Sable's conversation with their rather rude guests was held right outside the base's entrance. It was a precaution to protect those inside from infiltration and those outside from ambush. The ones who owned the base didn't want anyone getting scans of their home's layout, while those outside didn't want to walk into a death trap and made sure to heavily scan their path so they weren't anywhere near any traps.
Alex, however, had prepared for every situation when he set up the base. He spread Rhea's modified traps throughout the tunnels near the entrance and inside the base itself.
The reason they were never detected came down to Rhea's tinkering and a few rare materials pulled from their haul. The traps he sent her had been rebuilt from the ground up.
They were no longer simple pressure plates. Each one was sealed inside a casing that mimicked the composition of the surrounding terrain while hiding everything inside. The disguise was so effective that even Sable couldn't tell the difference between a trap and an ordinary rock buried in the dirt.
The trigger and explosives had changed as well. Instead of pressure, the traps were set off by a psychic pulse at a unique frequency, and the explosives inside were packed with Feint and Phantom Force shrapnel to guarantee that Protect was useless.
"Gardevoir!" Alex shouted once everyone released their Pokémon.
The enemy's side began a standard Protect rotation whose 18 Champions would have easily outmatched the output of 4 times their number in Elites. It was a terrifying sight to see so many Champions lined up, alternating Protect with special attacks that could have destroyed the base in a single volley.
Alex's formation, on the other hand, began a full bombardment, led by Gardevoir, who released a quick psychic pulse that targeted the area around the enemy.
BOOM!
A massive explosion tore through their ranks, completely breaking their formation. If it had been only the traps, they might have shrugged it off, but the follow-up barrage from nearly a hundred Elite ranked Pokémon hit them immediately, carving through the group and leaving devastation in its wake.
The bombardment was followed up with targeted moves that singled out any survivors leaving none of their assailants alive.
"That was easy," Sable said, shaking off the shock from being so close to the explosion. Fortunately, her Elite ranked physique allowed her to recover quickly.
"I can't believe we just took down three Champions in one go," Mika exclaimed. "Do you think other groups will send even more?"
"I doubt it," Alex replied. "If a place dangerous enough to take someone as powerful as you down existed, would you want to wander in just to make sure?"
"So, these guys are basically a warning to keep the rest away?"
"I'm sure there are still some idiots who will keep poking around, but I doubt any of the major players in the Grand Underground will take another big risk. After a few sporadic troublemakers, Sable should be relatively safe here in the future."
"Rhea really outdid herself with these mines," Lyra said. "Do you think I could grab a few of them?"
"You should ask Rhea for custom ones instead," Alex suggested. "You still don't have a Psychic Pokémon, right?"
"Heh heh heh… I managed to befriend one of the Ralts who's currently training in the base. Soon, I'll even have a teleporter."
"A short-ranged one," Mika retorted.
"Hey! At least I'll have a Psychic to detonate traps with."
"The frequency is attuned to the Pokémon, so you'd still need them custom made," Alex explained. "It's to make sure our entire base doesn't accidentally self-destruct from a single random Expanding Force."
The group continued to discuss while their Pokémon began the cleanup. For this particular battle, the Champions were fairly abundant, and none other than Gardevoir had played a greater role than the others. She received a whole corpse to herself while the rest was divided among all the Pokémon.
Seventeen corpses divided among a hundred didn't seem like much, but Champions were packed full of energy, and a few bites were often enough to satisfy even the hungriest. These corpses would last them a long time.
Once the cleanup was finished, Alex checked for bounties and managed to score 30 million credits and 3,000 contribution points in total. It turned out these particular Champions were associated with a nasty Master ranked trainer from the Grand Underground, which was why their bounties existed rather than being earned personally.
As for any additional information on this trainer, there wasn't much. Even if Alex had been working for Interpol, he was still just a Champion under an information block. The most he had was the trainer's picture, name, and rank. His name was Rowan Trekker, a portly man in hiking gear presenting a rather unassuming image.
In the days that followed, there were a few more sporadic attacks from overconfident stealthy Elites but no Champion dared to come alone. It was time spent in relative peace until a particular visitor came knocking.
Boom.
BOOM.
BOOOOM.
"What the hell is that racket!" Mika shouted, waking from her beauty sleep.
She jumped from her bed and raced to the entrance of the base, where she saw Alex in a standoff against a portly hiker with a powerful Master ranked Rhyperior behind him.
"Give me the girl and I'll leave in peace," the portly man said with a cheerful smile.
"No," Alex replied, releasing his B.O.M.B.
"You think you can keep such a valuable treasure all to yourself?" the man said. "In the Grand Underground, Spheres determine how much space a base can have and how deep it can be dug. Unfortunately, there are only so many Spheres available at any time, and digging randomly takes forever. The current rate is far too slow, but with her talents, the Grand Underground could truly flourish. Under my lead, of course. Don't worry, I will treat her well."
"And I should care why?" Alex retorted, eyes narrowing.
Rowan sighed and released the rest of his Pokémon, over 30 Champion ranked Rock and Ground types.
"Then you leave me no choice. I dislike using force if at all possible, but I will not hesitate for the sake of the Grand Underground."
Alex immediately activated the B.O.M.B. while deploying his team in a defensive formation. His goal was simple. Protect the device until it exploded, obliterating everything nearby. Sure, it would likely take out Oreburgh City, but he would be very dead by then, so he did not particularly care.
As the B.O.M.B.'s energy began building, Rowan narrowed his eyes. He didn't like the energy he felt radiating from the device. Its power was laughably weak now, but calculating the rate of increase against the remaining time on the projected timer indicated a level of power far beyond anything he could imagine.
"What is that?" Rowan asked.
"This is a device that will kill all of us in 50 seconds. You have until then to leave or we die together," Alex said calmly.
"You don't think I can tell a bluff when I see one?"
"I think you don't know me well enough to tell if I'm serious. Not that it matters. You have 40 seconds left."
"You know what? I think you're bluffing. Let's all die together then. Attack!"
Rowan's Pokémon immediately launched a brutal bombardment against Alex's team, which maintained a Protect rotation. Fortunately, even with the Master ranked Rhyperior joining the fight, most of Alex's Pokémon had Protect at Effect Up +2, nullifying the Master's damage and knockback.
Since the formation held despite his Rhyperior's attacks, he sent in his Feint users for close-range combat. His Flygon and Gliscor dove in, attempting to break a few Protect barriers to find a way through, but they were met with powerful physical attacks from Raticate and Arcanine. It would take more than a few Feint users to bring this formation down.
Noticing Alex's refusal to yield with only 30 seconds left on the timer and seeing the device's energy surpass anything he had ever seen before, Rowan began to grow anxious. If this device did in fact detonate, he might be able to survive, but there was still time left for it to continue building. He had to get out of here before the timer ran out.
"Go find the girl and bring her to me!" he shouted.
Half his Pokémon continued the bombardment while the other half along with Rhyperior circled around.
Alex, however, was prepared. Gardevoir suddenly teleported into the formation with Sable by her side. Now Rowan would have to get through him to reach her.
Moments later, Rowan's Pokémon returned with Lyra and Mika in their grasp. Unlike Alex's Pokémon, some of theirs lacked Protect with Effect Up +2. This made it easy for Rhyperior to shove their Pokémon around until the Champions managed to get their hands on the girls.
"How about we trade? Two for the price of one?" Rowan offered.
"It doesn't matter as long as you don't have who you want," Alex replied. "You have 15 seconds left, or everyone here will die."
"What if I take them away and survive on our own?"
"So I should detonate this at your base instead of here? Great idea," Alex said. "10 seconds left."
Rowan waited another 5 seconds before finally giving up.
"Fine! You win. Shut that damn thing off."
"Not until you leave."
"You damn maniac!" Rowan shouted before leaving on his own, taking his Pokémon with him.
At 1 second left, Alex finally shut off the B.O.M.B., allowing the girls to sigh in relief.
"Alex! Who the hell was that?" Lyra shouted.
"Rowan Trekker, the owner of the Champions we took down a few days ago," Alex replied. "Are you girls okay?"
"We're fine. Our Pokémon will need healing though. That Rhyperior treated them like pinballs."
"What did I say about proficiency training?" Alex scolded lightly. "Anyway, for now we're done here."
"What do you mean we're done?"
"I mean, we've officially overstayed our welcome in Sinnoh. We'd better go visit Cynthia and get out of this region fast," Alex said before turning to Mika. "Sorry, Mika, but you'll have to give up on freeing the slaves. I can't afford to draw any more attention than this."
"Yeah," Mika replied, slightly shaking. "I get what you mean."
It had been a long time since she had felt so helpless. It was fortunate Alex was around to protect her.
"So, that's it, we're leaving?" Sable asked. "Good riddance. This place is far more terrifying than I thought. Let's just get this Plate thing settled and go back to the base in Kanto as soon as possible. I probably have enough credits to get Garchomp to Champion."
Alex smiled lightly before replying. "Not yet. We still have one quick stop before leaving."
"Where?"
"The place Aegislash found."
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