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Told in present tense. ", "count": "86", "submission_left_submission_id": "3000898", "submission_left_file_name": "4485514_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p9a6_enemy_camp.rtf", "submission_left_thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/4485/4485514_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p9a6_enemy_camp.jpg", "submission_left_thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/4485/4485514_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p9a6_enemy_camp.jpg", "submission_left_thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/4485/4485514_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p9a6_enemy_camp.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": "3003193", "submission_right_file_name": "4489255_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p10a3_scouting_trip.rtf", "submission_right_thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/4489/4489255_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p10a3_scouting_trip.jpg", "submission_right_thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/4489/4489255_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p10a3_scouting_trip.jpg", "submission_right_thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/4489/4489255_Rylasasin_stars_of_iron_p10a3_scouting_trip.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 a bit of an odd start to Part 10, eh? And it seems the Avali aren't the only aliens involved in this... Well, apart from the long-gone USCM.\n\nThe rest of Part 10 can be found [url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/16yTDofAmtu9B0z5SutAo6Pc7TAEY897bSPnxe_RzQqk/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 a bit of an odd start to Part 10, eh? And it seems the Avali aren't the only aliens involved in this... Well, apart from the long-gone USCM.

The rest of Part 10 can be found here.

Also, obligatory link to the comic itself to which this is a fanfiction of.", "writing": "[center][t]Act 57: ET Phone Home[/t][/center]\n\nIn the next day things are now happening in an unspecified place in the Oracle Sea, things of the obscure nature that the inhabitants of this world as a whole are not ready to face. Hauser is currently flying low over the sea water in his hoverbike, he is escorting an Avali drone to the coordinates of where that UFO crashed.\n\nThe drone follows Hauser, easily keeping up with him. It is of the same type the avali normally use. While the initial thought was to bring along the Night Witches again, the commander of the newly occupied Black Isle base was assured that such a heavy team was not necessary. \nAll the better, as the Night Witches were needed elsewhere.\n\nWhen they began approaching the coordinates they saw something...unexpected come into view. It's a ship, thankfully not a big one, and seems to be a sloop at best. It seems to have just stopped in the middle of the open sea.\n\"What the fuck?\" Hauser said when he spotted that vessel. He brought his hoverbike to a halt for a moment. \n\n\"Something wrong?\" The commander, a female avali, speaks into his audio comms.\n\n\"There is a vessel right above where the UFO is...\" He said to the Avali on the other side of the comms. \"I'm gonna approach and see what is going on.\"\n\n\"Pos that.\" The Avali replies. \"It's hopefully nothing. But if they're trying to bring up the UFO...\" She doesn't finish that sentence.\n\nAs they approach Hauser can see the ship's crew, there some Squirtles, some Marill and a Kirlia. And they all are wearing some strange mask over their faces, bronze metal with black marks on the forehead and green visor that resemble eyes. All these pokémon seem to be walking around the deck of the ship aimlessly.\nHauser doesn't know if they are even noticing him, his bike is not exactly silent or hard to see, especially with the backdrop of the ocean in plain day. So he figured it would be safe and just landed his bike in the middle of the ship. That was when the pokémon around him all began staring at him.\n\n\"This is... unnerving.\" The avali comments through his audio. The drone hovers next to the human, ready to engage in combat if necessary.\n\nSoon enough the human and the drone are surrounded but all the mons around them are not doing anything hostile. Then they both notice another odd mon, this time coming up from above their line of view. Compared to the other mons...[url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/827525145597181993/935452507537289246/250px-606Beheeyem.png]this one looks like an alien, curiously the masks that the crew of this vessel are wearing all seem to resemble its face.[/url]\n\nIt holds out it's arms forward, it has three blinking lights where hands should be. And these lights are blinking in some sort of pattern. But why is it blinking it at them?\nThe human growls at this extraterrestrial being. \"Oh no, don't even think about it! I know mental attacks when I see them! I'm trained to avoid things like that! Now talk to me or something!\"\nIt seems to understand what the man said, it stopped blinking its lights at him. Then it turned to the Kirlia, who began to shiver for a moment before stepping forward.\n\"It would appear that you are a strong one, then. Please, i urge you not to jump to hostilities...\" The Pokémon said, seemingly being controlled to be a sort of 'translator' for the alien. \"I am speaking through this lifeform so that you may understand.\"\n\n\"Well, let it talk then.\" The commander replies over the radio. \"Let's see what this one has to say.\"\n\nWell, Hauser is not in a hurry, even if he is surrounded by mind controlled thralls of an alien.\n\"Our presence here is not voluntary, our ship suffered damage while in the orbit of this planet. We were but doing research on the atmosphere when disaster struck.\" The Alien says through the Kirlia it has under it's control. \"These lifeforms wandered here by chance. The chances of rescue coming from us is extremely low, so we decided to make use of the locals to perhaps start looking for the parts of the ship...if they are still intact.\" There is a small pause. \"We do not wish to harm anyone if we can help it, we just want to go back home and report back this astonishing find of another world with live in it.\" \n\n\"So they are aliens.\" The commander remarks. \"Ask them where he came from.\"\n\nThe human grinds his teeth a little in that order. Why is he the one doing the talking here? But oh well, he will keep his complaints to himself. \"Can you tell me where you came from?\"\n\"I suppose there is really no harm in sharing this information, very well then. Our world is located on the other side of the solar system.\" \n\n\"So they're localized aliens.\" The commander comments to herself. \"Question is, how did this happen, and why did you wait for so long?\"\n\nHauser relays those questions too. \"Why were you here for so long? And what made your ship crash?\"\n\"At first we thought it was some serious malfunction but the damage report said the cause came from without the vessel. We were not here for exactly very long, the passage of time is not very accurate to us since our crash, but that happened recently. We spent time under this large body of liquid to recover, and only now we are venturing to the surface.\"\n\n\"Odd.... according to the previous information, they had been here for centuries.... was the original information incorrect? Or do they simply not have a good grasp on time?\"\n\n\"Given how Boris could not talk to them when he found them, I think there might have been some mistakes in his report...\" The human whispers so that only the Avali on the other side of the comms can hear him.\n\n\"Alright, I guess we'll have to sort this out later anyway. Also I'm finding it interesting that our translation patch for this world is also working for these aliens...\" \nThere is a pause before she continues.\n\"Anyway, she said the damage came from without the vessel. Can you get them to elaborate?\"\n\n\"Well, I don't think they can speak to be precise. It seems to be able to understand us but it is using that Pokemon there to speak to us, my guess is they must have learned the language from reading their minds too.\" Now enough whispering, time to ask this alien once more. \"So you said your ship was damaged...how exactly?\"\n\"We were attacked by something.\" The alien said through the pokemon being used as it's puppet translator. \"All we know is that it did not come from this planet, we were blindsided.\"\n\n\"Attacked by something?!\" The avali questions through the earphone. \"Well it certainly wasn't us.\"\n\n\"Well, do you know who attacked you then?\" The human asks the extraterrestrial pokémon.\n\"No, that we do not know, but we got a good look at them.\" The Alien's translator said. Then he moves to another topic. \"Might I ask that you help us? I can not tell what your opinion is about us but...we wish to speak to your leader.\"\n\"Well, for one I'm not the leader, and you probably did not notice but this world has no 'leader', just self-serving idiots who would rather bend over backwards for their biological needs.\"\n\n\"I really wish I could refute that, but I can't really.\" The Commander laughs. \"Okay, I think it might be time for me to butt into this convo myself. Just give me a few moments while my pack teleports out. You can tell him to expect a few of your friends to arrive in about a few minutes.\"\n\n\"Then...what must we do?\" The alien sounds disheartened from hearing this. \"But you are different, you clearly have technology more advanced than these life forms...can inquire why?\"\n\"You are going to be finding that out in a few minutes, alright? You are going to be on your way home sooner than you think, most likely...\" Hauser said to him. Now he is just going to wait around until the Avali come, he is hoping it's really 'just a few minutes' of waiting.\n\n[b]TELEPORT BEACON ACTIVATED[/b] The drone suddenly announces. \nIn only a few moments later, four flashes of light appear on the docks, and change into four figures. [url=https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/827525145597181993/935801905588895774/unknown.png]Four Avali. \nTwo males, two females. One, a light black coated avali male with cream white trim with a long feather on top of his head. Two, another male with almost the same colors, but with a smaller but wider feather in the back. A female black colored avali with red and purple trimming and a small curl for 'hair'. And finally a white coated female avali with black trimming, who sports a long and large 'ponytail'. [/url]\nThey wear some light clothing, with the exception of the pony-tailed one, which wears a gray cloak and a green trenchcoat underneath it.\n\"Greetings.\" The pony-tailed one says, in a voice very familiar to Hauser. He's been hearing her in his ear this whole time. \"I am Nezami, of the Avali Reborn Illuminate. And this is my pack.\"\n\"Kasala\" The black and red/purple female avali greets.\n\"Rhaun\" The grey and white male takes a slight bow.\n\"Aaaand Nuko.\" The long feathered male greets with a pose.\n\n\nThe alien is surprised by these new arrivals, and fascinated by how they teleported here like this. \"The...Avali Reborn Illuminate? Are you one of the local powers?\"\n\"...I'm starting to think you people don't want to walk around very much, what with all the teleporting.\" Says the man who flies around everywhere in a hoverbike.\n\n\"What? You didn't expect us to walk all the way over here, did you?\" Nuko replies to the human.\n\"No, we, and this human here, are like yourselves, aliens. However, we are from another star system entirely.\" Rhaun answers the alien.\n\n\"From another star system?!\" This extraterrestrial being sounds surprised from hearing this. \"So there is life beyond far far away after all?\"\n\"Some more far away than others.\" Hauser said.\n\"If this is indeed true we would very much like to speak to you. Might I ask that I take us to a better place to converse? That is my vessel of course. My fellow crew members very much need to know about this, know about you.\"\n\n\"Yes, from another star system. From the Avalon star system to be precise.\" Kasala replies. \n\"That would be great. Though, perhaps it would be better to evacuate them from the ship and allow us to take you back to ours? from there we could arrange transport back to... er, what planet did you say you were from again?\" Nezami asks.\n\n\"We call our world 'Lig-O-Bem', it is located on the other side of this solar system. Although if we are to leave our ship we would have to think about what to do with the local subjects that we have extracted from the second atmospheric layer of this planet for research purposes...\"\n\n\"We'd have to insist you let them go.\" Nezami replies. \"Especially considering it sounds like you didn't exactly get their permission for this... 'research' of yours. And Nexus knows we've already had one one group of outside forces doing unethical research on the natives here.\"\n\n\"We would gladly comply, but with no means to travel to the atmosphere, these subject stuck here much like we are...would you assist with this too? However, before we abandon our ship, there is something we very much would like to show you...we managed to get an image of what stranded us here.\"\n\nThe avali all look at each other, and then look back to the alien. \n\"Very well.\" Nezami replies to him/her/it.\n\n\"Alright look, I'm good alright? You guys look like you have this under control.\" The human that brought the Avali here said, he is not very keen on going it seems.\n\"Very well, please approach and I shall take you all aboard with me.\" The alien's Kirlia translator approaches it, and it seems like he is being taken along too. \n\nThe avali approaches the alien.\n\nThe pack of Avali negotiators, the other extraterrestrial besides them and the the local being used as a translator are all teleported. [url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/827525145597181993/936113879963021372/unknown.png]Now they are all in some sort of well lid green metalic hallway,[/url] yeah this is an alien ship alright.\n\n\"Please follow, the main control room is right over here. I shall introduce you to others and tell of your proposal of aid.\" It spoke through the mon it is using as a translator before heading toward those doors over there, which began to slide open when approached. Naturally the Kirlia followed.\n\nThe avalis follow them to the control room, looking around at the smooth, rounded corridors. It seems to remind them of something, but they can't put their talontips on it.\n\nThis is indeed a small ship because from the looks of it this is the only large room in it, right in the middle. There are signs of damage on the walls, with lights flickering, some wires seem to be dangling from the ceiling and some broken screens. [url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/827525145597181993/936176967898779688/unknown.png]Though in the center of the room there is also something that might be just a little bit alarming...but on the other hand the computer system of this vessel[/url] [url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/827525145597181993/936176968108490772/unknown.png]is also here so everything is kind of just in the same room.[/url]\n\nThere are also other aliens here just like this one that is guiding them, thought there is a also a similar looking one with a sort of different body shape and color, could these be related? [url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/827525145597181993/936178126050967652/250px-605Elgyem.png]All in all this crew consists of 5 individuals, three of these bronze-colored ones and two of these smaller light blue ones.[/url]\n\nAnd there are also [url=https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/827525145597181993/936178245727035412/250px-774Minior.png]small meteors[/url] tucked in a corner there, for some reason...?\n\n\"Alright, so we're here.\" Nuko says. \"So, let's see that image, first of all.\"\n\nThe one that brought them here motions it's hands to that main computer there, and it starts displaying things, maybe it's being operated mentally. When the image was found among all those other things, it was placed on the screen for them to see. Meanwhile all of the extraterrestrial beings begin talking amongst themselves, their 'voice' sounds like strange noises but maybe they have their own spoken language, though maybe they are incapable of speaking the local language despite having extracted that from the mons on the ship above them.\nAs for what is on the image itself, well...it looks like that they were shot down by someone indeed. The owners of this ship wouldn't know who it is as it is not someone they have met, to the Avali pack [url=https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/827525145597181993/936182713591922688/396px-Apex_Ship_Upgrade_4.png]the design of this ship is unmistakable...[/url]\n\n\"Ugh.... This is not good.\" Rhaun groans.\n\"This is exactly what we were hoping to avoid.\" Kasla adds.\n\"Yup. That's a damn Miniknog ship.\" Nuko adds in. \"Damn dirty apes.\"\nNezami sees the aliens looking at them, and it doesn't take an anthropologist to see that they're clearly confused. \"It's a very long story.\" She tells them. \"Suffice it to say they're... Not nice people.\"\n\"Understatement of the century.\" Kasala qwips.\n\"I daresay it's quite fortunate that they apparently lost track or interest in you after shooting you down.\" Nezami continues. \"Had they not... well, I shudder to think of the horrors they'd be inflicting upon you right now.\"\n\nThere are some more talks amongst themselves, they sound a bit alarmed at this information.\nAnd once again the Kirlia is used to speak for that one alien. \"So that's the gravity of the situation? We were attacked by unknown lifeforms with bad intentions? Hhhmmm...we can trust that you are not like them, correct?\"\n\n\"If we were like them, we wouldn't be having this discussion.\" Nuko replies bluntly. \"At least one of you would be on the dissection table at this very moment.\" \n\n\"That is a good point...\" There is a moment of silence, with them looking at each other before speaking again. \"Allow me to properly introduce ourselves then. We are Beheeyem, those two are our Elgyem assistants.\" The Beheeyem looks to those meteors there in the corner. \"As for those subjects...they are the ones we found high up in the second atmospheric layer, we don't know much about them.\"\n\n\"I see.\" Nezami replies. \"are... they even sentient or not?\" \"To be honest I'm a little unnerved.\" Rhaun replies. \"They remind me of back in the Occasus Crisis when [url=https://images-ext-2.discordapp.net/external/Jmkmhvyes0K9NHmvcwY8C4LOqu04FfDQ67IdZUO2NCw/https/starbounder.org/mediawiki/images/f/fb/Tentacomet.png]Ruin spawns would hide in meteorites.\"[/url]\n\n\"We were surprised to find that these beings are indeed alive and seem to possess though, they have displayed happiness, curiosity and fear...although view it from the outside of it's shell these fact are understandably much less noticeable.\" \n\n\"I see...\" Nezami replies. \"Unfortunately as I said, we'll have to leave them in the upper atmosphere where you found them. Unless of course you have some means to ask their permission to come with you.\"\n\n\"Very well.\" Nezami nods. \"Alright, so, here's the plan. I'm afraid there's not much we can do in terms of saving the ship. It will need to be scuttled. However, before that you take us back to the boat above along with whatever crew and, er, [i]samples[/i] you have with us. Once there, we'll beam up to our own ship, and we'll beam the samples back to base for relocation, and take you back to your world ourselves.\"\n\nThe Beheeyem talk amongst themselves for a moment, seemingly talking about this and agreeing. \"We understand, and we agree. As for the local life forms we commandeered on that floating vessel, we shall have them all sleep and they wake up...there will be no recollection of any of this for them.\"\n\n\"Very good.\" Nezami nods.\n\nThe extraterrestrial pokémon talked amongst themselves for a moment, telling each other what vital things such as data of their exploration and that they have to get ready to teleport back up to that water vessel on the surface. All of them.\nOne of them Beheeyem teleports itself and the Avali back up to the ship. Looks like Hauser has already left, leaving the Avali pack to take it from here. A few minutes later the rest of the Beheeyem and the Elgyem are teleported to the deck of the ship too. The 'samples' were also brought along too of course. Now they start working on removing these masks from the pokémon's faces, adjusting their memories and making them sleep.\n\n\"Hmmph. looks like the human ditched us.\" Rhaun remarks. \"Ah well, we don't need him for this.\"\nKasala gives him an annoyed look, while Nuko and Nezami watch as the aliens go about all of this, waiting on them to finish their last remaining business here before proceeding to the next step.\n\nWith all the mons that make up the crew of this ship put to sleep and some memory manipulation, they are safe to be left. With that job done the Beheeyem and Elgyem reunite to the Avali. They are ready for the next step .\n\n\"Alright. Last check to make sure there is nothing left behind. If you forgot something, now's the time to say it, as there will be no return trips.\" Nezami announces.\n\n\"We are prepared. It is regrettable that our vessel must be abandoned, but it is beyond saving now.\" They hear a sort of voice in their heads, must be telepathy from them? \"We also apologize for speaking like this. It is likely very rude to connect with another's mind without permission but otherwise we would not be able to communicate.\"\n\n\"Very well.\" Nezami says to him, not minding the voice in their heads given the circumstances. \"Everyone, grab onto us and we'll beam aboard the ship.\"\n\nThe five alien pokémon gather up the meteorite-like beings, can't forget them here of course, and place their end of their arms on the Avali, this is as best as they can when it comes to physically grabbing something.\n\n[url=https://i.redd.it/9udoazzzcn541.png]It will do. The bunch of them disappear in a flash of light, appearing on an orbiting alien vessel. A medium sized, esoteric-looking vessel.[/url]\n\"Welcome aboard.\" Nezami says to them. \"It's a bit messy, I know. But make yourselves at home. Though first...\" \n\"We send those creepy things back.\" Nuko says non-chalantly as he points to the not-meteorites in their hands. \n\"Right.\" Nezami replies flatly. \"If you'll be so kind as to set them on the teleporter that you're currently hovering over, we can send them back to the upper atmosphere where they belong. And then... we'll be on our way. Considering this is a Faster-Than-Light speed capable ship, the whole thing should take less than a few minutes standard time.\"\n\nWhile the others place the not-meteorites in teleporter and back away, that one Beheeyem speaks more to them to voice it's surprise. \"Faster than Light? Is it really possible to achieve such speed?\"\n\n\"Well, yes.\" Kasala replies. \"If it was not, we would not be here.\"\n\"Though, then again, neither would the Miniknog.\" Nuko adds in flatly.\nOnce the little meteors are laid down, Nezami makes a motion, as if typing on an invisible screen. \"Aaaaaannnnddd...\"\nThe meteors disappear in a flash of light, one by one, until there are none left. \"And that's that.\" Nezami heads over to the captain's chair, and begins to type in coordinates.\nA screen pops up on the console there, showing an array of planets, including the one they are currently orbiting, the ship they are on denoted by a small generic ship icon. \n\"Let's see here....\" Nezami points to the screen. \"Is that your homeworld?\"\n\nThere is clearly some excitement going on back there now. They are looking forward to seeing what an FTL flight is like, and this ship is also bigger than their UFO, all fascinating. \"Precisely. That is indeed our homeworld.\"\n\n\"Alright. Hang on, here we go....\" \nNezami hits a button. \nThe ship rises out of its orbit, and turns, as the icon on the screen representing their ship turns as well. Once it's pointed at the world in question, the ship quickly fires its sublight engines, and begins the trip there. \nA trip that, as Nezami promised, does not take long at all. Only about 10 minutes.\nOnce it arrives at the planet, the ship once again turns and fires its engines, entering into an orbit around the world, the planet clearly visible out the ship's window. \n\nIt was quite fascinating for them indeed, this trip took minutes while for them it took a lot more time. FTL sure is wonderful, perhaps it would be possible for them to one day have this too...\nAs for the planet in question it appears to be pretty different from the one they were at just 10 minutes ago. The oceans are purple and the biggest landmass seems to have a city big enough that they can see it from space.\n\n\"Hmm interesting place\" Kasala comments.\n\"So are we correct to presume you are from that large city down there?\" Nezami asks the Aliens. \"Are there any particular coordinates we need to beam you down to? And any final questions?\"\n\n[i]\"Yes that is indeed our home, we are all very happy to see it again. As for the questions, we have...many, to put it lightly.\"[/i]\n\n\"Well, now's the time to ask.\" Nezami says, extending his hand in a gesture.\n\n[i]\"Since you now know of our existence, and most likely so do the 'Miniknog', what is going to happen? Are we simply going to part ways and never see each other again?\"[/i]\n\n\"We'll most likely send someone your way to meet with you. We are... unfortunately not that crew. Besides, this way it will allow you guys to get your people prepared for that meeting instead of having us spring upon your people right out of the air. As for the Miniknog... Well, I don't know what they're going to do. I fear this isn't the last we've seen of them, though.\"\n\n\"I see. We will indeed report everything we know so far to our superiors, they will want to hear about this. And this other crew that will come to contact us, to an extent your whole faction...do you plan on aiding us in traveling the cosmos?\"\n\n\"Well, yes.\" Nezami replies cheerfully. \"If your people will have us, and stand beside us when necessary...\"\n\"There's a lot to learn about this universe. A lot went on. And a lot is yet to come.\" Kasala adds. \n\"Because if you think shooting down craft from species that are less technologically advanced than they are is the extent of the Miniknog's evil, you're sorely mistaken.\" Nuko warns. \n\"While we Avali are currently locked in a bit of a cold war with the occasional warm flare-up skirmish every now and then, you can bet your butt there will come a day when the apes go absolutely bananas and try to conquer everything. On that day, we're going to need as many allies as possible to stand against them.\" Rhaun tells them.\n\n[i]\"I see. So it is a good thing we got into contact with you first. This is a big decision that no doubt our superiors will have to think on for a time, but we will report the situation to them so they can know that you are not hostile. I do very much and we end up on a mutually beneficial term.\" Now as for another question... \"How...big is your civilization, if i may ask?\"[/i]\n\n\"I hope so too.\" Nezami replies. \n\"It spans several star systems. Although the 'Miniknog's control is far greater. Hence we are continually looking for allies.\" Kasala answers him.\n\n\"That is concerning...the growing state of unrest out there.\" The Beheeyem laments. \"There are no more questions for me to ask. Unless you desire to ask us something before we go now.\"\n\n\"No, there is nothing. We will give you a month of your world's standard time before we attempt to make contact with your leaders. That should give you, and them plenty of time to prepare for the arrival of the Avali.\" Nezami. \"Now, where shall we beam you back down to, in particular?\"\n\n\"Understood. You can just 'beam us' down around the center of our city, which is very visible from here. I must thank you again for helping us and giving us this opportunity.\"\n\n\"Very well. May we see each other soon. And don't worry, we'll be on the lookout for those miniknog troublemakers.\"\n\nNow it's time for them to get ready to leave. This short trip on a ship vastly more advanced than theirs was very fascinating for them, some think it's a shame to have to go so soon and hope to see more in the future. They all head to the teleporter so the Avali can beam them back down to their home world.\n\n\"Alright. Ready to beam you down. Bon-Voyage. Or whatever goodbye your people use.\" Nuko tells them. Before any of them can respond, the aliens are, just like before, surrounded with light, and they vanish, without a trace, presumably back to the center of the city as they requested.\n\n\"Nezami..\" Rhaun turns toward his packmate. \"Are you picking up any trace of that Miniknog craft that shot thiers down?\"\n\"I'm afraid not.\" Nezami says as she looks at the screen. \"It would appear as if they're long gone by now.\"\n\"Hit-and-run, huh?\" Nuko sighs. \n\"Well, nothing to it but to get back to the rust shack.\" Kasala groans, not looking forward to returning to Black Isle. \"At least we turned the damned storm generator off. Seriously, how did the damn bots keep that thing running over a century?\"\n\"Who knows?\" Rhaun grumbles. \"Well, Kasala's right. Back to the rust shack.\"\n\nBack on the previous planet, hours later...\nMattias came to the Sandgun base to talk with its commander once more. He has already taken his seat. \"Stic has managed to establish that supply line between Sandstone and Bleached Bastion. Here's hoping this can help the people there. I also made another less savory discovery about the society of this world. And uuhh...how is that case in the ocean going? the UFO one i mean.\"\n\n\"Yes, let's get that UFO business out of the way first. Where to begin, though? The fact that they were in fact alive as the reports said, the fact that the reports were wrong in assuming they've been there for a century or more and had been here for about a few years at best, or that it was the Miniknog that shot them down?\" The commander scratches his head.\n\nHe raises a brow. \"The Miniknog? Those unsavory 'apes' I keep hearing about? They had something to do with that?\"\n\n\"Yes. The aliens had a picture of the craft that shot them down. It was a dead-ringer for an Apex ship.\" The commander sighs. \"Sadly it appears the ship in question was long gone, we tried searching the system for any other traces but found nothing for the moment. Still, I have a feeling that the gun on this base might be used for its intended purpose soon if something shows up. Although, it's a catch-22 with the Kentaries Accords...\"\nHe takes a breath and explains.\n\"See, the Accords state that ships cannot engage in space to ground warfare. However, there is only one caveat: They can only do so if they are directly attacked by ground emplacements. Like this one. But then again, the Miniknog have always been known to be rather... selective on their interpretations of the Accords.\"\n\n\"Yeah I figured they would be 'selective' with it.\" He sighs. \"...So? What does that mean? It will get complicated if they add themselves to the equation right now.\"\n\n\"Yes, it will. And quite messy...and very annoying.\" The commander groans. \"But okay, what about that less savory discovery?\"\n\n\"You probably have not noticed because they are rare, but every pokemon species has an alternative natural color. And in this world...if you have that alternative color you are not treated well at all...\" He doesn't sound all too happy about this topic. \"Imagine being treated like dirt because of one's color...\"\n\n\"Something to keep in mind. Though, I do wonder why we haven't encountered this ourselves? We tend to come in many different colors...\"\n\"Well, it's not like we leave this base much.\" One of the other valis chips in.\n\"Right...\" He deadpans. \"And those that do come here, well, I guess they have other reasons for not bringing it up\"\n\n\"This also confirms to me that some obsession of normality was instilled into the civilized pokemon. And these pokemon of different color, not being common, are seen negatively. If it wasn't for this whole war shaking everything, we would probably be fighting against the status quo just as hard...\"\n\n\"Well if it wasn't for this war, we'd still be sticking to Stic's original plan of us helping them maneuver members into the royal courts and then killing them all at once when the order was given.\" He adds in.\n\n\"Well...good point. Getting back on the topic of the UFO, why was it flying around this planet's orbit anyways?\"\n\n\"We believe they were studying the planet. Much like the ghost bears were trying to do before they got caught up in all of this.\" He says. \"Anyway, we've brought them back to their own world, which, as fate has it, happens to be in this exact system, safe and sound. Their ship was not, however, and a day after the rescue, Black Isle, or 'Rust Isle' as they're jokingly calling it now, sent a demolition team to successfully scuttle what was left of the vessel.\"\n\n\"You really saw no possible way to make an asset of that UFO? I suppose you do have more advanced things than that.\" He shrugs. \"So, this extraterrestrial life forms. Can I know what they were exactly?\"\n\n\"You mean you weren't told by your subordinates? Huh...\" The commander 'pulls' up a holographic image of one of the aliens from his table. \"There you go.\"\n\n\"Boris' report on this one was pretty vague...\" That aside, he looks at the hologram images of these Aliens. \"Ah, the Elgyem line, I should have known.\"\n\n\"Are you familiar with them?\" The commander asks.\n\n\"Only when it comes to their physiology and abilities, yes.\" He says. \"When it comes to their technology and place of origin, we only have the occasional crashed UFO and strange visages they generate when they get near TVs which is theorized to be their world. Back home everyone is too wary of the stars to want to start a space program like those from the old world.\"\n\n\"And why is that?\"\n\nThe human holds up two fingers. \"Two particular events. First was the Grand Meteor Delta, a giant meteor that was threatening the world, yes, the whole world, you can imagine how big a space rock has to be to be that threatening. But destroying that piece of rock into enough pieces to halt the threat was just part of the problem...because there was sort of mutated alien virus that was seemingly living in it, we don't know if it was exactly controlling that meteor or if it was just inside of hit by chance...but it tried to attack us. It was killed and our question about it's true intentions went unanswered.\"\n\n\"Hmmm... That was the first one. And the second one?\"\n\n\"The next one was a meteor again, much smaller this time. We thought about letting it fall down to the planet since it was not as big as the Grand Meteor Delta, it looked like a rather 'average' meteor that was going to strike the middle of nowhere, perhaps we could have picked it up...\" Of course this is where this story begins turning to the worst. \"Turns out there was an...entity inside of that rock. It caused storms and worst of all forced pokémon to join in to add to the problem. Let me tell you...50 foot tall pokémon running around is not something good. The source of all of it was barely contained. We planned on killing it but it was just too powerful, so to this day we are expecting it to cause trouble again, and the next time will surely be the last...\" And that's the second 'particular event', told by Mattias. \"Naturally everyone thinks that 'fate', 'chance' or whatever metaphorical thing that is to blame for these events is winding up to throw a third one at us.\"\n\n\"You sure you don't have something akin to the Ruin in your world? In which case, hiding on your home planet isn't going to do you much good. Take it from us.\"\n\n\"Our world has been through a lot...I don't know exactly how The Ruin does what it does, but there are quite a few moments where the world's fate is hanged by a thread.\"\n\n\"I ... see.\" He says slowly.\n\nThe human nods. Then he looks over to that other 'off-planet' on the hologram image. \"They had Minior with them? Is that what they were researching?\" \n\n\"Seems like it\" The commander nods. He puts his claw to his chin in thought. \"So, a second opinion on something marginally related, if you will?\"\n\n\"On the Minior? They are Pokémon formed from an aggregation of mutated nanoparticles on the stratosphere, where they absorb particulate matter from which they build their core and shell. This matter is that they 'eat' have different colors, and depending on which color it was most consumed it will dictate the color of their core. Their life ends in two ways, either they are eaten by a powerful monster of legend that patrols the ozone layer, or they fall down like shooting stars from getting too heavy...if the impact doesn't destroy them outright they lose their outer shell and dissipate after some time with nothing to hold them together.\"\n\n\"Well that's interesting... and rather sad. But no.\" The commander sighs. \"What I was talking about was Stic... and Black Isle. Do you think it's time we told him the truth about that place and what went on there?\"\n\n\"Ah.\" Well at least he got that explanation out of the way already. \"Let me tell you. If you were to tell that information to anyone...they would call you crazy. But Stic would have believed you. His opinion on humans would surely drop, perhaps he would start trusting me less...but he is a logical person and that is leaps and bounds better than most than the average 'mon.\" He shrugs. \"Though you should probably know it will give him some stress too.\"\n\n\"Sooo is that a yes or a no?\"\n\n\"You know it is a bit of a hard choice for me too, but you know what?\" He nods. \"Do it. It will change how we see some things, but change is needed. So put that secret into the light.\"\n\n\"Alright. After you're gone I'll invite him over for a talk... and a tour of the place. Though, from the trip I took over there, I feel I might need to give him a tetanus shot just from looking at it.\"\n\n\"...What?\" He doesn't understand where that whole second sentence the commander just spoke came from.\n\n\"Nevermind.\" He says. \"Just a little joke. Anyway, yeah, That's it for now, I believe.\"\n\n\"Yeah...\" He nods. \"One last question though. We know the Miniknog are out there now, maybe they will come again. What measures are you going to be taking with this information?\" \n\n\"So far we're not detecting anything in the system, though that doesn't discount the use of cloaking or jammers, so at the moment we are simply on low level alert. One measure we have is right outside. Though we will have another ship or so in the sector in a few weeks. That's what we can do for the moment without going completely overboard.\"\n\n\"Alright then that will be all. I should really get going.\"\n\n\"Okay. I'd say I'm looking forward to giving Stic the tour, but I'd probably not be the one actually giving the tour, and even if I was, I wouldn't be looking forward to it.\"\n\nThe human gets up from his seat and leaves the tent to go back to his little secret base now. He has to go back to studying the culture and customs of this world dominated by such a simple thing as iron. \n\nOnce he's gone, the commander sighs.\n And brings up a comms with Khaako. \"Yes commander, what is it?\" She asks... \nThis... is going to be a rather tedious argument on his part. \n[i]Sometime later, several miles away in Stic's manor[/i] \nThe drone rings, alerting any in the room that there's a message coming in.\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "
Act 57: ET Phone Home


In the next day things are now happening in an unspecified place in the Oracle Sea, things of the obscure nature that the inhabitants of this world as a whole are not ready to face. Hauser is currently flying low over the sea water in his hoverbike, he is escorting an Avali drone to the coordinates of where that UFO crashed.

The drone follows Hauser, easily keeping up with him. It is of the same type the avali normally use. While the initial thought was to bring along the Night Witches again, the commander of the newly occupied Black Isle base was assured that such a heavy team was not necessary.
All the better, as the Night Witches were needed elsewhere.

When they began approaching the coordinates they saw something...unexpected come into view. It's a ship, thankfully not a big one, and seems to be a sloop at best. It seems to have just stopped in the middle of the open sea.
"What the fuck?" Hauser said when he spotted that vessel. He brought his hoverbike to a halt for a moment.

"Something wrong?" The commander, a female avali, speaks into his audio comms.

"There is a vessel right above where the UFO is..." He said to the Avali on the other side of the comms. "I'm gonna approach and see what is going on."

"Pos that." The Avali replies. "It's hopefully nothing. But if they're trying to bring up the UFO..." She doesn't finish that sentence.

As they approach Hauser can see the ship's crew, there some Squirtles, some Marill and a Kirlia. And they all are wearing some strange mask over their faces, bronze metal with black marks on the forehead and green visor that resemble eyes. All these pokémon seem to be walking around the deck of the ship aimlessly.
Hauser doesn't know if they are even noticing him, his bike is not exactly silent or hard to see, especially with the backdrop of the ocean in plain day. So he figured it would be safe and just landed his bike in the middle of the ship. That was when the pokémon around him all began staring at him.

"This is... unnerving." The avali comments through his audio. The drone hovers next to the human, ready to engage in combat if necessary.

Soon enough the human and the drone are surrounded but all the mons around them are not doing anything hostile. Then they both notice another odd mon, this time coming up from above their line of view. Compared to the other mons...this one looks like an alien, curiously the masks that the crew of this vessel are wearing all seem to resemble its face.

It holds out it's arms forward, it has three blinking lights where hands should be. And these lights are blinking in some sort of pattern. But why is it blinking it at them?
The human growls at this extraterrestrial being. "Oh no, don't even think about it! I know mental attacks when I see them! I'm trained to avoid things like that! Now talk to me or something!"
It seems to understand what the man said, it stopped blinking its lights at him. Then it turned to the Kirlia, who began to shiver for a moment before stepping forward.
"It would appear that you are a strong one, then. Please, i urge you not to jump to hostilities..." The Pokémon said, seemingly being controlled to be a sort of 'translator' for the alien. "I am speaking through this lifeform so that you may understand."

"Well, let it talk then." The commander replies over the radio. "Let's see what this one has to say."

Well, Hauser is not in a hurry, even if he is surrounded by mind controlled thralls of an alien.
"Our presence here is not voluntary, our ship suffered damage while in the orbit of this planet. We were but doing research on the atmosphere when disaster struck." The Alien says through the Kirlia it has under it's control. "These lifeforms wandered here by chance. The chances of rescue coming from us is extremely low, so we decided to make use of the locals to perhaps start looking for the parts of the ship...if they are still intact." There is a small pause. "We do not wish to harm anyone if we can help it, we just want to go back home and report back this astonishing find of another world with live in it."

"So they are aliens." The commander remarks. "Ask them where he came from."

The human grinds his teeth a little in that order. Why is he the one doing the talking here? But oh well, he will keep his complaints to himself. "Can you tell me where you came from?"
"I suppose there is really no harm in sharing this information, very well then. Our world is located on the other side of the solar system."

"So they're localized aliens." The commander comments to herself. "Question is, how did this happen, and why did you wait for so long?"

Hauser relays those questions too. "Why were you here for so long? And what made your ship crash?"
"At first we thought it was some serious malfunction but the damage report said the cause came from without the vessel. We were not here for exactly very long, the passage of time is not very accurate to us since our crash, but that happened recently. We spent time under this large body of liquid to recover, and only now we are venturing to the surface."

"Odd.... according to the previous information, they had been here for centuries.... was the original information incorrect? Or do they simply not have a good grasp on time?"

"Given how Boris could not talk to them when he found them, I think there might have been some mistakes in his report..." The human whispers so that only the Avali on the other side of the comms can hear him.

"Alright, I guess we'll have to sort this out later anyway. Also I'm finding it interesting that our translation patch for this world is also working for these aliens..."
There is a pause before she continues.
"Anyway, she said the damage came from without the vessel. Can you get them to elaborate?"

"Well, I don't think they can speak to be precise. It seems to be able to understand us but it is using that Pokemon there to speak to us, my guess is they must have learned the language from reading their minds too." Now enough whispering, time to ask this alien once more. "So you said your ship was damaged...how exactly?"
"We were attacked by something." The alien said through the pokemon being used as it's puppet translator. "All we know is that it did not come from this planet, we were blindsided."

"Attacked by something?!" The avali questions through the earphone. "Well it certainly wasn't us."

"Well, do you know who attacked you then?" The human asks the extraterrestrial pokémon.
"No, that we do not know, but we got a good look at them." The Alien's translator said. Then he moves to another topic. "Might I ask that you help us? I can not tell what your opinion is about us but...we wish to speak to your leader."
"Well, for one I'm not the leader, and you probably did not notice but this world has no 'leader', just self-serving idiots who would rather bend over backwards for their biological needs."

"I really wish I could refute that, but I can't really." The Commander laughs. "Okay, I think it might be time for me to butt into this convo myself. Just give me a few moments while my pack teleports out. You can tell him to expect a few of your friends to arrive in about a few minutes."

"Then...what must we do?" The alien sounds disheartened from hearing this. "But you are different, you clearly have technology more advanced than these life forms...can inquire why?"
"You are going to be finding that out in a few minutes, alright? You are going to be on your way home sooner than you think, most likely..." Hauser said to him. Now he is just going to wait around until the Avali come, he is hoping it's really 'just a few minutes' of waiting.

TELEPORT BEACON ACTIVATED The drone suddenly announces.
In only a few moments later, four flashes of light appear on the docks, and change into four figures. Four Avali.
Two males, two females. One, a light black coated avali male with cream white trim with a long feather on top of his head. Two, another male with almost the same colors, but with a smaller but wider feather in the back. A female black colored avali with red and purple trimming and a small curl for 'hair'. And finally a white coated female avali with black trimming, who sports a long and large 'ponytail'.
They wear some light clothing, with the exception of the pony-tailed one, which wears a gray cloak and a green trenchcoat underneath it.
"Greetings." The pony-tailed one says, in a voice very familiar to Hauser. He's been hearing her in his ear this whole time. "I am Nezami, of the Avali Reborn Illuminate. And this is my pack."
"Kasala" The black and red/purple female avali greets.
"Rhaun" The grey and white male takes a slight bow.
"Aaaand Nuko." The long feathered male greets with a pose.


The alien is surprised by these new arrivals, and fascinated by how they teleported here like this. "The...Avali Reborn Illuminate? Are you one of the local powers?"
"...I'm starting to think you people don't want to walk around very much, what with all the teleporting." Says the man who flies around everywhere in a hoverbike.

"What? You didn't expect us to walk all the way over here, did you?" Nuko replies to the human.
"No, we, and this human here, are like yourselves, aliens. However, we are from another star system entirely." Rhaun answers the alien.

"From another star system?!" This extraterrestrial being sounds surprised from hearing this. "So there is life beyond far far away after all?"
"Some more far away than others." Hauser said.
"If this is indeed true we would very much like to speak to you. Might I ask that I take us to a better place to converse? That is my vessel of course. My fellow crew members very much need to know about this, know about you."

"Yes, from another star system. From the Avalon star system to be precise." Kasala replies.
"That would be great. Though, perhaps it would be better to evacuate them from the ship and allow us to take you back to ours? from there we could arrange transport back to... er, what planet did you say you were from again?" Nezami asks.

"We call our world 'Lig-O-Bem', it is located on the other side of this solar system. Although if we are to leave our ship we would have to think about what to do with the local subjects that we have extracted from the second atmospheric layer of this planet for research purposes..."

"We'd have to insist you let them go." Nezami replies. "Especially considering it sounds like you didn't exactly get their permission for this... 'research' of yours. And Nexus knows we've already had one one group of outside forces doing unethical research on the natives here."

"We would gladly comply, but with no means to travel to the atmosphere, these subject stuck here much like we are...would you assist with this too? However, before we abandon our ship, there is something we very much would like to show you...we managed to get an image of what stranded us here."

The avali all look at each other, and then look back to the alien.
"Very well." Nezami replies to him/her/it.

"Alright look, I'm good alright? You guys look like you have this under control." The human that brought the Avali here said, he is not very keen on going it seems.
"Very well, please approach and I shall take you all aboard with me." The alien's Kirlia translator approaches it, and it seems like he is being taken along too.

The avali approaches the alien.

The pack of Avali negotiators, the other extraterrestrial besides them and the the local being used as a translator are all teleported. Now they are all in some sort of well lid green metalic hallway, yeah this is an alien ship alright.

"Please follow, the main control room is right over here. I shall introduce you to others and tell of your proposal of aid." It spoke through the mon it is using as a translator before heading toward those doors over there, which began to slide open when approached. Naturally the Kirlia followed.

The avalis follow them to the control room, looking around at the smooth, rounded corridors. It seems to remind them of something, but they can't put their talontips on it.

This is indeed a small ship because from the looks of it this is the only large room in it, right in the middle. There are signs of damage on the walls, with lights flickering, some wires seem to be dangling from the ceiling and some broken screens. Though in the center of the room there is also something that might be just a little bit alarming...but on the other hand the computer system of this vessel is also here so everything is kind of just in the same room.

There are also other aliens here just like this one that is guiding them, thought there is a also a similar looking one with a sort of different body shape and color, could these be related? All in all this crew consists of 5 individuals, three of these bronze-colored ones and two of these smaller light blue ones.

And there are also small meteors tucked in a corner there, for some reason...?

"Alright, so we're here." Nuko says. "So, let's see that image, first of all."

The one that brought them here motions it's hands to that main computer there, and it starts displaying things, maybe it's being operated mentally. When the image was found among all those other things, it was placed on the screen for them to see. Meanwhile all of the extraterrestrial beings begin talking amongst themselves, their 'voice' sounds like strange noises but maybe they have their own spoken language, though maybe they are incapable of speaking the local language despite having extracted that from the mons on the ship above them.
As for what is on the image itself, well...it looks like that they were shot down by someone indeed. The owners of this ship wouldn't know who it is as it is not someone they have met, to the Avali pack the design of this ship is unmistakable...

"Ugh.... This is not good." Rhaun groans.
"This is exactly what we were hoping to avoid." Kasla adds.
"Yup. That's a damn Miniknog ship." Nuko adds in. "Damn dirty apes."
Nezami sees the aliens looking at them, and it doesn't take an anthropologist to see that they're clearly confused. "It's a very long story." She tells them. "Suffice it to say they're... Not nice people."
"Understatement of the century." Kasala qwips.
"I daresay it's quite fortunate that they apparently lost track or interest in you after shooting you down." Nezami continues. "Had they not... well, I shudder to think of the horrors they'd be inflicting upon you right now."

There are some more talks amongst themselves, they sound a bit alarmed at this information.
And once again the Kirlia is used to speak for that one alien. "So that's the gravity of the situation? We were attacked by unknown lifeforms with bad intentions? Hhhmmm...we can trust that you are not like them, correct?"

"If we were like them, we wouldn't be having this discussion." Nuko replies bluntly. "At least one of you would be on the dissection table at this very moment."

"That is a good point..." There is a moment of silence, with them looking at each other before speaking again. "Allow me to properly introduce ourselves then. We are Beheeyem, those two are our Elgyem assistants." The Beheeyem looks to those meteors there in the corner. "As for those subjects...they are the ones we found high up in the second atmospheric layer, we don't know much about them."

"I see." Nezami replies. "are... they even sentient or not?" "To be honest I'm a little unnerved." Rhaun replies. "They remind me of back in the Occasus Crisis when Ruin spawns would hide in meteorites."

"We were surprised to find that these beings are indeed alive and seem to possess though, they have displayed happiness, curiosity and fear...although view it from the outside of it's shell these fact are understandably much less noticeable."

"I see..." Nezami replies. "Unfortunately as I said, we'll have to leave them in the upper atmosphere where you found them. Unless of course you have some means to ask their permission to come with you."

"Very well." Nezami nods. "Alright, so, here's the plan. I'm afraid there's not much we can do in terms of saving the ship. It will need to be scuttled. However, before that you take us back to the boat above along with whatever crew and, er, samples you have with us. Once there, we'll beam up to our own ship, and we'll beam the samples back to base for relocation, and take you back to your world ourselves."

The Beheeyem talk amongst themselves for a moment, seemingly talking about this and agreeing. "We understand, and we agree. As for the local life forms we commandeered on that floating vessel, we shall have them all sleep and they wake up...there will be no recollection of any of this for them."

"Very good." Nezami nods.

The extraterrestrial pokémon talked amongst themselves for a moment, telling each other what vital things such as data of their exploration and that they have to get ready to teleport back up to that water vessel on the surface. All of them.
One of them Beheeyem teleports itself and the Avali back up to the ship. Looks like Hauser has already left, leaving the Avali pack to take it from here. A few minutes later the rest of the Beheeyem and the Elgyem are teleported to the deck of the ship too. The 'samples' were also brought along too of course. Now they start working on removing these masks from the pokémon's faces, adjusting their memories and making them sleep.

"Hmmph. looks like the human ditched us." Rhaun remarks. "Ah well, we don't need him for this."
Kasala gives him an annoyed look, while Nuko and Nezami watch as the aliens go about all of this, waiting on them to finish their last remaining business here before proceeding to the next step.

With all the mons that make up the crew of this ship put to sleep and some memory manipulation, they are safe to be left. With that job done the Beheeyem and Elgyem  reunite to the Avali. They are ready for the next step .

"Alright. Last check to make sure there is nothing left behind. If you forgot something, now's the time to say it, as there will be no return trips." Nezami announces.

"We are prepared. It is regrettable that our vessel must be abandoned, but it is beyond saving now." They hear a sort of voice in their heads, must be telepathy from them? "We also apologize for  speaking like this. It is likely very rude to connect with another's mind without permission but otherwise we would not be able to communicate."

"Very well." Nezami says to him, not minding the voice in their heads given the circumstances. "Everyone, grab onto us and we'll beam aboard the ship."

The five alien pokémon gather up the meteorite-like beings, can't forget them here of course, and place their end of their arms on the Avali, this is as best as they can when it comes to physically grabbing something.

It will do. The bunch of them disappear in a flash of light, appearing on an orbiting alien vessel. A medium sized, esoteric-looking vessel.
"Welcome aboard." Nezami says to them. "It's a bit messy, I know. But make yourselves at home.  Though first..."
"We send those creepy things back." Nuko says non-chalantly as he points to the not-meteorites in their hands.
"Right." Nezami replies flatly. "If you'll be so kind as to set them on  the teleporter that you're currently hovering over, we can send them back to the upper atmosphere where they belong. And then... we'll be on our way. Considering this is a Faster-Than-Light speed capable ship, the whole thing should take less than a few minutes standard time."

While the others place the not-meteorites in teleporter and back away, that one Beheeyem speaks more to them to voice it's surprise. "Faster than Light? Is it really possible to achieve such speed?"

"Well, yes." Kasala replies. "If it was not, we would not be here."
"Though, then again, neither would the Miniknog." Nuko adds in flatly.
Once the little meteors are laid down, Nezami makes a motion, as if typing on an invisible screen. "Aaaaaannnnddd..."
The meteors disappear in a flash of light, one by one, until there are none left. "And that's that." Nezami heads over to the captain's chair, and begins to type in coordinates.
A screen pops up on the console there, showing an array of planets, including the one they are currently orbiting, the ship they are on denoted by a small generic ship icon.
"Let's see here...." Nezami points to the screen. "Is that your homeworld?"

There is clearly some excitement going on back there now. They are looking forward to seeing what an FTL flight is like, and this ship is also bigger than their UFO, all fascinating. "Precisely. That is indeed our homeworld."

"Alright. Hang on, here we go...."
Nezami hits a button.
The ship rises out of its orbit, and turns, as the icon on the screen representing their ship turns as well. Once it's pointed at the world in question, the ship quickly fires its sublight engines, and begins the trip there.
A trip that, as Nezami promised, does not take long at all. Only about 10 minutes.
Once it arrives at the planet, the ship once again turns and fires its engines, entering into an orbit around the world, the planet clearly visible out the ship's window.

It was quite fascinating for them indeed, this trip took minutes while for them it took a lot more time. FTL sure is wonderful, perhaps it would be possible for them to one day have this too...
As for the planet in question it appears to be pretty different from the one they were at just 10 minutes ago. The oceans are purple and the biggest landmass seems to have a city big enough that they can see it from space.

"Hmm interesting place" Kasala comments.
"So are we correct to presume you are from that large city down there?" Nezami asks the Aliens. "Are there any particular coordinates we need to beam you down to? And any final questions?"

"Yes that is indeed our home, we are all very happy to see it again. As for the questions, we have...many, to put it lightly."

"Well, now's the time to ask." Nezami says, extending his hand in a gesture.

"Since you now know of our existence, and most likely so do the 'Miniknog', what is going to happen? Are we simply going to part ways and never see each other again?"

"We'll most likely send someone your way to meet with you. We are... unfortunately not that crew. Besides, this way it will allow you guys to get your people prepared for that meeting instead of having us spring upon your people right out of the air. As for the Miniknog... Well, I don't know what they're going to do. I fear this isn't the last we've seen of them, though."

"I see. We will indeed report everything we know so far to our superiors, they will want to hear about this. And this other crew that will come to contact us, to an extent your whole faction...do you plan on aiding us in traveling the cosmos?"

"Well, yes." Nezami replies cheerfully. "If your people will have us, and stand beside us when necessary..."
"There's a lot to learn about this universe. A lot went on. And a lot is yet to come." Kasala adds.
"Because if you think shooting down craft from species that are less technologically advanced than they are is the extent of the Miniknog's evil, you're sorely mistaken." Nuko warns.
"While we Avali are currently locked in a bit of a cold war with the occasional warm flare-up skirmish every now and then, you can bet your butt there will come a day when the apes go absolutely bananas and try to conquer everything. On that day, we're going to need as many allies as possible to stand against them." Rhaun tells them.

"I see. So it is a good thing we got into contact with you first. This is a big decision that no doubt our superiors will have to think on for a time, but we will report the situation to them so they can know that you are not hostile. I do very much and we end up on a mutually beneficial term." Now as for another question... "How...big is your civilization, if i may ask?"

"I hope so too." Nezami replies.
"It spans several star systems. Although the 'Miniknog's control is far greater. Hence we are continually looking for allies." Kasala answers him.

"That is concerning...the growing state of unrest out there." The Beheeyem laments. "There are no more questions for me to ask. Unless you desire to ask us something before we go now."

"No, there is nothing. We will give you a month of your world's standard time before we attempt to make contact with your leaders. That should give you, and them plenty of time to prepare for the arrival of the Avali." Nezami. "Now, where shall we beam you back down to, in particular?"

"Understood. You can just 'beam us' down around the center of our city, which is very visible from here. I must thank you again for helping us and giving us this opportunity."

"Very well. May we see each other soon. And don't worry, we'll be on the lookout for those miniknog troublemakers."

Now it's time for them to get ready to leave. This short trip on a ship vastly more advanced than theirs was very fascinating for them, some think it's a shame to have to go so soon and hope to see more in the future. They all head to the teleporter so the Avali can beam them back down to their home world.

"Alright. Ready to beam you down. Bon-Voyage. Or whatever goodbye your people use." Nuko tells them. Before any of them can respond, the aliens are, just like before, surrounded with light, and they vanish, without a trace, presumably back to the center of the city as they requested.

"Nezami.." Rhaun turns toward his packmate. "Are you picking up any trace of that Miniknog craft that shot thiers down?"
"I'm afraid not." Nezami says as she looks at the screen. "It would appear as if they're long gone by now."
"Hit-and-run, huh?" Nuko sighs.
"Well, nothing to it but to get back to the rust shack." Kasala groans, not looking forward to returning to Black Isle. "At least we turned the damned storm generator off. Seriously, how did the damn bots keep that thing running over a century?"
"Who knows?" Rhaun grumbles. "Well, Kasala's right. Back to the rust shack."

Back on the previous planet, hours later...
Mattias came to the Sandgun base to talk with its commander once more. He has already taken his seat. "Stic has managed to establish that supply line between Sandstone and Bleached Bastion. Here's hoping this can help the people there. I also made another less savory discovery about the society of this world. And uuhh...how is that case in the ocean going? the UFO one i mean."

"Yes, let's get that UFO business out of the way first. Where to begin, though? The fact that they were in fact alive as the reports said, the fact that the reports were wrong in assuming they've been there for a century or more and had been here for about a few years at best, or that it was the Miniknog that shot them down?" The commander scratches his head.

He raises a brow. "The Miniknog? Those unsavory 'apes' I keep hearing about? They had something to do with that?"

"Yes. The aliens had a picture of the craft that shot them down. It was a dead-ringer for an Apex ship." The commander sighs. "Sadly it appears the ship in question was long gone, we tried searching the system for any other traces but found nothing for the moment. Still, I have a feeling that the gun on this base might be used for its intended purpose soon if something shows up. Although, it's a catch-22 with the Kentaries Accords..."
He takes a breath and explains.
"See, the Accords state that ships cannot engage in space to ground warfare. However, there is only one caveat: They can only do so if they are directly attacked by ground emplacements. Like this one. But then again, the Miniknog have always been known to be rather... selective on their interpretations of the Accords."

"Yeah I figured they would be 'selective' with it." He sighs. "...So? What does that mean? It will get complicated if they add themselves to the equation right now."

"Yes, it will. And quite messy...and very annoying." The commander groans. "But okay, what about that less savory discovery?"

"You probably have not noticed because they are rare, but every pokemon species has an alternative natural color. And in this world...if you have that alternative color you are not treated well at all..." He doesn't sound all too happy about this topic. "Imagine being treated like dirt because of one's color..."

"Something to keep in mind. Though, I do wonder why we haven't encountered this ourselves? We tend to come in many different colors..."
"Well, it's not like we leave this base much." One of the other valis chips in.
"Right..." He deadpans. "And those that do come here, well, I guess they have other reasons for not bringing it up"

"This also confirms to me that some obsession of normality was instilled into  the civilized pokemon. And these pokemon of different color, not being common, are seen negatively. If it wasn't for this whole war shaking everything, we would probably be fighting against the status quo just as hard..."

"Well if it wasn't for this war, we'd still be sticking to Stic's original plan of us helping them maneuver members into the royal courts and then killing them all at once when the order was given." He adds in.

"Well...good point. Getting back on the topic of the UFO, why was it flying around this planet's orbit anyways?"

"We believe they were studying the planet. Much like the ghost bears were trying to do before they got caught up in all of this." He says. "Anyway, we've brought them back to their own world, which, as fate has it, happens to be in this exact system, safe and sound. Their ship was not, however, and a day after the rescue, Black Isle, or 'Rust Isle' as they're jokingly calling it now, sent a demolition team to successfully scuttle what was left of the vessel."

"You really saw no possible way to make an asset of that UFO? I suppose you do have more advanced things than that." He shrugs. "So, this extraterrestrial life forms. Can I know what they were exactly?"

"You mean you weren't told by your subordinates? Huh..." The commander 'pulls' up a holographic image of one of the aliens from his table. "There you go."

"Boris' report on this one was pretty vague..." That aside, he looks at the hologram images of these Aliens. "Ah, the Elgyem line, I should have known."

"Are you familiar with them?" The commander asks.

"Only when it comes to their physiology and abilities, yes." He says. "When it comes to their technology and place of origin, we only have the occasional crashed UFO and strange visages they generate when they get near TVs which is theorized to be their world. Back home everyone is too wary of the stars to want to start a space program like those from the old world."

"And why is that?"

The human holds up two fingers. "Two particular events. First was the Grand Meteor Delta, a giant meteor that was threatening the world, yes, the whole world, you can imagine how big a space rock has to be to be that threatening. But destroying that piece of rock into enough pieces to halt the threat was just part of the problem...because there was sort of mutated alien virus that was seemingly living in it, we don't know if it was exactly controlling that meteor or if it was just inside of hit by chance...but it tried to attack us. It was killed and our question about it's true intentions went unanswered."

"Hmmm... That was the first one. And the second one?"

"The next one was a meteor again, much smaller this time. We thought about letting it fall down to the planet since it was not as big as the Grand Meteor Delta, it looked like a rather 'average' meteor that was going to strike the middle of nowhere, perhaps we could have picked it up..." Of course this is where this story begins turning to the worst. "Turns out there was an...entity inside of that rock. It caused storms and worst of all forced pokémon to join in to add to the problem. Let me tell you...50 foot tall pokémon running around is not something good. The source of all of it was barely contained. We planned on killing it but it was just too powerful, so to this day we are expecting it to cause trouble again, and the next time will surely be the last..." And that's the second 'particular event', told by Mattias. "Naturally everyone thinks that 'fate', 'chance' or whatever metaphorical thing that is to blame for these events is winding up to throw a third one at us."

"You sure you don't have something akin to the Ruin in your world? In which case, hiding on your home planet isn't going to do you much good. Take it from us."

"Our world has been through a lot...I don't know exactly how The Ruin does what it does, but there are quite a few moments where the world's fate is hanged by a thread."

"I ... see." He says slowly.

The human nods. Then he looks over to that other 'off-planet' on the hologram image. "They had Minior with them? Is that what they were researching?"

"Seems like it" The commander nods. He puts his claw to his chin in thought. "So, a second opinion on something marginally related, if you will?"

"On the Minior? They are Pokémon formed from an aggregation of mutated nanoparticles on the stratosphere, where they absorb particulate matter from which they build their core and shell. This matter is that they 'eat' have different colors, and depending on which color it was most consumed it will dictate the color of their core. Their life ends in two ways, either they are eaten by a powerful monster of legend that patrols the ozone layer, or they fall down like shooting stars from getting too heavy...if the impact doesn't destroy them outright they lose their outer shell and dissipate after some time with nothing to hold them together."

"Well that's interesting... and rather sad. But no." The commander sighs. "What I was talking about was Stic... and Black Isle. Do you think it's time we told him the truth about that place and what went on there?"

"Ah." Well at least he got that explanation out of the way already. "Let me tell you. If you were to tell that information to anyone...they would call you crazy. But Stic would have believed you. His opinion on humans would surely drop, perhaps he would start trusting me less...but he is a logical person and that is leaps and bounds better than most than the average 'mon." He shrugs. "Though you should probably know it will give him some stress too."

"Sooo is that a yes or a no?"

"You know it is a bit of a hard choice for me too, but you know what?" He nods. "Do it. It will change how we see some things, but change is needed. So put that secret into the light."

"Alright. After you're gone I'll invite him over for a talk... and a tour of the place. Though, from the trip I took over there, I feel I might need to give him a tetanus shot just from looking at it."

"...What?" He doesn't understand where that whole second sentence the commander just spoke came from.

"Nevermind." He says. "Just a little joke. Anyway, yeah, That's it for now, I believe."

"Yeah..." He nods. "One last question though. We know the Miniknog are out there now, maybe they will come again. What measures are you going to be taking with this information?"

"So far we're not detecting anything in the system, though that doesn't discount the use of cloaking or jammers, so at the moment we are simply on low level alert. One measure we have is right outside. Though we will have another ship or so in the sector in a few weeks. That's what we can do for the moment without going completely overboard."

"Alright then that will be all. I should really get going."

"Okay. I'd say I'm looking forward to giving Stic the tour, but I'd probably not be the one actually giving the tour, and even if I was, I wouldn't be looking forward to it."

The human gets up from his seat and leaves the tent to go back to his little secret base now. He has to go back to studying the culture and customs of this world dominated by such a simple thing as iron.

Once he's gone, the commander sighs.
 And brings up a comms with Khaako. "Yes commander, what is it?" She asks...
This... is going to be a rather tedious argument on his part.
Sometime later, several miles away in Stic's manor
The drone rings, alerting any in the room that there's a message coming in.
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