Jack the Hunter
"Alright, boy, stay hidden until I call out for you..."
For a Pokémon of his size, Stoutland was surprisingly skilled where stealth was concerned. He managed to crouch down in the nearby bushes and once his companion was completely out of site, Jack decided to finally make his move.
"This has to be the place..." the dark-haired man muttered aloud as he approached the small shack in the middle of the woods. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Jack took a deep breath before knocking on the door. As he waited for an answer, he got a decent look at his surroundings. There were a few grass and bug Pokémon here and there, but as long as he kept everything under control, no one would get hurt.
"Whaddya want?" a drunken voice spat from the other side of the door.
"I'm looking for Rex Rhodes," Jack answered. "I have something important to give him. It's from his older brother."
"Huh? You say it's from big bro. Guess you must be lookin' for me then..."
The door slowly opened and Jack came face to face with a weedy looking young man with a scruffy beard and long, unwashed hair. His eyes were bloodshot and his arms were covered with tattoos. He did look a bit threatening, but according to the files he had read, Rex Rhodes was barely a one and a half star outlaw. He was nothing that Jack couldn't handle.
"Alright," Rex started as Jack followed in behind him, stumbling over the sleeping Pokémon that were scattered across the floor. "What did my brother have to give me?"
"Nothing much..." Jack responded before reaching inside of his coat and retrieving a pair of handcuffs. "Just these."
"Hey..." Rex shot back drunkenly. "If you're into that kind of stuff, you need to talk to my girl. Babe, get in here!"
Jack let out a sigh and fought the urge to facepalm. He could already tell that Rex was stupid when he let him in the shack without any sort of verification to see if he was telling the truth or not about delivering a message from his brother. However, he hadn't expected this much despite knowing how dim most outlaws tended to be.
"Listen," Jack started, hoping to get this over with as soon as possible. "My name is Jack Brenson. I'm with the Pokémon Bounty Hunting Services and you're a wanted fugitive with a price on your head. I'm taking you to the police, so please just make it easy and come along quickly."
It took Rex a few moments to process what Jack had said to him, but when it finally hit him, Rex's eyes widened and he stumbled back a few steps, nearly losing his balance before he decided to act.
"Hey!" he shouted at the sleeping Pokémon. "Wake your asses up and kill this guy!"
Almost immediately, Jack was nearly struck by the poison tail of the Seviper. He moved out of the way in time, but the swift and sudden motion caused him to trip back. He landed on the floor and quickly whistled for Stoutland while Rex's Skorupi was covering the floor in toxic spikes. It was only seconds later before the dog Pokémon arrived and yanked Seviper off of his trainer with his teeth.
"Watch out for the spikes!" Jack warned as he got to his feet. "I'm going after Rex!"
Rushing into the room, Jack found Rex halfway out the window with his confused girlfriend sitting up in the bed screaming and demanding to know what in the world was going on. Jack managed to get a hold of his leg and drag him back into the room before jumping on top of him and trying to pin him down. The fugitive was kicking wildly with his feet, making it even harder to maneuver. Jack had to admit that Rex was giving him more trouble than he anticipated and from the sound of Stoutland's harsh yelps coming from the other room, it appeared that he wasn't having an easy time either. He finally managed to subdue Rex long enough to put the handcuffs on him.
"What the hell is going on?!" Rex's girlfriend yelled.
"Your guy here is a wanted fugitive," Jack explained as Stoutland entered the room, having finally defeated Seviper and Skorupi. "He was charged with abducting Pokémon early last year in Celadon City along with his older brother, but they skipped town before they could be apprehended. I captured Rod a few weeks ago. Rex, you two sure do like to get in fights you know you can't win."
"Come on man!" Rex pleaded. "Cut me some slack. My Pokémon weren't going to really kill you. I was using...uh...reverse psychology on them. Yeah, that's it. When I said 'wake your asses up and kill this guy', I meant 'wake your asses up and snuggle this guy'...."
Jack's light brown eyes narrowed as he let out a sigh and told himself that he should have listened to his parents and gone to medical school.
Dealing with Rex had been bad enough for Jack, but now he had to deal with one of the things he hated most about turning in fugitives. It was the two police officers themselves that Jack hated dealing with. Unfortunately, he was assigned to them and simply had to accept it.
Officer Palumbo was the easier one to deal with. He was short and stout with beady eyes and large feet. He was certainly not the brightest officer on the force and was somewhat considered a joke by everyone. If he weren't so easily influenced by his partner, Jack wouldn't be as irritated as him as he was.
Officer Graft was the real troublesome one. He was tall and lean with sharp features and often carried the most infuriating smirk that Jack had ever seen. He was semi-competent, but his arrogance and condescending attitude was unmatched. His right-hand Pokémon, Arcanine, took after his trainer and would make a point to growl incessantly at Stoutland.
The two officers arrived outside of the headquarters when Jack contacted them about Rex's capture. He wanted to be sure that they were already prepared so that he could get his share of the reward and call it a day. He watched as Graft carelessly shoved Rex into the backseat of the police car and actually felt a pang of sympathy for the fugitive as Palumbo began taunting him.
"Good job finally apprehending him, Brenson," Graft remarked. "It only took you a year and a half to capture a one star outlaw."
"One and a half stars," Jack corrected him. "And if you could've done a better job then you wouldn't have had to call me to do it, now would you?"
Arcanine snarled at Jack and Stoutland was quickly ready to spring into action if need be. Graft approached Jack until they were face-to-face. The two men were about the same height with Jack being slightly shorter and more muscular. Graft didn't like when people actually stood up to him and Jack could tell that he did not appreciate his retort.
"You think you're any better than that piece of trash in the car right now?" Graft started. "Nah, Jack, you got that wrong. See me, I'm a respected member of the law while you and the rest of these so-called 'bounty hunters' are just glorified tracking dogs."
"Are you finished?"
Graft let out a low chuckle before nodding his head. "We left your reward with your commander. Don't spend it all in one place. Palumbo, we're heading off! Get in the car!"
"Got it," Palumbo replied. "See ya 'round, Jack."
The two officers sped off and Jack was relieved that things did not escalate into an altercation. He was quite level-headed, but even then it was hard to keep his cool whenever Graft was around. In all his twenty-five years, he'd never dealt with anyone he wanted to punch as much as Barrett Graft and that was including the numerous fugitives that he had tracked down over the years.
The Pokémon Bounty Hunting Services Headquarters was really just an average-sized stone building with three floors and a training area in the back. It was a bit basic, but most of the bounty hunters only required that much. Jack was glad that he wasn't hurt enough from his fight with Rex to have to go to the infirmary, but he'd definitely be sure to take Stoutland to the Pokémon wing for care after he picked up his reward. Recalling him to his poké ball, Jack entered the elevator.
"Jack..." he heard a voice whisper before he pressed the button in the elevator. "Jack...I see misery and suffering in your near future..."
"A bit too late for that, Heidi," Jack answered to the voice.
Jack saw a pair of bright green eyes and a pale heart-shaped face peek around the corner to the inside of the elevator. Heidi had long, black hair that had purple streaks dyed into it and several ear piercings along with an eyebrow, nose, and lip piercings. She specialized in ghost type Pokémon and enjoyed acting like the type despite the fact that she was in actuality a pleasant person to be around.
"Duke and I heard you caught another outlaw," she said as she entered the elevator. "You've been on fire these last few months."
"Yeah, but the outlaws keep piling on," Jack told her. "Capture one and three more take his place."
"I guess you're on the way to see the commander to get your reward," Heidi said as she pressed the button to take them up. "Duke said that he wanted to see all three of us, for what, I don't know."
Jack found himself caught off guard for a moment. He wondered what the commander wanted with him as well as with Heidi and Duke. The three of them were among the best specialized bounty hunters in the organization and Jack marveled at the possibility of the commander granting them independent status. Independent hunters we're allowed to go after any wanted fugitive of any rank without permission from a commander, were able to use whatever Pokémon they liked when tracking outlaws, and most importantly to Jack, got to keep all of their money from captures.
"JAAAACK!"
The sound of Duke's loud and gruff voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He hadn't realized that they had already arrived on the third floor. Duke greeted him with a fist bump and congratulated him on his recent capture.
"Thanks, Duke," Jack told him.
"So, when he tried to escape, did he set off any hidden Electrode or anything like that?" Duke asked excitedly.
Jack shook his head. While he was truly only in it for the money and Heidi was in it to test her skills, Duke was all about the combat that came with being a bounty hunter. He liked to see himself as an action movie star that ran from explosions and jumped out of planes. With his toned and tanned physique, the electric type trainer certainly looked the part.
"C'mon boys," Heidi said. "We better not keep the commander waiting..."
The three of them made their way into the large office in front of them. Granbull snarled as they were approaching, but quickly reverted to his playful state when he saw their familiar faces. Jack thought about knocking, but Duke decided to just open the door and walk inside anyway. The commander wasn't exactly strict about small things like that, but Jack wanted to at least pretend to be somewhat professional.
"Jack, Heidi, Duke, take a seat..."
His mother had taught him to never judge a book by its cover and Jack thought that lesson rang true wherever Commander March was concerned. He was only about five feet in height with brown eyes hidden behind a pair of dark shades that he almost never took off. He wore an overcoat that was far too large for him and overall looked completely harmless. His image wasn't help by his slightly eccentric attitude or the fact that he tended to favor fairy-type Pokémon, but you would have to be a fool to even think about crossing him.
"Would any of you like some candy bars before we start?" he offered.
"Don't mind if I do!" Heidi said as she grabbed a bar.
"Thanks, Commander," Duke remarked. "But I'm on a strict diet. Gotta keep up the physique..."
"I'd really rather get down to business, Commander," Jack said.
Commander March let out a laugh. "You know, Jack, you need to enjoy the little things every once in a while. You'd be much happier if you did. Anyway, I called the three of you in here because I have something very important that I believe you three would be good at. As you know, with the recent disestablishment of several criminal organizations and factions in the last two years, the number of wanted fugitives have skyrocketed. We are working with the police to do everything we can, but the truth is, we're a bit overwhelmed. That's where I believe you three can help."
"Are...you going to make us independent hunters?" Jack asked, trying his hardest to hide his excitement.
"No..." the commander answered. "Well, not yet. You're more useful here at the moment. Are you three aware of the Big Brother Program that's been instituted among several bounty hunting organizations across the planet?"
"We've heard of it," Heidi said. "But I think Big Sibling Program is the more appropriate name. It's when commanders call up bounty hunters in-training and let them train with more experienced bounty hunters while actually being able to go track down outlaws."
"Correct, Heidi," the commander told her. "And you're right, Big Sibling Program is the proper name for it. It allows our organizations to utilize more hunters while making sure they're up to the job."
"What's this got to do with us?" Duke asked curiously.
Commander March cupped his hands as he reclined back in his seat. Jack noticed that his feet didn't even reach the ground, but it did not appear to be an issue for him. "I've added you three to the program."
"What?!" Jack nearly shouted. "Sorry, Commander, but I have better things to do than babysit a bunch of teenage wannabe bounty hunters."
"If I'm not mistaken, Jack, you were once one of those 'teenage wannabe bounty hunters'," he remarked. "Besides, it's not optional. Do this for me and I promise you that in two years time, you three will be full-fledged independent hunters. What do you say?"
"I'm fine with it," Heidi said first.
"Me too," Duke added. "It's always more awesome if there's some more people involved."
Jack let out a groan before he made his decision. He knew that it was his only way of becoming an independent hunter any time in the near future. "Fine, I'll do it, but if anything happens to them on a mission, it won't be on my hands."
"Well, looks like that's settled," Commander March concluded. "You'll each have three trainers under your wing. Jack, you'll be supervising the grass, fire and water specialists. Heidi, you have the fighting, psychic, and dark trainers. And Duke, you'll be the head of the ground, ice, and steel users. Any questions or comments?"
"Just one," Jack stated. "I should have gone to medical school..."
"That's the attitude!" the commander said with a smile.
A/N: Chapter one is finally done! Hopefully chapter two will be even better!
That's all for now!
Adios!