Upon confirming that Orvan Kestrel was indeed there, Alex immediately had Mantine turn around and gain elevation. Their target was quite skittish, which meant a blind assault could allow him to escape. They needed a plan that guaranteed his capture.
“How do you want to do this?” Alex asked Rhea.
This was her revenge, so he would let her call the shots. Knowing her, she would either want a bombing run or some form of slow torture to get it out of her system. A bombing run would be preferable since Orvan wouldn’t be able to get far if caught by surprise, while slow torture would require capturing him first, which was easier said than done.
“We go in, capture him, strap him to a bomb, and watch a beautiful fireworks show,” Rhea answered.
“Alright.”
Since they were going for a capture, Alex needed to think of a way to slip inside without alerting Orvan’s Pokémon. If he remembered correctly, Orvan was a Champion ranked trainer who specialized in Flying and Ghost types. The Ghost type Pokémon Alex could handle himself thanks to his Dark typing. The Flying types, however, were going to be a pain to deal with since he didn’t have his full team with him. He would have to make do with just Mantine, Gardevoir, Gothitelle, Espeon, Rotom, Ditto, and Aegislash.
After considering it, Alex realized he didn’t have much of a choice other than relying on speed and stealth. He couldn’t investigate the cliffside because it might trigger some kind of alarm, nor could he attempt a surround since he lacked the manpower. His best option was to get as close to Orvan as possible and chase him down.
“How much firepower did you bring with you, Rhea?” Alex asked.
He needed every bit of help he could get if he wanted to guarantee Orvan’s capture and ensure the girls’ safety.
“I have five Elite ranked exosuits and my Mauler. I also have over a hundred androids, but I don’t have Magnezone to control them. I have my Bunker, a few Stormline v2.0s, a Bomb, and a whole lot of assorted grenades.”
Alex calculated the odds and found them to be just enough to pull it off. Hopefully, Orvan wasn’t as much of a coward as his file otherwise suggested.
“Alright, here’s what we’re going to do…”
-----
Orvan was having a relaxing afternoon on his cliffside balcony, a woman on each arm, while the sun slowly set over the horizon. Alola was simply the perfect place to hide from Team Dominion because of the presence of the Tapu. There was simply no way for them to slowly worm their way into this region with their asinine ideology of discriminating against Pokémon.
Of course, there was Sinnoh as well, but the waters there ran too deep; he couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t be bothered by the significantly more powerful Underworld presence. Besides, with a view like this, in this sparsely visited corner of the region, his choice was pretty obvious.
“Warning: incoming Flying type Pokemon heading towards our exact location,” an alarm blared.
“Threat level?” Orvan asked.
“Three Champion ranked presences detected with multiple Elites.”
“Pull up a visual.”
A projection materialized in front of him, showing an approaching black Mantine. The dimensions were off, however, as multiple humanoid figures stood atop it in formation. Fortunately, he could recognize that armored Mantine anywhere. It was the monstrosity that destroyed his base in Unova. It belonged to that psychopath bounty hunter, Alex Wattson.
“Shit! I have to escape,” Orvan said as he turned back, but suddenly realized he was too late.
If he remembered correctly, Alex was able to destroy the face of an entire mountain with a single device. If he ran for it, he would be caught in the blast and buried under the rubble. He had to sacrifice his Pokémon if he wanted to survive, and given the amount of firepower sitting on that Mantine, he doubted that one would be enough.
“Fuck!” Orvan cursed as he released three of his Champion ranked Pokémon onto the balcony. “Unfezant, Braviary, Mandibuzz, delay that threat and defend the base from any device they lob at it. You may escape and rendezvous at Point Omega after 5 minutes.”
With a screech, all three Pokémon took off, flying toward the giant armored Mantine while Orvan made his way to the escape tunnel. He didn’t even take the time to pack and simply ran for it, leaving the confused women to their own devices.
“Warning: incoming unknown projectile heading toward our exact location at high speed,” the alarm blared.
“What now?” Orvan shouted, continuing toward the escape tunnel. “Pull up a visual!”
A projection appeared in front of him, showing a black mass dropping from the sky toward the top of his cliffside underground base. It appeared to be firing multiple projectiles toward the cliff directly above him.
“Shit!” Orvan shouted as he released his Champion ranked Cofagrigus. “Protect me!”
Boom! Boom!! BOOM!!!
As tremors shook the underground base, Cofagrigus opened its sarcophagus, revealing a mummy inside. Illusory ghostly hands grabbed Orvan, dragged him inside, and the sarcophagus quickly shut.
CRASH!!!
The ceiling above Cofagrigus, standing alone in the tunnel, collapsed, burying it under rubble and blocking its path to the escape tunnel. It escaped from the rubble using Shadow Claw and dug its way out to reach an open tunnel. Its sarcophagus then opened slightly, releasing a Champion ranked Chandelure, which immediately unleashed Flamethrower on the debris. A Golurk followed, beginning to dig a new path toward the escape tunnel and bypassing the blockage.
From the hole above, a 5-meter-tall humanoid monstrosity came crashing through the debris, crouching with difficulty as it forced its way into the low tunnel, while its legs slowly began to melt under Chandelure’s Flamethrower. A hatch opened on its back, and an all-black exosuit slipped free before opening fire on the Chandelure with four autocannons mounted on its forearms and shoulders. A shadow then blitzed toward Cofagrigus from above the wreckage.
The Chandelure ignored the damage it was taking and changed targets to the shadow when a second Elite ranked Cofagrigus emerged and used Protect, blocking the Flamethrower and allowing the shadow to continue its path toward the Champion ranked Cofagrigus.
The shadow threw a heavy punch at the Ghost type Pokemon, but it was blocked with Protect. The Golurk abandoned its tunneling to confront the shadow, but before it could close in, another shadow split from the one engaging Cofagrigus and intercepted it. It was a Champion ranked Aegislash.
Once Cofagrigus’s Protect wore off, the shadow closed the distance and began its assault, dealing tremendous damage to the Ghost type Pokémon with every Dark energy-coated blow. The Cofagrigus attempted to retaliate, but to no avail. The shadow was either too fast for ordinary attacks or too well defended when Ghost type attacks were used.
Eventually, casualties began mounting as the Chandelure fainted first under the exosuit’s assault. Taking hundreds of Elite ranked Pokémon moves was simply too devastating.
This freed up the Elite ranked Cofagrigus, which used Phantom Force to ambush the Golurk from behind while it was facing the Aegislash. Together, they made short work of the Champion ranked Pokémon before finally surrounding the Champion ranked Cofagrigus, which was already on its last legs.
After a few more hits, Cofagrigus fainted as the shadow finally revealed itself. It was Alex, who immediately opened the sarcophagus and pulled a distraught Orvan from inside.
“We finally meet, Orvan Kestrel,” Alex said. “You were quite the slippery little weasel the last time I tried to find you.”
“I like living, after all,” Orvan replied with a shrug.
“Understandable, though unfortunate, as your actions seem to contradict that.”
“How so?”
“Do you remember having a pair of parents with the last name Argent killed? I have their daughter here with me, and she would like a word with you,” Alex said as he tossed Orvan over to Rhea, who threw out a few hand-sized spheres that expanded into metal tentacles and wrapped Orvan up like a present, complete with a bow on top.
“Hello. My name is Rheabel Argent. You killed my father. Prepare to die,” Rhea said simply as she started setting up a throne for Orvan made of explosives.
“Mmm… mmm…” Orvan murmured as he struggled against his restraints.
Unfortunately, even with his Champion ranked strength, he couldn’t escape. There were simply too many tentacles binding him. Not to mention the fact that he rarely pushed his physical limits apart from maintaining an attractive body.
Alex, meanwhile, took out his phone to contact Rotom inside his backpack, Lifeline, which was in control of a few dozen humanoid androids that were fighting off Orvan’s Champion ranked Flying type Pokémon.
On a projector, Alex could see in real time that the fight was going quite well. Gardevoir and Gothitelle were fending off Unfezant and Braviary, while most of the highly accurate gunfire was focused on Mandibuzz. The girls, meanwhile, were having fun using Stormline to defend themselves. They had more than enough training at the base, which was standard for all employees, so they knew their way around an autocannon.
“I’m done here,” Rhea said as she wiped the sweat from her forehead.
She had nearly been roasted inside her Mauler, which would require quite a few upgrades. Who knew a Champion ranked Flamethrower from a Chandelure could easily penetrate her defenses?
“Let’s take this outside and finish up then,” Alex said as they made their way to the top of the cliff through the tunnel they had made using Rhea’s more penetrative grenades.
Once outside, they placed Orvan in plain view before Gardevoir teleported Alex and Rhea away. The Flying type Champions, already battered from the battle, retreated when they noticed Orvan had been captured and bound. They judged that an exchange and quick escape was the best option, so they took Orvan and attempted to fly away in a tight defensive formation.
“I can’t believe you talked me out of using the Bomb,” Rhea complained as she prepared the detonator.
“So we can be hunted down by Tapu Fini for destroying a large part of Vast Poni Canyon? No thanks,” Alex said, shaking his head.
“Eh, I guess you’re right. That would have been annoying,” Rhea said before pressing the button and cheering, “To closure!”
BOOOM!!!
A massive explosion erupted over the mountains of Vast Poni Canyon where Orvan’s Pokémon were carrying him. A shockwave followed, kicking up dust across the mountain tops, but nothing more. The fireball was magnificent and took a while to clear, finally revealing a fainted Unfezant, Braviary, and Mandibuzz, which Gardevoir retrieved via Teleport.
All the girls clapped at the exciting view. It was an amazing ending to a rather exciting day.
Alex stepped close to Rhea and patted her head before saying in a gentle tone, “To closure!”
Rhea smiled and hugged Alex’s waist, knowing her revenge was finally complete. She could finally focus on her new life, leaving her old one as Rheabel Argent behind, scattered across Vast Poni Canyon.
