Once Alex heard Lyra and Mika mention Champions attacking them, he smiled menacingly knowing it was time to shut the trap.
"Gardevoir, take the attack and defense team to sweep the tunnel, then reinforce Lyra and Mika's formation. Leave this rabble to me."
"Gardevoir," she replied with a nod.
The defense team's formation split in half before slowly retreating to the flanks. Alex took Stormline out and walked forward as his Pokémon rushed past on either side.
The enemy's Pokémon retargeted from the retreating figures to Alex, but before they could begin their barrage, Alex's watch transformed into a copy of a Bastiodon among them, providing Alex with both a mount and a shield to defend him.
The Pokémon attacked with a variety of moves while maintaining their formation, but Ditto used Protect, buying Alex a single second to mount Stormline on its head, more than enough time.
The trainers sneered when they saw only one man and Pokémon step forward while the formidable Pokémon they were fighting retreated, right up until Alex pulled the trigger and Stormline roared.
A stream of Feint, Phantom Force, and elemental attacks screamed down the tunnel, smashing into the Pokémon's formation and tearing it to shreds. Alex then swung his aim around, filling every inch of space with bullets and leaving no room to escape.
Every Pokémon caught in Alex's sight staggered as their Protect shields broke like glass, showering them and their allies with Pokémon moves and bullets.
Behind the mess of flinching Pokémon, the five trainers finally realized the mistake they had made.
"What the hell?!" one shouted, scrambling back. "Fall back! FALL BA—"
A Feint round blinked through the man's Golem's defenses before penetrating his skull, killing him in an instant. His Pokémon tried to rampage from the sudden loss of their bond, but they were too busy drowning in a storm of bullets.
Soon, all the Pokémon and their trainers were killed by Alex alone.
Meanwhile, Gardevoir led the attack and defense teams into a melee with the 4 trainers who had burst out from the sides of the tunnel. Rather than forming a formation, they attacked all at once, targeting their enemies with guaranteed-hit moves, status moves, or single-target special attacks.
Like a wave, they swept along both sides of the truck, taking down the 4 trainers and their Pokémon in an ambush before rushing to reinforce Lyra and Mika's formation.
The attack team surged to the front, engaging the 6 Champions with physical attacks, while those behind them alternated Protect.
Once everyone was in position, the entire back line began unleashing area-of-effect attacks in triple rotations, bathing their enemies in a relentless storm of energy that couldn't simply be dodged in the narrow tunnel.
Overpowered and overwhelmed, the 5 trainers and the Champion had no choice but to retreat to a safe distance unless they wanted to be killed the moment they were exposed for even a single second. At this rate, they wouldn't even be able to break the formation with their Feint bullets, given the sheer force being unleashed upon them.
"What the hell? Where did all of these Pokémon come from?" one of the men shouted, firing his gun at the wall of energy in futility.
"What do we do, boss?" another asked, addressing the man at the very back.
"We retreat. Send word to the other teams. We can't take these trainers down. My Pokémon are too restricted in these tunnels, and they have the numbers to match my Pokémon's strength. These guys are off-limits from now on."
Suddenly, the wall behind them exploded, and out came a Champion ranked Raticate, Arcanine, and Hydreigon, who immediately unleashed Shadow Ball, Heat Wave, and Snarl on the unsuspecting trainers.
Their Pokémon were still busy defending against the advancing wave of energy and couldn't come to their aid.
The Shadow Ball struck the Champion ranked trainer dead center, while Heat Wave and Snarl finished off the rest. All the trainers were killed instantly.
The remaining Pokémon turned to begin their rampage, but they were caught in the same energy they had been defending against, taking out most of them in the process.
Among the 6 Champion ranked Pokémon, Raticate intercepted Garganacl with Thunder Wave before unleashing repeated Thunderbolts. Arcanine used Extreme Speed on Cradily, following up with Fire Fang to grab hold and thrash it against the wall. Hydreigon charged Tyrantrum with Dragon Rush, causing it to flinch before beating it down with more Dragon Rush through the wall.
The storm of energy from Gardevoir's side of the battlefield subsided just as Kommo-o and Togekiss surged forward, targeting Gigalith. Dusknoir and Ceruledge engaged Golem with powerful Brick Breaks to keep it contained. Lastly, Rhyperior was struck by a barrage of single-target special attacks too numerous for even a Champion to simply resist.
Alex emerged from the tunnel Raticate had dug and assessed the situation. Overall, the fight was over. The trainers were dead, and their Pokémon were mindlessly rampaging, easily allowing his team to take them out one by one.
Once Rhyperior was taken down, the others followed one after another, bombarded by the defense team. In no time, all the Pokémon were taken down.
As for why Alex chose to release his Champions, it was because the enemy had Champions of their own. Their auras flooded the tunnels, masking the presence of his Champions in the process. That way, he could maintain the ruse even after taking a Champion ranked trainer down.
"Clean up," Alex said before heading to the trainers' corpses. "Rotom, scan for bounties."
Rotom flew around, took pictures, then retreated to Alex's pocket before reporting.
"Champion ranked trainer Evan Calder. Bounty: 16 million credits. Wanted for mass kidnapping," it reported.
"Not bad, but not enough. I really hope they start sending more Champions our way. Otherwise, it'll take longer than necessary to gather the cost to summon a paradox Pokémon."
Alex needs 100 million credits and 100 thousand contribution points to avail the service, plus another 40 million credits for a pair of Range proficiency trained Lucario, for a total of 140 million credits.
Right now, he has 160 million credits and 21 thousand contribution points in his account. If they manage to sell the Plate successfully, he would earn 16 million credits and 1,600 contribution points, since the rest goes to the girls. Adding the current bounty of 16 million credits and 1,600 contribution points, then subtracting Sable's 10% share, Alex ends up with 190 million credits and 24 thousand contribution points.
It is enough to buy a paradox Pokémon, and with an additional 26 thousand contribution points, purchase the Lucario pair as well, but doing so would drain both his finances and his contribution points completely. So he is planning to earn more as reserves. Perhaps he would be satisfied with 50 million credits and 10 thousand contribution points after both purchases, more than enough for a decade of training if he can stomach it.
Alex left the cleanup to his Pokémon and made his way to the girls, who were busy resuscitating their Pokémon.
"Are you girls okay?" Alex asked.
"We're fine," Sable replied as she applied a Full Heal on Flygon. "Did you have to wait that long to release your Pokémon? My poor Flygon almost died."
"Sorry about that," Alex said. "I can't reveal my Champions until after they reveal theirs. Otherwise, they would know I was in Sinnoh."
Sable sighed before using a Max Potion as well. "I really hope this is worth it in the end."
"You earned 1.6 million credits and 160 contribution points from this fight," Alex said.
"Really?" Sable said in shock.
"Yup. All subsequent Champions I take down from this point on would have roughly the same payout for you, so you can bet this is worth it."
"I guess that's fine," she replied before looking at her Pokémon, who were resting. "Sorry, guys. We need to push through a bit longer. I promise to fill your bowls with Champion ranked meat after this."
Her Pokémon brightened at the mention of Champion ranked meat. They had been eating scraps of it every once in a while from what Sable could afford, but it truly wasn't enough for their growth.
Alex then turned to Lyra and Mika, who were beginning to store their healed Pokémon.
"So? How was it facing a Champion?" Alex asked.
"Horrible, but not as horrible as facing those trainers with guns who kept shooting Feint and Phantom Force rounds," Lyra replied. "That's the reason the Champion was able to break through our formation. Also, there was no way we could isolate them since the tunnels are too narrow. It's really hard to fight a Champion here."
"You have guns as well. You should have fired back."
"It's so expensive, though," Mika complained. "We're trying to save up to start earning for Champion ranked meat, but it's impossible when we have to spend on these healing items and then bullets and food and—"
"I get it, I get it," Alex said, lifting his hands in surrender. "Tell you what, I'll give you all the money from the Elites I take down from now on. You girls can split it three ways with Sable."
"Really?" Lyra and Mika both exclaimed.
"Yeah. At this point, Pokedollars are just numbers to me. Credits and contribution points are far more important."
"Yipee!" they cheered before high-fiving each other.
Alex smiled at their enthusiasm before focusing on the cleanup. He had six Champion ranked corpses to distribute to the team, much to their delight. It truly paid to hunt down trainers instead of wild Pokémon.
Once they were finished, the group continued on their merry way, unaware of the turmoil they had left in their wake.
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