Pokemon: Bounty Hunter Alex
Chapter 142. A Few Leads

Alex returned to the farm in the late afternoon, just in time for dinner. When he made his way to the dining area, he found all the girls gathered around the table, enjoying a meal courtesy of Lina.

"Alex! You're back," Nyx said, mid-bite into her Tauros steak. "How was the trip?"

"Very lucrative. Rhea, your ammo's in the bag. It might be a bit wet, so be ready for a mess. Lina, can you prepare a light broth? I brought someone back who might have information on Gravik, but she's unconscious from hunger and dehydration," Alex said.

"Yay! More drones!" Rhea exclaimed.

"Coming right up," Lina said, already getting to her feet.

"Is she conscious?" Vera asked with concern.

"No."

"Then you'll need an IV instead of soup. She won't be able to swallow if she's unconscious."

"Can you take care of it?"

"No, I'm not trained for that."

"Anyone?"

The table fell silent. One by one, the girls shook their heads.

Letting out a sigh, Alex pulled out his phone and called Jenny. He was clearly in over his head trying to play doctor and needed professional help.

"Hey, Alex. What's up?"

"Hey, Mom. I was wondering if you know any medical professionals who can keep a secret. I've got someone here who needs care but doesn't want to be taken to the League. Probably scared of spies, so it has to be off the record."

"I know Joy well enough to ask for a favor. Why don't you swing by while I make the call?"

"Thanks, Mom."

Alex hung up and turned to address the girls.

"I've called for backup and need to head out to pick her up. Lina, get that soup ready and prepare enough for a few days. After that, have something with light protein ready in a couple of days."

"Got it," Lina said with a nod.

"Vera, can you get the guest room ready? She'll probably need a proper scrub once Jenny clears her to be moved."

"Alright," Vera replied.

"Nyx, keep me updated on anything related to Gravik. I'm pretty sure he escaped, but just in case, keep an eye out for any new intel."

"Kay," Nyx said, already tapping on her device.

Alex made his way to Arcanine and teleported to Jenny's place, where he waited with her for nearly an hour before Nurse Joy arrived.

"Where's the patient?" she asked, dressed in casual clothes with her medkit slung over one shoulder.

"She's at my place, so we'll need to teleport over. Want to come, Mom?" Alex asked.

"Sure. I haven't seen the girls in a while, and you could use some professional advice."

They teleported back to the farm, and Alex led Nurse Joy to the living room where the woman was still passed out inside the pod.

Joy performed a quick check of her vitals before speaking.

"Dehydrated and starved for about five days. She's lucky to be alive. Where did you find her?"

"Deep underwater, about an hour ago," Alex replied.

"Did you use Heal Pulse?"

"Yeah, to deal with the decompression sickness."

"Good. That should've stabilized her. I'll need to insert an IV to get fluids into her system. After that, monitor her for a few days and give her nothing but room temperature soup. I'll check back in a few days to see if she's ready for solids."

She took out an IV bag and gently inserted the needle into the woman's arm.

"She's stable enough to move. Can you take her somewhere more comfortable?" she asked, holding up the IV bag.

"We've got a guest room ready," Alex said.

He carried the woman to the room Vera had prepared. Once she was settled on the bed, Vera gave her a gentle cleaning while Nurse Joy set up the IV stand beside the bed and secured the bag in place.

"So, who is she?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Probably someone who worked for the bad guys. I can't tell you more, for her safety."

"I understand. We Joys deal with cases like this more often than you'd think," she said. "The League does a good job keeping things together, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have its own problems."

While Nurse Joy continued with a more thorough examination of the woman's condition, Jenny walked over to Alex and quietly asked for more details.

He explained his trip to Gravik's base, recounting what he had seen and what little he had found. When he finished, Jenny shook her head.

"You're lucky you were late," she said. "Some trainers get overzealous during a hunt and will even go after others chasing the same target. They can be completely unhinged when League credits are on the line."

"I remember you earned a lot of League credits from taking down Don. Why did you convert them to cash instead of using them?"

"For what? I don't need much beyond the house I bought. League credits are valuable for high-rank trainers, but that world doesn't really concern me. I'd rather live comfortably than spend my days chasing constant high-level battles."

Alex deeply admired this side of Jenny. He couldn't imagine living peacefully while knowing he hadn't reached his full potential. The idea of settling down, enjoying comfort, and pretending the world was safe when threats still lingered was something he could never accept. He wouldn't be able to rest easy with that kind of compromise.

Jenny, however, was different. For her, peace wasn't about personal strength or constant vigilance. It was about stability for the people. As long as the general populace lived without fear, she believed they could flourish and find happiness in what they had, even if larger dangers still existed in the background.

He didn't see it as ignorance, but as contentment. Something he couldn't have.

After the woman was cleaned up and given a thorough examination, Nurse Joy provided instructions on how to care for her. Vera, Lina, and Mira agreed to take turns looking after her.

Once Jenny finished her brief chat with the other girls, Alex brought her and Nurse Joy back to the mansion, promising to visit again in the coming days.

The next morning, the woman woke up, prompting Vera to fetch Alex for a proper conversation.

"Thank you for rescuing me," the woman said.

"I'm Alex, this is Vera. And you are?" Alex asked, getting straight to the point.

"My name is Celise Arden, and I'm Gravik's secretary."

'Jackpot,' Alex thought, then asked more seriously, "Can you tell me what happened?"

Through a weak voice, Celise explained that Gravik had been attacked just a few hours after returning to their high-rise in Cinnabar City. They made a hasty retreat to the hidden base, but that one was breached as well by a Champion ranked trainer targeting Gravik.

She didn't know much beyond that, only that Gravik managed to escape through one of the emergency pods. She, however, had been left behind in the office during the chaos. When the base began to flood, she joined the rush with the remaining staff to find a way out.

She couldn't reach the main escape pods in time like some of the others, but she remembered there were backup units stored elsewhere. With too many people still alive who were stronger than she was, and no time to wait, she slipped away and climbed into one of the pods alone.

She had been in that pod for over five days before Alex found her.

"What can you tell me about Gravik?" Alex asked.

"He's a brute who likes to solve problems with violence. He's been getting worse lately, and I pity whoever his current secretary is after he was forced to flee like that," she said. "As for where he might be now, probably somewhere in the Johto region. The organization has bases like that all over the world."

"Are there any more in Kanto?"

"There's one being set up in Pewter City, but considering the main Kanto base was taken down, they'll probably either scatter, act independently, or lay low until backup arrives."

"Can you give me specific coordinates?"

"I only have the one in Pewter City and another in Johto, where I used to work before being promoted to Gravik's secretary."

"You don't happen to know the organization's name, do you?"

"My memory's been locked to prevent me from sharing it, but the servers at our base should be full of their information."

"Worth a shot, I guess."

"What's going to happen to me now?" she asked quietly.

"That depends. Do you feel like wiping out all the Pokémon in the world?"

"No. I was desperate when I took the job and didn't know what they really stood for. By the time I figured it out, it was too late to walk away. They have spies everywhere, even in the League, so I have nowhere else to go."

"Then you have a few options. I run a farm and could use a secretary to handle the management. Or maybe a nurse, now that I think about it. I also know someone who runs a distribution company in Saffron City. You could work for her if you'd prefer. Or, if you'd rather go your own way, you're free to leave."

"You're not going to turn me in?"

"Do you have a bounty on your head?"

"No."

"Then no. You seem like someone who could use a break, so I'm giving you one. Break that trust and I'll break your neck. Understood?" Alex said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Yes… understood."

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