Alex quickly realized the alien spacecraft coming apart wasn't a spacecraft at all but a Metagross nest numbering in the hundreds of thousands, the largest nest he had ever heard of.

The internal barrel wasn't machinery either. It was a mass of fused Beldum, Metang, and Metagross corpses. They had perished the instant they unleashed that monstrously powerful energy beam, the heat generated by the attack so immense that it had welded their bodies into a single charred structure. The beam's energy readings had even surpassed those of Rhea's B.O.M.B., making it the most powerful attack Alex had ever witnessed.

Guzzlord definitely deserved its rest after swallowing all 5 shots fired at them. Alex had no idea what kind of side effects that would have on the poor Ultra Beast, but it had saved all of their lives. It could sleep for as long as it wanted, perhaps as long as it needed.

Focusing back on the battle, Alex immediately noticed that these Pokémon were far, far more intelligent than any swarm he had encountered. From the very beginning, it was obvious they were testing Rhea's defenses.

The wave of charging Beldum, Metang, and Metagross initially rushed headlong into Rhea's bombardment. Then they began weaving left and right at high speed, slipping through gaps in the barrage before experimenting with increasingly erratic evasive patterns as they closed the distance. They were analyzing the firing patterns of the entire drone swarm in real time, steadily reducing their casualties with every adjustment as they approached. Already, they were surviving long enough to push closer and closer to the airship.

Naturally, the adaptation came at a steep cost. Thousands upon thousands of Pokémon below Elite rank were shot down within the swarm. There was simply no slipping through an all-encompassing barrage from nearly a thousand drones, each firing no fewer than 12 thousand rounds per minute. The closer they came to the airship, the denser the storm of gunfire became.

Perhaps recognizing that individual maneuvering had reached its limit, the swarm fused together once more, forming a massive convex shield. The fallen became armor for the living, their fused corpses absorbing the torrent of fire as the survivors advanced behind them. It didn't bode well considering how many of them were still left.

"Rhea! Send out a B.O.M.B. Skew it to one side and scatter them," Alex ordered. "Rotom, prepare to turn the entire formation to follow them."

"Roger!" she exclaimed.

"Affirmative," Rotom replied.

A porthole at the bow of the airship slid open, revealing a 5-meter-long missile. It blasted from the launch tube, racing toward the swarm under the cover of a relentless stream of gunfire that concealed its approach from the Metagross nest.

A brilliant, silent explosion blossomed along the swarm's flank. The blast hurled the entire formation sideways while simultaneously gouging out a massive section of it. The wall of fused corpses shattered apart, blackened remains scattering into the void, while more than half of the surviving Beldum, Metang, and Metagross joined them as fresh corpses.

The B.O.M.B., after all, possessed destructive power comparable to the energy beam they had fired earlier, the very attack that had killed and fused so many of their own into the charred barrel at the nest's core.

Perhaps realizing that neither overwhelming bombardment, swarm tactics, nor a shield wall could defeat their opponents, the Metagross nest switched strategies. The surviving Pokémon immediately began fusing together, 8 Beldum at a time, forming a swarm of Mega Metagross.

The countless weaker individuals had been culled, leaving only Elites, Champions, and Master ranked Pokémon to comprise the new force. As a result, the swarm's overall strength averaged around the higher end of Elite rank. Their numbers had also compressed dramatically, shrinking from the tens of thousands that remained to well over a thousand.

“Marvelous!” Professor Cozmo exclaimed over the comms. “They sacrificed the life force of the weaker Pokémon to force the stronger survivors to evolve all the way into Mega Metagross, all without the aid of a trainer's Aura. This is an extraordinary discovery. Please tell me we recorded everything.”

“We did, Professor,” one of the scientists replied. “Every sensor we have deployed captured everything.”

“Excellent!” Cozmo said, barely containing his excitement. “This will be a study for the history books!”

Alex, Rhea, and Sable didn't share in the excitement. It was one thing to defend against a flood of weak Pokémon, no matter how numerous they were, but it was an entirely different matter to face a swarm this powerful while it still numbered in the hundreds. If anything, the discovery did little to bolster their confidence.

“Predictions, Rhea?” Alex asked.

“I can shave them down to 300 before my drones start taking casualties,” Rhea answered as the Mega Metagross army advanced, weaving through her drone’s barrage with coordinated evasive maneuvers. “I can probably eliminate another 100 before all my drones are destroyed, leaving around 200 Champion and Master ranked Mega Metagross to tear the ship apart.”

“How about another B.O.M.B.?”

“Maybe, but I'm predicting they'll destroy it before it reaches them. Even if it detonates, it won't take out more than a few hundred. They're fast enough to clear the immediate blast radius.”

“Send it anyway,” Alex ordered. “I'll have Dusknoir and Ceruledge escort it.”

“Hokey Pokey!”

A second port slid open, revealing another missile that immediately launched. At Alex's command, Dusknoir and Ceruledge landed atop its nose as it accelerated toward the approaching army.

Just as Rhea had predicted, the Mega Metagross opened fire with Psychics, Flash Cannons, and Hyper Beams. However, with the two Ghost types alternating Protect, they defended against every attack aimed at the missile.

Just before detonation, Dusknoir and Ceruledge slipped into the Shadow World, beginning their return to Alex as the explosion rippled through the center of the Mega Metagross formation. Again, Rhea's prediction proved accurate.

The swarm scattered in every direction, most escaping the blast radius thanks to their tremendous speed. Those caught at the center had no such luck, their shattered bodies joining the growing field of corpses drifting through the void. When the blast finally faded, only around 600 Mega Metagross remained. Their average strength, however, had risen, now sitting firmly at the lower end of Champion rank.

“What do you think of our chances now?” Alex asked.

“Doable, but your Pokémon will have to act as a distraction against those at the Master rank to buy my drones enough time to wear them down. Given their strength, it won't be an easy fight.”

“That's fine.”

Alex released Raticate and had him Mega Evolve, gaining the Ghost typing that allowed him to drift through the vacuum. Knight immediately mounted Grim and set off, followed by Aegislash, Dusknoir, Ceruledge, and Mega Raticate. Ditto joined them as well, transforming into another Mega Raticate before charging into the fray.

It wasn't a large or particularly imposing force considering what they were up against, but they held several critical advantages. Their Ghost typing, expansive movesets, and flawless coordination gave them the tools to survive. At the very least, they should be able to hold their own even while surrounded by such a massive and overwhelmingly powerful army, despite all appearances.

Detecting a new move from their enemy, the Mega Metagross swarm immediately responded by bombarding Alex's Pokémon with a relentless barrage of Psychics, Flash Cannons, and Hyper Beams. In response, Alex's team grouped together and adopted a defensive formation. They alternated Protect with volleys of Shadow Balls while using every opening to stack status moves that enhanced their combat abilities.

Several Mega Metagross fell in quick succession, while the rest of the swarm continued to wade through Rhea's unrelenting gunfire. A few seconds later, the Mega Metagross concluded that Alex's Pokémon posed little immediate threat while also proving frustratingly difficult to kill. They were instantly relegated to the lowest priority.

The swarm resumed its charge toward the airship, leaving behind only a dozen of its strongest Master ranked Mega Metagross to occupy Alex's team. From Alex's perspective, it was a worthwhile trade. Champion ranked opponents could be overwhelmed through superior numbers, but Masters belonged to an entirely different league and demanded respect, respect that Rhea's Elite ranked drones simply couldn’t afford to give.

Even so, the diversion allowed Rhea to shave another 100 Mega Metagross from the advancing force, reducing their numbers to 500. As they pushed through the storm of bullets at much closer range, their numbers continued to dwindle until only a little over 200 remained.

For all that, they still weren't out of the woods yet. The surviving Mega Metagross finally reached their objective. Roughly half peeled away to distract the drones while the remainder slammed into the airship's hull and began tearing it apart.

This decision proved fatal, however, as it allowed Rhea to concentrate her firepower. The drones reorganized, assigning 5 drones to each attacking Mega Metagross. Thousands of rounds poured into every target, stripping away their health in mere seconds. At the same time, the airship's reinforced hull withstood the assault, buying Rhea the time she needed to further thin their numbers.

Unfortunately, not all of the attackers were stopped. Several Master ranked Mega Metagross breached the hull, smashed their way into the airship, and immediately began wreaking havoc inside. If even one of them reached a gravity engine, Alex and everyone aboard would be stranded in the void, assuming the resulting explosion didn't kill them first.

The real battle had just begun.