Pokemon: Bounty Hunter Alex

“As you may know, training at this outpost usually lasts a year. The first six months consist of two lessons each month, followed by another six months of practice with your squad to help you get accustomed to everything you’ve learned. In reality, you would probably be able to thrive with nothing more than these books,” Captain Thomas said as he laid a dozen books on the table. “They’re the training manuals for all the lessons we’ll be covering.”

The books covered breathing techniques, offense, defense, mobility, stealth, perception, mounted combat, teamwork, hunting, weapons, noble etiquette, and finally, army formations. Not every lesson focused on combat. The purpose was to ensure that every Rank 4 knight developed a solid foundation in all these areas, covering both their strengths and weaknesses. Anything beyond that was simply specialization.

“I came here because I couldn’t learn the breathing technique without someone guiding me,” Alex said honestly. “I’ve gotten my hands on plenty of training manuals, but... reading about something and actually executing it are two different things.”

“Certainly, which is why this outpost was assigned the task of training advanced knights. Having someone guide the circulation of energy through your body is considerably faster and safer than figuring it out on your own.” Thomas paused, studying Alex for a moment. “But I believe you’ve already gotten past the hand-holding stage. Your talent is beyond commendable, and I doubt you’ll have much trouble learning the rest of these lessons on your own.”

Thomas pushed the books toward him.

“So I recommend that you take these books and leave. Learn everything they have to teach you, then burn them once you’re done. If you leave now, you should have a week’s head start before the Viscount’s men start hunting you down in earnest.”

Alex suspected the real reason was that Captain Thomas simply wanted to avoid being held responsible for his death. After all, he could hardly rebuke Viscount Harcourt, the brat’s father, nor could he explain to Marquis Fairchild what had happened to his recommendation. In the end, it was simply a way for Thomas to cover his own ass.

Still, Alex appreciated the help. Had he been weak and completely on his own, he would have had the means to survive.

“If you feel grateful,” Thomas said as Alex gathered the books into his arms, “you might want to consider joining the Royal Knights once you reach Rank 5. They possess even better breathing and combat techniques, second only to those used by the royal family.”

He slid a letter of recommendation across the table.

“Given your exemplary talent as a knight, I believe you deserve this opportunity.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Off you go, then.”

Alex left the office and made his way to the barracks. The other trainees were already asleep, so no one questioned him as he packed his belongings and slipped out. He covered himself in Dark type energy and silently leapt over the outpost’s wooden walls before deliberately leaving behind Rank 2 tracks that led deep into the forest. For an adventurer like Alex, it was the most logical escape route.

He kept running throughout the night and continued for a full 24 hours before finally coming across a creek. There, he released Gardevoir from her Poké Ball.

“Take me back to the base.”

A flash of light later, they were on their way. After several Teleports, Alex arrived at the central castle on the southern side of the continent, the first of five fortresses built to provide support in the event of an invasion.

“Alex! You’re finally back! How was the investigation?” Vera asked as she hugged him tightly and gave him a kiss.

It had been roughly a decade in this world since the castle had been built, and nearly half a year since Alex had begun skulking around, traveling, and stealing in his attempts to learn the breathing techniques. It had been a long time since he had seen the girls who had remained stationed down south throughout that entire period. Vera, Kaia, and Rhea were the only ones who had stayed. Everyone else had eventually gotten bored and returned home.

Iris was among the first to leave. She quickly grew bored after realizing that she didn’t feel much like a princess or queen here, while Nyx departed once the satellites had been launched and calibrated.

Lyra, Mika, and Marnie stayed a little longer, but they eventually grew bored with fighting wild Pokémon as well. Fighting people was far more interesting to them, so they returned home after the first year, when Master rank Pokémon were still at their most numerous.

Alex’s Pokémon, however, remained for the entire decade, spending that time hunting Master rank Pokémon across the southern half of the continent, whether they were giants or not. The goal was to gradually thin out the apex predators so the weaker Pokémon beneath them could survive, grow, and eventually reach Master rank themselves.

After a decade of work, they had effectively cleaned up the entire southern region and no longer needed to conduct regular hunts. From this point onward, they would only need to deal with Master rank Pokémon discovered by the outposts, surveillance drones, or satellites.

Kaia, meanwhile, had spent nearly all her time planting throughout the region, making sure the Pokémon had an abundant supply of food. This accelerated their growth and allowed them to reach Elite rank as quickly as their natural potential permitted, at which point they could begin hunting other apex predators and eventually reach Master rank themselves.

Vera had focused on overseeing the ecosystem, making sure their efforts didn’t throw the region’s ecology out of balance. She also ordered the extermination of certain species that posed a threat to the rest of the Pokémon, particularly Poison types. It was a brutal measure, but a necessary one. They were effectively managing a continental-scale ranch, and allowing particularly harmful species to proliferate could undermine everything they were trying to accomplish.

Rhea had spent her time jumping back and forth between the southern region and her mechanized city, building outposts, deploying drones, and testing facilities. She needed to make sure everything was functioning properly and could operate reliably for the long term before they eventually left it to run on its own.

After roughly a decade, they finally had all the data they needed to automate the process. Once everything was fully operational, they could return home and only come back to check on things once a year, or once every decade by the standards in this world.

“It went well,” Alex said with a smile. “I finally managed to reach Rank 1, and I can even start teaching others. It’s a bit tricky at first, having to juggle three different energies in the body, but it gets easier once someone shows you how.”

Infinity Energy, or mana as it was called here, was separate from the other energies within Alex’s body, which made learning the breathing techniques more difficult. He already had Dark type energy from his Affinity and Aura generated by his heart. Now he also had raw Infinity Energy, something that should only exist within Pokémon.

The breathing technique harvested Infinity Energy from the air, which was unusually abundant in this world, and drew it into the body before depositing it in the heart. His Aura then contained it, preventing the energy from dispersing or harming the body.

Alex’s talent for the technique was obviously poor. He simply didn’t have enough Aura within his heart to make full use of it. However, what little Aura he possessed was incredibly refined, which more than made up for his lack of talent. He doubted it would take him long to reach Rank 9.

All he needed now was practice and time, both of which were plentiful in this world thanks to its unusual timescale.

After a bit of pleasure, Alex began reading through each of the twelve manuals. He had spent quite a bit of time learning the local language, so he had no trouble understanding, speaking, reading, or writing it.

He quickly discovered that the books on breathing techniques, offense, defense, and mobility contained considerably more material than what he had been taught during his initial lessons. They covered different types of attacks, priority moves, status moves, and numerous other techniques that hadn’t been mentioned before. He was quite fortunate to have gotten his hands on the manuals.

The stealth techniques were nothing impressive. They mainly involved learning how to move the body without making a sound while shrinking the Aura within the heart to prevent even the smallest wisp from escaping. Alex already had far better methods using Dark type energy.

Perception was somewhat more interesting. It required infusing the brain and sensory organs with mana, enhancing their ability to receive and process information. It would take some practice, but once mastered, Alex should be able to sense his surroundings across several miles, even without the aid of darkness.

Mounted combat was similarly straightforward. Most of it involved anchoring the body to the saddle and learning which attacks worked best while mounted. Teamwork was nothing particularly impressive either, consisting mostly of standard signals and learning how to read the flow of a battle.

Hunting was even less interesting. It was essentially a collection of Pokémon profiles detailing their traits and weaknesses. The weapons manual was much the same, outlining the strengths and weaknesses of different weapons so knights could better handle opponents wielding them. There was nothing particularly special about using mana with any of them.

Noble etiquette and army formations were no more interesting. They were mostly cultural knowledge, and even the army formations were lackluster. They barely accounted for logistics or terrain, making them little more than a watered-down version of The Art of War, a book apparently written for dumbass nobles.

Overall, most of the manuals contained outdated or otherwise useless information. Still, the first few books alone made them worth having, particularly those that taught knights how to properly utilize mana.

“These will be pretty useful for the bounty hunters,” Kaia said as she sat with Alex and Vera in the command center, the three of them reading through the many manuals he had collected.

“No,” Alex said, shaking his head. “I want the ones used by the Royal Knights, so I’ll be heading over there to poke around once I’ve trained up a bit. I also want to take a peek at the techniques used by the royal families.”

“Will you be alright?” Vera asked. “They might have Master rank Knights, Mages, or Mystics.”

“Worst case, I can fight them for a bit and escape,” Alex said with a chuckle.

“That’s what worries me. I don’t want them hunting you down and accidentally finding this place.”

“They’ll find it eventually,” Kaia said. “It’s too much land to simply leave to Pokémon forever. If they don’t find it now or in the next century, then maybe the next millennium. It’s inevitable.”

“Anyway,” Alex said, changing the subject. “How’s the magic research going?”

“Alvera hasn’t come back yet,” Vera answered. “It seems she’s taking her time enjoying the place.”

“She’s always been the adventurous type, so this is practically a dream come true for her. Let her have her fun. It’s not like we’re in any hurry.”

“The other kids are going to start getting antsy. They’ve been wanting to visit this place too, and they’ve been seriously brushing up on the language. They can’t wait to go on their own adventures, but they can’t even get started until Alvera returns with the basics of magic.”

“I’ll go check on her,” Alex said with a wry smile, already expecting that his first daughter had gotten herself into some kind of trouble.