Pokemon: Bounty Hunter Alex

Far to the north of the Galar continent in the Medieval World, deep in the eastern wilds of the Wyndon Kingdom, stood an ominous black tower that rose over 20 stories into the sky. Built from dark stone covered in strange inscriptions, it radiated an ominous energy that seemed to leak from its walls and drift into the frigid air. It stood out like a sore thumb against the endless frozen plains, its unnatural shape impossible to mistake from a distance. Yet strangely, the farther one traveled from the tower, the hazier it became until it eventually faded from sight, leaving nothing behind but an empty stretch of frozen wilderness with no sign that the tower had ever existed.

“I finally found it,” Alvera said with a sigh of relief. “It took a long time, but I’m finally here.”

She had traveled far and wide to reach this place, scouring the landscape inch by inch in her search. It had been anything but easy. She had questioned countless people, combed through old texts, and investigated nearly every corner of the Wyndon Kingdom before finally uncovering the tower’s location. Now, after all that effort, she was finally standing before it, the ominous tower of the black mages.

“Alright! Better get to work,” she said with a sinister smile before releasing all her Pokémon, each one a Champion rank powerhouse. “Bring it down!”

Her dozen Alolan Raichu immediately spread Psychic Terrain across the entire area, engulfing the tower and its surroundings in a wave of psychic energy. Then they unleashed a combined Expanding Force. Like a nuclear explosion, the twelve attacks merged together, their psychic energy amplifying as it expanded outward, each wave feeding into the next until an immense blast erupted across the frozen plains.

The tower’s magical defenses shattered like paper.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Alvera exclaimed.

The psychic blast didn’t stop there. It tore through the walls surrounding the tower, ripping apart the magical garden that had been designed to keep armies at bay.

“Okay, you guys can stop now. We probably want to collect those.”

The Expanding Force continued outward, plowing through the settlement beneath the tower and sending buildings flying in every direction. Hundreds of people living there, including the black mages’ many apprentices, were likely caught in the devastation.

“Wait, no!”

Alvera watched in horror as the psychic wave continued toward the tower itself before finally showing signs of slowing. The tower was heavily defended, and it would take far more than a paltry force to bring it down.

“Phew. It’s a good thing that—”

Cracks suddenly spread across its black stone walls. The ancient structure groaned under the pressure before finally giving way, splitting in half from the sheer force of the psychic blast.

“Noooo~! I needed that!”

The tower began to crumble as the relentless psychic force continued to press against it. The upper portion collapsed, and the blast swept the ruins away across the frozen plains until even the last fragments disappeared into the distance.

When the psychic energy finally dissipated, nothing remained of the tower, its defenses, or the settlement that had surrounded it. Only a massive crater remained, marking the place where the ominous tower of the black mages had once stood.

Alvera dropped to her knees, utterly distraught. The tower had so many good things, and now most of them were likely scattered and shredded beyond recognition. If she wanted to salvage anything useful, she would have to spend the next few days digging through the ruins and painstakingly sorting through the wreckage.

“Oh well,” Alvera said, rising to her feet and dusting herself off before tapping her vambrace. “Requesting permission to deploy drones for scavenging.”

“Scanning… no observers within range. Permission granted,” an artificial voice replied.

Her backpack immediately opened, releasing a swarm of drones. Quadcopters emerged first, flying over the wreckage and scanning the ruins for anything worth recovering. Androids followed, filing out to dig through the debris and retrieve anything they found. Next came quadrupedal robots resembling wolves, which raced across the frozen plains to collect scattered debris. Finally, spider tanks equipped with massive shovels lumbered out, using their heavy machinery to haul away the larger pieces of wreckage.

Before long, a scavenging crew numbering in the hundreds was combing through the wreckage, collecting anything that appeared remotely intact and bringing it back to Alvera. Their haul included vaults, coins, anything containing residual energy, preserved tomes and magical texts, and countless artifacts such as staves, enchanted clothing, spatial rings, necklaces, and other jewelry.

“Patrol the perimeter. There are probably apprentices running around collecting resources or mages returning to the tower,” Alvera instructed.

Her Pokémon spread out and began patrolling the area, not only to make sure every remnant of the black tower was completely eradicated, but also to ensure no one wandered close enough to notice the technology being used. They were here to take advantage of this magical place, not give its inhabitants any bright ideas about technology. The less they knew, the better.

Soon, the familiar crack of lightning and rumble of thunder echoed across the frozen plains before Zeraora raced back to Alvera at lightning speed, carrying the corpses of several teenagers and adults. Their faces were frozen in expressions of horror, a grim indication of how little warning they had received.

“Oh! Loot! Thanks, Zeraora,” Alvera said, patting the Mythical Pokémon on the head before it raced off again to continue its patrol.

Black mages were hated not because they used Dark or Ghost type energy, but because they sacrificed living beings to fuel their rituals and gain power. Infinity Energy existed naturally in the air, but it also flowed through magical creatures, Knights, and Mages. Extracting it from living beings was simply a faster and more potent method, though doing so left behind lingering negative emotions that gradually warped the minds of those who practiced it. Over time, this created a downward spiral into depravity that became increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to escape. As a result, any black magic organization that was discovered, even those operating among the nobility, was eradicated, with their families often implicated and punished alongside them.

Over the next few days, Alvera sorted through the loot and eventually finished cleaning up the ruins. Once everything had been collected and organized, the drones returned to her backpack, and she set off toward the Wyndon Kingdom.

Alvera ran the entire way. She crossed mountains, rivers, forests, and vast stretches of wilderness over the course of a week, barely slowing down except when she needed to sleep. By the time she finally reached the capital, she had traveled an absurd distance on foot.

The capital was a massive enclosed city surrounded by towering walls, with countless buildings packed together within them. Rising above the city were numerous enormous towers that could easily have been mistaken for skyscrapers if not for the magical architecture and glowing runes covering their surfaces. These were the kingdom’s famous magic towers, each dedicated to a different branch of magic.

The largest stood at the very center of the capital, towering 300 meters into the sky with more than a hundred floors. Lightning crackled faintly around its upper levels, while countless windows and magical platforms covered its immense structure.

It was the Lightning Tower, the headquarters of the Lightning Mages and the magic tower to which Alvera belonged.

She made her way through the city, attracting plenty of attention with her beauty. However, no one dared approach her, thanks to the intimidating presence of Zeraora, whose Rank 7 aura radiated enough pressure to make even the boldest onlookers think twice. The Mythical Pokémon stuck to Alvera like glue, glaring at anyone who looked at her with anything resembling lustful intentions.

“Relax, Zeraora,” Alvera said, rubbing its head. “And try your best to hide your aura. We don’t want to get in trouble with the guards again.”

Eventually, Alvera arrived at the base of the tower, where she presented the magic ring on her finger as identification. The ring served as her authorization to enter the tower. Without it, anyone attempting to enter would be identified as an intruder and automatically restrained by the tower’s defensive wards.

She made her way to the quest submission counter on the second floor, where hundreds of young mages gathered to complete quests and earn points that could be exchanged for valuable resources and knowledge. Alvera joined the line with everyone else, blending in despite the enormous difference between her actual strength and her official status.

Although she was a Rank 7 Tamer, that rank held little weight within the Lightning Tower. As a Lightning Mage, she was still only Rank 1, which meant she was officially nothing more than an apprentice like everyone else around her. Her strength as a Tamer didn’t grant her any special authority within the tower.

That didn’t mean people treated her like an ordinary apprentice, though. Her Rank 7 magical creature, Zeraora, made sure of that. The Mythical Pokémon was powerful enough to rival the tower’s elders by itself, and its intimidating presence kept most people from approaching Alvera. Even the elders knew better than to interfere if someone foolish enough to harass her ended up getting beaten up by Zeraora.

As a result, Alvera was something of an outcast among the other apprentices. She was perfectly fine with that though. Less unwanted attention meant less trouble.

Eventually, she reached the front of the line and submitted her completed quest to hunt down black mages. It was one of the most lucrative quests available, making it a particularly attractive way for apprentices to earn the points they needed to advance.

“Proof of completion,” the clerk said, holding out her hand.

“Here ya go,” Alvera replied, placing her identification ring in the clerk’s palm.

Apart from serving as her identification, the ring also functioned as a spatial storage ring, allowing mages to carry everything they needed, including evidence collected to prove the completion of their quests.

The clerk activated the ring and looked inside, expecting to find the usual assortment of junk and perhaps a few corpses. Instead, the moment she saw what was stored inside, she nearly threw up.

Hundreds of mangled corpses filled the ring’s storage space, their bodies still radiating the ominous energy of black magic.

“What… what is all this?” the clerk asked, staring into the ring in horror.

She was only an apprentice herself, after all, and her current position at the quest counter was simply another way for her to earn points. She had never expected to encounter anything remotely like this.

“Oh, I happened to find a black magic tower and took it down,” Alvera explained with a kind smile. “There were lots of them, so the points should be quite substantial.”

“I… I think I need to get a Senior Mage for this.”

“Take your time. Oh, but can I have the ring back? I want to head up for a shower. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten to relax.”

“Ye-yes, of course,” the clerk stammered.

She quickly transferred the contents into a separate magic bag before returning the ring to Alvera.

“You’ll have your points updated once we’ve sorted through everything.”

“Take your time,” Alvera said, taking back her ring before heading upstairs to her private quarters.

Every mage was assigned a room of their own so they could meditate in peace. The accommodations became increasingly spacious and luxurious with each rank, with higher-ranking mages receiving access to better amenities and higher-quality food.

As a Rank 1, however, Alvera’s room was about as basic as it could get. It was a simple 3-by-3-meter room containing nothing more than a bed and a small wet bathroom.

She opened the door and stepped inside, only to stop when she noticed the dark mass lounging leisurely on her bed.

Someone was waiting for her.