"They did it!" Lyra cheered. "They took down another one."
Cheers erupted in the dining hall on the ground floor of the base's main hub, where the bounty hunters had gathered to watch the coming battle while relaxing with a few drinks beforehand. Their attention remained fixed on the video feed of the fight, broadcast from the cameras Rhea had set up between the battlefield and the base.
There were easily over 300 bounty hunters present, including recruits in the middle of training, instructors, and Elite ranked veterans who had nowhere else to go and stayed to train for a small monthly fee. For now, they were under Lyra's and Mika's command, preparing to defend the base while watching their opponents get wrecked by their leader, Alex.
"I was worried when Rhea's solution only took down one of those airships, but it looks like they aren't that big of a deal if Alex can take them down by himself," Mika said.
"Don't relax just yet," Lyra shouted to the bounty hunters. "Judging by their size, I wouldn't be surprised if we end up fighting Pokémon and gunmen by the thousands. Pokémon and supplies can be stored in space bags, which means the rest of that space is likely reserved for the army."
The cheers faded at Lyra's warning as the bounty hunters grew serious. She was right. Team Dominion had a habit of deploying regular soldiers by the thousands rather than relying solely on trainers. Even if they only had to contend with a single airship, the battle ahead would still be massive, and judging by the pace of the fight, that was becoming increasingly likely.
"Let them come!" a bounty hunter roared in excitement.
"Let them come!" another answered.
"Let them come! Let them come! Let them come!" the crowd chanted, their fervor building as Lyra shook her head with a small smile of pride.
She took her seat amid their shouting and continued to watch the battle unfold. Over the next half hour, they noticed that the second airship was taking longer to be destroyed, while the two remaining vessels slowly descended and reduced their speed, preparing to land directly on the open field east of the base.
Their fight had come, and the tension in the room thickened.
"Looks like a fight is inevitable," Lyra announced. "Our defenses outside don't need anything more than the turrets, Pokémon, and drones. Our objective is to defend the main hub. It's rated for Champion rank, so they won't be able to bring it down easily. That means ground forces are inevitable. Get to your positions and take cover."
"RAAAAA!" they cheered before rushing out of the dining hall, leaving Lyra and Mika behind to defend it themselves.
They had the largest groups of Pokémon among the bounty hunters and needed the space to fight, unlike the others who would be more than satisfied holding a corridor or hallway.
Meanwhile, Rhea and Nyx watched from the command center of the main hub as two airships approached from the east, their six main guns charging with energy.
"Incoming bombardment!" Nyx warned over the intercom. "Brace yourselves."
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Six shots were fired, each aimed at different targets. One aimed at the command center atop the main hub, one targeted Rhea's laboratory and factory, one went for the communications tower, and three slammed into the eastern walls of the base. The first three were intercepted by Elite ranked Golbats that launched from the main hub and used Protect to absorb the blasts. Each blocked shot detonated in a massive explosion, knocking the Golbats out but successfully defending the base's critical facilities. The remaining three shots struck the eastern walls directly, obliterating them and creating a breach in the defenses.
The airships slowed to a crawl as their main guns recharged, positioning themselves to land roughly 200 meters from the base's eastern wall. Their gunports swiveled and began firing continuously, widening the breach and exposing the base's backyard where the training grounds, crops, and forest that housed the Pokémon were located. Meanwhile, the drones remained occupied by Alex riding atop Mantine behind the airships, a threat they couldn't afford to ignore.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Their main guns fired again at the same targets. The first three shots were intercepted by Elite ranked Golbats, while the remaining three slammed into the Champion ranked wall guarding the main hub. The wall held, but massive dents and spiderweb cracks spread across its surface, threatening to give way with the next bombardment.
Finally, the airships touched down, their landing gears scraping against the ground 200 meters from the eastern wall. Their main guns prepared another volley aimed directly at the wall protecting the main hub. As the weapons charged, the cargo bay doors beside the main guns opened and a swarm of collared Pokémon rushed out.
They were a random assortment ranging from Adept to Elite rank. Most looked normal for the most part, though some were grotesque monstrosities that charged forward in blind rage. A smaller number showed clear signs of cybernetic enhancement. Metal protrusions jutted from their backs or shoulders where guns had been mounted, firing wildly at anything in range as the Pokémon rampaged forward.
It was a grim sight to see so many experimented-on Pokémon among the descending army. There were easily thousands of them, 10,000 at minimum from a single airship. With 2 airships, nearly 20,000 Pokémon had just been unleashed.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The main guns fired again, all aimed at the Champion ranked wall defending the main hub. This time, the bombardment proved too much. The wall collapsed, leaving a 30-meter gap that exposed the main hub and opened a path for ground troops to assault.
Fortunately, the structure didn't explode. Instead, it curled inward as it failed, preventing debris from raining down over the buildings on the other side. Clearly, it was well worth the money invested in it.
The Pokémon charged forward in a blind rage. Most rushed into the backyard while the rest spilled around the ruined wall before slowing and receiving orders to form ranks as they pushed through the breach. Once the flood of Pokémon from the airships finally stopped, machines followed.
Robots marched out next. Some walked on 2 legs like humanoids, others moved on 4 legs like beasts, and a number of them crawled on 8 legs like spider tanks, their guns and sizes increasing with each type. They advanced in formation, accompanied by heavily armed soldiers in a massive offensive push, their numbers easily reaching 5,000 for each airship. Only the second airship didn't release any more troops, as it seemed they were busy dealing with Alex's Pokémon that had run amok inside.
"This should be enough," Rhea said before activating the drones.
"I don't get why you had to wait," Nyx said. "You should have started taking down their gun ports during the first volley."
"And scare them away from landing?" Rhea asked. "No, no, no, my horny friend. We needed to let them think they have the upper hand. Otherwise they would have stayed in the air and continued bombarding us with those Champion ranked main guns. We don't have enough Elite ranked Golbats to keep taking hits like that. Now that they've landed, however, we can retaliate."
Sure enough, thousands of drones took to the skies from Rhea's laboratory, controlled by Metagross and Nyx's Rotom. They buzzed forward, ignoring the Pokémon below as they swarmed the airships. Their Elite ranked guns opened fire, taking out gunports, destroying the airships' landing gear joints, and most importantly disabling the main guns before they could inflict further damage.
Once they completed their main objective, they began hunting the Pokémon, robots, and soldiers rushing toward the base. At the same time, the defending Pokémon under Alex received their orders and surged out from the forest, crashing into the rampaging attackers that had reached the middle of the backyard training grounds, unwilling to let them advance any closer to their precious snack bar, also known as the crops.
A chaotic melee erupted between the collared, rampaging Pokémon and the base's defenders, threatening to close the gap the enemy's main guns had carved through the base. As the clash intensified, the base's turrets whirred to life and began bombarding every intruder within sight.
So far, the attackers had only managed to reach the outer perimeter of the main hub before Elite ranked attacks rained down on them from every direction. The turrets, unused since the day they had been installed, came alive all at once, catching the invading army completely off guard as fire suddenly poured in from all sides.
Sensing the disadvantage they now faced, the commanders aboard the airships had no choice but to abandon their pursuit of Alex. Instead, they redirected their flying drones to support the assault below, leaving the two airships largely undefended. If they were going to lose this battle, then the least they could do was inflict as much damage as possible before the end.
Moments later, the drones that had been swarming Alex atop Mantine broke off and dove toward the base, weapons blazing as they began bombarding the defenses below.
"Oh, no you don't," Rhea exclaimed.
Her hands moved across the controls as she redirected her own drones to intercept. At the same time, she activated the base's final aerial defense, the flock of Golbat led by the Crobat pair, joined by the flock of Mandibuzz and Honchkrow that had grown to formidable numbers.
The skies above the base erupted into motion.
Wingbeats thundered through the air as hundreds of flying Pokémon surged upward to meet the incoming swarm. Gunfire, shrieks, and explosive impacts filled the sky as drones and Pokémon collided in a brutal aerial melee. Burning wreckage spiraled downward, along with bodies and shattered metal, raining across the battlefield below.
For a brief moment, the entire war seemed to shift into the skies above the base, leaving the fighting on the ground free to surge forward once more.
As Alex guided Mantine toward the remaining airship, preparing to bring it down, the bounty hunters below braced themselves for the incoming rush of soldiers and machines pushing through the chaos.
The battle had reached its final clash.
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