Over the course of the next month, Alex and the girls continued digging like regular miners, with Alex purchasing most of their treasures the entire time. They were harvesting roughly 20 to 40 million Pokédollars' worth of items each day, which was well within Alex's budget for now. It was an absurd harvesting rate that could only be achieved by someone with Sable's specific talent.
Pokémon that have a keen sense for mapping out the ground could do so as well, but they often required supervision and careful tunneling for support. Sable, however, just dug through without trouble.
As the days rolled by, they started changing locations to the other unclaimed mining spots that were included in the information package from the bartender. It was well worth the price, considering they had already earned back what they had paid by the fourth day.
They moved all over the southwest side of Sinnoh, visiting other hideaways that included the Spacious, Grassland, Riverbank, and Swampy Caves. Each had unique habitats that mimicked the environment above ground and catered to thousands of Pokémon nests, ranging from 5 to 20 levels depending on the general age of the hideaway.
Surprisingly, it was relatively smooth sailing without any conflict other than fending off nests or capturing strays.
That was until today.
"Aren't those your old friends?" Lyra asked while pointing to a mining site in one of the tunnels.
They were currently heading north from Oreburgh underground to Eterna underground in search of more unclaimed sites. Along the way, Sable spotted a familiar wireframe of Pokémon with accessories, so the group chose to do a little detour to confirm their suspicions.
Ahead of them was a mining site like any other. Around a hundred miners and a supervisor were present, while most of the workforce consisted of Pokémon fitted with devices on their heads or necks.
They were wearing the Dominion Restraints that had been used on Pokémon back when Sable still worked for Team Dominion. The devices controlled their minds and forced them to mine without any need for bonds, the kind of relationship between humans and Pokémon that Team Dominion desired.
"Their supervisor doesn't have a bounty," Alex said after checking with Rotom. "Come on, let's go and focus on finding the next site."
"Aren't you going to stop them?" Mika asked. "Even if they don't have a bounty, they're still criminals, right? I mean, they almost destroyed Hoenn."
News of Hoenn's troubles had become popular in the other regions, so almost everyone had heard about the new troublesome Team and their ambitions. Many flocked to join them, while even more started to distance themselves. Sharing the same opinions did not mean they wanted anything to do with a criminal organization.
"They don't have a bounty, which means all they've been doing since joining is dig in the Grand Underground without causing any trouble. Besides, I wouldn't get much from taking them down. The base has more than enough ammunition for defense and to supply the bounty hunters. On top of that, Rhea has enough raw move crystals to triple our current supply," Alex said as he started walking away.
"They have a few thousand Spheres and Shards just sitting there," Sable said.
Alex immediately turned around and walked toward the mining site.
His current plan required a lot of Spheres to show off, and so far, after a month of digging, they had only managed to acquire a little over 12 thousand.
It was a significant amount for a month of work, but any miner could accumulate that after a few decades of effort. He needed to stand out, and 12 thousand just didn't cut it. Ideally, he wanted around a hundred thousand, which might take them close to a year to collect, assuming they didn't run out of unclaimed mining sites first.
Sable smirked as Alex headed for the mining site. She knew he would never let any treasures go, as long as it didn't exceed his bottom line. This mining site was controlled by Team Dominion, which made it fair game, so he had no qualms about eliminating everyone there, even if they were like her, who had once simply worked for them.
As for her own motivations, it was a tiny bit of revenge against Team Dominion for the bounty on her head before Alex cleared it up.
Alex pressed the Release button on his backpack, releasing his entire team except for Raticate, Arcanine, and Hydreigon. He was still playing Elite, so he couldn't risk leaving traces of Champion ranked aura on the site.
Gardevoir went to work, organizing the attack and defense teams. Rather than the tight formation they had been practicing for years, the Pokémon immediately scattered while pairing up.
The attack team took the lead and blitzed the supervisor, who released his Pokémon in a panic. The defense team surrounded the site, knocking out any humans and Pokémon in their way. In a matter of seconds, the only enemies left were the supervisor's Pokémon.
Dusknoir and Ceruledge struck first, their perfectly timed Phantom Force attacks shattering the barriers of the enemy formation. They then retreated to the sides, creating openings for Kommo-o, who moved to the center and unleashed a Breaking Swipe. The attack struck both those whose barriers had been destroyed and those who had been relying on the protection.
After two rotations of this same pattern, all of the Pokémon were taken down. It was a clean execution that minimized damage taken while maximizing damage dealt.
Once they finished neutralizing the stragglers, they rounded up the survivors, which was basically everyone. Their overwhelming numbers allowed them to show mercy this time.
Gardevoir began reading their memories, even the supervisor's. None of their heads exploded, which meant they weren't high-level operatives. It turned out to be a situation similar to Sable's, so it was fortunate that she didn't start a killing spree.
"There are a dozen groups like this scattered all over Sinnoh, collecting resources for Team Dominion," Alex reported. "They're hiring random trainers who are financially burdened and setting them up to mine the Grand Underground. They've been mining like this for decades now."
"What do you want to do?" Lyra asked.
"Nothing," Alex said with a shrug. "We'll deal with them like this when we encounter them, but we won't go any further. Chasing them across the region would be a waste of time that would be better spent digging for more Spheres."
Gardevoir approached and handed Alex a space bag filled with their spoils. It contained roughly the same amount of loot as a week of digging. It was a significant haul that might have taken the miners months to accumulate. They were more efficient than most, given that they had a thousand Pokémon doing the digging.
"What are we going to do with them?" Mika asked.
"We'll release the Pokémon in the nearest hideaway and leave these guys on their own."
"What about their Pokémon?"
"They're just regular trainers, so they haven't been abusing them. Let's leave them as is."
"Wouldn't we be attracting trouble if we leave them alive?" Sable asked.
"A bit, but it should play in our favor," Alex replied.
The group started tying up the miners while leaving them with their fainted Pokémon.
Meanwhile, Gardevoir, with Espeon's help, took full control of the mind-controlled Pokémon. With the restraints still in place and no controller to obey, it was easy for her to dominate them.
They moved to the nearby Spacious hideaway, where she began removing the restraints and setting the Pokémon free. They were all Expert rank or below, so they weren't even worth capturing or consuming.
Once they were done, the group continued heading northwest to the next unclaimed mining site listed in their information package.
-----
Deep underground, in a base somewhere in Sinnoh, the regional head of Team Dominion, Sorina Wyn, read yet another frustrating report.
"Another mining site was taken down!? Give me the details. Was it another stray Champion? The markets? Umbraline? The League?"
"None of them, ma'am," the secretary replied before explaining. "It seems to have been a random mining team. They incapacitated everyone, stole their inventory, tied them up, and released all the mind-controlled Pokémon."
"No one died? That's even more troublesome," Sorina said, exasperated. "We specifically delayed their payment to avoid spending on them if they got killed. Now we have to replace their Pokémon and gear, and pay them at the end of the year for basically nothing."
"It would seem so."
"Should we just get rid of them?"
"We could."
"No. Let's use them as promotional material. It could boost the dull atmosphere around the base."
"Yes, ma'am."
Ever since Hoenn was attacked, Sorina had been at her wit's end, constantly fending off Sharpedo who smelled blood. At first it was just Umbraline picking at them from the shadows, then the League, which no longer tolerated their presence in the cities, and now even the Grand Underground markets were picking fights with them.
These disruptions had effectively halted all progress in spreading their ideology, a situation that was blamed on the regional managers, who faced reductions in their Champion ranked meat quotas. Now, Sorina was doing everything she could to prevent as many bases as possible from being taken down while still supplying headquarters with raw materials.
With the Grand Underground in Sinnoh, her objective had never been like that of others, who needed more manpower to take over the region. Instead, her mission was to provide Team Dominion with as many resources as possible. Hopefully, she could maintain the status quo and eventually receive her full payment once more.
-----
Support me on Patreon
patreon/babywrath