Pokemon: Bounty Hunter Alex

The League was well known for generously compensating whenever a flood rolled around.

While they required trainers to participate in defending cities, they always did their due diligence and properly rewarded those who performed their duties well. They also offered reasonable compensation for flood-related damages.

For instance, surviving farm owners were reimbursed for their losses with enough money to either retire or start over. This financial support made it easier for them to recover from the devastation. More importantly, it gave them the means to rebuild their farms even better than before.

The same held true for business and property owners in the cities. In the rare event that a wall was breached and damage occurred, they were also compensated accordingly.

Trainers, on the other hand, were entitled to a share of the spoils based on their contributions. They could choose to give up their rights to any Pokemon they personally captured or put down in exchange for a sizable payout.

The amount would of course be far below market value due to the surge of Pokemon, both living and dead, flooding the market. Even so, the overall sale remained significant.

Most trainers could fund the next decade of their journey if they managed to survive. Those who contributed greatly could have enough savings to carry them through the next century.

Alex, having captured over a thousand living Pokemon and gathered thousands more corpses for meat, was due for a massive payout from the League. He planned to collect it, since he had no use for anything below Expert Rank, alive or dead.

As for any captured Pokemon he might want to keep, only the Elites were worth considering. The rest were useless in his eyes.

The girls, however, decided to take a look before handing them over to the League. With the strength of their current partners, bonding with the captured Pokemon would be easy once they were fed and cared for.

The girls pored over the captured Pokémon to see if any were worth keeping, with Alex joining in just in case something caught his attention.

Nyx bonded with a Haunter. She did not know why. She just felt something connect the moment she released it from the Poké Ball. Alex guessed it was an untapped affinity, though Nyx did not feel any kind of energy.

Kaia chose a Kilowattrel that had been swept up in the flood. She wanted a partner that could protect her orchard from bugs and birds. The Gogoats could handle intruders easily, but the birds were clever. They would flee, wait, and come back. She needed a Pokemon that could fly and was fast enough to chase them down.

Vera bonded with a Persian simply because she loved its fur. She had a soft spot for cute or elegant Pokémon, just like her Audino.

Lina picked a Shuckle so she could make berry juice. The little rock must have been carried along by one of the larger Pokémon trying to escape.

Mira chose a Hypno to help deal with her nightmares. Lina had improved over the years and suffered fewer episodes, but Mira still struggled. She did not want to bother Togekiss anymore. Besides, Hypno had hands. It might even learn how to give massages.

Even Rhea ended up with a Magneton, most likely from the power plant before the flood pushed it this far. She could use the extra help to manage her lab that was full of machines.

Alex, meanwhile, didn't like his options. Dark type Pokemon were rare after all. The only ones he found were the usual Mightyena, Murkrow, Thievul, and Liepard.

As for the other Elites, they were those native to Kanto which he didn't particularly have a need for. There was one tempting Onix he could use as a wall but they were too destructive when they fought. They even beat out the Dragon types in terms of environmental destruction because of their size and typing. The League would start docking his pay if he ever deployed them regularly on the battlefield.

'Then again, I do have that new toy,' Alex thought before reluctantly accepting the Elite rank Onix.

He promised himself he would only use Onix when absolutely necessary. He would remain in his Poké Ball most of the time. It was better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Onix was now officially Alex's largest Pokémon.

After convincing Onix to work with him, Alex went online to order a Metal Coat so he could evolve it as soon as possible. 

In the meantime, Onix made its home east of the mansion, where it created a burrow. At the very least, it would help defend them against Ground-types that might try to sneak in from underground.

Once Alex settled Onix, he returned to the mansion where the girls continued to look through the captured Pokemon for any more matches. 

Then he noticed a suspicious looking Pikachu among the crowd being fed. It kept staring at him intensely, only to quickly look away whenever he turned in its direction. It tried to act sneaky, but it was not very subtle. He chuckled at its antics and called it over with a Poké Puff, which it devoured with delight. The moment he touched its paw, a bond formed instantly.

"You sneaky little thing. What are you doing all the way out here?" Alex said as the Pikachu tried to climb onto his arms. "You know your body is too big to cling to me like this."

The Pikachu was in fact a Zoroark that was using its Illusion ability to look like a Pikachu. 

Zoroark are notoriously difficult to find precisely because trainers don't capture all the Pokemon in the vicinity. They typically pick and choose the ones they want or need. This allows the Zoroark to avoid undesirable encounters.

This Zoroark's home must have been in the path of the flood, or perhaps it was a loner to begin with and simply had the misfortune of getting caught in it.

Alex with his Dark type affinity managed to spot the very peculiar Pikachu that had Dark type energy coursing through its body. 

Now that their bond was formed, Alex could cross another Pokémon off his wish list. All that remained was Malamar. After that, only the Legendaries would be left.

"I thought you weren't interested in getting more Pokémon," Nyx commented. "Now you have an Onix and a Pikachu?"

"Onix was an unexpected acquisition," Alex replied, affectionately patting Zoroark. "But this Pikachu has been on my wish list for the longest time."

"You could've just bought one, you know. They're not exactly rare."

"This particular one is incredibly rare."

"If you say so."

The girls finished their selections by the end of the day. There were over a thousand captures to sort through, after all.

By evening, Alex headed to the Psychic Gym to submit his sizable contribution. He was told it would take about a month for the League to sort out the mess caused by the flood. Normally, compensation started rolling out within a few days, but Alex's contribution was too large for a single trainer. As a result, they had to place him at the back of the queue before addressing his case.

His next stop was the butcher's, which was understandably busy. Still, he dropped off the Expert and Elite-ranked Pokémon he needed processed to meet his own team's dietary needs. The amount should be enough to last a decade, even with their elevated consumption.

On the way out of the shop, Alex thought about the drones. They had proven incredibly effective, relying heavily on Metagross to function. As far as he knew, no artificial intelligence, on Earth or in this world, could outperform a Metagross.

Even back on Earth, drones required human pilots. At best, they operated through preprogrammed, choreographed routines that allowed for some degree of efficiency.

Here, the League could greatly benefit from the drone technology Rhea had developed. Unfortunately, the League wasn't innocent enough to be handed that kind of power freely. Too many spies still operated within its ranks.

Fortunately, the drones required a Pokémon to control them, a problem the human supremacist faction had no answer for. 

'Let's give it to the Jennys first and see how it goes from there,' Alex decided.

He stopped by Jenny's place to personally hand her a copy of the many videos he had of the drones in action. They didn't need the actual technology, just the concept behind it was enough. 

"This is incredible, Alex," Jenny said, her eyes scanning the footage. "If we had these in every city, the threat level during Pokémon floods would drop dramatically."

She paused, her expression turning more serious. "But its potential for misuse is equally dangerous."

"Which is exactly why I'm giving it to you first," Alex replied. "You and the council can decide how to handle it. Guns opened the door to many possibilities, but with Pokémon around, they were ultimately manageable."

He let the weight of his next words settle.

"This, however, brings the level of danger to something unprecedented. How it's used going forward is up to you."

Jenny nodded. "Well, you'll be happy to know there's a severe shortage of energy crystals right now. Argent Solutions has been mass-producing guns and bullets, so they won't be able to exploit this technology to the point of taking over an entire region by force."

"With the champions around, I doubt they could pull it off even if they had enough firepower to corner a whole region," Alex said.

"They have champions too," Jenny replied. "This wouldn't be used to fight off champions or elites. Instead, it would serve as the tipping point in the delicate balance."

Alex gave a small nod. "Then I'm sure you and the other Jennys can make good use of it."

Jenny sighed. "Even I can't decide how this should be used. But you're right. I'll bring it to the council and let them decide."

Alex left after their talk, and with the weight of the drones off his shoulders, his steps felt lighter. 

As for the other result of Rhea's research, it didn't weigh on him much. It was a niche technology, one that could bypass a Rank at most, not something that would change the world for the better. 

It would only give Champions a slight edge. So Alex chose to keep that particular technology close to the chest.

With his errands finished, it was time to return to the farm and get to work on repairs. It could also use a fresh touch-up, and now was the perfect opportunity to take care of it.

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