Chapter 53
Reunited
Alex warped back to the Wigglytuff Guild via his expedition orb. The reason he had to travel by Wailord liner rather than warping was that expedition orbs only allowed you to warp to a guild or your base where the orb's charging station was. Pokemon Square was a whopping three days walk from the guild in Barum Town on the coast, so sailing straight up the river was the better option.
The Fraxure immediately went to Wallace's door, and after knocking and hearing a jolly "come in"
Wallace was sitting in his pink chair, behind his pink desk, smiling as Alex entered, greeting him with "You look tougher, how was the Air Continent?"
"It was good, did Blaze come back yet?" Alex questioned.
"Yea, he told me to find a good board request for you and then give it to you before heading back to Sharpeado Bluff" Wallace explained before tossing a flyer on the table in front of him.
It was an S-Tier Outlaw warrant, showing a character that even Alex looked twice at. A tall, bipedal, feline Pokemon with a muscular build. It had a short snout with a small red nose, bright green eyes with yellow sclera, and tiny, pointed ears. Large tufts of red fur extended from his cheeks, and much of its face was also red. The upper half of its muzzle and the top and back of his head was black. A thin red stripe ran vertically along its head to its snout, where it split into a V-shape over its eyes. Its torso was gray with several black stripes and seemed to resemble a wrestler tank-top; the front and back both had a single vertical stripe up the center, crossed by two horizontal lines.
"Out of the frying pan into the fire huh?" Alex scoffed as he picked up the flyer and left the room, ready to go on another job with Blaze.
Alex entered Sharpeado Bluff to find Blaze putting something in the locked display case from graduation, right next to Belle's healing orb and their two mega stones. It was long, thin, and wrapped in a cloth.
As soon as Blaze turned around he immediately ran up and hugged his friend.
"It's good to see you too," Alex said as he patted his partner on the back.
Blaze broke the hug and said, "I missed you, let's get a job done!"
The former human nodded and replied "definitely, but what is that thing?"
"Something the Masters gave me for when I evolve again, what did Wallace find for us?"Blaze questioned excitedly.
Alex chuckled at his partner's peppiness and said "A nasty piece of work named Mars, he's a repeat offender who is guilty of multiple brutal robberies, a few teams have gotten him cornered, but he beat them all"
"He hasn't dealt with us!" Blaze exclaimed.
Alex nodded and smiled, after the seriousness of his training with Koh, Blaze's enthusiasm was refreshing.
After a heated pursuit through Waterfall cave, the duo of explorers cornered Mars.
"Who the heck are you two!" The Incineroar demanded.
"Were Team Outriders, and you're under arrest!" Blaze announced.
Mars smiled and said "Yeah right!"
He opened his mouth unleashing a dark pulse at Blaze, only for Alex to jump in front and spawn a shield of white light which completely stopped the attack.`
"What the heck?" Mars demanded, shocked at the sight of such a unique skill.
Alex smiled and said "try this!" before summoning a volley of white energy needles and throwing them at Mars, who gasped and dodged before rushing in with his paws glowing black.
The former human dodged expertly and summoned white energy around him, forming glowing armor around his body. As Mars followed up with another darkest lariat, but it bounced off of Alex's energy constructs.
"WHAT ARE YOU!" Mars demanded. Every other exploration team Mars fought had folded under nothing but the speed and raw strength.
Alex gave a nod, and Mars gasped realizing that he had lost track of the Monferno.
The outlaw turned around to see Blaze's fists glowing, with two rapid strikes to the gut and legs. Mars fell to his knees in pain, the two blows were carefully chosen to use Mars's weight against him, and Blaze had figured that out just by watching him move for a bit. Before the Outlaw could even think of another move, Blaze surrounded him with a pool of lava, completely trapping him.
Alex finished Mars off with a dragon breath, throwing the Incineroar into a wall and knocking him down. Blaze then sealed the deal with a blast of lava, burning even for a fire type and gluing Mars to a wall.
"Good job, you've really improved a lot with that lava" Alex complimented.
Blaze squinted as Alex's armor dissolved then asked "is that white stuff the energy that defeated Dialga?
Alex nodded and replied "yea, a more efficient way to use it"
Both explorers were interrupted by a groan as Mons had already regained consciousness. Without thinking twice, Blaze allowed the rock to fall away from Mars, as soon as he touched the ground Alex grabbed him with the containment beam from his badge.
"This isn't right…" Mars scoffed as all three of them warped to the Wigglytuff guild.
Officer Edison floated in with his deputies and said "thank you for capturing an S-Ranked outlaw. Here is your reward"
On cue deputy, Watts dropped a large sack of coins from one of his magnets and then joined his fellowed deputy in corralling Mars, who was cuffed and muzzled with the same energy from the containment beam"
"Need help taking him to Ironhide prison?" Alex questioned.
"No...we will not be taking him to the prison South of here" Watts admitted.
Blaze gave a confused look and asked "if you're not taking him there, then where are you taking him?" Ironhide prison was atop Mt. Travail, a tall and remote stronghold was the only prison on this side of the Continent, the other being on the other side of the coast at Capium Town.
Edison shook his body midair and said "as an S-Ranked outlaw, he will be taken to Galewind Prison, far away on the island of storms, only accessible via teleporting. Thank you for your service"
After a quick walk to Treasure Town for dinner, Alex and Blaze returned to Sharpedo Bluff to get some sleep, unaware of three Pokemon who were waiting in the bushes on the cliff as they returned, ready to commit a heinous crime.
Team Outriders was about to be assassinated in their sleep...
