Half a year later, Alex sat in the base's command center with Celise, Nyx, Rhea, and Sable. It was a large and luxurious conference room filled with holographic projectors that displayed all sorts of information.
This included the base's surveillance, local weather patterns, latest news from all regions, information brokers in dark web forums, stock markets, and the official sites of major corporations. There was more information being disseminated in this room than all of them could possibly take in, but it did make the room look like a proper command center.
From the corner of the room, beyond the reinforced glass, Alex could see the lake at the center of the base, where chaos was unfolding. Waves of Expert and Elite ranked Pokémon surged over the northern walls, driven by instinct and panic, flooding south toward their position.
The home team met them in the forest, striking from cover with ruthless precision. Ambushes flashed through the canopy, bursts of fire, lightning, and dark energy tearing through the frenzied horde. Those that survived stumble out of the treeline, only to cross the open training grounds where automated defenses tracked their movements.
By the time they reached the lake, the sky was already glowing with weapons fire. Over a hundred turrets opened up in unison, unleashing a relentless barrage of Elite ranked attacks that shred through the front ranks. The weaker Pokémon fell almost instantly, their bodies vanishing beneath the spray, while the stronger ones pressed forward for a few desperate seconds before being swallowed by the storm of bullets and energy.
As for the lake, it was defended by the away team, who were making sure the twin walls didn't get overwhelmed by the Pokémon flood.
"The flood started way too early this year and there's also significantly more Pokémon than before," Nyx reported as she compared the previous flood statistics to the current one. "I think there's a Champion leading the charge, but the cameras outside the wall were destroyed by the flood."
"All of them?" Rhea asked. "Even the hidden ones? I scattered those things everywhere, don't tell me every single one's been destroyed."
"The trees they were hidden in were knocked down, so yes. Even the hidden ones."
"Hm… I might be able to send drones for a visual, but they might just get destroyed as well."
"Don't bother," Alex said. "There's a Champion as well as a hundred Elites approaching. I can feel it on my skin." He looked to Rhea before leaving parting words. "Take care of the base for me."
"You got it, boss!" she said, activating the drone army under Metagross to take over the away team's position in the defenses.
Alex went to the balcony facing west toward the hydroponic farm that was still under construction before jumping down ten stories. With a superhero landing, he cracked the pavement, stood up from a kneeling position, and dusted himself off.
"I need to do something about this landing area," he said, staring at the spiderweb cracks under him. "Good thing I got to test it before construction finished."
He raced to the lake and mentally contacted Gardevoir, who was on guard on the northern side. She sent a Pokémon to pick Alex up while preparing the away team for interception.
From the water, Gyarados emerged. Alex climbed on and surfed north to the other side, where his team awaited.
"We have an incoming Champion leading the flood," he said to his Pokémon. "Raticate, take point and confront the Champion with the offensive team. The rest of you, form up into a defensive formation to intercept its lackeys."
Alex rode Hydreigon and charged forward with the offensive team in the lead. They unleashed devastating attacks on the Expert and Elite ranked Pokémon, carving a path north. Then, they pushed onward through the devastated forest before finally leaping onto the first wall.
Alex looked out and didn't like what he saw. Unlike the sparse, chaotic charge inside the base, the flood outside was far too tightly packed. They wouldn't be able to push through the swarm to bring the fight beyond the walls. They also couldn't fight here, as the wall would likely crumble and allow the flood to wash over the base.
In the end, Alex compromised. He stored all his Pokémon and rode Hydreigon north.
One mile beyond the walls, he commanded, "Roar!"
Hydreigon let out a challenging Roar that split the flood around them, then Alex released his Pokemon.
"Maintain defensive position while stacking buffs. Prepare for enemy engagement," he commanded Gardevoir who got to work assembling the formation.
Soon, area of effect attacks started bombarding everything around them while Hydreigon and Arcanine took turns alternating Roar to scatter the flood and draw the attention of the Champion.
"Pace yourselves! Reserve your energy for the Champion."
It took a few minutes, but eventually, the Champion responded. A terrifying roar answered their challenge, followed by over a hundred Elite ranked Pokémon surrounding them and attempting to fight off the challengers.
Among them were Pokémon such as Persian, Rapidash, Houndoom, Mightyena, Manectric, and a whole lot of Luxray.
"I guess we're up against the Field Egg Group. Given the number of Electric types, the Champion's likely Electric as well. Where's a good Ground type Pokémon when you need one?" Alex complained.
The Elites posed no real threat as the defensive team got to work and completely shut them down. Even outnumbered and overpowered, their Protect rotation kept them alive, while those that charged forward were swiftly dealt with by the offensive team.
A few minutes later, another Roar echoed toward them, this one closer and far more threatening.
"Here comes the Champion! Raticate, go!"
The offensive team reassembled at the front, swiftly threading through the tight formation before charging forward to meet the Champion's advance head-on.
Meanwhile, Alex drew Stormline and opened fire on one flank, allowing the defensive team to concentrate their attacks on the other. With the pressure divided, they finally began taking down the Pokémon that had been hanging back and bombarding them from safety.
Less than a minute of battle later, the offensive team returned with the corpse of a Champion ranked Luxray, while the Elites that hadn't been taken down yet simply ran. As for the flood, they continued to rampage.
"Good job, team! Let's retreat and wait out the rest of the flood," Alex said as he mounted Hydreigon.
With one final bombardment, a large area was cleared before Alex stored all his Pokémon and some of the nearby corpses, then flew back to the base. Upon arrival, he released the away team to resume fending off the flood before making his way back to the command room.
"Status?" he asked as he entered through the balcony.
"Ammunition expenditure dipped when you left but has since returned to expected levels. The flood is still going strong. Whatever set it off early must have involved that Champion, but it isn't the direct cause, so the flood is still flooding," Rhea reported.
"I received a call from Rylan asking for a status check," Celise added.
"What did you reply?" Alex asked.
"That you went out to hunt the Champion in the middle of a flood."
"Good. They've been getting a bit cheeky lately by lowering the payout for some of their requests. Showing some strength should bring the prices back up. How bad's the damage to the base?"
"The orchard Kaia started planting in the Pokémon habitat is essentially ruined. Everything south of the twin walls is fine, except for a few corpses that damaged the construction site," Nyx reported.
"Corpses?"
"Flying types that decided to snack on some of the construction crew while flying overhead. The turrets took care of them, but their bodies had to fall somewhere, and since they were targeting the crew, they ended up crashing near the construction site."
"Another month of delays plus a few million credits should fix that up. It's a good thing we're in the middle of a flood. How much are we estimated to earn this time?"
"Somewhere around 30 to 50 million credits in captured Pokémon and corpses, I think. It depends on the cleanup."
"Okay."
The base had been under construction for over 8 months and was estimated to be finished in another 5. The additional month of delay came from Alex's requested upgrades, such as the reinforced southern wall and gate. It would likely be delayed again after the recent damage, but Alex wasn't complaining.
Progress so far has been impressive, especially on the main hub. The structure itself was complete, but it still needed finishing touches, electrical work, interior fittings, and decorations. Most of the construction crew had already shifted focus to the hydroponics farm, communications tower, and Rhea's lab.
At Alex's request, the top floor of the main building had been prioritized and completed first, serving both as the main living quarters and the command center of the base. They had moved in about a month ago, and it was already fully operational.
As for the farm, it had been sold to an interested Elite who wanted to take over responsibility for developing the northeastern region near Saffron City.
"Alex, how close are you to reaching Champion rank?" Celise asked.
"A few more months, maybe weeks if you count the Champion that was just hunted."
"Good, because we really need to start recruiting staff. I could use the extra help managing Lyra's bounty hunters and coordinating with Maris's delivery network."
"It won't take much longer now."
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