In a high-rise in Cinnabar City, Gravik Drayne, Team Dominion's Regional Head for Kanto and an Elite-ranked trainer, stood motionless as he was reprimanded over a video call for his sluggish progress in expanding their organization across the region.
"Mr. Drayne, I am disappointed by your performance in Kanto compared to the other regions. Would you care to explain this lack of progress?" Alaric Graves, Director of Team Dominion, questioned coldly.
"Everything was going according to plan until I lost contact with Celadon, Saffron, and Viridian over the past year. Each one fell into the hands of a bounty hunter by the name of—" he began to explain, before he was abruptly cut off.
"I am not interested in the details. If the problem is a bounty hunter, then just get rid of them and replace the ones who were captured quickly. Increase integration by any means necessary. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir."
The call ended. Silence lingered for a moment. Then the office erupted as Gravik howled in rage and tore through the room, leaving it in ruins before finally catching his breath.
With a press of a button, he summoned his secretary.
"Yes, sir?" she answered promptly, stepping through the damaged doorway.
"Find everything you can on a bounty hunter named Alex Wattson. Arrange an assassination and make sure it succeeds. Also, find replacements for our lost assets in Celadon, Saffron, and Viridian."
"Replacements will be difficult without support from headquarters," she replied without hesitation, "but I may be able to bring in a professional to deal with the bounty hunter."
"Professional?"
"He specializes in long range elimination. Headquarters just provided him with a new prototype weapon to test in the field."
"Then use him. Offer increased pay and strong incentives to fill the vacant posts. I want them staffed yesterday. And get someone to clean up this mess."
"Understood, sir," the secretary said as she exited the wrecked office.
Gravik glared at the shattered glass and toppled furniture.
"Damn bounty hunter," he muttered before heading down to the training grounds to vent his fury on his Pokémon.
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After Alex and Nyx woke from their blissful nap, Nyx brought him up to speed on a bounty placed on a certain Ghost type Pokémon that had been skulking around campsites, preying on weak trainers and their Pokémon for sustenance.
Word on the dark web spoke of 9 victims found east of Cerulean City, an area frequented by trainers battling wild Pokémon from the nearby mountains. The victims and their Pokémon had been discovered completely drained of vitality, their deaths attributed to an elusive predator.
Reports suggested the Ghost type targeted lone, sleeping individuals, carefully gauging their strength beforehand to ensure a clean hunt. It would hide for most of the time, remaining unseen and avoiding detection until the conditions were just right.
The total bounty had already climbed to 3 million Pokédollars, with the League warning it would continue to rise with each new victim. This was no ordinary threat. The Pokémon had developed a taste for human vitality.
Despite concerted efforts, trainers had little success tracking it. Their quarry proved clever, striking only when confident in its advantage.
Alex felt the bounty was large enough so he tasked Nyx with monitoring the latest sightings and patterns.
Meanwhile, he and Arcanine set out for Cerulean City, heading east to scout the region and map out its many camping sites. The range was extensive, and it took over a week for Arcanine to commit the terrain to memory. Only once the mapping was complete did they return to rest.
Before Alex knew it, a month had passed.
During that time, Maris departed for Saffron City to solidify her delivery business now that all the paperwork was finalized. She arrived on site to oversee personnel and get operations off the ground.
Elara left soon after. Her relocation to Hoenn had been approved, and Devon Corp had brought her on board to begin mass production of the combat gear Alex had been giving to the Jennys.
Lyra embarked on her own journey just a few days prior, her Pokémon having reached Expert Rank. Thanks to the Elite level diet Alex had provided and her diligent training, it had not taken long.
With three of the original six girls gone, meals on the farm began to feel a little lonelier.
Vera immersed herself in her breeder certification. Kaia maintained the orchard and hydroponics farm. And Nyx, now acting as both intelligence gatherer and talent scout, focused on tracking down a new engineer to replace Elara and on finding fresh clues about the mysterious Ghost type, whose kill count had now reached 20 from 9 in just a month.
The bounty had risen to 5 million Pokédollars, fueled by growing fears of the damage the Pokémon might bring if it managed to reach Elite Rank.
Unfortunately, Nyx was always late to catch on, as the Ghost type Pokémon was extremely cautious in selecting its victims and quick to hide again after the deed. She had no solid leads beyond the understanding that the target only attacked those who were alone and had no more than one Expert Rank Pokémon at best.
On the recruitment side, Nyx was equally stumped. The job description she offered was simply not enticing. After all, working on a farm was hardly an appealing opportunity for an engineer, especially one looking for growth or advancement. At least the replacement was not urgent, since Kaia could fill in temporarily until too many machines broke down.
As a result, Nyx found herself at a dead end on both fronts, much to her disappointment.
Alex was not particularly bothered by her lack of progress. He was satisfied enough that the farm continued running smoothly without Maris to manage operations, Elara to maintain the equipment, or Lyra to handle patrols.
Still, he needed to act before the League sent an Elite team to comb through the mountains in search of the murderous Pokémon. That was why he decided to take a proactive approach.
He mapped out all the locations where the victims had been targeted and compiled a map that pointed to a general area near the summit of a particular mountain as the most likely hiding place of the Pokémon.
He was not foolish enough to sweep the entire area in search of it, as the League would with their manpower, but he was just foolish enough to use himself as bait.
So he had Arcanine teleport him to a remote spot deep within the suspected hunting grounds and set up a simple camp. Once it was ready, he sent Arcanine back to the farm along with all of his other Pokémon.
Thus began Alex's training journey alone on a mountaintop.
He used the old camping gear he had bought a few years ago, back when he and Jenny received their first big payday from Alex's paper. It had been sparsely used during his earlier travels before Arcanine could teleport him home for the night.
It was a good purchase back then and still served him well, even though newer models came with more bells and whistles.
He brought enough supplies to last a month, which was the longest he was willing to play bait. Five million Pokedollars was a lot, but not enough to justify staying longer, especially after already spending a month gathering information.
The first few nights were quiet, likely due to the lingering energy Arcanine had left behind. With little else to do, Alex spent his days exercising and mapping out his immediate surroundings.
He was not reckless enough to stray too far from camp. He could handle Adept Rank Pokemon well enough, but defending himself against anything stronger would risk revealing his true strength. So he stayed near the camp and kept up his routine.
On the fifth day, he finally encountered trouble. An Adept Rank Raticate had caught his scent now that Arcanine's presence had faded.
Alex could tell right away that it was nothing like his own Raticate. It was thin and worn down, surviving off scraps instead of eating to grow strong like his own Pokemon. That was the difference between a trained Pokemon and a wild one.
It was slow too, and its attacks were easy to read. It charged straight at Alex with Quick Attack, trying to close the distance, and followed up with Bite in a wild attempt to land a blow.
Alex kicked it away without much effort as it lunged again with the same approach. The tactic had probably worked against weaker prey, but Alex was no easy target.
He grabbed the rat by the back of its neck, slammed its face against a tree, and beat it until it was nearly dead. Then he tossed it away and returned to his exercises.
He had no interest in leaving blood around to draw the wrong kind of attention. His target was unlike the others in the forest. It sought vitality from sleeping prey, not blood or flesh. So it was best to keep his surroundings clean.
Over the next week, Alex fought off more and more Pokémon looking to prey on what they assumed was a weak human. Each one was beaten within an inch of their life before being tossed aside.
Among them, Rattatas, Raticates, Ekans, Sandshrews, and Sandslash were the easiest to deal with. He simply grabbed them by the tail and thumped them against a tree until they fainted.
The hardest to deal with were the Spearows, Fearows, and the Poison Point Nidorans, Nidorinas, and Nidorinos.
Spearows and Fearows could fly easily, which made them difficult to catch. When he did manage to ground them, they were strong enough to lift him into the air. That meant he had to avoid relying on his weight alone to keep them pinned, all while dodging sharp beaks and raking talons.
The Nidoran line, on the other hand, were easy enough to wrestle like the others. The complication came from those with visible poison seeping from the spikes across their bodies.
Sure, Alex could just chug an Antidote and a Potion afterward, but the side effects left him feeling awful for the rest of the day. This was not a game world where he could simply heal everything with an item. This was a world where humans were fundamentally weaker than Pokémon and were expected to respect the obvious difference.
Finally, two weeks into his strategy, Alex saw the first signs of his target.
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