly intended to clean up the entire planet, it still had a very long way to go.

Now that Alex knew the state of the world, he intended to follow up on his second objective, finding resources to take back with him. So, he made his way over to the storage chests that were strewn about and started poking around. Most of what he found was junk, from rocks, clay, twine, and fluff to waste paper, mushrooms, vines, and timber. He sifted through piles of useless materials, occasionally finding something he couldn’t quite identify. After searching through several chests, he was beginning to wonder if there was anything of value at all. Then, buried beneath the junk, he found a peculiar piece of metal that he couldn’t quite understand.

He squeezed the metal in his hand and applied considerable force, yet it barely reacted. Given his exceptional strength, ordinary Elite ranked materials would have crumpled under that pressure. The fact that this piece remained perfectly intact suggested it was at least rated for Champion rank.

”Gardevoir, take a look at this,” Alex said, handing the metal to her.

Gardevoir examined it with her psychic energy before attempting to deform it herself. Her telekinesis pressed against the metal from every direction, but despite steadily increasing the pressure, she couldn’t even make it bend. That placed it at the very peak of Champion rank at the minimum, with Master rank seeming increasingly likely given its extraordinary durability.

”Ho? Interesting,” Alex said. ”Go find that little Ditto and ask what this is and where I can find more.”

Gardevoir nodded and left to search for the Ditto while Alex released Guzzlord for one final test.

”I want you to try and deform this with all your strength.”

Guzzlord immediately opened its mouth and reached for the metal with its tongue, only for Alex to slap it away.

”If you eat it, you won’t get any energy from me for a month,” Alex scolded.

Guzzlord scowled but reluctantly accepted before grabbing the metal with its tongue. It pulled, punched, stomped, bit, and smashed the metal against the ground, even channeling Dragon type energy into its attacks. Yet nothing worked. The metal remained completely intact without even the slightest deformation.

After several seconds, Guzzlord finally gave up and returned the metal to Alex, who wore a broad smile.

”It’s definitely Master rank, and considering it didn’t deform even under your full strength, it’s probably rated quite highly within the rank. This will fetch far more than Fortressite for the same quantity.”

Once Gardevoir returned, she explained that the metal was called Pokémetal. It was apparently mined directly from the ground and primarily used in electronics, with its properties manipulated through specialized blueprints and technology. Its remarkable versatility made it valuable for a wide range of applications.

As for where they could find more, Gardevoir had learned that a large deposit was located in an area known as the Rocky Ridges, which was apparently in Pewter City.

”It seems we have our destination,” Alex said with a smile, already eager to start mining.