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Things look a little more hopeful for the Guild, and perhaps for the plant. But someone should really remove that sword sticking out of Josh...\n\nAs always, for those who don't mind spoilers and don't mind reading ahead, the Gdocs link is [url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ppeWKO7OygfxUXVwm2U3CCf2hXxWcS6hhAsLAcSGxAA/edit?usp=sharing]Here.[/url].\n\n[url=https://inkbunny.net/submissionsviewall.php?rid=c6a9fd4348&mode=pool&pool_id=59838&page=1&orderby=pool_order&random=no&success=]Also, obligatory link to the comic itself to which this is a fanfiction of.[/url]", "description_bbcode_parsed": "And now the meeting is done. Things look a little more hopeful for the Guild, and perhaps for the plant. But someone should really remove that sword sticking out of Josh...

As always, for those who don't mind spoilers and don't mind reading ahead, the Gdocs link is Here..

Also, obligatory link to the comic itself to which this is a fanfiction of.", "writing": "[center][b]Act 9: Meeting with the Guildmaster[/b][/center]\n\nMeanwhile, the dropship sped back to the planet, to the entrance of the guild that Eilumi had been taken to. Loona, Eilumi, Nine, and Khaun were all aboard, along with a 'fifth' 'person': [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/avali/images/a/a5/Gun_drone.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/998?cb=20140218221449]A small drone.[/url] \n\nAlthough armed, this was not the reason they brought it along. In fact, it had been the council that had insisted that they bring it along for this negotiation.\n\nAs they approach they get the immediate attention of a guard by the entrance. \"What the...hey! hey!\" A small, brown, bipedal creature with a mane of cotton-like fluff exclaimed. He is holding a spear and he points it at them. \nLuca has been sitting on the sand outside expecting them, he did not saw them at first but he could sense the familiar presence of their aura. He made his way over to them, getting between them and the pokemon at the gate. \"There is no need to be alarmed. These are the visitors we were scheduled to get. We did say that they would be unusual...\" \nHe looks at Lucario, a little puzzled. \"Oh? this is them? I know you meant unusual but...just look at them.\" \nHe does not look at them, he already knows what they are like...besides that one floating near them. \"Yes I know. just don't be alarmed and allow them to pass.\" \n\"Yeah sure...\" He sighs and points his spear away from them. \"Sorry about that.\"\n\n\"Well, Luca, we're here. As we promised.\" Eilumi says. He is joined by Nine and Loona, but not Khaun. Someone has to stay and watch the dropship after all. Or be backup in case things go wrong. \"You'll have to excuse our... guest.\" he motions towards the floating drone. \"Their presence will be made clear once we meet with your leader. Speaking of which, in true alien fashion, I must say this: Take us to your leader.\"\n\n\"Alright, I just have one simple question.\" Lucario leans his head close to what he thinks is the eye of this floating creature. \".....may i have your name?\" Seems like he thinks that this robot is...sentient, for a lack of better words.\n\nWell, he's only partially correct. The drone itself isn't sentient. The drone gives a few beeps and then its \"eye\" glows. Suddenly, an orange hologram of an Avali appears in front of it. It flickers every now and then.\n The hologram, or rather, who it represents, is very much sentient. \n\"Oh? Is this the 'guild leader'?\" The holographic Avali asks Luca. \"No, Councilor, this is their... enforcer? Gate guard?\" \nEilumi turns to Luca. \"You never really did tell me your exact role in this guild.\" He turns back to the hologram. \"High ranking guild member we met, who urged us to set up this meeting.\"\n \"I see.\" The hologram says. \"I am Councilor Khaako. I will be the official representative of the Illuminate government for this meeting.\"\n\nLuca jumped back when the hologram appeared. And after hearing all this new Avali had to say, he nodded. \"Alright then, just follow me, the guild master is waiting.\" With that he turns around and starts heading into the guild. \n\"...Freaky.\" The other pokemon mumbles before stepping aside when the Lucario approaches.\n\nThey follow Luca into the guild. One might think the cave setting might spook them, but this crew has seen plenty of caves. A few too many, perhaps. The robot follows, the hologram being projected in front of it as it flies along, the image of the counselor seemingly \"sliding\" along the air as they go. \nKhaako's image remains quiet, as do the others. Except Loona. \n\"Nice place.\" She comments.\n\nLuca just acknowledges what Loona said with a 'hhmm-hhmm'. \nThis cavern system looks pretty well made, the walls are polished stone and everything is well lit by touches hanging on the walls. They catch the curious attention of most of the guild members they pass by, they just stare as they pass by. They are led deeper into the guild until they are in front of the entrance to a dark room. In there they see a table with an Avalian sword laid on the center of said table.\n \"Alright, it's in here.\" The Lucario said to them before stepping in there.\n\nThe avali in turn looks at the various mons as they pass by, of all shapes and sizes. Curiosity fills their minds, but they ask no questions. Once they reach the room, they shuffle inside, not sure what to expect.\n\nThe Lucario waits by the door. \n\"Hello there.\" They hear a voice speak, and on the other side of the room they see a pair of glowing blue eyes in the dark. \"So you must be the visitors I was expecting.\" the voice says welcoming. The eyes close, and from the darkness steps out a bipedal, feline Pokémon with predominantly dark blue fur, while the fur around his neck and the extremities of his limbs are white. He claps his paws together, which makes the torches on the sides of the room light up to reveal that they are in a room with some flair to it. There is a colorful painting of a vivid forest on a wall, a cupboard with many bottles of what is presumably liquor and an iron sword with engravings that is on a display case. \"Now that i have a good look at you all, i can see that you really do stand out quite a lot\n\nEilumi and co give a quick, polite bow that includes the holographic image of the avali the drone is showing. \n\"That is correct.\" Eliumi speaks. \"I do believe introductions are in order.\" \nHe starts with himself. \n\"My name is Eilumi. I am an Avali, Avali Exploratory Forces 21st Highwind Regiment, Ghost Bear pack.\"\nNine goes next. \n\"I am Nine, a protogen. Adopted pack member of the AEF 21st Highwind Regiment, Ghost Bear pack.\"\nSeeing how they're introducing themselves, Loona realizes she's next. \"I am Loona. Ex-resident of Dynamo Sands. I'm... uh....\" \nShe pauses, not sure if she counts yet as a pack member or not. \n\"She is in training to become an adopted pack member.\" Eilumi explains. Eilumi turns towards the drone projecting the hologram. \n\"And this holographic projection is that of Councilor Khaako, of the Reborn Illuminate Foreign Relations Council. She is the government official overseeing this meeting.\" \n\"I must apologize for not being able to meet you in person, as me and my pack are thousands of light years away from your planet's current location, hence we must use this drone to project my image.\" Khaako explains.\n\n\"So you are not in person you say?\" The guild master began before stopping himself. \"Oh where are my manners. My name is Stic, i am the guild master of the Four Eyes Guild. It is a honor to have you all here in this fine day.\" He places his paws behind his back and closes his eyes. \"So you wanted to discuss something with me, no? I myself have much i would like to dialogue with you about.\"\n\n\"That is correct.\" Councilor Khaako replies to this. \"We will allow you to say your piece first. It is, after all, your abode.\"\n\n\"Alright then.\" He opens his eyes once more before continuing. \"You are aware of the tyranny of the nobles no doubt. We are looking to overthrow them from the shadows, pull the rug out from under them with no one the wiser. And I believe that you can be a big help for our cause in the future...\"\n\n\"Yes, Stic, we are to a degree, aware.\" Councilor Khaako replies. \"Perhaps not to the true extent of said tyranny, as most of what we know comes from the memories the Ghost Bear pack scanned from your subordinate, observations from the planet, or from word of mouth, including discussions with said subordinate.\" \nShe pauses before continuing. \"From what little we have garnered however, we have learned that they are only surpassed by the Miniknog in terms of cruelty and oppression. A faction that the Avali are already in a border and proxy war with.\" \n\"Though then again, 'Nobility' and cruelty tend to go hand-in-hand in our experience.\" Eilumi utters under his breath. \"As does societal stagnation.\" \n\"Quite right.\" Councilor Khaako adds in. \"If you are wondering what our own stake is in this, I see no reason to not be up front with it. There are of course the ideological reasons. We learned full well at Oridan 6 the price of isolationism, non-interventionism, and apathy. Ever since then, the Reborn Illuminate has taken it upon themselves to protect and uplift the weak within the galaxy, 'because if we don't, who will?' The 'uplifting' part is the more... material reasons. We need trade partners and allies for if and when the Miniknog finally go complete bananas and start a galaxy-wide war. And for that to happen, your species, all of them, need to progress sociologically and technologically. And as long as these so-called 'nobles' are in way, that cannot happen.\" \n\"And you are quite right.\" She continues. \"We are very much up to this task. You've already seen a minute fraction of the technological prowess the Reborn Illuminate possesses. That sword doesn't even scratch the surface.\" \nShe points to it as she says it. \"We have weapons that can shoot iron slugs extremely fast from very far away. Teleportation, Vehicles. Advanced medical capabilities. advanced production capabilities. Just to scratch the surface.\" She takes a deep breath before continuing.\n\"That however, leads me to the most important question we must now ask.\" \nShe gives Stic a serious look. \n\"Why should we support you? And I don't mean you as in 'your people'. Our reasons for that I've already made clear. What I mean is why your guild specifically? There are other options. Why should we support you instead of working for... say... these 'wallbreakers' I've heard somewhat about, or simply doing the job ourselves? We have our own reasons for the latter. But for now, we'd like to hear it from you, first.\" \n\"Don't misunderstand my intention here. We are not saying 'no', we simply need to know what kind of world you would create once your plans come to fruition. We are currently in the phase of exploring our options.\"\n\nStic listens to everything and formulates what to say to that question. \n\"I do not know if any other guild even considers the idea of a possible life without the nobles, either because they are complacent or see no hope of something like that ever coming to pass, the chance is not zero, we just can't go asking for allies without putting all of our plans in great risk...I want to rid the get rid of the nobles and give everyone a better life, but i do not wish to start an all-out war that will put everyone's lives at jeopardy, i want it to be quick and decisive, we shall seize control without them even knowing, and then removing them from the equation until something far more productive is left on it's place.\" \n\"But if you see a better option, or decide to do it yourself I will understand it, in the end it means the end of life under the nobles after all.\" He nods and takes a breath. \"But I ask you, no, I implore you, do not help the Wallbreakers. I have seen into the mind of one of them much like you seem to do, their ranks are filled with pokémon fixated on destruction out of revenge against the nobles. I do not trust people like that to rule anything...let alone have a plan to rule in the first place.\"\n\n\"Yes, the prospect of an all-out war and the unnecessary cost to innocent life is the reason a direct assault is all but off the table.\" The councilor says. \"More often than not, it tends to be much messier than it needs to be, especially if the attack comes from an outside force like our own. Doing it ourselves would mean having to set up a provisional government, putting down reactionaries and misguided 'rebels', propaganda, etc. Besides, it is not really our MO anyway. That's more the USCM's or Miniknog's thing. And that always ends really messily for EVERYONE. Though these days, they're pretty much one or the same.\" \n\"Mam, I do believe you are getting off track.\" Nine informs her. \n\"Hmm? Oh, right.\" The counselor apologizes. \n\"From what Luca has told us about these Wallbreakers, they would probably not be a viable option anyway.\" Eilumi also chimes in. \"They seem to be at best, a group of suspiciously well-armed anarchists. And at worst, possible controlled opposition or the pawns of the very people they seek to destroy. We'd have to have a brain-scan of one or several to know for sure.\" \n\"Right. Adventurists are typically not that well armed. So that leads us to believe there might be foul play on that front.\" Khaako adds. \"Either way though, not a recipe for a long-lasting, stable, and prosperous society. Believe me, we speak from experience on that front.\" \n\"If... I might be so bold as to jump in here.\" Loona suddenly says, \"What exactly are your plans on dealing with the corrupt guilds?\" \n\"She does bring up a good point, albeit indirectly.\" Khaako says. \"If the problems of this 'sandstone' guild are as widespread as the 'pignite' there seemed to imply it was, that will be another obstacle in your plans. Once you take power, you will have to deal with them, one way or another. If not dealt with, they will smell blood in the water and attempt to strike.\" \n\"Reactionaries tend to do that.\" Eilumi comments.\n\n\"I have been thinking about plans to deal with that.\" Stic began. \"Not all those guilds are rotten to the core, some only have a few of those disgusting elements. If we can go about weeding them out from the less compromised guilds before going for the more severe ones.\"\n\n\"I see..\" Loona finishes. She's sure that being a psychic type, Stic's probably already probed her exact story if he ever had any interest in it, so it does no good to actually tell the story. \n\"Yes, I do believe we can help you out in all of this.\" Councilor Khaako continues. \"We'll need more detailed information on what exactly you need, as well as information on the other factions. I know Luca mentioned something about the wallbreakers and we've already talked about them. But are there any other factions of note we should know about? The nobility, obviously. As we've said before, we are to a degree aware of the extent of their cruelty, though we don't know more of the details to it, and how they're an obstacle to progress. And the sandstone guild, which, besides your own guild, is our only other encounter with a 'guild' on this world. Needless to say, it was not a pleasant one.\" \n\"We also heard rumors of...\" The hologram appears to pick up some notes and read them. \"A 'human' running around in the form of a 'mon? Something about an 'Ashshell' guild that tried to ban slavery but only partially succeeded?\"\n\n\"Yes, Ashshell made an attempt at poor attempt at solving the problem, but we can learn from their mistake.\" The feline pokemon remains silent for a moment, mumbling something about 'human' and 'again' under his breath, but it sounds like a question more than anything. \"Information on the nobles shouldn't be a problem, my guild works closely with them purely for this and the other benefits it brings, mainly being closer to the enemy without them knowing. As for the other guilds, i have been compiling whatever information i could about them, it's not a very deep analysis but we managed to confirm which guilds abuse their power for...forceful sexual intercourse and other such unpleasantries.\"\n\n\"Like the Sandstone guild.\" Loona grumbles under her breath. \n\"I'm sorry, what was that about humans?\" Councilor Khaako asks. \n\"One thing you'll learn quite quickly about Avali.\" Loona chuckles. \"They hear [i]everything[/i]. Those four ears aren't for show.\"\n\n\"Well, I have always been skeptical about their existence. But are you aware that in every sense of the word humans are a legend, right?\"\n\n\"It seemed that way, but again, we did not know to what extent.\" Khaako replied. \"We do not know the details, or why they turn up here in your people's bodies. Though, we do know of humans from elsewhere, and know what they look like in reality. Their civilization was part of the inspiration that lead to our own kind's reorganizing after Oridan 6. Or at least the Protectorate part was. Although, I say that in past terms. I... don't know if Luca told you this, or if our intrepid explorers told him this in turn, but... humanity nowadays are an... endangered species in the wider galaxy.\"\n\n\"Really...?\" Stics thinks on that for a moment before continuing. \"The stories always tell of our world about to face a peril, but someone not from this world, a human, appears in the form of a pokemon. The human meets someone who they become friends with, fulfill their destiny and disappears from the face of our world after a goodbye.\"\n\n\"Hmmmm, sounds a little like the Last Protector's story.\" Nine comments. \n\"I see. So they never stick around to see how everything shakes out? That's one mistake we don't intend to repeat.\" Councilor Khaako asks. \"A bit ironic. They could save others... but not themselves. Though... to be fair, no one saw The Ruin coming. Except maybe the Occassus.\"\n\n\"Not that i know off, no. From what i read the human would not want to leave their partner, this means some hesitation. But in the end i am not certain if they left of their own volition or were forced back where they came from.\"\n\n\"Perhaps I should explain what exaclty happened to the humans. It might shed light on why exactly we do what we do.\" The councilor remarks.\n\n\"...Alright then, please go on?\"\n\n\"Alright. As you may or may not be aware, the humans hailed from a planet called 'Terra'. Or 'Earth' if you want to use the human's own name for it. They were ruled by a peaceful faction called the Protectorate. There were other human factions around the universe as well, like the more rabidly expansionist USCM factions, but we'll come back to those later. The main power was Terra and the Protectorate. One day however, during an emergency meeting following a string of attacks by an unknown assailant where all the most important members of the Protectorate governement were all gathered on Terra, it was attacked, and destroyed by a monstrous entity known as 'The Ruin', an ancient planet-sized beast. In one short moment, the protectorate was effectively no more.\" \n\"Now, there were a few holdouts here and there, but at the same time, a group calling themselves the Occassus, a group of humano-supremicist cultists, started attacking whatever was left of the Protectorate. The United Systems, a breakaway militaristic faction that had been biding their time, saw blood in the water and likewise rushed to gobble up whatever was left of the Protectorate. As did the Miniknog. A large chunk of humanity died on that day, but it wouldn't get much better.\" \n\"If you're worried about The Ruin, thankfully that has a bit of good news. At least one Protectorate member escaped the carnage, and assembled a crew and destroyed The Ruin from the inside. That however, is where the good news for humanity ends. You see, the Occassus, the cult I mentioned earlier, had summoned The Ruin to help them purge the universe of all non-human life. Again, very ironic considering what it ended up doing. When The Ruin died, they remained. Their leader was soon arrested by a remenant lawkeeper group of the Protectorate known as the Peacekeepers. And you'd think that would be the end of the Occassus.\"\nThe hologram shakes its head.\n\"Oh no. In fact, it was only the beginning. Those Occassus forces were vast, and somehow only got stronger when their god, and their leader fell. It led to a decade or two of unremitting war in the galaxy where they slaughtered and sacrificed whole populations in an attempt to revive or rebirth their 'god'. All failed, of course. It was at Oridan 6 that we Avali became forcibly involved. Eventually, the Occassus were driven to disbandment, or so everyone thinks. Even a century later, we still find the occasional Occassus holdout or put down an occasional, but thankfully short lived 'resurgence'. \"\nThe hologram takes a breath. \n\"While this was going on, those USCM factions had begun gobbling up what was left of the Protectorate. At first, they tried to reunite humanity under a new government. But it wasn't long before they started to war with themselves, and other neighbors. They ironically tried to save humanity by forcibly uniting it, but in the end, only hastened their own extinction. We suspect the Miniknog had its own hand to play in this. During the era of the Protectorate, the Miniknog were kept at bay, content with oppressing its own citizens instead of expansionism. But when it died, they went bananas. They started gobbling up world after world, enslaving and experimenting on whoever they got their hands on and whoever wasn't able to fight back against them and their technology.\"\n\"As it stands now, as I've said, humanity is an endangered species. The USCM wars ended with no clear victor and disbandment of most if not all the factions. Some became pirates, some got absorbed into the Miniknog, others outright vanished without a trace. Most of humanity are either isolated colonies controlled by some outside faction or another, such as us. Or they're lone nomadic spacers or live among other species.\"\n\n\".......I see.\" He gives a solemn nod. \"I did not expected that humans as a whole have met with such a terrible fate. I tried to find out whatever i could myself, but i have never met one these humans of legends, and all the stories i heard or read are far from solid pieces of evidence that could help shine more light into how they come here in the first place.\"\n\n\"Yes... So many lives lost senselessly.\" Nine comments. \n\"Is there anything else you wish to ask the Avali Illuminate?\" Councilor Khaako asks.\n\n\"Hhhmmmm. Well, it is clear that you are not from this world, you are not a pokemon, or even a actual human. So tell me, what exactly is an Avali?\"\n\n\"Well...\" Eilumi says standing a little proud. \"What you see is what you get. A feathered floofy bunch of pack-forming feathered raptors from space.\" \n\"What he means by that\" Nine interjects \"Is that we do not entirely understand the question.\"\n\n\"What I'm curious about is your biology.\"\n\n\"Oh.\" Eilumi says. \"You're wondering if we're static like humans, or we evolve like you guys? The answer is the former. We are what we are, we don't do the whole 'evolving' thing.\" \n\"In fact\" Nine adds \"Your is the only one that seems to work like this.\"\n\n\"So you do not evolve?\" He raises an eyebrow. He is very aware that there are some pokemon that do no evolve and are born as is, but he notes what they said. \"The Avali Illuminate, how large is it?\"\n\n\"Not as large as the miniknog, sadly.\" The Councilor laments. \"But not counting allied or shared planets, we can lay claim to about...say... at least 300 star systems.\"\n\n\"I see, so I assume the other half belongs entirely to this 'miniknog'.\" Now for the next thing he has to say...it's not really a question. \"Since we are going to be helping each if that is your decision, I would like to mention another part of what I plan. Perhaps you give me some of your opinions on it...\" Stic looks to the Lucario standing by the doorway, his eyes begin to glow, and finally he nods.\nAs if he just got told a order, Luca nodded back and left the room.\n\n\"Oookay?\" Eilumi asks. The entire collection, except the hologram of the councilor, got a small shiver. Things have gotten serious if he doesn't want Luca here.\n\n\"So one of the more prominent ideas that i have had is finding a prominent noble in position that we can use, discreetly getting rid of him and installing one of our own in their place.\" He said.\n\n\"And you want some sort of ... clone or android or something in his place?\" Eilumi asks.\n\nHe gives some confused blinks. \"....I do not know what those are. Apologies.\" \nNow someone came back in, it's Luca again. However he doesn't have his swords or badge on his person.\n\n\"Hmmm, something seems off.\" Eilumi comments. \"Doesn't quite smell right.\"\n\nThe Lucario silently goes over to the guild master's side. And his expression appears different too for some reason, he doesn't have that glare, just a normal look for some reason. He even waved to them and...smiled?\nStic looks up at him. \"Now, don't scare them too badly okay?\" He said. \nAnd then...Luca suddenly began to melt, shrinking as his form almost liquefies into some sort of pink blob with mouth and two beady eyes. Thankfully none of that looked very grotesque.\n\nKnew something was off.\" Eilumi commented. \n\"What... is that?\" The counselor asks.\n\n\"I'm not sure very sure myself but this is a species of pokemon i have not seem around, a very rare one that i found a long time. I took Them under my care.\" He moves a paw over to to blob to give it a few pads. \"And i have been helping them grow and prepare for what they have to do. They are a bit shy like that, and are much more confident when being others.\" \nThis little pink blob is moving itself towards Nine now.\n\n\"This is amazing!\" The Counselor exclaims. \"The apex rebels have told us that the Miniknog have been attempting something like this for at least half a century, and they're still decades off from ever perfecting such a thing.\" \nEveryone watches as the pink thing moves over to nine. \n\"So I presume the plan is to move your members into position, kill off the nobles with an 'order 66'-\" The counselor begins. \n\"It's an old earth movie reference.\" Eilumi adds. \n\"... right. Kill off the nobles at once, replace them with these 'mons for a while, at least until you're ready to move to a new system of government?\" The counselor finishes.\n\nLucas walked back into the room to hang by the doorway. He just hopes that thing didn't do anything embarrassing while looking like him while he was away for that moment. \nThis one feet tall pink slime begins to transform itself now, getting bigger and bigger and gaining itself a bipedal shape with metallic parts and white fur and a screen face. It assumes the shape of Nine...it's almost perfect, it seems like it's just unable to mimic his face correctly, and as a matter of fact said face isn't in the screen as much as it is [i]on[/i] the screen. \n\"Now that would be a wonderful idea, yes.\" Stic said before letting out a sigh. \"Unfortunately this is the only one i got that is capable of doing this, if I had more I would already have executed that idea. Instead I'm afraid that if I want to use him to his fullest is going to need to take a place in a very important part of the nobility.\"\n\n\"A nice attempt.\" Nine says to the creature. \nHe reaches out and touches the 'metallic' parts and sees they aren't really the same consistency as his own.\n\"Yes, I was just going to raise that as a concern.\" The counselor replies to Stic. \"From what we understand, this 'nobility' problem is global. And if the conspiracy angle is to succeed, their removal would have to be a singular event, not a campaign stretched among years. After all, the same trick will only work a finite number of times before someone catches onto it.\"\n\n\"You think so? thanks.\" 'Nine' replied to Nine's complement. It's voice also had shifts in octaves and pitch until it managed to get it just like Nine's. \"First time being you. Never seem you before.\" \n\"That is indeed a concern...\" Stic nodded. \"I have calculated that there is a fair chance that if my plans were to succeed up to a point but eventually the remaining nobles would notice, in which case the way to go about it would be making it official that we, and all the land we managed to get from them so far, is now ours and we shall liberate the rest by force if necessary...and if they don't surrender to this threat, then...\"\n\n\"Then it turns into the war you were hoping to avoid.\" The Counselor finishes.\n\n\"Indeed...\"\n\n\"I'd imagine trying to impersonate a cyborg is quite difficult. Given the electronic components.\" Nine replies back to the ditto. \n\"If it comes to that, yes, I do believe we could help. Though, again, it's preferable to avoid this in the first place But now to ask another question...\" The counselor gives a pause before continuing. \n\"What are you doing to build power among the populace? The citizenry in particular?\" She asks. \"Because [i]that[/i] is what will determine whether or not your revolution succeeds in the end. I will share with you a little secret when it comes to this sort of thing: Getting rid of the nobility? That's not the hard part. Indeed, the Wallbreakers, given enough time, iron, and bodies, can accomplish the same that part at least. [i]We[/i] could accomplish the same thing within hours with some hunter packs, some aircraft, a swarm of drones and maybe even an orbital blast or two. By the Oracle, this exploratory group alone could accomplish that task. It would take months, but it could be done.\" \n\"We'd rather not.\" Eilumi protests. \"We were actually hoping to get some time away from this world after this meeting with our new pack members in training.\" \n\".... Right. This is only a hypothetical anyway, Eilumi. No, the real difficult part comes afterwards. The 'now what?' is where a lot of 'successful' revolutions fall flat. To keep power after the revolution, you must build independent power among the people, and you must have them on your side. Not any reactionary's side, and not the Wallbreakers. Yours. This is why we aren't doing this ourselves. Because we find that part goes a lot easier if you build power with an already existing group, than if you try to do it on your own.\"\n\n\"This one advantage of focusing the guild on protecting people and their interest, of course this would also include keeping my guild clean of members that can sully our reputation.\"\n\n\"So far so good.\" The counselor replies. \"Do try to look into other methods as well. Build dual power and mutual aid. Both in the case of citizens and dwellers.\" \"But speaking of aid, now we need to know... what exactly do you need from us? We believe it would be easier for you to tell us what you need rather than what we can offer.\"\n\n\"You certainly could help, but I need some time to think about what you can help with. Can you tell me again what you can provide?\"\n\n\"Let's see...\" Councilor thinks for a moment. \"Keep in mind the following is not a definitive list by any means. Luca mentioned weaponry, we can certainly provide that. Granted, we can't give you the overly fancy stuff like gauss rifles or military vehicles the like, but things like carbon swords, spears, maybe a 'few' leftover firearms from the occasus wars or something. Limited access to 'specialist' packs for military ops. For non-military ops, we have things like advanced scientific knowledge, production of certain goods, food production in case you wanted to open soup kitchens or something, travel, etc. Again, it would help if we knew what your needs in particular were.\"\n\n\"Well I might just have found another method to get the people on our side. Most of those last things you mentioned could help us extend new services to the citizenry. But I would feel safer with some weapons stockpiled in case things don't go according to plan.\"\n\n\"Plus, we're going to leave this drone here. So you may contact us in case something is needed, and to give further council should the need arise. Don't worry, its battery should last for another 30 years under non-stop use.\"\n\n\"Alright then.\" Stic said before bowing down to the councilor and the others. \"So does this mean that you have chosen my guild as the starting point to better this world of ours?\"\n\n\"Yes, we have.\" The counselor finishes.\n\n\"Thank you...I promise that we will not disappoint you.\"\n\n\"Very good.\" The counselor finishes. \"If that is all for now... As promised, we will leave the drone with you. Should you need to contact your liaison in charge of overseeing this operation, simply say 'drone, open a line' or something similar, and it will get in contact with your liason. You may negotiate with them for whatever items you may need in your endeavors. And with that, I bid you farewell, and the best of luck in your endeavors.\" \nThe hologram disappears, and the drone hovers over to the desk, lands, and ceases its engine, going into standby mode. \n\"Is there anything else needed from the three of us?\" Nine asks.\n\nAfter all that talk was done, the feline pokemon let out a sigh of relief and sat down by the table. \"For now this should be all for now. So, it was because of you finding us that we might have a bigger chance to right all these wrongs, is it not?\" \nMeanwhile it seems like there are two Eilumis in the room now, one has small black beady eyes though.\n\n\"Well, Luca found us, but yes, it seems so.\" Eilumi, the real one, corrects.\n\n\"Yes. of course. Luca is also to thank for this, this accomplishment convinced me to give him a promotion.\"\nTo Luca that is all well and good. In fact he is feeling very glad, he has never seem the guild master this hopeful for the future before, maybe the day that of Sandstone having a new, better rule is something he is going to live to see after all.\n\n\"I hope you guys succeed,\" Loona says. \n\"If that's all, we'll take our leave now.\" Eilumi says.\n\nStic nods to them. \"Alright then. I'm not exactly sure how me or my guild can help you, but if I can repay you in any way, please let me know.\"\n\n\"We'll keep it in mind.\" Eilumi says. WIth a bow, they turn, and leave. With Loona giving one more look over her shoulder before likewise turning to leave.\n\nAs they leave the room, Luca follows behind them and closes the door. He is going to escort them out here much like he escorted them in here in the first place.\n\nWell Luca...\" Nine says. \"Looks like this is going to be goodbye. For a long while. Anything else to say/ask before we reach our dropship and go?\"\n\n\"Doh! I almost forgot!\" Eilumi suddenly smacks his head. \"I need to ask you, do you know where one can find a 'thunder stone?'\" \"Thunder stone? Why on earth would we need a thunderstone?\" Loona asks.\n\n\"Well...i must say, when i woke up today i did not expected my day to be this unusual...but i'm glad it was.\" He looks to Eilumi, raising a brow. \"A Thunder Stone? You can find them in dungeons or being sold by questionable salesmen looking to rip you off...but I'm sure the guild's inventory must have a few. Why?\"\n\n\"Well, Sparks wanted one to get stronger.\" Eilumi explained. \n\".........\" Loona does not look happy about that.\n\n\"That Pikachu you mean? Hhhmmm, alright then. I can get you one right now.\"\n\n\"Thanks.\" Eilumi says. \nHe notices Loona's sour mood. \n\"Something wrong?\" He asks. \n\"Hmph.\" She says. \"I just don't like the idea of a Raichu running around the ship.\"\n\n\"Alright then, just wait here.\" The Lucario turns around and goes back to guild master's chamber, after a little bit he comes back with something in his paw, and he overs it to them. It's a green stone that looks a bit transparent, letting them see a yellow lightning bolt symbol in it's center. \"Here.\"\n\nEilumi takes is, and nods. \"Thank you, thank you a lot.\" EIlumi says. \"Goodbye, Luca. Take care of yourself. And uh... try not to cut any more hands off of people, unless they really deserve it.\" Eilumi laughs.\n\nHe smiled. \"Heh.\" That is a moment he doesn't remember very well, but he is sure it happened, it's just that at that moment he was discombobulated by that flashbang. \"Goodbye then...friends.\" Something about this scenario comes to this mind though, he remembers what the guild master said before. \"Huh...maybe the legends really are true...\"\n\nNine gives him a quick hug, Loona joins too, as does Eilumi, and then, they turn, and leave.\n\nHe hugged them back too, he doesn't remember ever hugging anyone else other than an old friend he had long ago...After they all left, the Lucario took in a deep breath and began to ponder about just what the future might hold for him and his world now...", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "
Act 9: Meeting with the Guildmaster


Meanwhile, the dropship sped back to the planet, to the entrance of the guild that Eilumi had been taken to. Loona, Eilumi, Nine, and Khaun were all aboard, along with a 'fifth' 'person': A small drone.

Although armed, this was not the reason they brought it along. In fact, it had been the council that had insisted that they bring it along for this negotiation.

As they approach they get the immediate attention of a guard by the entrance. "What the...hey! hey!" A small, brown, bipedal creature with a mane of cotton-like fluff exclaimed. He is holding a spear and he points it at them.
Luca has been sitting on the sand outside expecting them, he did not saw them at first but he could sense the familiar presence of their aura. He made his way over to them, getting between them and the pokemon at the gate. "There is no need to be alarmed. These are the visitors we were scheduled to get. We did say that they would be unusual..."
He looks at Lucario, a little puzzled. "Oh? this is them? I know you meant unusual but...just look at them."
He does not look at them, he already knows what they are like...besides that one floating near them. "Yes I know. just don't be alarmed and allow them to pass."
"Yeah sure..." He sighs and points his spear away from them. "Sorry about that."

"Well, Luca, we're here. As we promised." Eilumi says. He is joined by Nine and Loona, but not Khaun. Someone has to stay and watch the dropship after all. Or be backup in case things go wrong. "You'll have to excuse our... guest." he motions towards the floating drone. "Their presence will be made clear once we meet with your leader. Speaking of which, in true alien fashion, I must say this: Take us to your leader."

"Alright, I just have one simple question." Lucario leans his head close to what he thinks is the eye of this floating creature. ".....may i have your name?" Seems like he thinks that this robot is...sentient, for a lack of better words.

Well, he's only partially correct. The drone itself isn't sentient. The drone gives a few beeps and then its "eye" glows. Suddenly, an orange hologram of an Avali appears in front of it. It flickers every now and then.
 The hologram, or rather, who it represents, is very much sentient.
"Oh? Is this the 'guild leader'?" The holographic Avali asks Luca. "No, Councilor, this is their... enforcer? Gate guard?"
Eilumi turns to Luca. "You never really did tell me your exact role in this guild." He turns back to the hologram. "High ranking guild member we met, who urged us to set up this meeting."
 "I see." The hologram says. "I am Councilor Khaako. I will be the official representative of the Illuminate government for this meeting."

Luca jumped back when the hologram appeared. And after hearing all this new Avali had to say, he nodded. "Alright then, just follow me, the guild master is waiting." With that he turns around and starts heading into the guild.
"...Freaky." The other pokemon mumbles before stepping aside when the Lucario approaches.

They follow Luca into the guild. One might think the cave setting might spook them, but this crew has seen plenty of caves. A few too many, perhaps. The robot follows, the hologram being projected in front of it as it flies along, the image of the counselor seemingly "sliding" along the air as they go.
Khaako's image remains quiet, as do the others. Except Loona.
"Nice place." She comments.

Luca just acknowledges what Loona said with a 'hhmm-hhmm'.
This cavern system looks pretty well made, the walls are polished stone and everything is well lit by touches hanging on the walls. They catch the curious attention of most of the guild members they pass by, they just stare as they pass by. They are led deeper into the guild until they are in front of the entrance to a dark room. In there they see a table with an Avalian sword laid on the center of said table.
 "Alright, it's in here." The Lucario said to them before stepping in there.

The avali in turn looks at the various mons as they pass by, of all shapes and sizes. Curiosity fills their minds, but they ask no questions. Once they reach the room, they shuffle inside, not sure what to expect.

The Lucario waits by the door.
"Hello there." They hear a voice speak, and on the other side of the room they see a pair of glowing blue eyes in the dark. "So you must be the visitors I was expecting." the voice says welcoming. The eyes close, and from the darkness steps out a bipedal, feline Pokémon with predominantly dark blue fur, while the fur around his neck and the extremities of his limbs are white. He claps his paws together, which makes the torches on the sides of the room light up to reveal that they are in a room with some flair to it. There is a colorful painting of a vivid forest on a wall, a cupboard with many bottles of what is presumably liquor and an iron sword with engravings that is on a display case. "Now that i have a good look at you all, i can see that you really do stand out quite a lot

Eilumi and co give a quick, polite bow that includes the holographic image of the avali the drone is showing.
"That is correct." Eliumi speaks. "I do believe introductions are in order."
He starts with himself.
"My name is Eilumi. I am an Avali, Avali Exploratory Forces 21st Highwind Regiment, Ghost Bear pack."
Nine goes next.
"I am Nine, a protogen. Adopted pack member of the AEF 21st Highwind Regiment, Ghost Bear pack."
Seeing how they're introducing themselves, Loona realizes she's next. "I am Loona. Ex-resident of Dynamo Sands. I'm... uh...."
She pauses, not sure if she counts yet as a pack member or not.
"She is in training to become an adopted pack member." Eilumi explains. Eilumi turns towards the drone projecting the hologram.
"And this holographic projection is that of Councilor Khaako, of the Reborn Illuminate Foreign Relations Council. She is the government official overseeing this meeting."
"I must apologize for not being able to meet you in person, as me and my pack are thousands of light years away from your planet's current location, hence we must use this drone to project my image." Khaako explains.

"So you are not in person you say?" The guild master began before stopping himself. "Oh where are my manners. My name is Stic, i am the guild master of the Four Eyes Guild. It is a honor to have you all here in this fine day." He places his paws behind his back and closes his eyes. "So you wanted to discuss something with me, no? I myself have much i would like to dialogue with you about."

"That is correct." Councilor Khaako replies to this. "We will allow you to say your piece first. It is, after all, your abode."

"Alright then." He opens his eyes once more before continuing. "You are aware of the tyranny of the nobles no doubt. We are looking to overthrow them from the shadows, pull the rug out from under them with no one the wiser. And I believe that you can be a big help for our cause in the future..."

"Yes, Stic, we are to a degree, aware." Councilor Khaako replies. "Perhaps not to the true extent of said tyranny, as most of what we know comes from the memories the Ghost Bear pack scanned from your subordinate, observations from the planet, or from word of mouth, including discussions with said subordinate."
She pauses before continuing. "From what little we have garnered however, we have learned that they are only surpassed by the Miniknog in terms of cruelty and oppression. A faction that the Avali are already in a border and proxy war with."
"Though then again, 'Nobility' and cruelty tend to go hand-in-hand in our experience." Eilumi utters under his breath. "As does societal stagnation."
"Quite right." Councilor Khaako adds in. "If you are wondering what our own stake is in this, I see no reason to not be up front with it. There are of course the ideological reasons. We learned full well at Oridan 6 the price of isolationism, non-interventionism, and apathy. Ever since then, the Reborn Illuminate has taken it upon themselves to protect and uplift the weak within the galaxy, 'because if we don't, who will?' The 'uplifting' part is the more... material reasons. We need trade partners and allies for if and when the Miniknog finally go complete bananas and start a galaxy-wide war. And for that to happen, your species, all of them, need to progress sociologically and technologically. And as long as these so-called 'nobles' are in way, that cannot happen."
"And you are quite right." She continues. "We are very much up to this task. You've already seen a minute fraction of the technological prowess the Reborn Illuminate possesses. That sword doesn't even scratch the surface."
She points to it as she says it. "We have weapons that can shoot iron slugs extremely fast from very far away. Teleportation, Vehicles. Advanced medical capabilities. advanced production capabilities. Just to scratch the surface." She takes a deep breath before continuing.
"That however, leads me to the most important question we must now ask."
She gives Stic a serious look.
"Why should we support you? And I don't mean you as in 'your people'. Our reasons for that I've already made clear. What I mean is why your guild specifically? There are other options. Why should we support you instead of working for... say... these 'wallbreakers' I've heard somewhat about, or simply doing the job ourselves? We have our own reasons for the latter. But for now, we'd like to hear it from you, first."
"Don't misunderstand my intention here. We are not saying 'no', we simply need to know what kind of world you would create once your plans come to fruition. We are currently in the phase of exploring our options."

Stic listens to everything and formulates what to say to that question.
"I do not know if any other guild even considers the idea of a possible life without the nobles, either because they are complacent or see no hope of something like that ever coming to pass, the chance is not zero, we just can't go asking for allies without putting all of our plans in great risk...I want to rid the get rid of the nobles and give everyone a better life, but i do not wish to start an all-out war that will put everyone's lives at jeopardy, i want it to be quick and decisive, we shall seize control without them even knowing, and then removing them from the equation until something far more productive is left on it's place."
"But if you see a better option, or decide to do it yourself I will understand it, in the end it means the end of life under the nobles after all." He nods and takes a breath. "But I ask you, no, I implore you, do not help the Wallbreakers. I have seen into the mind of one of them much like you seem to do, their ranks are filled with pokémon fixated on destruction out of revenge against the nobles. I do not trust people like that to rule anything...let alone have a plan to rule in the first place."

"Yes, the prospect of an all-out war and the unnecessary cost to innocent life is the reason a direct assault is all but off the table." The councilor says. "More often than not, it tends to be much messier than it needs to be, especially if the attack comes from an outside force like our own. Doing it ourselves would mean having to set up a provisional government, putting down reactionaries and misguided 'rebels', propaganda, etc. Besides, it is not really our MO anyway. That's more the USCM's or Miniknog's thing. And that always ends really messily for EVERYONE. Though these days, they're pretty much one or the same."
"Mam, I do believe you are getting off track." Nine informs her.
"Hmm? Oh, right." The counselor apologizes.
"From what Luca has told us about these Wallbreakers, they would probably not be a viable option anyway." Eilumi also chimes in. "They seem to be at best, a group of suspiciously well-armed anarchists. And at worst, possible controlled opposition or the pawns of the very people they seek to destroy. We'd have to have a brain-scan of one or several to know for sure."
"Right. Adventurists are typically not that well armed. So that leads us to believe there might be foul play on that front." Khaako adds. "Either way though, not a recipe for a long-lasting, stable, and prosperous society. Believe me, we speak from experience on that front."
"If... I might be so bold as to jump in here." Loona suddenly says, "What exactly are your plans on dealing with the corrupt guilds?"
"She does bring up a good point, albeit indirectly." Khaako says. "If the problems of this 'sandstone' guild are as widespread as the 'pignite' there seemed to imply it was, that will be another obstacle in your plans. Once you take power, you will have to deal with them, one way or another. If not dealt with, they will smell blood in the water and attempt to strike."
"Reactionaries tend to do that." Eilumi comments.

"I have been thinking about plans to deal with that." Stic began. "Not all those guilds are rotten to the core, some only have a few of those disgusting elements. If we can go about weeding them out from the less compromised guilds before going for the more severe ones."

"I see.." Loona finishes. She's sure that being a psychic type, Stic's probably already probed her exact story if he ever had any interest in it, so it does no good to actually tell the story.
"Yes, I do believe we can help you out in all of this." Councilor Khaako continues. "We'll need more detailed information on what exactly you need, as well as information on the other factions. I know Luca mentioned something about the wallbreakers and we've already talked about them. But are there any other factions of note we should know about? The nobility, obviously. As we've said before, we are to a degree aware of the extent of their cruelty, though we don't know more of the details to it, and how they're an obstacle to progress. And the sandstone guild, which, besides your own guild, is our only other encounter with a 'guild' on this world. Needless to say, it was not a pleasant one."
"We also heard rumors of..." The hologram appears to pick up some notes and read them. "A 'human' running around in the form of a 'mon? Something about an 'Ashshell' guild that tried to ban slavery but only partially succeeded?"

"Yes, Ashshell made an attempt at poor attempt at solving the problem, but we can learn from their mistake." The feline pokemon remains silent for a moment, mumbling something about 'human' and 'again' under his breath, but it sounds like a question more than anything. "Information on the nobles shouldn't be a problem, my guild works closely with them purely for this and the other benefits it brings, mainly being closer to the enemy without them knowing. As for the other guilds, i have been compiling whatever information i could about them, it's not a very deep analysis but we managed to confirm which guilds abuse their power for...forceful sexual intercourse and other such unpleasantries."

"Like the Sandstone guild." Loona grumbles under her breath.
"I'm sorry, what was that about humans?" Councilor Khaako asks.
"One thing you'll learn quite quickly about Avali." Loona chuckles. "They hear everything. Those four ears aren't for show."

"Well, I have always been skeptical about their existence. But are you aware that in every sense of the word humans are a legend, right?"

"It seemed that way, but again, we did not know to what extent." Khaako replied. "We do not know the details, or why they turn up here in your people's bodies. Though, we do know of humans from elsewhere, and know what they look like in reality. Their civilization was part of the inspiration that lead to our own kind's reorganizing after Oridan 6. Or at least the Protectorate part was. Although, I say that in past terms. I... don't know if Luca told you this, or if our intrepid explorers told him this in turn, but... humanity nowadays are an... endangered species in the wider galaxy."

"Really...?" Stics thinks on that for a moment before continuing. "The stories always tell of our world about to face a peril, but someone not from this world, a human, appears in the form of a pokemon. The human meets someone who they become friends with, fulfill their destiny and disappears from the face of our world after a goodbye."

"Hmmmm, sounds a little like the Last Protector's story." Nine comments.
"I see. So they never stick around to see how everything shakes out? That's one mistake we don't intend to repeat." Councilor Khaako asks. "A bit ironic. They could save others... but not themselves. Though... to be fair, no one saw The Ruin coming. Except maybe the Occassus."

"Not that i know off, no. From what i read the human would not want to leave their partner, this means some hesitation. But in the end i am not certain if they left of their own volition or were forced back where they came from."

"Perhaps I should explain what exaclty happened to the humans. It might shed light on why exactly we do what we do." The councilor remarks.

"...Alright then, please go on?"

"Alright. As you may or may not be aware, the humans hailed from a planet called 'Terra'. Or 'Earth' if you want to use the human's own name for it. They were ruled by a peaceful faction called the Protectorate. There were other human factions around the universe as well, like the more rabidly expansionist USCM factions, but we'll come back to those later. The main power was Terra and the Protectorate. One day however, during an emergency meeting following a string of attacks by an unknown assailant where all the most important members of the Protectorate governement were all gathered on Terra, it was attacked, and destroyed by a monstrous entity known as 'The Ruin', an ancient planet-sized beast. In one short moment, the protectorate was effectively no more."
"Now, there were a few holdouts here and there, but at the same time, a group calling themselves the Occassus, a group of humano-supremicist cultists, started attacking whatever was left of the Protectorate. The United Systems, a breakaway militaristic faction that had been biding their time, saw blood in the water and likewise rushed to gobble up whatever was left of the Protectorate. As did the Miniknog. A large chunk of humanity died on that day, but it wouldn't get much better."
"If you're worried about The Ruin, thankfully that has a bit of good news. At least one Protectorate member escaped the carnage, and assembled a crew and destroyed The Ruin from the inside. That however, is where the good news for humanity ends. You see, the Occassus, the cult I mentioned earlier, had summoned The Ruin to help them purge the universe of all non-human life. Again, very ironic considering what it ended up doing. When The Ruin died, they remained. Their leader was soon arrested by a remenant lawkeeper group of the Protectorate known as the Peacekeepers. And you'd think that would be the end of the Occassus."
The hologram shakes its head.
"Oh no. In fact, it was only the beginning. Those Occassus forces were vast, and somehow only got stronger when their god, and their leader fell. It led to a decade or two of unremitting war in the galaxy where they slaughtered and sacrificed whole populations in an attempt to revive or rebirth their 'god'. All failed, of course. It was at Oridan 6 that we Avali became forcibly involved. Eventually, the Occassus were driven to disbandment, or so everyone thinks. Even a century later, we still find the occasional Occassus holdout or put down an occasional, but thankfully short lived 'resurgence'. "
The hologram takes a breath.
"While this was going on, those USCM factions had begun gobbling up what was left of the Protectorate. At first, they tried to reunite humanity under a new government. But it wasn't long before they started to war with themselves, and other neighbors. They ironically tried to save humanity by forcibly uniting it, but in the end, only hastened their own extinction. We suspect the Miniknog had its own hand to play in this. During the era of the Protectorate, the Miniknog were kept at bay, content with oppressing its own citizens instead of expansionism. But when it died, they went bananas. They started gobbling up world after world, enslaving and experimenting on whoever they got their hands on and whoever wasn't able to fight back against them and their technology."
"As it stands now, as I've said, humanity is an endangered species. The USCM wars ended with no clear victor and disbandment of most if not all the factions. Some became pirates, some got absorbed into the Miniknog, others outright vanished without a trace. Most of humanity are either isolated colonies controlled by some outside faction or another, such as us. Or they're lone nomadic spacers or live among other species."

".......I see." He gives a solemn nod. "I did not expected that humans as a whole have met with such a terrible fate. I tried to find out whatever i could myself, but i have never met one these humans of legends, and all the stories i heard or read are far from solid pieces of evidence that could help shine more light into how they come here in the first place."

"Yes... So many lives lost senselessly." Nine comments.
"Is there anything else you wish to ask the Avali Illuminate?" Councilor Khaako asks.

"Hhhmmmm. Well, it is clear that you are not from this world, you are not a pokemon, or even a actual human. So tell me, what exactly is an Avali?"

"Well..." Eilumi says standing a little proud. "What you see is what you get. A feathered floofy bunch of pack-forming feathered raptors from space."
"What he means by that" Nine interjects "Is that we do not entirely understand the question."

"What I'm curious about is your biology."

"Oh." Eilumi says. "You're wondering if we're static like humans, or we evolve like you guys? The answer is the former. We are what we are, we don't do the whole 'evolving' thing."
"In fact" Nine adds "Your is the only one that seems to work like this."

"So you do not evolve?" He raises an eyebrow. He is very aware that there are some pokemon that do no evolve and are born as is, but he notes what they said. "The Avali Illuminate, how large is it?"

"Not as large as the miniknog, sadly." The Councilor laments. "But not counting allied or shared planets, we can lay claim to about...say... at least 300 star systems."

"I see, so I assume the other half belongs entirely to this 'miniknog'." Now for the next thing he has to say...it's not really a question. "Since we are going to be helping each if that is your decision, I would like to mention another part of what I plan. Perhaps you give me some of your opinions on it..." Stic looks to the Lucario standing by the doorway, his eyes begin to glow, and finally he nods.
As if he just got told a order, Luca nodded back and left the room.

"Oookay?" Eilumi asks. The entire collection, except the hologram of the councilor, got a small shiver. Things have gotten serious if he doesn't want Luca here.

"So one of the more prominent ideas that i have had is finding a prominent noble in position that we can use, discreetly getting rid of him and installing one of our own in their place." He said.

"And you want some sort of ... clone or android or something in his place?" Eilumi asks.

He gives some confused blinks. "....I do not know what those are. Apologies."
Now someone came back in, it's Luca again. However he doesn't have his swords or badge on his person.

"Hmmm, something seems off." Eilumi comments. "Doesn't quite smell right."

The Lucario silently goes over to the guild master's side. And his expression appears different too for some reason, he doesn't have that glare, just a normal look for some reason. He even waved to them and...smiled?
Stic looks up at him. "Now, don't scare them too badly okay?" He said.
And then...Luca suddenly began to melt, shrinking as his form almost liquefies into some sort of pink blob with mouth and two beady eyes. Thankfully none of that looked very grotesque.

Knew something was off." Eilumi commented.
"What... is that?" The counselor asks.

"I'm not sure very sure myself but this is a species of pokemon i have not seem around, a very rare one that i found a long time. I took Them under my care." He moves a paw over to to blob to give it a few pads. "And i have been helping them grow and prepare for what they have to do. They are a bit shy like that, and are much more confident when being others."
This little pink blob is moving itself towards Nine now.

"This is amazing!" The Counselor exclaims. "The apex rebels have told us that the Miniknog have been attempting something like this for at least half a century, and they're still decades off from ever perfecting such a thing."
Everyone watches as the pink thing moves over to nine.
"So I presume the plan is to move your members into position, kill off the nobles with an 'order 66'-" The counselor begins.
"It's an old earth movie reference." Eilumi adds.
"... right. Kill off the nobles at once, replace them with these 'mons for a while, at least until you're ready to move to a new system of government?" The counselor finishes.

Lucas walked back into the room to hang by the doorway. He just hopes that thing didn't do anything embarrassing while looking like him while he was away for that moment.
This one feet tall pink slime begins to transform itself now, getting bigger and bigger and gaining itself a bipedal shape with metallic parts and white fur and a screen face. It assumes the shape of Nine...it's almost perfect, it seems like it's just unable to mimic his face correctly, and as a matter of fact said face isn't in the screen as much as it is on the screen.
"Now that would be a wonderful idea, yes." Stic said before letting out a sigh. "Unfortunately this is the only one i got that is capable of doing this, if I had more I would already have executed that idea. Instead I'm afraid that if I want to use him to his fullest is going to need to take a place in a very important part of the nobility."

"A nice attempt." Nine says to the creature.
He reaches out and touches the 'metallic' parts and sees they aren't really the same consistency as his own.
"Yes, I was just going to raise that as a concern." The counselor replies to Stic. "From what we understand, this 'nobility' problem is global. And if the conspiracy angle is to succeed, their removal would have to be a singular event, not a campaign stretched among years. After all, the same trick will only work a finite number of times before someone catches onto it."

"You think so? thanks." 'Nine' replied to Nine's complement. It's voice also had shifts in octaves and pitch until it managed to get it just like Nine's. "First time being you. Never seem you before."
"That is indeed a concern..." Stic nodded. "I have calculated that there is a fair chance that if my plans were to succeed up to a point but eventually the remaining nobles would notice, in which case the way to go about it would be making it official that we, and all the land we managed to get from them so far, is now ours and we shall liberate the rest by force if necessary...and if they don't surrender to this threat, then..."

"Then it turns into the war you were hoping to avoid." The Counselor finishes.

"Indeed..."

"I'd imagine trying to impersonate a cyborg is quite difficult. Given the electronic components." Nine replies back to the ditto.
"If it comes to that, yes, I do believe we could help. Though, again, it's preferable to avoid this in the first place But now to ask another question..." The counselor gives a pause before continuing.
"What are you doing to build power among the populace? The citizenry in particular?" She asks. "Because that is what will determine whether or not your revolution succeeds in the end. I will share with you a little secret when it comes to this sort of thing: Getting rid of the nobility? That's not the hard part. Indeed, the Wallbreakers, given enough time, iron, and bodies, can accomplish the same that part at least. We could accomplish the same thing within hours with some hunter packs, some aircraft, a swarm of drones and maybe even an orbital blast or two. By the Oracle, this exploratory group alone could accomplish that task. It would take months, but it could be done."
"We'd rather not." Eilumi protests. "We were actually hoping to get some time away from this world after this meeting with our new pack members in training."
".... Right. This is only a hypothetical anyway, Eilumi. No, the real difficult part comes afterwards. The 'now what?' is where a lot of 'successful' revolutions fall flat. To keep power after the revolution, you must build independent power among the people, and you must have them on your side. Not any reactionary's side, and not the Wallbreakers. Yours. This is why we aren't doing this ourselves. Because we find that part goes a lot easier if you build power with an already existing group, than if you try to do it on your own."

"This one advantage of focusing the guild on protecting people and their interest, of course this would also include keeping my guild clean of members that can sully our reputation."

"So far so good." The counselor replies. "Do try to look into other methods as well. Build dual power and mutual aid. Both in the case of citizens and dwellers." "But speaking of aid, now we need to know... what exactly do you need from us? We believe it would be easier for you to tell us what you need rather than what we can offer."

"You certainly could help, but I need some time to think about what you can help with. Can you tell me again what you can provide?"

"Let's see..." Councilor thinks for a moment. "Keep in mind the following is not a definitive list by any means. Luca mentioned weaponry, we can certainly provide that. Granted, we can't give you the overly fancy stuff like gauss rifles or military vehicles the like, but things like carbon swords, spears, maybe a 'few' leftover firearms from the occasus wars or something. Limited access to 'specialist' packs for military ops. For non-military ops, we have things like advanced scientific knowledge, production of certain goods, food production in case you wanted to open soup kitchens or something, travel, etc. Again, it would help if we knew what your needs in particular were."

"Well I might just have found another method to get the people on our side. Most of those last things you mentioned could help us extend new services to the citizenry. But I would feel safer with some weapons stockpiled in case things don't go according to plan."

"Plus, we're going to leave this drone here. So you may contact us in case something is needed, and to give further council should the need arise. Don't worry, its battery should last for another 30 years under non-stop use."

"Alright then." Stic said before bowing down to the councilor and the others. "So does this mean that you have chosen my guild as the starting point to better this world of ours?"

"Yes, we have." The counselor finishes.

"Thank you...I promise that we will not disappoint you."

"Very good." The counselor finishes. "If that is all for now... As promised, we will leave the drone with you. Should you need to contact your liaison in charge of overseeing this operation, simply say 'drone, open a line' or something similar, and it will get in contact with your liason. You may negotiate with them for whatever items you may need in your endeavors. And with that, I bid you farewell, and the best of luck in your endeavors."
The hologram disappears, and the drone hovers over to the desk, lands, and ceases its engine, going into standby mode.
"Is there anything else needed from the three of us?" Nine asks.

After all that talk was done, the feline pokemon let out a sigh of relief and sat down by the table. "For now this should be all for now. So, it was because of you finding us that we might have a bigger chance to right all these wrongs, is it not?"
Meanwhile it seems like there are two Eilumis in the room now, one has small black beady eyes though.

"Well, Luca found us, but yes, it seems so." Eilumi, the real one, corrects.

"Yes. of course. Luca is also to thank for this, this accomplishment convinced me to give him a promotion."
To Luca that is all well and good. In fact he is feeling very glad, he has never seem the guild master this hopeful for the future before, maybe the day that of Sandstone having a new, better rule is something he is going to live to see after all.

"I hope you guys succeed," Loona says.
"If that's all, we'll take our leave now." Eilumi says.

Stic nods to them. "Alright then. I'm not exactly sure how me or my guild can help you, but if I can repay you in any way, please let me know."

"We'll keep it in mind." Eilumi says. WIth a bow, they turn, and leave. With Loona giving one more look over her shoulder before likewise turning to leave.

As they leave the room, Luca follows behind them and closes the door. He is going to escort them out here much like he escorted them in here in the first place.

Well Luca..." Nine says. "Looks like this is going to be goodbye. For a long while. Anything else to say/ask before we reach our dropship and go?"

"Doh! I almost forgot!" Eilumi suddenly smacks his head. "I need to ask you, do you know where one can find a 'thunder stone?'" "Thunder stone? Why on earth would we need a thunderstone?" Loona asks.

"Well...i must say, when i woke up today i did not expected my day to be this unusual...but i'm glad it was." He looks to Eilumi, raising a brow. "A Thunder Stone? You can find them in dungeons or being sold by questionable salesmen looking to rip you off...but I'm sure the guild's inventory must have a few. Why?"

"Well, Sparks wanted one to get stronger." Eilumi explained.
"........." Loona does not look happy about that.

"That Pikachu you mean? Hhhmmm, alright then. I can get you one right now."

"Thanks." Eilumi says.
He notices Loona's sour mood.
"Something wrong?" He asks.
"Hmph." She says. "I just don't like the idea of a Raichu running around the ship."

"Alright then, just wait here." The Lucario turns around and goes back to guild master's chamber, after a little bit he comes back with something in his paw, and he overs it to them. It's a green stone that looks a bit transparent, letting them see a yellow lightning bolt symbol in it's center. "Here."

Eilumi takes is, and nods. "Thank you, thank you a lot." EIlumi says. "Goodbye, Luca. Take care of yourself. And uh... try not to cut any more hands off of people, unless they really deserve it." Eilumi laughs.

He smiled. "Heh." That is a moment he doesn't remember very well, but he is sure it happened, it's just that at that moment he was discombobulated by that flashbang. "Goodbye then...friends." Something about this scenario comes to this mind though, he remembers what the guild master said before. "Huh...maybe the legends really are true..."

Nine gives him a quick hug, Loona joins too, as does Eilumi, and then, they turn, and leave.

He hugged them back too, he doesn't remember ever hugging anyone else other than an old friend he had long ago...After they all left, the Lucario took in a deep breath and began to ponder about just what the future might hold for him and his world now...", "pools_count": 1, "title": "Stars of Iron P2A3: Meeting With the Guildmaster", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "text/rtf", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "2", "rating_name": "Adult", "ratings": [ { "content_tag_id": "4", "name": "Sexual Themes", "description": "Erotic imagery, sexual activity or arousal", "rating_id": "2" }, { "content_tag_id": "5", "name": "Strong Violence", "description": "Strong violence, blood, serious injury or death", "rating_id": "2" } ], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "t", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "0", "views": "52" }