Aboard the S.S. Wave, in Alex's cabin, he rested in bed with Sally lying on his arm, cuddling close. They had shared a rather wild night, and it was just getting started.
"That was amazing," Sally sighed, savoring the moment.
"It was," Alex replied, then, tightening his arm around her waist, he asked, "Hey, Sally?"
"Yes, Alex?"
"Why did you become a miner?"
"I needed the money."
"That can't be the only reason."
"I have a talent for it."
"What kind?"
"I bond more easily with Ground type Pokémon."
"So you're a specialist?"
"Yeah."
"If you're a talented Ground type specialist, I can't imagine you needing that much money. You'd be wealthy with just a single mine."
"That's the problem, though. I need a mine first, and it's prohibitively expensive. Not to mention my Pokémon eat a ton."
"Elite ranked meat?"
"Champion ranked meat. They're at that stage where higher ranked food is the only way for them to continue progressing."
"That makes sense."
"Why are you asking?"
"I was wondering if you'd like to work for me instead."
"What would a photographer need a miner for?"
"I have quite a bit of demand for raw materials, metals mostly, but Move Crystals as well."
Sally froze at the mention of Move Crystals. A cold, unsettling feeling welled up in her chest. The comfortable position she'd been enjoying in Alex's arms suddenly didn't feel so comforting.
"Who are you?" Sally asked, her suspicion building.
"I could ask you the same question, Sable Mercer."
Sally, whose real name was Sable, realized she'd been found out and immediately pulled away from Alex. She rolled off the bed, reaching for her Poké Balls among her clothes, but they were nowhere to be found.
"Looking for these?" Alex asked, waving the Poké Balls tauntingly in front of her.
Enraged, Sable lunged at him to snatch them back, but he pulled his hand away while his other hand grabbed her by the neck, holding her in place.
"I had lost hope in capturing you," Alex said. "Luckily for me, I ran into you and managed to separate you from your Pokémon."
He had made sure to lock her Poké Balls while she was distracted.
"Give them back!" she shouted in anger.
"So you can escape and force me to kill you?" Alex said in a far colder tone than Sable was familiar with.
She suddenly realized her position. Naked, a powerful hand gripping her neck, her Pokémon locked away, entirely at Alex's mercy. Finally, she took a proper look at him and understood that he was far stronger than any photographer had any right to be.
"Who are you?" she asked again, her voice trembling with fear rather than suspicion.
"Alex Wattson, bounty hunter," he replied.
"Are you… are you the one who killed my Garchomp and Rhyperior?" she asked, tears welling up at the thought of having slept with her Pokémon's killer.
"Killed? No, they're alive and well, probably running around somewhere in Meteor Falls. I'd be more worried about your situation if I were you."
"What do you want?"
"I've been asking myself that question the entire night," Alex replied. "You're clearly not a human supremacist, so it doesn't make sense for you to work for Team Dominion. Judging by your tone, you really were just struggling to feed your Pokémon to the best of your ability."
"Human supremacists?"
"The company you're working for is Team Dominion, a bunch of human supremacists who currently have a standoff against the League."
"So what? Isn't that the same for the rest of the Underworld?"
"True, but Devon Corp and Team Dominion are fighting it out for control over Move Crystal mines."
Sable paled at the mention of Devon Corp. In Hoenn, that company was practically synonymous with the League itself, as Steven Stone was both the Champion of Hoenn and the owner of Devon Corp. No wonder Alex was trying to capture her. No wonder she had been asked to defend the location rather than personally dig it out. She had been unknowingly operating directly against the League.
"How high is my bounty?"
"One million credits."
"Credits!?" she exclaimed. "No wonder the mine was constantly being attacked."
"So, do you understand my dilemma?" Alex asked. "I don't want to kill you if I don't have to, Sable. I rather like you and could certainly benefit from your services. I don't think I can pay in Champion ranked Pokémon meat, but I can pay with credits."
Sable sighed before backing off and sitting on the bed, covering her face with her hands. She thought about her situation clearly and summed up the positives and negatives.
She was a criminal, she was caught, she had sex with her captor. She didn't want to be a criminal, well, not the kind that attracts attention, at least. She was caught and didn't have much of a choice. She had sex with her captor. Mind-blowing sex with her very sexy and attractive captor. Okay, maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.
Her Pokémon were alive. She would lose her job, and perhaps gain another for a clearly lower wage. Garchomp and Rhyperior were in Meteor Falls. She hadn't thought to check, having already written them off. She was a horrible trainer. She would lose her cushy job as well as her source of Champion ranked Pokémon meat. She had another job already lined up, but it wouldn't pay well.
Suddenly, she thought about a problem with Alex's proposition.
"What about my bounty? I don't think that'll just go away."
"Let me worry about that."
She raised an eyebrow at Alex's confidence but decided to trust him. It wasn't like she had much of a choice.
"Fine," she sighed. "I'll join you."
"Excellent. Let's continue this discussion tomorrow morning. For now, get back in bed. It's cold."
"Do you honestly think I'd get back into bed with you?"
"Suit yourself, but your Pokémon stay with me until you gain my trust."
"Gain your trust?" she said incredulously. "We had sex, Alex!"
"And it was wonderful, but I want to back you into a corner against Team Dominion before I trust you completely. This way, you won't be able to just run back to them."
"What do you have in mind?"
"That depends on our discussion tomorrow."
"Fine."
In the end, she got back into bed with Alex. She even cuddled close. He was right; it was cold.
She imagined this conflicting feeling was like a couple who had fought but hadn't made up yet, yet still slept in the same bed. It was new to her, both comforting and disturbing at the same time. On one hand, she was completely at his mercy; on the other, he was warm, and there was a strange sense of safety in that.
'Is this what it's like to have Stockholm syndrome?' she wondered as sleep began to take her.
The next morning, Alex called Janet and reported the situation. He requested that the bounty on Sable be removed because she was just a casualty of the circumstances. She didn't even have a psychic implant, since she was only a third-party worker.
"I don't know, Alex," Janet replied after he explained.
"Well, think about it like this. You can either pay out one million credits and persecute an innocent woman, or you don't pay out the credits and get an unpaid helper to fight against Team Dominion. It's plain to see which one is more beneficial for Devon Corp."
"I'll run it by my boss. That's as much as I can do."
"Thanks for the effort."
"Are you going to tell me what you needed the shipment schedule for?"
"I will once I capture the target. Call me if you get confirmation."
"Alright."
Alex hung up, noticing Sable watching him anxiously.
"So?" she asked, her voice unsteady.
"Not sure yet. We'll have to wait for my handler's boss to get back to us. In the meantime, it would really help your case if you helped take down a bounty target."
"I'm not strong enough for something like that, Alex."
"I know. I don't expect you to do any heavy lifting. I'll take care of everything. Now, would you mind telling me what you were really doing on this ship?"
She sighed heavily before leaning back and explaining.
"After you ran me out of the mine, they told me to board this cruise and wait for someone to pick me up. There were no additional details, but the gist was that I was being reassigned to a new mining location underwater."
"I see. Well, it looks like you get to play a major part in this operation after all."
"Can't I just leave?" she asked. "I want to go pick up Garchomp and Rhyperior. I'm worried about them."
"Do you know what time or date they would pick you up?"
"No."
"Then that should answer your question," Alex said, softening his tone. "Look, Sable, you're under the League's radar. Running around with a bounty is not a pleasant experience. If you leave, you'll be under Team Dominion's radar as well. I know you can run from most dangers, but you would have to stay out of every region if you don't manage to stay safe under one of these powers. And if you chose Team Dominion, I would have to bring you in."
"Besides," Alex continued. "I put a tracker on Garchomp and Rhyperior. They'll be fine in Meteor Falls in the meantime. I'll even help you find them afterwards."
Sable sighed at her bleak situation for what felt like the hundredth time. When Alex laid it out so plainly, she truly didn't have a choice. In the end, she stopped thinking about it and left everything in his hands.
"What do you want me to do?" she asked quietly.
Alex's lips curved into a thin smile. "For starters, do you know anything about acting?"
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