Failure was not a word in Hunter J's vocabulary. At least, it wasn't one she made a habit of using.
She could count on one hand the amount of times in her long, successful career as a Pokémon poacher that she had not managed in catching her prey. It steamed her to know that the fortune she would have made selling those rare Pokémon had slipped through her fingers. And the fact that this event had consequences for the future. Every blemish on her record, every black mark could be used against her, in the hunt for the greatest prize of them all.
It rankled her to no end that her incompetent, worthless henchmen had been defeated by some infiltrators. Powerful as she may be, she could not be everywhere. It was only further confirmation to Hunter J that the only one she could rely on was herself. The most important missions she would personally have to see through to the very end, until the target was delivered to her client. Hunter J stared at her empty wine glass, frowning.
Clearly, she needed to calm herself before the meeting with the most important and insufferable clients she had ever had. Moving to her personal collection, she selected her favorite, a rare red wine from Santalune City, all the way in the Kalos Region. It cost her a fortune to import, which is why she only bought it only after extremely successful missions. This bottle she purchased after delivering two Eevee to a Pokémon breeder looking to start putting them on the Hoenn market.
She admired the color and the smell of the wine before finally taking a long draught. As she put the glass down, a knock on the door sounded.
"Enter."
It slid open to reveal a middle-aged man with slightly graying hair, though J knew that he was dyeing it, and long sideburns.
"Lieutenant. I assume we have received a transmission?"
Her second-in-command bowed and saluted before answering. "We do, sir. It is over our personal encrypted line, and it is coming from Veilstone City."
J knew exactly who this was. Taking her wine glass with her, Hunter J slowly got up, giving instructions as she did so. "Put it through. I'll take it in the upper cockpit. You continue to interrogate the crew to find the fools that failed us, and restrain them. I'll deal with them once I'm finished."
She ignored her lieutenant's response, knowing the man feared her too much to dare disobeying.
The upper cockpit was a feature of both her smaller, more mobile plane and the much larger airship that they used as a base during operations. There, Hunter J could overlook all of her henchmen working in the main cockpit, and enjoy the sweat that trailed down their necks as painstakingly did their tasks, careful not to make a single mistake. On the other hand, all they could see if they happened to look up was the bottom of her boots. As it should be.
The privacy of this room also provided her the luxury of talking to clients without anyone hearing her, in case one of her men got any ideas about striking out on their own, and decided to take one of her clients for themselves. J took one more sip of her wine before pressing a flashing red button in front of her. The flat screen television she had mounted on the wall came to life, and on the screen was a blue-haired man. Sadly, it wasn't the one she preferred to deal with.
"Commander Saturn."
"Hunter J," he answered, not giving anything away.
"Where's your father?" J asked without preamble. While most people were put off by Cyrus's unnerving, intense stare and monotone voice, J always preferred to work with someone who had as little morality as she did. Cyrus was straightforward and no nonsense, and while his son had inherited his brilliant mind and knack for business, Saturn preferred to play a much more calculated game.
"Why Hunter J, it's almost as if you aren't happy to see me." J didn't bother replying to that remark, and after a few seconds he chuckled once. "Father is out in the field, unfortunately for you. Somewhere around Mt. Coronet, funnily enough. You wouldn't be able to reach him in any way, unless you managed to stumble upon him by pure chance. But enough chit-chat. You set up this meeting because you had a slew of rare fossil Pokémon to sell to us, correct? Charon and the rest of our science division were whipped up into a frenzy once they heard about your latest planned heist."
She clenched her fist furiously. "Yes. I regret to inform you that the Pokémon we captured managed to escape our custody. As such, we don't have anything to sell you at this moment."
The Galactic Commander laughed in her face for two whole minutes before he finally replied. "Truly? Not one? You never cease to amaze me." Saturn's eyes slid from her face for a second. "Squeeze that glass any harder and you'll have even more problems, I'm afraid."
J released her death grip on her wine glass, and breathed in deeply. "My apologies for wasting your time, Commander Saturn. I do still have a transaction in mind between us, though for once, it will be in reverse."
Saturn raised one eyebrow. "You want to buy something from us? How interesting. Please, go on."
"The computer system on my airship was hacked by a foreign entity," J said. "It's how the intruders were able to locate the Pokémon and evade capture. I want two Porygon models from you. The latest and most powerful. They need to be able to battle, as well."
"Two Porygon-Z models then," Saturn mused. "Well, we certainly have a few on hand. Since we're business partners, I'll even give you a discount. Two-hundred thousand for one, so four-hundred thousand in total."
J narrowed her eyes, though she silently transferred the funds to Team Galactic's account. Perhaps the original development of Porygon-Z was difficult and expensive, but now that the code was written, it should be trivial for Team Galactic to replace the two that Saturn would send her. The bastard, Saturn. He was ripping her off!
Privately, J was sure Saturn was an actual bastard in status, and not just as her personal nickname for him. She could hardly imagine Cyrus getting romantic with anyone. The man held no affection or love for his own son, after all. She was sure that Saturn was only born because Cyrus needed an heir to his company and his fortune, and for no other reason than that.
The fact was, sometimes you had to spend money to make money. Obviously, even more upgrades to the security of her ship were needed, to prevent brazen fools from interfering with her plans.
Both of them watched as the transfer of funds was complete. "I'll have the Porygon-Z shipped to Jupiter at our Eterna City office, and you can pick them up at your earliest convenience," Saturn said, to which Hunter J curled her lip.
"Take your time to ensure I get the best possible ones you have, Saturn. I won't be in Eterna for a while. I still have business to take care of here."
"As you wish J," Saturn replied back, unconcerned. "Do try and be careful. I'd hate to have to report to my father that you've been arrested for your numerous crimes, or that you aren't suitable for our master plan. We will only get one chance at capturing the Lake Guardians. If even one of Uxie, Mesprit, or Azelf escapes our grasp, everything will be for naught. You understand we can't take any chances with who we hire for this mission, because we cannot afford for anyone to mess it up."
"Listen well, Saturn," J threatened, pointing a manicured finger at the Galactic Commander's smug face. "I will be the last one standing amongst all those fools you've invited to Sinnoh. The Captain Claws and the Black Knights of the world are nothing in comparison to me. I am the most talented, and accomplished poacher in the world, not just Sinnoh, and I possess the most advanced equipment by far. So, I suggest you accept the inevitable fact that I will be the one accompanying Team Galactic in the mission to capture the Lake Guardians, and start perfecting your scheme to do so."
Cyrus's son kept his composure, even at her outburst. "Such confidence. Only time will tell it if it's warranted." With that, he signed off, leaving J with only a black screen and her own thoughts.
It wasn't like her to show such emotion, but ever since she had received that mystery transmission, that ended up being from Team Galactic, her blood had been pumping like never before. She had considered dismissing it, but the prospect of catching a legendary Pokémon was something too tempting for her to ignore. For years, the only hunter that supposedly had managed to have a legendary Pokémon in their grasp was that glorified bird collecting fool Lawrence, who claimed that he had caught the three legendary birds of Kanto. The braggart even claimed that he had the guardian of the seas, Lugia, in his grasp for a moment. All he had to show for it was a blue feather that probably came from a large Pidgeot, dyed to look like it came from an Articuno. It was hardly proof.
It has taken a long time, and a lot of Pokémon lives to distill a poison that induced a powerful paralysis that stopped all but the most essential body functions, and even more time to find a Salazzle, to add its poison so it worked on even Steel and Poison types, but now that she had it, she could put any Pokémon into a temporary, frozen stasis, until the antidote was administered.
There would be no doubt in anyone's mind that she had managed to obtain one, and she could purchase them back from Team Galactic once they were through with whatever they needed the Lake Guardians for. Not only would she go down in history, but if she so desired, she could sell them for an absolute fortune.
If only Team Galactic was ready to act now. As she understood it, they wanted to investigate or obtain several more pieces before they were going to put their plan in motion. The Lustrous Orb, for one. Cyrus was set on researching every single one of Sinnoh's myths, and obtaining as many ancient artifacts as he could, to see if they would help him in his quest to create a new world. In addition, Team Galactic was still developing a method that would be able to draw out the Lake Guardians from where they slumbered. Which meant the J had to continue to take contracts in Sinnoh both for the money and to stay ahead of her competition.
At least Team Galactic was some of the best clients she had ever worked with. They literally printed money, and Cyrus had no qualms about spending it. If she didn't like her options, Team Galactic for whatever reason was always willing to buy some Electric-types from her.
That reminded her. She had upgraded her defensive capabilities, including electrifying the doors and ceilings when an intruder was found. She was also in the process of installing even more cameras. The Porygon-Z that she had purchased should prevent anyone from hacking into her mainframe ever again. Now, what J needed to do was improve her offenses. Especially those of her men. They would never be elite battlers, but powerful Pokémon would help make up for their many flaws. And J was in a partnership with a man who provided powerful Pokémon, though he sometimes irritated her as much as Saturn did. Again though, the benefits far outweighed her personal dislike.
She pressed a button that turned on the intercom. "Lieutenant. Initiate a video call with Ein. I would like to speak to the good professor, and see the status of our project."
Her second-in-command quickly did just that, and once again, the red button in front of her flashed, indicating that someone was on the other side of the video call. This time, no face appeared on her screen. J leaned in. "Ein? Ein, are you there?"
"Zat is Professor Ein, to you." Hunter J heard the man's voice before he finally appeared on her screen, wearing his usual outfit of a lab coat, mirrored glasses, and with his hair in a wild side ponytail. Clearly, Ein was not a man who put much effort in his appearance.
"I want a status update on the Pokémon I left at your lab, Professor," J said, stressing the last word. "Have they been converted into Shadow Pokémon?"
Ein laughed dryly. "See for yourself." The scientist picked up his laptop and walked over, giving J an impromptu tour of his extremely messy lab. Eventually, she was shown a battlefield, where one Bug-type, a large one with a blue carapace and two giant, serrated mandibles, was hovering over three other Pokémon, all of which were unmoving. At Ein's command, his Vikavolt unleashed a powerful Thunder attack onto the other Pokémon, who remained still.
Even though they were her Pokémon, Hunter J didn't really care. "Are Spidops, Golbat, and Veluza dead?"
"Of course they are dead," Ein snapped at her. "Did you really assume that any weak Pokémon zat you sent me vould automatically become a Shadow Pokémon?"
That is exactly what she had thought, not that she wouldn't admit it. Of course, they had only gone through with this process once, when J realized that her Salamence was not as reliable as she had thought it was. Before coming to Sinnoh, J took on a hunt for a client that desired a Bagon, which could only be found consistently in the remote caves of the Meteor Falls, in the Hoenn region. They had eventually captured one, but Salamence had been reluctant, for the first time, to attack the target. It was understandable that a Pokémon may not wish to attack its pre-evolved form, but it was unacceptable in J's eyes. Seeking a way to stamp out any mercy from Salamence's heart, J was drawn to the possibility of turning her Salamence into a Shadow Salamence.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Shadow Pokémon had been stamped out in the Orre region, and the leaders of the other regions had agreed to never speak of what had happened in that remote, desert land, so that word of Shadow Pokémon would not reach their regions. J had contacts in the lowest and highest of places, and one of them was actually from the Orre region. They had graciously provided her with the information of where to find the mastermind behind the Shadow Pokémon project.
Ein's lab had been destroyed, and the man was a fugitive, but he still had one Shadow Pokémon, his Vikavolt, that he had managed to hide from the authorities. It only took one demonstration, where Vikavolt had brutally destroyed ten Pokémon in mere seconds, with a ruthlessness and remorselessness that Hunter J knew she must have in her own Pokémon.
Ein was still bitter about his life's work being discarded and reviled in his home region, and by all that eventually learned about it. Without much coaxing, he took J's money and rebuilt his lab. In return, Hunter J asked for a Shadow Pokémon; the result being J's most powerful Pokémon becoming a Shadow Salamence.
The results, in J's eyes, had been spectacular. Now, Salamence was nothing but a tool, a weapon. It rained fire and destruction whenever J commanded, and didn't think twice about what it was doing. Salamence had always been powerful, but after its transformation, its power, in her opinion, surpassed even Pokémon owned by the Elite Four. Her Salamence was possibly the only Pokémon in the region that could match Cynthia's famed and undefeated Garchomp. Naturally, J provided Ein with four more of her Pokémon, after such a success. She had thought that she would soon have a team full of unstoppable Shadow Pokémon, and even some to provide to her underlings. It seemed that it would not be that easy.
"Why wasn't the shadow process successful?" she asked, avoiding the question Ein had posed her.
"I varned you zat turning a Pokémon into a Shadow Pokémon was a dangerous, and potentially deadly process." Ein grumbled, his face back on the screen. "Zat is because turning a Pokémon involves closing off its heart, and enhancing its fighting abilities to the utmost extreme. In order to better control them, so they will not turn on you, I also destroy their very essence; I block off all their receptors to emotion, alter their memories, and essentially leave them as nearly empty husks that I can fill with rage and bloodlust. It is not a process for the veak. Only the very strong can hope to survive. Ven we first discovered how to create Shadow Pokémon, we thought the same as you. Cipher set out to capture every wild Pokémon in Orre, in the hopes of creating an army that would conquer not only our region, but every other one as well. Most of those Pokémon died in zis very lab, unable to vithstand the shadow process."
So that's why her Pokémon died. Well, it was their fault for being too weak. While they had all been useful in their own ways, Golbat being able to scout with echolocation, Spidops with its array of utility moves, and Veluza for water captures, she could find replacements. J assumed the last Pokémon she had left had met the same fate. "You almost sound remorseful, Ein."
"Professor Ein! I do admit, turning my home region into a desolate vasteland, where it is a near miracle to encounter a vild Pokémon was unfortunate. I don't regret discovering Shadow Pokémon, however. It vould have changed the vorld! Now, I only vish for you to show it the power that Shadow Pokémon possess."
"Shadow Pokémon will leave their mark on it," she told him confidently. "But I'll need more than one. Ideally, I would need some for my men as well, since they're so incompetent as battlers. Having a Shadow Pokémon would mean they couldn't possibly lose."
"I'm not so sure about zat."
"What?"
"Nothing. Vell, I will continue to try and create them, though I may only be able to create one Shadow Pokémon out of every fifty wild Pokémon that you send me.
Hunter J frowned. "Is there no way to increase the success rate? It worked with Salamence, after all."
"I've told you, the only vay is to send me the strongest Pokémon you can find. Salamence was and is extremely strong, enough to survive the process. I estimate your Drapion has a better than fifty percent chance of surviving, as it seems very powerful as vell."
A thought struck Hunter J. "What about Legendary Pokémon? Can they be turned into Shadow Pokémon? They should be powerful enough to survive consistently."
"Yes, zat is true. You would not believe it, but I myself vonce had a Shadow Raikou. Its power was unbelievable. But legendary Pokémon are exceptionally rare, and difficult to capture, even for yourself. Instead, I suggest you focus on Pokémon that are either naturally prone to anger and violence, or have been trained that way. It makes it easier, as I have to destroy less of their being. Which brings me to the subject of your Primeape."
"Is Primeape dead too?" She only asked to see if she needed to replace all four Pokémon or three. Primeape was useful as a distraction, because it only needed to be pointed in a direction before it went on a mad rampage. It nicely drew away authorities for her so she could go through with a mission unimpeded.
"In a vay, yes." Ein replied, continuing when he saw Hunter J's furrowed brow. The professor picked up the computer and started moving to another location. "The shadow process was successful with your Primeape. What we didn't anticipate was that its rage would increase to levels never before seen, even in its species. Somehow, that managed to trigger an evolution." The screen in front of her showed this new Pokémon, mercilessly thrashing others in Ein's lab. Primeape had turned a ghostly gray, and its eyes were permanently red with rage. "Congratulations. You are now the proud owner of a Shadow Annihilape."
"Send it back over, and I'll send you Drapion, along with another payment." Hunter J immediately said, eyes glued to her rage-filled Pokémon. "I want to see for myself what Annihilape is capable of. Oh, and Ein? When you make the Shadow Pokémon for my men, be sure that they are capable of turning on their trainers. I want them to feel the pressure of performing, and the consequences if they do not."
The creator of Shadow Pokémon swore at her before cutting off the call. J sank back in her chair, smiling to herself, not only because she got under the man's skin. Once Cyrus sees exactly what Shadow Pokémon are capable of, there would be no doubts in his mind that she should be chosen to capture the Lake Guardians. And if Ein was able to make one of them into a Shadow Pokémon… well, then no one would be able to stand in her way. Every one of her ambitions could be turned into reality.
For now though, she had to do things the old-fashioned way. Since upgrading her entire roster of Pokémon would take some time, it was time to prune her crew. To remove the weakest of them and find fresh, motivated blood to replace them. "Lieutenant. Have you found the individuals responsible for this failure of a mission?"
"Well, sir," came the response. "Everyone is sticking to a similar story. It places the blame on the two individuals in charge of guarding the airship, because they originally let the trespassers aboard."
"Bring them to me. You know where."
She could hear her Lieutenant gulp. "Sir, I'm not sure that these individuals are the most responsible. There are others who most likely had a chance to defeat the intruders before they managed to get to the merchandise. If you would just give me some more time, I can-"
"I said, bring them to me, Lieutenant. They had better be there when I arrive. I'm going to set up our next mission in the meantime. Is that understood?"
"Sir, yes sir!"
Sinnoh, like every region, had no shortage of collectors, unscrupulous scientists, and even the odd trainer looking for a rare and powerful Pokémon for their own purposes. When she wasn't working for Team Galactic, she had her choice of clients to choose from. Losing such a massive sale meant that her pride and spitefulness would not be satisfied until they took and fulfilled a mission in this area. There would no doubt be a police and ranger presence here; that meant she'd have to leave the airship behind and only use the smaller plane, since that was the one with the cloaking technology. She and five to ten of her men could bypass the patrols to capture a target.
Scrolling down on her list of clients, J selected one from a man with a large beard and mustache, though the rest of his facial features were obscured. His request indicated he wanted a fossilized Pokémon. She usually preferred to work with clients that she knew had the money, as well as the willpower to go through with the operation. Too many of these people were craven cowards, and would flee the moment a police presence arrived on the scene, wasting both her time and her money. It's why she insisted on at least half of the commission being paid up front. Having made up her mind, J initiated the call with the potential buyer.
The potential buyer appeared on her screen, in a darkened room that obscured most of his features other than his facial hair, just like in his picture. He was flanked by two more featureless individuals. The man clasped his hand together and smiled. "Ah. Hunter J. I'm so glad you've decided to call me."
"Spare me the pleasantries," J replied curtly. "You want a Pokémon, and you want me to deliver it to you."
"Correct. I have recently learned that there is a population of Shieldon living on Mt. Coronet." If only the man knew exactly how many rare Pokémon were living in this little area. She might have been able to get an even larger commission. "I would love to be the owner of such a rare Pokémon, and as such, I want you to capture one for me."
"My work is not cheap," she warned. "I also want half of the payment up front."
"Money is no issue for me," her potential client said. A few minutes later, he backed it up by transferring half of her commission price.
"Well, it looks like we have a deal. I'll have a Shieldon for you within the next two days."
Her buyer grinned. "My, you certainly work fast. How should the pickup be done? I'd like to do it in person, so I can have Shieldon in my grasp as soon as possible. I have a private helicopter and a pilot, of course."
Quite a wealthy man, then. Now J was really hoping he would become a multiple time client. "That can be done as you please. Either you pick up the Pokémon directly from me right after it's captured, or you wait and we arrange a time and place for the drop off."
"I look forward to it, Hunter J. Your reputation makes me think that I was right to contact you."
With that, the man disappeared, and J allowed herself a small smile. With her next target secured, it was time to finally see who the wretches were who botched their last mission.
This particular room on her airship was one that J knew was spoken about in hushed whispers amongst the newer members of her crew. Some thought it her trophy room, where she held the greatest of specimens over J's many years of poaching. Others thought that it was where she kept excess money, and when it was full, that was the time that all of J's henchmen would get their well-deserved bonuses. The ten or so poachers that had served almost over a decade with her, that J had some level of trust and respect for, and were the likeliest to receive Shadow Pokémon once they were available, knew it was neither of those. The only thing in this room was two switches. One that turned on the lights. And one that lets you outside.
When J entered the room still holding the remainder of her wine, the man and woman who were tasked with guarding her airship had already been ushered in by her lieutenant. She passed them without even acknowledging their existence, flipping the switch to turn on the light. Their hands were bound behind their back, and their Pokéballs were stripped from them. They were on their knees, and J waited, knowing that the tile floor would eventually make them uncomfortable, as the two tried not to fidget or shift themselves too much in her presence. She let them squirm for a while before she finally began to speak.
"So. You are the two responsible for our mission failure. Have you anything to say for yourselves in your defense?"
The man didn't dare to look at her whilst speaking, instead choosing to stare at her boots. "Sir, we were ambushed! They took us by surprise, and we were out so quickly that we couldn't even see their faces!"
If the fool thought that would excuse them, he was dreadfully wrong. The fact that he didn't even manage to see who had attacked him meant that he was utterly worthless to her. "I see. I thought we had trained you on your situational awareness, and combat tactics. Would you care to explain why you got yourselves ambushed and tied to a tree?"
Like her partner, the woman gives her explanation without looking up. "We were only thinking about the bottom line, sir. We saw a rare Pokémon, and went to go and capture it! We thought it would sell for a lot of money, because it was a…" the woman trailed off, perhaps not wanting to say exactly what Pokémon they were lured in by, fearing that it would not be rare or exceptional by Hunter J's standards. Not that the species of the Pokémon mattered at all. Even sighting a legendary Pokémon would not have excused these idiots from leaving their post.
"You're not paid to think," J all but snarled at them. "You're paid to do what I tell you. Your job was to guard the ship. And you failed to do so, because you were chasing something. Because it would have been good for the bottom line? Let me tell you exactly what happened to our bottom line, due to your incompetence. I've just spent half a million dollars on security upgrades for my airship and plane. I'm also going to have to spend a fortune to replace the holding bay, which was ejected, though no one will come forward and take responsibility for that. And that doesn't even include how much money was lost because we were not able to sell the captured Pokémon." J paused, letting her words sink in. "So, let me ask you two something. How should I recoup my losses?"
Neither one dared to answer the question, so J tapped her foot impatiently. "I don't like to be kept waiting."
This time, the woman answered first. "We could take missions in rapid succession to make the money back?" she suggested.
"Yes, but that isn't the answer I was looking for. What could you two do, specifically?"
Sweat dripped down the man's neck as he finally understood what J was getting to. At least, she hoped he did. As amusing as this was, she did have places to be. "You could cut our salaries, sir?"
She clapped slowly and mockingly, making them both flinch at the sudden sounds. "I'm surprised your tiny brains even managed to get it on the second try. Yes. I'm cutting your salaries. To zero, in fact. As of this moment, neither of you two are in my employment. Which means, you're trespassing on my ship." That got both of them to look up in horror. "And you know what my policy is on trespassers."
She reached behind her and summoned Drapion. It knew exactly what was going on, and scuttled behind her two former employees, looming menacingly. "Drapion can tear apart a car with its powerful arms in a matter of seconds. It also has a very virulent poison that it secrets from its claws. Whatever you choose for your death, it will be painful, but quick. That's the only mercy I'll offer you."
Both of them started to cry, as Drapion roared behind them. It stomped its legs, and brought its claws to the back of their necks, ready to snap them at her command. Ein was right. J couldn't wait to see it turned ten times more vicious once it became a Shadow Pokémon.
"Please! Let us go, sir!" the man sobbed.
"We swear that we won't tell the police a word! We'll take your secrets to the grave!" his partner added between tears.
J pretended to consider. "Let you go and you'll take my secrets to your grave? She smiled, though it wasn't a kind one. Drapion slowly moved its arms away from their necks.
She could have laughed at the relief on their faces. Hunter J flicked the second switch, and she did laugh as their expressions turned to horror, as the floor opened beneath them, and they were cast out into the air. Ten thousand feet later, their screams, and their potential wagging tongues would be silenced for eternity.
A much cleaner solution, but no less satisfying. Soon, J thought, as she recalled Drapion, she would never have to taste the bitterness of defeat ever again.
Let Cyrus be the king of his new world.
She was fine being the queen of this one.