Alex hadn't hunted Team Dominion in a long time. Their last encounter had been in Sinnoh, when he had accidentally stumbled upon one of their mining operations; before that, there had been their blunder in Hoenn. Since then, they have been far less active, doing their best to keep their movements as quiet as possible.
In terms of their relative threat to the League and to the world, they ranked quite low, with Umbraline far ahead given the sheer amount of information they likely had at their fingertips.
There were other notable Teams as well, such as Team Liminal, a bandit organization that targeted trainers traveling between regions. It was the same organization that Brenner Talric, the man responsible for the deaths of Steelix and Forretress, had once been part of.
There was also Team Reef, which would occasionally target shipments traveling through dangerous waters. They thought they could blame it on roaming Champions in the deep sea but Interpol knew better given how highly ranked they were compared to other organizations.
Alex didn't have a particular reason to hunt Team Dominion down now, given how much ammunition he had in stock, but since they had come knocking on their own, a bit of extra cash wouldn't be so bad. He was down to 80 million credits after buying his ticket to a Paradox Pokémon, after all.
Nemona released her Salamence while the other trainers released their own Flying types, mounting them before taking off for the Great Crater of Paldea. Alex followed along, riding Hydreigon with Grim trailing behind.
It took them a while to reach the crater rim, given the distance and the significant height, but once they crossed over and burst through the cloud cover at the peak, Alex was given a clear view of the infamous landscape of Area Zero.
Below them stretched a fractured terrain of forests, plains, rocky badlands, and scattered wetlands. Towering cliffs ringed the interior, with narrow waterfalls disappearing into the depths. Sparse crystals jutted from the ground, their muted glow accentuating the alien quality of the location. From above, the crater felt immense and layered, a living ecosystem shaped by constant upheaval. It was vast and expansive, far larger than any reserve or exclusion zone Alex had ever seen.
Titan Pokémon moved slowly across the terrain below, each easily 10 to 20 times larger than a typical Pokémon. Even from this distance, their presence dominated the landscape.
Scattered throughout the crater were countless Pokémon nests, clustered along cliffs, forests, and open plains, many of them large enough to be spotted even from high above. Yet there were gaps as well, stretches of land that every nest seemed to give a wide berth.
In the empty patches, lone Paradox Pokémon moved across the terrain, their presence immediately striking as their powerful, Champion ranked auras radiated violence and rage.
Several fortified scientific bases were embedded into the terrain, their structures angular and glaringly out of place against the alien landscape. Even from afar, the materials stood out, built with top-class, Champion ranked components designed to withstand hostile Pokémon.
Nemona and her trainers dived in formation, with Alex following close behind. As they descended, sunlight grew sparse, the surroundings illuminated only by the faint glimmer of scattered crystals. Hostility was apparent from the many territorial Pokémon, but with their lineup and Grim trailing behind, none dared challenge them as they pressed deeper into the crater.
Passing through a few clouds of mist on the way down, they were met with a chaotic battlefield. Over a thousand armed soldiers scattered across the rocky ground at the bottom of the crater, while mind-controlled Pokémon fought at their side. Paradox Pokémon tore through their ranks with devastating force as they responded to the trainers hired as guards. Smoke and dust swirled around collapsing structures, flashes of elemental attacks lit the hazy air, and a few lab assistants darted between the chaos.
Nemona dove in sharply, slicing through the air before landing in the center of the densest cluster of soldiers she could find. Dust and debris erupted around her as she hit the ground, and immediately began releasing her Pokémon: Meowscarada, Lycanroc, Pawmot, Goodra, Dudunsparce, Orthworm, Kommo-o, Ribombee, Milotic, Dusknoir, Infernape, Scream Tail, and her Salamence. Her team surged forward, battering through the soldiers' ranks and instantly tipping the battle in their favor.
The other trainers followed suit, fanning out across the area to strike at all hostile forces. Some paired up with trainers struggling to hold their ground, combining their Pokémon's attacks in coordinated, devastating assaults.
Alex, meanwhile, immediately targeted the main fight, a deadly 2v2 between four Champion ranked trainers. A man with ashy blond hair in hiking attire and a woman with blue-and-red hair in a hoodie faced off against a pair of heavily armored opponents. It was clear at a glance who the "good" and "bad" sides were.
Alex glanced at Grim behind him, then pointed at one of the armed men while patting Hydreigon and gesturing toward the other. Their approach had gone unnoticed during the steep dive, allowing them to get the jump on their opponents.
Grim crashed down on one of the men, killing him on impact, while Hydreigon and Alex struck the other with equal force. The fallen men's Pokémon immediately turned around, ready to rampage, but their opponents were not about to let the opportunity slip. They struck with precision, dealing heavy damage to the distracted Pokémon.
Alex immediately released his entire team, drowning out the surroundings with their sheer numbers. They fought in a chaotic melee while maintaining a 3-to-1 advantage. With their coordination, they overwhelmed the remaining Pokémon, securing control of the immediate area. Once it was cleared, the ash-blond-haired man stepped forward.
"Reinforcements?" he asked Alex.
"Yeah. Where's Professor Briar?" Alex replied.
"Inside the lab. She's been taken hostage, and we can't get in without putting her at risk."
"Any windows we can see through?"
"None," the woman with blue-and-red hair said. "They're all security risks."
"Alright," Alex said, releasing his Crobats. "Scan the building."
The Crobats immediately sent out supersonic soundwaves, mapping the structure, but the waves couldn't penetrate the interior.
"It's no use," the woman said. "These walls can resist Paradox Pokémon. Two Crobats won't break through."
Alex nodded, weighing their options. "Then this is what we'll do."
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Meanwhile, inside the Zero Lab, in the time machine room with walls covered in crystals, Professor Briar floated unconscious in front of a Beheeyem. She was a woman with short blonde hair wearing a lab coat and was the lead scientist studying Terastallization and the Great Crater of Paldea.
Nearby, a well-dressed man with silver hair stood off to the side, watching in silence. Around the room, more than a dozen gunmen trained their weapons on the main door, each accompanied by a Pokémon with blank eyes and Dominion Restraints fitted around their necks.
"How much longer?" the man asked impatiently.
They had been waiting months for the perfect distraction to thin out the security in the Zero Lab, and that rampaging Roaring Moon was exactly what they had been waiting for. They managed to take down everyone in the lab while distracting the rest of the security in the area.
Now, all that they needed to do was retrieve information on the artificial intelligence developed by the previous professors directly from Professor Briar's brain. Once they got it, Team Dominion would be one step closer to ruling the world, and he would walk away with a hefty paycheck for his trouble.
'Soon,' Beheeyem replied in his mind.
"We don't have much time," the man said. "Hugo and Vincent are already down. Soon they will be bursting through that door, so hurry the fuck up."
Almost on cue, the door to the room exploded inward with a thundering crash. Paradox Pokémon charged in first, absorbing the initial barrage of gunfire before more Pokémon flooded into the room behind them.
In no time, they managed to take down the mind-controlled Pokémon who rushed to defend, while some used their bodies to block incoming gunfire before being recalled into their Poké Balls. It was a simple tactic that sacrificed health in exchange for precious time.
Their trainers followed close behind, including the two Alex had encountered outside.
The man immediately raised his gun and pressed it to Professor Briar's head as Beheeyem continued its mental probing.
"Stop or I will kill her here and now," the man shouted.
At once, all the Pokémon froze and turned to their trainers for instructions, while the gunmen took the opportunity to reload.
"That's right," the silver-haired man said. "Be good little boys and girls and wait while I finish my business. We'll be out of here before you know it."
"I don't think so," came a garbled voice from behind him.
In a panic, he pulled the trigger by accident, but another finger behind the trigger prevented it from fully pulling back. The man only had enough time to widen his eyes in shock before he was knocked out cold with a blow to the back of the head.
His Pokémon immediately leapt out to confront the shadow behind their trainer, but a few swift swipes sent them back into their Poké Balls, including the Beheeyem, which hadn't finished its task.
"Clean them up," Alex said as he retrieved his Dark type energy while catching Professor Briar mid-fall.
Before he could move, Nemona's shout rang out as she entered the chamber and released her Pokémon. "Stop right there! Release the Professor now, or you'll regret it."
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