Clay was the textbook definition of a well-off rancher, complete with cowboy hat, leather vest, chaps, and cowboy boots with spurs. He was a rotund man, packing a pair of pistols at his waist, with the twitchy hands of someone who knows how to use them. Even without the weapons, his presence was intimidating, a Champion ranked Trainer who needed only the smallest push to surpass the peak of his power and reach Master rank.
"Black Transit," Alex answered, eyes narrowing. "I want everything you've got on Black Transit."
"Black Transit?" Clay asked, scratching his head with a furrowed brow. "The heck in tarnation is that?"
"Out with it, old man!" Rhea snapped, climbing onto the bench they'd been sitting on so she towered over Clay, accusingly pointing her finger at him. "We know you've been dealing with the human traffickers, and we want to take them down."
"Old man!?" Clay barked, clearly insulted. "I'm a spry 85, I'll have ya know! Sides, I don't know nothin' 'bout no Black Transit. Thought yer gunnin' for my travel agencies."
"Travel agencies? Don't you realize your travel agency doubled as a front for a human trafficking syndicate?"
"Hell no, I don't! All I've been doin' is propin' up the travel business. Lots of tourists means lots of business, and lots of business means more minin'. That's why I've been turnin' a blind eye to the agencies skimpin' on taxes."
"But what about what we learned from Sergeant Calder? That he's been working with Black Transit to keep their operations under the radar?"
"You don't say," Clay said, slowly turning to the Chief of Police off to the side, who was sweating bullets. "Hrmph. We're gonna have ourselves some private words, you an' me."
"Yes, sir," the Chief said, visibly deflating.
Alex immediately realized the rabbit hole didn't go that deep. At most, it only reached up to the Chief of Police, maybe even lower, since he could be in distress because he didn't know his own men were corrupt. Either way, it meant this avenue was a dead end, so he could only rely on the lead he had gotten from Sergeant Calder, who also worked with a few more places around the city.
"Sorry for the confusion," Alex said.
"No problem, partner. Happens to the best o' us," Clay said, tipping his hat. "Since yer gunnin' for them traffickers, feel free ta turn the city upside down. Jus' make sure ya keep a tight leash on the innocent casualties."
"Got it," Alex said, turning away. "Let's go, Rhea. We've got more legwork to do."
"Aw man…" Rhea sighed, jumping off the bench and following after him.
Just then, a young woman ran over and blocked Alex's path.
"You're hunting the human traffickers?" she asked with determination.
"A very specific kind," Alex said as he sized her up.
She was young, a bit older than Alvera, with the same long blond hair but brown eyes. She wore the usual trainer attire, a white crop top, shorts, and good-quality sneakers, with a backpack slung over her shoulders. A thick jacket with a hoodie was layered over it to fight off the Driftveil rain.
"My name is Lianne, and I'm looking for my friend. I came to the police station because I heard they recently found a group of victims, but I didn't manage to find her. If you're heading back out to look for more, can you please take me along with you?"
"Like I said, we're looking for a specific kind of trafficker. The ones who target homeless people. I don't know if we'll find your friend, but if we do, we'll bring them to the police station. Besides, you're too weak to contribute to this fight."
Lianne was only at Expert rank, about the same rank as their targets. She could likely protect herself from one assailant, but the chances were high that she would be outnumbered while Alex hunted the leaders and Rhea ran around causing chaos.
"I'm not that weak! I'm already an Expert ranked trainer with a full team. I can take care of myself."
Alex was about to refuse when Rhea stepped forward.
"Just let her come along. Tink and I will take care of her."
"Up to you," Alex said as he went ahead.
"I'm Rhea, and that's Alex," Rhea said, walking beside Lianne as they followed Alex. "What's your friend's name?"
"Amelie. We've been friends since high school and started our journey together after we graduated. We were supposed to take a break from our journey this year to spend time with our families, but she never showed up at her family's place. She also hasn't been answering her phone, so I think she's been kidnapped."
"Tough luck," Rhea said, shaking her head. "Driftveil is absolutely crime-ridden because of the ports connecting it to other regions. No matter how the League polices it, there will always be people who take advantage of their position to make a bit of side income, letting the Underworld thrive. How long ago did she go missing?"
"About a week."
"That's not so bad. Traffickers usually wait until they have enough people before sending them out of the region to cut costs. There's a pretty good chance we can still find her."
"I hope so. I really hope so."
The trio headed out of the police station and began searching for additional leads on Black Transit. Their first stop was a fast food joint rumored to be supplying provisions for its victims. Supposedly, large quantities of leftovers were being delivered to a trafficking den.
Once they arrived, Alex did a deep dive on the manager and learned that no deliveries were being made. The food was picked up in bulk in exchange for a bit of extra cash in the manager's pocket, with no information beyond a vague description of the man who collected it. This lead quickly went nowhere.
Their next target was a public library that allegedly kept track of homeless people who came in to get out of the rain. Those details were then passed along to a contact who would later pick them up.
Alex investigated the manager and found nothing of note, suggesting he wasn't involved. He pushed further by reading the minds of the librarians and identified three who were being paid to report any homeless people they encountered. All they gained from that was a burner phone number that couldn't be traced, leading them to yet another dead end.
Next, they investigated an apartment that was believed to house some of the traffickers. It was located in the seedier part of the city, an area that effectively belonged to the Underworld, where unchecked criminal activity was common and the only real upside was the cheap rent.
Due to the sheer size of the property, Alex immediately went to their office but found nothing wrong with the office workers. If there was anything suspicious going on, they knew nothing about it. This meant they would have to go door to door to investigate.
Alex went through every floor and wing with Gardevoir in tow, allowing her to read the surface thoughts of everyone inside their rooms. It wasn't exactly legal, but since they were in Underworld territory where might makes right, that distinction didn't really matter.
"Is this all there is to hunting human traffickers?" Lianne asked skeptically. "All we've been doing is walking around with Gardevoir, reading surface memories."
"Pretty much," Rhea confirmed. "The kind of traffickers we're after use a decentralized structure. Most of them have no idea how big the organization really is. Only the people managing multiple locations have a clearer picture, and even then, they're isolated from one another. If you catch one, all you learn is who they report to and what they're responsible for. From there, you have to climb the chain step by step, and that trail can easily go cold if they only ever met once. It's designed to keep us from taking down the entire operation in one sweep."
"I should really start thinking about getting my hands on a Psychic Pokémon."
"You'd have to be Champion rank to start freely using it like Alex."
"He's Champion rank?" Lianne exclaimed. "I couldn't tell at all."
"Oh, yeah. Why do you think even the police don't dare to mess with him, or that Clay, the Gym Leader of Driftveil, bothers talking with him?"
"I don't know. I just thought they knew each other."
"Nope, it's the simple fact that Alex by himself could destroy much of the city before Clay can do anything about it, so some respect is necessary to keep the peace."
"It's terrifying if you put it like that."
"That's just how the world works. I'm sure you'll understand once you reach that rank."
"If I ever reach that rank," she said with a sigh.
"Gardevoir!" Gardevoir called, signaling that she had found a target.
Alex immediately kicked in the door of an apartment, revealing half a dozen men leisurely eating dinner. Before they could react, Gardevoir immobilized them with her Psychic energy, preventing them from reaching for their guns or releasing their Pokémon, which were quickly locked in their Poké Balls.
Gardevoir then began reading their memories one by one, relaying the information to Alex as he executed them in turn, much to Lianne's horror.
Once they finished, Alex smiled widely, like a predator on the hunt.
"We finally have a decent lead."
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