Chapter 6: Exp and pokedollars business plan
[3rd POV]
"Not bad, Nyx" Kyle commented as he blocked a Tackle from his starter, the impact making a rather loud boom, having one of their usual spars in order to train her, an idea he came up with 2 weeks ago. Oh yeah, it's been about 2 weeks since the 'revelation', and since then, nothing much happened, just a few friendly interactions and a bit of hand holding once in a while.
Turns out that confessions done in the heat of the moment are way more exciting and passionate than actual relationships, at least at first, plus neither of them was actually ready, or knew how to handle that kind of relationship, so they both agreed to take it slow for a while to "figure it out" and get to know eachother better, at least until they both are ready and confident enough to progress in their love relationship. This doesn't mean that they don't like eachother, they simply wanna take it slow for now.
"Go Ash! Go Nyx!" Serena cheered on both of them, acting as a motivator and emotional supporter. Resting on her lap was Fennekin, whose eyes were sparkling as she watched Nyx's spar, admiring the Shinx's strenght, having become a bit of a fan girl this past 2 weeks.
/Stop holding back and take me seriously!/ Nyx complained, knowing that her trainer was holding back, not liking it much despite knowing that he's doing this to avoid hurting her, feeling like she's getting underestimated.
{Side note: i'll be using the slash for pokemon speech, meaning that whenever a pokemon "speaks", it's actually their cry, just translated for the reader, or to show what people who can understand pokemons actually hear.}
"Are you sure that you want this? I can get pretty brutal when i don't hold back" Kyle warned, giving Nyx a serious stare, to which she gave him a determined look and nodded confidently, before going for a Bite.
"Very well. Just don't that you regret it later." Kyle intimated, cracking his knuckles and his neck. As Nyx tried to bite him, he dodged it by side-stepping, and hit her in the stomach with an uppercut, making her cough out in pain as he then grabbed her by the tail, and flinged her towards the ground, throwing her with enough strength to make her bounce off the ground pretty high after slamming against it, hurting her quite a lot, yet nowhere near enough to knock her out. Watching this, Serena and Fennekin's eyes widened, shocked by Kyle's action, unable to help but wondering if he is taking it a little too far.
Nyx slowly got back on her feet, still a little wobbly, but quickly got ready to jump back into action, staring at Kyle with a determined look, not mad in the slightest, instead happy and a tiny bit excited that her trainer is taking her seriously.
Electricity gathered around her forepaws, to then quickly shift towars the tip of her tail, staying there for a few seconds, charging up a Thundershock, which she then fired at him.
The electric attack closed in quickly, but instead of dodging, Kyle coated his forearm with a thin layer of psychic energy, giving it a transparent purple aura, to then swat the Thundershock away with a backhand slap, making it hit the ground, scorching the grass where it landed.
"It will take you more than that to hit me, Nyx" Kyle commented, unfazed and completely unharmed, inadvertedly showing off his own strength too, putting on display his 3 weeks of works. After he said that, silence fell on the battlefield, all of the girls (Serena, Fennekin and Nyx) too stunned to say anything, feeling as if the air in the area was getting heavy.
Nyx gulped, but quickly shook her head, not letting this turn of events get into her head, as she then charged up a stronger Thundershock, charing it for way longer than the previous one, and fired it at Kyle while giving him a serious look.
This Thundershock was way larger and faster than the previous one, yet Kyle managed to swat it away once again, putting in more effort, but still doing so without any struggle. Once again the attack hit the ground, making a pretty loud boom this time, showing that it did pack a punch despite the ease it was deflected with. Seeing her attack failing so badly again, Nyx started getting frustrated.
With a loud cry, she charged up her third attack, charging up a LOT more electricity compared to her second attempt, so much that it covered her whole body, before shifting towards her tail, causing its tip to glow brightly.
The attack then fired, but this time it was abnormally large and fast, surprising everyone, because this time Nyx fired a Thunderbolt instead of a Thundershock, catching Kyle a bit off guard, delaying his reaction slightly, just enough to make the attack land on the right target this time, raising a huge smoke cloud and making a really loud boom when it did, making all the girls freeze in shock.
Once again the battlefield was silent, and all of the girls briefly stopped breathing, worried about Kyle's safety, yet unable to move.
As the smoke slowly dissipated, it revealed Kyle's figure, who had crossed his forearms and held them up to his face to block the hit, his upper limbs now completely burnt on the outer side, shocking the girls, with Nyx trembling when she saw the damage she caused.
"Phew, that Thunderbolt sure cooked me well" Kyle observed after looking at his forearms, which thankfully had mostly superficial burns, yet it did hurt, less than he thought it would, but it still hurt nontheless. He then coughed a bit, having inhaled some of the smoke earlier, but quickly recovered, and stared at Nyx after looking at Serena and giving her a thumbs up and a warm smile, telling her that he was fine, and that the burns weren't so bad, making her sigh, a bit relieved, but still worried.
"That attack was really powerful, Nyx. Keep it up, and you'll be one fearsome powerhouse in no time" Kyle encouraged, being serious about the strength behind her attack, knowing that it was at the very least early-gym material.
/G-got it!/ Nyx replied, still a bit shaken, but now more confident in her skills. She then looked at Kyle directly in the eyes, and quickly rushed at him to resume the fight.
/Hiyaaaaa!!/
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In the end Nyx lost again, but this time she lasted way longer than all the other fights, giving her all for the whole time, more determined to make Kyle proud than ever.
"Wow, that fight was by far our most intense one yet." Kyle observed as he and a freshly healed up Nyx walked out of Pallet Town's Pokecenter (yes, i added a Pokecenter to Pallet Town), closely followed by Serena and Fennekin, who were walking by their side.
"I agree. But it also makes me question if you're secretly a pokemon, way more than your usual spars with Nyx" Serena added, still thinking back to the moment when Kyle tanked Nyx's Thunderbolt.
"You don't have that much room to talk, Sere. Since you're not exactly far off yourself thanks to our training" Kyle commented, calling her out for her slight hypocricy.
"Fair point." She shrugged. As they kept walking, she noticed two men putting a flyer on a wall, and lightly tugged on Kyle's shirt, getting his attention.
"Did you notice something?" He asked as he turned to look at her.
"Yeah. Do you think they wanna advertise something?" She asked him while she turned to look at the flyer, noticing that were the images of a few pokemons on it after taking a closer look, making her curious on what that was all about.
"Wanna go and check?" He asked back, to which she nodded. They then walked up to the two men.
"Uhh, excuse us. We couldn't help but notice the flyer, and are curious to know what exaxtly you need it for. Soooo, do you mind us asking, sirs?" Kyle said politely as he addressed one of the men, a really tall and muscular chestnut-haired man, who had blue eyes and a medium-length, thick beard, looking like a stereotypical lumberjack, also wearing blue jeans and a black and red checkered shirt.
"We don't mind at all, kiddo. I'm Soren, and this is Lucas, we're a Tauros breeder and a farmer respectively, and we've been having a lot of troubles recently, because lately a massive amount of invasive pokemon have been popping up in our properties, and they have been devastating Lucas' crops and killing off my Tauroses.
We're currently searching for some people to help us out, as the entirety of Pallet's countryside is facing the same issue, which is why all of the richest residents there organized a bounty system to reward whoever will be willing to help." Soren explained as he also introduced himself and Lucas, who's a slightly shorter and younger man with curly blonde hair, green eyes, and a thin beard limited to the chin area, reminding Kyle of a hippie.
"I see. How does this bounty system work?" Kyle asked curiously, clearly interested.
"Damn, kid. You're a real savage for your age. You do know that you will be required to kill whichever invasive pokemon you come across, right?" Lucas asked, his tone of voice chill and casually, to then get more serious when he said the last part, looking directly at Kyle and Serena when he did, making the latter gulp a little, clearly taken aback and a little worried, perfectly aware that sometimes more drastic actions against the pokemon are needed, but still slightly against the idea.
"I know, and i don't really care all that much. As a trainer i'll also have to learn how to get my hands dirty every now and then, lest i want to die to a feral pokemon." Kyle replied, giving the men a serious look as he said that without a bit of hesitation, with Nyx and Fennekin staring at him in shock, while Serena looked at him with worry.
"Ash, are you sure about this?" She hesitantly asked, worried that the experience will negatively affect his mental health.
"Yes, i am sure about it, Sere. But if you don't want me to do this, then i'll respect your wishes." Kyle reassured her, giving her a calm yet serious gaze, showing that he was willing to sit this one out if she wanted him to.
"It's alright. If you wanna do it, then i won't stop you." She replied, thinking that this kind of solution was a bit extreme, but also giving him her full support.
"Thanks, Sere. It means a lot." Kyle thanked her, to then look back at Soren and Lucas, who were smirking at them.
"Yeesh, you kiddos sure care 'bout each other, don't 'cha?" Soren observed, speaking with a strong accent that reminded Kyle of a texan. "If it makes you feel better, we also need some help to nurse the pokemons that were attacked by those pests back to health, and a few pairs of extra hands would come in handy. What do you say lil' lass?" He asked Serena, who blinked a few times before staring back at him, a little excited about being able to help alongside Kyle.
"I'm taking it as a yes. Anyways, the bounty system assigns you rewards in the form of pokedollars or certain items based on 4 parameters, the specie of the pokemon, its strength level, its size, and its weight." Soren said, giving a very basic rundown.
"Strength level?" Kyle asked, wondering how the hell that was supposed to work.
"Basically, each pokemon can be classified into one of 100 levels, which represent how strong a specie is compared to a newborn member, or to newly evolved ones. For example a level 3 Rattata is twice stronger than a newborn one, while a level 7 rattata is 4 times stronger than a newborn one, and so on." Soren explained, to which Kyle nodded, surprised by how all of this actually made sense in a way.
"The invasive species that are part of the bounty systems are Rattata, Ekans, Spinarak, Poochyena, Patrat, Nymble, Lechonk, and all of their evolved forms." Soren explained as he took out a list, showing the average reward increase per level for each specie.
{The rewards are:
-Rattata:250 pokedollars + 125 for each level (keep in mind that pokedollars are supposed to be like Yen, meaning that 250 is basically 2.50$)
-Raticate:410 pokedollars + 205 for each level
-Ekans:280 pokedollars + 140 for each level
-Arbok:450 pokedollars + 225 for each level
-Spinarak:250 pokedollars + 125 for each level
-Ariados:400 pokedollars + 200 for each level
-Poochyena:220 pokedollars + 100 for each level
-Mightyena:420 pokedollars + 210 for each level
-Patrat:250 pokedollars + 125 for each level
-Watchog:420 pokedollars + 210 for each level
-Nymble:210 pokedollars + 105 for each level
-Lokix:450 pokedollars + 225 for each level
-Lechonk:250 pokedollars + 125 for each level
-Oinkologne:490 pokedollars + 245 for each level
Each bounty is based off of the mon's base stats ingame. Also Kyle won't be allowed to keep the bodies for himself and sell the meat, pelts, hides and such, mainly because the rewards are pretty decent already, since weaker pokemons only take a few minutes to kill usually, for example an average size, newly evolved raticate is gonna fetch you 4305 pokedollars, aka 43 bucks and 5 cents. Btw i only listed the money reward for semplicity}
"Mhhh, not bad, not bad" Kyle commented as he read the bounties. 'could be better tho, but this does make me question if there's literal hordes of them, because if that's the case, then i'm gonna go Doom Guy on their asses.'
"I don't think i've ever seen or heard of Nymbles and Lechonks, what region are they from?" Serena asked curiously as she took a peek at the bounty list.
"They're native of Paldea." Kyle explained.
"Wait, so this means that they're close to Kalos!" She noted, pretty much confirming that the pokemon regions are located exactly where the country they are inspired from is, or at least Kalos and Paldea are.
"Yup" Kyle then turned towards Nyx, worried about how she reacted to him accepting to kill pokemons for money.
When he saw her shaken and slightly afraid look, he felt guilty, thinking that his starter now saw him as a monster, and looked away from her, avoiding eye contact out of fear of ruining their bond. But to his surprise, Nyx tugged on his pants gently, and looked at him with a soft smile meant to cheer him up, which then turned into a determined look, showing that she was ready to follow him.
"Thanks, girl." Kyle thanked his starter as he stroked her head, to which she purred softly, to then give him a fierce and determined look, looking more like a lioness than a cub.
/Don't mention it. When do we get to kick some serious butt?/ She reassured him, ready to fight and beat up some asshole pokemons.
"Do i have to sign a document for this?" Kyle asked Soren and Lucas, who both chuckled.
"You won't need any documents, you just have to come at the address written on the flyer. Then you can get to work right away." Lucas explained, he then took out something and tossed it at Kyle.
Kyle and Serena stared at the object with wide eyes, because Lucas just tossed a machete at a 10 year old.
'i better not question this for my own mental sanity, and hide it so that mom won't find i- shit. I'll have to tell mom about this.' Kyle thought, his face getting pale when he did, earning a concerned look from Serena, who then realized what he was thinking about when he took out his Arc Phone and selected Delia's number, becoming just as pale as he was when she realized that they may have to face their moms' wrath.
"Hi mom" Kyle said as soon as Delia answered the call.
"Hi Ash, why are you calling." She asked curiously.
"You see, mom, we've found this flyer that talked about an infestation in the countryside of Pallet Town by some invasive pokemon species, w-which also offers rewards for each pokemon-" before he could continue, Delia interrupted, almost giving him a heart attack because of panic and anxiety.
"Did you call me to ask for my permission to go kill pokemons for some money, while also exposing yourself to the risk of getting killed by a vengeful pack of pokemons, Ash Ketchum?" She asked in an innocent and sweet one that sent shivers down Kyle's spine, knowing damn well that she just pissed her off.
*breathes in* "Mom, even if i don't participate in this, i'm likely to end up needing to 'unalive' a pokemon to end its misery, or do by accident, plus i'm bound to encounter an aggressive pokemon that will want me dead for some reason, so in a way, i'm just delaying the inevitable. Plus you don't exactly practice what you preach, since i already know that you would have let me go on my journey without a problem despite being 10 if i hadn't decided to delay it. So can you please let me do this?" Kyle pointed out, leaving her completely silent for a few seconds, until she let out a soft sigh.
"What kind of reward are we talking about" she asked, changing the subject and making Kyle smirk behind the phone.
"4 to 5k for newly evolved pokemons, and about 600 for your average Rattata, and these are the monetary rewards, they also offer items as rewards. Also Serena won't join in the killings, she'll help nurse the injured friendly pokemon back to health." Kyle briefly explain,also saving Serena from getting scolded by Grace.
"I see.... That doesn't sound too ba-"
"I'll give you half of what i'll earn"
"Deal. Have fun sweetie~. Also tell Serena that Grace is with this too." Delia said in a sweet and slightly cheerful tone as she hung up.
"That was easy. We really dodged a bullet with this one, haven't we." Kyle commented as he wiped some cold sweat from his forehead, Serena doing the same. They then looked at eachother before looking at Soren and Lucas.
"Lead the way"
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"Professionals have standards. Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill every one you meet."
-Mr. Mun Dee. Tf2
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Yuishiro
Yuishiro here's your tutorial on Mercenary Business 101- ahem, i mean, here's the sixth chapter.
Jokes aside, i am curious to know about what you think of my bounty system idea, or it you like seeing a version of Ash using more than 0.0000001% of his potential in order to become a sigma male that will manhandle Machamps one day.
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