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Told in present tense. ", "count": "86", "submission_left_submission_id": "2997450", "submission_left_file_name": "4480164_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p8a47.rtf", "submission_left_thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/4480/4480164_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p8a47.jpg", "submission_left_thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/4480/4480164_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p8a47.jpg", "submission_left_thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/4480/4480164_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p8a47.jpg", "submission_left_thumb_huge_x": "269", "submission_left_thumb_huge_y": "123", "submission_left_thumb_large_x": "200", "submission_left_thumb_large_y": "91", "submission_left_thumb_medium_x": "120", "submission_left_thumb_medium_y": "55", "submission_right_submission_id": "2997467", "submission_right_file_name": "4480188_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p8a49_rotten_meat.rtf", "submission_right_thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/4480/4480188_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p8a49_rotten_meat.jpg", "submission_right_thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/4480/4480188_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p8a49_rotten_meat.jpg", "submission_right_thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/4480/4480188_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p8a49_rotten_meat.jpg", "submission_right_thumb_huge_x": "269", "submission_right_thumb_huge_y": "123", "submission_right_thumb_large_x": "200", "submission_right_thumb_large_y": "91", "submission_right_thumb_medium_x": "120", "submission_right_thumb_medium_y": "55" } ], "description": "And back to your regularly scheduled wartime operations.\n\nThe rest of Part 8 can be found [url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mCRZdG7xGSzXWMyupl66ciLuJmZFdENCnvapqt96Dxg/edit#]here[/url].\n\n[url=https://inkbunny.net/submissionsviewall.php?rid=c6a9fd4348&mode=pool&pool_id=59838&page=1&orderby=pool_order&random=no&success=]Also, obligatory link to the comic itself to which this is a fanfiction of.[/url]", "description_bbcode_parsed": "And back to your regularly scheduled wartime operations.

The rest of Part 8 can be found here.

Also, obligatory link to the comic itself to which this is a fanfiction of.", "writing": "[center][t]Act 48: Stealing Supplies[/t][/center]\n\nSomewhere else far from the town of Sandstone... \nThe army of the Sandstone. has set up camp near a rocky mountain, it should provide shade for most hours of the day so that's why it got picked. For the moment this seems to be the safest place within Bleached Bastion territory, now the work to liberate the town can begin. Right now the reconnaissance is the topmost priority, finding out about the Grove's movements, where they hang out and the possible status of the town Bleached Bastion itself.\n\nRanii, and a few others, are standing around a table, with a crude map and some markings setting atop it. \"Alright, so, what's the situation?\" She asks.\n\nElec, the Electrabuzz who is one of the generals, begins speaking to all present. \"The situation is we are figuring out how the Grove is gripping Bleached Bastion, we find that out then we hit their fingers to make them let go.\" \nLuca the Lucario is here too, besides Ranii. He is just listening right now as the Electric type keeps talking. \n\"From what we got so far the Grove's patrols are lax right now. Mostly you can expect a patrol made out of scouts scouring the desert sands. They are mostly prone to run if they see something like a group of our 'mons, then they would likely report what they saw which would result in more trouble...perhaps we could use this to your advantage somehow.\" There is a small pause. \"Captain Luca, pay attention, I'm sending you to get this done.\" He then points to a spot on the map, some distance away from Bleached Bastion on the map. \"But first of all, we are going to want to focus the Grove's attention elsewhere. To this end we shall sabotage their supplies here, it's preferable that these supplies are taken and put to better use but if bringing them back is not possible, then destruction is the preferable alternative.\" \n\n\"Looks like we get to be the bandits for once.\" Ranii chuckles. She quickly stops and returns to the topic at hands. \"Alright, so who is going in on this? When do we begin?\"\n\n\"It would be preferable if you got this done today. As for who is going in, well Luca is, and I'm letting him pick who goes with him. You are a captain after all, Lucas.\" \n\"Right then.\" Luca nods and looks down at Ranii. \"Well, I know it's no secret that I'm choosing you.\"\n\nRanii smiles back. \"So is it just us or are we taking a small team with us? That's what I meant.\"\n\nLuca has been trying to think about that. \"Hhhmm, I'm thinking about bringing a pair of extra hands...or two pairs. I know just the two of us work together most of the time but...\"\n\n\"I understand. And yes, some extra hands would definitely help. I mean, we make one hell of a team together, but not even we can do everything... especially when it comes to carrying the stuff back to base. More hands means less supplies destroyed.\"\n\n\"Yeah that's the idea.\" He nods. With any luck maybe they can get all the supplies. \"Let's go see who we can find to come with us now, eh?\"\n\n\"Alright, lead the way big guy.\" Ranii smiles at him. \"Let's put that team together and do this.\"\n\n\"Of course.\" And with that the Lucario walks out of the big tent with Ranii. Now out and about in the camp they can see it is quiet, most everyone is taking a break after the trip and the setting up of the camp was done. Their search for people to form a group lead them to two familiar face who seem to be idle hands at the moment...Dedee and Pachi. \n\n\"Hey Pachi, let go of that bomb before it goes of in your hand.\" She jokes as she approaches Pachi, reminding her of the battle on the wall.\n\nThe white electric squire smiled, she does remember that. \"You really saved my hide back there, that day!\" She said. She noticed Luca is here too. \"Oh, hey Captain, you are going to get busy?\"\n\"Oh, hello there!\" The Dedenne greats them too. \n\"Yes actually.\" The Lucario responds to the Pachirisu. \"We got assigned to deal with some enemy supplies. Me and Ranii here are looking for some help to bring along.\"\n\n\"Quite so\" Ranii says. \"Should tell you, you might be doing quite a bit of carry-work. We intend to take as much of the supplies as we can, but we'll need to destroy or bury what we can't. So the more hands the better.\"\n\n\"Carry-work? I don't think I can be of much use for that, I don't have a very strong arm...\" the other electric rodent besides Pachi says. \"You should probably look for someone big and strong.\"\n\"Yes, perhaps bringing someone strong is a good idea.\" Luca agrees with that, though this isn't to say Pachi won't be coming along.\n\n\"Well, alright, I'm sure we can put you to use later.\" Ranii says. Somehow she didn't think this little mon would fit the bill anyway.\n\n\"Let's keep looking...\" Luca takes his two companions somewhere else. He is searching for someone more his size this time around, someone that could carry something heavy.\nWhat they find is probably something that Ranii might find strange (or not). It's a Golem, a pokemon that could be described as 'a creature wearing a boulder like a costume.'\nSeeing this mon, the Lucario thinks he can fit the bill for what they are looking for. He would have preferred a team that could move fast but they need some muscle after all. \"Hey, you. Got a minute?\"\nThe Rock/Ground type looks to the Lucario. \"What?\"\n\n\"We're putting together a team for an ambush on a Grove caravan. And we need some muscle to carry said caravan supplies back to base.\" Ranii asks. \"..You in?\"\n\nThe Golem turns to them now. \"Really?\"\nLuca nods. \"Yeah, you are not busy are you? We are going to be leaving as soon as possible. What's your name, soldier?\"\n\"No sir, I'm not busy. I can give you guys some help if you really need it.\" He replied. Seems like he concurs with coming with them. \"My name is Lemm, sir.\"\n\"Well, he does look like the muscle we need.\" Pachi comments to Ranii. \"I guess we got our team now, right?\"\n\n\"Hmmm\" Ranii looks at the team. We have the light scout, the heavy-lifter/tank, and the two frontliners. While having more hands is a good thing, at the same time one does not want too many on this, as it could slow them down. It seems like they have a good balance here.\n\"Yeah, seems about right.\" Ranii gives Luca an approving thumbs up.\n\"Wait!\"\nAll heads turn towards the source of a voice. A lone Sneasel approaches them. \"I can't help but overhear... are you guys putting together a mission?\"\n\nLuca thought they were all ready to go, then he heard a voice from a...Sneasel? Another soldier from their side it seems. \"Yes, that is correct.\" He nods to him. \"We are going to be causing problems for a Grove supply line.\"\n\n\"Is it too late for me to join?\" The sneasel asks. \"Being an ice-type, I figured I might be of some use when things get ugly.\"\nRanii thinks for just a moment before shaking her head.\n\"No, of course not. Welcome to the team, ummm...\" She says, pausing for a bit as she tries to recall his name. \"Er, sorry, what's your name again?\"\n\"Ansel.\" He says with a small nod. \"Name's Ansel.\"\n\"Well, welcome aboard Ansel. I think that should just about do it now.\" She looks over to the crew before her. The two frontliners, the heavy lifter, the light scout, and the anti-plant specialist.\n\nLuca thinks this is enough help to bring along, if the group gets any bigger this means getting more visible. \"Alright then the five of us should be able to do this, is everyone ready to get going?\" He knows Ranii is ready as can be, he is more asking this to Pachi, Lemm and Ansel too.\n\"Yes sir, i'm ready.\" The Golem says.\n\"Of course, let's get this going!\" The electric squirrel is very ready too.\n\"Alright then let's go. Keep your eyes open for Grove patrols, we want to avoid them getting clues of our whereabouts as much as possible.\" And with that all said, the group of five, led by captain Luca, starts their journey into the desert.\n\nThere is an eerie silence while they trek out to the target location. Ranii decides to lighten the mood a little. \n\"So uh... while we're on our way, why not tell us about yourselves?\" She asks a little awkwardly.\n\n\"Hhhhmmm...\" Pachi thinks about what she is going to be asking about on this topic. \"Say, Ranii, how did you end up in the Four Eyes while it was still a guild?\"\n\"Well, I wasn't in the guild.\" Lemm says. The question is not for him but he wishes to get some talk going too. \"After Sandstone got saved, twice, I volunteered to join this army. Someone has to do the fighting, right?\"\nLuca decides to be on the lookout in case he sees something, be it their target or anything else. He is a bit too focused to talk right now unless directly spoken to.\n\n\"Well it's a long story with a lot of hush-hush in the background. So I'll give you the shorter version.\" Ranii replies. \"The short answer is I owed a favor to a friend of Stic's so she called it in so I was under contract to join the guild, and I was assigned under blueberry here\" She reaches over and rubs the Lucario's head fur playfully. \"Funny thing is that we didn't get along at all at first... but now. Heh. Now we're practically inseparable.\"\n\n\"Hehehe.\" Luca blushes a bit at the physical affection from Ranii. They really are inseparable, and then some.\nShe smiles. \"Hah, yeah I can see that. I never thought i would see the day someone would be calling Luca here silly nicknames.\" Though she smiles a bit less as she continues speaking. \"Though i kind of wonder if he knows that people aren't very scared of him anymore these days since he has been hanging out with you, his reputation kind of took a turn.\"\n\n\"Yeah, I remember most people in the guild being wary of him, he had this sharp and dangerous feel if you know what i mean.\" The Pachirisu says. \"But these days, well...it's not bad but he looks a lot less dangerous.\"\nLuca just let all that conversation play out. He is aware of how much he changed though, it's something he can't really deny. Though he can't also deny how, because of Ranii, he now appreciates being alive a lot more.\n\n\"Yeah, not trying to play my own guitar here, but it sounds like I had quite the positive influence on him.\" She says proudly.\n\"Sooo what's your story?\"\n\nSeems like it is her turn. \"Oh, me? I wanted to join a guild to escape the miserable life of a citizen.\" She sighs. \"I know I know, you probably heard this one before. Anyways, first I tried joining the Sandstone Guild. Wasn't fun, gotta say...\"\n\n\"What happened there? I heard... things about them, and I know they of course turned traitor afterwards. But I have little knowledge of what they were like before.\" She asks.\n\n\"They were scum really, even before becoming traitors. Not only did they refuse to let me join, they abused me too...\"\n\n\"You mean they ... they raped you?\" Ranii asks, shocked.\n\nShe sighs and nods. She looks a bit upset about remembering this. \"Yeah, right in front of their entrance...\"\n\nRanii stops, turns around, and gives her a hug, as well as patting her head. Ansel looks on, nervously, yet, with a happy expression on his face at the same time at the 'Avali's reaction. He's probably the only one, Luca and Ranii herself aside, who knows exactly what Ranii is. \n\"I'm sorry that happened to you.\" He suddenly speaks up. \"But believe me, you weren't missing out on much.\" The Sneasel sighs sadly.\n\nShe wanted to tell her that it is fine, she doesn't have to do this. But a hug is fine, a hug is very fine. Though what the Sneasel said caught her attention. \"Huh? What do you mean? You...were with them?\"\n\nThe sneasel looks down. \"... Yeah. Yeah, I was a part of that guild.\" He admits. \"I didn't see them do that to you, but I did see them do a similar thing to someone else. A Linoone, fresh from the dungeon, tried to join the guild for some reason. Iggy tried to shoo her away, but she insisted on proving herself. Iggy just beat her down, and then raped her in broad daylight. Looking back on it, I knew I should have done something, but... I couldn't. I was too afraid of getting punished myself. Hell, I tried to go over Iggy's head and talk to the guildmaster about it. And well... let's just say my ass hurt for days after that, and leave it there.\"\n\nPachi feels that she can't blame him for being part of that guild as he seems to be just as much of a victim to them as she was, Ansel must have been different from the other members of that guild otherwise he probably wouldn't have been accepted to join the Four Eyes. \"I see, I'm sorry that happened to you.\" She reassures him. \"I had the misfortune of meeting that Heliolisk too, I'm afraid...\" So she has an idea of what Ansel must have gone through. \n\n\"He and iggy were both rapist bastards. And it wasn't until I went back after everything was done and helped sort out his leftover crap that I found out that he was worse than everyone thought he was. He was a meathunter too, and involved in a lot of shady shit.\" Ansel adds. \"I joined the guild because I wanted to make positive change in the world. But I ended up being little more than a butt boy and doing menial tasks, and getting beatten down.\"\n\"So why didn't you join Four Eyes?\" Ranii asks. \n\"I didn't think they were even real.\" Ansel says. \"Plus I didn't think they'd be any different than the Sandstone Guild. Plus I didn't want to have my badge taken away and have to live in the dungeon again...\"\n\n\"A meathunter!?\" This information leaves Pachi aghast. Today she learned that the leader of the Sandstone Guild was even worse than she thought, on top of being a rapist he was butcher too. \"Oh gods........\"\n\n\"Yeah. He did most of his meathunting through before he was guildmaster. Once he was guildmaster he did less of it. Keyword: less. And keep in mind only the higher ups knew about this. We lower ranks were all in the dark.\"\n\n\"And...what happened to the Sandstone Guild after the day of the Grove's first attack?\" She is really hoping someone as vile as that isn't going around still.\n\n\"Funny you should ask... I was around for the whole thing.\" He says.\n\"Oh that's right.\" Ranii suddenly remembers this detail. \"You were one of the hostages, weren't you? I thought you looked a bit familiar.\" \n\"Yes... Yes I was.\" Ansel frowns. \"When it came out that our guild was going to betray Sandstone, some of us protested. Some of us refused to take part. Even threatened to walk out and squeal on the Sandstone's lord.\"\n\"Not that the latter would have helped.\" Ranii adds in.\n\"Well, it's what we planned at the time. Of course, the other members couldn't have that, so they pretended to listen to us 'problematics', and lead us into a room, knocked us out. WHen I came too, I was on a cart being lead to the desert. I'd learned that the attack failed, and what was left of the guild was fleeing towards Drywall, along with a few Sandstone citizens they'd managed to grab before the battle in case things went south.\" \n\"Which they did.\" Ranii replies.\n\"Right. Thing is, they'd planned on selling us to the noble there. Worse, they were low on food, so they started killing us for meat... In fact, they were going to kill me right after 'one more round' of rape when the team sent by Sandstone came in. I don't know what exactly happened after that, but from what I heard from the others, the Sandstone guild, and Helios himself, did not survive the attack.\"\nHe leaves out the part about the team being a group of elite avalis armed with guns. During his debriefing, he'd been told to keep that part a secret.\n\nIt's reassuring to know that the butcher is dead. \"Good thing you got saved from that predicament.\" She sighs. \"So how have things been now that you aren't with that guild anymore?'\n\n\"Things have been better. A little slow at first. But... I'm really hoping to make a difference here. And pay back the debt I owe for my rescue.\" He says, smiling a bit.\n\nThe Pachirisu looks a bit impressed. \"Even after everything you have been through, getting abused and almost killed...\" Though 'killed' might be putting it lightly since they wanted to make a meal out of him. \"You still decided to stay in this line of work? Wow...you are really something.\"\n\n\"Well like I said, I didn't want to go back to the maze.\" He admits.\n\"You do know we basically dropped the 'no badge no entry' rule, right?\" Ranii asks with a raised eyebrow.\n\"Well, yeah. I'd thought about just getting a citizen's badge and joining the civilian workforce, but... I just couldn't find myself relegated to that life. So I joined this guild... well, if you could even call this a guild. Been doing the smaller odd jobs and training untill now. I guess you could say this is the first real mission of mine. At least for this guild.\"\n\n\"Eh, I don't know about dropping the 'no badge, no entry' rule...\" Lemm finally speaks up.\n\n\"Well I mean it's technically still there. But functionally speaking dungeon dwellers can come in if they have a work visa.\" Ranii corrects him. \"Besides, it was kind of necessary to bolster our ranks and for all the construction projects.\"\n\n\"Are they sure this is a good idea though? What if they bring that wacky religion with them? What if they try to take advantage of that kindness?\"\n\"I think letting them in is a good thing really...\" Pachi argues. \"Have they ever done anything to you?\"\n\"Well...no.'\nWell she can at least appreciate his honesty here. \"Then please give them a chance? They haven't done anything wrong since we started letting them in.......last i heard.\"\n\n\"Well, as long as they're not forcing said religion on anyone it upon anyone I don't see the problem.\" Ranii replies with a shrug.\n\"Honestly I'd rather take that 'Maze' religion over... whatever the hell is Grove is no doubt foisting on everyone.\" Ansel adds in. \"Besides, you forget, I used to be a maze dweller myself. Until more recently I still secretly believed it.\"\n\"And now?\" Ranii asks.\n\"Well... Let's just say I saw some stuff that makes me seriously doubt the concept of religion as a whole.\" He adds. \n\n\"I don't think I'm much into religion.\" Lemm says.\n\"That 'Drought' thing, you mean?\" Pachi is talking about the name of the religion on Sandstone, of course. Unfortunately their conversation is about to get interrupted.\n\"There is someone up ahead...it's one of those Grove Scouts.\" Luca spoke up.\n\"Crap...\" Being as big as he is, Lemm is worried that he might be seen and thus the whole group will be spotted in turn.\nThere is indeed a 'mon some distance ahead of them, a Deerling with the leaf-like cape on his back...that's probably hint enough that he is with the Grove. He hasn't seen them yet but in an open desert there might be no place to hide if he turns in their direction. Now the question is: How is Luca and his three companions going to be dealing with this?\n\"It's...just one.\" Pachi comments, kind of stating the obvious.\n\n\"Alright here's how we do this.\" Ranii puts forward her plan. \"Pachirisu, you distract them. Make sure he stays looking away from us. Me and Luca will run up from behind him and knock him out. Ansel, Lemm, back us up in case something goes wrong.\"\n\n\"We sure about this?\" Pachi asks.\n\"Yes, let's use that.\" Luca said, since he is the captain it kind of falls to him to make this decision final. \"Pachi, go do it.\"\n\"Alright, captain.\" She obeys him and runs on ahead to get her distraction going.\nThe Deerling keeps on walking, cursing under his breath at how hot it is here. Then he a pokemon comes running into his line of sight, his eyes go wide in surprise. \"H-hey you!\" He calls out.\nThe Pachirisu stopped moving, seems like she succeeded in getting his attention. She doesn't say anything, just slightly turns her head around to look at the Grove scout cautiously moving towards her.\n\n\"Alright, here's our chance, go!\" Ranii whispers as she taps Luca on the shoulder, her spear appearing right in her hand as she makes ready to charge in with Luca to smack the deerling in the back of the head. She doesn't feel the need to actually kill the deerling, just knock it out.\n\nLuca begins moving towards the Deerling now that he isn't looking, he is running but he is trying to not make any noise so that Grove scout doesn't turn around, if this works very well they might be able to knock him out without him even realizing what is going on.\n\"Who are you? what are you doing out here?\" The Grove member asks the electric type. He is not aware of anyone coming up behind him.\n\"Uuuuhh....what?\" Pachi is playing the fool here to keep him distracted.\n\nBefore the Deerling even knows what's going on, the two of them are almost on top of them.\nJust like with Joscyln that one time when she was insane, Ranii takes the blunt end of her spear, and brings it around, whacking the deerling's head from the back with it. She hopes that knocks him out, if it doesn't, she can only hope Luca follows up with something that quickly does.\n\n\"Ack!!\" The grass-type falls down on the sand. That blow must have been strong enough to knock him out.\n\"Alright we got him.\" Luca calls out to the others to gather around once more now that the problem has been dealt with.\n\"That was...easy.\" Pachi comments.\n\"A little too easy don't you think...?\" Lemm added as he arrived.\n\n\"Well, I'm not complaining.\" Ranii shakes her head at Lemm's suggestion. \"Besides, it was just one scout.\"\n\n\"When he wakes up he probably won't know what happened. Anyways, let's keep going. Can't be too far now.\" Luca said to them before continuing to go on his way to their objective.\nPachi would have considered taking something from the Deerling...but it doesn't look like he has anything of use anyways, so she just shrugs and follows along.\n\nRanii was just going to ask what they should do with him, but since they've already come to a consensus on the matter its pointless to argue it further. Not that she would have even done so.\nAnsel simply raises an eyebrow before continuing. He says nothing, but he's secretly glad they decided to just leave it at this and didn't take it further than they absolutely needed to.\n\nThey start going over a small hill of sand, and it was then that they spotted in the distance...a pull cart with supplies. It's surrounded by six Grove soldiers as escorts, this also includes the Ursaring pulling the cart. It looks like they are going to be passing by where Luca and the others are at.\nThe Lucario orders everyone to move back a little so they use the hill to hide and avoid being seem, it's time for them to come up with a plan. \"Well, there is the transport.\"\nPachi peeks over their cover, looking at all those mons there. \"Looks like it's time to get serious huh? Any ideas?\"\n\"I could roll down at them?\" Their Golem teammate said. It's the best he could come up with right now.\n\n\"That could take a few of them, but not all of them out.\" Ranii thinks on this. \"Besides... if I remember correctly, Rock types are vulnerable to plant types, which means you'll be vulnerable after you make your attack. And since it's the grove we're talking about here, they're bound to be full of them. We're going to have to act almost immediately after that.\"\n\"I might take the time to point out that I'm an ice type, which is effective against grass types...\" Ansel pipes up.\n\nLuca is trying to think, perhaps the dune they are hiding behind could be of use. \"Alright, here is what we are going to be doing.\" He begins to state his plan. \"We are going to force them to come up here after us, we do this by using moves that can hit from afar. When they start coming up the hill after us, Lemm jumps forward and rolls down the hill hitting as many of them as he can. Then finally, the rest of us deal with the Grove soldiers while Lemm secures the cart.\" And that's it, that's his plan.\nOh, so he is going to roll afterall? \"Alright then.\" The Golem agrees.\n\n\"Alright sounds like a plan.\" Ranii twirls her spear in her hands. \"Rules of engagement, sir?\" She asks, questioning whether they should fight to kill this time or like last time, knockouts only.\n\n\"I recommend not going easy on them, so we will have to take them out.\" By that he means 'kill', of course.\n\"They are getting close, sir...\" Pachi points to the approaching Grove caravan. Now that i's closer it's possible to identify the remaining enemies besides the Ursaring. There is a couple of Sunflora, two Pawniard and a Grovyle armed with spears with a head made out of stone.\n\"Alright, Pachi and me will begin attack, just the two of us for a moment. I want the enemy thinking they got the advantage of numbers so they try to rush us all at once.\" Luca said. \n\nRanii nods. No need to try to go easy on them. Got it.\nWhile Ansel doesn't like the concept of killing, he can see the need for it. Especially since they really cannot be caring for POWs at the moment. He simply nods, though his frown remains.\n\nWhen the time was right, the aural jackal and the electric squirrel got on top of the hill and started flinging aura spheres and electro balls at the caravan...and throwing insults and taunts at them to boot too. This got their attention, most of them are coming up the hill right now.\n\n\"Now...?\" Lemm asks, hoping it's not too late...but he could end up going too soon if he is not careful.\n\"Hold on...!\" Luca says as he threw another Aura sphere at one of the Pawniards. He can see that the Grovyle with the spear is getting pretty close. \"...Now!\"\nWith the signal give, the Golem goes over the hill and like a boulder, rolls down towards the enemies. He managed to hit the Sunflora and bring them down with him like he is a snowball. This just leaves the Pawniards and the Grovyle to be dealt with.\n\n\"I've got the Grovyle, go after the Pawniards\" Ansel tells Ranii as he rushes in with an *Icy Wind on the grass type.\n\"The what?!\" Ranii says, then she sees that weird armored... bladed thing. \"Oh, that thing.\" She still isn't completely up on her mon names yes. \nShe doesn't know what this thing is capable of, but she decides not to overcomplicate things. She glides down, dropping down in front of it, and then stabs forward with her own spear.\n\nThe Grove soldier with the spear gets hit by the cold wind, cold enough to hurt him. \"Nnngh! aargh...damn it they got an ice type!\" The ice slows him down abit. However, he tries to stab at Ansel with his spear. The odds are very much against the Grove since their enemies have the high ground.\nThe Pawniard Ranii tries to attack but manages to stop the spear's head using the knife-for-hands it has. The other Pawniard was going to take the chance to attack her while she was distracted by Pachi coming in with a Quick Attack to stop him!\nThat Grovyle is the one armed with an actual weapon, so Luca decides to go assist Ansel in case things start getting dangerous for him.\n\nThe attack misses Ansel. Seeing that the previous Icy Wind was successful, he does it once again.\nThose knife-like arms of Ranii's opponent might be good for offensive attacks, but they prove ineffective at blocking, especially against such a quick stab. The spear hits true to its target, burying itself in the Pawniard's chest, piercing its heart and ending its life.\n\nAfter getting it's life ended by the tip of the Avali's spear, the Pawniard's corpse falls and rolls down the hill of sand. Now it's up to Ranii to decide what to do from here. Pachi is engaged in a melee fight with the other Pawniard. \nThe grass-type gets even slower and hurts after getting hit by that Icy wind again. He shivers and groans in pain.\nLuca now puts himself between Ansel and this enemy. He has one of his swords, one of his paws and he swings at the Grove soldier.\nThe Grovyle raises his spear to try to defend himself, and he does so...but that blade cuts his spear's shaft. Now in one hand he is holding a useless piece of wood and in the other hand he has a short stick with a pointy rock on the end. But he doesn't relent and tries to stab the Lucario with his now very short spear.\n\nRanii decides to change tacks on the other pawniard after pulling her spear clean out of her victim, especially seeing that the pawnard is distracted with the Pachi. She takes a leap and a yell as she leaps forward, spear forward, for another stab, this time to the side of the Pawniard.\nAnsel, seeing Luca taking the lead, decides to let the Lucario deal with this Grovyle now, especially since he knows his icy wind will more than likely hit Luca too if he tries it again.\n\n\"Hhhhmmm?!\" Unfortunately Ranii's target saw her approaching on the edge of his vision, he jumped back to avoid that stabbing.\n\"Woah!\" Pachi also stopped when that spear suddenly got thrust between her and the mon she was fighting against.\nSeeming an opportunity to attack, he tries to nail the Avali with a Night Slash from it's knife-for-hands.\nMoving out of the way of that pathetic attack, Luca grips his sword with both paws and swings it at the Grovyle. This is a powerful swing, and with the grass-type slowed and wounded this end up being the killing blow. The resulting cut from shoulder to torso sheds quite a bit blood from the the Grove soldier as he perishes with pained scream and went rolling down the hill like the previously killed Pawniard.\n\n\"Wha?\" Ranii's shock at her lined up rush missing her mark catches her off guard. She doesn't have time to reflect on her failure, however, as a swoosh fills all four of her ears, alerting her to imminent danger! \"Woah!!\" She yells as she barely leaps out of the way in time, using the momentum of her failed attack to jump forward and roll into a ball before jumping back up into her feet. She quickly turns around, spear in hand, and goes for another charge, determined to plant that spear right into his chest this time.\n\nThe Pawniard gets slightly less lucky this time around with his evasive maneuver, he got a tiny cut from Ranii's spear on the side of his chest instead of getting stabbed. Unfortunately his Luck might not look well from here on out given how outnumbered he is, with another Electro Ball coming from the Pachirisu and the Lucario sending an Aura Sphere his way. It's probably amazing how getting hit by an explosive energy sphere and a ball of lightning only knocks him out because of how moves are.\n\nRanii, who had before prepared for another attack when the attacks from Pachi and Luca came colliding into her opponent. She watches the mon get knocked out and roll down the hill. The avali looks over to the two of them, and waves. \n\"Thanks.\" She says. \"I mean I could have had him, but thanks.\" \nNow, if memory serves her right, the only one remaining is the Ursang strapped to the cart.\n\nAs for Lemm's situation, he has managed to beat the Ursaring into submission, and unconsciousness. That duo of Sunflora could not handle being hit by a large ball of rock but they are not dead either. So this surprised attack worked very nicely overall and they managed to beat all enemies without casualties.\nThe Golem watches as Pachi and Ranii approach. \"Phew, okay...that did it, I'm glad I didn't have to explode.\"\nLuca narrows his eyes a little bit. \"Yes, we wouldn't have wanted to damage the supplies...\" Though it could have been useful as a last resort to destroy the pull cart and everything in it. \"Why didn't you tell me you could do that?\"\n\"I don't like doing it, it really hurts. I didn't want to have to use it too.\"\nPachi has a question for her captain. \"What about these ones that we didn't kill? Do we...finish them off?\" Not that she wants to do that, she isn't a fan of killing...specially if it's unnecessary.\n\n\"Well, I don't think it's entirely necessary. But on the other hand, they could be a problem later.\" Ranii thinks. \"Plus they never actually surrendered, so we're not breaking the accords by doing so.\" \n\"I'd... Rather we not.\" Ansel says weakly. \"I mean... I won't protest if we do, but, still... You never know, some of these people might not want to have to be here in the first place.\" He says.\n\"Well, captain\" she looks to Luca. \"Ball is in your court on that.\"\n\nLuca is trying to reason his decisions here. On both accounts the supplies are going to go missing, and the Grove might not know right off the bat who hit them. Killing these unconscious enemies sound pointless. He had some thoughts about bringing them along but that is not part of the mission, and the Ursaring would surely be heavy. \"...Let's not waste our time with them, let's just take the supplies and be gone from here before anyone else happens to wander into this.\"\n\"Alright then...\" The Golem looks to the pull cart, it has boxes and barrels on it with food and most certainly water too. \"hhhmmmm...how do we go about this?\"\n\n\"Well, we brought Lemm here for a reason, didn't we?\" She sounds a lot more confident about this matter. \"We'll strap him in where the bear was and we'll help him bring this back to the camp. I mean... they did provide this cart for us, it'd be a shame not to make use of it.\"\n\n\"Yeah but...\" Lemm says that like there is a problem. He steps over the pull cart, getting in position to pick the handle but then...he can't quite do so all the way because he is so wide he can't pull the handles up without his shell stopping it.\nPachi looks a little unamused by this, of all things that could get in their way and it's how wide her companion is? What are the odds?\nLuca can improvise though, he isn't strong enough to pull the cart but he doesn't necessarily need to do so. \"Right then. Lemm, get behind the cart, you are going to push it.\"\nThis idea his captain has is a bit confusing to him. \"Push it? I don't know if that's possible, someone has to pick up the handles on this thing to steer it.\"\nHe nods. \"Yes, I know...I will be doing that, just get behind the cart and push it, alright?\"\n\"Oh, okay then.\" Now he understands very well what the Lucario means to do. Lemm runs around and gets behind the cart instead. Putting his hands on the back of it. \"Do I push it now?\"\nThe blue jackal puts his paws on the cart's handle and pulls it up, getting the thing ready to move. He isn't strong enough to pull this at a long distance but with this idea of his he won't need to handle all of this weight alone. \"Just wait for my signal.\" He then looks to Pachi, Ranii and Ansel. \"Are we all ready?\"\n\n\"Yeah, I'm ready.\" Ranii says, getting on one side of the cart. \"Me too.\" Ansel adds, getting on the other.\nPachi jumps on top of Lemm's shell. \"You don't mind if i rest a bit, right big guy? Also i'm ready.\" She says.\n\"Sure, I suppose.\" Lemm is alright with that.\nLuca is ready to move to. \"Okay, starts pushing!\" He gives the signal. The cart starts going forward with the big strong mon pushing it forward and the less stronger mon with his paws on the cart's handle steering it to where they need to go. They go around the sandhill and are now taking the supplies back to camp.\n\"You know, it's pretty good that none of us got hurt.\" Pachi comments.\n\"Actually I took quite a few punches to the face from that Ursaring.\" Lemm said to her.\n\"...It's pretty good that none of us got seriously hurt.\" She corrects herself.\n\n\"Yeah...\" Ranii adds in. \"We had it easy today. Though, don't get too comfortable with this idea.\" She warns. \"It won't always be this easy. Especially once they start figuring out we're here.\"\n\n\"Exactly.\" Luca reinforces Ranii's warning. \"Even if they blame bandits for what happened they are surely going to bolster their patrols and add more mons to guard important things. We are not in the clear just yet either, keep your eyes open in case we come across more scouts because if they spot us with this they are sure to run off to warn their superiors.\"\n\nRanii nods, keeping her eyes and ears on sharp lookout for anything. Her ears, mostly as avali eyes are not the best, even with augments to counteract their poor visibility.\nThe trip with the cart is a little arduous but eventually the Four-Eyes camp is within their sights and from here it's smooth sailing until they arrive.", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "
Act 48: Stealing Supplies


Somewhere else far from the town of Sandstone...
The army of the Sandstone. has set up camp near a rocky mountain, it should provide shade for most hours of the day so that's why it got picked. For the moment this seems to be the safest place within Bleached Bastion territory, now the work to liberate the town can begin. Right now the reconnaissance is the topmost priority, finding out about the Grove's movements, where they hang out and the possible status of the town Bleached Bastion itself.

Ranii, and a few others, are standing around a table, with a crude map and some markings setting atop it. "Alright, so, what's the situation?" She asks.

Elec, the Electrabuzz who is one of the generals, begins speaking to all present. "The situation is we are figuring out how the Grove is gripping Bleached Bastion, we find that out then we hit their fingers to make them let go."
Luca the Lucario is here too, besides Ranii. He is just listening right now as the Electric type keeps talking.
"From what we got so far the Grove's patrols are lax right now. Mostly you can expect a patrol made out of scouts scouring the desert sands. They are mostly prone to run if they see something like a group of our 'mons, then they would likely report what they saw which would result in more trouble...perhaps we could use this to your advantage somehow." There is a small pause. "Captain Luca, pay attention, I'm sending you to get this done." He then points to a spot on the map, some distance away from Bleached Bastion on the map. "But first of all, we are going to want to focus the Grove's attention elsewhere. To this end we shall sabotage their supplies here, it's preferable that these supplies are taken and put to better use but if bringing them back is not possible, then destruction is the preferable alternative."

"Looks like we get to be the bandits for once." Ranii chuckles. She quickly stops and returns to the topic at hands. "Alright, so who is going in on this? When do we begin?"

"It would be preferable if you got this done today. As for who is going in, well Luca is, and I'm letting him pick who goes with him. You are a captain after all, Lucas."
"Right then." Luca nods and looks down at Ranii. "Well, I know it's no secret that I'm choosing you."

Ranii smiles back. "So is it just us or are we taking a small team with us? That's what I meant."

Luca has been trying to think about that. "Hhhmm, I'm thinking about bringing a pair of extra hands...or two pairs. I know just the two of us work together most of the time but..."

"I understand. And yes, some extra hands would definitely help. I mean, we make one hell of a team together, but not even we can do everything... especially when it comes to carrying the stuff back to base. More hands means less supplies destroyed."

"Yeah that's the idea." He nods. With any luck maybe they can get all the supplies. "Let's go see who we can find to come with us now, eh?"

"Alright, lead the way big guy." Ranii smiles at him. "Let's put that team together and do this."

"Of course." And with that the Lucario walks out of the big tent with Ranii. Now out and about in the camp they can see it is quiet, most everyone is taking a break after the trip and the setting up of the camp was done. Their search for people to form a group lead them to two familiar face who seem to be idle hands at the moment...Dedee and Pachi.

"Hey Pachi, let go of that bomb before it goes of in your hand." She jokes as she approaches Pachi, reminding her of the battle on the wall.

The white electric squire smiled, she does remember that. "You really saved my hide back there, that day!" She said. She noticed Luca is here too. "Oh, hey Captain, you are going to get busy?"
"Oh, hello there!" The Dedenne greats them too.
"Yes actually." The Lucario responds to the Pachirisu. "We got assigned to deal with some enemy supplies. Me and Ranii here are looking for some help to bring along."

"Quite so" Ranii says. "Should tell you, you might be doing quite a bit of carry-work. We intend to take as much of the supplies as we can, but we'll need to destroy or bury what we can't. So the more hands the better."

"Carry-work? I don't think I can be of much use for that, I don't have a very strong arm..." the other electric rodent besides Pachi says. "You should probably look for someone big and strong."
"Yes, perhaps bringing someone strong is a good idea." Luca agrees with that, though this isn't to say Pachi won't be coming along.

"Well, alright, I'm sure we can put you to use later." Ranii says. Somehow she didn't think this little mon would fit the bill anyway.

"Let's keep looking..." Luca takes his two companions somewhere else. He is searching for someone more his size this time around, someone that could carry something heavy.
What they find is probably something that Ranii might find strange (or not). It's a Golem, a pokemon that could be described as 'a creature wearing a boulder like a costume.'
Seeing this mon, the Lucario thinks he can fit the bill for what they are looking for. He would have preferred a team that could move fast but they need some muscle after all. "Hey, you. Got a minute?"
The Rock/Ground type looks to the Lucario. "What?"

"We're putting together a team for an ambush on a Grove caravan. And we need some muscle to carry said caravan supplies back to base." Ranii asks. "..You in?"

The Golem turns to them now. "Really?"
Luca nods. "Yeah, you are not busy are you? We are going to be leaving as soon as possible. What's your name, soldier?"
"No sir, I'm not busy. I can give you guys some help if you really need it." He replied. Seems like he concurs with coming with them. "My name is Lemm, sir."
"Well, he does look like the muscle we need." Pachi comments to Ranii. "I guess we got our team now, right?"

"Hmmm" Ranii looks at the team. We have the light scout, the heavy-lifter/tank, and the two frontliners. While having more hands is a good thing, at the same time one does not want too many on this, as it could slow them down. It seems like they have a good balance here.
"Yeah, seems about right." Ranii gives Luca an approving thumbs up.
"Wait!"
All heads turn towards the source of a voice. A lone Sneasel approaches them. "I can't help but overhear... are you guys putting together a mission?"

Luca thought they were all ready to go, then he heard a voice from a...Sneasel? Another soldier from their side it seems. "Yes, that is correct." He nods to him. "We are going to be causing problems for a Grove supply line."

"Is it too late for me to join?" The sneasel asks. "Being an ice-type, I figured I might be of some use when things get ugly."
Ranii thinks for just a moment before shaking her head.
"No, of course not. Welcome to the team, ummm..." She says, pausing for a bit as she tries to recall his name. "Er, sorry, what's your name again?"
"Ansel." He says with a small nod. "Name's Ansel."
"Well, welcome aboard Ansel. I think that should just about do it now." She looks over to the crew before her. The two frontliners, the heavy lifter, the light scout, and the anti-plant specialist.

Luca thinks this is enough help to bring along, if the group gets any bigger this means getting more visible. "Alright then the five of us should be able to do this, is everyone ready to get going?" He knows Ranii is ready as can be, he is more asking this to Pachi, Lemm and Ansel too.
"Yes sir, i'm ready." The Golem says.
"Of course, let's get this going!" The electric squirrel is very ready too.
"Alright then let's go. Keep your eyes open for Grove patrols, we want to avoid them getting clues of our whereabouts as much as possible." And with that all said, the group of five, led by captain Luca, starts their journey into the desert.

There is an eerie silence while they trek out to the target location. Ranii decides to lighten the mood a little.
"So uh... while we're on our way, why not tell us about yourselves?" She asks a little awkwardly.

"Hhhhmmm..." Pachi thinks about what she is going to be asking about on this topic. "Say, Ranii, how did you end up in the Four Eyes while it was still a guild?"
"Well, I wasn't in the guild." Lemm says. The question is not for him but he wishes to get some talk going too. "After Sandstone got saved, twice, I volunteered to join this army. Someone has to do the fighting, right?"
Luca decides to be on the lookout in case he sees something, be it their target or anything else. He is a bit too focused to talk right now unless directly spoken to.

"Well it's a long story with a lot of hush-hush in the background. So I'll give you the shorter version." Ranii replies. "The short answer is I owed a favor to a friend of Stic's so she called it in so I was under contract to join the guild, and I was assigned under blueberry here" She reaches over and rubs the Lucario's head fur playfully. "Funny thing is that we didn't get along at all at first... but now. Heh. Now we're practically inseparable."

"Hehehe." Luca blushes a bit at the physical affection from Ranii. They really are inseparable, and then some.
She smiles. "Hah, yeah I can see that. I never thought i would see the day someone would be calling Luca here silly nicknames." Though she smiles a bit less as she continues speaking. "Though i kind of wonder if he knows that people aren't very scared of him anymore these days since he has been hanging out with you, his reputation kind of took a turn."

"Yeah, I remember most people in the guild being wary of him, he had this sharp and dangerous feel if you know what i mean." The Pachirisu says. "But these days, well...it's not bad but he looks a lot less dangerous."
Luca just let all that conversation play out. He is aware of how much he changed though, it's something he can't really deny. Though he can't also deny how, because of Ranii, he now appreciates being alive a lot more.

"Yeah, not trying to play my own guitar here, but it sounds like I had quite the positive influence on him." She says proudly.
"Sooo what's your story?"

Seems like it is her turn. "Oh, me? I wanted to join a guild to escape the miserable life of a citizen." She sighs. "I know I know, you probably heard this one before. Anyways, first I tried joining the Sandstone Guild. Wasn't fun, gotta say..."

"What happened there? I heard... things about them, and I know they of course turned traitor afterwards. But I have little knowledge of what they were like before." She asks.

"They were scum really, even before becoming traitors. Not only did they refuse to let me join, they abused me too..."

"You mean they ... they raped you?" Ranii asks, shocked.

She sighs and nods. She looks a bit upset about remembering this. "Yeah, right in front of their entrance..."

Ranii stops, turns around, and gives her a hug, as well as patting her head. Ansel looks on, nervously, yet, with a happy expression on his face at the same time at the 'Avali's  reaction. He's probably the only one, Luca and Ranii herself aside, who knows exactly what Ranii is.
"I'm sorry that happened to you." He suddenly speaks up. "But believe me, you weren't missing out on much." The Sneasel sighs sadly.

She wanted to tell her that it is fine, she doesn't have to do this. But a hug is fine, a hug is very fine. Though what the Sneasel said caught her attention. "Huh? What do you mean? You...were with them?"

The sneasel looks down. "... Yeah. Yeah, I was a part of that guild." He admits. "I didn't see them do that to you, but I did see them do a similar thing to someone else. A Linoone, fresh from the dungeon, tried to join the guild for some reason. Iggy tried to shoo her away, but she insisted on proving herself. Iggy just beat her down, and then raped her in broad daylight. Looking back on it, I knew I should have done something, but... I couldn't. I was too afraid of getting punished myself. Hell, I tried to go over Iggy's head and talk to the guildmaster about it. And well... let's just say my ass hurt for days after that, and leave it there."

Pachi feels that she can't blame him for being part of that guild as he seems to be just as much of a victim to them as she was, Ansel must have been different from the other members of that guild otherwise he probably wouldn't have been accepted to join the Four Eyes. "I see, I'm sorry that happened to you." She reassures him. "I had the misfortune of meeting that Heliolisk too, I'm afraid..." So she has an idea of what Ansel must have gone through.

"He and iggy were both rapist bastards. And it wasn't until I went back after everything was done and helped sort out his leftover crap that I found out that he was worse than everyone thought he was. He was a meathunter too, and involved in a lot of shady shit." Ansel adds. "I joined the guild because I wanted to make positive change in the world. But I ended up being little more than a butt boy and doing menial tasks, and getting beatten down."
"So why didn't you join Four Eyes?" Ranii asks.
"I didn't think they were even real." Ansel says. "Plus I didn't think they'd be any different than the Sandstone Guild. Plus I didn't want to have my badge taken away and have to live in the dungeon again..."

"A meathunter!?" This information leaves Pachi aghast. Today she learned that the leader of the Sandstone Guild was even worse than she thought, on top of being a rapist he was butcher too. "Oh gods........"

"Yeah. He did most of his meathunting through before he was guildmaster. Once he was guildmaster he did less of it. Keyword: less. And keep in mind only the higher ups knew about this. We lower ranks were all in the dark."

"And...what happened to the Sandstone Guild after the day of the Grove's first attack?" She is really hoping someone as vile as that isn't going around still.

"Funny you should ask... I was around for the whole thing." He says.
"Oh that's right." Ranii suddenly remembers this detail. "You were one of the hostages, weren't you? I thought you looked a bit familiar."
"Yes... Yes I was." Ansel frowns. "When it came out that our guild was going to betray Sandstone, some of us protested. Some of us refused to take part. Even threatened to walk out and squeal on the Sandstone's lord."
"Not that the latter would have helped." Ranii adds in.
"Well, it's what we planned at the time. Of course, the other members couldn't have that, so they pretended to listen to us 'problematics', and lead us into a room, knocked us out. WHen I came too, I was on a cart being lead to the desert. I'd learned that the attack failed, and what was left of the guild was fleeing towards Drywall, along with a few Sandstone citizens they'd managed to grab before the battle in case things went south."
"Which they did." Ranii replies.
"Right. Thing is, they'd planned on selling us to the noble there. Worse, they were low on food, so they started killing us for meat... In fact, they were going to kill me right after 'one more round' of rape when the team sent by Sandstone came in. I don't know what exactly happened after that, but from what I heard from the others, the Sandstone guild, and Helios himself, did not survive the attack."
He leaves out the part about the team being a group of elite avalis armed with guns. During his debriefing, he'd been told to keep that part a secret.

It's reassuring to know that the butcher is dead. "Good thing you got saved from that predicament." She sighs. "So how have things been now that you aren't with that guild anymore?'

"Things have been better. A little slow at first. But... I'm really hoping to make a difference here. And pay back the debt I owe for my rescue." He says, smiling a bit.

The Pachirisu looks a bit impressed. "Even after everything you have been through, getting abused and almost killed..." Though 'killed' might be putting it lightly since they wanted to make a meal out of him. "You still decided to stay in this line of work? Wow...you are really something."

"Well like I said, I didn't want to go back to the maze." He admits.
"You do know we basically dropped the 'no badge no entry' rule, right?" Ranii asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, yeah. I'd thought about just getting a citizen's badge and joining the civilian workforce, but... I just couldn't find myself relegated to that life. So I joined this guild... well, if you could even call this a guild. Been doing the smaller odd jobs and training untill now. I guess you could say this is the first real mission of mine. At least for this guild."

"Eh, I don't know about dropping the 'no badge, no entry' rule..." Lemm finally speaks up.

"Well I mean it's technically still there. But functionally speaking dungeon dwellers can come in if they have a work visa." Ranii corrects him. "Besides, it was kind of necessary to bolster our ranks and for all the construction projects."

"Are they sure this is a good idea though? What if they bring that wacky religion with them? What if they try to take advantage of that kindness?"
"I think letting them in is a good thing really..." Pachi argues. "Have they ever done anything to you?"
"Well...no.'
Well she can at least appreciate his honesty here. "Then please give them a chance? They haven't done anything wrong since we started letting them in.......last i heard."

"Well, as long as they're not forcing said religion on anyone it upon anyone I don't see the problem." Ranii replies with a shrug.
"Honestly I'd rather take that 'Maze' religion over... whatever the hell is Grove is no doubt foisting on everyone." Ansel adds in. "Besides, you forget, I used to be a maze dweller myself. Until more recently I still secretly believed it."
"And now?" Ranii asks.
"Well... Let's just say I saw some stuff that makes me seriously doubt the concept of religion as a whole." He adds.

"I don't think I'm much into religion." Lemm says.
"That 'Drought' thing, you mean?" Pachi is talking about the name of the religion on Sandstone, of course. Unfortunately their conversation is about to get interrupted.
"There is someone up ahead...it's one of those Grove Scouts." Luca spoke up.
"Crap..." Being as big as he is, Lemm is worried that he might be seen and thus the whole group will be spotted in turn.
There is indeed a 'mon some distance ahead of them, a Deerling with the leaf-like cape on his back...that's probably hint enough that he is with the Grove. He hasn't seen them yet but in an open desert there might be no place to hide if he turns in their direction. Now the question is: How is Luca and his three companions going to be dealing with this?
"It's...just one." Pachi comments, kind of stating the obvious.

"Alright here's how we do this." Ranii puts forward her plan. "Pachirisu, you distract them. Make sure he stays looking away from us. Me and Luca will run up from behind him and knock him out. Ansel, Lemm, back us up in case something goes wrong."

"We sure about this?" Pachi asks.
"Yes, let's use that." Luca said, since he is the captain it kind of falls to him to make this decision final. "Pachi, go do it."
"Alright, captain." She obeys him and runs on ahead to get her distraction going.
The Deerling keeps on walking, cursing under his breath at how hot it is here. Then he a pokemon comes running into his line of sight, his eyes go wide in surprise. "H-hey you!" He calls out.
The Pachirisu stopped moving, seems like she succeeded in getting his attention. She doesn't say anything, just slightly turns her head around to look at the Grove scout cautiously moving towards her.

"Alright, here's our chance, go!" Ranii whispers as she taps Luca on the shoulder, her spear appearing right in her hand as she makes ready to charge in with Luca to smack the deerling in the back of the head. She doesn't feel the need to actually kill the deerling, just knock it out.

Luca begins moving towards the Deerling now that he isn't looking, he is running but he is trying to not make any noise so that Grove scout doesn't turn around, if this works very well they might be able to knock him out without him even realizing what is going on.
"Who are you? what are you doing out here?" The Grove member asks the electric type. He is not aware of anyone coming up behind him.
"Uuuuhh....what?" Pachi is playing the fool here to keep him distracted.

Before the Deerling even knows what's going on, the two of them are almost on top of them.
Just like with Joscyln that one time when she was insane, Ranii takes the blunt end of her spear, and brings it around, whacking the deerling's head from the back with it. She hopes that knocks him out, if it doesn't, she can only hope Luca follows up with something that quickly does.

"Ack!!" The grass-type falls down on the sand. That blow must have been strong enough to knock him out.
"Alright we got him." Luca calls out to the others to gather around once more now that the problem has been dealt with.
"That was...easy." Pachi comments.
"A little too easy don't you think...?" Lemm added as he arrived.

"Well, I'm not complaining." Ranii shakes her head at Lemm's suggestion. "Besides, it was just one scout."

"When he wakes up he probably won't know what happened. Anyways, let's keep going. Can't be too far now." Luca said to them before continuing to go on his way to their objective.
Pachi would have considered taking something from the Deerling...but it doesn't look like he has anything of use anyways, so she just shrugs and follows along.

Ranii was just going to ask what they should do with him, but since they've already come to a consensus on the matter its pointless to argue it further. Not that she would have even done so.
Ansel simply raises an eyebrow before continuing. He says nothing, but he's secretly glad they decided to just leave it at this and didn't take it further than they absolutely needed to.

They start going over a small hill of sand, and it was then that they spotted in the distance...a pull cart with supplies. It's surrounded by six Grove soldiers as escorts, this also includes the Ursaring pulling the cart. It looks like they are going to be passing by where Luca and the others are at.
The Lucario orders everyone to move back a little so they use the hill to hide and avoid being seem, it's time for them to come up with a plan. "Well, there is the transport."
Pachi peeks over their cover, looking at all those mons there. "Looks like it's time to get serious huh? Any ideas?"
"I could roll down at them?" Their Golem teammate said. It's the best he could come up with right now.

"That could take a few of them, but not all of them out." Ranii thinks on this. "Besides... if I remember correctly, Rock types are vulnerable to plant types, which means you'll be vulnerable after you make your attack.  And since it's the grove we're talking about here, they're bound to be full of them. We're going to have to act almost immediately after that."
"I might take the time to point out that I'm an ice type, which is effective against grass types..." Ansel pipes up.

Luca is trying to think, perhaps the dune they are hiding behind could be of use. "Alright, here is what we are going to be doing." He begins to state his plan. "We are going to force them to come up here after us, we do this by using moves that can hit from afar. When they start coming up the hill after us, Lemm jumps forward and rolls down the hill hitting as many of them as he can. Then finally, the rest of us deal with the Grove soldiers while Lemm secures the cart." And that's it, that's his plan.
Oh, so he is going to roll afterall? "Alright then." The Golem agrees.

"Alright sounds like a plan." Ranii twirls her spear in her hands. "Rules of engagement, sir?" She asks, questioning whether they should fight to kill this time or like last time, knockouts only.

"I recommend not going easy on them, so we will have to take them out." By that he means 'kill', of course.
"They are getting close, sir..." Pachi points to the approaching Grove caravan. Now that i's closer it's possible to identify the remaining enemies besides the Ursaring. There is a couple of Sunflora, two Pawniard and a Grovyle armed with spears with a head made out of stone.
"Alright, Pachi and me will begin attack, just the two of us for a moment. I want the enemy thinking they got the advantage of numbers so they try to rush us all at once." Luca said.

Ranii nods. No need to try to go easy on them. Got it.
While Ansel doesn't like the concept of killing, he can see the need for it. Especially since they really cannot be caring for POWs at the moment. He simply nods, though his frown remains.

When the time was right, the aural jackal and the electric squirrel got on top of the hill and started flinging aura spheres and electro balls at the caravan...and throwing insults and taunts at them to boot too. This got their attention, most of them are coming up the hill right now.

"Now...?" Lemm asks, hoping it's not too late...but he could end up going too soon if he is not careful.
"Hold on...!" Luca says as he threw another Aura sphere at one of the Pawniards. He can see that the Grovyle with the spear is getting pretty close. "...Now!"
With the signal give, the Golem goes over the hill and like a boulder, rolls down towards the enemies. He managed to hit the Sunflora and bring them down with him like he is a snowball. This just leaves the Pawniards and the Grovyle to be dealt with.

"I've got the Grovyle, go after the Pawniards" Ansel tells Ranii as he rushes in with an *Icy Wind on the grass type.
"The what?!" Ranii says, then she sees that weird armored... bladed thing. "Oh, that thing." She still isn't completely up on her mon names yes.
She doesn't know what this thing is capable of, but she decides not to overcomplicate things. She glides down, dropping down in front of it, and then stabs forward with her own spear.

The Grove soldier with the spear gets hit by the cold wind, cold enough to hurt him. "Nnngh! aargh...damn it they got an ice type!" The ice slows him down abit. However, he tries to stab at Ansel with his spear. The odds are very much against the Grove since their enemies have the high ground.
The Pawniard Ranii tries to attack but manages to stop the spear's head using the knife-for-hands it has. The other Pawniard was going to take the chance to attack her while she was distracted by Pachi coming in with a Quick Attack to stop him!
That Grovyle is the one armed with an actual weapon, so Luca decides to go assist Ansel in case things start getting dangerous for him.

The attack misses Ansel. Seeing that the previous Icy Wind was successful, he does it once again.
Those knife-like arms of Ranii's opponent might be good for offensive attacks, but they prove ineffective at blocking, especially against such a quick stab. The spear hits true to its target, burying itself in the Pawniard's chest, piercing its heart and ending its life.

After getting it's life ended by the tip of the Avali's spear, the Pawniard's corpse falls and rolls down the hill of sand. Now it's up to Ranii to decide what to do from here. Pachi is engaged in a melee fight with the other Pawniard.
The grass-type gets even slower and hurts after getting hit by that Icy wind again. He shivers and groans in pain.
Luca now puts himself between Ansel and this enemy. He has one of his swords, one of his paws and he swings at the Grove soldier.
The Grovyle raises his spear to try to defend himself, and he does so...but that blade cuts his spear's shaft. Now in one hand he is holding a useless piece of wood and in the other hand he has a short stick with a pointy rock on the end. But he doesn't relent and tries to stab the Lucario with his now very short spear.

Ranii decides to change tacks on the other pawniard after pulling her spear clean out of her victim, especially seeing that the pawnard is distracted with the Pachi. She takes a leap and a yell as she leaps forward, spear forward, for another stab, this time to the side of the Pawniard.
Ansel, seeing Luca taking the lead, decides to let the Lucario deal with this Grovyle now, especially since he knows his icy wind will more than likely hit Luca too if he tries it again.

"Hhhhmmm?!" Unfortunately Ranii's target saw her approaching on the edge of his vision, he jumped back to avoid that stabbing.
"Woah!" Pachi also stopped when that spear suddenly got thrust between her and the mon she was fighting against.
Seeming an opportunity to attack, he tries to nail the Avali with a Night Slash from it's knife-for-hands.
Moving out of the way of that pathetic attack, Luca grips his sword with both paws and swings it at the Grovyle. This is a powerful swing, and with the grass-type slowed and wounded this end up being the killing blow. The resulting cut from shoulder to torso sheds quite a bit blood from the the Grove soldier as he perishes with pained scream and went rolling down the hill like the previously killed Pawniard.

"Wha?" Ranii's shock at her lined up rush missing her mark catches her off guard. She doesn't have time to reflect on her failure, however, as a swoosh fills all four of her ears, alerting her to imminent danger! "Woah!!" She yells as she barely leaps out of the way in time, using the momentum of her failed attack to jump forward and roll into a ball before jumping back up into her feet. She quickly turns around, spear in hand, and goes for another charge, determined to plant that spear right into his chest this time.

The Pawniard gets slightly less lucky this time around with his evasive maneuver, he got a tiny cut from Ranii's spear on the side of his chest instead of getting stabbed. Unfortunately his Luck might not look well from here on out given how outnumbered he is, with another Electro Ball coming from the Pachirisu and the Lucario sending an Aura Sphere his way. It's probably amazing how getting hit by an explosive energy sphere and a ball of lightning only knocks him out because of how moves are.

Ranii, who had before prepared for another attack when the attacks from Pachi and Luca came colliding into her opponent. She watches the mon get knocked out and roll down the hill. The avali looks over to the two of them, and waves.
"Thanks." She says. "I mean I could have had him, but thanks."
Now, if memory serves her right, the only one remaining is the Ursang strapped to the cart.

As for Lemm's situation, he has managed to beat the Ursaring into submission, and unconsciousness. That duo of Sunflora could not handle being hit by a large ball of rock but they are not dead either. So this surprised attack worked very nicely overall and they managed to beat all enemies without casualties.
The Golem watches as Pachi and Ranii approach. "Phew, okay...that did it, I'm glad I didn't have to explode."
Luca narrows his eyes a little bit. "Yes, we wouldn't have wanted to damage the supplies..." Though it could have been useful as a last resort to destroy the pull cart and everything in it. "Why didn't you tell me you could do that?"
"I don't like doing it, it really hurts. I didn't want to have to use it too."
Pachi has a question for her captain. "What about these ones that we didn't kill? Do we...finish them off?" Not that she wants to do that, she isn't a fan of killing...specially if it's unnecessary.

"Well, I don't think it's entirely necessary. But on the other hand, they could be a problem later." Ranii thinks. "Plus they never actually surrendered, so we're not breaking the accords by doing so."
"I'd... Rather we not." Ansel says weakly. "I mean... I won't protest if we do, but, still... You never know, some of these people might not want to have to be here in the first place." He says.
"Well, captain" she looks to Luca. "Ball is in your court on that."

Luca is trying to reason his decisions here. On both accounts the supplies are going to go missing, and the Grove might not know right off the bat who hit them. Killing these unconscious enemies sound pointless. He had some thoughts about bringing them along but that is not part of the mission, and the Ursaring would surely be heavy. "...Let's not waste our time with them, let's just take the supplies and be gone from here before anyone else happens to wander into this."
"Alright then..." The Golem looks to the pull cart, it has boxes and barrels on it with food and most certainly water too. "hhhmmmm...how do we go about this?"

"Well, we brought Lemm here for a reason, didn't we?" She sounds a lot more confident about this matter. "We'll strap him in where the bear was and we'll help him bring this back to the camp. I mean... they did provide this cart for us, it'd be a shame not to make use of it."

"Yeah but..." Lemm says that like there is a problem. He steps over the pull cart, getting in position to pick the handle but then...he can't quite do so all the way because he is so wide he can't pull the handles up without his shell stopping it.
Pachi looks a little unamused by this, of all things that could get in their way and it's how wide her companion is? What are the odds?
Luca can improvise though, he isn't strong enough to pull the cart but he doesn't necessarily need to do so. "Right then. Lemm, get behind the cart, you are going to push it."
This idea his captain has is a bit confusing to him. "Push it? I don't know if that's possible, someone has to pick up the handles on this thing to steer it."
He nods. "Yes, I know...I will be doing that, just get behind the cart and push it, alright?"
"Oh, okay then." Now he understands very well what the Lucario means to do. Lemm runs around and gets behind the cart instead. Putting his hands on the back of it. "Do I push it now?"
The blue jackal puts his paws on the cart's handle and pulls it up, getting the thing ready to move. He isn't strong enough to pull this at a long distance but with this idea of his he won't need to handle all of this weight alone. "Just wait for my signal." He then looks to Pachi, Ranii and Ansel. "Are we all ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready." Ranii says, getting on one side of the cart. "Me too." Ansel adds, getting on the other.
Pachi jumps on top of Lemm's shell. "You don't mind if i rest a bit, right big guy? Also i'm ready." She says.
"Sure, I suppose." Lemm is alright with that.
Luca is ready to move to. "Okay, starts pushing!" He gives the signal. The cart starts going forward with the big strong mon pushing it forward and the less stronger mon with his paws on the cart's handle steering it to where they need to go. They go around the sandhill and are now taking the supplies back to camp.
"You know, it's pretty good that none of us got hurt." Pachi comments.
"Actually I took quite a few punches to the face from that Ursaring." Lemm said to her.
"...It's pretty good that none of us got seriously hurt." She corrects herself.

"Yeah..." Ranii adds in. "We had it easy today. Though, don't get too comfortable with this idea." She warns. "It won't always be this easy. Especially once they start figuring out we're here."

"Exactly." Luca reinforces Ranii's warning. "Even if they blame bandits for what happened they are surely going to bolster their patrols and add more mons to guard important things. We are not in the clear just yet either, keep your eyes open in case we come across more scouts because if they spot us with this they are sure to run off to warn their superiors."

Ranii nods, keeping her eyes and ears on sharp lookout for anything. Her ears, mostly as avali eyes are not the best, even with augments to counteract their poor visibility.
The trip with the cart is a little arduous but eventually the Four-Eyes camp is within their sights and from here it's smooth sailing until they arrive.", "pools_count": 1, "title": "Stars of Iron P8A6: Stealing Supplies", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "text/rtf", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "2", "rating_name": "Adult", "ratings": [ { "content_tag_id": "5", "name": "Strong Violence", "description": "Strong violence, blood, serious injury or death", "rating_id": "2" } ], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "f", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "0", "views": "17" }