Pokemon: Bounty Hunter Alex

Ever since Alex gained his 8-badge level access, he had been dreaming of acquiring extensive land sold exclusively to powerful trainers.

The farm he currently owned was sufficient for his team, but he wanted a larger place to house his future Champion ranked Pokémon.

Unlike his current farm, which had requirements such as selling a certain amount of produce each year, the land he sought from the League came with no strings attached. There were no regulations on how the land was to be used.

The risk came from the land itself, as it was surrounded by Pokémon nests. Alex saw this threat as a bonus since he could farm the nests for meat or cash whenever needed.

Unfortunately, when he first researched the option, he lacked the strength to claim it. The reason was that the land bordered nests controlled by Champion ranked Pokémon.

This explained why so much land was available on the market; it was practically a benefit reserved for Champion ranked trainers.

The League likely offered this land because some stronger Elite ranked trainers had the confidence and ability to take on a Champion ranked Pokémon alone.

Now, Alex was more than confident. With his teams of Elite ranked Pokémon and new toys, he believes he could defeat a Champion ranked Pokémon and dismantle its entire nest with precision and efficiency.

Nests at minimum required an Elite as the leader, commanding over a hundred underlings to be officially categorized as such. These leaders marked out territory as their home, warding off intruders and using the nearby area as hunting grounds.

These low-level nests were common throughout Kanto, especially near trails frequented by trainers. Beyond these trails were the deep wilds, largely considered Pokémon territory.

Saffron City was surrounded by four such territories to its northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest. Deep within these territories lay Champion ranked nests, each led by a Champion, supported by a dozen up to a hundred Elites, and home to thousands of Pokémon.

These nests typically started off with specific lineages such as a nest containing only Sandshrew and Sandslash. Once their leader becomes strong enough, they accept or dominate more nests under them within the same egg group. 

After seeing how well his Pokemon handled the recent flood, Alex was confident he could take down an entire Champion ranked nest on his own.

He planned to have his away team handle the Elites, Metagross and the drones manage the thousands of weaker Pokémon, while he and Steelix took on the Champion.

Yes, Steelix was his greatest confidence booster for fighting Champions. More precisely, it was the combination of Rhea's gatling gun, Steelix's massive size, which made it an easy target even in a brawl, and Steelix's ability, Sturdy.

When testing with Hydreigon, Alex realized that maintaining accuracy was his greatest weakness. He did not want to accidentally hit his own Pokémon or miss and heal the opponent, so using a huge Pokémon like Steelix as a healing target made the most sense, especially since he could not control who he would face.

As long as Alex could continuously fire Heal Pulses at Steelix while he fought the Champion and avoided being killed himself, Steelix would maintain an overwhelming advantage that would eventually bring down the Champion.

Alex considered other Pokémon, but none could match Steelix's combination of size and the Sturdy ability. It also had a devastating Earthquake to clear out mobs and a Body Press that could one-shot most Pokemon so it certainly was threatening enough to grab the Champion's attention. 

The only problem with Alex's current plan was the lack of resources.

The cost of the land itself is 10 million credits at minimum which would be enough to buy a slightly bigger piece of land than what he had now. Which clearly isn't enough. He needed at least ten times that size to properly host Champion-level combat and sparring sessions. And that was just for the training grounds, not accounting for a home or any facilities needed for self-sufficiency.

To truly have enough land, Alex would require 100 million credits at minimum, which was roughly equal to 1 billion Pokedollars. A sum far beyond imagination for most trainers. 

On top of the cost of the land was the cost to have facilities built out in the wilds. He would need a Champion ranked training ground, a mansion for himself, a farm for self sufficiency, a lab for his weapons, numerous habitats for his Pokemon, a defensive wall, and housing for the staff.

Fortunately, the Kanto Construction Company specialized in exactly that. Backed by the League, it handled all construction projects for Elite-level trainers and above. They were responsible for building the gyms and city walls throughout the region.

They would teleport in a team of trainers with Pokémon specifically selected for construction work. Once on site, all necessary materials would be teleported in as well, and the team would begin assembling everything. Their services included predesigned packages for various types of facilities, such as laboratories, mansions, battlegrounds, and even city walls.

The cost they quoted was roughly half the price of the land, depending on the package selected.

Alex estimated that his ideal home would cost around 200 million credits, factoring in the vast land required and the extensive construction needed to build enough habitats for his Pokémon.

'I just need to spearhead nine more Pokemon floods? Shouldn't take too long,' Alex thought with a hint of amusement.

'Seriously, though, I need to get back to hunting, especially targeting the human supremacist faction. I will need more ammunition and drones if I want to ensure the safety of my dream home.'

With that thought in mind, Alex headed to Nyx to find a job.

After consulting with Rotom, he made his way to Rhea's lab. 

They were apparently working on analyzing Metagross's thought process based on the available data it had at the time the key logs were made that resulted in its efficient performance during the battle.

Most of Rotom's explanation went over Alex's head, so he decided to pop in and see for himself.

Inside the lab, he found both women looking disheveled and wearing only their underwear, likely having avoided sleep and a bath for days.

"We're so close," Rhea said lazily, completely unlike her usual energetic self.

Nyx was knocked out and softly snoring until Rhea slapped her on the head.

"WHAT!?" Nyx exclaimed, waking up. "Did it work? Are we done?"

"No, we need more data."

"Why don't we just use Metagross's gaming data? We have tons of it."

"And how would that apply to drone controls, or aiming, or both?"

"We can just extrapolate from it, using it as a guide rather than basing the entire code on the limited data we have."

"It would take months to go over everything. WE ARE SO CLOSE! Just a few more samples."

"Should we start a new flood then?"

"Great idea."

"I was being sarcastic!"

"You both need sleep," Alex interrupted after having heard enough. "You need rest to get a better handle on your problem."

"Fine," Rhea pouted.

"Finally, sleep," Nyx sighed in relief.

Then, both girls raised their arms, wordlessly asking to be carried.

Alex sighed, then hoisted them up like sacks of potatoes, one slung over each shoulder. He carried them to the mansion's guest room for the night. There was no way he was walking all the way to their homes just to get them to bed.

Once he had them tucked in, Alex called it a day. He figured he'd ask Nyx about any possible bounties once she woke up.

On his way back to his study, his phone buzzed with a call from an unknown number.

"Rotom, who is it?"

"Public line registered to Gym Leader Misty," Rotom replied.

"Oh?"

Alex answered the call, and sure enough, Misty's voice came through the other end.

"Alex! It's Misty. I just wanted to check in. How's the farm? You made quite the contribution for such a minor flood."

As an Elite, Alex's information was private, but Rotoms had free reign to dig through it with the right access level. As a Gym Leader, Misty's access level allowed her to get even more information about him than even he knew existed.

"The farm's fixed up. Better than before, actually. How's Cerulean City?"

"The flood never reached us. For some reason, it was focused entirely on Saffron City. No other locations were attacked. The League's sending investigators to figure out why."

"So it was a targeted strike. Wouldn't surprise me if I was the target, given my line of work."

"Oh? Do you have any leads?"

"None with evidence. But I do have a few admirers, like the human supremacist faction, a corrupt cop in the city, and a brat who faced consequences."

There was a long pause before Misty responded.

"Quite the list of captured human supremacists. I'm honestly surprised you're still alive. I see a lot of cops on here but none of them have the pull to do this. And Briar Thornhart? Again, surprised you're breathing."

"I generally try my best to keep it that way."

"Doesn't look like it, based on the bounties you've racked up."

"I'm actually in good standing with most of the Underworld. It's just the human supremacist faction that has a problem with me."

"Right. You have connections with Umbraline."

"It's a one way street. I don't actually know anyone from there. They like using me as disposable muscle and I like their pay."

"Makes sense. Anyway, are you busy?"

"No, are you asking me on a date?"

"No, not this time. I happen to be in need of a bounty hunter."

"You had me at bounty hunter."

"That was the last thing I said."

"Good thing you said it then."

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