"Alert! Hull breaches detected on the forward port side, forward starboard side, amidships port side, aft port side, and aft starboard side!" Rotom announced over the intercom.

Alex had already anticipated the breaches and was waiting in the living area near the access point leading to the hull’s exterior corridors. Without hesitation, he released the rest of his Pokémon to intercept the intruders before they could penetrate deeper into the airship.

"Gardevoir, keep them occupied. Watch your surroundings, and be mindful of their Explosion. Rotom, seal the breaches," Alex ordered.

Immediately, his reconfigured attack teams sprang into action. Kommo-o, Arcanine, and Togekiss raced toward the forward port side. Shiny Lucario, Gallade, and Lopunny sprinted for the forward starboard side. Azumarill, Grimmsnarl, and Urshifu headed to the amidships port side. Seismitoad, Breloom, and Raichu rushed toward the aft port side. Finally, Hydreigon, Zoroark, and Clawitzer charged for the aft starboard side.

Fortunately, the Master ranked Mega Metagross were still focused on widening the breaches in the hull instead of pushing deeper into the airship and reaching the gravity engines. That decision bought Alex and his teams the precious time they needed to intercept the invaders before they could inflict truly irreparable damage.

Once the teams arrived, they immediately surrounded the Mega Metagross, trapping each one in a three-sided formation. They took turns using Protect, completely nullifying every attack the Mega Metagross launched while leaving no opening for a direct counterattack. At the same time, they seized every opportunity to inflict Burn and reduce the Mega Metagross’ Attack as much as possible.

Thankfully, Mega Metagross no longer possessed Clear Body. Otherwise, they would have been immune to the Attack drops, and an unreduced Explosion from even one of them would have utterly devastated the airship.

As for the breaches, they were being blocked off by the androids under Rotom’s control. Working in coordinated teams, the machines welded specialized metal slabs over the openings, gradually sealing them shut despite the relentless assault from outside.

"How’s the battle going, Rhea?" Alex asked.

"I’ve lost about half of my space drones," Rhea replied with a frown. "The Mega Metagross have gotten smart enough to dodge the gunfire at point-blank range, causing the drones to shoot each other instead. I really need to update them with a friendly-fire avoidance protocol."

"What about their numbers?"

"Fewer than 50 remain. Most are still trying to breach the hull or destroy the emergency patches Rotom is welding into place. As for your space team, they’re taking longer than expected."

"The Master ranked Mega Metagross they’re facing have started using evasive maneuvers to stall them," Alex said. "They’re adapting with every passing second this battle drags on."

"If they’re anything like your Metagross back at the base, I’m not surprised," Rhea replied. "Psychic types like them can share information through a collective hive mind, learning from every mistake almost instantly. At this rate, they’ll eventually figure out how to counter everything we’re doing."

"What are the chances this is just a vanguard force sent to learn about us?" Sable asked, genuine concern creeping into her voice.

"I wouldn’t worry too much about that," Professor Cozmo said. "Even if there are more of them hidden throughout the asteroid belt, armed with everything they’ve learned from this battle, they’ll have a difficult time pursuing us once this fight is over. They’re already expending a tremendous amount of energy just to maintain this assault. By the time they reach the Moon Base, they’ll be forced to contend with an entirely different set of defenses."

Alex was only a Champion ranked trainer who relied heavily on drones and advanced technology to win this battle. Once the invaders approached the planet or the Moon Base, however, they would have to contend with an entire army of Master ranked trainers, some commanding Legendary Pokémon. On top of that, no two trainers fought the same way, so whatever they learned from battling Alex would be of little use against the vastly different tactics awaiting them.

BOOM! BOOM!! BOOM!!!

Without warning, multiple explosions erupted throughout the airship. The massive vessel convulsed as violent tremors rippled through its frame, throwing everyone off balance.

"Warning. Additional hull breaches detected. Champion ranked Mega Metagross have breached the hull, while the Master ranked Mega Metagross inside have used Explosion. Thirteen additional Mega Metagross have entered the airship," Rotom announced.

"Gardevoir, get on it," Alex ordered.

Gardevoir immediately dispatched the defense teams in groups of three to intercept the new wave of intruders while redirecting the attack teams to reinforce the threatened sectors. They repeated the same strategy as before, surrounding each Mega Metagross, trapping it in place, and taking turns using Protect to nullify its attacks. The battle devolved into a deadly game of whack-a-mole as fresh breaches appeared throughout the airship.

More and more holes were torn through the hull, but the invaders’ numbers were finally beginning to dwindle. That gave the surviving drones enough breathing room to assist Rotom by plugging the breaches with their perfectly spherical bodies until permanent repairs could be completed. It was precisely why they had been designed with that shape in the first place.

At last, Raticate reported that the remaining Master ranked Mega Metagross they were facing had been eliminated. Their disciplined use of Protect had completely shut down the enemy’s offensive, allowing Alex’s teams to dominate every engagement. As for the possibility that the hive mind had learned from witnessing the move, that was a problem better left for the League to solve.

With Raticate and the space teams finally freed up, they turned their attention to the battle outside the airship. One by one, the remaining Mega Metagross were hunted down and destroyed until none remained, leaving behind nothing but a drifting mountain of metallic corpses suspended in the surrounding void.

"Congratulations on a successful defense," Professor Cozmo said. "I supposed it would be best for us to return now given the circumstances."

"Not before we collect the loot," Rhea interjected. "There are too many valuable corpses out there to just leave behind. There were over a hundred Master ranked Metagross before they fused, you know."

The majority of those Master ranked Metagross had been killed by the two B.O.M.B.s before they could fuse. Combined with the Mega Metagross destroyed after the fusion, there was an enormous haul of Master ranked corpses waiting to be recovered.

Even if not all of Alex’s Pokémon could consume their metallic bodies, he could always trade them to the League in exchange for other Master ranked resources. The sheer value of the haul brought him one massive leap closer to reaching the Master rank himself.

"Rotom," Alex called out. "Begin cleanup operations. Once everything has been recovered and the airship has been properly repaired, set a course back to the Moon."

The androids reinforced the emergency repairs, sealing the damaged sections of the hull while rebuilding the destroyed exterior corridors. Outside, Rhea’s surviving drones gathered the wreckage of their fallen counterparts as the gravity engines slowly drew in the countless corpses drifting through the void. Many had been blasted hundreds of kilometers away by the force of the repeated explosions.

Alex’s Pokémon finally earned a well-deserved rest in the habitat deck, with Guzzlord peacefully asleep in the middle of the meadow. After a brief examination, Professor Cozmos concluded that it was showing signs of energy saturation, which, in Pokémon terms, simply meant it was full.

It was yet another discovery to add to the growing body of knowledge on Guzzlord, despite its seemingly bottomless appetite, it did have a limit, one that appeared to require consuming the equivalent of at least 5 city-destroying quantities of energy before it was finally satisfied.

"Surprisingly, quite a few of the Beldum, Metang, and Metagross survived," Rhea noted as she reviewed the casualty report. "Should we put them down? They might still be connected to the hive mind."

"Leave a handful alive," Professor Cozmo requested. "We’ll need live specimens for testing. As for the rest... regrettably, yes, they should be euthanized. There’s no telling how deeply the hive mind has altered their cognition to sustain such a vast collective. The odds are high that they’ve lost whatever individuality they once possessed. Leaving any others alive could pose an unacceptable risk. If they remain connected to the hive mind in any capacity, they could endanger the entire planet."

At the professor’s recommendation, Alex had his Pokémon execute all but a handful of the surviving Metagross army. It was an unfortunate necessity. Their willingness to sacrifice even their own kind suggested the hive mind had stripped away any sense of individuality.

A few days later, the airship dropped Professor Cozmo and the other scientists off at the Moon Base before setting course for Alex’s base in Kanto. The return trip was uneventful. They took their time descending through the atmosphere, carefully avoiding the Minior swarms before finally arriving home. Once there, Alex immediately got to work processing the Master ranked meat into a form suitable for regular consumption.

Rhea received 20% of the haul since her drones had accounted for the overwhelming majority of the kills. Even then, she accepted a smaller share than she had earned because Alex was the one funding nearly all of her research and equipment. Sable declined a share altogether, having contributed nothing to the battle. The remainder went to Alex, who distributed it among his Pokémon.

"I’m sorry, Alex," Vera said after she examined Guzzlord. "There’s nothing we can do except wait for it to wake up. Given its current rate of accelerated digestion, we’re looking at a year to a decade before that happens. All we can do for now is wait while keeping it comfortable."

"Thanks, Vera."

Even after a few days, Guzzlord still hadn’t woken up, which was quite concerning. Still, the fact that it was actually full for once meant it would be a long time before Alex was expected to embark on another space expedition.

In the meantime, Alex focused on training his Pokémon, feeding them Master ranked meat, and waiting for the day he finally reached the Master rank.

Like that, 5 years passed, bringing with them tremendous changes, and a surprise that wasn’t much of a surprise.