Alex panicked slightly when he heard Gravik's order. A coordinated Earthquake from three nearly Champion ranked Pokémon right in the center of the base was more than enough to collapse the entire structure and drown everyone inside.
He would likely survive, since his Water team was waiting just outside, but any chance of reaching Gravik and taking him down would be gone.
Worse, he was too slow to come up with a countermeasure and shout it out in the heat of the moment.
Fortunately for him, Gardevoir read Gravik's intentions like an open book and took immediate action. She initiated a Charm bombardment as a countermeasure.
Of the team, only a few could act fast enough with Charm. Gardevoir, Espeon, and the three Maushold. That meant five Charms, all boosted by Effect Up +1; each one reduced its target's Attack by three stages.
Hydreigon was the fastest of the three threats, so Gardevoir and Espeon, both quicker, hit it first. It recoiled as twin beams of pink light struck its heads. A strangled roar echoed through the chamber, its wings faltering mid-beat as it dropped several feet, claws scrabbling for purchase. The twin Charms overwhelmed it immediately, reducing its Earthquake to little more than a thump.
Ursaluna was the greater threat of the two remaining, so two Maushold targeted it next. Ursaluna's massive shoulders trembled as the twin beams struck. It groaned, muscles sagging as if its bones had turned to sand. The Charms landed cleanly, turning its Earthquake into another heavy but harmless thump.
That left Tyranitar. It took the final Charm straight on, the blast of pink energy stunning its senses and draining its power. It roared in confusion, swiping at the lingering shimmer in the air as if batting away a swarm of fairies. Its next stomp lacked force only causing the ground to crack and quake, disrupting the balance of anyone nearby.
With the sudden crisis averted, Alex focused on taking down one of the behemoths, Ursaluna, the slowest.
Picking up on Alex's intentions, Gardevoir commanded Hydreigon to go toe to toe with the other. Sure, she was technically outmatched, but Alex's Hydreigon had max stacks, while her opponent had just lost all of her Attack stacks. It would be an easy victory, considering their trainer had run away.
That left Tyranitar, whom Forretress and Frosmoth were happy to play with.
As Alex focused his fire on Ursaluna, who was being kept busy by Altaria, he sent a message to Gardevoir to stop Gravik from escaping.
The left flank, where Arcanine and Raticate were stationed, was in complete disarray. The remaining enemies were already as good as finished, so Alex figured those two could be redirected to pursue Gravik. They would be backed up by Dusknoir and Ceruledge, who had already neutralized most of the threats on the right flank thanks to Kommo-o and Togekiss's massive bombardment.
Scorch marks still smoldered on the right flank, Kommo-o's shockwaves having carved jagged lines through enemy ranks. Debris and dead bodies littered the area, the work of Togekiss's radiant bombardment.
To prevent Tsareena and Zoroark from being overwhelmed while holding the left flank, Alex also dispatched Clawitzer for suppressive fire with Water Pulse and Togekiss for heals with Life Dew and aerial bombardment with Dazzling Gleam.
As for Kommo-o, who was just finishing up at the right flank, Alex sent him to the center, which was suffering from the stray area of effect attacks between the battles against Tyranitar, Ursaluna, Hydreigon, and his team.
Gardevoir followed Alex's command and immediately relayed the necessary orders.
Arcanine lunged forward, trailing embers. He bowled over two fleeing grunts in one bound, then vanished into the smoke. Raticate darted in his wake like a bolt of silver lightning.
They blitzed to Gravik's location near the submarine bay and immediately encountered a Pokémon who blocked the way. Obstagoon skidded to a stop before turning around, arms wide, lips curled in a feral grin.
Arcanine and Raticate completely ignored Obstagoon as they split to its left and right with Extreme Speed and Quick Attack, bypassing it. As Obstagoon turned to respond, it was hit in the back by a pair of Phantom Forces that missed.
Dusknoir and Ceruledge looked at each other, confused, before turning to the equally confused Obstagoon. Then, Dusknoir unleashed Gravity, while Ceruledge used Phantom Force to continue following Arcanine and Raticate.
Obstagoon tried to attack with Night Slash but was blocked by a Brick Break from Dusknoir. The pair exchanged furious, darkened slashes with orange, glowing punches before they were both eventually knocked out and left severely weakened. It was clear, however, that Dusknoir won this battle, since he had managed to delay this threat.
Meanwhile, Arcanine and Raticate encountered Bisharp next, who tried to stop them as well, but just as before, they simply weaved past with their exceptional speed, almost reaching Gravik, who was a step away from the escape pod.
Unfortunately, Gravik could sense his impending capture, so he released his final trump card with one final command.
"Snorlax, Giga Impact!"
The Snorlax that materialized wasted no time as it released a powerful silver punch that devastated everything in front of it. Half the submarine bay was torn apart as a powerful wind pressure blew through the tunnel, sending Ceruledge and Bisharp flying back.
Once Ceruledge and Bisharp regained their senses, Bisharp realized it needed to go back. Ceruledge, however, also realized she needed to delay Bisharp so Arcanine and Raticate could complete their mission.
Bisharp acted first, trying to use Night Slash to knock Ceruledge aside, but she countered with Bitter Blade, neutralizing the force head-on. The pair dueled like ancient swordsmen, with tactics and precision. Bisharp preferred powerful slashes, while Ceruledge favored flourish. In the end, neither won, as they were both knocked out.
Back at the submarine bay, the aftermath of the Giga Impact became apparent as the dust and debris settled, revealing Arcanine and Raticate perfectly fine. A Protect barrier from Arcanine dissipated, while Raticate finished a Screech that had severely weakened Snorlax's Defense.
Unfortunately, Gravik had managed to escape in the chaos through an escape pod.
Since they had failed to stop Gravik, the dynamic duo decided to at least bring back some Champion ranked Pokémon meat to show some effort. Raticate struck first with another Screech, dropping Snorlax's Defense to a crippling minus six stacks. Arcanine followed up with a decisive Close Combat.
Already weakened from the earlier battle and still recovering from the effects of Giga Impact, Snorlax was completely defenseless. With a single orange glowing tackle, Arcanine didn't just knock it out, he killed Snorlax in one clean strike.
Suddenly, the pair received a message from Gardevoir.
"Clean up."
It was a familiar command, which meant they had managed to win the fight. Now, they just had to collect their spoils, and they decided to start with this big lump of Champion-ranked meat.
On the way back, while Arcanine was dragging Snorlax's corpse to Alex, the pair encountered Ceruledge and Dusknoir knocked out. Arcanine immediately bolted back to Alex with Extreme Speed, while Raticate stayed to guard them.
A few seconds later, Arcanine came back with Alex on his back.
Alex dismounted, then administered Revives and Full Restores, bringing the pair of ghosts back from the dead.
"How are you two feeling?" Alex asked.
"Noir."
"Ceru."
"That's good. I was worried for a second there."
Alex then turned to Arcanine and Raticate before noticing Snorlax's corpse, along with a fainted Obstagoon and Bisharp nearby.
"Great job, all of you," Alex complimented.
"Raticate," Raticate explained.
"Oh, I wouldn't be too worried about him. You guys did your jobs perfectly, and I couldn't ask for more. As for Gravik… well, let's just say he's sleeping with the fishes."
Meanwhile, in the Lake of Rage, Gravik's escape pod, which was inside the mouth of an Elite ranked Gyarados, was surrounded by Alex's Gyarados, Milotic, and six massive Schooling Form Wishiwashi, whose sizes easily surpassed that of Gyarados.
If it tried to escape, the captors had more than enough time to launch a Double-Edge each, ensuring the Gyarados would be taken down, even if all of Alex's Pokémon were only at Expert rank. That's assuming Gravik would even want to risk the escape pod being destroyed, possibly drowning him, or worse, attempting to escape with eight Water Pokémon in the water.
In the meantime, they continued to use status moves to bring down the Elite ranked Gyarados's stats to a level that ensured their dominance. Moves like Scary Face, in particular, prevented any plan of escape from even being formed.
Back at the base, Alex continued the cleanup. Unlike previous raids, the facility's servers had survived mostly intact, containing comprehensive records of every employee and trainee who had ever passed through its ranks. There was plenty of other information to be found, but most of it was useless, so Alex had Rotom sift through it for anything useful.
In the meantime, Alex busied himself with gathering what he could. The base held a sizable stockpile of ammunition and supplies, resources he planned to ship back to the farm in Kanto.
Once he was finished, his next priority was securing the area and contacting the League to dispatch a cleanup team. More importantly, he needed official confirmation of Gravik's capture so he could claim the 10 million credit bounty on his head.
"Information found," Rotom suddenly announced through Alex's phone. "The name of the human supremacist organization is Team Dominion."
-----
Support me on Patreon
patreon/babywrath