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Told in present tense. 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The rest of Part 12 can be found here.

Also, obligatory link to the comic itself to which this is a fanfiction of.", "writing": "Act 77: Ghost Bear's Return\n\nLightyears away however, in an unknown system, an all too familiar group's current activities could be described as anything other than 'boring'. A fact made evident as a missile very nearly dodges a fully armored avali's head.\n\"Shia, Spark!\" He shouts. \"Concentrate your fire on that third projector!\" \nAn electrified scream rages from above, its owner being a humongous hologram of a head belonging to a very Big Ape. Its eyes begin to glow.\n\"Nine, Khaun, watch out! Daggers!\"\n\"I see it.\" The protogen, wearing its own armor, shouts back in its own distorted voice. \"Dodging.\" \nThe protogen grabs the other armored Avali, a certain Khaun, before a flurry of holographic energy daggers, easily the size of their own bodies, rains down hard from above. \n\nShia has grown quite some throughout their adventures, in more than just skill, following Joshua's advice and waiting until evolving into a Luxray made him end up taller than everyone except the Protogen known as Nine, who is still quite tall compared to Shia. He really had risen above the submissive person he almost had become long ago. He jumped over one of the incoming, his fierce gaze focused on the target that he was told to attack. \"I got it!\" He has his weapons of choice in each hand, in one he has an aerogel sword and the other he has a rail pistol. He deftly leaps to the side to avoid the energy daggers before starting to shoot at the hologram projector, the enemy's weak point.\nAlso avoiding the rain of projectiles is Veera and Spark, the latter now a Raichu. They have grown far move brave with their time as part of ghost bear pack, traits they had to pick up as they needed to be capable to hold their own in a fight, perhaps in the past they would be scared of the idea of being in this situation but right now they are keeping a cool head and being able to keep up with the others.\nSpark raised his rail rifle to aim it before starting to shoot at the same target Shia is firing at, even finding the time to talk with Veera in the middle of this. \"Man, Shia is as aggressive as ever huh? Bet he wouldn't hesitate to take a swing at that thing if it were closer to the ground.\" He commented to his Jolteon packmate.\nVeera holds her rail pistol with both of her paws as she shoots at the enemy too. \"Heh, yeah. We have been through this one so much that he probably knows what he is doing.\" She responded to Spark. \"Careful though, I think Big Ape's gonna try the laser fists next!\" \n\nIndeed, just as Veera says that, the row of emitters on the walls and ceiling glow, and a barrage of holographic fists fly out of them, in almost every direction.\nIt's only through fast footwork and mid-air dash techs that Eilumi and his packmates are able to dodge them, a few of them coming close enough to feel the burning heat as they pass by.\n\"Shit, that was close!\" Eilumi yells as he re-aims his Blizzard gauss assault rifle. \"Concentrate fire!\"\nKhaun aims his gun at one of the holograms projectors floating around the big-ape holographic head, and Nine likewise aims the big hailstorm gauss minigun and both open fire. In a mere second, the combined rips through the armored casing of the projector and subsequent shots rip through the device itself, shredding it to pieces as it falls to the ground with a clunk.\n\"Alright good, three to go!\" Eliumi shouts as the Hologram begins to flicker and distort slightly in response to having lost one of its projectors.\nTheir moment of celebration is cut short as the ape's eyes once again light up. \n\"Shit he's going for another daggers- no wait... Everyone! GO TO SPHERES! NOW!!\"\n\nThe three pokémon dodged the flying laser punches and laid out more weapons fire with the others until that hologram transmitter was dealt with.\nThe Luxray rolled to the side as he uses his sphere tech to turn into a compact and spherical form to evade the incoming onslaught of lasers better.\n\"Ooooh boy...I hate it when this parts comes up!\" Spark said before also making use of his own sphere form tech. Veera did the same too.\n\nAs did Khaun, Nine, and Eilumi, the added mobility and lowered profile allows them to dodge and evade the laser hell that the now glitching holographic monkey face had just unleashed upon them. Seeing that it had hit nothing, or perhaps as simply as part of a piece of period programming, the face let out a long howl of rage.\nWhen that happened, The group popped up from their spheres to once again restart the assault on the holo projectors, their weapons once again taking aim and concentrating fire on one of them, causing another to drop to the ground, narrowly missing Veera in the process.\nThe large face shrieked with a distorted rage as its colored yet glitchy face morphed. First into a tri-colored error screen, not unlike that of an old earth television, and then into a pure blue, polyogonic representation of what was once a roaring dictator.\n\nSpark had almost lost his cool when they had to evade all of that, he was rolling around almost frantically in ball form. He was glad when that was over and he could deactivate his tech to start focusing fire at the targeted projector with his packmates.\n\"Yikes!\" The Jolteon let out in surprise as she stumbled back from the destroyed object that almost crashed on her. \"I'm fine!\" She said to the others.\nShia too is firing shot after shot from his pistol at the enemy. \"This bastard's tough...!\" He growled, slightly frustrated. \"Should I try hitting it with all I got?!\" The maneuver he is suggesting is Wild Charge, a powerful electric move...however usage of this move never failed to injure the Luxray every time he used it due to it's recoil.\n\n\"Don't over exert yourself.\" Eilumi instructs. \"Hitting one projector with everything won't do you any good if you can't dodge the next attack.\"\nSpeaking of, with the concentrated fire, the next one goes down in a cinch. Now it is down to one projector, and Big Ape's yelling has become extremely distorted to the point of sounding more like dying electronics than any animal. The tyrant's face is likewise distorted, fuzzed, even more polygonical than before, and faded.\n\"Okay, now it's down to one, NOW hit it with everything you have before he charges up another attack!\" Eilumi yells.\n\nShia lowers his arm and leaned his body forward as he started running, sparks of electricity flying with each step he takes, and he only gets faster. Right at the peak of his speed he already looked like a big bolt of lightning before launching himself at the one remaining projector resulting in a strong electric explosion that recoils on him and knocks him down harshly to the ground. \"Oof...!\"\nOne of his other packmates, Veera, approached to check on him to make sure he is okay. \"You are right?\"\nThe Luxray sat up with a groan. \"Doing that never fails to leave me without a bruise...but I'm fine, Veera.\" He says to her.\n\nThe attack damages the floating projector, smoke billows out of it, and its movement is staggered. However, it's not quite done yet. It charges up one last attack, the fists by the looks of it.\n\"No you don't.\" Nine growls as he unleashes the ammo remaining in his minigun upon it. The bullets fly through the flying wreck of the hologram, a few of them hitting in just the right spot to damage its thruster beyond use, the once flying projector falling to the ground and joining the scrap metal that were its 'brothers'. The ape hologram gives one last distorted yell, its face, and the banners behind it, all changing to a blue screen of death for but a moment, before it vanishes.\nThe room falls silent, with everyone panting. \n\"We made it.\" Eilumi pants. \"Great job everyone.\"\n\"Whew... that was exhausting.\" Loona pants.\n\"Anyway, I think we can end it here.\" Nine replies non-emotionally. \n\"Yeah the rest of this is just Lana talking.\" Khaun nods.\n\"Very well. Terminating Sim.\" \nAnd with that, the room fades away, revealing only the black covered walls of the ship's simulation room. \n\"Heh...\" Eilumi says as catches his breath. \"Maybe next time we can load up the 'White Wolf of the Worlds' one.\"\n\"Oh by the Nexus no!\" Khaun protests. \"I do NOT want to have to fight that bitch again!\"\n\"What?\" He grumbles. \"With a full pack now it should be a lot easier.\"\nSeeing the disapproving looks of the other two original packmates, and the confused looks of the newer ones, he shrugs. \n\"Okay... Ruin Buster then?\"\n\"Well first...\" Loona huffs from her space. \"I think we should get some lunch.\"\n\n\"Alright, that's that then, that's that.\" The Luxray got up and looked over to the others talking. \"White Wolf of the what?\" He whispered to Spark.\nThe Raichu shrugged, for he does not know what they are talking about either. \"Never heard of whoever that was. Wonder why she must be such trouble though...\"\n\"Some lunch would do us good. \" The Jolteon said to her friends. \"After all that running, jumping and shooting it would be hard not to want to sit down and grab a bite.\"\nShia smiles. \"Alright. I'm gonna make myself a sandwich then.\"\n\n\"It's a... Long story.\" Nine says in response to the Raichu's question.\n\"Very long.\" Khaun adds on. \"And very weird. Even by space standards.\"\n\"Right.\" Eilumi says again. \"I'll come join you in a moment. I have to check and see if we have any new messages up on the bridge.\"\nLoona nods. As she sits by the table and munches her lunch, she mentally notes just how far they've come in such a short time. At first she was a little nervous when Spark took that first step to becoming a Raichu, but it faded rather quickly. He may be a Raichu now, but deep down he's still the same spark she's always known, and shared a bed with on and off since that first day.\nSpeaking of sharing a bed, her own Shia has become a big strong Luxray. He hadn't stayed a Luxio for very long, thanks to the training and experiences they'd gone through. Some good, some bad...\n\n...Yet ultimately these experiences shaped them into better individuals. Veera and Spark were very averse to fighting, they never imagined themselves being capable of standing up for themselves, but now they are capable of picking up a weapon and shooting. Meanwhile Shia used to have a fighting spirit that was almost squashed by his time with Rai, but his time as part of the pack and all the training and fighting made it come back stronger than ever.\n\nThe Raichu and the Jolteon are currently enjoying some noodles together, then comes Shia sitting next to the latter with his own food in his hands, slices of Beakseed between two long bread buns.\nAnd as for Khaun and Nine, although their original pack was long gone by now, it was refreshing to have a sense of pack cohesion back. A sense of positivity that had been missing for too long, and to think, it had all come from one tiny little backwater world on a science mission...\nIt is at that point that Eliumi comes into the room. \n\"Hey 'lumi, nice of you to join us.\" Khaun says as he munches on a Puri taco, barely noticing him.\nLoona however does. \n\"Hey, something up?\"\n\"Yeah.\" Eilumi looks up. \"As a matter of fact, there is.\" He looks to the new people in the pack. \"How are your feelings on going back to your world for an assignment?\"\n\nAll three of them, Veera, Spark and Shia stopped their meals when Eilumi mentioned where their new assignment is.\n\"Did I hear that right?\" Spark asked, thinking he heard something wrong there just now. Did the Avali just say that their next stop is their old world?\n\"I-I mean I...\" Veera was without knowing what to say for a moment. She didn't expect they would be visiting their world again so soon.\nShia shares the same feelings as his Jolteon packmate. Though part of him...wishes they weren't going back there at all, he has managed to get over those bad memories but that doesn't mean he likes to be reminded of them, especially in such a way that will see him going back to that planet. But if it is an assignment, then he has to go... \"Did they leave us some details about why our assignment is there?\"\n\n\"Apparently something Miniknog related\". Eilumi replies. \n\"How very ironic.\" Loona says to herself.\n\n\"Miniknog huh?\" Shia isn't all that surprised, lately it feels like most of the pack's missions concern the Miniknog one way or another. \"Alright, I guess we're going then. Are we already on route to it?\"\nVeera thinks that on the positive side, at least that she would be able to visit Ara again, she does wonder how the Abra would be doing and if things have changed for the better back in her homeworld. \"What do you think, Spark?\" She asked the Raichu.\n\"I suppose I don't really have much of a problem with going back, it's certainly going to feel a bit strange though...\" Spark says to her.\n\n\"Well, that's good, because we really don't have much of a choice.\" Eilumi says. \"It's kind of an order.\"\n\n\"Figured as much.\" Shia took a bite from his sandwich. \"Well it doesn't matter if they are causing trouble in places I don't know or even in places I know. If we got an ape butt to kick, we go there and kick it.\"\n\n\"You know...\" Eilumi says to him, in a concerned tone, \"I was actually a bit worried that you'd have the biggest objection after all that happened there, Shia.\"\n\nHe looks at the Avali for a moment and sighs. \"....I wish we weren't going there, really.\" He admits to Eilumi. He probably doesn't need to go on details about it, certainly as his packmates they should all understand as much better than anyone else the painful life he left behind when he joined the Ghost Bear Pack. \nSensing that her packmate is getting a bit discouraged, Veera puts a hand on his shoulder. \"Yeah, I can imagine why...\"\nThe Luxray looks at her for a moment and nods. \"I really do want to say 'no' but...i don't think that's going to change the fact we gotta go there, is it?\" He sounds like he just wants to bite the bullet since there is no way around it, maybe if he tries to not think about the things that happened when he was there he will be able to be okay.\n\n\"It'll be alright.\" Loona pats him on the back. \"He's dead and gone. I saw to that myself.\" She reassures him, clearly referring to Rai and his passing by her hands by what now seems so long ago.\n\"I heard they fixed up the place since we last left.\" Eilumi chimes in. \"Though I don't know if we'll be going to the sands anyway. They might be sending us somewhere else on the planet entirely.\"\nKhaun looks over to Veera.\n\"Don't worry. We'll definitely sneak in a visit to sandstone while we're there though.\"\n\nShia looked to Loona and nodded. She did reassure him, he had uncertainty in his eyes up until now from the memories. But he will be strong, he doesn't want to be a burden to his pack or anything like that, he has grown to really like them and he doesn't wanna fail them.\nVeera smiled. She wouldn't want to waste the opportunity to visit an old friend again. \"That would be great, Thanks Khaun.\"\n\"Sooooo what kind of things are the apes doing this time anyways?\" Spark asked as he looked at everyone. \"The usual?\"\n\n\"The notice didn't say much.\" Eilumi shrugs in response to Spark's question. \"I guess we'll be briefed upon arrival.\"\n\n\"Hey, Eilumi.\" Shia says to get the Avali's attention. \"You remember that simulation of that mining base on that moon? The one with that crystal that infected the workers?\"\n\n\"Ah yes. The Erchius one.\" Eilumi replies. \"The one with the pink blobs of flesh monsters.\"\n\n\"What was up with it anyways? Does every moon have something like that?\"\nVeera pipes up with a question of her own. \"Can the people that get infected be saved?\"\n\n\"Not every moon.\" Nine answers Shia's question. \"Only the ones with Erchius on them. And not all of them.\"\n\"Sometimes they have something else on them.\" Eilumi replies. \"Sometimes instead of the crystal, they have some sort of... 'ghost' that hones in on anyone carrying Erchius in any sort of form, and drains them of life. I'm honestly not sure which is worse to be honest, the ghost or the crystal. The ghost doesn't infect people, it just kills them. But the crystal can be dealt with and killed, the ghost... Well, most weapons are completely ineffective, and even if you do manage to 'kill' the 'ghost', it's not permanent, it just reforms elsewhere and starts the whole chase over again.\"\n\"And the more Erchius you have on you, the more desperate it gets in chasing you.\" Khaun adds in. \"If you have one single rock on you, it'll move so slowly that even the slowest of creatures can easily outrun it. If you have whole tons of the stuff in your matter manipulator storage, it'll come at you like a hovertrain.\"\nHe then looks to Veera then.\n\"To answer your question: No, not really. Once they're like that, there's really no going back.\"\n\"Unless you count a gauss shot to the head as 'saved'.\"\n\"And that mission actually wasn't the worst I've seen Erchius infections produce.\" He looks to Khaun. \"Remember the one with the huge hulking Erchius warrior? The one with the huge cleaver?\"\n\"Yeah. Even Renali had trouble with that thing.\" Khaun says. \"She had to keep it distracted while we gunned it down from the sides.\"\n\"I... Do not recall this.\" Nine interjects.\n\"That's because this happened before you came into the picture.\" Eilumi replies back.\n\"That mine had an even worse version of the crystal too. No mining laser, so we had to take it down the hard way.\" Khuan recalls. \"At least we had help though...\"\n\"All the good it did.\" Eilumi replies. \"Most of the colonists that tried to fight it got themselves killed. Not pretty.\"\n\n\"So those things can get even bigger than what we saw in the simulation?\" Spark doesn't like this, those infected he already got to see were already scary enough as it is. He easily began disliking Erchius because of what it does to people, it's not pretty to see.\n\"Ghosts? Like Pokémon?\" Veera asked, remembering that back on her planet there are life-forms that are considered 'ghosts', even though she herself never laid eyes on a lot of them but she knows they exist.\n\n\"Eh... somewhat\" Khaun answers her. \"Then again we didn't see any ghost pokemon so we don't have any frame of reference.\"\n\n\"Sooo there is this thing I have been uuuh thinking.\" Spark began speaking up again. \"I mean, i don't want to sound paranoid but the little robots in us ain't going to hurt us, right?\"\n\"Why would they do that?\" Veera asked, a little confused about why he would be thinking about something like this.\n\"I mean it's nothing but I read about a few cases of people's augmentations being hacked to malfunction or turn against them.\" He sheepishly said. \"It's uuuh...doesn't sound like it's a good thing to go through.\"\n\n\"That used to be a problem, way back in the day.\" Eilumi waves his hand dismissively. \"But nowadays, not so much.\"\n\n\"Well...that is good to hear.\" Spark goes back to eating his meal.\n\"You know, sometimes I wonder how some life forms out in the wild were made the way they are. Like those Poptop, they don't look all that imposing but those mouths of theirs...\" The Jolteon commented, shuddering a bit. First time she saw one she thought it was harmless but that wasn't the case...she didn't get injured by it but it was a lesson in learning to be more careful around things even if they look cute.\n\n\"Speaking of poptops, is it just me or do they look uncannily ... familiar?\" Loona suddenly adds in. \"Whenever I see one I get the strange feeling like I've seen them somewhere before, but I can't put my paw on it...\"\n\nShia raised a brow a little. \"Really? I guess I kind of feel the same about those Fennix things for some reason. When I saw one breathing fire it gave me a bit of deja vu.\"\n\n\"Yeah, it's rather creepy if I'm to be honest.\" Loona says.\n\nMeal time continues until everyone is finished, sometime after they arrive at their destination, with their ship coming out of its FTL jump. \nOn the bridge Shia is watching as the planet on which was born is getting closer. He remembers when it was the opposite, when he left with his new Avali pack the planet was getting further and further away, he remembers that very well, in a way it's like watching that memory play in reverse.\n\"Soo...this is it. I guess we are going to beam down soon.\" Spark said to his other packmates, but to Loona in particular. \"You feeling alright about going back down there?\" He has the feeling that his Luxray packmate would rather not come back to this world in particular, but what about Loona? How does she feel about it herself?\n\nThe ship comes to a halt over the planet. Below them is the homeworld of half the crew on board, though they are in orbit over a different spot than they remembered, over a large body of deep blue rather than the large patch of sand with blotches of green they remembered seeing when they left. That landmass is barely visible to the side from their current position.\n\"I... Guess?\" Loona replies. \"To be honest, I'm not too thrilled with returning. Unlike Veera I was never particularly close to anyone down there. Or... at least...\" She looks over to Shia and Veera. \"No one that isn't up here right now.\"\nThe group begin making their way to the teleporter room shortly after the orbit stabilizes.\n\"Well, it's not like we'll be going right back to Sandstone anyway.\" Eilumi informs them both. \"We've been instructed to report to somewhere called 'Black Isle.' Out in the 'Oracle Sea'. I take it no one here has been there?\"\nLoona shakes her head and shrugs.\n\nVeera and Spark shake their heads too. \"Shia's been with me and Loona the whole time we lived in the sands so he hasn't been there either.\" The former said.\nNext the Ghost Bears beamed down to the Black Isle, finding themselves in a landing pad. At first some like Shia, Veera and Spark were a bit surprised that the Avali seemingly set up such a large base so quickly, but from looking at the design of the place they could tell that this was definitely not built by Avali.\n\"This is the Black Isle?\" The Luxray was kind of expecting an island, and this is indeed an island not but the sort of he was expecting.\nSpark as a question of his own. \"Wait...this whole place was here before? It doesn't look Avali-made.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Khaun replies. \"This is definitely not of avali make. Or even recently. It almost looks-\"\n\"... Human?\"\nA voice gets their attention, standing there is another avali.\n\"Ghost bear, am I not correct?\" She asks.\n\"Yes, that's us.\" Eilumi replies. \"This is Black Isle right? Are we in the right place?\"\nThe avali chuckles a bit.\n\"Oh don't worry, yes this is the right place. You didn't beam somewhere by mistake. This is Black Isle.\"\nShe opens the door.\n\"Come. We'll give you your briefing in the main room. Though watch yourself, we still haven't gotten all the rust off this rust bucket yet.\"\n\n\"Ah, so there were humans here?\" Shia eyes the Black Isle base some more, hearing that it's made by humans reminded him of that one human they met a long time ago.\nInside the Black Isle they get to see that most of it seems to be getting restored, but there really is still quite some rust to scrub off this rust bucket.\nIn the main room, things are already being prepared to give them their briefing with the help of an holographic screen that is showing a map of the Oracle Sea. There are two Avali standing by each side of the hologram being displayed, they are both females but the difference is that one has yellow and blue feathers while the other one has red and green feathers.\n\"Hello, my name's Ralaka.\" The yellow one on the left spoke first.\nAnd then the other one on the right followed up. \"And I am Ranala. We are going to give you, the Ghost Bears, a briefing on what your mission will be.\"\n\nEilumi nods to his crewmates, who silently agree to let him do the talking.\n\"I guess we'll have to ask about the base later.\" Khaun whispers to Veera while Eilumi puts his hands behind himself and the rest listen in quietly.\n\nVeera nodded to Khaun. Spark and Shia got quiet to listen too.\nRalaka began by pointing to the holographic map showing the Oracle sea; there is a white island in the center with multiple brown ones surrounding it. \"The Oracle see is a strange place in that it seems to work like those 'mystery dungeons' but on a much grander scale. Instead of this strange phenomena being confined to a location, this seems to affect the entire archipelago in this region, with the exception of the island on the very center called 'Anchor', which is where civilization is based with the city of 'Amber'. The islands move around Anchor, sometimes breaking into smaller islands or happening to come together to form large masses of land for a time. Since the time of the Iron King the Oracle Sea was the middle point between all three regions, all ships pass by it on their way to their destination. After the fall of the Iron King, Anchor continues to be important as the main landmark for naval travel and trading, and if they were able to somehow tame the surrounding islands this could certainly have developed into a power akin to the other three regions.\" \n\n\nRanala goes next. \"This isn't the only mission to be done by you on this planet, but it's the first. We know that Amber made contact with the New Sands Republic so they could start trading with the region of the Sands again after the NSR overthrew the nobility of the Sands. As it stands, the Oracle Sea is important to all three regions, so our next step is to make sure we have it cooperating with our cause, much like how we did it in the Sands. Your mission is to go to the City of Amber, figure out how things are, find out if the ones governing it can be reasoned with or assess if we should take the same approach we did in the Sands.\"\n\n\"I see... so our first mission is a scout mission.\" Eilumi replies as he rubs his chin.\n\"Let's hope this one goes better than the last time we were on this planet.\" Khaun comments in response to Eilumi's question.\n\"Also...\" Eilumi turns his attention back to the two holograms. \"Since now is as good a time to ask as ever, what exactly is up with this place? It seems too rusty and too ... human to have been built recently. I take it this place doesn't move either, much like this 'Anchor' place?\"\n\n\"It is a bit of a long story. But this place is 'rusty' and too 'human' because that's exactly what it is, a human base that was here very long before we arrived, it used to belong to the USCM in fact.\" Ranala explains to him one part.\nAnd Relaka continues soon after the other Avali is done speaking, now getting into the more grisly details. \"At first the humans here were doing...'research' on the locals, as it involved capturing specimens for autopsies and the like, and then they developed an apparatus that allowed them to forcefully transfer their minds into that of another being, this was used on pokémon. And from there the situation deteriorated with the destruction of Earth, with no high command to report to the chain of command was fragmented. One individual in particular decided that he would rather be a pokémon rather than a human...permanently, and then use his superior knowledge to go and become what we are sure is the Iron King. But things didn't quite went according to his plan, he wanted to use the technology of this base to simply overpower the primitive pokemon population in one fell swoop... but someone else that was here was against that idea and turned configured the defense systems to target anyone that go close to the base, hence why the Iron King's rise saw mostly the usage of basic melee weapons made of metal that were primitive yet quite effective and devastating when it was introduced.\"\n\"Humans...?\" Shia asked. \"You mean like the ones that were here the day the Ghost Bear Pack found this planet?\"\nRelaka shakes her head. \"No, those are completely different. The ones currently helping us have zero relation to the humans that inhabited this base.\"\nMeanwhile Veera is shocked about knowing the true origin of the Iron King. \"S-so it...all started here?\"\nThe other Avali, Renala nodded. \"The reason why everything on this planet turned out as bad as it did, you mean? If that's what you are asking, then yes, this is where it all started. Very different from what the so-called 'legends' tell.\"\n\n\"I always had the feeling the so-called 'legends' regarding the Iron King were full of shit.\" Loona confesses. \"But I had no idea that they were this full of shit.\"\n\"That's the USCM for you.\" Eilumi sighs. \"One hair short of the Miniknog.\"\n\"Speaking of, I believe the briefing mentioned a Miniknog problem?\" Nine adds in, curious that the mission brought it up but this first mission heard nothing of it.\n\n\"They stole the bodies of pokémon?\" Spark sounds disturbed and disgusted about that fact. \"T-that's awful...\"\n\"We do have a very probable Miniknog problem on our hands, yes.\" Renala nods to Nine.\nRelaka adds up the rest of the explanation to the question. \"We got reasons to suspect that is the case, chief among these reasons is the ship that got attacked in the planet's orbit by a Miniknog ship, the criminals in the sands region acquiring a large amount dated firearms to bolster their forces and the Novakid mercenary who sabotaged the Sand Gun base.\"\n\"Wait, a ship was attacked over the Planet's orbit? Whose ship was it?\" Veera asks.\n\"It turns out that there is another planet with intelligent life in this star system, both this and their planet orbit around the same sun, albeit on opposite sides. Space travel is relatively new to them and their intention was to study this planet before they were attacked and forced to crash into the ocean. We have establish contact with their world for some time after helping the ship's crew get back to their world.\"\n\n\"I see... Not sure how we missed that other planet on the first sweep through here.\" Eilumi comments. \n\"We'll keep our ears up for any miniknog activity around the area.\" Nine gives a small nod.\n\"Do you think they know of this place?\" Loona asks.\n\"Doubtful.\" Khaun replies. \"Else they might have tried to take it for themselves.\"\n\n\"So we just have to deal with just the Miniknog?\" Spark asks the two Avali. \"And how can we get to Anchor?\"\n\"Perhaps it's the Miniknog, but our human allies have been warning us about something else, they haven't told us what it is exactly, only that the pirates in the region are acting 'slightly unusual'.\" Renala said to them. \"We did try to ask for more information but they said they don't have enough intel to confirm exactly what they are warning us about...\"\nRelaka continues. \"Yes, it's a bit of a problem that has us questioning what they are even warning us of. As for how you can get to Anchor, beaming down from your ship unto its shore is a valid option. Should you need any further support when in Anchor, we do know of a human called 'Boris' who has submersible watercraft, knowledge about infiltration and the sea. In fact it's thanks to him that we found the Black Isle in the first place, he also the one who found that crashed Beyeehem ship and told us about it.\"\n\n\"So the direct method then? Sounds easy enough.\" Eilumi nods.\n\n\"Indeed. Are there any questions?\" The two Avali females ask the Ghost Bear Pack.\n\"I do.\" Veera spoke up. \"One of you said something about bandits in the sand acquiring firearms...how are things there?\"\n\"Hhmmmm...with the recent happenings in the Sand Gun base, we can't say for sure what might happen next.\" Renala answered.\n\n\"Sand Gun?\" Loona takes the opportunity to ask.\n\n\"Sandgun base. It's the base located within the 'Mystery Dungeon' not far from the town of Sandstone.\" Renala responded to her.\n\"The Mystery Dungeon?\" Shia remembers that place, that's where...many things happened, things that lead him ending up where he is now on that fateful day. \"They built a base in there...?\" The Luxray didn't know this was even possible.\n\"But...how? Does the dungeon allow them to do so?\" Veera added a question of her own. Her knowledge of the dungeon is on par with everyone else but she does believe it to have some sort of will of its own.\n\"Yes that is correct, the Avali have managed to get stable ground within the shifting walls of the dungeon by building force fields that stop movement of the walls. So far it doesn't seem to have caused any issues at all as the base was able to operate without much difficulties related to the nature of the these anomalous 'dungeons' and their strange phenomena.\" Relaka explains.\n\n\"I see....\" Eilumi responds. \"Very interesting. Guess we'll have to take a visit when we get an off break.\"\nLoona nods at that. Despite having no real connection to that dungeon\n\nVeera and Shia are curious about Sandgun base, if only because living in the dungeon in such a way is unheard of as it's usually impossible to have something bigger than a small house in such an ever-changing place.\n\"Hhhmmm, don't think I have anything to ask. It's cool that they could put a base in one of those dungeons I suppose. I guess it can't be faulted if it works.\" Sparks commented.\n\nEilumi simply nods along. He isn't going to pretend like he understands why a base in a dungeon is such a big deal, but if they say so... \n\"I don't think we have any other questions.\" He looks to his pack. Loona, Khaun, and Nine all shake their heads. He looks over to Veera, Shia, and Sparks.\n\n\"No more questions from me.\" Shia said to his Avali packmate.\n\"None here either.\" Veera spoke after Shia did.\n\"Same here.\" Spark has no questions either.\nRenala nods. \"Alright then. Ghost Bear Pack, you are dismissed.\" The female Avali then began walking to leave the room. Relaka gives them a small bow before excusing herself to follow after Renala, the both of them approaching the room's doors which slide to the sides to allow passage for the two of them to go through.\n\n\"Pos that, then. We'll teleport onto the beach and make our way to this 'anchor' place. Once there we'll radio in for further instructions.\" Eilumi, Khaun, and Nine give a small salute. Seeing their pack members do it, Loona soon follows suit, as do the others, Eilumi then turns on his heel and leaves the briefing room, the others following close behind on their way to the teleporter.\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Act 77: Ghost Bear's Return

Lightyears away however, in an unknown system, an all too familiar group's current activities could be described as anything other than 'boring'. A fact made evident as a missile very nearly dodges a fully armored avali's head.
"Shia, Spark!" He shouts. "Concentrate your fire on that third projector!"
An electrified scream rages from above, its owner being a humongous hologram of a head belonging to a very Big Ape. Its eyes begin to glow.
"Nine, Khaun, watch out! Daggers!"
"I see it." The protogen, wearing its own armor, shouts back in its own distorted voice. "Dodging."
The protogen grabs the other armored Avali, a certain Khaun, before a flurry of holographic energy daggers, easily the size of their own bodies, rains down hard from above.

Shia has grown quite some throughout their adventures, in more than just skill, following Joshua's advice and waiting until evolving into a Luxray made him end up taller than everyone except the Protogen known as Nine, who is still quite tall compared to Shia. He really had risen above the submissive person he almost had become long ago. He jumped over one of the incoming, his fierce gaze focused on the target that he was told to attack. "I got it!" He has his weapons of choice in each hand, in one he has an aerogel sword and the other he has a rail pistol. He deftly leaps to the side to avoid the energy daggers before starting to shoot at the hologram projector, the enemy's weak point.
Also avoiding the rain of projectiles is Veera and Spark, the latter now a Raichu. They have grown far move brave with their time as part of ghost bear pack, traits they had to pick up as they needed to be capable to hold their own in a fight, perhaps in the past they would be scared of the idea of being in this situation but right now they are keeping a cool head and being able to keep up with the others.
Spark raised his rail rifle to aim it before starting to shoot at the same target Shia is firing at, even finding the time to talk with Veera in the middle of this. "Man, Shia is as aggressive as ever huh? Bet he wouldn't hesitate to take a swing at that thing if it were closer to the ground." He commented to his Jolteon packmate.
Veera holds her rail pistol with both of her paws as she shoots at the enemy too. "Heh, yeah. We have been through this one so much that he probably knows what he is doing." She responded to Spark. "Careful though, I think Big Ape's gonna try the laser fists next!"

Indeed, just as Veera says that, the row of emitters on the walls and ceiling glow, and a barrage of holographic fists fly out of them, in almost every direction.
It's only through fast footwork and mid-air dash techs that Eilumi and his packmates are able to dodge them, a few of them coming close enough to feel the burning heat as they pass by.
"Shit, that was close!" Eilumi yells as he re-aims his Blizzard gauss assault rifle. "Concentrate fire!"
Khaun aims his gun at one of the holograms projectors floating around the big-ape holographic head, and Nine likewise aims the big hailstorm gauss minigun and both open fire. In a mere second, the combined rips through the armored casing of the projector and subsequent shots rip through the device itself, shredding it to pieces as it falls to the ground with a clunk.
"Alright good, three to go!" Eliumi shouts as the Hologram begins to flicker and distort slightly in response to having lost one of its projectors.
Their moment of celebration is cut short as the ape's eyes once again light up.
"Shit he's going for another daggers- no wait... Everyone! GO TO SPHERES! NOW!!"

The three pokémon dodged the flying laser punches and laid out more weapons fire with the others until that hologram transmitter was dealt with.
The Luxray rolled to the side as he uses his sphere tech to turn into a compact and spherical form to evade the incoming onslaught of lasers better.
"Ooooh boy...I hate it when this parts comes up!" Spark said before also making use of his own sphere form tech. Veera did the same too.

As did Khaun, Nine, and Eilumi, the added mobility and lowered profile allows them to dodge and evade the laser hell that the now glitching holographic monkey face had just unleashed upon them. Seeing that it had hit nothing, or perhaps as simply as part of a piece of period programming, the face let out a long howl of rage.
When that happened, The group popped up from their spheres to once again restart the assault on the holo projectors, their weapons once again taking aim and concentrating fire on one of them, causing another to drop to the ground, narrowly missing Veera in the process.
The large face shrieked with a distorted rage as its colored yet glitchy face morphed. First into a tri-colored error screen, not unlike that of an old earth television, and then into a pure blue, polyogonic representation of what was once a roaring dictator.

Spark had almost lost his cool when they had to evade all of that, he was rolling around almost frantically in ball form. He was glad when that was over and he could deactivate his tech to start focusing fire at the targeted projector with his packmates.
"Yikes!" The Jolteon let out in surprise as she stumbled back from the destroyed object that almost crashed on her. "I'm fine!" She said to the others.
Shia too is firing shot after shot from his pistol at the enemy. "This bastard's tough...!" He growled, slightly frustrated. "Should I try hitting it with all I got?!" The maneuver he is suggesting is Wild Charge, a powerful electric move...however usage of this move never failed to injure the Luxray every time he used it due to it's recoil.

"Don't over exert yourself." Eilumi instructs. "Hitting one projector with everything won't do you any good if you can't dodge the next attack."
Speaking of, with the concentrated fire, the next one goes down in a cinch. Now it is down to one projector, and Big Ape's yelling has become extremely distorted to the point of sounding more like dying electronics than any animal. The tyrant's face is likewise distorted, fuzzed, even more polygonical than before, and faded.
"Okay, now it's down to one, NOW hit it with everything you have before he charges up another attack!" Eilumi yells.

Shia lowers his arm and leaned his body forward as he started running, sparks of electricity flying with each step he takes, and he only gets faster. Right at the peak of his speed he already looked like a big bolt of lightning before launching himself at the one remaining projector resulting in a strong electric explosion that recoils on him and knocks him down harshly to the ground. "Oof...!"
One of his other packmates, Veera, approached to check on him to make sure he is okay. "You are right?"
The Luxray sat up with a groan. "Doing that never fails to leave me without a bruise...but I'm fine, Veera." He says to her.

The attack damages the floating projector, smoke billows out of it, and its movement is staggered. However, it's not quite done yet. It charges up one last attack, the fists by the looks of it.
"No you don't." Nine growls as he unleashes the ammo remaining in his minigun upon it. The bullets fly through the flying wreck of the hologram, a few of them hitting in just the right spot to damage its thruster beyond use, the once flying projector falling to the ground and joining the scrap metal that were its 'brothers'. The ape hologram gives one last distorted yell, its face, and the banners behind it, all changing to a blue screen of death for but a moment, before it vanishes.
The room falls silent, with everyone panting.
"We made it." Eilumi pants. "Great job everyone."
"Whew... that was exhausting." Loona pants.
"Anyway, I think we can end it here." Nine replies non-emotionally.
"Yeah the rest of this is just Lana talking." Khaun nods.
"Very well. Terminating Sim."
And with that, the room fades away, revealing only the black covered walls of the ship's simulation room.
"Heh..." Eilumi says as catches his breath. "Maybe next time we can load up the 'White Wolf of the Worlds' one."
"Oh by the Nexus no!" Khaun protests. "I do NOT want to have to fight that bitch again!"
"What?" He grumbles. "With a full pack now it should be a lot easier."
Seeing the disapproving looks of the other two original packmates, and the confused looks of the newer ones, he shrugs.
"Okay... Ruin Buster then?"
"Well first..." Loona huffs from her space. "I think we should get some lunch."

"Alright, that's that then, that's that." The Luxray got up and looked over to the others talking. "White Wolf of the what?" He whispered to Spark.
The Raichu shrugged, for he does not know what they are talking about either. "Never heard of whoever that was. Wonder why she must be such trouble though..."
"Some lunch would do us good. " The Jolteon said to her friends. "After all that running, jumping and shooting it would be hard not to want to sit down and grab a bite."
Shia smiles. "Alright. I'm gonna make myself a sandwich then."

"It's a... Long story." Nine says in response to the Raichu's question.
"Very long." Khaun adds on. "And very weird. Even by space standards."
"Right." Eilumi says again. "I'll come join you in a moment. I have to check and see if we have any new messages up on the bridge."
Loona nods. As she sits by the table and munches her lunch, she mentally notes just how far they've come in such a short time. At first she was a little nervous when Spark took that first step to becoming a Raichu, but it faded rather quickly. He may be a Raichu now, but deep down he's still the same spark she's always known, and shared a bed with on and off since that first day.
Speaking of sharing a bed, her own Shia has become a big strong Luxray. He hadn't stayed a Luxio for very long, thanks to the training and experiences they'd gone through. Some good, some bad...

...Yet ultimately these experiences shaped them into better individuals. Veera and Spark were very averse to fighting, they never imagined themselves being capable of standing up for themselves, but now they are capable of picking up a weapon and shooting. Meanwhile Shia used to have a fighting spirit that was almost squashed by his time with Rai, but his time as part of the pack and all the training and fighting made it come back stronger than ever.

The Raichu and the Jolteon are currently enjoying some noodles together, then comes Shia sitting next to the latter with his own food in his hands, slices of Beakseed between two long bread buns.
And as for Khaun and Nine, although their original pack was long gone by now, it was refreshing to have a sense of pack cohesion back. A sense of positivity that had been missing for too long, and to think, it had all come from one tiny little backwater world on a science mission...
It is at that point that Eliumi comes into the room.
"Hey 'lumi, nice of you to join us." Khaun says as he munches on a Puri taco, barely noticing him.
Loona however does.
"Hey, something up?"
"Yeah." Eilumi looks up. "As a matter of fact, there is." He looks to the new people in the pack. "How are your feelings on going back to your world for an assignment?"

All three of them, Veera, Spark and Shia stopped their meals when Eilumi mentioned where their new assignment is.
"Did I hear that right?" Spark asked, thinking he heard something wrong there just now. Did the Avali just say that their next stop is their old world?
"I-I mean I..." Veera was without knowing what to say for a moment. She didn't expect they would be visiting their world again so soon.
Shia shares the same feelings as his Jolteon packmate. Though part of him...wishes they weren't going back there at all, he has managed to get over those bad memories but that doesn't mean he likes to be reminded of them, especially in such a way that will see him going back to that planet. But if it is an assignment, then he has to go... "Did they leave us some details about why our assignment is there?"

"Apparently something Miniknog related". Eilumi replies.
"How very ironic." Loona says to herself.

"Miniknog huh?" Shia isn't all that surprised, lately it feels like most of the pack's missions concern the Miniknog one way or another. "Alright, I guess we're going then. Are we already on route to it?"
Veera thinks that on the positive side, at least that she would be able to visit Ara again, she does wonder how the Abra would be doing and if things have changed for the better back in her homeworld. "What do you think, Spark?" She asked the Raichu.
"I suppose I don't really have much of a problem with going back, it's certainly going to feel a bit strange though..." Spark says to her.

"Well, that's good, because we really don't have much of a choice." Eilumi says. "It's kind of an order."

"Figured as much." Shia took a bite from his sandwich. "Well it doesn't matter if they are causing trouble in places I don't know or even in places I know. If we got an ape butt to kick, we go there and kick it."

"You know..." Eilumi says to him, in a concerned tone, "I was actually a bit worried that you'd have the biggest objection after all that happened there, Shia."

He looks at the Avali for a moment and sighs. "....I wish we weren't going there, really." He admits to Eilumi. He probably doesn't need to go on details about it, certainly as his packmates they should all understand as much better than anyone else the painful life he left behind when he joined the Ghost Bear Pack.
Sensing that her packmate is getting a bit discouraged, Veera puts a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, I can imagine why..."
The Luxray looks at her for a moment and nods. "I really do want to say 'no' but...i don't think that's going to change the fact we gotta go there, is it?" He sounds like he just wants to bite the bullet since there is no way around it, maybe if he tries to not think about the things that happened when he was there he will be able to be okay.

"It'll be alright." Loona pats him on the back. "He's dead and gone. I saw to that myself." She reassures him, clearly referring to Rai and his passing by her hands by what now seems so long ago.
"I heard they fixed up the place since we last left." Eilumi chimes in. "Though I don't know if we'll be going to the sands anyway. They might be sending us somewhere else on the planet entirely."
Khaun looks over to Veera.
"Don't worry. We'll definitely sneak in a visit to sandstone while we're there though."

Shia looked to Loona and nodded. She did reassure him, he had uncertainty in his eyes up until now from the memories. But he will be strong, he doesn't want to be a burden to his pack or anything like that, he has grown to really like them and he doesn't wanna fail them.
Veera smiled. She wouldn't want to waste the opportunity to visit an old friend again. "That would be great, Thanks Khaun."
"Sooooo what kind of things are the apes doing this time anyways?" Spark asked as he looked at everyone. "The usual?"

"The notice didn't say much." Eilumi shrugs in response to Spark's question. "I guess we'll be briefed upon arrival."

"Hey, Eilumi." Shia says to get the Avali's attention. "You remember that simulation of that mining base on that moon? The one with that crystal that infected the workers?"

"Ah yes. The Erchius one." Eilumi replies. "The one with the pink blobs of flesh monsters."

"What was up with it anyways? Does every moon have something like that?"
Veera pipes up with a question of her own. "Can the people that get infected be saved?"

"Not every moon." Nine answers Shia's question. "Only the ones with Erchius on them. And not all of them."
"Sometimes they have something else on them." Eilumi replies. "Sometimes instead of the crystal, they have some sort of... 'ghost' that hones in on anyone carrying Erchius in any sort of form, and drains them of life. I'm honestly not sure which is worse to be honest, the ghost or the crystal. The ghost doesn't infect people, it just kills them. But the crystal can be dealt with and killed, the ghost... Well, most weapons are completely ineffective, and even if you do manage to 'kill' the 'ghost', it's not permanent, it just reforms elsewhere and starts the whole chase over again."
"And the more Erchius you have on you, the more desperate it gets in chasing you." Khaun adds in. "If you have one single rock on you, it'll move so slowly that even the slowest of creatures can easily outrun it. If you have whole tons of the stuff in your matter manipulator storage, it'll come at you like a hovertrain."
He then looks to Veera then.
"To answer your question: No, not really. Once they're like that, there's really no going back."
"Unless you count a gauss shot to the head as 'saved'."
"And that mission actually wasn't the worst I've seen Erchius infections produce." He looks to Khaun. "Remember the one with the huge hulking Erchius warrior? The one with the huge cleaver?"
"Yeah. Even Renali had trouble with that thing." Khaun says. "She had to keep it distracted while we gunned it down from the sides."
"I... Do not recall this." Nine interjects.
"That's because this happened before you came into the picture." Eilumi replies back.
"That mine had an even worse version of the crystal too. No mining laser, so we had to take it down the hard way." Khuan recalls. "At least we had help though..."
"All the good it did." Eilumi replies. "Most of the colonists that tried to fight it got themselves killed. Not pretty."

"So those things can get even bigger than what we saw in the simulation?" Spark doesn't like this, those infected he already got to see were already scary enough as it is. He easily began disliking Erchius because of what it does to people, it's not pretty to see.
"Ghosts? Like Pokémon?" Veera asked, remembering that back on her planet there are life-forms that are considered 'ghosts', even though she herself never laid eyes on a lot of them but she knows they exist.

"Eh... somewhat" Khaun answers her. "Then again we didn't see any ghost pokemon so we don't have any frame of reference."

"Sooo there is this thing I have been uuuh thinking." Spark began speaking up again. "I mean, i don't want to sound paranoid but the little robots in us ain't going to hurt us, right?"
"Why would they do that?" Veera asked, a little confused about why he would be thinking about something like this.
"I mean it's nothing but I read about a few cases of people's augmentations being hacked to malfunction or turn against them." He sheepishly said. "It's uuuh...doesn't sound like it's a good thing to go through."

"That used to be a problem, way back in the day." Eilumi waves his hand dismissively. "But nowadays, not so much."

"Well...that is good to hear." Spark goes back to eating his meal.
"You know, sometimes I wonder how some life forms out in the wild were made the way they are. Like those Poptop, they don't look all that imposing but those mouths of theirs..." The Jolteon commented, shuddering a bit. First time she saw one she thought it was harmless but that wasn't the case...she didn't get injured by it but it was a lesson in learning to be more careful around things even if they look cute.

"Speaking of poptops, is it just me or do they look uncannily ... familiar?" Loona suddenly adds in. "Whenever I see one I get the strange feeling like I've seen them somewhere before, but I can't put my paw on it..."

Shia raised a brow a little. "Really? I guess I kind of feel the same about those Fennix things for some reason. When I saw one breathing fire it gave me a bit of deja vu."

"Yeah, it's rather creepy if I'm to be honest." Loona says.

Meal time continues until everyone is finished, sometime after they arrive at their destination, with their ship coming out of its FTL jump.
On the bridge Shia is watching as the planet on which was born is getting closer. He remembers when it was the opposite, when he left with his new Avali pack the planet was getting further and further away, he remembers that very well, in a way it's like watching that memory play in reverse.
"Soo...this is it. I guess we are going to beam down soon." Spark said to his other packmates, but to Loona in particular. "You feeling alright about going back down there?" He has the feeling that his Luxray packmate would rather not come back to this world in particular, but what about Loona? How does she feel about it herself?

The ship comes to a halt over the planet. Below them is the homeworld of half the crew on board, though they are in orbit over a different spot than they remembered, over a large body of deep blue rather than the large patch of sand with blotches of green they remembered seeing when they left. That landmass is barely visible to the side from their current position.
"I... Guess?" Loona replies. "To be honest, I'm not too thrilled with returning. Unlike Veera I was never particularly close to anyone down there. Or... at least..." She looks over to Shia and Veera. "No one that isn't up here right now."
The group begin making their way to the teleporter room shortly after the orbit stabilizes.
"Well, it's not like we'll be going right back to Sandstone anyway." Eilumi informs them both. "We've been instructed to report to somewhere called 'Black Isle.' Out in the 'Oracle Sea'. I take it no one here has been there?"
Loona shakes her head and shrugs.

Veera and Spark shake their heads too. "Shia's been with me and Loona the whole time we lived in the sands so he hasn't been there either." The former said.
Next the Ghost Bears beamed down to the Black Isle, finding themselves in a landing pad. At first some like Shia, Veera and Spark were a bit surprised that the Avali seemingly set up such a large base so quickly, but from looking at the design of the place they could tell that this was definitely not built by Avali.
"This is the Black Isle?" The Luxray was kind of expecting an island, and this is indeed an island not but the sort of he was expecting.
Spark as a question of his own. "Wait...this whole place was here before? It doesn't look Avali-made."

"Yeah," Khaun replies.  "This is definitely not of avali make. Or even recently. It almost looks-"
"... Human?"
A voice gets their attention, standing there is another avali.
"Ghost bear, am I not correct?" She asks.
"Yes, that's us." Eilumi replies. "This is Black Isle right? Are we in the right place?"
The avali chuckles a  bit.
"Oh don't worry, yes this is the right place. You didn't beam somewhere by mistake. This is Black Isle."
She opens the door.
"Come. We'll give you your briefing in the main room. Though watch yourself, we still haven't gotten all the rust off this rust bucket yet."

"Ah, so there were humans here?" Shia eyes the Black Isle base some more, hearing that it's made by humans reminded him of that one human they met a long time ago.
Inside the Black Isle they get to see that most of it seems to be getting restored, but there really is still quite some rust to scrub off this rust bucket.
In the main room, things are already being prepared to give them their briefing with the help of an holographic screen that is showing a map of the Oracle Sea. There are two Avali standing by each side of the hologram being displayed, they are both females but the difference is that one has yellow and blue feathers while the other one has red and green feathers.
"Hello, my name's Ralaka." The yellow one on the left spoke first.
And then the other one on the right followed up. "And I am Ranala. We are going to give you, the Ghost Bears, a briefing on what your mission will be."

Eilumi nods to his crewmates, who silently agree to let him do the talking.
"I guess we'll have to ask about the base later." Khaun whispers to Veera while Eilumi puts his hands behind himself and the rest listen in quietly.

Veera nodded to Khaun. Spark and Shia got quiet to listen too.
Ralaka began by pointing to the holographic map showing the Oracle sea; there is a white island in the center with multiple brown ones surrounding it. "The Oracle see is a strange place in that it seems to work like those 'mystery dungeons' but on a much grander scale. Instead of this strange phenomena being confined to a location, this seems to affect the entire archipelago in this region, with the exception of the island on the very center called 'Anchor', which is where civilization is based with the city of 'Amber'. The islands move around Anchor, sometimes breaking into smaller islands or happening to come together to form large masses of land for a time. Since the time of the Iron King the Oracle Sea was the middle point between all three regions, all ships pass by it on their way to their destination. After the fall of the Iron King, Anchor continues to be important as the main landmark for naval travel and trading, and if they were able to somehow tame the surrounding islands this could certainly have developed into a power akin to the other three regions."


Ranala goes next. "This isn't the only mission to be done by you on this planet, but it's the first. We know that Amber made contact with the New Sands Republic so they could start trading with the region of the Sands again after the NSR overthrew the nobility of the Sands. As it stands, the Oracle Sea is important to all three regions, so our next step is to make sure we have it cooperating with our cause, much like how we did it in the Sands. Your mission is to go to the City of Amber, figure out how things are, find out if the ones governing it can be reasoned with or assess if we should take the same approach we did in the Sands."

"I see... so our first mission is a scout mission." Eilumi replies as he rubs his chin.
"Let's hope this one goes better than the last time we were on this planet." Khaun comments in response to Eilumi's question.
"Also..." Eilumi turns his attention back to the two holograms. "Since now is as good a time to ask as ever, what exactly is up with this place? It seems too rusty and too ... human to have been built recently. I take it this place doesn't move either, much like this 'Anchor' place?"

"It is a bit of a long story. But this place is 'rusty' and too 'human' because that's exactly what it is, a human base that was here very long before we arrived, it used to belong to the USCM in fact." Ranala explains to him one part.
And Relaka continues soon after the other Avali is done speaking, now getting into the more grisly details. "At first the humans here were doing...'research' on the locals, as it involved capturing specimens for autopsies and the like, and then they developed an apparatus that allowed them to forcefully transfer their minds into that of another being, this was used on pokémon. And from there the situation deteriorated with the destruction of Earth, with no high command to report to the chain of command was fragmented. One individual in particular decided that he would rather be a pokémon rather than a human...permanently, and then use his superior knowledge to go and become what we are sure is the Iron King. But things didn't quite went according to his plan, he wanted to use the technology of this base to simply overpower the primitive pokemon population in one fell swoop... but someone else that was here was against that idea and turned configured the defense systems to target anyone that go close to the base, hence why the Iron King's rise saw mostly the usage of basic melee weapons made of metal that were primitive yet quite effective and devastating when it was introduced."
"Humans...?" Shia asked. "You mean like the ones that were here the day the Ghost Bear Pack found this planet?"
Relaka shakes her head. "No, those are completely different. The ones currently helping us have zero relation to the humans that inhabited this base."
Meanwhile Veera is shocked about knowing the true origin of the Iron King. "S-so it...all started here?"
The other Avali, Renala nodded. "The reason why everything on this planet turned out as bad as it did, you mean? If that's what you are asking, then yes, this is where it all started. Very different from what the so-called 'legends' tell."

"I always had the feeling the so-called 'legends' regarding the Iron King were full of shit." Loona confesses. "But I had no idea that they were this full of shit."
"That's the USCM for you." Eilumi sighs. "One hair short of the Miniknog."
"Speaking of, I believe the briefing mentioned a Miniknog problem?" Nine adds in, curious that the mission brought it up but this first mission heard nothing of it.

"They stole the bodies of pokémon?" Spark sounds disturbed and disgusted about that fact. "T-that's awful..."
"We do have a very probable Miniknog problem on our hands, yes." Renala nods to Nine.
Relaka adds up the rest of the explanation to the question. "We got reasons to suspect that is the case, chief among these reasons is the ship that got attacked in the planet's orbit by a Miniknog ship, the criminals in the sands region acquiring a large amount dated firearms to bolster their forces and the Novakid mercenary who sabotaged the Sand Gun base."
"Wait, a ship was attacked over the Planet's orbit? Whose ship was it?" Veera asks.
"It turns out that there is another planet with intelligent life in this star system, both this and their planet orbit around the same sun, albeit on opposite sides. Space travel is relatively new to them and their intention was to study this planet before they were attacked and forced to crash into the ocean. We have establish contact with their world for some time after helping the ship's crew get back to their world."

"I see... Not sure how we missed that other planet on the first sweep through here." Eilumi comments.
"We'll keep our ears up for any miniknog activity around the area." Nine gives a small nod.
"Do you think they know of this place?" Loona asks.
"Doubtful." Khaun replies. "Else they might have tried to take it for themselves."

"So we just have to deal with just the Miniknog?" Spark asks the two Avali. "And how can we get to Anchor?"
"Perhaps it's the Miniknog, but our human allies have been warning us about something else, they haven't told us what it is exactly, only that the pirates in the region are acting 'slightly unusual'." Renala said to them. "We did try to ask for more information but they said they don't have enough intel to confirm exactly what they are warning us about..."
Relaka continues. "Yes, it's a bit of a problem that has us questioning what they are even warning us of. As for how you can get to Anchor, beaming down from your ship unto its shore is a valid option. Should you need any further support when in Anchor, we do know of a human called 'Boris' who has submersible watercraft, knowledge about infiltration and the sea. In fact it's thanks to him that we found the Black Isle in the first place, he also the one who found that crashed Beyeehem ship and told us about it."

"So the direct method then? Sounds easy enough." Eilumi nods.

"Indeed. Are there any questions?" The two Avali females ask the Ghost Bear Pack.
"I do." Veera spoke up. "One of you said something about bandits in the sand acquiring firearms...how are things there?"
"Hhmmmm...with the recent happenings in the Sand Gun base, we can't say for sure what might happen next." Renala answered.

"Sand Gun?" Loona takes the opportunity to ask.

"Sandgun base. It's the base located within the 'Mystery Dungeon' not far from the town of Sandstone." Renala responded to her.
"The Mystery Dungeon?" Shia remembers that place, that's where...many things happened, things that lead him ending up where he is now on that fateful day. "They built a base in there...?" The Luxray didn't know this was even possible.
"But...how? Does the dungeon allow them to do so?" Veera added a question of her own. Her knowledge of the dungeon is on par with everyone else but she does believe it to have some sort of will of its own.
"Yes that is correct, the Avali have managed to get stable ground within the shifting walls of the dungeon by building force fields that stop movement of the walls. So far it doesn't seem to have caused any issues at all as the base was able to operate without much difficulties related to the nature of the these anomalous 'dungeons' and their strange phenomena." Relaka explains.

"I see...."  Eilumi responds. "Very interesting. Guess we'll have to take a visit when we get an off break."
Loona nods at that. Despite having no real connection to that dungeon

Veera and Shia are curious about Sandgun base, if only because living in the dungeon in such a way is unheard of as it's usually impossible to have something bigger than a small house in such an ever-changing place.
"Hhhmmm, don't think I have anything to ask. It's cool that they could put a base in one of those dungeons I suppose. I guess it can't be faulted if it works." Sparks commented.

Eilumi simply nods along. He isn't going to pretend like he understands why a base in a dungeon is such a big deal, but if they say so...
"I don't think we have any other questions." He looks to his pack. Loona, Khaun, and Nine all shake their heads. He looks over to Veera, Shia, and Sparks.

"No more questions from me." Shia said to his Avali packmate.
"None here either." Veera spoke after Shia did.
"Same here." Spark has no questions either.
Renala nods. "Alright then. Ghost Bear Pack, you are dismissed." The female Avali then began walking to leave the room. Relaka gives them a small bow before excusing herself to follow after Renala, the both of them approaching the room's doors which slide to the sides to allow passage for the two of them to go through.

"Pos that, then. We'll teleport onto the beach and make our way to this 'anchor' place. Once there we'll radio in for further instructions." Eilumi, Khaun, and Nine give a small salute. Seeing their pack members do it, Loona soon follows suit, as do the others, Eilumi then turns on his heel and leaves the briefing room, the others following close behind on their way to the teleporter.
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