Also, obligatory link to the comic itself to which this is a fanfiction of.",
"writing": "[b][center]Act 23: Battle for Sandstone (P4): No Mercy in War[/center][/b]\n\nThey go through the doors and begin going down one of the mansion's hallways, when it was time to take a left turn though, Luca senses something and decides to hug the wall before taking a peek around the corner.\nThey can see a Houndour coming out of a room and into the hallway to their left, he looks pleased with himself for finding a good looking iron sword, that he no doubt stole just now. \"Ooooh, killing the nobles with their own weapon...that's gonna be great...\" He mumbles to himself. He looks to his right and sees nothing there, so he decides to turn left, going down that way in search for either the nobles to kill or anything of value to take.\n\"He hasn't seen us...\" The Lucario whispered to his partner as he saw an opportunity here.\n\n\"Doesn't seem like it.\" Ranii replies, she wonders what exactly the Lucario is planning, but following his lead anyway.\nGiven what the Houndoom said, she doubts that this is a Grove soldier. Or at least, not one particularly loyal. She thinks that this is either a wallbreaker, or a random looter.\n\nWhat Luca was planning was simple and straightforward really. He knows that pokémon can only be an enemy, so he sneaks up behind him, puts a paw on his mouth to stop him from screaming and runs one of his swords through the Houndour's back to silently kill him. After that was dealt with they just kept going.\n\"Alright! now you are going to tell us where the noble is!\" An angry male's voice can be heard coming from a room up ahead, Ranii is the only one who can hear it clearly for now though.\n\"Aaah...w-wait!\" Another voice, also from a male, can be heard responding to the other one with fear. It would appear that there is an interrogation happening up ahead.\n\n\"There's voices up ahead.\" Ranii informs her partner. \"Enemy unknown. They're trying to find the Nobles. They're interrogating someone else... Can you sense them?\"\n\nThey see a door with a couple grass-types burned to death and a dead fire type near it, the voices coming from the other side.\nLuca sees that the door is slightly open and approaches it. \"There might be no need, let's just see what's on the other side.\"\nA Meowth has a blue-eyed Sandshrew against the wall, threatening him with a dagger. \"Come on! spill it out!\"\nThe ground-type closes his eyes, trying to muster courage to lie to this Wallbreaker's face. \"I...i don't know.\"\nJust then the feline pulls the dagger away from the other pokémon's neck, and looks down at his groin for a moment. \"...You are a slave, aren't you?\" Now he seems to be trying to be more friendly.\nThe Sandshrew doesn't say anything to do, but he looks uncomfortable.\n\"Why else would they take away your dick? Look...\" The Meowth puts his weapon away and pats the shoulder of the other mon. \"We are doing this for you, you know that the nobles are bastards...don't you want to be free?\"\n\"...........I do...but...\" He shakes his head. \"I can not trust the likes of you, you just want to kill the nobles.\"\n\"And isn't that good for you?! If the Nobles and their walls fall you will be free!\" The Meowth is starting to sound annoyed.\n\"You can't see that you will tear everything down, don't you?\" He keeps trying to talk him down. \"It doesn't have to be this way, i'm sorry but...please just stop.\" \n\"Grrr...\" He slaps the Sandshrew to the ground in frustration. 'Fine! put the nobles' life over your own, you dickless little puppet! maybe some of your other slave friends will be more willing to talk...\" He raised his weapon as he said that.\nThe ground-type looks like he took that blow well enough, he was hoping too...but when the Wallbreaker mentioned hurting others... \"N-no! Wait!\"\n\n\"Nobles taking away his dick? What is he talking about?\" Ranii whispers. She heard Luca's backstory of a noble taking away his dick, but she's pretty darn sure this isn't the same case. \nHowever, seeing them treat this person like this, causes her to growl under her breath in anger.\n\"... And does it matter?\" She says as she summons her spear. Yeah, she's beginning to hate these wallbreaker jackasses. \n\n\"Let's get in there, you take him, i will watch the door.\" Luca pushed the door open then.\n\"Huh?!\" The Meowth heard the noise of the door slamming open, turning around to the see the two individuals that were spying on them.\nThe sudden appearance of these new faces also startled the Sandshrew, who looked at them with fear and confusion.\n\n\"Anarchist scum!\" She shouts while she charges at the Meowith with the spear, running him through before he even gets the chance to use any sort of move.\n\"... You aren't wrong.\" She whispers into his ear, not loud enough for anyone else. \"... But we can't let you guys win. Sorry.\"\n\nAfter being penetrated by her spear, the feline pokémon looked forward with a look of shock on his face as the life leaves his eyes as he processes the words she just said to him and he falls dead.\nAfter seeing her kill Meowth, the ground-type looks up at her, feeling no safer. \"Who...who are you?\"\n\nShe turns towards Sandshrew.\n\"Ranii. Four Eyes Guild. My partner Luca is watching the door. And... you are?\"\n\n\"I'm Shrewn...\" He gets up on his feet. \"Why are you here?\"\n\n\"As I've said, we're from the four eyes guild. We're looking for Gaben.\" She has other questions for him too, but she figures she can ask him once all is said and done, she can ask him her questions properly. However, she can ask for one right now.\n\"Why were those wallbreakers trying to get you to talk? And what did they mean by 'dickless?'\" That last part just kinda slips out, making it a two-parter.\n\nLuca feels some pity for this Shrewn fellow, he knows how it felt to live without a penis up until recently, and most importantly how it feels when you lose it.\n\"Because I know where Gaben is...\" The second question makes him feel a little uncomfortable though. \"I...i don't have...penis.\"\n\n\"Poor guy...\" She says to him. \n\"Anyway, we also need to know where Gaben is. To prevent those wallbreaker bastards from killing him.\"\nPart of her feels quite bad telling him a white lie like this. But it has to be done.\n\n\"Okay then...\" He believes in her. He raised a paw and pointed to a bed nearby. \"He's hiding under there...\"\nSo it looks like it is almost time...knowing this, Lucas goes over to them, keeping his eyes focused on that bed.\n\nWell, this is... awkward. She did not expect that other heartbeat to be Gaben himself. From the sound of it, it almost sounded like it was another slave or something.\nShe pulls Luca aside for a moment to talk to him.\n\"Luca, what did we do? We can't... do this in front of that guy. He'd be a witness, and we can't have that. On the other hand, he is a slave, and I don't want to have to silence him...\"\n\n\"Yes, i know...\" The Lucario looks back at Shrewn for a moment before going back to whispering. \"But...that's the thing, he is a slave, and he wants to be free...maybe...maybe he would go along with it if he find out, i just...don't see any why he would try to tattle on us, or he would even be trusted given his status...\" He sighs. \"If only we could show him first hand the Avali's plan to make everything better...\"\nShrewn raises an eyebrow as he watches them talk.\nLuca closes his eyes for a moment and comes to a conclusion. \"But...i think we better play it safe, i will send him away first.\"\n\n\"Alright.\" She whispers to her partner. \"One of us will escort him out, the other.... well... you know. Question is, who is doing what?\"\n\nHe thinks for a moment. \"I will lead him out, when i come back and you have dealt with Gaben...we go for Gar.\"\n\n\"...Alright. We'll have to drag one of the corpses in here. Or a few. The plant type ones specifically.\"\nIn hindsight, it's probably better this way. As her murder weapon can disappear when need be. And perhaps Luca can better get him to go along with what she's about to do.\nShe turns to Shrewn.\n\"Okay. Luca here will take you outside. I will... join in you a moment.\" She tells him comfortingly.\n\nThe Sandshrew doesn't say a word but he is a little bit suspicious now.\nLuca goes to him. \"Alright, let's go...let me take you somewhere safe, everyone's at the main hall of the mansion.\"\nHe looks up at the Lucario and gives him a nod. \"Okay...\"\n\"Alright follow me...\" The Lucario leaves the room with him, now Ranii is in there alone...with her target still hiding under the bed.\n\nRanii waits till the door closes, and then waits just a few moments longer, hopefully to get out of earshot.\n\"Look at you...\" She growls. \"Cowering under the bed like the victims you've abused all throughout your misbegotten life. While others fight and die all around you. Oh yes, we've heard of you. Here's to you, Gaben. For all the things we know you've done, for all things we have yet to learn that you've done, for all the things you might have done had we allowed you to continue this misbegotten game of yours, and for the only thing you have left. Not to worry, though...\"\nShe summons her spear from her hand. \n\"Your death will mark the beginning of a new age. An age that will see your kind brought out of the dark pit you noble shits have dug it into, and see them take their place amongst the stars themselves. A shame you won't live to see it. You know, this must seem like the unluckiest day of your life. But the truth is...\"\nShe readies the spear to throw it.\n\"This game was rigged from the start.\"\nShe throws her spear under the bed. Blood shoots out from under the bed, and the all too familiar sound of flesh being pierced fills her ears.\n\nAfter some time, the door opens again and Luca comes back. \"Alright...that's that.\" He looks at the blood pool expanding from under the bed. \"So he's dead...\" He kind of wishes he could have been here to see the look on his face as he died.\n\n\"Yeah... he's gone.\" She says. \"One down, one to go...\" \"Is Shrewn...?\"\n\n\"Yeah, I led him back to the main hall, he should be safe.\" Luca reaches under the bed to pull the dead Gabite from under there, just to be really sure his dead. Seeing the frozen look of pain in the dead noble's face, the chock in his violet eyes, yes...this confirms it well. \"Finally I see you dead 'lord' Gaben.\" The scoffs at the dead pokémon. Luca then just started to use his Aura sense to try to track final Noble but as soon as he did, he detected something else. With a gasp, he turns around.\nStanding on the doorway is that same Sandshrew from before, looking a the scene in front of him with his mouth open in shock. He must have followed the Lucario back here as soon as he was not looking...\n\n\"Back in the main hall, huh?\" Ranii whispers to Luca. \"This... this is not good.\"\n\nThe Lucario sighs and looks at the ground-type. He was just about to say something but he noticed something behind Shrewn, intense eyes looking right at them... \"Oh no...!\" \nThe Sandshrew suddenly gets smacked aside, getting knocked to a wall! Who did that? Well, it's a large Garchomp who just removed him from his way because now he only has eyes for one thing, murdering these two who he can clearly see killed his son. \nWith a Furious roar, the dragon-type noble charges towards them. \"[b]YOU! YOU KILLED MY SON!!![/b]\" And he is already preparing an attack in the form of the move Dragon Claw, the white claws at the end of each of his arms get enveloped in green dragon-type energy that extends, forming blades that he will use to slash them with.\n\n\"Well, good. At least we don't have to hunt him down.\" Her spear rematerializes in her hand as she leaps out of the way of the oncoming attack.\n\nLuca barely managed to dodge the attack at last moment, it grazed his armor a little bit. \"Right then, let's finish this...\" He reaches the swords on his back, removing them from their sheaths. He watches for a moment to see the Garchomp is gonna do.\nThe enraged dragon doesn't stop his attack, still using Dragon Claw, he tries to go after Ranii, attacking by just swinging his two energy blades around like a berserker.\n\nRanii jumps around, jumping off the walls like a mad bastard, for the moment, trying to just dodge his attacks, unable to charge a spear throw in to end this mad dragon's rampage. \nSuddenly, one of the attacks grazes her arm. It's not enough to seriously injure her, but it is enough to get her to drop her guard for just a split second as she instinctively grabs for her arm...\n\nBefore could directly hit her however, the Garchomp let out a roar of pain...Luca just stabbed him right in the side with one of his swords, getting it so deep only the hilt is visible, and it got stuck there. This however, only makes the dragon focus on the Lucario instead! Luca didn't manage to stab anything vital with that so Gar won't die just yet, and he will take one of them with them if he can help it.\nThis was not expected to say the least. the Lucario gasps as he avoids getting clawed by walking back and blocking with his sword, the latter proves to be not such a good idea though, this dragon type is swinging with such force that he managed to knock the weapon right out of Luca's hand and hurt his wrist in the process! \"Ngh...! D-damn it!\" Now all he has is his shield...\nThe inside of the Garchomps mouth begins to glow orange.[b] \"Kill you...I WILL KILL YOU ALL!!\" [/b]True to the name of the move he proceeds to use, he begins spewing a torrent of flames at the Lucario, like a Flamethrower.\nLuca closes his eyes and raises his shield at the incoming flames, it managed to stop the fire from getting to him, causing the fire to split right in the middle in the process. \"Ngh!\" He still feels a heavy pressure pushing against the shield though, threatening to force the shield aside if he doesn't keep his arm strong.\n\nThis is the opening that Ranii needs. With the Garchomp focused completely on the Lucario with the shield, she leaps into the air, spear at the ready.\n\"AAAAAAAAAAAGGHHHH!!\" She yells as she leaps at the dragon 'Noble' with the spear pointed right as his backside.\n\nThe only thing that comes out of the dragon's mouth after that is another roar of pain and blood from internal bleeding that begins choking on. This last attack through his back struck true, he is looking he is going finally die, this was surely a killing blow.\nWith a mixture of adrenaline and anger, Luca rushed forward, grabbing the sword that he dropped and plunging it into the Garchomp's chest to deliver a killing blow of his own. Then it appeared that the dragon was going to be upon him again, he couldn't believe his eyes! How can this be?! Thankfully, the Garchomp had indeed died, he just collapsed on top of the Lucario.\n\nRanii pants, her own adrenaline wears off. It's only after a few moments that she becomes aware of the situation...\n\"Luca!\" She yells as she grabs the dragon, trying to push the noble's corpse off her partner. With a few determined shoves, she manages to roll the dead beast off to the side, and sees the Lucario underneath.\n\"Luca! Are you alright!?\" She says worriedly as she extends her hand out to him.\n\nWith her help, Luca sits himself up, panting as he looks at the dead dragon beside him, then he looks at Ranii. This last one felt pretty intense. \"We....we did it...\" he smiles. \n\n\"Yeah....\" She pulls him close, and then kisses him, on the lips. The kiss does not last long, but it is passionate. \nShe pulls back, and adds \"Yeah, we did.\"\nShe looks over their handiwork... and frowns.\n\"Now... we gotta make this look like The Grove did it...\"\n\nHe enjoyed that kiss while it lasted. But indeed, there is still some work to do. \"Yes...let's drag those corpses here, it should suffice.\" First thing's first though, he gets to remove his swords from the dragon's corpse so he can put them back on the sheaths.\n\n\"Yeah...\" she comments as he removes his sword from the body. \"Probably best if we don't leave that blade here.\"\nShe looks over to one of the corpses, and then over to shrewn. She sighs sadly, it seems they're going to have a lot of explaining, and a bit of convincing to do when he wakes up. \nAlthough, the more that she thinks about it, him getting knocked out like this could very well be a blessing in disguise. As it'll be easier to talk to him in an environment that's not here. \nBuuut there's one small issue with that. The wallbreakers mentioned other slaves. They should grab them too. Especially if it makes it easier to convince this poor soul that this is for the better.\nShe shrugs, and returns to the task at hand. She takes a nearby corpse of one of the Grove soldiers, and drags it into the room.\n\nThe Lucario is feeling rather tired but he helps her the best he can, dragging the other dead Grove Soldier into the room and helping arrange them in a way that makes it seem like there was a big fight here that ended in the death of the nobles at the hands of the Grove.\n\nAfter adjusting the bodies to further add to the deception, Ranii wipes her brow.\n\"Well, the hard part's done. Now, someone just has to discover it... and not discover us in the process. Speaking of...\"\nShe looks over to the still unconscious Shrewn, and goes over to him. \"Looks like you're coming with us, little guy.\" She picks him up, by the arm, and puts him over her shoulder. \n\"Sooo Luca, any idea what the deal is with this guy?\" She asks him as she heads for the door to head back out.\n\nLuca walks on ahead, opening the door for her. \"Him? Well I'm pretty sure he is related to the nobles of this place, but the term for pokémon like him is 'pruned'. He is but a servant the nobles can treat like they please because he is related to them. To put it simply, he was born here to be a 'slave' that the rules put by the committee can't do anything about because he is kin of nobility.\"\n\nRanii nods thankfully to the polite gesture, her smile quickly turning into a frown as she listens to his explanation.\n\"I am truthfully beginning to wonder whether this 'committee' even accomplished anything at all.\" She sighs sadly. \"I mean, I was kind of told in my briefing that this world was rather messed up, but I didn't really know how messed up until I saw it first hand today.\"\nShe gives the still unconscious Shrewn a small headpat and pets him with her free hand.\n\"Poor guy. I know you'll probably be angry with us at first, but...hopefully, in the end, you'll see this is for the better.\"\n\nLuca doesn't quite know what to say about Shrewn's case now, he just hopes everything turns out fine, there has already been too much suffering today. As they leave the room the Lucario is already using his Aura sense to see if he can find those 'slaves' that were mentioned. His eyes look to a door just across the one behind them. The Lucario reaches for the handle but it doesn't budge, but he can already tell why that is. \"...They are holding the door shut.\"\n\n\"Hmmm, that's both good and not good.\" She says to them. Good because it means they're unharmed and keeping themselves safe from the dangers that have been invading this place.\nBad because said dangers also happen to include them. Even though they aren't a threat to them.\n\"Well, let's see. Breaching in through force is obviously out. It would result in injury and panic on the other side... we try the diplomatic solution.\"\nShe raises her hand to knock on the door. But pauses for just a moment.\n\"Oh, by the way, before I do this...have you been able to get into contact with Stic again? Just wondering.\"\nShe then resumes what she was doing, and knocks on the door, giving a few gentle knocks.\n\"Hello?\" She asks. \"Are you okay in there? Are any of you injured?\"\nShe listens for a response.\n\n\"I'm afraid I can't do that at all, I'm not really a psychic type.\" Luca sighs.\n\"Huh...? G-go away!\" A scared voice responded from the other side of the door, it sounded like a female. \"I-i'm not letting you in here to k-kill us!\"\n\n\"Madam\" Ranii replies calmly. \"We are not here to kill you. Or rape you for that matter. We are from the Four Eyes guild. We're here to help you.\"\nShe is glad they are at least talking, and didn't decide to try and play the silence game.\n\n\"A-a guild? The Four Eyes Guild? T-then you are here to rescue us...?\"\n\n\"Yes. We are.\" Ranii replies. She looks at the unconscious sandshrew on her shoulder, and then back to the door.\n\"We have Shrewn with us. You know Shrewn, right?\" She remembers the wallbreakers mention other slaves, and Shrewn show a protective reaction towards them, so she hopes that the poor soul on her shoulder might be the key to saving these other slaves. However many there are. \"So please, let us in.\"\n\nThe door is slowly opened, and just a little bit. On the other side there is a light blue eye peeking through the small opening. \"Shrewn...!\" Seeing him knocked out worries her. The door is then opened to show that this is a Sylveon. \"I-is he okay?!\"\nWith the door open Luca can see other pokémon that are also hiding there in that darkened room, there is a Flareon, a Umbreon, a Leafeon, a Espeon, a Glaceon and a Vaporeon. It is also worth noting that each of all of these mons have a purple collar around their necks.\n\nRanii makes her way in, carefully setting Shrewn down as the girls surround him. It seems that she was right. \"He was knocked out in a fight. But he should be fine.\"\nShe nods to Luca, silently telling him that the coast is clear.\n\"You must be the 'slaves' that were mentioned, right?\" She asks the girls.\n\nThe Flareon looks at the 'Hawlucha', nodding. \"Yes, it's us...we are Gaben's collection.\"\n\nRanii motions to Luca to close the door. What she's about to tell them she does not want to leave this room.\n\nLuca raises a brow. \"Got it.\" The door behind him, now all of them are in the room. He wonder's what Ranii is going to do.\n\nShe looks back to the Flareon. \"I'm afraid I must correct you here. You [i]were[/i] Gaben's collection.\"\n\nShe blinks in confusion after hearing that. \"What?\"\nThe other girls are equally as confused.\n\n\"Gaben is dead. And so is his father.\"\n\n\"He's dead?! L-lord Gar too?!\" They are all exclaiming at once, some speaking over the others as they try to process this.\n\"W-was it the Wallbreakers? They are here...?\" The Espeon asks, panicking.\n\"Are they coming for us next?!\" The Leafeon speaks up.\n\n\"Calm down, calm down.\" Ranii motions by pushing her talons in front of her.\n\nThey all calm down after a little bit, but are still scared.\n\"What's gonna happen now then...?\" The Sylveon asks.\n\nRanii has so many questions to answer. \n\"First things first. To answer your other questions. Yes, Gaben and... Lord... Gar are both dead. And no, it wasn't the Wallbreakers, though they certainly tried. It was The Grove soldiers. apparently they had orders to take the nobles alive, but a group of them instead got into a fight with them, and they and a bunch of other grove members ended up dead. By the time we burst in, there was only one grove soldier left...\"\nShe sighs, looking at them sincerely. \n\"... Or at least, that's what everyone else here is meant to think. I don't know what all Gaben did to you girls. Or what they did to shrewn. But I can guess. He did not treat you girls, or him, well, correct?\"\nShe waits for a response before continuing.\n\n\"Not he did not...\" The Leafon shakes his head. \"He didn't thought much of us other than just being a collection of pokémon that evolve from Eevee...\"\n\"And he wasn't afraid of hitting us if we said 'no'...\" The Espeon added.\"\n\"And I didn't want to be here...\" The Vaporeon steps forward. \"His father brought me here promising that he was just hiring me to be a servant here, so I accepted. When I saw what it was really about, I tried to refuse again and again...so I got tossed into the dungeon to suffer in the dark until I...\" She grits her teeth. \"Until I agreed to it...\"\n\nRanii comes forward, and hugs the vaporeon. \"There there.\" She says. \"Don't worry, it's over. The nightmare is over now.\"\nIt didn't take a genius to figure out what exactly they were being punished for saying 'no' to. Being raped. Being used. Being abused by a horny little brat child.\nThe one she just murdered in cold blood only a few moments ago.\nEarlier perhaps she had some ... second thoughts about killing the little brat that was hiding under the bed. Now though, those thoughts are gone.\nShe breaks the hug, and addresses all the girls again.\n\"Look, as I said, for all intents and purposes, the Grove Soldiers killed them, but... I think you, above all else, deserve to know the truth of the matter. And more importantly, how it relates to what will happen to you now.\"\nShe sighs.\n\"The truth is, we Four Eyes, us two specifically, killed them. Gaben while he was hiding under the bed. His father when he found us. Gar was the one who knocked out Shrewn, right before he fought us. \nThis killing of the nobles... Is something we Four Eyes have been planning for a while. Along with the Avali. Well... okay, not this whole battle. Or The Grove invading. That kind of happened on its own. But the killing the nobles thing? Yes. We did this to make a better future for Sandstone. For you. And everyone else who suffered under their misrule.\"\nShe narrows her eyes.\n\"But before you ask, no. We are not the Wallbreakers, nor are they our allies. As for what will happen to you specifically. For the immediate future, you'll be taken to a safe location, along with the rest of the townsfolk who have sought shelter here in the manor. However, I must ask that what I have told you does not leave this room. Again, for all intents and purposes, The Grove will be blamed for the deaths of Gar and Gaben. Not the Wallbreakers, not us.\"\n\n\"As for what will happen to you once this battle is over. Well, we of the guild would like to extend our hand in helping you adjust to a normal life in any way we can. Counseling. Financial assistance, job location, etc. If you need help with anything, you girls come ask us.\"\nRanii hopes that's reassuring enough for them. She was never really good at all this, and any anti-slave operations she ever took part in during the Occassus Wars and its aftermath was always handled by a third party once she beamed them away. She never had to deal with this directly. \nShe looks towards Shrewn.\n\"I have another question to ask... You girls seem to have a special relation with Shrewn here. I assume that's why you let us in in the first place. Were you and him... particularly close?\"\n\nAfter Ranii was done talking, the girls began speaking among themselves, it's a talk about if they can really trust them, but they all agree because why would they be taking care of Shrewn otherwise? And maybe this can really get better like this 'Hawlucha is promising', so they decide to go along with this.\n\"Yeah.\" The Umbreon responds to Ranii. \"He has always been looking out for us...\"\n\n\"I figured as much.\" Ranii replies. \"Reason I ask is, I would ask of you girls one little favor.\"\n\n\"What favor?\"\nAll the other girls look at her, wondering what she is about to ask of them.\n\n\"Well, you see, he's the only other person besides us and yourselves who knows what really happened. No doubt when he awakens, he'll tell you about it. Part of the other reason I decided to be upfront with you with how the lords here died.\nI know he'll be... shocked, a little angry that we... might have told a white lie about our intentions regarding the lords. But, you must understand, it was for the better. \nBecause the truth is... I would like to make it up to him. Not just for the little white lie, mind you, but also give him a little... reward for all these years of putting up with these... dirt clods that dare to call themselves 'nobles'. \nIf I am to understand correctly, he had a certain... part of him taken away at a very young age. We Avali... we can give it back to him. And I think it would be a fitting start to this new age we're creating.\nThe favor is that you talk to him about it. try to convince him not to be mad at us but to work with us.\"\n\nThey can give 'it' back to him? The girls understand what Ranii is talking about, but they are wondering if that is really possible.\n\"Do you mean it?\" The Vaporeon asks, concerning what she just said about giving back to Shrewn what was taken from him. \"Can you really do that?\"\n\n\"Of course. We Avali can in fact do that. Among other things.\" She looks to Luca. \"He was the same way. He didn't have one either, and now he has one.\"\n\nLuca nods. \"Yes, that is true.\"\n\"If you say so...\" She nods. \"Alright then, I will talk with him when he wakes up.\" She looks at the other girls. \"We all will.\"\n\n\"Alright. Thank you.\" Ranii nods towards them. \"Now, if you have any last questions...\"\n\nThey decide to carry their friend too, with the Flareon and the Vaporeon each grabbing him by an arm, putting it over their shoulders and lifting him up.\n\"You mentioned 'Avali', what is that?\" The Sylveon asks.\n\n\"The short answer is... You're looking at one.\" Ranii replies\n\n\"Oh, so it's the name of your pokémon species?\"\n\n\"The longer answer is... Okay, you know what 'humans' are, right? People from another world that come here and... 'solve problems'?\" She puts a bit of a poisonous emphasis on that last part, as from what she's seen so far, the humans haven't really solved all that many problems. \"Sometimes called 'far outsiders'. The Avali are another species of Far Outsider. Except we aren't summoned to this universe. We discovered this world by other means. And we don't change forms. \"\n\"We're a fairly large space-faring race that seeks to uplift this world. For various reasons.\"\n\nThis gets them talking among themselves again, they sound surprised and in awe from knowing these facts, and they seem to wonder if this means that what's happening right now must be some destiny like the stories.\n\"What is 'space-faring'?\" The Espeon asked.\n\nRanii realizes she just opened a can of mini-monkies with the whole Avali thing. Knowing that she might be here for a while, she sighs. And tries to explain space in the best way she can.\n\"Okay. On every world, well, most worlds anyway, there is the dirt you stand on. There is the ground below the dirt. There is the sky... And eventually the sky ends, giving way to a cold, lightless vaccum in which the worlds inhabit. A ... 'Space'... in between worlds. \n\"Space-Faring\" Means we have the ability to travel in between worlds through this space. Which also means we're very technologically advanced. Which means we have things like...\"\nShe looks for an example of her that would work. Unfortunately, Gungnir, as powerful and useful as it is, is not exactly a good example of 'alien technology.' She is about to give up, when her hand brushes over a certain U-Shaped object. \nAh yes, the matter manipulator. Of course.\n\"This thing.\" She says, taking it out. \"This is a matter manipulator. It... manipulates matter and other objects. Observe.\"\nShe points it at a cabinet, and pushes a button with her 'thumb'. The cabinet shakes, more and more violently, untill after a few seconds, it disappears, seemingly pulled into the device. \nShe then points it at another spot, pressing the button, and the cabinet reappears where it is pointed.\n\"Please don't ask how exactly it works. It would take several months just to explain the science behind it.\"\n\nThis display of technology leaves them in awe, now they are very much convinced that Ranii is not from this world.\n\"The Cabinet went into that!\"\n\"And it came back out!\"\nThey are all exclaiming surprises.\n\"I think they are convinced now...\" Luca whispered to the Avali.\n\n\"Let's hope so, because I don't have anything else on me at the moment to prove I'm of alien origin.\" She whispers back to the Lucario. \"Alright then. So I guess that's that.\" She says to the eeveelutions. \"It's time to take you to safety. Although...\" She says to them. \"I do hope we'll meet again after this fight is over.\"\n\nThe door behind Luca begins to open, he turns around quickly and began reaching for his swords. But on the other side is that Bisharp they saw before...or rather the Ditto still disguised as it.\n\"Oh, there you are.\" He says. \"The Mansion is secure, the Grove is retreating, some Four Eyes members came to help sweep the place, but with the enemy backing off the intruders don't have much staying power in here.\"\n\n\"Very good.\" Ranii says. She was not looking forward to having to kill more of these Grove soldiers. \n\"Did they find the bodies like they were supposed to?\" She asks.\n\n\"So we won then...\" Luca is feeling so much relief right now, Sandstone managed to survive this battle...\nHe shakes his head. \"Not quite yet, but I came here to help you come back to the main hall as discreetly as possible. The less it appears you were here in the first place, the better.\"\n\n\"Very well.\" Ranii nods. But before she follows him, she turns back to the girls, and the still unconscious Shrewn.\n\"You guys... take care of yourselves. I... I do hope we'll meet again soon.\" She says before turning to follow Luca and the ditto out.\n\nThe Captain of the guard looks to the Eeveelutions. \"You must come too, we are not completely certain if this place is safe, and we are looking to gather everyone in the mansion's main hall, so please follow.\"\nThey are led to another set of stairs, it leads down to the kitchen so this must have been done for the servants to have a way to deliver food up to the noble's quarters that they left behind. Now that they are back on the first floor, from here it was just take a turn and they were back in the main hall after passing through the dining room.\nSomehow, this place feels a little more packed than before. The front doors are wide open, it seems Guildmaster Stic is coming, accompanied by Aceo and Elec.\nSeeing his guildmaster fine puts a smile on the Lucario's face, and he immediately decides to run over there to talk to him.",
"writing_bbcode_parsed": "
Act 23: Battle for Sandstone (P4): No Mercy in War
They go through the doors and begin going down one of the mansion's hallways, when it was time to take a left turn though, Luca senses something and decides to hug the wall before taking a peek around the corner. They can see a Houndour coming out of a room and into the hallway to their left, he looks pleased with himself for finding a good looking iron sword, that he no doubt stole just now. "Ooooh, killing the nobles with their own weapon...that's gonna be great..." He mumbles to himself. He looks to his right and sees nothing there, so he decides to turn left, going down that way in search for either the nobles to kill or anything of value to take. "He hasn't seen us..." The Lucario whispered to his partner as he saw an opportunity here.
"Doesn't seem like it." Ranii replies, she wonders what exactly the Lucario is planning, but following his lead anyway. Given what the Houndoom said, she doubts that this is a Grove soldier. Or at least, not one particularly loyal. She thinks that this is either a wallbreaker, or a random looter.
What Luca was planning was simple and straightforward really. He knows that pokémon can only be an enemy, so he sneaks up behind him, puts a paw on his mouth to stop him from screaming and runs one of his swords through the Houndour's back to silently kill him. After that was dealt with they just kept going. "Alright! now you are going to tell us where the noble is!" An angry male's voice can be heard coming from a room up ahead, Ranii is the only one who can hear it clearly for now though. "Aaah...w-wait!" Another voice, also from a male, can be heard responding to the other one with fear. It would appear that there is an interrogation happening up ahead.
"There's voices up ahead." Ranii informs her partner. "Enemy unknown. They're trying to find the Nobles. They're interrogating someone else... Can you sense them?"
They see a door with a couple grass-types burned to death and a dead fire type near it, the voices coming from the other side. Luca sees that the door is slightly open and approaches it. "There might be no need, let's just see what's on the other side." A Meowth has a blue-eyed Sandshrew against the wall, threatening him with a dagger. "Come on! spill it out!" The ground-type closes his eyes, trying to muster courage to lie to this Wallbreaker's face. "I...i don't know." Just then the feline pulls the dagger away from the other pokémon's neck, and looks down at his groin for a moment. "...You are a slave, aren't you?" Now he seems to be trying to be more friendly. The Sandshrew doesn't say anything to do, but he looks uncomfortable. "Why else would they take away your dick? Look..." The Meowth puts his weapon away and pats the shoulder of the other mon. "We are doing this for you, you know that the nobles are bastards...don't you want to be free?" "...........I do...but..." He shakes his head. "I can not trust the likes of you, you just want to kill the nobles." "And isn't that good for you?! If the Nobles and their walls fall you will be free!" The Meowth is starting to sound annoyed. "You can't see that you will tear everything down, don't you?" He keeps trying to talk him down. "It doesn't have to be this way, i'm sorry but...please just stop." "Grrr..." He slaps the Sandshrew to the ground in frustration. 'Fine! put the nobles' life over your own, you dickless little puppet! maybe some of your other slave friends will be more willing to talk..." He raised his weapon as he said that. The ground-type looks like he took that blow well enough, he was hoping too...but when the Wallbreaker mentioned hurting others... "N-no! Wait!"
"Nobles taking away his dick? What is he talking about?" Ranii whispers. She heard Luca's backstory of a noble taking away his dick, but she's pretty darn sure this isn't the same case. However, seeing them treat this person like this, causes her to growl under her breath in anger. "... And does it matter?" She says as she summons her spear. Yeah, she's beginning to hate these wallbreaker jackasses.
"Let's get in there, you take him, i will watch the door." Luca pushed the door open then. "Huh?!" The Meowth heard the noise of the door slamming open, turning around to the see the two individuals that were spying on them. The sudden appearance of these new faces also startled the Sandshrew, who looked at them with fear and confusion.
"Anarchist scum!" She shouts while she charges at the Meowith with the spear, running him through before he even gets the chance to use any sort of move. "... You aren't wrong." She whispers into his ear, not loud enough for anyone else. "... But we can't let you guys win. Sorry."
After being penetrated by her spear, the feline pokémon looked forward with a look of shock on his face as the life leaves his eyes as he processes the words she just said to him and he falls dead. After seeing her kill Meowth, the ground-type looks up at her, feeling no safer. "Who...who are you?"
She turns towards Sandshrew. "Ranii. Four Eyes Guild. My partner Luca is watching the door. And... you are?"
"I'm Shrewn..." He gets up on his feet. "Why are you here?"
"As I've said, we're from the four eyes guild. We're looking for Gaben." She has other questions for him too, but she figures she can ask him once all is said and done, she can ask him her questions properly. However, she can ask for one right now. "Why were those wallbreakers trying to get you to talk? And what did they mean by 'dickless?'" That last part just kinda slips out, making it a two-parter.
Luca feels some pity for this Shrewn fellow, he knows how it felt to live without a penis up until recently, and most importantly how it feels when you lose it. "Because I know where Gaben is..." The second question makes him feel a little uncomfortable though. "I...i don't have...penis."
"Poor guy..." She says to him. "Anyway, we also need to know where Gaben is. To prevent those wallbreaker bastards from killing him." Part of her feels quite bad telling him a white lie like this. But it has to be done.
"Okay then..." He believes in her. He raised a paw and pointed to a bed nearby. "He's hiding under there..." So it looks like it is almost time...knowing this, Lucas goes over to them, keeping his eyes focused on that bed.
Well, this is... awkward. She did not expect that other heartbeat to be Gaben himself. From the sound of it, it almost sounded like it was another slave or something. She pulls Luca aside for a moment to talk to him. "Luca, what did we do? We can't... do this in front of that guy. He'd be a witness, and we can't have that. On the other hand, he is a slave, and I don't want to have to silence him..."
"Yes, i know..." The Lucario looks back at Shrewn for a moment before going back to whispering. "But...that's the thing, he is a slave, and he wants to be free...maybe...maybe he would go along with it if he find out, i just...don't see any why he would try to tattle on us, or he would even be trusted given his status..." He sighs. "If only we could show him first hand the Avali's plan to make everything better..." Shrewn raises an eyebrow as he watches them talk. Luca closes his eyes for a moment and comes to a conclusion. "But...i think we better play it safe, i will send him away first."
"Alright." She whispers to her partner. "One of us will escort him out, the other.... well... you know. Question is, who is doing what?"
He thinks for a moment. "I will lead him out, when i come back and you have dealt with Gaben...we go for Gar."
"...Alright. We'll have to drag one of the corpses in here. Or a few. The plant type ones specifically." In hindsight, it's probably better this way. As her murder weapon can disappear when need be. And perhaps Luca can better get him to go along with what she's about to do. She turns to Shrewn. "Okay. Luca here will take you outside. I will... join in you a moment." She tells him comfortingly.
The Sandshrew doesn't say a word but he is a little bit suspicious now. Luca goes to him. "Alright, let's go...let me take you somewhere safe, everyone's at the main hall of the mansion." He looks up at the Lucario and gives him a nod. "Okay..." "Alright follow me..." The Lucario leaves the room with him, now Ranii is in there alone...with her target still hiding under the bed.
Ranii waits till the door closes, and then waits just a few moments longer, hopefully to get out of earshot. "Look at you..." She growls. "Cowering under the bed like the victims you've abused all throughout your misbegotten life. While others fight and die all around you. Oh yes, we've heard of you. Here's to you, Gaben. For all the things we know you've done, for all things we have yet to learn that you've done, for all the things you might have done had we allowed you to continue this misbegotten game of yours, and for the only thing you have left. Not to worry, though..." She summons her spear from her hand. "Your death will mark the beginning of a new age. An age that will see your kind brought out of the dark pit you noble shits have dug it into, and see them take their place amongst the stars themselves. A shame you won't live to see it. You know, this must seem like the unluckiest day of your life. But the truth is..." She readies the spear to throw it. "This game was rigged from the start." She throws her spear under the bed. Blood shoots out from under the bed, and the all too familiar sound of flesh being pierced fills her ears.
After some time, the door opens again and Luca comes back. "Alright...that's that." He looks at the blood pool expanding from under the bed. "So he's dead..." He kind of wishes he could have been here to see the look on his face as he died.
"Yeah... he's gone." She says. "One down, one to go..." "Is Shrewn...?"
"Yeah, I led him back to the main hall, he should be safe." Luca reaches under the bed to pull the dead Gabite from under there, just to be really sure his dead. Seeing the frozen look of pain in the dead noble's face, the chock in his violet eyes, yes...this confirms it well. "Finally I see you dead 'lord' Gaben." The scoffs at the dead pokémon. Luca then just started to use his Aura sense to try to track final Noble but as soon as he did, he detected something else. With a gasp, he turns around. Standing on the doorway is that same Sandshrew from before, looking a the scene in front of him with his mouth open in shock. He must have followed the Lucario back here as soon as he was not looking...
"Back in the main hall, huh?" Ranii whispers to Luca. "This... this is not good."
The Lucario sighs and looks at the ground-type. He was just about to say something but he noticed something behind Shrewn, intense eyes looking right at them... "Oh no...!" The Sandshrew suddenly gets smacked aside, getting knocked to a wall! Who did that? Well, it's a large Garchomp who just removed him from his way because now he only has eyes for one thing, murdering these two who he can clearly see killed his son. With a Furious roar, the dragon-type noble charges towards them. "YOU! YOU KILLED MY SON!!!" And he is already preparing an attack in the form of the move Dragon Claw, the white claws at the end of each of his arms get enveloped in green dragon-type energy that extends, forming blades that he will use to slash them with.
"Well, good. At least we don't have to hunt him down." Her spear rematerializes in her hand as she leaps out of the way of the oncoming attack.
Luca barely managed to dodge the attack at last moment, it grazed his armor a little bit. "Right then, let's finish this..." He reaches the swords on his back, removing them from their sheaths. He watches for a moment to see the Garchomp is gonna do. The enraged dragon doesn't stop his attack, still using Dragon Claw, he tries to go after Ranii, attacking by just swinging his two energy blades around like a berserker.
Ranii jumps around, jumping off the walls like a mad bastard, for the moment, trying to just dodge his attacks, unable to charge a spear throw in to end this mad dragon's rampage. Suddenly, one of the attacks grazes her arm. It's not enough to seriously injure her, but it is enough to get her to drop her guard for just a split second as she instinctively grabs for her arm...
Before could directly hit her however, the Garchomp let out a roar of pain...Luca just stabbed him right in the side with one of his swords, getting it so deep only the hilt is visible, and it got stuck there. This however, only makes the dragon focus on the Lucario instead! Luca didn't manage to stab anything vital with that so Gar won't die just yet, and he will take one of them with them if he can help it. This was not expected to say the least. the Lucario gasps as he avoids getting clawed by walking back and blocking with his sword, the latter proves to be not such a good idea though, this dragon type is swinging with such force that he managed to knock the weapon right out of Luca's hand and hurt his wrist in the process! "Ngh...! D-damn it!" Now all he has is his shield... The inside of the Garchomps mouth begins to glow orange. "Kill you...I WILL KILL YOU ALL!!" True to the name of the move he proceeds to use, he begins spewing a torrent of flames at the Lucario, like a Flamethrower. Luca closes his eyes and raises his shield at the incoming flames, it managed to stop the fire from getting to him, causing the fire to split right in the middle in the process. "Ngh!" He still feels a heavy pressure pushing against the shield though, threatening to force the shield aside if he doesn't keep his arm strong.
This is the opening that Ranii needs. With the Garchomp focused completely on the Lucario with the shield, she leaps into the air, spear at the ready. "AAAAAAAAAAAGGHHHH!!" She yells as she leaps at the dragon 'Noble' with the spear pointed right as his backside.
The only thing that comes out of the dragon's mouth after that is another roar of pain and blood from internal bleeding that begins choking on. This last attack through his back struck true, he is looking he is going finally die, this was surely a killing blow. With a mixture of adrenaline and anger, Luca rushed forward, grabbing the sword that he dropped and plunging it into the Garchomp's chest to deliver a killing blow of his own. Then it appeared that the dragon was going to be upon him again, he couldn't believe his eyes! How can this be?! Thankfully, the Garchomp had indeed died, he just collapsed on top of the Lucario.
Ranii pants, her own adrenaline wears off. It's only after a few moments that she becomes aware of the situation... "Luca!" She yells as she grabs the dragon, trying to push the noble's corpse off her partner. With a few determined shoves, she manages to roll the dead beast off to the side, and sees the Lucario underneath. "Luca! Are you alright!?" She says worriedly as she extends her hand out to him.
With her help, Luca sits himself up, panting as he looks at the dead dragon beside him, then he looks at Ranii. This last one felt pretty intense. "We....we did it..." he smiles.
"Yeah...." She pulls him close, and then kisses him, on the lips. The kiss does not last long, but it is passionate. She pulls back, and adds "Yeah, we did." She looks over their handiwork... and frowns. "Now... we gotta make this look like The Grove did it..."
He enjoyed that kiss while it lasted. But indeed, there is still some work to do. "Yes...let's drag those corpses here, it should suffice." First thing's first though, he gets to remove his swords from the dragon's corpse so he can put them back on the sheaths.
"Yeah..." she comments as he removes his sword from the body. "Probably best if we don't leave that blade here." She looks over to one of the corpses, and then over to shrewn. She sighs sadly, it seems they're going to have a lot of explaining, and a bit of convincing to do when he wakes up. Although, the more that she thinks about it, him getting knocked out like this could very well be a blessing in disguise. As it'll be easier to talk to him in an environment that's not here. Buuut there's one small issue with that. The wallbreakers mentioned other slaves. They should grab them too. Especially if it makes it easier to convince this poor soul that this is for the better. She shrugs, and returns to the task at hand. She takes a nearby corpse of one of the Grove soldiers, and drags it into the room.
The Lucario is feeling rather tired but he helps her the best he can, dragging the other dead Grove Soldier into the room and helping arrange them in a way that makes it seem like there was a big fight here that ended in the death of the nobles at the hands of the Grove.
After adjusting the bodies to further add to the deception, Ranii wipes her brow. "Well, the hard part's done. Now, someone just has to discover it... and not discover us in the process. Speaking of..." She looks over to the still unconscious Shrewn, and goes over to him. "Looks like you're coming with us, little guy." She picks him up, by the arm, and puts him over her shoulder. "Sooo Luca, any idea what the deal is with this guy?" She asks him as she heads for the door to head back out.
Luca walks on ahead, opening the door for her. "Him? Well I'm pretty sure he is related to the nobles of this place, but the term for pokémon like him is 'pruned'. He is but a servant the nobles can treat like they please because he is related to them. To put it simply, he was born here to be a 'slave' that the rules put by the committee can't do anything about because he is kin of nobility."
Ranii nods thankfully to the polite gesture, her smile quickly turning into a frown as she listens to his explanation. "I am truthfully beginning to wonder whether this 'committee' even accomplished anything at all." She sighs sadly. "I mean, I was kind of told in my briefing that this world was rather messed up, but I didn't really know how messed up until I saw it first hand today." She gives the still unconscious Shrewn a small headpat and pets him with her free hand. "Poor guy. I know you'll probably be angry with us at first, but...hopefully, in the end, you'll see this is for the better."
Luca doesn't quite know what to say about Shrewn's case now, he just hopes everything turns out fine, there has already been too much suffering today. As they leave the room the Lucario is already using his Aura sense to see if he can find those 'slaves' that were mentioned. His eyes look to a door just across the one behind them. The Lucario reaches for the handle but it doesn't budge, but he can already tell why that is. "...They are holding the door shut."
"Hmmm, that's both good and not good." She says to them. Good because it means they're unharmed and keeping themselves safe from the dangers that have been invading this place. Bad because said dangers also happen to include them. Even though they aren't a threat to them. "Well, let's see. Breaching in through force is obviously out. It would result in injury and panic on the other side... we try the diplomatic solution." She raises her hand to knock on the door. But pauses for just a moment. "Oh, by the way, before I do this...have you been able to get into contact with Stic again? Just wondering." She then resumes what she was doing, and knocks on the door, giving a few gentle knocks. "Hello?" She asks. "Are you okay in there? Are any of you injured?" She listens for a response.
"I'm afraid I can't do that at all, I'm not really a psychic type." Luca sighs. "Huh...? G-go away!" A scared voice responded from the other side of the door, it sounded like a female. "I-i'm not letting you in here to k-kill us!"
"Madam" Ranii replies calmly. "We are not here to kill you. Or rape you for that matter. We are from the Four Eyes guild. We're here to help you." She is glad they are at least talking, and didn't decide to try and play the silence game.
"A-a guild? The Four Eyes Guild? T-then you are here to rescue us...?"
"Yes. We are." Ranii replies. She looks at the unconscious sandshrew on her shoulder, and then back to the door. "We have Shrewn with us. You know Shrewn, right?" She remembers the wallbreakers mention other slaves, and Shrewn show a protective reaction towards them, so she hopes that the poor soul on her shoulder might be the key to saving these other slaves. However many there are. "So please, let us in."
The door is slowly opened, and just a little bit. On the other side there is a light blue eye peeking through the small opening. "Shrewn...!" Seeing him knocked out worries her. The door is then opened to show that this is a Sylveon. "I-is he okay?!" With the door open Luca can see other pokémon that are also hiding there in that darkened room, there is a Flareon, a Umbreon, a Leafeon, a Espeon, a Glaceon and a Vaporeon. It is also worth noting that each of all of these mons have a purple collar around their necks.
Ranii makes her way in, carefully setting Shrewn down as the girls surround him. It seems that she was right. "He was knocked out in a fight. But he should be fine." She nods to Luca, silently telling him that the coast is clear. "You must be the 'slaves' that were mentioned, right?" She asks the girls.
The Flareon looks at the 'Hawlucha', nodding. "Yes, it's us...we are Gaben's collection."
Ranii motions to Luca to close the door. What she's about to tell them she does not want to leave this room.
Luca raises a brow. "Got it." The door behind him, now all of them are in the room. He wonder's what Ranii is going to do.
She looks back to the Flareon. "I'm afraid I must correct you here. You were Gaben's collection."
She blinks in confusion after hearing that. "What?" The other girls are equally as confused.
"Gaben is dead. And so is his father."
"He's dead?! L-lord Gar too?!" They are all exclaiming at once, some speaking over the others as they try to process this. "W-was it the Wallbreakers? They are here...?" The Espeon asks, panicking. "Are they coming for us next?!" The Leafeon speaks up.
"Calm down, calm down." Ranii motions by pushing her talons in front of her.
They all calm down after a little bit, but are still scared. "What's gonna happen now then...?" The Sylveon asks.
Ranii has so many questions to answer. "First things first. To answer your other questions. Yes, Gaben and... Lord... Gar are both dead. And no, it wasn't the Wallbreakers, though they certainly tried. It was The Grove soldiers. apparently they had orders to take the nobles alive, but a group of them instead got into a fight with them, and they and a bunch of other grove members ended up dead. By the time we burst in, there was only one grove soldier left..." She sighs, looking at them sincerely. "... Or at least, that's what everyone else here is meant to think. I don't know what all Gaben did to you girls. Or what they did to shrewn. But I can guess. He did not treat you girls, or him, well, correct?" She waits for a response before continuing.
"Not he did not..." The Leafon shakes his head. "He didn't thought much of us other than just being a collection of pokémon that evolve from Eevee..." "And he wasn't afraid of hitting us if we said 'no'..." The Espeon added." "And I didn't want to be here..." The Vaporeon steps forward. "His father brought me here promising that he was just hiring me to be a servant here, so I accepted. When I saw what it was really about, I tried to refuse again and again...so I got tossed into the dungeon to suffer in the dark until I..." She grits her teeth. "Until I agreed to it..."
Ranii comes forward, and hugs the vaporeon. "There there." She says. "Don't worry, it's over. The nightmare is over now." It didn't take a genius to figure out what exactly they were being punished for saying 'no' to. Being raped. Being used. Being abused by a horny little brat child. The one she just murdered in cold blood only a few moments ago. Earlier perhaps she had some ... second thoughts about killing the little brat that was hiding under the bed. Now though, those thoughts are gone. She breaks the hug, and addresses all the girls again. "Look, as I said, for all intents and purposes, the Grove Soldiers killed them, but... I think you, above all else, deserve to know the truth of the matter. And more importantly, how it relates to what will happen to you now." She sighs. "The truth is, we Four Eyes, us two specifically, killed them. Gaben while he was hiding under the bed. His father when he found us. Gar was the one who knocked out Shrewn, right before he fought us. This killing of the nobles... Is something we Four Eyes have been planning for a while. Along with the Avali. Well... okay, not this whole battle. Or The Grove invading. That kind of happened on its own. But the killing the nobles thing? Yes. We did this to make a better future for Sandstone. For you. And everyone else who suffered under their misrule." She narrows her eyes. "But before you ask, no. We are not the Wallbreakers, nor are they our allies. As for what will happen to you specifically. For the immediate future, you'll be taken to a safe location, along with the rest of the townsfolk who have sought shelter here in the manor. However, I must ask that what I have told you does not leave this room. Again, for all intents and purposes, The Grove will be blamed for the deaths of Gar and Gaben. Not the Wallbreakers, not us."
"As for what will happen to you once this battle is over. Well, we of the guild would like to extend our hand in helping you adjust to a normal life in any way we can. Counseling. Financial assistance, job location, etc. If you need help with anything, you girls come ask us." Ranii hopes that's reassuring enough for them. She was never really good at all this, and any anti-slave operations she ever took part in during the Occassus Wars and its aftermath was always handled by a third party once she beamed them away. She never had to deal with this directly. She looks towards Shrewn. "I have another question to ask... You girls seem to have a special relation with Shrewn here. I assume that's why you let us in in the first place. Were you and him... particularly close?"
After Ranii was done talking, the girls began speaking among themselves, it's a talk about if they can really trust them, but they all agree because why would they be taking care of Shrewn otherwise? And maybe this can really get better like this 'Hawlucha is promising', so they decide to go along with this. "Yeah." The Umbreon responds to Ranii. "He has always been looking out for us..."
"I figured as much." Ranii replies. "Reason I ask is, I would ask of you girls one little favor."
"What favor?" All the other girls look at her, wondering what she is about to ask of them.
"Well, you see, he's the only other person besides us and yourselves who knows what really happened. No doubt when he awakens, he'll tell you about it. Part of the other reason I decided to be upfront with you with how the lords here died. I know he'll be... shocked, a little angry that we... might have told a white lie about our intentions regarding the lords. But, you must understand, it was for the better. Because the truth is... I would like to make it up to him. Not just for the little white lie, mind you, but also give him a little... reward for all these years of putting up with these... dirt clods that dare to call themselves 'nobles'. If I am to understand correctly, he had a certain... part of him taken away at a very young age. We Avali... we can give it back to him. And I think it would be a fitting start to this new age we're creating. The favor is that you talk to him about it. try to convince him not to be mad at us but to work with us."
They can give 'it' back to him? The girls understand what Ranii is talking about, but they are wondering if that is really possible. "Do you mean it?" The Vaporeon asks, concerning what she just said about giving back to Shrewn what was taken from him. "Can you really do that?"
"Of course. We Avali can in fact do that. Among other things." She looks to Luca. "He was the same way. He didn't have one either, and now he has one."
Luca nods. "Yes, that is true." "If you say so..." She nods. "Alright then, I will talk with him when he wakes up." She looks at the other girls. "We all will."
"Alright. Thank you." Ranii nods towards them. "Now, if you have any last questions..."
They decide to carry their friend too, with the Flareon and the Vaporeon each grabbing him by an arm, putting it over their shoulders and lifting him up. "You mentioned 'Avali', what is that?" The Sylveon asks.
"The short answer is... You're looking at one." Ranii replies
"Oh, so it's the name of your pokémon species?"
"The longer answer is... Okay, you know what 'humans' are, right? People from another world that come here and... 'solve problems'?" She puts a bit of a poisonous emphasis on that last part, as from what she's seen so far, the humans haven't really solved all that many problems. "Sometimes called 'far outsiders'. The Avali are another species of Far Outsider. Except we aren't summoned to this universe. We discovered this world by other means. And we don't change forms. " "We're a fairly large space-faring race that seeks to uplift this world. For various reasons."
This gets them talking among themselves again, they sound surprised and in awe from knowing these facts, and they seem to wonder if this means that what's happening right now must be some destiny like the stories. "What is 'space-faring'?" The Espeon asked.
Ranii realizes she just opened a can of mini-monkies with the whole Avali thing. Knowing that she might be here for a while, she sighs. And tries to explain space in the best way she can. "Okay. On every world, well, most worlds anyway, there is the dirt you stand on. There is the ground below the dirt. There is the sky... And eventually the sky ends, giving way to a cold, lightless vaccum in which the worlds inhabit. A ... 'Space'... in between worlds. "Space-Faring" Means we have the ability to travel in between worlds through this space. Which also means we're very technologically advanced. Which means we have things like..." She looks for an example of her that would work. Unfortunately, Gungnir, as powerful and useful as it is, is not exactly a good example of 'alien technology.' She is about to give up, when her hand brushes over a certain U-Shaped object. Ah yes, the matter manipulator. Of course. "This thing." She says, taking it out. "This is a matter manipulator. It... manipulates matter and other objects. Observe." She points it at a cabinet, and pushes a button with her 'thumb'. The cabinet shakes, more and more violently, untill after a few seconds, it disappears, seemingly pulled into the device. She then points it at another spot, pressing the button, and the cabinet reappears where it is pointed. "Please don't ask how exactly it works. It would take several months just to explain the science behind it."
This display of technology leaves them in awe, now they are very much convinced that Ranii is not from this world. "The Cabinet went into that!" "And it came back out!" They are all exclaiming surprises. "I think they are convinced now..." Luca whispered to the Avali.
"Let's hope so, because I don't have anything else on me at the moment to prove I'm of alien origin." She whispers back to the Lucario. "Alright then. So I guess that's that." She says to the eeveelutions. "It's time to take you to safety. Although..." She says to them. "I do hope we'll meet again after this fight is over."
The door behind Luca begins to open, he turns around quickly and began reaching for his swords. But on the other side is that Bisharp they saw before...or rather the Ditto still disguised as it. "Oh, there you are." He says. "The Mansion is secure, the Grove is retreating, some Four Eyes members came to help sweep the place, but with the enemy backing off the intruders don't have much staying power in here."
"Very good." Ranii says. She was not looking forward to having to kill more of these Grove soldiers. "Did they find the bodies like they were supposed to?" She asks.
"So we won then..." Luca is feeling so much relief right now, Sandstone managed to survive this battle... He shakes his head. "Not quite yet, but I came here to help you come back to the main hall as discreetly as possible. The less it appears you were here in the first place, the better."
"Very well." Ranii nods. But before she follows him, she turns back to the girls, and the still unconscious Shrewn. "You guys... take care of yourselves. I... I do hope we'll meet again soon." She says before turning to follow Luca and the ditto out.
The Captain of the guard looks to the Eeveelutions. "You must come too, we are not completely certain if this place is safe, and we are looking to gather everyone in the mansion's main hall, so please follow." They are led to another set of stairs, it leads down to the kitchen so this must have been done for the servants to have a way to deliver food up to the noble's quarters that they left behind. Now that they are back on the first floor, from here it was just take a turn and they were back in the main hall after passing through the dining room. Somehow, this place feels a little more packed than before. The front doors are wide open, it seems Guildmaster Stic is coming, accompanied by Aceo and Elec. Seeing his guildmaster fine puts a smile on the Lucario's face, and he immediately decides to run over there to talk to him.",
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