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Told in present tense. 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For those who don't mind reading ahead, the rest of part 5 can be found here.

Also, obligatory link to the comic itself to which this is a fanfiction of.", "writing": "Act 29: A New Day\n\nBoth the Lucario and the Avali leave the abandoned home that was once a safehouse of the Wallbreakers, their next destination is Ara's establishment, the 'Brothol'. When they get there they see that the place seems to be open for business once more.\n\n\"I am not looking forward to this.\" Ranii grumbles. Neither getting an earful from Ara about being a day late, nor about having to deal with that damn bunny again.\n\n\"Yeah same, mostly for the latter...\" He steps in there, being greeted by usual atmosphere and smell of sex this place as usual. \nThe Abra they are looking for is by the counter, she seems to be deep in thought right now.\n\n\"Ara!\" Ranii calls out to her. \"We're back. Sorry we're late. ... REALLY late. But, there was some business I got tied up in.\" A small blush comes in as she remembers last night romp with the inteleon.\n\n\"Huh?\" She looks at them. \"Oh there you two are.\" She crosses her arms, frowning a little. \"I was beginning to believe you guys wouldn't come back here, seriously, i was starting to miss you in here.\" \n\"Sorry...\" Luca sighs.\n\n\"I'm sorry Ara.\" Ranii gives a slight bow. \"A lot of unexpected things came up.\" \nShe goes over, and hugs the Abra. \n\"But I wouldn't forget about you.\"\n\nAra returns the favor with a hug of her own, patting Ranii on the back. \"I suppose there are a lot of things happening all around these days.\" She sighs. \"So, you guys are here to talk to her, right?\" \nLuca kind of wishes she didn't. \"Yeah...what did you talk about with her?\" \n\"Well...it was mostly yelling at her for what she did, but she looks like she didn't mean to do what she did...at least to you.\" She sighs. \"I know for a fact that she stayed back here that day to protect not just me, but my girls too...also Igon.\"\n\n\"I see.\" Ranii sighs. \"Well, we might as well get this over with.\"\n\n\"Alright come here.\" She touches them with her hands, then teleports to the backroom with them.\nAnd that's where that Lopunny is, she was just eating an apple when they showed up. \"O-oh, hey...B-boss...you brought them here hu-\"\nLuca runs right up to here, almost lunging as he punches her right in her smile, knocking her to the ground.\nFluffybuns holds her mouth. \"O.......AAOOOUCH!!\" By the sound of that, it must have hurt.\n\nRanii maintains an angry scowl upon seeing her, holding back the urge to do the same, or even smirk at Luca doing that. \nHowever, internally, she can't help but feel the schadenfreude at seeing Luca punch the rapebunny. \n'She definitely deserved that.' Ranii thinks to herself.\n\n\"Just don't go overboard okay?\" Ara said to him.\n\"What the hell is wrong with you huh?! You ruined our first date.\" He shouts angrily down at the rabbit.\n\"A-ah...so that's what you guys were doing that night...?\" She doesn't sound very happy, she is sadder now in fact. \"I didn't...wanted to do that.\" She sits herself on the floor.\n\"I don't want your damn apologies! your raped us!\"\nShe looks down. \"I know...! Look, I didn't want to ruin your date! I know it sounds like a shitty excuse. I wasn't myself back then!\"\n\"Well you looked like you were having fun at our expense!\" He grabs her by the neck and gives her another punch in the face.\n\n\"He... Isn't wrong.\" Ranii says to her, angrily. \nShe looks to Luca however, determined to put a lid on this before it gets too out of hand.\n\"You get one more. No more after that.\" She tells him sternly.\n\"Ara asked us to weigh in on what to do with you. As much as I'd like to tell her 'kick you out on your butt and leave you to rot.\" Ranii growls. \"Problem is, if we do that, I know the only thing you're going to do is cause even MORE problems for OTHER people.\"\n\nLuca stops himself from punching again, for now just letting her speak whatever else she wants.\n\"Look...i...i knew i couldn't win against those guys, so i had to do that, i didn't wanted to hurt you but you came in and-\"\n\"So you are blaming us now?!\"\n\"No!!\" She sobs. \"You are my friends! And i wanted you guys to feel good but it was too much, i couldn't do anything other than too much!\"\nLuca glares at you. \"I still don't know if i should envy you or just pity you...\" He let go of her neck. \"Just...tell me, did you want to do that? did you wanted to rape me? rape everyone?\"\nShe shakes her head. \"N-no...first i wanted to protect Ara, then forgot everything and just wanted to get raped...\"\nNow that's...confusing. \"What?\"\n\n\"We aren't friends.\" Ranii replies sourly to her claim that they're her friends. \"And after what you did, you never will be, either.\"\nWhen she says that last part, Ranii is just as confused.\n\nHearing that they aren't friends makes her visibly sadder. \"heh....ehehehe...Look i wanted to get raped, i wanted someone, anyone, to pin me to the ground and make me their bitch...but it's hard.\"\nLuca shakes his head. \"I don't get it, then why didn't you just let them?\"\n\"Because then it's not rape...!\" She almost shouted that. \"You don't...you don't understand. I have children who love me very much, who look up to me as a role model, and infamy that I could only dream off, but none of it...\" She is crying and smiling at the same time. \"None of it made me stopped craving that first moment when i got pinned down, my heart was pounding, i thought i was going to die...it felt...it felt so good to be used by that hunk, funny thing is i got into that mess to save someone important to me too...\"\nHe can't help but stare at her with a little shock, what kind of BROKEN place did she come from to think like this? \"I...i didn't ask for your story...\"\n\"O-oh...s-sorry...\" She sobs again. \"I didn't want to ruin your love...\"\n\nRanii just stands there in silence, not even sure of what to make of all this.\n\nThis wasn't something Ara expected to her too, suffice to say she is just as shocked as everyone right now.\n\"Right...\" Luca closes his eyes and sighs. \"Look, I'm not gonna act like I understand you, because I really don't. I don't know what's wrong with you but i'm glad i'm not you...Most of the sexually active creeps i met are more sane than you and yet...you somehow seem less threatening than them...at least right now.\" He says. \"And if you do have children...i don't want to be the one to leave them without a mother. But why are you away from them anyways?\"\n\"Right now...it's honestly safer for them if I am here, they will be...okay, I will go home eventually hehe.\" She gives a broken smile.\n\"And how many children do you have?\" He asks.\nJocelyn's smile, even broken, gets a bit wider as she talks about someone else that she proud of. \"Heh...big family we are, big big family.\"\n\n\"I am... not even going to ask.\" Ranii groans. This is just getting weirder and weirder. Seriously, she's seen Felins less weird than this.\n\nThis is getting too weird for Luca too. \"Look, just...what you did to us that night. Don't. Do. it. Again.\" He punctuates that for emphasis. \"Don't even think about coming with me for sex, ever. That is as much as we are going to get a long.\" He then walks back to Ranii's side.\nShe wordlessly nods to that.\n\"O...kay...\" Ara is still looking at the Lopunny in shock. \"Ranii, is there something you would like to say to her?\"\n\n\"Eh... na. Luca has pretty much covered it already.\" She says with a handwave. \"The only thing I will say is that had it not been for you helping Ara escape, I would have killed you that night. However, that mercy will not be extended twice. Should you 'lose control' ever again, and attempt to come after me, or Luca... or hell, anyone else ever again...\"\nShe wanders up to the Lopunny, and looks sharply in her eyes.\n[b]\"You. [/b][b][i]Will[/i][/b][b]. Die.\"[/b]\nWith that said, she back away, back to Luca.\n\nJocelyn just nods again in silence, looking more miserable than before after Ranii's promise to kill her if she messes up again. \"...\"\nAra approaches her. \"Well...you heard them, right? Are you going to play nice now?\" Even she pities this mon, and after hearing her friends unload their frustration and talk with her, she has made her decision.\n\"Yes...boss...\" The Lopunny looks up at her. \"Are you...going to fire me...?\"\nOne can swear it looks like the Abra's eyes are slightly open as she proceeds to respond to this question. \"No, I'm not firing you.\" She sighs. \"You did some pretty bad things, but you also did some pretty good things. I'm not really one to judge and I don't quite know what you have been through. But I just hope you do more good from now on...\"\n\nNot being fired gives the rabbit some glint of hope in her eyes, but she says nothing and just looks at them.\n\"Besides, some clients have been asking about you.\" Ara's attention then goes to her two friends. \"Yeah that's pretty much it i guess. You know you two have been through hell lately, I should really give you a drink on the house sometime.\" She chuckles. Ara then touches them and teleports herself and her friend back to where they were before at the counter.\n\nThe smell and sounds of sex once again fill Ranii's senses. \n\"All's well that ends well I guess.\" Ranii shrugs. \"I'm glad we got that over with. Anyway...\"\nShe looks towards Ara.\n\"Throughout all of this I haven't even asked how you've been doing since that day. My bad.\"\n\nLuca leans against the counter, watching them talk.\n\"Well I'm still alive ain't i?\" Ara smiles. \"So I'm doing alright...Igon is too. But...do any of you happen to know if Sandstone is safe? I kind of want to sleep a little soundly tonight.\"\nLucan leans in a bit to whisper. \"It's a bit hard to say as of right now but Sandstone is going to be safer than before.\"\n\"Ah.\"\n\n\"Yeah. Sandstone is safe.\" Ranii reassures her. She doesn't know if the Grove will honor their neutrality deal or not, so she decides to not bring it up. But she can be sure that, now that the Nobles are gone from sandstone, the grove won't be a problem again. Or at least, one the Reborn Illuminate will help them deal with.\n\n\"That's good to know.\" She nods. \"Oh and one more thing, Ranii.\" She smirks and tilts her head to the side. \"Can you come here after I'm done with work for the day? You know, girls' night~\"\n\nRanii grins naughtily. \"Provided nothing else pops up, like yesterday.\" She says saucily. \"You betcha!\"\n\nThe Abra giggles naughtily, Ranii always gives her a good time. \"So is there anything else i can do for you?\"\nLuca shakes his head. \"Mmmmmmm maybe not. I will hold you on to that drink on the house later, other than that unless Ranii wants to stick around i will be staying around too.\" \n\n\"Anyway, I'm afraid we must be going again.\" Ranii says. \"Yeah, I know, there's been a lot of stuff happening lately, I'll be sure to tell you all about it once I come back for... ehhem... Girl's Night.\"\n\n\"It's alright, I get ya.\" Ara waves bye to them.\nAh, so it is time to leave. \"Until next time then.\" The Lucario waves back to her and begins heading out to the exit to leave.\n\nRanii waves as well, before leaving with Luca.\n\nFrom here they make their way to the mansion that is now the Four Eyes' HQ. When they get to the war room Stic is still there, and so is Mattias' hologram being emitted from that medallion.\n\"the drought...drought...The drought? hhhmmm...\" The human seems to be talking to himself, pondering on something.\n\n\"Stic.\" Ranii greats, coming into the room and giving a small bow. \"We have more news.\"\n\n\"I was starting to get slightly worried when the both of you did not come back last night.\" Stic moves a paw to the Medallion to turn it on it's other side so the hologram can shut up for a moment, he wants to listen to this news well after all. \"So what is this news?\"\n\"It turns out that the Wallbreakers had a safehouse within Sandstone all along.\" Luca says.\nThe Meowstic raised a brow. \"Really now? Hhhhmm, must have been well hidden, and i was looking out for such a thing. Is it still active?\" Stic narrows his eyes a little. \"You followed them, didn't you?\"\n\"...Yes.\"\nHe sighs. \"Right...your presence didn't put everything in jeopardy, did it?\"\nLuca shakes his head. \"No, Master Stic, it would appear that they are going to be honoring the deal.\"\n\n\"To answer your other question, no. It's not active anymore. It seems to have been abandoned when the troubles started. Or shortly after. Or shortly before. We're not sure which. And yes, it seems this chapter of the Wallbreakers at least is keen on honoring the deal. In fact, they've even given us some helpful information.\"\nShe takes out the note from earlier and hands it to him.\n\"Oh, and by the way, the date went well.\"\n\nStic takes the letter and begins reading it. \"Hhhhhmmm...spies among the Grove huh? Impressive. This is the sort of infiltration that we need to employ, we should really start training spies of our own when we are able, Ditt is still stuck with the identity of Bishop until he 'retires' from being captain of the Guard.\"\n\"What do you think? How can we use this?\" Luca asks.\n\"This can be what we need to liberate towns taken over by the Grove, inside help...\" He thinks for a moment before flipping the medallion on his table again and turning to the drone. \"Khaako, are you there?\"\n\nThe hologram switches on, and the visage of Khaako appears on screen.\n\"Ah, guildmaster slash mayor slash governor stic. How may I help you today?\"\n\nThe smaller visage of Mattias appears from the medallion on the table too. \"You really need to settle on what you are going to be called.\"\n\"Honestly I'm open to suggestions, I don't want to call myself 'king' or 'noble'.\" Stic shows the letter to the Avali counselor to ready. \"It appears that we have unexpected help inside of the Grove.\"\n\n\"Oh? Do tell...\" Khaako folds her hand in front of her, resting her cheek upon them as she listens.\n\nStic proceeds to read the part of the letter that has the most interesting thing for the topic at hand. \"As promised, my chapter of the wallbreakers under my command will show complete neutrality towards your people. However, for showing me such a wonderful time last night, I will impart another gift. A gift of information, and a code phrase to use.\nAs you are well aware, the Grove have, in direct violation of the 'guild proclamation', taken slaves. Of course, we both know that said proclamation is indeed a farce. The Ashshell guild, even at the height of its power barely held sway enough to 'convince' the sniveling, quarreling guilds to pretend to enforce it. And nowadays? Well, I digress. The point is, nothing will come of it. Nothing from 'official' sources. I had heard that your guild and their... 'friends'... have something special planned for them.\nIt might interest you to know that we Wallbreakers have our own spies inside of the Grove's armies. Not enough currently to do anything on their own. But with a little help, it might be enough to turn the tide. My informants have informed me that they are keeping the slaves, er, 'comfort mons', both from sandstone and elsewhere they've conquered, in one camp. Camp Two. As for the spies I mentioned... We have attempted to sneak out whatever slaves we can, but our efforts are hampered. Should you attempt some sort of attack, you may call these wallbreaker spies to your aid. If you spot a red band around a soldier's arm, confront them with the phrase: 'Have you prepared for Autumn?'\nIf they respond with 'My Ivy still needs trimming.' Then they are one of us. If they respond with anything else, feel free to kill them, for they are not one of us.\" He finishes at this part, and decides to abridge the other facts in the letter. \"He also seems aware that Ranii is an 'outsider' but will keep that secret.\"\n\"Huh, It's obvious that this could come in handy to liberate those towns...you planned to do that right?\" Mattias asks.\n\n\"Of course. Though it sounds to me like they're inside the Grove's army camps, not in the towns. Though, we can't rule out that possibility either. Also, I didn't think these 'wallbreakers' were capable of such precise planning. Perhaps we should have coordinated with them prior to the attack instead of attacking them?\"\nKhaako scratches her muzzle.\nShe hears a voice off to the side. Presumably a packmate of hers.\n\"Perhaps it's just that branch of them?\"\n\"Possibly\" Khaako replies to them.\"Or...\"\nKhaako looks to Ranii.\n\"This branch's leader or top ace or whatever ranks they use if any, really likes you, Ranii.\"\nRanii blushes at this.\n\"Either way, as long as they're working towards the same immediate goals, and roughly the same end goal as us, I see no reason not to follow up on this. Especially since I do not trust the Grove's claim to neutrality.\"\n\n\"Yes...\" Stic nods. \"But we are to focus our efforts on battling the Grove we first must help Sandstone get its footing. If it is to be independent we need to resolve the issue of food and water.\"\n\"Hhhmmm Say how is that base in the dungeon coming along?\" Mattias asks.\n\n\"Yes. In the short term, we can manage Food and Water shipments, especially since the Grove strategy is no doubt to blockade the city.\" Khaako says. \"Expect that within 24 hours. However, the long term strategy will be getting this city self-sufficient. Wells, Water Generators, that kind of thing. Also some basic Agriculture. \"\n\"As for the dungeon base...\" She pauses. \"The beginning stages of setup are done. The units are there, the tents are up, patrols are being set up. The shield generator is online and it seems to be preventing the maze from encroaching upon the base. However, the more permanent structures, including the railgun, have yet to be set up.\"\n\n\"Agriculture in the desert?\" Stic is reminded of how that owl said that nothing grows in these lands. \"Is that really possible...?\"\n\"Yes of course!\" Mattias confirms to him. \"Do you think mining would be a possibility?\"\n\"If we knew where to mine, yes.\" The Meowstic sighs. \"I heard that Iron can be found underground in some places, as you know, Iron is a precious thing in this world.\"\n\"And the Dungeon can give treasures too right?\"\n\"Possibly, but it's not guaranteed that it will be much, if any.\"\n\n\"Well yes it is a possibility.\" Khaako says in response to the Agriculture question. \"if we can grow things in the tundra and snow, we can most certainly help you grow things in the desert. Though as I said, that might be a more long-term project, plus one we'll have to guide you towards inventing. It will more than likely involve hydroponics however. Though moving on...\"\n\n\"Now as for the military strategies...\" Mattias began. \"You aren't just going to stop at Sandstone right? You need to expand if you want to accomplish the goal of uplifting your kind.\"\n\"Yes, I'm well aware. If we are to take on the Grove completely we must have more allies, but today I learned a lesson...we can make friends along the way, like we did with the Wallbreakers just now. But before we start anything I want to see if the Grove is going to really attack, they amass a big army so we can take note of it.\" He explains. \"But first we need to know their movement.\"\n\"They seem to be making a beeline for the capital, taking over towns along the way.\" The human says.\n\"Is that so...?\" The meowstic ponders for a moment. \"This presents options...we could either follow after then or try to take over towns ourselves until we get to the capital for the other side. Although...that idea is very baseless, as much as I would like to go for the capital myself if we leave the Grove to take over a part of Sandstone, we might have to worry about more conflict with them after that. The other way to go should be following behind the Grove's army, liberating the towns they took, but then we might still have to deal with the capital...\" He takes a deep breath. \"It's going to be laborious...\"\n\"You think taking over the capital can secure your power throughout all the land of sands right.\"\n\"Yes. And then we can give the Avali even more space to work with in helping us.\"\n\n\"Hmmm well, so much for the original plan of not doing this through war.\" Khaako says. “ But it's as they say: If the circumstances change within twenty-four hours, then tactics must be changed within twenty-four hours. We learned that lesson the hard way when the Occassus and UCSM wars, and the horrors they brought, started up and the old Illuminate was set in its ways.”\n\n\"I would rather not do this through war if I can as well. But I have never been to the capital.\" There is not much set in stone after all, things may change along the way. \"I do not know how the nobles there are, or how big it is. But if the place is under all control we could work on negotiating peace, perhaps even unity, with lands of Snow and even the Grove. If they see what we can do they might see reason and join us.\"\n\"Well, for your sake I hope the world itself also agrees with you, or else things will get very difficult.\"\nStic looks to Matias. \"What do you mean? i ready said that if we show them-\"\n\"No, no.\" He shakes his head. \"When I meant the 'world' I didn't mean like that, I meant the world itself.\"\n\"What are you talking about...?\"\n\n\"Are you referring to the so-called 'gods' that 'Josh' mentioned?\" Khaako asks. \"So far at leasts it seems if they even do exist, they're rather insistent on pretending they don't.\"\n\n\"Or they are dead.\" Mattias adds and shrugs. \"But whatever the case, there are some that I do not believe would be killed easily by Iron, if that's even possible.\"\n\"I do not think that is something to worry about...\" Stic said, looking unamused at the hologram of the human. \"Like Khaako said, it doesn't look like such things even exist.\"\n\"Believe me, it would be impossible for them to NOT exist...\" He insists. \"But just keep doing what you are doing, for now it's not relevant...but if you have to deal with something like that you are looking at some immense crisis.\"\n\n\"Anyway that speculation about 'gods' is getting us off track.\" Khaako is obviously not interested in having a religious debate at the moment. \"We still have battle plans to draw out. Plus, there's still the issue of the other group that partook in Sandstone's would-be fall: the 'Sandstone Guild'. I've noted that the neutrality pact with the Grove, honored or not, does not cover them. Plus, this 'John' person didn't cover them either. This leads me to suspect their friendship with the Grove is over.\"\n\n\"Yes, that seems to be the case.\" The Meowstic looks to Khaako. \"And I remember you mentioning you would do something to deal with those traitors.\"\n\n\"Yes. The team is assembled, and ready to go. Tell me, have you acquired anything interesting in the former guild hall? Any documents or manifests or such?\" Khaako asks.\n\n\"Other than a few dead bodies that were likely made an example of on the day of battle, it looks like they took everything essential with them, weapons, food, water...they didn't leave much of anything interesting behind I'm afraid. Most of the information we could get was from interrogating that Galvantula and such.\"\n\"Well, technically speaking...\" Mattias buts in. \"If they are trying to bring a big number of captives with them, they are likely going pretty slow, their trip should take more than a couple days, maybe half a week until they get to another town. Then again I don't think they are above using said captives as food supply too, just saying...don't let the clock tick too much. If you guys have some sort of vehicle you could use, I think all the captives could be moved back to Sandstone way faster and more efficiently.\"\n\n\"Yes, we've been sending cloaked drones out to try and find them. But so far we haven't found-\" There's a small beep. Khaako's image looks over at something else. \"Wait... hold that thought. I think I might have something. Some sort of encampment to the south east of here. Video coming in soon... Are these our guys?\"\n\nStic, Mattias and Luca pay close attention to what's about to come up next, what exactly are they going to be seeing in this video feed they wonder.\n\nAs does Ranii.\nThe image of Khaako vanishes, and the room in front of them is filled with a large image. This time of an aerial view of the sands with a few tents and some tiny figures moving and standing about>\nThe text \"Zooming\" flashes on the bottom. The camp goes closer and closer, and the tiny colored figures turn into more recognizable figures....\n\n\"That is their Guildmaster...\" Stic points to the Heliolisk he sees in the video.\nLuca points to a punch of pokémon tied up in the middle of the camp, it's mostly the types one would find in sandstone, such as electric, ground and fire types, but there are some odd ones such a Sneasel and a Maractus. \"And those must be their captives...\"\nMattias can't quite point at the actual Hawlucha, Blitzle, Primeape, Torracat and Scyther but he can see them. \"And those must be their flunkies.\"\nThere are also some carts in that camp too, looks like those are being used to carry their supplies, by the looks of it they have to be pulled by the most able-bodied mons such as the Krookodile that is near them.\n\nRanii notes how there are surprisingly few females among the captives. Or among them in general, at least what she can see. \nShe also sees the actual Hawlucha. \"So THAT's what a Hawlucha looks like?\" She rubs her ears. \"How do people keep thinking I am one? I look nothing like that!\" She pauses as she watches. \"Well, no matter. It's worked so far.\"\nA few of the flunkies are in the middle of raping one of the captives. A male Sneasel. There's flunkies talking. \n\"Enhance Audio\" Flashes across the screen. \n\"-w much further to Drywell?\"\n\"The hell do I look like, a map?\"\n\"Well, smartass, we're gonna run out of food soon.\"\n\"So? We'll eat the captives. We'll start with Ansel there.\"\n'Ansel' gives a whine.\n\"What? And give up this tight ass?\"\n\"We need food more than ass. And besides, I'm sick of males. I want a pussy for once.\"\n\"You can have some when 'Helios is done with her.\"\n\"Ugh, and how long will that be? Our 'dear leader' is hoarding the good stuff to himself.\"\n\"Quit complaining and cum already. I have things to do today.\"\n\"You already are doing a thing.\"\n\"That doesn't count.\"\nThe image shifts to another area of the camp, where there's a conversation taking place between two other flunkies...\n\nThe conversation is between a Mawile and a Pawniard.\nThe Pawniard is the first one to speak. \"Hey, you brooding again?\"\n\"What the hell do you want?!\" Despite looking slightly like a female, this Mawile is a male instead. \"I'm hungry right now, so you better not piss me off unless you want me to bite off an arm of yours.\" To punctuate that, large ear-like jaws emerging from the back of his head snap threateningly at the other pokémon.\nThe other mon isn't afraid though. \"...No, i don't think you would want to get your mouth cut.\" He walks beside that big jaw to get beside the Mawile. \"Why are we going to Drywell anyways?\"\nThe angry Mawile looks at him. \"Well, remember how Helios told us to keep the bones if we eat some of the 'meat'? He wants to sell those bones too, not just the meat.\"\n\"What?\" He is understandably a little scared. \"They buy bones there?\"\n\"Not just anyone, you idiot, the noble that lives there! Pretty sure he wants to do that to get on her good side so he can ask her for favors from her...she likes to collect bones or something.\" \n\n\"I think we've seen enough.\" Ranii says with a growl. \n\"I quite agree.\" Khaako says as she reappears, the image fading away. \"We have the location. We have the team ready to go. Do we have anything else to go over? Specific mission parameters?\"\n\n\"No, I do not believe so.\" Stic puts his paws behind his back. \"I see no reason to keep Helios alive though, I don't even see a reason to take prisoners...\"\n\n\"Shoot to kill, then? Very well. That simplifies things.\nA list appears in front of them in holographic letters.\n[b]OBJECTIVES:[/b]\n[b]PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Rescue all captives[/b]\n[b]SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: Eliminite all Sandstone Guild traitors.[/b]\n\"Do these look acceptable? Anything we need to add here?\"\n\n\"Yes, it should suffice.\"\n\"Huh, so we can just give them missions like that?\" Mattias throws in a question.\n\n\"Well, I'm the one giving the mission here.\" Khaako corrects him. \"Anyway, the squad will be deployed this night. You may consider them destroyed, Stic.\"\n\n\"Alright, i shall hope for the safe return of their captives...\" Stic also hopes that so far no captives have already been butchered into food, but from what little he could see that can't exactly be certain. \"...Human?\"\n\"Hhhmm?\" Mattias stands at attention.\n\"Can you really provide help for us? So far you have not did anything very useful for us...\" He says.\n\"Probably not yet but that depends on how strong the Avali want to help you too.\"\nThe Meowstic can't help but feel slightly irritated by how vague he is being. \"And what does this mean? What sort of help could you give us?\"\nHe rolls his eyes and raises a finger. \" Okay just don't get too tempted by it okay? okay. Easy to make, affordable guns.\"\n\"'Guns'?\"\n\n\"Because that definitely won't give away the fact that you're being helped by outside forces, will it?\" Khaako sighs sarcastically. \"Though then again it might be a bit too late for that, all things considered. And as far as 'easy to make, affordable guns', I do hope you don't mean those crude poaching guns the 'smart' Fenerox try to come up with every now and then. Though truth be told, I was planning on sending you some guns to study and base your own designs on once you've set up well enough. Mostly just leftover gunpowder weapons from ancient terra and the Occasus/USCM wars...\"\n\nWhile these two are talking about things that he don't quite understand, Stic turns to Luca and Ranii. \"Sorry for the delay here. For the both of you I might have something, when the Grove comes for the prisoner exchange I want the both of you there to oversee it.\"\n\"Hhhmm...\" Luca also remembers something else, and turns to Ranii. \"Weren't we doing something for Shrewn too?\"\n\"Poaching gun? Don't know what those are but I meant something improvised but mass produced. Assembly line, machine shop firearms.\" Mattias then crosses his arms. \"Well, I guess that could work, maybe, from what I see everything that was given to pokémon was by someone who knew first hand about it.\" He is trying to say 'pokémon can not invent anything' without making it sound offensive here.\n\n\"Oh that's right. I have to check up on that.\" Ranii says. \"Not to mention there's still Girl's night with Ara...\"\nKhaako eyes the human suspiciously. His meaning was not missed. Yet she decides not to raise the issue.\n\"Anyway, yes. This talk of firearms can come later. Let's concentrate on the more immediate issues first. Namely that prisoner transfer. When is that to take place?\"\n\nLuca rubs his chin. \"Not sure what I will be doing without you, to be honest.\" He chuckles a little. \"I can't really imagine being separated from you.\"\n\"I'm pretty sure it might happen today.\" Stic says. \"Might be soon even.\" He might have an idea on how to find that out. \"The drones think they can spot any group of mons that might be making their way to Sandstone?\"\n\n\"Yes they can. 'Duci' doesn't know it, but she left Sandstone with a little... 'friend' in tow. Out of sight, and out of mind, of course.\" Khaako grins a little at that. \"Doesn't look like they're moving yet though. So we have a little time at least. Seems they're taking their sweet time. If I had to guess, probably trying to get whatever they can out of their prisoners before they're forced to give them back.\"\n\"Do you think we'll have time for Shrewn's operation?\" Ranii says.\n\"Quite possibly. Though if I were you, I'd get that done ASAP if it's ready to go.\" Khaako replies.\n\"I'll have to check after this. If it is, I'll do it right away.\" Ranii confirms.\n\"Anyway, the elite team I mentioned is gearing up and preparing to deal with that last loose end at the moment.\" Khaako returns her gaze to Stic. \"If that's everything...\"\n\nStic nods. \"Yes, that should be everything. I'm gonna go lie down soon.\" \nHis master certainly sounds very tired right now, Luca hopes things get lighter for him in the near future.\n\n\"Sleep well.\" Ranii says kindly. Khaako nods as well, as her hologram switches off. \n\"Alright. I'm going to check on Shrewn's ... thing.\" Raii says, excusing herself from the room.\n\nRanii goes outside, and vanishes into thin air with a flash of light. She returns later, seemingly in a hurry.\n\"It's ready.\" She tells Luca. \"I'm going to go get shrewn now, and start the operation.\"\n\nLuca was just leaving the mansion when Ranii came back. \"Oh really? I saw him on the dining room just now.\" Since she is clearly in a hurry he decided to give a little hand and point her to where the mon she is looking for is. \"Don't rush it, it's alright if you don't show up for the prisoner exchange, i can oversee it myself if need be.\" He says to reassure her.\n\n\"Thanks. I'll try to be on time though.\" She says, heading for the dining room. She finds Shrewn in the midst of a meal.\nShe wanders up to Shrewn, and greets him by putting her hands on his shoulders gently.\n\"Your new 'item' is ready. If you'll come with me, you'll have it on you in time for an evening romp with your favorite vaporeon.\" she whispers into his ear.\n\n\"Oh, really...?\" He puts the spoonful of berry salad he was eating back on the plate. \"Alright then, I was wondering when it would be done. So where are we going exactly?\"\n\n\"You'll see.\" She says. \"... You can finish your meal though if you want.\" She looks at the berry salad.\n\n\"If you say so. I promise it won't take long.\" He goes back to eating his meal, seems like he is being a bit faster now though. Spoonful after spoonful of bits of blueberry are eaten by the Sandshrew until he feels satisfied. Normally he would take the plate back to the kitchen but this time maybe he can let that slide. \"Okay, I'm done eating, it's time to go?\"\n\n\"Yes. Come with me.\" Ranii says seriously. She takes Shrewn by the hand, and leads him outside. She hangs onto him, and the pair are surrounded by a very bright light.\nWhen the light fades, the view is much different... and much colder. \n\"Don't mind the cold. Where I come from, it's quite cold, so I find it comforting.\" She says apologetically. \"I know, you must have many questions... So many questions.\" She says as she looks about the ship. \"So I'll give you the very very fast version of the answers. One. No you are not in Sandstone anymore, in fact you're over a hundred miles above it. Two, yes this is an alien ship, and two-point-five, yes I am an alien, not a hawlucha. And three, yes this is my spaceship, and yes it is made of metal. And nanofiber. And snow and ice.\"\nShe leads him down the elevator, to the room she used to operate on Luca. \n\"And a quick question for you... are you immune to poison? Reason I ask is that you should not be awake for this operation, and I need to know the best way to knock you out for a time. When I did this with Luca, I had to employ Asphyxiation. Not pleasant.\"\n\nThroughout the whole time Ranii was talking and leading him around, it looks like the cold is really bothering him. Whatever questions he might have had were answered so he was just left processing everything until she asked him that last question. \"I-i...got some resistance to poison, yes...\" So it's not full resistance. \"Why did you asked that...?\" He can't help but be slightly worried about that.\n\n\"Hmmm, so I'm going to need a really strong sedative for this next part. And/or a larger than normal dosage of it. Okay. Good to know.\" She won't have to choke him like she did to Luca. Poison resistance is annoying, but not impossible to overcome. She motions to the table. \"Lie down on the table, please.\"\n\n\"Alright...\" He steps over to the table, getting on it and lying down on his back. \"Like...this?\"\n\n\"That's good.\" She goes over to the machine. The Avali presses some buttons, and slides a beaker underneath a nozzle. The machine fills the beaker with a clear liquid. She comes back to shrewn, holding the beaker out to him. \"Drink this. It's a knockout juice. A little warning, it's kind of strong. After you drink it, you should get really tired really fast, and before you know it, you'll be out cold. Once you wake up, well... you'll have a 'little friend' to greet you.\" she says with a small chuckle. \"Believe me though, it's a lot easier for all of us if you aren't awake for this.\"\n\nHe holds the beaker, a little mesmerized by the material it's made of, that being glass. Shrewn never saw anything like this before, it's clear like water but hard like rock and it feels smooth to the touch. \"A...alright, I trust you.\" He gives her a nod before slowly and carefully starting to drink the contents of the beaker, the taste makes him close his eyes tightly as he powers through to drink all of it at once. Right after that he starts feeling tired, very tired...he is certain to be out cold very soon and it would be best to take the beaker from his claws before he ends up dropping it.\n\nRanii does exactly that, taking the beaker away just as he's out cold. The irony of that statement in the current environment is not lost upon her. She sets the beaker back to where she found it, resolving to wash it out later. For now, she has an operation to perform..... \n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Act 29: A New Day

Both the Lucario and the Avali leave the abandoned home that was once a safehouse of the Wallbreakers, their next destination is Ara's establishment, the 'Brothol'. When they get there they see that the place seems to be open for business once more.

"I am not looking forward to this." Ranii grumbles. Neither getting an earful from Ara about being a day late, nor about having to deal with that damn bunny again.

"Yeah same, mostly for the latter..." He steps in there, being greeted by usual atmosphere and smell of sex this place as usual.
The Abra they are looking for is by the counter, she seems to be deep in thought right now.

"Ara!" Ranii calls out to her. "We're back. Sorry we're late. ... REALLY late. But, there was some business I got tied up in." A small blush comes in as she remembers last night romp with the inteleon.

"Huh?" She looks at them. "Oh there you two are." She crosses her arms, frowning a little. "I was beginning to believe you guys wouldn't come back here, seriously, i was starting to miss you in here."
"Sorry..." Luca sighs.

"I'm sorry Ara." Ranii gives a slight bow. "A lot of unexpected things came up."
She goes over, and hugs the Abra.
"But I wouldn't forget about you."

Ara returns the favor with a hug of her own, patting Ranii on the back. "I suppose there are a lot of things happening all around these days." She sighs. "So, you guys are here to talk to her, right?"
Luca kind of wishes she didn't. "Yeah...what did you talk about with her?"
"Well...it was mostly yelling at her for what she did, but she looks like she didn't mean to do what she did...at least to you." She sighs. "I know for a fact that she stayed back here that day to protect not just me, but my girls too...also Igon."

"I see." Ranii sighs. "Well, we might as well get this over with."

"Alright come here." She touches them with her hands, then teleports to the backroom with them.
And that's where that Lopunny is, she was just eating an apple when they showed up. "O-oh, hey...B-boss...you brought them here hu-"
Luca runs right up to here, almost lunging as he punches her right in her smile, knocking her to the ground.
Fluffybuns holds her mouth. "O.......AAOOOUCH!!" By the sound of that, it must have hurt.

Ranii maintains an angry scowl upon seeing her, holding back the urge to do the same, or even smirk at Luca doing that.
However, internally, she can't help but feel the schadenfreude at seeing Luca punch the rapebunny.
'She definitely deserved that.' Ranii thinks to herself.

"Just don't go overboard okay?" Ara said to him.
"What the hell is wrong with you huh?! You ruined our first date." He shouts angrily down at the rabbit.
"A-ah...so that's what you guys were doing that night...?" She doesn't sound very happy, she is sadder now in fact. "I didn't...wanted to do that." She sits herself on the floor.
"I don't want your damn apologies! your raped us!"
She looks down. "I know...! Look, I didn't want to ruin your date! I know it sounds like a shitty excuse. I wasn't myself back then!"
"Well you looked like you were having fun at our expense!" He grabs her by the neck and gives her another punch in the face.

"He... Isn't wrong." Ranii says to her, angrily.
She looks to Luca however, determined to put a lid on this before it gets too out of hand.
"You get one more. No more after that." She tells him sternly.
"Ara asked us to weigh in on what to do with you. As much as I'd like to tell her 'kick you out on your butt and leave you to rot." Ranii growls. "Problem is, if we do that, I know the only thing you're going to do is cause even MORE problems for OTHER people."

Luca stops himself from punching again, for now just letting her speak whatever else she wants.
"Look...i...i knew i couldn't win against those guys, so i had to do that, i didn't wanted to hurt you but you came in and-"
"So you are blaming us now?!"
"No!!" She sobs. "You are my friends! And i wanted you guys to feel good but it was too much, i couldn't do anything other than too much!"
Luca glares at you. "I still don't know if i should envy you or just pity you..." He let go of her neck. "Just...tell me, did you want to do that? did you wanted to rape me? rape everyone?"
She shakes her head. "N-no...first i wanted to protect Ara, then forgot everything and just wanted to get raped..."
Now that's...confusing. "What?"

"We aren't friends." Ranii replies sourly to her claim that they're her friends. "And after what you did, you never will be, either."
When she says that last part, Ranii is just as confused.

Hearing that they aren't friends makes her visibly sadder. "heh....ehehehe...Look i wanted to get raped, i wanted someone, anyone, to pin me to the ground and make me their bitch...but it's hard."
Luca shakes his head. "I don't get it, then why didn't you just let them?"
"Because then it's not rape...!" She almost shouted that. "You don't...you don't understand. I have children who love me very much, who look up to me as a role model, and infamy that I could only dream off, but none of it..." She is crying and smiling at the same time. "None of it made me stopped craving that first moment when i got pinned down, my heart was pounding, i thought i was going to die...it felt...it felt so good to be used by that hunk, funny thing is i got into that mess to save someone important to me too..."
He can't help but stare at her with a little shock, what kind of BROKEN place did she come from to think like this? "I...i didn't ask for your story..."
"O-oh...s-sorry..." She sobs again. "I didn't want to ruin your love..."

Ranii just stands there in silence, not even sure of what to make of all this.

This wasn't something Ara expected to her too, suffice to say she is just as shocked as everyone right now.
"Right..." Luca closes his eyes and sighs. "Look, I'm not gonna act like I understand you, because I really don't. I don't know what's wrong with you but i'm glad i'm not you...Most of the sexually active creeps i met are more sane than you and yet...you somehow seem less threatening than them...at least right now." He says. "And if you do have children...i don't want to be the one to leave them without a mother. But why are you away from them anyways?"
"Right now...it's honestly safer for them if I am here, they will be...okay, I will go home eventually hehe." She gives a broken smile.
"And how many children do you have?" He asks.
Jocelyn's smile, even broken, gets a bit wider as she talks about someone else that she proud of. "Heh...big family we are, big big family."

"I am... not even going to ask." Ranii groans. This is just getting weirder and weirder. Seriously, she's seen Felins less weird than this.

This is getting too weird for Luca too. "Look, just...what you did to us that night. Don't. Do. it. Again." He punctuates that for emphasis. "Don't even think about coming with me for sex, ever. That is as much as we are going to get a long." He then walks back to Ranii's side.
She wordlessly nods to that.
"O...kay..." Ara is still looking at the Lopunny in shock. "Ranii, is there something you would like to say to her?"

"Eh... na. Luca has pretty much covered it already." She says with a handwave. "The only thing I will say is that had it not been for you helping Ara escape, I would have killed you that night. However, that mercy will not be extended twice. Should you 'lose control' ever again, and attempt to come after me, or Luca... or hell, anyone else ever again..."
She wanders up to the Lopunny, and looks sharply in her eyes.
"You. Will. Die."
With that said, she back away, back to Luca.

Jocelyn just nods again in silence, looking more miserable than before after Ranii's promise to kill her if she messes up again. "..."
Ara approaches her. "Well...you heard them, right? Are you going to play nice now?" Even she pities this mon, and after hearing her friends unload their frustration and talk with her, she has made her decision.
"Yes...boss..." The Lopunny looks up at her. "Are you...going to fire me...?"
One can swear it looks like the Abra's eyes are slightly open as she proceeds to respond to this question. "No, I'm not firing you." She sighs. "You did some pretty bad things, but you also did some pretty good things. I'm not really one to judge and I don't quite know what you have been through. But I just hope you do more good from now on..."

Not being fired gives the rabbit some glint of hope in her eyes, but she says nothing and just looks at them.
"Besides, some clients have been asking about you." Ara's attention then goes to her two friends. "Yeah that's pretty much it i guess. You know you two have been through hell lately, I should really give you a drink on the house sometime." She chuckles. Ara then touches them and teleports herself and her friend back to where they were before at the counter.

The smell and sounds of sex once again fill Ranii's senses.
"All's well that ends well I guess." Ranii shrugs. "I'm glad we got that over with. Anyway..."
She looks towards Ara.
"Throughout all of this I haven't even asked how you've been doing since that day. My bad."

Luca leans against the counter, watching them talk.
"Well I'm still alive ain't i?" Ara smiles. "So I'm doing alright...Igon is too. But...do any of you happen to know if Sandstone is safe? I kind of want to sleep a little soundly tonight."
Lucan leans in a bit to whisper. "It's a bit hard to say as of right now but Sandstone is going to be safer than before."
"Ah."

"Yeah. Sandstone is safe." Ranii reassures her. She doesn't know if the Grove will honor their neutrality deal or not, so she decides to not bring it up. But she can be sure that, now that the Nobles are gone from sandstone, the grove won't be a problem again. Or at least, one the Reborn Illuminate will help them deal with.

"That's good to know." She nods. "Oh and one more thing, Ranii." She smirks and tilts her head to the side. "Can you come here after I'm done with work for the day? You know, girls' night~"

Ranii grins naughtily. "Provided nothing else pops up, like yesterday." She says saucily. "You betcha!"

The Abra giggles naughtily, Ranii always gives her a good time. "So is there anything else i can do for you?"
Luca shakes his head. "Mmmmmmm maybe not. I will hold you on to that drink on the house later, other than that unless Ranii wants to stick around i will be staying around too."

"Anyway, I'm afraid we must be going again." Ranii says. "Yeah, I know, there's been a lot of stuff happening lately, I'll be sure to tell you all about it once I come back for... ehhem... Girl's Night."

"It's alright, I get ya." Ara waves bye to them.
Ah, so it is time to leave. "Until next time then." The Lucario waves back to her and begins heading out to the exit to leave.

Ranii waves as well, before leaving with Luca.

From here they make their way to the mansion that is now the Four Eyes' HQ. When they get to the war room Stic is still there, and so is Mattias' hologram being emitted from that medallion.
"the drought...drought...The drought? hhhmmm..." The human seems to be talking to himself, pondering on something.

"Stic." Ranii greats, coming into the room and giving a small bow. "We have more news."

"I was starting to get slightly worried when the both of you did not come back last night." Stic moves a paw to the Medallion to turn it on it's other side so the hologram can shut up for a moment, he wants to listen to this news well after all. "So what is this news?"
"It turns out that the Wallbreakers had a safehouse within Sandstone all along." Luca says.
The Meowstic raised a brow. "Really now? Hhhhmm, must have been well hidden, and i was looking out for such a thing. Is it still active?" Stic narrows his eyes a little. "You followed them, didn't you?"
"...Yes."
He sighs. "Right...your presence didn't put everything in jeopardy, did it?"
Luca shakes his head. "No, Master Stic, it would appear that they are going to be honoring the deal."

"To answer your other question, no. It's not active anymore. It seems to have been abandoned when the troubles started. Or shortly after. Or shortly before. We're not sure which. And yes, it seems this chapter of the Wallbreakers at least is keen on honoring the deal. In fact, they've even given us some helpful information."
She takes out the note from earlier and hands it to him.
"Oh, and by the way, the date went well."

Stic takes the letter and begins reading it. "Hhhhhmmm...spies among the Grove huh? Impressive. This is the sort of infiltration that we need to employ, we should really start training spies of our own when we are able, Ditt is still stuck with the identity of Bishop until he 'retires' from being captain of the Guard."
"What do you think? How can we use this?" Luca asks.
"This can be what we need to liberate towns taken over by the Grove, inside help..." He thinks for a moment before flipping the medallion on his table again and turning to the drone. "Khaako, are you there?"

The hologram switches on, and the visage of Khaako appears on screen.
"Ah, guildmaster slash mayor slash governor stic. How may I help you today?"

The smaller visage of Mattias appears from the medallion on the table too. "You really need to settle on what you are going to be called."
"Honestly I'm open to suggestions, I don't want to call myself 'king' or 'noble'." Stic shows the letter to the Avali counselor to ready. "It appears that we have unexpected help inside of the Grove."

"Oh? Do tell..." Khaako folds her hand in front of her, resting her cheek upon them as she listens.

Stic proceeds to read the part of the letter that has the most interesting thing for the topic at hand. "As promised, my chapter of the wallbreakers under my command will show complete neutrality towards your people. However, for showing me such a wonderful time last night, I will impart another gift. A gift of information, and a code phrase to use.
As you are well aware, the Grove have, in direct violation of the 'guild proclamation', taken slaves. Of course, we both know that said proclamation is indeed a farce. The Ashshell guild, even at the height of its power barely held sway enough to 'convince' the sniveling, quarreling guilds to pretend to enforce it. And nowadays? Well, I digress. The point is, nothing will come of it. Nothing from 'official' sources. I had heard that your guild and their... 'friends'... have something special planned for them.
It might interest you to know that we Wallbreakers have our own spies inside of the Grove's armies. Not enough currently to do anything on their own. But with a little help, it might be enough to turn the tide. My informants have informed me that they are keeping the slaves, er, 'comfort mons', both from sandstone and elsewhere they've conquered, in one camp. Camp Two. As for the spies I mentioned... We have attempted to sneak out whatever slaves we can, but our efforts are hampered. Should you attempt some sort of attack, you may call these wallbreaker spies to your aid. If you spot a red band around a soldier's arm, confront them with the phrase: 'Have you prepared for Autumn?'
If they respond with 'My Ivy still needs trimming.' Then they are one of us. If they respond with anything else, feel free to kill them, for they are not one of us." He finishes at this part, and decides to abridge the other facts in the letter. "He also seems aware that Ranii is an 'outsider' but will keep that secret."
"Huh, It's obvious that this could come in handy to liberate those towns...you planned to do that right?" Mattias asks.

"Of course. Though it sounds to me like they're inside the Grove's army camps, not in the towns. Though, we can't rule out that possibility either. Also, I didn't think these 'wallbreakers' were capable of such precise planning. Perhaps we should have coordinated with them prior to the attack instead of attacking them?"
Khaako scratches her muzzle.
She hears a voice off to the side. Presumably a packmate of hers.
"Perhaps it's just that branch of them?"
"Possibly" Khaako replies to them."Or..."
Khaako looks to Ranii.
"This branch's leader or top ace or whatever ranks they use if any, really likes you, Ranii."
Ranii blushes at this.
"Either way, as long as they're working towards the same immediate goals, and roughly the same end goal as us, I see no reason not to follow up on this. Especially since I do not trust the Grove's claim to neutrality."

"Yes..." Stic nods. "But we are to focus our efforts on battling the Grove we first must help Sandstone get its footing. If it is to be independent we need to resolve the issue of food and water."
"Hhhmmm Say how is that base in the dungeon coming along?" Mattias asks.

"Yes. In the short term, we can manage Food and Water shipments, especially since the Grove strategy is no doubt to blockade the city." Khaako says. "Expect that within 24 hours. However, the long term strategy will be getting this city self-sufficient. Wells, Water Generators, that kind of thing. Also some basic Agriculture. "
"As for the dungeon base..." She pauses. "The beginning stages of setup are done. The units are there, the tents are up, patrols are being set up. The shield generator is online and it seems to be preventing the maze from encroaching upon the base. However, the more permanent structures, including the railgun, have yet to be set up."

"Agriculture in the desert?" Stic is reminded of how that owl said that nothing grows in these lands. "Is that really possible...?"
"Yes of course!" Mattias confirms to him. "Do you think mining would be a possibility?"
"If we knew where to mine, yes." The Meowstic sighs. "I heard that Iron can be found underground in some places, as you know, Iron is a precious thing in this world."
"And the Dungeon can give treasures too right?"
"Possibly, but it's not guaranteed that it will be much, if any."

"Well yes it is a possibility." Khaako says in response to the Agriculture question. "if we can grow things in the tundra and snow, we can most certainly help you grow things in the desert. Though as I said, that might be a more long-term project, plus one we'll have to guide you towards inventing. It will more than likely involve hydroponics however. Though moving on..."

"Now as for the military strategies..." Mattias began. "You aren't just going to stop at Sandstone right? You need to expand if you want to accomplish the goal of uplifting your kind."
"Yes, I'm well aware. If we are to take on the Grove completely we must have more allies, but today I learned a lesson...we can make friends along the way, like we did with the Wallbreakers just now. But before we start anything I want to see if the Grove is going to really attack, they amass a big army so we can take note of it." He explains. "But first we need to know their movement."
"They seem to be making a beeline for the capital, taking over towns along the way." The human says.
"Is that so...?" The meowstic ponders for a moment. "This presents options...we could either follow after then or try to take over towns ourselves until we get to the capital for the other side. Although...that idea is very baseless, as much as I would like to go for the capital myself if we leave the Grove to take over a part of Sandstone, we might have to worry about more conflict with them after that. The other way to go should be following behind the Grove's army, liberating the towns they took, but then we might still have to deal with the capital..." He takes a deep breath. "It's going to be laborious..."
"You think taking over the capital can secure your power throughout all the land of sands right."
"Yes. And then we can give the Avali even more space to work with in helping us."

"Hmmm well, so much for the original plan of not doing this through war." Khaako says. “ But it's as they say: If the circumstances change within twenty-four hours, then tactics must be changed within twenty-four hours. We learned that lesson the hard way when the Occassus and UCSM wars, and the horrors they brought, started up and the old Illuminate was set in its ways.”

"I would rather not do this through war if I can as well. But I have never been to the capital." There is not much set in stone after all, things may change along the way. "I do not know how the nobles there are, or how big it is. But if the place is under all control we could work on negotiating peace, perhaps even unity, with lands of Snow and even the Grove. If they see what we can do they might see reason and join us."
"Well, for your sake I hope the world itself also agrees with you, or else things will get very difficult."
Stic looks to Matias. "What do you mean? i ready said that if we show them-"
"No, no." He shakes his head. "When I meant the 'world' I didn't mean like that, I meant the world itself."
"What are you talking about...?"

"Are you referring to the so-called 'gods' that 'Josh' mentioned?" Khaako asks. "So far at leasts it seems if they even do exist, they're rather insistent on pretending they don't."

"Or they are dead." Mattias adds and shrugs. "But whatever the case, there are some that I do not believe would be killed easily by Iron, if that's even possible."
"I do not think that is something to worry about..." Stic said, looking unamused at the hologram of the human. "Like Khaako said, it doesn't look like such things even exist."
"Believe me, it would be impossible for them to NOT exist..." He insists. "But just keep doing what you are doing, for now it's not relevant...but if you have to deal with something like that you are looking at some immense crisis."

"Anyway that speculation about 'gods' is getting us off track." Khaako is obviously not interested in having a religious debate at the moment. "We still have battle plans to draw out. Plus, there's still the issue of the other group that partook in Sandstone's would-be fall: the 'Sandstone Guild'.  I've noted that the neutrality pact with the Grove, honored or not, does not cover them. Plus, this 'John' person didn't cover them either. This leads me to suspect their friendship with the Grove is over."

"Yes, that seems to be the case." The Meowstic looks to Khaako. "And I remember you mentioning you would do something to deal with those traitors."

"Yes. The team is assembled, and ready to go. Tell me, have you acquired anything interesting in the former guild hall? Any documents or manifests or such?" Khaako asks.

"Other than a few dead bodies that were likely made an example of on the day of battle, it looks like they took everything essential with them, weapons, food, water...they didn't leave much of anything interesting behind I'm afraid. Most of the information we could get was from interrogating that Galvantula and such."
"Well, technically speaking..." Mattias buts in. "If they are trying to bring a big number of captives with them, they are likely going pretty slow, their trip should take more than a couple days, maybe half a week until they get to another town. Then again I don't think they are above using said captives as food supply too, just saying...don't let the clock tick too much. If you guys have some sort of vehicle you could use, I think all the captives could be moved back to Sandstone way faster and more efficiently."

"Yes, we've been sending cloaked drones out to try and find them. But so far we haven't found-" There's a small beep. Khaako's image looks over at something else. "Wait... hold that thought. I think I might have something. Some sort of encampment to the south east of here. Video coming in soon... Are these our guys?"

Stic, Mattias and Luca pay close attention to what's about to come up next, what exactly are they going to be seeing in this video feed they wonder.

As does Ranii.
The image of Khaako vanishes, and the room  in front of them is filled with a large image. This time of an aerial view of the sands with a few tents and some tiny figures moving and standing about>
The text "Zooming" flashes on the bottom. The camp goes closer and closer, and the tiny colored figures turn into more recognizable figures....

"That is their Guildmaster..." Stic points to the Heliolisk he sees in the video.
Luca points to a punch of pokémon tied up in the middle of the camp, it's mostly the types one would find in sandstone, such as electric, ground and fire types, but there are some odd ones such a Sneasel and a Maractus. "And those must be their captives..."
Mattias can't quite point at the actual Hawlucha, Blitzle, Primeape, Torracat and Scyther but he can see them. "And those must be their flunkies."
There are also some carts in that camp too, looks like those are being used to carry their supplies, by the looks of it they have to be pulled by the most able-bodied mons such as the Krookodile that is near them.

Ranii notes how there are surprisingly few females among the captives. Or among them in general, at least what she can see.
She also sees the actual Hawlucha. "So THAT's what a Hawlucha looks like?" She rubs her ears. "How do people keep thinking I am one?  I look nothing like that!" She pauses as she watches. "Well, no matter. It's worked so far."
A few of the flunkies are in the middle of raping one of the captives. A male Sneasel. There's flunkies talking.
"Enhance Audio" Flashes across the screen.
"-w much further to Drywell?"
"The hell do I look like, a map?"
"Well, smartass, we're gonna run out of food soon."
"So? We'll eat the captives. We'll start with Ansel there."
'Ansel' gives a whine.
"What? And give up this tight ass?"
"We need food more than ass. And besides, I'm sick of males. I want a pussy for once."
"You can have some when 'Helios is done with her."
"Ugh, and how long will that be? Our 'dear leader' is hoarding the good stuff to himself."
"Quit complaining and cum already. I have things to do today."
"You already are doing a thing."
"That doesn't count."
The image shifts to another area of the camp, where there's a conversation taking place between two other flunkies...

The conversation is between a Mawile and a Pawniard.
The Pawniard is the first one to speak. "Hey, you brooding again?"
"What the hell do you want?!" Despite looking slightly like a female, this Mawile is a male instead. "I'm hungry right now, so you better not piss me off unless you want me to bite off an arm of yours." To punctuate that, large ear-like jaws emerging from the back of his head  snap threateningly at the other pokémon.
The other mon isn't afraid though. "...No, i don't think you would want to get your mouth cut." He walks beside that big jaw to get beside the Mawile. "Why are we going to Drywell anyways?"
The angry Mawile looks at him. "Well, remember how Helios told us to keep the bones if we eat some of the 'meat'? He wants to sell those bones too, not just the meat."
"What?" He is understandably a little scared. "They buy bones there?"
"Not just anyone, you idiot, the noble that lives there! Pretty sure he wants to do that to get on her good side so he can ask her for favors from her...she likes to collect bones or something."

"I think we've seen enough." Ranii says with a growl.
"I quite agree." Khaako says as she reappears, the image fading away. "We have the location. We have the team ready to go. Do we have anything else to go over? Specific mission parameters?"

"No, I do not believe so." Stic puts his paws behind his back. "I see no reason to keep Helios alive though, I don't even see a reason to take prisoners..."

"Shoot to kill, then? Very well. That simplifies things.
A list appears in front of them in holographic letters.
OBJECTIVES:
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Rescue all captives
SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: Eliminite all Sandstone Guild traitors.
"Do these look acceptable? Anything we need to add here?"

"Yes, it should suffice."
"Huh, so we can just give them missions like that?" Mattias throws in a question.

"Well, I'm the one giving the mission here." Khaako corrects him. "Anyway, the squad will be deployed this night. You may consider them destroyed, Stic."

"Alright, i shall hope for the safe return of their captives..." Stic also hopes that so far no captives have already been butchered into food, but from what little he could see that can't exactly be certain. "...Human?"
"Hhhmm?" Mattias stands at attention.
"Can you really provide help for us? So far you have not did anything very useful for us..." He says.
"Probably not yet but that depends on how strong the Avali want to help you too."
The Meowstic can't help but feel slightly irritated by how vague he is being. "And what does this mean? What sort of help could you give us?"
He rolls his eyes and raises a finger. " Okay just don't get too tempted by it okay? okay. Easy to make, affordable guns."
"'Guns'?"

"Because that definitely won't give away the fact that you're being helped by outside forces, will it?" Khaako sighs sarcastically. "Though then again it might be a bit too late for that, all things considered. And as far as 'easy to make, affordable guns', I do hope you don't mean those crude poaching guns the 'smart' Fenerox try to come up with every now and then. Though truth be told, I was planning on sending you some guns to study and base your own designs on once you've set up well enough. Mostly just leftover gunpowder weapons from ancient terra and the Occasus/USCM wars..."

While these two are talking about things that he don't quite understand, Stic turns to Luca and Ranii. "Sorry for the delay here. For the both of you I might have something, when the Grove comes for the prisoner exchange I want the both of you there to oversee it."
"Hhhmm..." Luca also remembers something else, and turns to Ranii. "Weren't we doing something for Shrewn too?"
"Poaching gun? Don't know what those are but I meant something improvised but mass produced. Assembly line, machine shop firearms." Mattias then crosses his arms. "Well, I guess that could work, maybe, from what I see everything that was given to pokémon was by someone who knew first hand about it." He is trying to say 'pokémon can not invent anything' without making it sound offensive here.

"Oh that's right. I have to check up on that." Ranii says. "Not to mention there's still Girl's night with Ara..."
Khaako eyes the human suspiciously. His meaning was not missed. Yet she decides not to raise the issue.
"Anyway, yes. This talk of firearms can come later. Let's concentrate on the more immediate issues first. Namely that prisoner transfer. When is that to take place?"

Luca rubs his chin. "Not sure what I will be doing without you, to be honest." He chuckles a little. "I can't really imagine being separated from you."
"I'm pretty sure it might happen today." Stic says. "Might be soon even." He might have an idea on how to find that out. "The drones think they can spot any group of mons that might be making their way to Sandstone?"

"Yes they can. 'Duci' doesn't know it, but she left Sandstone with a little... 'friend' in tow. Out of sight, and out of mind, of course." Khaako grins a little at that. "Doesn't look like they're moving yet though. So we have a little time at least. Seems they're taking their sweet time. If I had to guess, probably trying to get whatever they can out of their prisoners before they're forced to give them back."
"Do you think we'll have time for Shrewn's operation?" Ranii says.
"Quite possibly. Though if I were you, I'd get that done ASAP if it's ready to go." Khaako replies.
"I'll have to check after this. If it is, I'll do it right away." Ranii confirms.
"Anyway, the elite team I mentioned is gearing up and preparing to deal with that last loose end at the moment." Khaako returns her gaze to Stic. "If that's everything..."

Stic nods. "Yes, that should be everything. I'm gonna go lie down soon."
His master certainly sounds very tired right now, Luca hopes things get lighter for him in the near future.

"Sleep well." Ranii says kindly. Khaako nods as well, as her hologram switches off.
"Alright. I'm going to check on Shrewn's ... thing." Raii says, excusing herself from the room.

Ranii goes outside, and vanishes into thin air with a flash of light. She returns later, seemingly in a hurry.
"It's ready." She tells Luca. "I'm going to go get shrewn now, and start the operation."

Luca was just leaving the mansion when Ranii came back. "Oh really? I saw him on the dining room just now." Since she is clearly in a hurry he decided to give a little hand and point her to where the mon she is looking for is. "Don't rush it, it's alright if you don't show up for the prisoner exchange, i can oversee it myself if need be." He says to reassure her.

"Thanks. I'll try to be on time though." She says, heading for the dining room. She finds Shrewn in the midst of a meal.
She wanders up to Shrewn, and greets him by putting her hands on his shoulders gently.
"Your new 'item' is ready. If you'll come with me, you'll have it on you in time for an evening romp with your favorite vaporeon." she whispers into his ear.

"Oh, really...?" He puts the spoonful of berry salad he was eating back on the plate. "Alright then, I was wondering when it would be done. So where are we going exactly?"

"You'll see." She says. "... You can finish your meal though if you want." She looks at the berry salad.

"If you say so. I promise it won't take long." He goes back to eating his meal, seems like he is being a bit faster now though. Spoonful after spoonful of bits of blueberry are eaten by the Sandshrew until he feels satisfied. Normally he would take the plate back to the kitchen but this time maybe he can let that slide. "Okay, I'm done eating, it's time to go?"

"Yes. Come with me." Ranii says seriously. She takes Shrewn by the hand, and leads him outside. She hangs onto him, and the pair are surrounded by a very bright light.
When the light fades, the view is much different... and much colder.
"Don't mind the cold. Where I come from, it's quite cold, so I find it comforting." She says apologetically. "I know, you must have many questions... So many questions." She says as she looks about the ship. "So I'll give you the very very fast version of the answers. One. No you are not in Sandstone anymore, in fact you're over a hundred miles above it. Two, yes this is an alien ship, and two-point-five, yes I am an alien, not a hawlucha. And three, yes this is my spaceship, and yes it is made of metal. And nanofiber. And snow and ice."
She leads him down the elevator, to the room she used to operate on Luca.
"And a quick question for you... are you immune to poison? Reason I ask is that you should not be awake for this operation, and I need to know the best way to knock you out for a time. When I did this with Luca, I had to employ Asphyxiation. Not pleasant."

Throughout the whole time Ranii was talking and leading him around, it looks like the cold is really bothering him. Whatever questions he might have had were answered so he was just left processing everything until she asked him that last question. "I-i...got some resistance to poison, yes..." So it's not full resistance. "Why did you asked that...?" He can't help but be slightly worried about that.

"Hmmm, so I'm going to need a really strong sedative for this next part. And/or a larger than normal dosage of it. Okay. Good to know." She won't have to choke him like she did to Luca. Poison resistance is annoying, but not impossible to overcome. She motions to the table. "Lie down on the table, please."

"Alright..." He steps over to the table, getting on it and lying down on his back. "Like...this?"

"That's good." She goes over to the machine. The Avali presses some buttons, and slides a beaker underneath a nozzle. The machine fills the beaker with a clear liquid. She comes back to shrewn, holding the beaker out to him. "Drink this. It's a knockout juice. A little warning, it's kind of strong. After you drink it, you should get really tired really fast, and before you know it, you'll be out cold. Once you wake up, well... you'll have a 'little friend' to greet you." she says with a small chuckle. "Believe me though, it's a lot easier for all of us if you aren't awake for this."

He holds the beaker, a little mesmerized by the material it's made of, that being glass. Shrewn never saw anything like this before, it's clear like water but hard like rock and it feels smooth to the touch. "A...alright, I trust you." He gives her a nod before slowly and carefully starting to drink the contents of the beaker, the taste makes him close his eyes tightly as he powers through to drink all of it at once. Right after that he starts feeling tired, very tired...he is certain to be out cold very soon and it would be best to take the beaker from his claws before he ends up dropping it.

Ranii does exactly that, taking the beaker away just as he's out cold. The irony of that statement in the current environment is not lost upon her. She sets the beaker back to where she found it, resolving to wash it out later. For now, she has an operation to perform.....
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