Vermillion City…

Officer Jenny's motorbike sped through the streets at full throttle, while the Squirtle riding on the sidecar held on for dear life. An emergency call had interrupted her daily patrol, and now she was racing towards a disaster that had happened a few hours prior.

After turning around a corner, she screeched to a halt, almost jumping off her vehicle. Her colleagues had already corded the area, and she saw it: the building that used to be the local Community Center had been reduced to rubble, totally collapsed on itself.

Trying to keep her cool, she quickly passed over the police cord and approached one other officer checking the area. "What happened here exactly?"

"Witnesses say it was the work of some Dugtrio," the other officer replied. "Looks like they hid underground and destroyed the building's foundations to make it crumble."

Officer Jenny frowned. Why would a bunch of Dugtrio attack the building? Did they come from the nearby Diglett cave? Possibly, but as far as she knew those weren't aggressive in the least. One other chance was that they could have been released by some irresponsible trainers, and they unleashed their frustration against the building, but why go that far?

Finding no answers, Jenny focused on what she could solve; namely, examining the area. The emergency teams were attending to the wounded, some having graver injuries than others, and she saw one of the ambulances was being loaded with two bodies covered in white blankets. She cringed; so there were fatal casualties.

"We've identified them both," the paramedic in charge said. "Their names were Motto and Suku, ten years old, twin siblings. They were locals, and visited the center on a regular basis."

Jenny grabbed the IDs. She didn't really know them, but it hurt her to see they were just a couple of kids.

"Madam, please get a hold of yourself!"

"Let go of me! This is all his fault! My children!"

A lot of screams mixed with sobbing interrupted Jenny's train of thought. Seeing outside of the police cord, she saw a middle-aged woman restrained by two officers, while a third was shielding a man she recognized as the Community Center's director. The woman's face was red and twisted by the anger, and rivers of tears still flowed from her eyes as she struggled.

As the woman continued to scream at the top of her lungs, Jenny decided to intervene.

"You promised you'd take care of them! See what happened for leaving them alone!"

"Hold on!" Jenny shouted. "Please tell me what's the problem here."

"Jenny, the lady here is the mother of the two kids who died," one of the officers holding the woman's arms explained. Now the screaming and crying all made sense. She needed to smooth it to the best of her ability.

"Alright. Madam, I understand how you're feeling right now, but you need to keep calm," Jenny said. "If we want to clear this up…"

"What's there to clear up?! My children are dead, because of this man's neglect!"

"Stop it!" Jenny said, getting in-between to help in the restraining. She then turned to the man on the other side. "Now, Mr. Director, if you were so kind to explain your version of what happened?"

The man nodded, calming down once they kept the mother at safe distance. "This morning, we got a call from a sponsor who wanted to host an event, to raise funds for the center. Said he wanted to meet me in person, so I left the rest of the staff to watch over the center, as well as the kids visiting."

Jenny listened attentively, looking away from the director to glance at the mother. The woman looked ready to jump him at any second, and she could understand it: the despair of losing her children was clouding her judgment, and she just wanted somebody to blame just so she could vent her pain.

"I had known them for a while," the director continued. "They were good kids. Came to the center quite often, they loved Pokémon and wanted to be trainers one day. I assure you, I'm really saddened for what happened, and I feel responsible for it."

"Don't say that, please." Jenny then turned towards the mother. "Madam, I can assure you, we'll get to the bottom of this."

"Who cares about that?" the woman said, her anger gradually making way to sobbing. "My children had a bright future and many dreams ahead of them. Now... all of that is gone... forever..."

The woman ceased to struggle and just dropped herself on her knees, holding her face between her hands as she cried her heart out in despair. Jenny didn't know what else to do but to hold her by the shoulders, trying to comfort her.

"I should... have told them... to stay at home..."

While she didn't approve of directing anger against an innocent party, Jenny could understand the powerlessness of not being there, of not being able to do anything to save them. She glanced at her bike: her Squirtle was still on the sidecar's seat, bringing back recent memories of a very similar feeling.

All the officer could do now was to fulfill her duty, examine the disaster zone and question the witnesses. Everything seemed to point to an unfortunate coincidence, to the Dugtrio just randomly attacking the building while the children were inside.

However, as she continued to ask questions, some things didn't seem to add up. For starters, it sounded like the Dugtrio had done a coordinated attack, to force everybody out of the building, and then prevented them from returning so they could rescue the kids. Her gut made her believe that wasn't a coincidence.

As her colleagues continued their job and Jenny continued to try and calm down the inconsolable mother, she almost thought to have seen a tall man wearing a trenchcoat with a smile on his face standing out among the crowd. Before she could approach or even be sure he was there, however, the man disappeared out of thin air, leaving the poor Jenny clueless and back to her own investigation.

…

"Trio, trio."

He made sure nobody was watching before returning the Dugtrio to their Pokéballs. The man was happy; things had gone just as planned. It had been a clean shot and there was no way the police would connect that incident to the infamous Bloodliner Hunter.

With all his previous hits in the past, he had learned to be cautious; if he wanted to save the world, he had to do it in a subtle way, one step at the time. He needed to get enough attention to gather collaborators, but not enough to become a target for the International Police or the Pokémon G-Men. He was always grateful whenever he could fulfill his mission without the police catching on.

His targets on this occasion weren't particularly dangerous; they were just a couple of twin siblings. They lacked the damned Z-marks, but their other physical traits like those diabolical red eyes or height above other kids their age made him suspicious. After investigating and seeing them using their abilities when they thought nobody was watching, he confirmed it.

Those kids were part of those damn monsters who'd ruin the planet in the nearby future. According to the data he'd carefully gathered, they were Bloodliners of some sort of Electric-type, possibly Plusle or Minun from what he had seen. At first glance they didn't seem like a danger, but not knowing what other ability they could have, the Hunter decided he wouldn't risk with a frontal attack. The best choice was making everything look like an accident, and Ground-types would be supereffective against them. The plan went smoothly.

William Stronger was a skilled hunter, and he knew what to do next. Despite the large amount of Bloodliners he found in the Kanto region, he couldn't be careless and go after them so quickly. Without someone of influence watching his back, it'd be just a matter of time before he was connected to killing of children who looked alike in the same region, making it easier to be found out.

So instead, he'd travel to another region to continue his hunt for monsters. If he wanted to make sure the world would be free of a war that would lay waste to entire regions, he'd have to take precautions to avoid getting caught.

Once he was sure nobody saw him, he entered his van, strategically parked in an alley of Vermillion City. Inside the vehicle there were several computers and gadgets to make his job easier, so he quickly sat by one of the monitors and took a microphone and earpiece, as he began keying something to start a call.

"It's done."

"Well done, Hunter," a mysterious voice replied through the speaker. "I saw everything on the news, you made good use of the Dugtrio I gave you."

"Spare me the flattery; I need to go after my next target."

"You never rest, do you?"

"Rest? Every second I rest is a second those monsters increase their power for that war."

"Yeah, I know, a Bloodliner War which is to lay waste on the world in the future. You're lucky our collaborators know nothing of your real goal."

"Cut the chatter, Savitore, and tell me at once where my next targets are."

Savitore could be annoying at times, but he could be quite useful against those monsters who'd destroy the world. He didn't know his real name, and they'd never met in person, but he was the best ally he had. One day he called him, telling him how a Bloodliner had killed his son and wanted to help him get the world rid of them.

At first, Stronger didn't understand what kind of help his new partner could offer him, but the Hunter quickly saw he was an influent man, and skilled with computers. Thanks to his research, discovering Bloodliners had become much easier. Besides that, Savitore was also his direct link to the suppliers, those who'd always provide him with the Pokémon needed for his missions.

"Easy, Hunter, I'm sending you the data right away." The Hunter watched as several data files were downloaded to his computer. "Let's see, there are three potential targets in Kalos. The first could be troublesome, since he won the last League Conference and lives away in the mountains. The second sounds much easier; he's a rookie trainer with four badges and travels with another girl who might be a Bloodliner too. Neither of them has any family who cares for them, so if you play your cards well you might beat them easily. The last one is a girl who has a knack for high-risk activities, and at this rate, she's more likely to get herself killed sooner than later, hehehehe."

"Interesting. The League Conference winner could cause me trouble if your data here is accurate. For now, the rookie seems like a good choice. What else do you have?"

"We've got one in Alola and another in Hoenn. The Alola one seems part of the local gang known as 'Team Skull', since there are people who claim to have seen one of their grunts using their powers. The Hoenn one seems to have inspired the urban legend known as the 'Gray Poochyena'. That sounds amusing, don't you agree?"

"Another urban legend?"

At that point he wasn't that surprised. In the years he had been carrying out his mission, he had witnessed how some Bloodliners inspired urban legends, and he had to take care of them. There was the infamous 'Demon of Lavender Town', who was just a Confuse Ray Bloodliner who was a child's play to kill. Also the famous 'Unown King', who turned out to be one of those monsters, wearing a ridiculous costume and living in some ancient ruins. Though in the latter case he had to admit that a Bloodliner using Hidden Power was troublesome, but having been blessed by Arceus, he wouldn't lose to anyone.

The Hunter checked the data on the 'Gray Poochyena'. From the hearsay, a man had gotten lost in the woods and found a gray-colored Poochyena who talked to him and with its intelligence helped him find his way out. At first glance it sounded like an old wives tale, but some of the locals were afraid of it, since the alleged Poochyena would attack them to steal their food when they walked too deep into its forest.

All that sounded so silly the Hunter would have probably ignored it, if it wasn't because one of the travelers had managed to snap a photo. He opened the file to check the image, and despite being blurry, he saw it wasn't a Pokémon: it had human form and despite being largely covered by a silver long mane, he spotted something in its face: a pair of Z-marks. He had found his next target.

"Get everything ready, Savitore. I'm off to Hoenn."

"So you're going to visit our Poochyena kid?" the other man replied with some mockery the Hunter chose to ignore.

"Prepare me a team with advantage against Dark-types; that monster is probably of that species."

"Alright. I'll get in touch with our suppliers and call you when I get everything sorted out."

Once the call ended, the Hunter sighed and prayed. He had a new hunt underway. Even though he was tired, he needed to fulfill the mission Arceus had given him, to create a safer world.

----------------------------------------

Unknown location…

He couldn't see a thing through all that darkness.

The Hunter had been in that place many times, every night since he could remember, and yet he still felt fear every time.

It wasn't the darkness filling the place that terrified him; in fact, said darkness was rather comforting. What really terrified him was what he saw whenever the darkness dispelled, as it showed him something different every night.

This time, the darkness was replaced by water. The Hunter found himself in the middle of a storm, one that didn't look normal. It was pretty strong and destructive, with lightning striking and thunder booming all over the place.

Looking around, he saw he was in the middle of a rather big city, or at least what was left of it. The lower streets had been flooded by the storm, the buildings had collapsed on themselves everywhere and there were very few structures still standing. To top it off, the streets where the water hadn't reached yet were flooded by corpses. A massive slaughter had occurred.

Suddenly, he ceased to be the fearsome Bloodliner Hunter and became just William Stronger, trying to find anybody still alive so he could help. But it was always the same: even if he found someone, someone wounded or dying, he couldn't even touch them. He was like a ghost, unable to interact with anybody, and all he could do was watch.

"Help! Somebody help!"

He then saw a woman running for her life, trying not to be dragged by the storm's currents. Her face was filled with true terror, yet her will to live seemed strong enough to not to care about the water that almost reached her waist.

Struggling, she reached one of the still relatively intact houses and entered it, thinking she'd be safe in there.

For a moment, William Stronger thought about following her, but he stopped when he heard a voice cry out…

"Hydro Cannon!"

And that was the last thing he heard before a water projectile flew towards the house, blasting it to pieces in a huge splash. There was no way the woman could have survived that.

Feeling anger and powerlessness, he turned around to face the attackers. Unsurprisingly, he saw that accursed mark in their faces: the two of them had the Z-like lines in their cheeks. The only ones capable of causing such destruction were those monsters: the Bloodliners.

"Sheesh, looks like you went a little overboard, little bro. I would have loved to have some fun with her first."

"Killing her was merciful compared to leaving her in your hands. And stop calling me that; a monster like you will never be my brother."

"You're being unfair, little bro. After all, you're not that different from me."

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Do not compare me to you! The only reason why I'm here with you is because you're holding her hostage! I'm not a monster like you!"

"Don't try to fool me. True, we do have your little beauty captive to keep you on our side, but you can't pretend you don't like this. I've seen you in action; you have no sympathy for these humans. You wanna kill them too, you relish in doing so."

"That's… that's not true…"

"You don't have to pretend, your girlfriend isn't here listening. You hate humans, and nobody can blame you for that. Those pests have ruined everything you hold dear. So what's wrong with paying them back, especially since they killed your mo–"

"I KNOW! You don't have to remind me that… It doesn't matter now, all I want is to keep her safe."

"And she'll be, as long as you're still with us."

"Fine, but… let's be clear on something. I'm not like you. I don't smile when I have to do this."

"Suit yourself." The older Bloodliner stepped forward and then raised his foot.

He then stomped on the ground as hard as he could, causing a tremor and sending out energy wave across the already damaged pavement, opening massive crevices that swallowed everything nearby.

The wave reached the base of a ruined building, and it quickly crumbled down on itself before being swallowed by the earth. Panic screams filled the air as Stronger realized what happened: there were people hiding in that building.

Even knowing he couldn't do a thing, the Bloodliner Hunter ran, hoping he could help the people inside… only to end up crushed by the falling debris and then falling into the void of darkness, again…

…

The Hunter woke up startled, but quickly took a deep breath. Just another nightmare. He glanced around, and much to his relief, he saw he was still in the helicopter taking him to Hoenn.

He had fallen asleep again, and he hated when that happened. It had been years since the last time he was able to get a good sleep. Night after night he saw it: horrible visions of a never-changing future, no matter his efforts. That was a curse.

But he didn't get anything by complaining; if he wanted to change the future and have pleasant dreams again, he had to fulfill his mission. He'd kill every last one of those monsters, spawned by the Devil himself.

Seeing he still had some time before landing on his destination, the Hunter decided to check the bag with the gadgets he had brought along. Over time, he had learned that he needed more than the Pokémon given by his collaborators to face Bloodliners, so he had built several devices for different situations.

He had to carefully pick which ones he'd take along and leave the rest in the bag, just for an emergency. First, he pulled out his Pokéball disruptor. It had been one of his most useful devices, but seeing he wouldn't be facing a trainer, it'd sit this mission out. On the other hand, he'd take along his electric baton, ready in case he'd find himself under a direct attack.

As he sorted out his tools, the pilot called him out, telling him they'd arrive in Hoenn shortly.

----------------------------------------

Hoenn region…

After hopping off the helicopter, he arrived to one of the region's thickest forests, one very few dared to explore.

He had landed on a very small village in the middle of the forest. It looked rather backwards, and from what he had read, it was home to many exiled people from several towns, mostly those who refused to take part in the Draconid-Sootopolitan conflict. The Hunter thought it was stupid: that little Hoennian quarrel was nothing compared to the war that would destroy the world should he fail his mission.

He couldn't afford to waste time, so he quickly collected as much info as possible from the locals, and then ventured into the forest. He doubted it would be helpful; they were a rather superstitious bunch to the point of creating many legends around that Bloodliner, which sickened him to no end.

For all he knew, Draconids were for the most part aggressive towards strangers, but that didn't seem to the case in this village. Maybe they were a little backwards, but at least they were more open.

A short old man came to greet him. "Welcome. I'm the head of this village. Please forgive any inconveniences, we don't have outsiders here often, Mister…"

"Liw. My name is Mail Liw, and I'm a researcher. I'm interested in studying the Pokémon living in this forest." The Hunter introduced himself with one of his multiple fake names, while pulling his bag out of the helicopter.

"A researcher? You Sootopolitans are really curious folk. But I'm afraid you've come here for nothing; the Pokémon living in this forest are hardly special."

"Every Pokémon is special in their own way. Sure there must be a wide variety of them." The Hunter walked alongside the elder, trying to ignore the glances shot at him by the rest of the villagers.

"Not as much as you'd expect, Mr. Liw. All we have are some Zigzagoon, the occasional Taillow flock, some Wurmple depending on the season, and if we're lucky, even some Seedot. None of them are particularly aggressive, but if I were you, I'd watch out for the Poochyena pack that comes out at night."

"Poochyena pack?" the Hunter asked. That was his point of interest.

"In the past, they used to leave deep in the nearby mountains, and they'd seldom come down to hunt for food." The man made a pause before continuing. "However, since a few years ago, they made the forest their home, since the Gray Poochyena showed up. If you don't want to get hurt, you better not walk too deep into its domain."

"The Gray Poochyena?" The Hunter let out a small chuckle. "I've heard some talk about that. But isn't it just a rumor?"

"Don't let rumors fool you, the Gray Poochyena is very real. It's human only in appearance: inside, it's an indomitable beast. Savage, dangerous and terrifying…"

The old man continued to tell stories about the Gray Poochyena and how dangerous it was. After listening to his warnings over and over, he finally left him alone and went his own way. While he wasn't sure he could take the old man's word for it, he needed the info before he dealt with the Bloodliner. Until then, all the info he had found about his target in the internet described it as 'a strange Poochyena with human-like intelligence'. That didn't seem enough to get a full grasp on it, though.

The Hunter knew that tracking a Bloodliner inside the woods would be hard, given how big and thick it was. Worst of all, being so unexplored meant it would be potentially dangerous. He brought out a pair of Granbull his collaborators had sent him to scare off Taillow or Zigzagoon who might try to attack him. Not only would they come in handy with their Fairy-type, for advantage against Dark, but also their sense of smell, to locate his prey.

Forty-seven minutes of walking in the forest later, one of the Granbull finally found a clue: a small streak of silver hair, stuck in an old fallen log. The Hunter examined it: it definitely didn't belong to any Pokémon, so it was most likely from the Gray Poochyena.

"Sniff it, I want you to find this hair's owner." Both Granbull came closer and sniffed the hair. Once they got the scent's trail, the Fairy-types ran off and the Hunter followed them.

About fifteen minutes later, both Granbull finally stopped next to what looked like a small cave. It wouldn't be the first time he'd find one of those monsters living as the savage creatures they were, so his current target was most likely one of those wild Bloodliners lacking any intelligence who made the forest their home. That would make it easier: with a naïve and uncivilized victim, plus the fact nobody would come to help it, things would go just fine.

The Hunter cautiously peeked into the cave, looking for his prey. He was rather surprised at what he found in it, though: the cave's inside didn't seem like the lair of a wild animal, being unusually clean and tidy. It had a small bed, and a desk with some books. It looked more like one of those Secret Bases so popular in Hoenn, although a tad smaller than average.

Of course, the Hunter had no time to investigate that place, as he and the Granbull tensed when they heard a voice.

"You took longer than I expected. I was starting to get bored."

He turned around to see a young girl, with very long silver hair. The Hunter analyzed her: she was rather short of stature, which was unusual as he was more used to find them tall, and though he gauged around ten or twelve years of age, her expression seemed a lot more mature than that.

Nevertheless, those accursed marks on her cheeks and those evil red eyes definitely gave away as one of those monsters. Maybe he could try to fool her.

"You knew I was coming?" Perhaps with questions he could learn what her secondary Bloodline was. He didn't want any nasty surprises.

"Obviously. A traveler who ventures alone into the forest, clearly tracking something. But he's not interested in local Pokémon, neither is he lost. That traveler is clearly looking for the Gray Poochyena."

"A nice deduction, no doubt. Did you figure out yourself, or some power helped you with it?"

"Here's another for you. You're not one of those superstitious guys who are looking for the legendary Gray Poochyena." The girl gave a confident smirk. "Clearly you have knowledge about Bloodliners, but you're a normal human, so it's unlikely that guy sent you here."

"What guy are you talking about?"

"Now, if you're not one of that guy's lackeys, and you're not one of those superstitious villagers either, that only leaves one question. What are your intentions?"

That girl was starting to irritate him, but he needed to keep his cool. Rushing in to attack, without full knowledge of his opponent's capacities was a mistake that an experienced hunter could never commit.

"Well, child, I assure you I mean you no harm. I just want to..."

"First of all, I'm not a child, just inherited my mom's height," the girl interrupted. She then crossed her arms and gave off a smug smirk. "Second, don't think you're going to fool me, it's clear you came here with bad intentions."

"What makes you think that?" he asked. That girl was turning out to be more annoying than he expected.

"I don't know who you are, or why you're looking for me." The girl glared at him coldly. "But you're not coming here in peace. You're stained with the blood of many."

At first, the Hunter felt he was going to explode with the girl's cocky attitude, but he kept his cool. Then he saw it: a small glow in the little monster's eyes. Any other would have missed it, but not him.

That was her second Bloodline! She wouldn't be a threat in combat, there was no reason for pretenses anymore.

"Play Rough!"

The Granbull duo charged to attack the girl furiously. She was mildly surprised by the sudden command the Hunter gave, but the so-called Gray Poochyena proved herself rather nimble, dodging both Granbull's attacks, and then ran out of the cave.

"Chase her!" he shouted. He couldn't let his prey get away, and the Granbull immediately obliged.

Knowing his victim's powers, the Hunter was now prepared. With luck, those Granbull would be enough to defeat a Mightyena Bloodliner, and he was prepared to deal even with a Dark Heart if needed.

The Hunter exited the cave, only to find himself shocked. Both Granbull had been caught in a vine-tailored net, hanging from a tree. The accursed brat had set them a trap right in the entrance of the cave.

And speaking of her, she was sitting on top of a tree branch, watching him with a mocking smirk.

"Why you little…" The Hunter almost grabbed two more Pokéballs, but then...

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Before the Hunter could react, a pack of Poochyena and Mightyena came out of their hiding places and surrounded him, growling and baring their teeth. That was bad; those Pokémon were aggressive and dangerous, and a false step could be fatal.

"You better drop all of your Pokéballs now, or else..." the girl continued, still mocking him.

The little arrogant brat was making his blood boil. There was no way the Bloodliner Hunter could let himself be defeated by any of those monsters. His mission was too important to let himself fall that way.

Knowing that any error could prove fatal, the Hunter moved as fast as he could, pulling out a pair of black spheres from his coat and throwing them to the ground, before any Pokémon jumped him. Pepper bombs; pretty handy against Pokémon with sharp sense of smell, and a useful weapon against Poochyena or Mightyena packs.

While the canines were sneezing and coughing, barely able to breathe with the pepper smoke, the Hunter pulled out his four remaining Pokéballs to summon the rest of the Pokémon his collaborators had sent him: Pinsir, Yanmega, Kricketune and Wigglytuff. The best team he could gather against a pack of Dark-types.

At the Hunter's call, Yanmega cut the net holding the Granbull, while the rest of the Pokémon used their type advantage to attack the Mightyena before they could recover. That brat was wrong if she thought she could beat the Bloodliner Hunter.

"I have to admit, that was unexpected." The Gray Poochyena was still on her branch, never losing her mocking smile. That just made the Hunter even angrier.

"Yanmega! Use Ancient Power!"

"Mega!" The Bug-type created some rocks shards around and shot them at the Bloodliner, who leapt to another branch to dodge.

The Hunter analyzed his prey; she was nimble, but there was no way she could match Yanmega's superior speed. Even less with the Speed Boost ability increasing it each second. He then called the bug to follow her for a direct attack, but strangely enough, the Bloodliner didn't seem worried in the least.

The Gray Poochyena leapt from branch to branch, mocking Yanmega all the way. That didn't matter, though; the Bug-type would soon catch up to her.

Until the Hunter noticed something: one of the trees had a vine wrapped around it, as if it was holding something.

"Yanmega! Stop!"

The Hunter tried to break off the attack, but it was too late: the Bloodliner cut the vine with a bite, triggering another trap. A thick tree trunk, tied with more vines came down from above, crashing against the off-guard Yanmega and causing it to fall violently on the ground. How many traps did that accursed Bloodliner set up?

"What's the matter? Your Pokémon can't fly?" The Gray Poochyena continued to mock him, which only made him angrier by the second.

Fortunately, the Hunter wouldn't fall for the same trick twice. Until now, she had led the battle to her traps, but not anymore. If it was too risky to attack her while she was above, he had no choice but to force her to come back down.

The Hunter glanced at his Pinsir, who was fighting three Mightyena and seized his chance. With his trusty electric baton he hit one of the Mightyena by surprise, knocking it out and making it easier for Pinsir to defeat the other two with Brick Break.

Seeing that, the girl stopped laughing and glared at him. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

The Gray Poochyena jumped off the tree, ready to face him. The Hunter allowed himself a smirk, his plan was going smoothly. Now he had his prey to his mercy.

"Play Rough!"

As soon as it heard the Hunter's command, one of the Granbull knocked away one of the Poochyena struggling with it, and charged in to attack. This time the Bloodliner couldn't dodge, and a dust cloud kicked up in the middle of Granbull's bites and punches. The Hunter smirked confidently; no matter how resilient that girl could be, a supereffective attack would leave her gravely wounded.

So he was in for a big surprise when the attack ceased. The Gray Poochyena had some scratches and bruises, but nothing too serious. Then, she started to glow faintly, before channeling her power to her fist, and unleash it in a single punch that sent Granbull flying, knocking it out cold.

There was no mistaking: that was a Counter. But... how? The Mightyena line couldn't pick up that attack naturally, could they? Worse still, the way she had endured a Fairy-type move...

Was he wrong? Maybe her Bloodline didn't have anything to do with Mightyena or Dark-types. Perhaps she was a Counter Bloodliner?

"Is that all you've got? I expected a better fight!" The Gray Poochyena mocked him again, even sticking out her tongue.

Fine then, no matter if she was a Counter Bloodliner, she wouldn't be able to stop two consecutive attacks.

"Pinsir, Brick Break! Kricketune, X-Scissor!"

Both bugs charged in to attack, their eyes filled with fury. But this time, the Bloodliner didn't wait for the attack to hit her. Instead, she extended both hands forward and suddenly, several rocks appeared over Pinsir and Kricketune, and then rained over them knocking them out easily.

The Gray Poochyena smiled after defeating her two opponents, and then howled to the sky, while the Hunter glared at her in anger. That had been a Rock Slide move.

The Hunter was now more confused than before. Was she some kind of Rock-type Bloodliner? Rock-types were characterized for being slow and heavy, but that girl was nimble and fast. If she was some kind of Species Bloodliner, she should have shared those traits with the Pokémon whose powers she had.

But he had no time to analyze any further, since a Poochyena leapt to his arm to bite it, and the Hunter was forced to knock it away with his electric baton. The loss of four Pokémon caused the tide of the battle to turn against him, now having only Wigglytuff and a Granbull, they were clearly outnumbered.

He couldn't count on his Pokémon to face the Bloodliner anymore. Now he'd have to do it himself while they distracted the Mightyena long enough. Unfortunately, he had no time to plan a new strategy as the Gray Poochyena stopped howling and furiously charged in to attack. She didn't seem happy with what the Hunter did to that Poochyena who bit him.

A rocky path formed towards the Hunter on the ground, while the Gray Poochyena protruded a pair of energy claws and began running on all fours. The Hunter recognized that attack as Rock Climb, and dodged at the last second.

The Bloodliner tried to attack again, but the Hunter switched to offensive, hitting her with the electric baton. The powerful discharge didn't take long to take effect, and the Hunter smiled as he saw how, despite trying to fight back, his baton was causing damage to the Gray Poochyena.

At least, until the Bloodliner smiled too and gave off a faint flash.

"Oh! N…" Before he could get another word in, the Bloodliner unleashed her full power focused in a punch to send him flying.

He was planning to beat her before she used Counter, but he missed the chance. The Counter's power was worse than expected: not only it snapped in half his baton, but he also felt a couple of cracked ribs. If it wasn't for the iron plates under his suit to protect himself, that could have potentially killed him.

"That took less than I thought." The Bloodliner smiled confidently as she surveyed her opponent's damage.

But she was wrong if she thought that would be enough to beat the Bloodliner Hunter. A real Hunter would always be ready for any eventuality, and this time it wouldn't be the exception. He quickly shut his eyes and threw one of his flashbangs.

The light burst caught the Bloodliner off-guard, leaving her completely blinded. Quickly seizing the chance, the Hunter grabbed his knife and charged towards his victim. However, she sensed the danger and moved away, just in time to avoid a fatal blow, but not enough to avoid a deep cut in her arm.

"That hurt!" The Gray Poochyena held her arm in pain, but the Hunter didn't reply, he just pressed on with his attack.

The Bloodliner quickly dodged the cuts with great agility, but the Hunter was skilled enough to land a few lucky cuts. The Hunter tried to ignore the pain from the previous blow; after all, if he managed to put the knife in her, he wouldn't have to worry about the Counter.

However, the Gray Poochyena was far from helpless. After dodging the last cut, the girl switched to attack, summoning some energy fangs to bite the Hunter's arm.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" The bite was quite painful, enough to force him to drop his knife.

The Hunter barely managed to shake the Gray Poochyena off of him, but he had no time to check his wounds, as she charged in for another attack.

He found himself forced to dodge or take cover in the worst of cases. The Gray Poochyena's attacks were aggressive and savage for her small size, and she moved pretty fast too. Unlike other smarter ones he had fought, she seemed to run more on her instincts, similar to a predator Pokémon who relished in combat.

The Hunter found himself overwhelmed; his arm was bleeding and he couldn't move it, not to mention the pain of the cracked ribs. His opponent gave him no rest with her constant attacks, up to the point she managed to bite him again. Finally, the Hunter's endurance reached its limit, and after another blow to his face, he slumped on the ground.

"I guess that's all you've got." The Bloodliner turned around, and glanced at her pack as they defeated the Hunter's remaining Pokémon with their sheer numbers. "Too bad, now it's over I'm gonna get bored again."

The Hunter watched from the floor, boiling in rage. He couldn't let one of those abominations to defeat him. With all of his might, he endured the agonizing pain, but managed to get back on his feet.

"You still want more?" The Bloodliner glanced at him with curiosity. "It's no use. Take your Pokémon and never come back here. You can't beat a hunter with my experience."

The Bloodliner Hunter said nothing: he simply placed a hand inside his trenchcoat and pulled the only tool he had left for that situation. He hated having to use it; they were unpredictable and impractical, not to mention too easy to track…

However, it was a matter of life or death.

*BANG!*

All the Poochyena and Mightyena remained still at the gunshot. The Bloodliner Hunter had a gun smoking in his hand, having just fired it at his victim.

"IT HURTS!"

The Gray Poochyena screamed in pain as she held her... shoulder? Damn it, he had missed, barely grazing her shoulder. His eyesight was blurrier than he thought. He tried to shoot her again, but his arm didn't respond, barely able to keep standing.

Worst of all, he glanced at his victim, seeing in her red eyes nothing more than pent up rage. His victim was completely furious, raging, as if she couldn't hold back her instincts anymore. The Hunter had seen that burst of anger many times, but now he was completely helpless.

The Gray Poochyena slammed her arm against the ground, generating several large stone columns. It was a Stone Edge attack, and it came directly at him. For the first time since he set out in his divine mission, the Bloodliner Hunter felt fear.

One of the rocks hit him and knocked him to the ground, and he was unable to remember much after that. His eyesight became blurry again, everything around him became dark. All he could hear was the Gray Poochyena howling to the sky. Soon, the pain disappeared too, as William embraced unconsciousness.

All he could do was leave his fate in Arceus' hands, hoping to be rewarded for all those years he served him...

To be continued...