Nyx's online investigation revealed that a group of conspiracy theorists lived in Castelia City, with a handful operating close to the Hobo Hunter's hunting grounds. Among them was their top suspect, Dexter Vey, who volunteered at a soup kitchen.
The position gave him plenty of opportunities to learn more about the leader of the Grimefold, the Trubbish King, who had somehow organized the city's homeless population into an intelligence network. It also allowed him to identify potential targets through their demeanor and conversations, making him the ideal candidate to begin the investigation.
Using Nyx's hacking skills, they obtained the soup kitchen's schedule and confirmed that Dexter would be on shift that afternoon. So, Alex and Rhea headed there to begin their hunt for the Hobo Hunter.
Since Rhea had already been discovered and Alex was being hunted, they didn't bother using Zoroark's illusion to conceal her. Instead, they wore protective gear rather than the casual clothes they had worn to blend in. Alex donned his bounty hunter armor, complete with the trench coat despite the spring weather, while Rhea wore a similar outfit, her lab coat giving her the look of a scientist.
The pair didn't attract much attention as they walked the busy streets of Castelia City, likely because most people were focused on their own business. Besides, there were plenty of others wearing gaudy outfits that did a far better job of drawing notice.
That changed the moment they reached the soup kitchen and stepped inside. The smell hit first, a pungent mix of food, industrial cleaning agents, and body odor. The room itself was well kept, with high ceilings, fluorescent lights, and rows of metal tables and benches that had seen better days. The people inside were casually dressed, giving the place the look of an ordinary cafeteria.
As Alex entered, every head turned in his direction, eyes wary in response to his authoritative demeanor. He released Gardevoir and scanned the room. Most faces showed fear and trepidation, people shifting uneasily under his gaze. Here and there were knowing looks, the kind that marked Grimefold agents hiding in plain sight. Others showed open panic, bodies tensing as if ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.
"I'm looking for a serial killer who specifically targets homeless people," Alex announced loudly.
The declaration shocked many, drawing widened eyes, concern, or outright fear, all reactions to be expected. None of them showed any sign that they might be the Hobo Hunter.
Even Dexter, who stood behind the food counter midway through pouring curry into a waiting patron's plate, froze in place, his eyes mirroring the same shock and concern as the rest.
After a long, tense moment, Alex clicked his tongue, retrieved Gardevoir, and simply walked out, Rhea in tow.
"What happened?" Rhea asked. "Why didn't you confront Dexter? I thought for sure you'd just rush in there and have Gardevoir read his memories."
"That's illegal. Only Gym Leaders and the Champion of a region can freely read other people's memories. We Champion ranked trainers are only allowed to do so for an expressed purpose, such as extracting information from a guilty party or conducting interviews as part of the hiring process or for security," Alex said. "Also, it wasn't him."
"How can you be sure?"
"People have instinctive reactions when they're presented with new information, especially when it concerns their lives. Everyone in there showed the same response, so none of them are who we're looking for."
"Didn't the file say he was a psychopath? Wouldn't he fake that expression?"
"Psychopaths are even more susceptible to this. Faking emotions requires thought, which creates a delay I can spot in their initial reaction. Gardevoir also read their surface thoughts, and she said none of them reacted differently."
"I thought you said mind reading was illegal."
"There are nuances to the rule. You can't do a deep dive to learn everything about a person, but surface thoughts are fair game since we're in a public place."
"That seems like cheating. I mean, you can still take advantage of people and invade their privacy if you ask the right questions."
"Which is why Psychic Pokémon are restricted."
Rhea began walking ahead, hands tucked in her pockets, then turned and walked backward, eyes on Alex.
"So, where to now?"
"Now, it's simple leg work. We'll go through the list of suspects Nyx gave us and do the same thing until we find who we're looking for."
"This is so boring," Rhea said, launching into a flurry of punches as if shadowboxing. "I want action, adventure, combat. Not leg work."
"It comes with the job of being a bounty hunter," Alex said with a shrug. "If you want to keep yourself entertained, just watch out for Team Dominion's ambush. They could strike at any moment."
"I don't like this kind of action," Rhea said, her excitement deflating. "I had enough of it when I had to escape from them years ago."
"Look on the bright side. Now you aren't some damsel in distress. You can fight back and express how aggrieved you were at the time."
"I guess…"
The pair ran around the city, meeting with everyone on Nyx's list. Alex would quickly ask if they were the Hobo Hunter, and, as expected, the reactions were either a confused "Who?" or laughter at the ridiculous name. With Gardevoir confirming their lack of association, they spent the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening going from one suspect to the next. Finally, they reached the last person on the list, whose residence was the farthest from the hunting grounds.
"I'm tired…" Rhea complained. "We finished the initial list that was supposed to be just a handful, then worked through everyone else in the city. If this James Marsten isn't our target, I'm going to become homeless and play bait, because sitting in an alley and waiting for them to come to me sounds a hell of a lot easier than running all over the place."
"I don't think it's him," Alex said. "He has no Pokémon, works from home with minimal income, barely leaves his apartment, and has everything delivered straight to his door. He's also overweight, logs thousands of hours on video games, and spends most of his time trolling online. I doubt someone like him would actively run around the city killing homeless people when he can barely walk out of his own apartment."
"Well, it better be him, or I'm just going to wait at the hotel for Team Dominion to attack me. My feet are freaking killing me."
"That's fine. I'll leave an attack team with you as guards."
Rhea snorted and waved a hand. "I'm kidding."
Alex glanced back at her and smiled. "Me too. I'll actually leave two attack teams, one of them Ghost types you won't know about, just in case."
A smile spread across Rhea's face as she felt a little thrill, secretly charmed by the way he looked out for her. She gripped Alex's hand tightly as they made their way to the third floor of the apartment, where their final suspect was located.
Once they arrived, Alex released Gardevoir, banged on the door, and listened to the shuffling of heavy feet on the other side. The door swung open to reveal an obese man, slightly shorter than Alex, panting from the exertion of reaching the apartment door from his room.
"Hey! You're not the delivery guy!" he protested, until he got a proper look at Alex's threatening demeanor and froze like a deer in the headlights.
"Are you the Hobo Hunter?" Alex asked.
Color drained from the man's face at the mention of that familiar name. Quickly, or at least as quickly as a man of his stature could manage, he turned and tried to flee, only for Alex to catch his foot and send him sprawling to the ground.
"Argh!" he squealed in pain before shouting, "Gengar! Hypno! Help!"
From the living room, an Adept ranked Gengar and Hypno darted out, launching Shadow Ball and Psychic at Alex, who loomed over their trainer with a foot pressed to his back. The attacks fizzled harmlessly against Gardevoir's Protect barrier before she knocked out Gengar with a Psychic of her own. Aegislash rushed from Alex's shadow and struck Hypno with Night Slash, knocking it out and ending the fight after just one hit each.
"No way! It's really him!" Rhea exclaimed with glee. "Finally, no more running around the city for this little gal."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Alex said, then turned to Gardevoir. "Find out if he's the Hobo Hunter, why he's doing it, and how."
After a minute of mind reading, Gardevoir reported that he was, in fact, the Hobo Hunter. He was a hardcore conspiracy theorist who had learned about the Underworld on the darknet and had been trying to open the public's eyes to the precarious situation in which they lived.
Laughed at for being insignificant in the grand scheme of things, he sought to prove his worth by gathering evidence, starting with Castelia City's own legend of a Garbodor that ruled over the homeless.
He acquired a Gastly and a Drowzee from the darknet without registering them with the League and began training them to act as infiltrators under strict instructions. Gastly would be the scout, identifying targets, while Drowzee would hypnotize their victims to obtain information. Once they reached Adept rank, he sent them to hunt homeless people for investigation as far from his home as possible.
Unfortunately, he hadn't anticipated that Haunter would start murdering their victims, eventually evolving into Gengar and earning him the infamous title of the Hobo Hunter.
"See, it really is him," Rhea cheered. "Now I don't have to run around anymore."
Alex shook his head and smiled. "We're done with the Hobo Hunter, but there are still four more targets to go."
"Right… I forgot," Rhea groaned, rolling her eyes before looking down at their target. "What are we going to do with him?"
"The Hobo Hunter has an official bounty, so we'll hand him over to the League."
"Don't we have to kill him?" Rhea asked, causing James to struggle and whine under Alex's foot.
"No. We'll let the police handle this one. They'll likely put down the Gengar since it's developed a taste for humans, which technically fulfills the contract. If they have a problem with that, I'll head back to the sewers and invite them to say it to my face."
"Oh, tough guy act. I like it," Rhea said with a grin. "So, which target are we hunting next?"
"Nightshade Productions," Alex replied. "But we're not hunting their kidnappers. We're hunting the owners."
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