Alex, having situated most of his Pokémon in the Fighting Dojo, continued his new routine for the next two months while leaving Rotom, Alcremie, and Honedge to defend the house and work on improving move efficiency.
They simply wasted their time at the dojo, so having them train at their own pace wasn't a bad idea.
Rotom was not happy about the arrangement, so Alex bought it games to play on the PC. The PC was a top-of-the-line gaming unit Alex had bought for Rotom anyway. He had planned on using Rotom as a hacker in the future until he found out how strict the training was for the Rotoms the League sold. Now, he would have to wait until the League granted him security clearance and allowed Rotom to legally use hacking software.
The rest of his Pokémon were subjected to continuous high-intensity training, supported by six million Pokédollars' worth of premium goods. Now, Alex's savings were down to fifteen million.
Alex had considered cheaping out and just buying pseudo-legendaries, but that would have been a dick move. He would never prioritize the future over the present—they were his babies, after all.
Over the next two months, their progress skyrocketed like never before. Clawitzer managed to reach Expert rank but stopped developing Aqua Jet and switched to Heal Pulse instead.
Arcanine improved Heat Wave to Advanced proficiency, increasing its power by 50%, which indirectly expanded its range. His Heat Wave could now almost engulf an entire battleground, leaving opponents with no room to dodge. It was similar to Clarissa's Charizard, whose Flamethrower had both widened and lengthened in range as its power increased. However, Arcanine's Heat Wave was far wider due to its naturally broad area of effect.
The others also showed incredible improvements. The dojo team lagged behind in getting all their moves to Basic proficiency but compensated with an increase in raw power. Meanwhile, the home team lagged in power but successfully brought all their moves to Basic and had now begun focusing on a single move to advance to the next level.
Rotom was working on Protect, Honedge on Night Slash, and Alcremie on Decorate. Alex could only imagine what their training looked like—
A Honedge in the garden continuously slashing at Rotom with Night Slash as it protected itself with Protect while Alcremie covered them in green cream…
He could only imagine.
This situation would likely continue until Alex graduated. He didn't plan on staying in the dojo forever. The pool of trainers and Pokémon there was skewed heavily toward Fighting-types.
Once he graduated and entered the police academy, Alex planned to focus on improving move proficiency and training any tricks the academy had to offer.
Alex was skeptical, but just like at the Pokémon Academy, he would get a piece of paper saying he was good to go—so it didn't really matter how useful their teachings would be.
On the first day of class back at school, Alex was surprised to see that he and Clarissa were in the same class. Now that he thought about it, Clarissa was his senior, so advancing a grade would allow them to attend class together.
"Hey, Alex, you lost? This is the seniors' homeroom," Clarissa asked.
"I tested out of one year and jumped a grade. We're classmates now," Alex answered.
"I didn't know you were so smart. You seem…" she started, looking Alex up and down.
"Like a brute?" Alex finished.
"Like someone who doesn't care about grades."
"I don't—unless it lets me skip a grade."
"What's the point of skipping a grade? The discounts here are way better than what you'd get outside."
"My mom suggested I go to the police academy after I graduate. I'm not wasting another year after turning sixteen just to keep studying things I've already learned."
"You're becoming a cop? No offense, but you'd be wasting your potential as a police officer. All they do is walk around all day and get paid mid-level wages. They can't even afford more than three Pokémon."
"Mom said they had another option after graduating from the police academy. It's called bounty hunting."
"What do they do?"
"It's similar to what trainers do for the League, but instead of taking requests from a job board, I'd be going after criminals with bounties on their heads. Rather than hunting Pokémon, I hunt humans—well, criminals."
"Sounds interesting, but isn't it easier than being a trainer? You wouldn't have to go out into the wilds and stay battle-ready 24/7. You would be wasting your Pokemon's potential having them fight humans. You also wouldn't be able to hunt enough to feed your Pokémon."
"You seriously think it's easier than being a trainer?"
"Trainers have to fight for their lives once they leave the city. A single encounter with an enraged Elite is the end for most of them."
Alex sighed in disappointment, then glanced around the somewhat busy room.
"The fact that you said 'once they're out of the city' should clue you in on the difficulty of bounty hunting. Bounty hunters are actually safer outside of the city because criminals can't track them. What does that tell you about the job description?"
Alex placed a hand on her shoulder before continuing.
"Also, can you believe that I could kill you where you stand right now? Before your Charizard can leave its ball, before your secret guardian can even make a move?"
Suddenly, Alex felt a heavy pressure weighing down on him. That was definitely the aura of an Elite-ranked Pokémon, but he remained undeterred. He stared at Clarissa's shadow, unafraid and confident.
"Humans are more terrifying than Pokémon," Alex began, locking eyes with Clarissa's fearful gaze. "Otherwise, we'd be the ones being trained by them. Think about that really hard."
With that, he let go of her shoulder and took his seat.
Clarissa was shocked. He had a very strong point. Also… since when did she have a secret guardian?
She glanced down at her shadow and noticed a smiling Froslass waving at her before disappearing into the darkness. A shiver ran down her spine.
Alex's words resonated with her deeply that day. She barely made it through the first day of class, her mind fixated on his confident declaration that her life had been in his hands. At his whims.
Meanwhile, Alex continued with his day, studying hard so he wouldn't have to waste time on school outside of class. He had a four-hour session at the dojo later and couldn't afford to waste time on studies.
A week passed in this manner before Clarissa made a bold declaration.
"I'm joining you at the Police Academy. I'll be a bounty hunter too!" she announced.
Alex simply smiled and shook his head before replying,
"You want to kill people instead of Pokémon?"
"Why would I need to kill people? I just need to arrest them, right?"
"Imagine being in the room with a child molester. All of their Pokémon have been defeated, and you stand in front of them as they hold a child against their chest with one arm and a detonator in the other. They demand that you and all your Pokémon leave the room, or they'll blow up the building. What do you do?"
"I would secretly signal a Pokémon to cut the man's arms off."
"He bites down on the child's hair and jumps out the window. Congratulations, you just caused the death of a child. How will you live with yourself now?"
"Are you seriously saying someone would do that?"
"Yup. People are crazy like that. Once their lines are crossed, everything goes out the window—figuratively and literally, in that scenario."
"You're being an ass."
"And you don't understand people well enough."
"And you do? You're a year younger than me."
"I was orphaned at eight, bullied and starved until I was twelve, homeless for about four months, and beaten within an inch of my life twice in two weeks before I was adopted. How could I not understand people when I was ignored, hurt physically, and emotionally?"
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Just understand that your view of people is shallow. They can be far more unreasonable than you can possibly imagine. I once ran into someone who claimed using Pokémon for self-defense should be illegal."
"That doesn't make sense."
"And yet there's a whole group raving about it, insisting that's how the world should be. That Pokémon are tools and shouldn't be allowed to kill humans. Or some other bullshit like that. I'm willing to bet there's another group out there saying all humans should just die and let Pokémon rule the world again."
"Well, not all humans. But we should really stop developing so much land and leave some for Pokémon to continue thriving. I agree with moderation—an excess in either direction would be bad."
"If you still want to be a bounty hunter, I suggest becoming a trainer first and taking on some criminal-related jobs from the board before deciding to enroll. Also, learn some hand-to-hand combat to defend yourself. You never know when it might come in handy. You should head over to the Fighting Dojo and enroll in a self-defense course—they have a great program there."
"Is that what you're doing now instead of battling at the Battle Arena?"
"I accepted a position as a regular trainer there, battling with their Pokémon using specific strategies. My Raticate was recognized for his top-tier hit-and-run tactics. My other Pokémon have since joined as well, so yes—that's what I've been doing instead of queuing up and fighting in the Battle Arena one Pokémon at a time."
"They have doubles here too, you know."
"Same problem."
"Alright, I'll check it out."
They continued with classes until the weekend, when Clarissa decided to drop by for their self-defense courses. What she found shocked her.
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