Before the dust had even settled from the explosion, Jack had already stepped out of the shadows and calmly retrieved the decoy robot into his system space.
Gastly, long accustomed to his trainer's strange and methodical tactics, wasn't surprised in the slightest. Instead, it hovered silently, its gaze fixed on the blast zone.
While a well-made bomb could injure even an elite-level Pokémon, there had to be enough of them.
Jack had calculated that four high-grade bombs would barely be enough to seriously wound the Growlithe.
But that was the plan.
This wasn't just any Growlithe — it was a prized Kanto-region police Pokémon, known as "Officer Jenny's Special Unit." That notoriety alone would drive its value sky-high. Add elite-level strength on top of that, and Jack saw nothing but Alliance Coins.
As the explosion died down, the wounded but still-standing Growlithe emerged from the smoke, growling in pain and fury.
"Gastly, Confuse Ray."
At Jack's command, the ghost Pokémon — invisible until now — revealed itself in a flash. Growlithe had its focus locked on Jack and didn't have time to react.
Normally, the effectiveness of Confuse Ray would be minimal on such a powerful Pokémon.
But not now.
The sudden shock attack and Growlithe's injuries pushed it into a confused state, staggering slightly.
"Smog. Let's give him hell."
With a hiss, Gastly unleashed a thick, purple-black fog that engulfed Growlithe.
The acrid fumes irritated its wounds and lungs, worsening its already fragile condition. As it struggled to breathe, Gastly slipped in a final attack, its gaseous body darting in and out of the mist.
Growlithe, confused and blinded, was helpless.
But it was a seasoned battler.
Flames began to gather at its mouth — it was preparing one last move.
Just what Jack had been waiting for.
The area was already filled with Gastly's toxic gas — released before the fight even started. If Growlithe used a fire-type move now…
BOOM.
Another explosion burst forth.
Growlithe had unintentionally ignited the volatile gas.
The shockwave threw its body backward. Jack didn't even flinch.
"Gastly. Finish it."
Gastly's form spread and distorted, its smoky body wrapping around the dazed Growlithe like a suffocating blanket.
Two seconds later, the once-mighty police Pokémon slumped to the ground, completely unconscious.
Jack stepped over the scorched earth and located Growlithe's Poké Ball. He held it up, clicked the button, and watched as the unconscious creature was pulled inside.
Then, without missing a beat, he buried a new bomb at the scene — a nasty surprise for the police who were sure to come looking.
Once his traps were set, Jack donned his signature black cloak and vanished into the night with Gastly trailing silently behind.
That night, Jack completed four missions.
The first: Eliminating Ray.
The second: Killing the two rival hunters.
The third: Dealing with Captain Tobita.
The fourth: Removing the young police officer.
Of these, the first, second, and fourth were all E-rank missions, awarding Jack a total of 3,000 experience points and hiring credits.
The third mission — eliminating Captain Tobita — was D-rank, worth 5,000 experience and hiring credits.
Unfortunately, even completing a D-rank mission wasn't enough to unlock D-rank authority in the mercenary system. That would require Jack himself to break into the elite tier.
Interestingly, all four of these contracts — including those on Tobita and the young officer — had been initiated by Jack himself.
It wasn't unusual for someone to want bounty hunters like the brothers or officers like Tobita removed. But Jack wouldn't normally go out of his way to provoke the police.
In this case, though, Tobita had come to him.
And once someone stepped into Jack's world — they became fair game.
As for the young officer, Jack had no idea who placed the bounty. But after reviewing the rookie's file, he had a pretty good guess.
In a small town like this, elite police positions — especially city-level promotions — were rare. Maybe one slot per year. And when a well-educated, high-performing recruit shows up?
It means someone else is going to lose their shot.
Some competitors try harder. Others scheme.
And a few?
They just hire people like Jack.
Jack had pulled off this operation using seven bombs and two invisible surveillance devices — both of which he recovered afterward.
He had planted the monitors earlier at the police station.
Captain Tobita was no fool. With elite-level strength and years of experience, he was dangerous. But it didn't matter how strong he was — if Jack had full surveillance on his movements, Tobita was playing blindfolded.
And now that everything had gone smoothly, Jack turned his focus to the final loose end:
His agent.
After Jack's first assignment, he'd learned a harsh truth: agents may appear to work for the mercs… but often, they're the real threat.
The more jobs you accept, the more they know about your style, your hideouts, your routines.
That's why Jack always took precautions:
Find out where the agent lives.
Plant surveillance.
Watch their habits — how they disguise themselves, how they enter and exit scenes, their patterns.
It was thanks to that vigilance that Jack had handled the brothers with such ease — and predicted Tobita's ambush.
If he hadn't done that, if he'd simply trusted his agent and kept quiet?
He'd already be dead.
Jack had learned it the hard way — in the mercenary world, softness gets you killed. No one respects kindness. They see it as weakness.
That's why now, with this latest betrayal, Jack knew exactly what to do.
If he didn't strike first, the agent might panic, fear exposure, and try to take him out instead.
And Jack couldn't allow that.
The bomb he had buried earlier went off exactly as intended. That meant the police were chasing shadows now, not him.
But his work tonight hadn't gone unnoticed.
The rewards he claimed — and the precision of the kills — had drawn the attention of both high-level mercenaries and bounty hunters alike.
Unfortunately for them, Jack's movements were a ghost story. No one ever knew where he'd strike next.