Alex walked the ridge while he looked over the land. The valley stretched out below with mostly stable terrain and a few fractured ridgelines near the southern entrance. The elevation dipped gently toward the center, where a stream cut across the valley floor and formed several shallow pools. From his vantage point, he could see signs of Pokémon movement across nearly every terrain type, trails in the grass, claw marks on exposed stone, and the occasional dust plume from something disturbed.
The Rock type population was dense near the eastern cliffs. A group of Geodude clustered near a mineral shelf, and large grooves in the slope indicated recent Onix travel. A few exposed crystals suggested possible Carbink presence, though he hadn't confirmed visual contact yet. He marked those coordinates for later.
The west side had looser gravel and some thin cave inlets that could host Roggenrola or Nosepass, though visibility was low and the formations unstable. Good signs for wild habitat, less ideal for structural development.
Toward the middle of the valley, where the land flattened, plant growth became more consistent. He saw Oddish, Bellsprout, and a few Hoppip drifting above the grass line. Several Lotad lounged along the stream's edge, while Poliwag zipped through the water in quick bursts.
Water quality seemed decent, enough to support small aquatic types. The water looked clear and cold, fed directly from runoff higher up the slope. Could be used to supply fresh water when needed.
The northern section had more cover, low shrubs, boulders, and scattered trees. He spotted Raticate and Persian weaving between rocks, along with some tracks that might have belonged to an Ursaring.
Further north was a mix of mountainous, dense forest, which was a significantly more desirable location for wild Pokémon. He technically owned a significant swathe of what he could see, but he hesitated to touch the treeline, no point in poking at local nests unnecessarily.
Above, Pidgey, Starly, and Swablu drifted overhead. He caught a glimpse of a Zubat ducking into a cave hole and heard something deeper inside, possibly Noibat or something bigger. The aerial activity wasn't heavy, but it was steady, meaning the valley was part of a regional flight corridor. Good to know, especially for early warning systems or anti-air defenses.
Overall, Clearstone Valley had a working ecosystem with multiple intersecting habitats, rock, grass, water, and cave. Nothing particularly rare at first glance, but stable populations and decent type variety made it a valuable staging ground.
For now, he logged it as viable for phased development. With proper boundaries and defensive zoning on the northern side, it could support both infrastructure and long-term training use without pushing out the local wildlife. He would just have to make sure they knew who owned the territory by having his Pokémon execute a hostile takeover.
Now that Alex had toured the area, he could roughly identify two problems that might arise when he started the fight with the Champion. One was the Noivern, possibly hidden inside the cave. The other was a stray Flying type that could initiate an attack from above if it happened to pass by and decided to pick off any stragglers. Ultimately, they were minimal concerns, as Alex had not detected any other Champion ranked threats.
With his scouting complete, he headed as close to the forested area as he could before releasing his full team, riding on Hydreigon for safety.
Gardevoir took command and positioned the attacking team around the treeline, with the defensive team surrounding Alex. She followed it up by having them stack their buffs. On top of that, they also built up their defenses by using Reflect, Light Screen, Gravity, Safeguard, Mist, Tailwind, Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes.
They were fighting nests, which meant their opponents didn't always have counters like Brick Break, Rapid Spin, Protect, etc. It was the main difference between a trainer and a Pokémon. Trainers had counters and tricks to gain an edge, while Pokémon simply had what they could learn on their own.
At Alex's signal, Hydreigon released a Roar that shook the nearby trees and scattered the nearby Pokémon. As the strongest of Alex's team, she was first in line to lay claim to the territory, much to her dismay. Rather than stay and babysit, she would have preferred to fight by Alex's side. But he needed the claim to be convincing, and that meant it had to come from her.
Before her Roar had even ended, a reply came in the form of a Roar so powerful it bent the trees in its wake as it slammed into Alex and his team. Fortunately, the source was far enough that they weren't scattered by the effects of the move.
Suddenly, the ground trembled as a wave of weak Pokémon came running from the forest. They were being assaulted by the Pokémon who were panicking from the Champion's Roar.
Gardevoir, Espeon, and Ditto, transformed as Gardevoir, deployed three Psychic Terrains, blanketing the left, right, and center, before following up with Expanding Force. The first attack blew all the trees away, leaving only the stumps that stubbornly clung to the ground. The second attack dug into the earth as the stumps were blown away, pushing the trees deeper into the treeline to form a makeshift wall. The third attack solidified the wall of trees, preventing the horde of weaklings from approaching and forcing them to circle around to avoid the Champion and the barrier.
This saved Alex and his team precious stamina for what would most likely be a long and grueling battle.
The flooding Pokémon diverted around them as predicted, rushing to the east or west instead. Some of them followed the wall until they entered the valley, causing chaos to the Pokémon who owned sparse territory.
Alex and his team waited until the flood cleared, leaving them and the area in silence. After a while, Alex gave another signal that prompted Hydreigon to unleash another Roar.
Rather than a Roar in reply, the ground shook as stronger Pokémon came stampeding over to confront Alex and his team. They approached closer until they reached the wall of gravel, trees, and corpses, which was so compacted that they decided to circle around as well.
Gardevoir sent the attacking team to intercept the tide rather than allow themselves to be surrounded. This way, they only needed to defend two areas rather than be swarmed. They also made sure to stay within range of the defensive team so they and their enemies were affected by Neutralizing Gas, Cloud Nine, Aroma Veil, Friend Guard, etc.
Raticate, Arcanine, and Dusknoir took the left flank, while Kommo-o, Togekiss, and Ceruledge took the right. Tsareena had to stay behind for Queenly Majesty to spread evenly, while Zoroark waited with the defensive team due to only being Expert ranked.
The defensive team didn't just sit around and wait, either. They contributed by bombarding both tides with AoE attacks to soften them up.
Alex took a good look at their target nest and noticed they were all primarily Normal types, with an increased number of bear-like Pokémon. There were Ursaring, Bewear, Beartic, Pangoro, and Snorlax leading the charge. The rest were a random mix, primarily Kanto-based Pokémon like Persian, Kangaskhan, Raticate, and Dodrio. There were others from different regions as well, like Exploud, Greedent, Ambipom, and Slaking, but they were sparse in comparison.
It was clear that the Champion was likely a bear type from Kanto, which would be a Snorlax. This was quite fortunate for Alex, as another Champion ranked Snorlax corpse would reduce the time needed for someone on his team to reach Champion rank.
He somewhat regretted not giving the corpse to Hydreigon now, as it was quite likely that with a few more Champion ranked corpses of the same size, Hydreigon would reach Champion rank in just a few years, likely less than three.
Now, he had to wait at least a decade before reaching Champion rank.
Suddenly, the wall that had been preventing a full surround exploded, revealing Elite ranked Pokémon. There were over a hundred of them, from what Alex could see, and they were quite angry to have been sent to quell the unbeaten challenger.
With a pat from Alex, Hydreigon let out a Roar that scattered the weaker Pokémon without issue, clearing the field so the real fight could begin.
The Elite ranked Pokémon were too angry to back down and barely flinched. They surged forward, crashing into the defensive team that had already closed ranks around Alex. The formation held, with alternating Protect rotating through the line while long-range attacks chipped away at the advancing Elites.
Moves of all kinds flashed as a tornado of elements swirled, drowning out the entire area and creating deep gashes across the ground. Trees that had managed to survive the Expanding Force bombardment, or were too far to be reached, were ripped apart as moves from over 150 Elite ranked Pokémon exploded everywhere.
It was pure chaos that didn't make much visual sense, but at the center of it stood Alex and his team, unharmed through it all as they weathered the storm. They were draining stamina quickly from the exertion, but they were making significant progress as the Elites they were fighting began to faint one by one.
At this rate, only the Champion would be left standing between Alex and his new land.
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