A few days after Alvera left on her journey to become a photographer, Alex was having some alone time with Iris on the balcony on the top floor of the main hub. They weren't doing anything too sexual, as Clearstone City had finally put up buildings tall enough to peek over the southern wall, so he and the girls had refrained from doing anything too wild other than kissing, flirting, or light touches.
This didn't apply to Lyra, however, who insisted on having sex in the middle of the night on the balcony with all the lights off. When asked, "What if they had night vision?" she only got hornier, so Alex relented and did as she wished. It wasn't like he cared about his reputation, given his impressive kill list.
As his tongue explored Iris's mouth, his hands kneaded her ass, and his erection pressed against her crotch, he and Iris suddenly received a text message. Normally, he would have ignored it, but since it produced an alert, it could only be from his immediate family, so he checked the message and found an image of him and Iris making out on the balcony from Alvera. The image was quite flattering, with perfect lighting, and it was focused on Iris's ass.
Alex smiled, appreciating the picture. His daughter knew him so well.
He turned toward the distance at the approximate location of the angle of the shot and found Alvera perched on a ledge with her camera. From that distance, she would have looked like a speck to most, but with his Champion ranked eyesight, he could see her taking pictures of the main hub before going on her phone.
He smiled with pride at his daughter, who had passion and ambition and didn't let her pride get in between her and his money. She initially wanted to run the gym circuit and do missions for the League to fund herself, but he convinced her it was a waste of her time. He was wealthy beyond reason, so it didn't make sense for her to work for her own money when she could invest that time and energy in her passion instead.
Normally, he wouldn't want her to grow up like Clarissa, who had everything provided and was clueless about how the world worked, but he had done a good job teaching her the realities of life since she was young, so she wasn't as naive by comparison. As a result, he didn't mind if she lived off him for the rest of her life.
"Aw, this is such a good picture," Iris gushed as she showed the image she received to Alex.
It was the same picture, with subtle differences in focus and theme. His image had been very sexual, with a focus on Iris's ass as it shaped around his hand and squeezed between his fingers. It even included his erection pressing against her dress. Hers focused on their faces as they held each other and smiled sweetly, the light shining across Iris's face and illuminating her bright, loving smile.
"I'm going to frame this in my room," Iris said, putting away her phone and continuing to spend time with Alex.
Early the next morning, while Alex was training on the grounds north of the lake at the base, Clarissa landed on her Dragonite, hopped off, and called out, "I'm here for another battle!"
Ever since she saw Alex's Pokémon lay waste to an army her own Pokémon couldn't even approach, she had been training them in actual combat rather than focusing solely on official battles. Like the bounty hunters on the base, she began studying the bounty hunter handbook and practicing the formations with her Pokémon.
Over the next few years, they improved to the point where only Alex's team could possibly challenge them, as they were all Champions, just like Alex's own team, which had reached Champion rank one after another. It started with Kommo-o, followed by Clawitzer, then Rotom, Altaria, Alcremie, Frosmoth, Aegislash, Togekiss, Dusknoir, Ceruledge, and Gardevoir, totaling 16 Champion ranked Pokémon.
Raticate, Arcanine, and Hydreigon were still at the lower end of Champion rank, and it would take a while for them to get anywhere near Master rank. Grim and Knight, on the other hand, were a different story. Grim was sitting right at the peak of Champion rank, seemingly needing only a small push, while Knight still had a decade or so to go.
As for the rest, the Crobat couple, Tsareena, Weezing, Maushold, Espeon, Gyarados, Milotic, the six Wishiwashi, Zoroark, and the Goodra and Araquanid pairs managed to reach the peak of the Elite rank. Then, there was Ditto, the pairs of Chandelure, Rhyperior, and Vikavolt, and the shiny Lucario who were at the upper half of the Elite rank. Finally, there was Gallade, Lopunny, the Lucario pair, and Mantine who were left at the lower half of the Elite rank.
Needless to say, the Master ranked Snorlax corpse and the fifty or so Champions Alex and the girls acquired from Sinnoh were put to good use. On top of that, the income from the Silver Network and their streaming of Alex's flying arena and battle royale allowed them to start purchasing Champion ranked meat regularly, rather than having to go out and hunt bounties for it.
Of course, Alex wasn't the only one who benefited massively from that trip, as Sable also reached Champion rank through her Garchomp. It had allowed the sex bunker to see some use beyond Clarissa and Maylene.
Among the girls, Lyra and Mika were understandably the closest to reaching Champion rank next, with Nyx surprisingly close as well. She still received her percentage income from Alex's bounties, which now included a portion from the Silver Network, so she had been feeding her Rotom and Gengar Champion ranked meat every once in a while over the years. Additionally, her drive for Champion ranked sex was becoming unhealthy after seeing how much fun Clarissa, Maylene, and Sable had in the bunker.
Regarding Alex's Pokémon's move proficiencies, there were significant improvements as well. It had been over seven years, after all.
Raticate, Arcanine, Hydreigon, Kommo-o, Clawitzer, Dusknoir, Gardevoir, and the Lucario pair had raised all their moves to Expert rank. It should only take them five more years to achieve their first Master ranked proficient move, like Ditto with Transform and the Crobat couple, whose Quick Attack had already crossed that threshold.
They could now continuously chain Quick Attack the moment one execution finished, allowing them to remain in near-constant high-speed movement as long as they had the stamina to sustain it.
The rest were only behind by about three to six years, except for a few special cases like Mantine, who barely had any proficiencies when he was caught. Fortunately, he was part of the utility team and wasn't required to fight, so he didn't need anything beyond status moves to act as a dedicated flying mount. This allowed him to focus fully on status move proficiency training, enabling him to catch up with the others.
Name: Mantine, Elite
Type: Water Flying, Male
Ability: Water Absorb
Moves:
Basic: Psybeam, Water Gun, Water Pulse, Bubble Beam, Air Slash, Hydro Pump, Bubble, Double-Edge, Assurance, Body Press, Hurricane, Icy Wind, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Hyper Beam, Snore, Swift, Round, Whirlpool, Brine, Surf, Scald, Aerial Ace, Acrobatics, Bullet Seed, Tackle, Wing Attack, Headbutt, Bounce, Take Down, Seed Bomb, Bulldoze, Earthquake, Giga Impact, Facade, Body Slam, Gunk Shot, Rock Slide, Rock Tomb, Rock Blast, Iron Head, Dive, Waterfall, Liquidation,
Expert:
(Priority +2): Substitute, Rest, Tail Wind, Hail, Attract, Sleep Talk, Rain Dance, Defog, Swagger
(Effect Up +2): Wide Guard, Agility, Aqua Ring, Protect, Endure, Amnesia, Double Team, Roost, Supersonic, Helping Hand
Description: Mantine, the Kite Pokémon. Gliding gracefully through the ocean waves, this gentle giant is often seen with a Remoraid attached to its broad, flat fins to scavenge for leftovers. It is known for its incredible ability to leap above the water's surface, soaring through the air to escape predators or simply to catch the wind.
Other notable mentions were the shiny Lucario, Gallade, and Lopunny, who had a difficult time training their move proficiencies. It seemed their previous habits of focusing only on Effect Up and Damage had locked them into that path, like an old dog unable to learn new tricks. Now, all their moves were either Effect Up or Damage proficiencies.
Lastly, there were Grim and Knight who, being the oldest Pokémon Alex had, suffered from the same problem. Grim had been trained for Priority, Effect Up, and Damage, while Knight had been trained only for Effect and Damage.
It troubled Alex quite a bit, but he ultimately dismissed the issue. They were part of the attack team, so it didn't really matter if they lacked special tricks. As long as they could dish out powerful moves and survive battles, he had nothing to complain about.
Speaking of Grim, Alex had made quite the mistake in having it train its less-used moves over the past seven years. He had simply kept feeding Grim, hoping it would push past the threshold and reach Master rank. After years with no sign of progress, he decided to ask Clarissa for information and quickly discovered why she had recommended focusing on a single move first when they were back at the Pokémon Academy.
It turned out that a requirement for a Pokémon to reach Master rank was to have at least one move trained to that rank. Even that wasn't enough on its own, as a certain level of expertise in handling their energies was necessary to break through the barrier and elevate their being. Depending on the Pokémon, it could require one or all of its moves to achieve its full potential.
Alex slapped himself for being so stupid. Of course it involved the ability to manipulate their energies. He had seen it firsthand when he watched Groudon fight the Draconid tribe, so he should have taken that as a hint toward reaching Master rank. If he had found out sooner, he wouldn't have wasted the past seven years building up Grim's less-used moves.
Then again, it might not have made a difference, as Clarissa had pointed out that Master ranked Pokémon were simply in a league of their own. It wasn't as if all Pokémon could reach that rank just through training and eating. There was a mental aspect that prevented most Champions from ever attaining it, since they were required to be literal masters of their energy.
"What format do you want?" Alex asked Clarissa as he dried the sweat from his body.
"Defensive," she said, releasing her Pokémon.
"Sure," Alex replied, calling over all his Champions.
It was his fourteen, excluding Aegislash and Rotom, against her six, an unfair battle with an obvious winner, but for Clarissa the point wasn't to win; it was to improve by lasting as long as possible.
Alex, meanwhile, grinned. He had been working on a new formation, and Clarissa was going to be his guinea pig. After all, this was as much training for him as it was for her.
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