"Are you sure about this, boss?" a Champion ranked base leader of Team Dominion asked. "They could ask for reinforcements from that guy who took down 4 airships on his own."
"It's fine," the boss, Logan Kane, the Champion ranked trainer in charge of Team Dominion in Johto, replied. "I've been testing their defenses ever since they started construction on the property and have found that Alex Wattson doesn't show up for just anything. Most likely, he'll only help out when the base is almost destroyed or when the leader is eliminated."
"They've got drones, though, and in greater numbers than our own. Reports also say they have even more Champions now, ever since they took in the nests in the surrounding area."
"HQ mentioned they weren't owned, which means they don't employ standard team formations and act more as a buffer for floods. We'll be able to easily take them down like normal wild Pokémon. More importantly, their side only has 2 Champions supported by Elites, while we have over 10 Champions to work with between all of us. As for the drones, ours are superior in quantity when supported by our armies, so we don't have to worry. We just need to do our jobs and take down any Champions they send our way."
"So, what's the plan?" a female base leader asked. "We rush in, kill everything, and take the base?"
"Given our advantage in numbers," Logan answered, "we'll need to do this fast before Alex teleports over and wrecks us. This way, we bleed their finances and force their bounty hunters to overextend, making them easier to hunt."
The base leader beside him exhaled heavily, giving up on arguing with the boss. He believed that continuing to do the bare minimum, as they had for decades, was the right call. It wasn't as if they would achieve anything significant by helping the local underworld organizations stave off the bounty hunters. Besides, they didn't have any grand plans for the region for now, given all the setbacks HQ had faced over the years.
"Alright, get ready," Logan warned as he and all the trainers released their Pokémon.
Nearly a dozen Champions supported by 100 Elites were released onto the mountaintop they were standing on to observe the base below them. Directly below them stood an army of over 10,000 soldiers mixed with humanoid androids, along with an army of Dominated Pokémon, all ready to charge headlong against the Champion ranked wall of the base.
"Go!" Logan commanded over the radio before charging forth with his Pokémon, who opened a barrage of attacks straight toward the walls that survived the first barrage before folding inward under the second.
Once an opening was made, the ground troops rushed in and began a firefight with the base's sparsely distributed turrets. At the same time, they destroyed the hydroponics farm on the west side of the base as they pushed toward the center, where the main hub was located.
They didn't get far before the drones were activated, and they were swarmed by a few thousand quadcopter drones that moved in formation, shooting down swathes of rabble at an insane pace. They fought through it, raining drones down around them as they opened fire while hiding behind debris for cover.
That was when their bosses arrived and started taking down the drones in droves, pushing forward alongside the ground troops.
They were doing an excellent job against the defenses, more than able to reach the main hub in under 10 minutes. It was the fruition of their research, greater strength and numbers, and the preparations they had made.
Before they reached the main hub, however, they finally met the base's bounty hunters in a clash that promised to dye the battlefield in blood and debris. Alongside them came a flood of Pokémon from the north side, where the backyard was located, pinching the invaders between a professional, well-trained army of bounty hunters and a wild rabble of Pokémon.
Fortunately for them, Alex Wattson wasn't in attendance, allowing them to stave off the bounty hunters, massacre the Pokémon flood, and reach the main hub, ready to begin their domination.
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Half an hour before Team Dominion attacked, Alex, Morgan, and Dale received alerts on their phones about an army approaching from the west. They were still in the middle of the dinner celebration, with all the bounty hunters, staff, and prospective trainees in full attendance, when the soft alert of an impending invasion came through.
Morgan and Dale immediately began discussing countermeasures, while Alex simply watched from the guest seats. This was a prime opportunity to see how they would handle a problem of this magnitude. Most importantly, it was a chance to gauge their threshold before they decided to ask for help.
"This looks like a pretty big army," Nyx said, having received the soft alert as well. "I don't think the base can handle it."
"Yeah," Rhea agreed as she peeked over Nyx's phone. "My drones could easily handle half of those numbers, but this is just too many. Are you planning on doing something, Alex?"
"Not unless they ask for help," Alex replied, taking a bite of his steak. "They need to learn to ask for help; otherwise, they wouldn't be very good leaders."
"Wouldn't they just try to prove they're strong enough, though?" Kaia asked. "It sounds more like a trap than a test."
"Either way," Alex said, "they need to learn this lesson."
The dinner continued for another 20 minutes before Morgan brought it to an abrupt end, announcing that the base was under attack. She guided the non-combatants to the bunker below, which consisted of roughly 70% of the people at the base, while the remaining 30%, the bounty hunters, stayed behind to coordinate the defense.
Alex and his girls were assigned to serve as the final line of defense for the bunker, while Morgan and Dale moved out to confront the attackers, supported by the nests in the backyard.
"Not bad, but I'd give them a barely passing grade," Alex said, waiting beside Lyra, Mika, Nyx, and Rhea.
"What would have been the correct answer?" Lyra asked.
"They should have realized the force was too large for them to handle alone, and asked for help instead of putting us in this position," Alex replied.
"Maybe they thought Rhea's defenses would be more than enough?" Mika asked.
"Which is why it's important they learn to judge their capabilities properly."
Ten minutes later, the battle began, with the wall breaking apart and an army of assorted soldiers, mind-controlled Pokémon, and humanoid androids flooding into the west side of the base before spreading out and destroying everything in their path.
"The turrets barely did anything," Nyx complained. "It was the same when the base in Kanto was attacked. I think they're too sparsely distributed. We'd need to double or triple their numbers if we want to fight off an army with them alone."
"The point of the turrets," Rhea replied, "isn't to win us fights, but to make sure we don't get rushed easily by just anyone. They ensure that anyone who tries to attack makes it worth our while. I mean, look at all the resources they're delivering to our doorstep with that army of theirs. It'll more than make up for the losses of our drones and turrets."
Each soldier was equipped with heavy armor, a main gun and a sidearm, and enough ammunition to take down a few trainers and their Pokémon. There were also androids containing precious metals and mind-controlled Pokémon with unexperimented, valuable meat. Given that their numbers were in the tens of thousands, it made for a massive army that, once conquered, would leave plenty of spoils for the victor to enjoy.
Not to mention the Champions and Elites behind them, whose Pokémon would provide additional high ranked meat, as well as the bounties likely attached to their trainers' heads.
Compared to an angry lone Champion who would charge in and likely die to the turrets alone, it was clear that the former offered far more resources upon victory.
As for their losses, the turrets, the wall, the drones, the hydroponics farm, and infrastructure repairs, half of those could be rebuilt using the spoils, while the other half could be covered with the bounties. It was a negligible loss compared to the gains, just like how Alex now had a pair of airships in exchange for repairing the base.
The battle continued, with the hydroponics farm largely destroyed as the bounty hunters and the nests emerged to meet their invaders. They fought to a standstill, with the base's defenders managing to halt them just outside the main hub using their coordinated defensive formation. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for the flood of Pokémon, which was quickly losing numbers. It was clear they weren't built for this kind of clash, nor had they received any training to protect themselves.
The Champions of the nest ran amok but were quickly brought under control by the Elite ranked trainers, while the Elites and lower ranks were picked off one by one. Between the Dominated Pokémon, androids, and soldiers, they simply didn't have the numbers or momentum to continue their assault. Slowly, they retreated, devastated by their losses.
With the north side cleared, half of the invading army circled around the bounty hunters, splitting into two groups to flank from the north and breach the main hub.
Alex watched the battle unfold and shook his head in disappointment. They shouldn't have sent the nests in unsupervised unless they had the training to back up their assault. Unlike the nests at the base in Kanto, which were trained to maintain at least a Protect rotation while allowing their stronger forces to rampage against the weaker rabble.
Alex was about to send out his Pokemon to meet the invaders who managed to enter the main hub when he suddenly received a message from Morgan.
"Alex, we… can't handle them," Morgan said with difficulty. "We need help."
"Better late than never," Alex replied with a smile, deciding to raise their grade from passing to satisfactory.
His smile turned menacing as he released his Pokémon and prepared to clean up the invaders in one fell swoop.
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