Chapter 561. A World Without Humanity

Alex awoke to the sounds of muted explosions and gunfire, like a noisy neighbor watching a war movie next door. His senses honed in on the sounds, quickly confirming that they were under attack. However, judging by the fact that Nyx was still lying comfortably on his chest, Rhea and Metagross likely had everything under control. So, he curled an arm around Nyx and grabbed a handful of her soft, plump ass cheek for comfort while enjoying the warmth of her body against his side.

The next time he awoke, it was already afternoon, with the sounds of construction replacing the sounds of war. It seemed they'd won and were now cleaning up the base. He slowly got up, took a shower, and changed into comfortable clothes before making his way to the command center.

Along the way, he passed through the living room and spotted something interesting. Rhea was kneeling on the floor with both hands raised, dry tears around her eyes. It seemed she was being punished by one of the girls for something.

“What happened?” Alex asked.

“I failed to defend Kaia’s hydroponics farm, and it ended up almost completely destroyed,” Rhea answered.

“She didn't check for underground intrusion when the battle started,” Iris said lazily from the couch.

“So they got in?” Alex asked.

“Yup. The bounty hunters and quadcopters had to contain them, but only after they trampled the greenhouses. Only a few buildings were left standing. The rest crumbled.”

“That’s not too bad,” Alex said, turning to Rhea. “How much longer are you supposed to do this?”

“Until dinner…” Rhea said sadly. “Maybe a few hours since it'll be delayed because of the cleanup.”

“Alright then,” Alex said as he left, keeping his hands off the matter.

The girls didn't have much of a hierarchy among themselves, as they were all considered equals. To deal with small problems like these, they handed out their own punishments and rewards without his involvement. It wasn't like any of the girls were bullies, after all, so it wasn't much of a problem.

Once he reached the command center, Alex took a seat and assessed the situation while Metagross handed him a statistical report. The attackers were six Master ranked trainers belonging to Team Luminal, all of whom had been killed with a bunker buster. Their remains had already been recovered, though it had taken quite a bit of effort to dig them out and sift through the rubble for their mangled corpses. Master ranked trainers were powerful, but they still couldn't contend with the weight of a mountain.

Next, the western wall and hydroponics farm needed repairs. In addition, over half of Rhea’s android and drone army had been reduced to scrap, while the home team had suffered only minor injuries that were easily treated with some potions. The bounty hunters had fought well and would need some extra compensation, and a few of the larger missiles had been used during the battle.

Overall, the losses were surprisingly minimal considering they were fighting half a dozen Masters. Alex was honestly impressed.

As for the spoils, there were Master, Champion, and Elite ranked corpses in abundance, along with the bounties on the Master ranked trainers' heads. They weren't particularly famous over the past few decades, but they'd built quite the track record when they were starting out. The fact that they'd only been caught now meant they had considerable bounties on their heads, more than enough to pay for everything. Overall, the gains far outweighed the losses by a significant margin.

Now, the base was being repaired, with plans to rebuild the wall and greenhouses. The tunnel on the western side of the base would be filled in and left alone, while all the damaged androids would be repaired or replaced. Things were already well underway without much input from him.

All he had to do was continue relaxing during his vacation.

Over the next few months, Alex trained with his Pokémon while preparing for their eventual move to the island. In the meantime, each of the girls began putting together a list of what they wanted in their new home. They could choose everything from the layout and overall design to additional features and whatever luxuries they wanted to include.

What started as a simple wishlist gradually became an ongoing project. Since they didn't have the funds to begin construction yet, there was no harm in dreaming big and designing their ideal home from the ground up.

As more time passed, their plans became increasingly elaborate. Nyx, for example, wanted her own private sex dungeon adjacent to her room, along with a workshop for her side project of making sex toys and an entire building dedicated to servers. Rhea wanted a few buildings for manufacturing and testing, while Kaia preferred a small garden rather than another full-scale farm, giving her a quiet place she could personally tend to.

Vera wanted a workshop like Nyx's right next to Lina's fully stocked kitchen, where she could prepare food for the Pokémon. Celise and Maris, meanwhile, were stumped at first. As workaholics who'd never seriously considered retirement, they eventually settled on offices equipped with every bell and whistle they could need to continue running the Silver Network and Hawke Delivery from the remote location. Iris didn't want anything particularly extravagant, aside from a dedicated bug forest where she could raise her Butterfree. Mira wanted a massage parlor, while Talia requested a specialized Pokémon clinic, reasoning that people would rarely get injured on the island aside from children.

Sable didn't ask for much beyond access to the mines beneath the volcanic crater. Alex, Lyra, Mika, and Clarissa were similarly content with the arena, where they could continue training and fighting.

Little by little, their permanent home began to take shape. New ideas kept appearing as they worked on the design, steadily driving up the projected cost. Alex didn't mind. In his opinion, the more money and thought they invested into the place now, the less work they'd have to do once they finally arrived.

He didn't even bat an eye when the budget surpassed 5 billion credits in material costs alone, with the total still climbing. Master ranked materials were expensive, after all.

Eventually, a year passed without much fanfare, and there was no sign of trouble from Team Luminal. The survivors seemed to have learned their lesson and decided it was best to never provoke Alex again after witnessing the disastrous outcome of their invasion. With their numbers significantly reduced, the League also reported a noticeable decline in casualties during travel, as there were fewer bandits and hostile trainers roaming the roads between regions.

The improvement was significant enough that the League awarded the Silver Network a sizable amount of contribution points in recognition of the organization's impact. Crime rates had dropped across multiple regions, and the resulting surplus was enough to cover the annual contribution requirements of 100 Champions or a single Master ranked trainer.

It was a major benefit for the Silver Network, allowing them to bring more Champions under their wing, although Masters remained a different matter. Their contribution requirements were simply too expensive for the organization to subsidize freely, which was why Alex and the girls remained so determined to complete their island project in the first place.

With his year of rest over and a delicious farewell night together, Alex eventually returned to Lumiose City to embark on another expedition. This time, however, he had a list of materials to bring back with him to help ease the strain on their finances. After all, it was far cheaper to gather and process raw materials themselves than to purchase the finished products on the market.

After a tight squeeze and a brief bout of sensory blindness, Alex found himself in a ruined world reminiscent of the Ultra Ruins. The land was brown and barren, with pools of toxic substances littering the landscape. Grass grew in strange colors, while abandoned buildings slowly crumbled into dust. There were no signs of life anywhere nearby, suggesting this was a dead world, one destroyed by some kind of environmental disaster. That was strange, considering the Pokémon world's technological capabilities and its ability to harness Pokémon to help manage environmental threats.

“Where are we, Rotom?” Alex asked.

“Satellite feed connected. Current location identified as the Kanto region. Temporal data indicates approximately 100 years beyond the known timeline. No human settlements detected. Pokémon ecology is severely degraded. Only signs of life are sparse, wandering Pokémon released from storage devices. Energy scans indicate no detectable Legendary or Mythical Pokémon signatures. Pokémon Conservation Project detected. Project status: active. Development phase: final stages.”

“So... there are no humans anywhere?”

“Affirmative. No human life detected anywhere on the planet.”

“Any suggestions on where to find rare resources?”

“Cross-referencing known mining locations. No relevant data found. Required databases are unavailable or corrupted. Attempting alternate search parameters... Search unsuccessful. Conclusion: No resource locations can be recommended.”

“So, databases containing government information don't exist. That makes sense if the degradation has been going on for over 100 years. Most buildings don't even last that long, let alone the servers running inside them.”

Alex considered the situation and decided to stay for a while and gather information. With no humans left on the planet, he had free access to potentially valuable resources, making this ruined future too good an opportunity to abandon. Unfortunately, since this was roughly 100 years beyond his own timeline, even the mining locations were difficult to identify. Rather than blindly searching one location after another, he decided to investigate first. To do that, he'd need to find the locals, even if they happened to be Pokémon.

“Rotom, locate the densest concentration of life signs in the area.”

“Fuchsia City, directly west, is the nearest location.”

“Alright, then.”

Alex released Arcanine, climbed onto his back, and rode west, eager to uncover the mysteries of this ruined world.