"Is all of this Elite ranked Pokémon meat?" Simone exclaimed.
They were currently having a welcoming lunch in the public dining hall on the ground floor of the main hub. It was a space where people and Pokémon could simply walk in and grab a meal, courtesy of Lina, with Metagross assisting her.
It wasn't surprising that they were being served Elite ranked Pokémon meat. What was surprising was that everyone, including their Pokémon, was being fed the same. As far as they were concerned, this was an extreme expenditure that even they could never afford to provide to their factions.
"Yes," Celise replied. "So long as you're training at the base, you and your Pokémon will be fed Elite ranked Pokémon meat for free until you reach Elite rank and complete the training."
"That certainly explains why you'd need a cut of the profits."
"Oh, no. We don't expect that to cover this expenditure," Celise said before continuing. "The share of profits is meant to maintain the base's operations, which include a large staff to handle logistics. The meat you're eating was hunted during the annual Pokémon flood the base fends off."
"Is that why you need bounty hunters?" Morgan asked. "To use us as cannon fodder for the annual floods?"
"No. We handle the floods just fine. You are, in some sense, cannon fodder, but specifically to be used against criminal organizations."
That was already what they were doing, so it was nothing new.
"I heard there was a doctor at the base. Is there any way to have our disabled members looked at?" Dale asked.
He didn't trust public organizations or hospitals, as they were likely to be treated like lab rats once admitted. Most of the evil scientists and doctors who had experimented on them were certified professionals, so they didn't trust the system at all.
This organization, however, was different. They needed manpower to fill their ranks. Experiments might still occur, but they would be directed to benefit the members and their bounty hunting, which was far better than being harvested for organs or fused with Pokemon as the original projects intended.
"We have Talia, our resident doctor, and Rhea, our engineer, who can possibly look into getting you fixed up or at least back into fighting condition," Celise replied. "Be warned though, your condition isn't exactly their area of expertise, so you should be prepared to invest more time and effort into finding a solution, if one even exists."
"What seems to be the problem?" Alex asked as he sat with Celise and the faction leaders. He had arrived just in time to catch the tail end of the conversation.
"We've met with trusted professionals before, but even they were stumped by our deformities," Dale explained. "They said it was a genetic problem and that our condition was highly unstable due to the rampant energies in our bodies. Something about ownerless energy."
"Oh? Turn your back to me and let me have a look," Alex replied.
Dale obliged since he had nothing to lose and turned his back to Alex.
Alex placed his hands on Dale's back and began probing with his aura. The professionals were right. Dale's body was a maelstrom of energy wreaking havoc inside him, and Alex could see why. It resembled an injury that had never healed.
"Have you tried removing the mutated portions of your body?"
Alex had noticed from the very beginning that there were plenty of malformations in Dale and Robin's groups. Some had Pokémon parts growing from their bodies, including scales, fur, appendages, tails, ears, horns, and fragments of carapace that did not belong to any single species. Others bore mismatched eyes or patches of skin that shimmered unnaturally, like the hide of a Ditto mid-shift.
Whatever they had gone through before joining him hadn't been clean work. It wasn't the kind of mutation caused by a single experiment or accident. It was layered, as if someone had been trying to make something out of them and failed again and again.
"It's genetic, so it grows back the same way when potions are applied."
"What about your arm and eye?"
"They said it was as if my body's schematics never had them in the first place."
"I'll be honest then. We're out of our league here," Alex replied. "Talia had already been poking at Robin's group and concluded much of the same. It would take high-level genetics research to make any headway into your problem. I don't doubt that a solution exists somewhere, buried in some lab, but it's not exactly research that's open to the public given the sensitive nature of turning humans into Pokémon and vice versa."
"I was afraid you'd say that," Dale said, already used to receiving bad news. "I guess I'd better destroy more hidden labs then, in the hopes of finding a solution."
"Well, I don't exactly have a solution, but I can at least relieve the constant pain you're under."
Dale looked at Alex with widened eyes before cautiously asking, "What do you need?"
"It's not what I need but what you and your group need. You must learn to strengthen your aura to control your body's rampaging energy. Think of it like bonding with a Pokémon, only you're taming the parts of your body that don't completely belong to you."
Alex took out a book and placed it on the table.
"This is the Silver Network bounty hunter's handbook. It contains everything you need to learn before becoming powerful bounty hunters."
Dale took the book and examined it. Unlike the usual handbooks that were thin and filled only with guidelines, this one was quite thick.
He looked at the table of contents and found the general rules of conduct and engagement, hand signals every bounty hunter should know, standard operating procedures for combat and interaction, Pokémon suggestions with abilities and moves in mind, individual and group tactics, hand-to-hand combat techniques, basic training, and finally stopped when he reached energy and aura meditation.
He turned to the relevant chapter and began reading. The depth of information on Pokémon energy astonished him. As far as he knew, this wasn't public knowledge even among Elites. It was the kind of material he and other trainers believed to be closely guarded by powerful, wealthy families.
Once he reached the section on Aura, he understood what he needed to do. He had to meditate to strengthen his Aura and bring his rampaging energy under control. It wouldn't solve his condition, but it would greatly help him and others like him who lived in constant pain.
"I'll personally ensure our bounty hunters are trained in aura and energy meditation," Dale said with conviction.
"Great!" Alex accepted. "I was about to delegate the training to all of you since your groups already respect you. It's better than me babysitting everyone."
They were already Elite ranked, so all they really needed was to read the handbook and adjust their daily training accordingly. They didn't require supervision like the others, who were clearly weaker.
"What about us?" Morgan asked.
Alex handed Lyra, Mika, Morgan, and Simone their copies of the handbook, then replied, "Lyra will handle formation training, Mika will take care of gun training, Simone can handle basic training and logistics since she's good at managing large, mixed groups, and you can take charge of combat training. You can put all that misplaced hate to good use."
Morgan stared at him with narrowed eyes, clearly not appreciating the remark about her hate being misplaced. It was the kind of insensitive comment only someone who had never endured her trauma would make. Still, she swallowed her pride and held back her anger, knowing that combat training would indeed serve as a good outlet for it. She would get to kick men's asses all day long.
"When did you even make this?" Lyra asked. "We could've started integrating it into our bounty hunters years ago."
"I only finished it a few months back. I've been working on it for years, and this latest version includes a lot of information I gathered from Hoenn. Besides, I didn't want to share it until I was sure all of you were clean."
He certainly hadn't been training blindly all this time. Much of his effort had gone into condensing his bounty hunting experience into this book. It contained everything, from lists of organizations best left alone to his personal accounts of the struggles he faced as an up-and-coming bounty hunter. It even detailed which Underworld groups could be trusted within reason, such as Team Umbraline.
"Moving forward, I want each of you to focus on mastering your respective area of training and establishing an inheritance chain," Alex said. "In practice, this means spending the next few months refining your own skills and fully embracing your responsibilities using the handbook as your guide. During that time, you'll each take on an apprentice who will eventually replace you as the organization's trainer."
"Once your apprentice is ready to take over, you'll be free to return to bounty hunting with the organization's full support. The person you trained will then take responsibility for your role and later pass it on to someone beneath them. This way, the base will always have a competent trainer in every field, and both you and those who come after you can continue your work without disrupting the organization's growth."
"What about you?" Morgan asked. "Aren't you supposed to be training us?"
"I'll be supervising, making sure all of you stay on track and can properly apply what you've learned. Once a proper inheritance chain is in place, I'll head out and take on some bounty hunting of my own. I'm not a bounty hunter trainer, after all. I'm a bounty hunter. I made that clear when I first introduced myself."
"For now, read up and start training yourselves using the handbook as your guide. I doubt I need to hold your hand or train you personally for this. You're all professionals in your own right. Also, feel free to add to the handbook when necessary. Just write your additions and hand them to Nyx. She'll make the updates after I review them."
-----
Support me on Patreon
patreon/babywrath