Early the next morning, Alex woke to find only Vera by his side. She was usually the last to wake, since most of her responsibilities revolved around studying. Normally, he was the first to rise thanks to his training routine—but today, he'd chosen to sleep in, just to catch her alone.
"Morning, beautiful. Decided to sleep in?" Vera asked as she noticed him stirring.
"I wanted to ask you something," Alex replied, his voice awake and carefully neutral.
"That sounds serious. What is it?"
He looked at her for a moment, then sighed. "Why are you and the girls flirting with me?"
Vera let out an audible sigh and tried to sit up, but Alex gently pulled her back, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug.
"I don't know what you girls really want from me," he whispered. "So I'm just going to lay everything out—and you can all decide for yourselves."
"I'm a violent person, Vera. That's why I became a bounty hunter. I crave chaos. Battle. Victory. I live for the fight. But that also means I make enemies. And enemies don't let you have a family."
He paused, tightening his grip slightly.
"My mom—Jenny—she's safe because of her family. No one touches her because of their power, their money, their legacy. On paper, all I have to cherish is a farm and a handful of replaceable prostitutes on payroll."
Vera elbowed him sharply in the ribs at the insult, but he continued, unbothered.
"From an enemy's perspective, losing my farm? That's just a few months of work to rebuild. Losing staff? A minor hiring inconvenience. Losing you? Maybe an afternoon spent scrolling through resumes. But if I had a family—if they knew I had something precious—they'd use it."
"If I ever got married, had kids… they'd become targets. Easy leverage to control me. Right now, the world sees you all as employees. That keeps you safe. But if I made that something more—if I gave them something that could hurt me—you'd all be in danger."
He exhaled slowly, as if steadying something inside.
"I can't stop fighting. It's who I am. It's what I want. I need to reach a point where no one can touch me—or anyone I care about. Then, maybe, I'll think about the future. About something more."
"We'd all be old and gray by then, stupid," Vera muttered under her breath.
"I'm sorry if that's not what you or the others want to hear. But I can't change that."
He rested his chin on her shoulder, voice softening.
"That's why I built all of you your own houses—so you could live your lives, have families, be happy. You've all been through enough. You deserve more than I can offer. And I'll keep providing for you, no matter what."
"I hired you girls so you could earn money, learn new things, gain experience, and leave when you're ready to settle down. What happens from this point on—that's up to you."
Alex started to pull away, turning to get up, but Vera quickly shifted and pulled him back—this time, she was the one hugging him.
"We had sex with you to thank you, at first. No… that's a lie. It was to wash away the pain," Vera said, burying her face against his back. "We wanted to start fresh—with memories of loving our savior. Something to replace the most horrible nights we've each lived through. It was supposed to ease the trauma… lighten the burden."
"Then you offered us a new beginning. Protection. We thought you just wanted to keep sleeping with us, but you were genuine. So we kept trying to thank you… while replacing more of the old memories."
"At some point, you became the only thing on our minds. So we wanted more. We wanted to see what you'd decide. Would you keep us all? Just a few? Just one?" Vera added playfully.
"That's why we started flirting. We wanted an edge over the others—without sabotaging anyone. We couldn't do that to each other. I'm sorry if—"
"No," Alex interrupted. "You girls did a good job. I was properly riled up. I'm just… too focused on fighting right now."
"I get that now." She paused, then asked in a teasing tone, "By the way, who would win if you had to choose? We think it's Maris. She has unnaturally thick and juicy thighs."
"I can't choose. I don't know why," Alex admitted softly. "Maybe it's because I don't see any of you as anything other than women I need to protect—women who've suffered and deserve the world and more. That's why I never hesitate to grant your requests, and why I do it gladly.
"So if I had to choose right now… I'd choose all of you, without picking favorites. Every one of you who's still here and still desires my affection until you leave. In my heart, I'll keep pampering you until the day I die or I get married."
"Ouch. So we've been trauma-zoned? Victim-zoned?" she teased, pretending to be hurt.
They were about to slip into lighthearted banter when Alex's phone buzzed. It was Nyx calling.
"Alex, we've got a target. But you have to hurry—your window's closing fast," Nyx said over the line.
"Send me the coordinates," Alex replied, hanging up right after.
"Gotta go. I'll see you later."
"Stay safe."
Alex quickly got dressed before assembling his hunting team. He rode off on Hydreigon toward a coordinate placed half a day east of their location. The place was close, but deep within a forest where Elites had started patrolling their territories.
Upon arriving at the coordinate location, he found a ransacked camp that was already being disturbed by local wild Pokémon.
A Roar from Hydreigon sent the wild Pokémon scattering as they landed. Alex released Arcanine while storing Hydreigon.
"Look for a trail, buddy. We need to capture the ones who did this. Rotom, start recording."
Arcanine began sniffing around, picking up various scents. Some led to burnt remains, others to a pit that had been freshly covered, and some led deeper into the forest. Arcanine immediately bolted after it, with Alex riding on his back.
Arcanine followed the scent, sprinting at full speed. He stacked Agility and dodged trees with Extreme Speed.
If he could escape an Elite-ranked Dragonite, he could certainly catch one. Given that their bounty wasn't likely as powerful, they should be able to catch up quickly enough.
After three hours of searching, well into the night, they finally found their prey—a woman bathing in the river, with all her Pokémon out and on guard.
Liepard, Salazzle, Mismagius, Sableye, and Froslass were scattered around the perimeter while the woman bathed. Alex called out his Pokémon and had Metagross take the lead in coordinating them while he rode Arcanine to steal their Poké Balls among the woman's things as quickly as possible.
Explosions rang out as the battle began. Alex grabbed the Poké Balls and locked her Pokemon in before they could destroy the forest.
Alex turned to the river's surface—surprisingly, the woman was gone. She had left behind no tracks or scent to follow. As he gathered her belongings, he found another Poké Ball, likely belonging to the Pokémon that had dragged her to safety at the first sign of battle.
Without hesitation, he sent Clawitzer to pursue her underwater. She wouldn't be able to get far and Clawitzer can track her underwater.
Suddenly, an explosion of water erupted a hundred meters away upstream. Alex stored his Pokémon and rode Arcanine to follow the sounds of battle as trees began to fall and explosions continued to ring out.
Alex was about to resume his pursuit when he was suddenly struck by a Dazzling Gleam—blocked just in time by Arcanine used Protect.
"Pokémon Rangers! Stop right there! You're under arrest! How dare you attack a woman while she's bathing?!" shouted an enraged man as he burst out of the treeline, a Ribombee fluttering beside him.
Alex subtly signaled with his fingers, sending Dusknoir and Ceruledge to secretly support Clawitzer with the battle. Then, he turned his attention to the Ranger.
"Bounty hunter, tracking a bounty," Alex replied coolly, then smirked. "Didn't know Rangers were into spying on naked women. Is being a pervert part of the job description?"
"What! I—how dare you!" the man stammered, violently pointing a finger at Alex.
Alex noted that the man looked young—around his own age. Probably someone who got into the Ranger program through a family recommendation. Either that, or he was a prodigy, but based on their interaction, Alex highly doubted the latter.
Explosions echoed in the distance before Dusknoir came rushing back, carrying a fainted Ceruledge and Clawitzer. Moments later, a man appeared, riding a Mudsdale with the unconscious woman draped over his back.
"Tsk," Alex clicked his tongue in annoyance as he recognized what had happened.
It was obvious now—he had sent his partner to stall Alex while he went ahead and claimed the bounty.
To have taken down both Ceruledge and Clawitzer so quickly… this one was no rookie. A professional Ranger, through and through.
"Identify yourself, or you will be arrested by the Rangers," the man said flatly, without a trace of concern.
"Bounty hunter," Alex replied. "Who just had his bounty stolen. Good job sending this idiot. I had to comment on his stupidity—which gave you all the time you needed."
"You snooze, you lose, loser," the manchild beside Alex added smugly, rejoining his partner.
"Drop her belongings and move along, Bounty Hunter. There's no bounty for you here," the professional Ranger said, calm and composed.
Alex exhaled and complied. He'd lost this round—and he wasn't about to throw a tantrum over it.
'Just a 2 million bounty anyway,' Alex thought.
He dropped the woman's things and was about to turn around when the manchild decided to throw one last comment.
"Yeah, that's right, loser—off you go. You're just some money-grubbing piece of shit anyway. Go run home to your mommy," he mocked.
It was at this moment that Alex's inner corrupt cop popped up to the surface. Cops do it all the time, right? Using their god-given authority to right all wrongs and fix the world? To have the world bow down to their sagely, perfect selves?
Why couldn't he impose his godly will upon the world? Why must he allow his pride to be insulted? He has the authority to do as he pleases—so he will do just that.
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