Pokemon: Master of tactics

The content of Jasper's report was so weird and shocking that Alex's reaction was understandable.

Jasper's mother is unknown, and Jasper was raised by his father alone. Both apparently got along well and often went into the woods together.

This is not in the files of the Jasper family. But when the person responsible for the investigation interviewed the neighbours of the Jasper family, he found out a surreal piece of information.

Jasper also has a stepmother, though she is not human. This was just a rumour, at first. But several neighbours saw Jasper's father kissing his new "wife".

What's even stranger is that Jasper's father's wife is not a Pokémon with a human-like shape.

Usually, the perverts who find Pokémon sexually interested are almost always attracted to human-like Pokémon..

But Jasper's father had chosen a female Serperior as his new wife.

If you can ignore the strangeness of Jasper's family, it is a joyful and loving family. At least, according to the statements of most of the neighbours.

Also, a neighbour had supposedly seen a very disturbing scene.

Jasper got a goodbye kiss on the lips from his stepmother. This kiss wasn't short either and looked more like the kiss of two lovers.

In the Pokémon world, there is a law that forbids trainers to abuse Pokémon. But this law cannot be implemented in this case.

As long as Serperior voluntarily enters into a relationship with Jasper's father, it is not a criminal offence.

Alex put the report on the table and rubbed his forehead.

He had already expected to read something weird. But when he read the part about Jasper kissing his nonhuman stepmother, he couldn't keep his calm.

After reading that, Alex crossed out Jasper as his future third subordinate in his head.

It's ok to be crazy, but there is a limit to how crazy you can be.

If Jasper was just a pervert, Alex could overlook it. But he's also a madman who calls several people dying a work of art.

Jasper had way too many cons, according to Alex, to be used as a subordinate.

A crazy dog is useful only if you can be sure that it won't suddenly bite you out of nowhere for no reason at all.

Alex started reading the other report.

This report was about Elise, the person Alex has the most expectation of out of the three.

The main reason is that she has by far the most talented Pokémon and that she was the sanest of the three.

Although her polite and friendly impression is most likely a facade to hide her true self, Alex believes that something like this is not unusual in Team Rocket, especially for female Team Rocket members.

As long as Elise is not totally crazy, she was the best choice out of three.

Elise's report was, by far, the shortest, and Alex found hardly any useful information out of it.

She was taken to an orphanage as an infant and spent her time there until she turned 16.

Elise appeared to have spent a lot of time there in the library. According to the statements, she was a quiet and well-mannered child there.

Apart from that, the report said nothing else.

Alex put the report down with a slight dissatisfaction. This information was almost useless. Alex was sure of only one thing after reading it.

'Elise has hidden her true self very deeply.'

Alex didn't believe for a second that Elise was really such a friendly and polite person.

If that was true, it wouldn't make sense for her to join Team Rocket... 'Unless she's a spy.'

Alex, who thought of this possibility, began to sink deep in contemplation.

'I should definitely do a few tests to make sure my third subordinate is not a spy.'

Alex didn't have to inspect the first two subordinates since he already knows that they are not spies.

Gardevoir told Alex that when he and Maria said goodbye, Maria held warm feelings for him.

Daniel was an obvious case too. According to Gardevoir, whenever Alex talked to Daniel about the Alliance, she always felt anger bubbling inside him.

Gardevoir's ability to perceive the emotions of other living beings is not a 100% lie detector. But it can show what the other person is feeling, helping in understanding him/her.

But emotions are also often so loose that even while lying through the teeth, Gardevoir's ability may not be able to detect it.

Even Alex could outsmart the Gardevoir's emotion detecting. Though, it did take some tries to do it perfectly.

So the Gardevoir's ability is most effective when the person—upon whom it is being used—does not know anything about it. Though, even if people know about this thing, it is not entirely useless.

The trick is not easy, and not all people have a Gardevoir to know that such a thing exists. So, they won't even think about faking their emotions.

'I'll come up with a precise plan after I decide for sure whom I'll take as my subordinate.'

Although Alex already has two participants, whom he prefers, there is always a possibility that some other participant may impress him.

Alex put down Andrew's report and then picked up the list of top 10 participants.

Andrew, who had taken care of the rookies, could gauge how strong each participant was.

Alex was surprised when he saw that Simon didn't make it to the top 3 and was only in 4th place.

Originally he wanted to keep the list as it is and pass it. But when he saw Jasper in the 1st place and Elise in the 2nd, he changed his opinion.

Alex changed the order of the top 3 rookies and didn't touch the other 7 places.

1: Elise

2: Arthur

3: Jasper

4: Simon

5: Baris

....

Alex had no problem using his powers for making Jasper's chances more difficult.

It hardly makes a difference since tomorrow, the rookies can challenge others for their ranks anyway.

It is an advantage to be on a higher rank only if there is a tie. Otherwise, it makes no difference to be second or even first.

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if the story gets 500 powerstones in 24 hours I will upload 1 bonus chapter tomorrow.

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