Alex had never had a reason to truly hate anyone before. It was a new emotion for him to experience. He was almost always filled with thoughts of violence, so that was nothing new. Hate, however, gave his powerful desire a direction, and it was currently pointed at Venomoth and its trainer.
Raticate didn't waste any time once Alex gave the signal. He tore into Venomoth without using any moves, relying only on his oversized teeth to rip into its flesh. In no time, Venomoth was nothing more than lumps of meat, and Raticate just started eating right there and then, without any seasoning other than Alex's overwhelming emotions.
Meanwhile, Alex took his sweet time. He started by breaking all the major joints used for mobility. He would grab hold using MMA locks and use leverage to snap them one at a time. He was careful, meticulous, and calculated as he broke bones and joints.
Despite the weakened state of his victim, Alex still had to put in some effort. Champion ranked bodies were no joke, even if they were just human.
"Aaaaarghhh!!" Brenner screamed but refused to beg or give in. He had endured far worse than this.
That was fine with Alex. All he wanted was to unleash the searing hatred he had carried since Steelix and Forretress died. They were his path to power, and no one was allowed to harm the very beings that gave his life meaning.
An image of Alvera smiling up at him expectantly briefly passed through his mind, causing him to hesitate. He had far more to live for now than just power, dominance, and battles. Still, the hate in his heart lingered, so he set her memory aside and continued.
After breaking all of his victim's joints, he didn't opt for anything fancy. He was neither a doctor, interrogator, nor particularly creative for that matter. He simply didn't have the expertise. Instead, he mounted the man and started beating him to a pulp.
Alex drove punch after hate-filled punch into Brenner's face. He broke his nose, shattered his teeth, collapsed his jaw, hollowed out his eyes, dented his skull, and still kept going. The body of a Champion was quite tough, so Alex couldn't tell if the blood that was flowing was his victim's or his own. It didn't matter, all he could focus on was continuing to pour his emotions into his actions.
At first, Brenner was still conscious enough to put up a bit of a struggle, screaming expletives or squirming to lessen the impact of the blows. After a few minutes, he simply gave up and went limp. He was still conscious, but at this point he was just waiting to be killed.
Alex, meanwhile, had a single-minded focus as he continued to bash at his victim's skull. He just wanted to relieve this burning passion and clear his mind. He felt like torturing this man would give him the relief he sought.
Eventually, Brenner lost consciousness from the continuous head trauma, and Alex started getting tired. For some reason, the past few minutes he had spent pounding this man's head were far more exhausting than the bone-breaking sparring he regularly had with Kommo-o. He felt hollow, empty, as if nothing else mattered, even this hate that was still lingering in his chest.
Fed up with being so full of emotion, he took out his pistol, loaded up a Feint bullet, and aimed it at his victim's head. He was tired and emotionally drained, so there was no joy to revel in as he was about to squeeze the trigger.
"Interpol! Hold it right there!" came a feminine shout from a distance.
Alex ignored the order and simply fired anyway. The bullet went straight through his victim's eye and exited out the back, blowing through his brain. There was no coming back from that.
"You monster! You would kill a human just like that?" the woman exclaimed. "That's it! I'm taking you in for murder! You're under arrest!"
Alex ignored her and called up Rotom instead. He wanted to find out if this trainer he had just killed had a bounty. However, Rotom was still engaged in battle with Golisopod, and for some reason, he couldn't clearly recall the trainer's face to check for himself. All he remembered was the blood-covered pulp that was supposed to be a face.
He contacted Gardevoir through their telepathy and received an update on the battle. The only Pokémon left standing was Golisopod, which kept managing to land Leech Life and prolong the fight. With the others free to join the battle, however, it wouldn't take much longer to finish things up.
"I said, drop your Poké Balls!" the woman continued to scream, flanked by a Lucario and Togekiss at Champion rank.
Alex finally took the time to get a proper look at the loud woman. She was young and naive, with eyes that reflected both fear and hostility, which made it hard for him to take her seriously. And she was already a Champion ranked trainer with at least two Champion ranked Pokémon, both of which were at the higher end in terms of potential.
Alex estimated that this woman was definitely younger than him. For her to have become a Champion so young without losing her mind, she would have needed to raise her Champions from hatchlings between the ages of 5 and 8 . By the time she was 16 to 18, she likely reached Elite rank. Her Pokémon would have had to maintain a close bond with her throughout that entire period, and they would need to have been fed Champion ranked meat as well. Only under those conditions would it make sense for a Champion to be this young.
When the woman saw Alex's deep, black, emotionless eyes stare back at her, she felt a shiver run down her spine. She was terrified of this man despite the fact that she was clearly stronger than him by an entire rank. She didn't doubt that he would somehow succeed in killing her if she did anything stupid.
"Calina! What did I say about running off on your own?" an older man scolded as he approached from behind the woman.
Alex took a good look and could confirm that this man would absolutely wipe the floor with him, both as an individual and as a trainer. His instincts screamed at him not to mess around and to give at least a modicum of respect, although, judging by his interaction with the woman, no such thing was needed.
"Sorry about that, young man. Our Calina here is new and doesn't understand much of the world yet."
"Hey! I've been on a journey before! I know how the world works."
The man shook his head with disappointment before addressing Alex. "I'm Agent Corven with Interpol, and this is Agent Calina. We're here to capture a criminal by the name of Brenner Talric. He's been known to ambush trainers who teleport around these parts. We've been tracking him down for months and found a lead on this island. Have you seen him?"
"I'm not sure. What does he look like?" Alex answered.
Corven showed Alex a picture, and he could confirm this was the guy he had just killed.
"That would be him," Alex said while pointing his bloodied thumb behind him to Brenner's unrecognizable corpse.
"Ha… I thought so. Would you mind identifying yourself for the record? I need to report what happened here."
"Bounty Hunter Alex Wattson," he answered before showing his license. "I was heading home from Hoenn when we were ambushed mid-teleportation by Brenner and six other trainers who are probably somewhere around here."
Alex asked Gardevoir if the fight was over yet, and she confirmed that it was. He had her send Rotom over as soon as possible while starting the cleanup. He also asked about the other six trainers, and they had apparently given up once they were caught by Sable's Pokémon.
"Ah, that's too bad. Months of work down the drain," Corven sighed.
"Wait! We're just giving him the bounty!?" Calina exclaimed. "But we worked so hard for months tracking him down!"
"That's just how it works, little missy. If we did a better job, he wouldn't have needed to get ambushed, and we would have had a nice bounty."
"How nice?" Alex asked.
"20 million credits."
Alex's eyes widened at that exorbitant price. He had never seen such an expensive bounty before. The only exceptions were criminals who had significant assets to take, like Don or Lucien. Most of the time, 10 million was above average for Champion ranked targets and Elites who had expertise with slipping away.
"That's higher than any bounty I've ever seen," Alex said.
"You get access to bigger fish once you hit Champion rank. Speaking of which, how would you like to join Interpol once you rank up? I can tell it won't take you long."
"Sorry, I prefer picking targets myself rather than being ordered around."
"Just like the police, Interpol has a bounty hunter program as well, where you get access to our information network with a small added caveat of being required to offer services when asked. But the benefits are worth it. Trust me, you'll want to join once you get the info packet. Here," Corven said, handing Alex a business card. "If you do end up joining, mention my name to get a fast track. You're more than ready for a higher position rather than being escorted like this little missy."
"Hey! That's not fair! Why does he get to skip training while I have to follow you around?"
"Because you're not ready to go by yourself. Why do you think this mentorship program was established in the first place? Too many of you nepo babies want the benefits without the necessary qualifications and end up dying, leaving very pissed-off powerful parents behind."
"Then why is he ready?"
"He took down Brenner by himself. That's why. Plus, I can tell he can handle himself. Now, let's go. We're done here," Corven said before turning to Alex. "Thank you for your cooperation. Please consider the offer."
Corven released a Xatu that immediately teleported them out leaving Alex alone with his thoughts.
"Interpol, huh? Interesting."
-----
Support me on Patreon
patreon/babywrath