As Alex and Alvera boarded the ship, he took note of the exoskeleton suit she was wearing. It was another of Rhea's inventions, covering the wearer in a metal shell designed to resist Elite ranked damage while enhancing the wearer's strength to the Elite rank as well.
It came in the form of vambraces integrated with space pockets that released the suit in a controlled manner once a button was pressed. It had enough leeway built in to accommodate clothing and, as far as Alex was concerned, it was a marvel of science.
For him, however, the suit was relatively useless. He was already at Champion rank, and the suit's enhancement would only slow him down, while its defenses were no better than his current bounty hunter attire, which itself was weaker than his own skin.
He also preferred a more up close and personal approach to combat, something the suit would partially take away by fully enclosing his body. There was just something about grabbing his opponents by the neck with his bare hands and squeezing that gave him the thrill he needed.
For Alvera, on the other hand, it was an excellent piece of equipment. It elevated her by an entire rank and even allowed her to survive encounters with Elite ranked Pokémon despite her Expert ranked body.
It wasn't without drawbacks, however, as the suit did nothing to improve the wearer's reaction time, leaving her weaker than true Elites. Even so, it was perfectly suited for dealing with their current enemies, all of whom were Expert rank.
Once they were on the ship, Alex let Alvera take point. She moved ahead with growing confidence, meeting one skirmish after another, while Alex followed from behind to ensure her safety.
Against human opponents, she handled them herself, relying purely on the suit's strength to tank incoming fire from the crew's guns. Then, she would drop them with a powerful, enhanced childish punch that carried far more force than it appeared or a well placed kick in the nuts.
"Good job," Alex commended from behind. "Most men go down fast when you hit them between the legs. It's a good weakness to target, but don't assume it always ends the fight. Some people wear protection, and some can push through pain. Stay alert until you're certain they're out of the fight."
"Yes, Dad!" she answered back, full of enthusiasm.
When they ran into Pokémon, she released her own team to fight them, holding to the childish notion that humans should fight humans while Pokémon should battle Pokémon. In one such encounter, a Crawdaunt lunged from cover, and she reacted on instinct.
"Thunderbolt!" she shouted, as Ampharos and Boltund beside her sent electricity ripping through the air and slamming into their target.
The attack knocked the Crawdaunt out cold, but the electric charge also raced along the ship's poorly insulated metal surfaces. Her suit absorbed the worst of it before it could reach her, and Alex weathered the rest without flinching.
"Alvera, you have Electric type Pokémon and you are planning on running a purely Electric type team, so tell me. What did you learn about electricity?" Alex asked sternly.
"That metal conducts it," Alvera said, already realizing her mistake.
"And where are we right now?"
She glanced at the wall, its paint peeling in long flakes around patches of rust, then down at the floor scarred with old drag marks, and finally up at the ceiling, where corrosion crept along the seams.
"Inside a metal ship."
He gave a small nod. "Good. So next time, think before you fire off an electric attack in an enclosed metallic space like this. What should you have done instead?"
She exhaled, embarrassed but attentive. "I should have chosen a non-Electric type move, or repositioned first."
"Good girl," Alex said, patting her helmet, the edge leaving his voice. "Mistakes happen. What matters is learning from them and keeping the people beside you safe."
Alvera nodded and accepted the lesson before continuing their infiltration, this time with less enthusiasm and more focus. She was beginning to take their little outing seriously.
Alex considered their little excursion a relative success. She had learned from her mistakes, gained real combat experience, and was starting to take battles seriously. Anything else she lacked could be refined later through training and sparring.
The father-daughter pair continued their bonding exercise until they reached the ship's bridge, which had been locked down tight. A minor obstacle for Alex, who easily handled it with his Champion ranked strength. With a solid front kick, he shattered the door, swinging it open.
Alvera didn't hesitate; she charged straight through, only to run headlong into an ambush. Two Elite ranked Drednaw lurked on either side, jaws snapping as they launched Crunch the moment she stepped into the room.
"Careful, sweetie," Alex warned, grabbing her helmet and yanking her back just in time. "Always be careful of hard corners when you enter a room."
With a quick motion, he seized both Drednaw by the backs of their heads, slammed them together to disorient them, and then used their bulk as improvised shields against the hail of bullets the crew in the bridge fired.
"Let me handle this part," Alex said, glancing back at a visibly shocked Alvera.
When the distinctive clicks of empty guns reached his ears, he shoved the two Drednaw toward two gunmen and vanished inside with a flicker, shrouded in Dark type energy that muted his presence.
Inside, Alex moved like a shadow, taking out the crew one by one. A punch to the jaw dropped one man. A strike to the solar plexus folded another. A kick to the head ended the third. Every attack was precise, decisive, and devastating.
As for the Pokémon, Alex had staved them off, storing each one in its Poké Ball until the bridge was fully cleared. By the time he finished, the bridge was silent and empty, save for the crackle of radios carrying panicked voices.
"Gardevoir," Alex called through their psychic connection. "Get Rotom in here to search for data."
Rotom, who had stayed aboard the Azure Voyager, received the message and zipped over to the bridge of the Gray Wake. It plugged into a console and got to work while Alex led Alvera down to the cargo hold.
Battles began to taper off once they left the bridge. It seemed Rhea, Lyra, and Mika had already passed through, clearing most of the ship along the way.
Once they reached the cargo hold, Alex and Alvera met up with the girls and asked for an update.
"We didn't find anything incriminating," Lyra reported. "Just some old, decommissioned equipment."
"I told you," Rhea exclaimed. "They always have secret compartments on smuggling ships like these."
"I know that!" Lyra shot back. "But I'm not going to start poking holes in the hull randomly. Besides, it's probably buried under all this cargo."
The cargo hold was packed, making it difficult to empty the contents to reach any hidden compartments. Even with space bags, they didn't have the industrial-sized ones needed to move so many shipping containers. They would have to reach a dock before a proper investigation could be conducted.
"Gardevoir!" Alex called through their psychic connection. "See if you can find anything from the captain or the first mate. You're free to use any means necessary."
As a Champion ranked trainer and Interpol bounty hunter, Alex had certain liberties roughly equivalent to a Gym Leader. He was now legally allowed to search a criminal's memories without higher authorization.
A few minutes later, Gardevoir reported her findings. There was a hidden compartment accessible only from the port side of the ship, an access panel that could be opened from the bridge.
As for the specifics of their current job, all they had was a time and a dock where the shipment was supposed to be delivered to whoever came to get it. Nothing concrete about the contents or the clients. It seemed they were dealing with professionals.
"Does that mean we're going to Cinnabar City next?" Rhea asked excitedly. "My babies need more real combat to complete testing."
"No," Alex said. "Let's leave this to the Silver Network. We're on vacation, after all."
"Booo… I want to go on a combat mission!" Rhea complained.
"You know…" Alex said, drawing her attention. "I heard there's a secret base on Five Island where we're going. Are you sure you want to go with the bounty hunters instead?"
"Secret base?" she asked, stars in her eyes, with Alvera mimicking her right beside her.
"Yup," Alex said with a confident nod. "Why do you think I picked the Sevii Islands in the first place? It has everything, including vacation spots, a trainer tower, ruins, and a secret base."
"Why didn't you just say so? Ahaha," Rhea said. "Alright, give the mission to the bounty hunters while I go over the data on my babies."
Alex heaved a secret sigh of relief. He remembered there was a Team Rocket warehouse on Five Island, but since decades had passed according to the story, it was very likely the place had already been discovered and probably repurposed. What it had become, he didn't know, and more importantly, neither did Rhea.
With the location of the secret compartment discovered, they returned to the yacht after tying everyone up and made their way to the port side of the ship. With Rotom's help, the access panel, roughly the size of a shipping container, opened to reveal crates.
Alex jumped in and opened them, uncovering Argent Solution guns, ammunition, and Dominion Restraints.
"It seems this shipment belongs to Team Dominion," Alex said, pausing to consider the implications. "This is probably enough to locate their current main base in Kanto."
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