Alex took some time to bring his Pokémon up to fighting form by bathing each and every one of them with Max Revives and Full Restores. No expense was too much when his Pokémon were fighting with their lives on the line.
Once they were healed up and ready to go, Alex stored them and jumped on Mantine, heading west toward the open sea. He checked the information he had gotten from Umbraline and pinpointed the base that was found there before going for a dive, with Ditto transforming into Alex's Deep Suit.
Mantine easily glided from the sky to the water, unhindered by either medium of travel, while Alex was suddenly buffeted by powerful tidal currents. Fortunately, he was both Champion ranked and had access to a foothold on Mantine's armor, ensuring he didn't fly off by accident.
They, along with the rejuvenated water team, spent the better part of an hour searching underwater until they came upon a familiar dome-shaped rocky structure. Since Alex no longer needed Team Dominion's financial support and the greatest threat inside had already been dealt with, he simply had his water team destroy the dome, flooding everything inside.
Very few managed to escape, riding on any Water type Pokémon or those that could naturally fly, but the water team were quite pissed at having been taken out in the previous battle, so they wanted a bit of revenge on Team Dominion by ensuring every escaping henchman was given a watery grave.
Once they were finished taking down the second of Team Dominion's bases in the region, Alex left and returned to Rhea in Marcy's evil lair, finding her distraught with bags under her eyes.
"Alex! Thank Arceus you're here! Save me!" she said, jumping into his arms in a princess carry.
"You get back here, little missy. We haven't picked out a thread for the stitching, and given what you've already shown me, I will not be satisfied until you synthesize another thread with resilience, elasticity, and Champion rated defenses," came a feminine man's shout from another room.
"Help, Alex, please. He's too much. He's such a perfectionist that my engineering mentality can't take it. You have to take me out of here fast!"
"Oh no you don't!" came another declaration before Marcy came riding in on an Ariados, who immediately used String Shot on Rhea before dragging her back into the room by her feet.
"No. NO! I don't want to!" Rhea screamed like a petulant child.
"Oh, don't be such a baby. I'm sure you can come up with something that'll satisfy me by evening," Marcy said before turning to Alex. "As you can see, deary, we're still a little bit busy, so why don't you run off and finish your business on your own and come back in a week. I'm sure your suit will be finished by then."
Marcy didn't wait for a reply before patting the Ariados on the abdomen, signaling for it to return to the room. It turned and skittered back inside, slowly dragging Rhea along with it.
"Alex! Please! Help! Save me!" Rhea screamed as she was slowly dragged into the room. "Nooo…"
Alex shook his head, placed his hands together in prayer, then turned around and walked out, having forgotten ever witnessing such a scene. He figured it would be good for Rhea to have a bit more professionalism when it came to her work ethic, considering she had been coasting on her genius her entire life. It was good that she had a role model to take after.
He released Gardevoir and together they teleported to Castelia City to finally finish this overblown deal. Hopefully, for the Trubbish King's sake, it was worth outing them to Team Dominion at the start of it.
Alex came out of the light of teleportation deep in the sewers of Castelia City, right outside the double doors leading to the main market. He opened them and walked into the busy, bustling scene, already familiar with the layout. He made his way to the other side, where the tunnel leading to the Trubbish King's main abode lay.
Before he could open the door, however, he was intercepted by a homeless man who presented a data drive.
"Everything you need is inside," he said simply, holding his greasy, filthy hand out with the data drive resting on top of it.
"Rotom," Alex commanded as Rotom zipped from his phone to the device.
It hummed to life for a few seconds before Rotom zipped back into the phone and reported.
"It is as Rhea requested," it announced in its artificial voice.
Alex could read the room and knew he was now considered a threat, which was why he was no longer allowed inside the Trubbish King's room. They had sent a middleman to handle the transaction, ensuring he would bear Alex's wrath if it ever came to violence.
He was willing to forgive them for outing him to Team Dominion since it didn't really matter in the end, but this felt like plain disrespect. He decided to return the favor with a clear warning that they should never cross him again.
Alex turned toward the double doors of the Trubbish King's main abode, tilting his head and weighing his options. Then he surged forward, right arm pulled back into a tight fist, planted his feet firmly, and unleashed a powerful haymaker.
BOOOM!
The sound of crushed metal reverberated through the entire underground market as the double doors bent inward from Alex's punch, revealing a crack two inches wide through which he could see the pile of garbage tumbling on the other side as Champion ranked auras flared from the threat.
"Next time, I'll feed you all to my Pokémon," Alex said in an even tone before Gardevoir teleported them out of the sewers.
Inside, the Trubbish King, a particularly large Garbodor, sighed imperceptibly in relief as a human stood next to him, carrying a tablet that flashed red.
"Do you still think it was wise to hedge against him?" the man asked.
"He is a man of honor with his own bottom line," the Garbodor replied. "So long as you don't cross it, you can afford to shove him around and even betray him, provided he ultimately benefits in the end."
"It's a shame we cut our ties with him this early, though."
"He is just a passerby. There is no longer any benefit to be had."
"I don't know. The way he just left tells me we could have milked him for a few more missions."
"Now that would be crossing his bottom line," the Garbodor said with a knowing smile. "You humans are so greedy."
The man chuckled. "Perhaps, but that's precisely why we put our faith in you, Trubbish King."
"As it is meant to be. Now, for our next problem."
"Ah, yes. Team Umbraline will want us out of the picture once Team Dominion is taken down. They are likely to be threatened by our information network."
"Of course they will. As I have said, you humans are simply too greedy."
The man chuckled before presenting the solution to their problem, a contract to join Team Umbraline while providing full access to their network of contacts, with certain restrictions on revealing the true extent of their information network, of course.
"Very well. This should be enough to please that woman. She would rather be out in the desert than kicking a homeless man when he's down."
The man bowed lightly before retreating out of the room to leave the Trubbish King to his garbage. Anyone can say they were stronger than him, but none can claim they can manipulate humans as efficiently.
Thus, the legend of the Trubbish King, deep beneath Castelia City in its sewers, and his organization known as Grimefold, continued.
-----
Meanwhile, Alex was walking around Castelia City's streets while reading the information Rotom had downloaded on his phone. It was so complete it was excessive and difficult to read, so he had to ask Rotom to summarize it for him.
"The report includes information on all the living founders of Argent Solutions as well as their schedules and expected detours, properties, listed or otherwise, escape plans and all their possible permutations, as well as enough blackmail to guarantee the League would cross the line with Team Dominion to ensure they are brought to justice," Rotom reported.
"If nothing else, Grimefold is good at what they do," Alex said, impressed.
It was clear from the level of detail in the information that it wasn't just the homeless under Grimefold's control. It was the drivers, the chefs, the maids, the butlers, the clerks, the receptionists. The employees whose work was always taken for granted. They were the ones who made up Grimefold's intelligence network.
It wasn't hard to see how they pulled it off. It was simple human investment. Take the poor, give them enough to live, and ask for small bits of information in return. Things that seemed irrelevant on their own. A name. A schedule. A visitor. When enough people are feeding you pieces of the same puzzle, eventually the whole picture comes together.
Alex nodded, impressed despite himself. Olivia would have her work cut out for her if she wanted to take them down and claim the top spot in the information game.
Rhea, on the other hand, now had everything she could possibly need on the remaining founders. Enough to carry out whatever reckless plan she was putting together.
As for Alex, all that was left was to keep drawing Team Dominion's attention, making sure their eyes stayed on him while he waited for Iris to finish mapping Unova with the girls.
Once that was done, the real show would finally begin.
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