Act 61: Laying Plans
Meanwhile, on the high sea...
The three ships from the Grove that have escaped from Dryhaven are sailing back to Grove territory, their trip has just begun and they have a long path ahead of them. And there is something going on in the captain's cabin.
"Grrrr...! How the hell did that happen?! Dryhaven was supposed to go up in flames! At least it's docks!" A Sceptile commander sitting at the desk shouts in frustration.
There is also an Umbreon in a red jacket nervously pacing back and forth. "I-i thought your mon had their goddamn eyes open in case an attack would occur! I barely could get any of my merchandise unto the ship before we left!" He is also scared and angry for his own reasons.

Unbeknownst to the mons on the ship, objects are currently moving towards the small fleet of fleeing ships under the sea. At the same time, an unsettling feeling begins to sweep over the crews. Like the feeling of being stalked.

"W-what about the pirates then?! What if they try to attack us?" Maybe it's this bad feeling all of the sudden, but Umbreon remembered hearing about Grove ships running into 'complications."
"It's going to be fine..." The Sceptile groans. "We are three ships strong, no way pirates would see us as an easy target."

At that moment, bubbles begin to appear under the water as the objects catch up and move into position.

Things keep proceeding as is for the moment. With the merchant and the commander arguing in the cabin of the ship leading the fleet. Even though there is something...not right in the air, the crew and passengers of the ships are just hoping it passes and that the battle in Dryhaven was the last of their worries. Eventually they will be back home safe and sound..........right?

Suddenly, several large, four-rotor drones pop out of the water with a huge splash, and hover above all three of the boats. A bright spotlight shines directly upon them.
ATTENTION!! HOSTILE. GROVE. SHIPS!! A loud, robotic voice booms out from one of them. Its tone is not consistent at all, and it sounds like someone was simply reading words off of a list and then putting stringing it together in a sentence. YOU. AND YOUR. CREW. ARE. NOW UNDER. ARREST FOR. MULTIPLE.. WARCRIMES AND. CONVENTION VIOLATIONS. STAND. DOWN. AND. ADJUST COURSE. TO. 49 DEGREES. STAR BOARD. YOU. WILL BE. TAKEN. TO. BLACK ISLE. FOR. TRIAL AND. PROCESSING. BE ADVISED: ANY. ATTEMPT TO. DEVIATE FROM. CORRECTED COURSE. IS A. HOSTILE. ACTION. BE ADVISED: ANY. ATTEMPT AT. ATTACK. IS A. HOSTILE. ACTION. ANY ATTEMPT TO ABANDON SHIP IS. A. HOSTILE. ACTION. ANY. HOSTILE. ACTIONS MAY RESULT IN. DEADLY. FORCE. WHICH MAY RESULT IN. UP TO AND INCLUDING... DEATH. 

The crew and passengers were caught by surprise by this, there is plenty of confusion on all three ships as everyone wonders what these things are, but they do understand that it wants them to surrender or else...
"What the hell?!" The Sceptile commander gets out of his desk and runs outside onto the main deck to see what is going on outside.
"N-No! i-is this them?! Are we gonna die?!" The scared Umbreon doesn't get a response, he just peeks outside of the cabin to try and see what is going on from a safe distance.
The Sceptile and the Umbreon get to witness a Politoed being stupid enough to try to attack one of the drones with a Water Gun.

The water gun hits the drone, but it seems to just splash aside. Were this a living being, it might find this amusing enough to let the poor Politoed stew in his own uselessness in the situation and/or taunt them about how useless that attack was.
However, the being in front of them is not a living being. It's a machine whose logic is utterly incapable of nuance and consists entirely of 1s and 0, 'Ands', 'Ors,' and 'Nots'. So it responds the only way it is capable of responding. "HOSTILE ACTION. DETECTED!!" It shouts, revving up its gun.
At the last moment however, a ghostly arm appears out of the side of the machine, and reaches down to the gun, pushing it just slightly off to the side. A barrage of red lights erupts from the weapon, missing its target by less than an inch, creating a series of holes in the wooden hull that burn all the way through and some even out the back end.
"Command, cancel attack, stand by." A dark, yet not robotic voice churns from the machine. There is a pause from the machine, before its voice booms out. 
PERMISSION. TO DESTROY. HOSTILE.... DEEEENIIIIIED. STANDING. BY.
As they look on, a large, dark purple mass appears out of the bottom of it. It looks on with a grin, before dropping onto the ship below. It slowly raises up, taking the form of a Gengar. 
"I would advise you not to do that again. That thing will take your head clean off if you do."

That green frog got the message after almost being killed like that, looks like he won't try that again.
"Who the hell are you?! What is this!?" The Sceptile exclaims his questions at the ghost that appeared before them.
Meanwhile the scared merchant in the cabin behind the commander crawls away from the door and goes to look for somewhere to hide, he doesn't care where he just wants a place to feel safe.

"What? You didn't hear the drone yell at you?" The Gengar replies with a sigh, though that grin doesn't leave his face. "Fine. I'll go over it nice and slow."
He wanders right up to the Sceptile, not afraid of being outnumbered or outpowered in the slightest. He gets right into his face, that grin filling the sceptile's view. 
"You. Are. A. Bad. Mon." He says slowly, to the point of mockery. "You. Did. Bad. Things. To. A. Lot. Of. Mons.  Now. You. Are. Being. Arrested. And. Taken. Away. Somewhere."
He backs up after saying that.
"There, was that slow enough for you to comprehend? Or do I have to speak it in a different language for you? If that's the case you're shit out of luck, as I don't know any others." He chuckles. "As for your other question... you don't need to know the answer to that. Just a ghost from Black Isle that volunteered to ride shotgun on this mission. Speaking of."
He turns to the other craft. 
"Okay boys and girls, you can come out now!!"
And with that, ghost types of various species and types likewise come out of the vehicles. Haunters, Gastlies. Misdravouses, etc. All kinds that possess the ability to phase into objects.
"Oh, and before you ask... Yes, we are the 'pirate' crew that's been fucking up your shipments. Thank you for asking." He boasts sardonically. 

The Grove commander leaned his head back in surprise when the Gengar got right up in his face, even making him take a step back. He is as nervous as every other crew member on deck right now. "Tch..." He is looking around, like he is trying to think of something to get out of this situation. But is this really a good idea to even THINK about doing anything that contradicts these demands? Well he and everyone else will soon have a very good example as one of the other ships and it's crew is not being cooperative, looks like they are trying to make a turn to another direction to make a run for it, not to mention trying to attack the drones.

The attacks on the drones, unlike the one on this ship, are not missing their shots due to their ghost hosts being detached from them. The ghost types launch ghostly attacks of their own while the drones open fire, flashes of lights of different colors erupt from the drones, while the dying screams of mons being shot by lasers are heard from them. 
The ship itself is shot full of holes, and at least some of them hit below the water line, as the ship begins to list in the water, and the telltale signs of it sinking are becoming evident, as some mons are jumping overboard, only to be shot to pieces by the drones which, true to the drone's previous words, interpret this as an escape attempt and open fire, killing them before they can drown in the sea. A cruel act of mercy before the ghosts fly back up to their hosts in order to stop them from killing the remaining mons trying to abandon ship.
"Welp. They were warned." The Gengar sighs. "I hate it when that happens. But there's always gotta be one, isn't there? And now we're going to have to fish them out of the sea. Lovely." He groans. 
"And of course, by 'we', I mean 'you and your crew' since this is your fault after all."

After witnessing how easily those flying metal things managed to take out that ship and most of its crew, there is dead silence from both of the other ships.
Now visibly trembling, the Sceptile looks to the sailors on the ship he is currently on. "...R...Rescue the wounded on the water, now. "He then goes up a ladder to approach the terrified Floatzel manning the helm. "When we are done getting those mons out of the water you are going to turn this starboard like they said, you understand?" He said to the water-type, who obliged. This Sceptile must have swallowed his entire pride to agree to this, these ghosts have gotten their point across... 

"Great. Seems like the message has finally sunk in." The Gengar says with a chuckle of dark, punny humor.

Having rescued the survivors of the ship that was eliminated, the lead Grove ship began to turn starboard, its course now being for the black isle rather than Grove lands. And the other remaining ship follows the example and is now doing the same. Seems like there will be no funny business anymore.

-------

The next day Mattias pays another visit to the Sandgun base for the meeting about the update on the war. As usual he takes the teleporter to get into the base and goes straight for the commander's tent. "So, news from Dryhaven just hit...and from Storm Dunes too."

"Yeah, I just got it myself." He says as he reclines in his hoverchair. "But I'll let you go first as always, friend."

"Now the republic's got a port town, unsure what it will be used for but one thing's for sure...there won't be business with the Grove at the current time." He says. "And it appears like Stic's plans are going according to well...plan. The next one is going to be the big one, the Capital of Sands."

"Yeah. A few ships tried to get away from Dryhaven after attempting to burn the town and everyone in it as they retreated. One of them was sunk, the other two were captured without much of a fight." 

"Ah, so they tried that huh?" Mattias wonders why he is not surprised. "Well, I didn't hear about there being too much infrastructure damage in Dryhaven. So how exactly were the ships captured? I don't remember the Republic of Sands having a navy."

"They don't." He replies solemnly. "Black Isle's Drones, with ghost type 'riders' on them, caught them. Once they caught them they were brought to Black Isle for questioning, detainment, and, depending on the level of involvement in the incident, either memory wiping or further detainment."

"Ah, I see. I guess finding out about the Black Isle is really paying off right now." He says. "But back on topic of what's happening in the Land of Sands itself, and speaking of Stic, he said he wants to be there for when they go take the capital."

"Before we go on with that... one more detail. When we questioned the one in charge of that operation, he told us that he was 'advised' to start the city on fire as a deterrent. However, we were unable to decipher the nature of said advisor. And none of the others could provide any other information."

He raises a brow for a moment. "Hhhmm, you sure they weren't just trying to deflect blame with that?"

"Could be. Could be something more. No way to really know for sure." The avali response. "Anyway, back to the whole thing with the Capital. I presume he has a plan for that?"

"He has plans to lead the attack when it happens. It would be prudent to know how exactly things are in the capital, but it's likely that it's grim because the Grove is hellbent on taking it over in a desperate effort to win this war. They seem to hope that if they take the capital, they will have all of the Land of Sands."

"Especially now that their supplies have been cut off and they're being pincered from the other direction." The commander adds in. "Trouble is, the Sand Kingdom, or what's left of it, isn't exactly friendly with us either, being a breakaway republic and all."

"Yes, though I wonder if they are too worried about the Grove to notice that a republic has formed in their lands. Whatever the case I don't think Stic wants them around, either he hopes the Grove will kill them...or he might do it himself."

The commander chuckles at that thought. "So do you think he'll wait it out until one side wins over the other then go after the winner?"

"Would be logical." He nods. "I also think that Stic probably would not be happy about the former Sand nobles conspiring against him...as ineffective as they are likely to be."

"Of course not." The commander replies.

"So forgetting the nobles for a little bit, can you tell me more about what happened to the Grove ships? As in, all the vessels that have been taken so far, What-'s " A ping sound starts coming from Mattias' pocket, interrupting him. The human reaches into one of his pockets and gets that crystal cube-shaped communication device, it folds into its phone form and puts it close to his right ear. "Yes?" So he must be 'on the phone' with someone right now. "Hhhmmmm, yeah? What strain? ........Right, I see." He kinda spoke through gritted teeth there. "........Wha- You tell me this, after that first one? Really, BG? Yes I know it's probably not that dangerous but it is unrest nonetheless! Look I gotta go, the Avali are going to have to hear about this." He hangs up the call and puts his 'cellphone' away.

"What's that all about?" The commander asks. "Especially since you mentioned us at the end?"

He takes a deep breath and rubs the bridge of his eyes. "Alright, I'm gonna start with what's more immediate right now. Sandstone is 'under attack'..."

The Avalis in the room all look at him and the commander stops slouching, almost leaping out of his chair to sit up.
"What?!" He shouts. "Explain!"

"I'm gonna have to figure out who did it, but someone must have placed a Keystone in the area in front of the entrance of Sandstone. It's a vessel for souls, and it got filled up with the souls of dead Grove soldiers who died there, my guess is it's the souls of those who died in the bombardment. This gave birth to a creature fueled by what I assume is pain, confusion and anger at their predicament."

"By the nexus!" The captain exclaims. 
"Please do not tell us that we have a micro-Ruin on our hands!" One of them shouts.

"It's 108 souls at maximum but they are all stuck to that keystone. It would be alarming but due to the 'nature' of pokémon the odds of fatality are very very low...unless it were to pick up an iron weapon but it not having any arms is something to take into consideration too, it is still going to be quite a terrifying thing that will certainly cause unrest on Sandstone. From what i just heard it's dragging itself towards the mansion but it still has a long way to go...and it's not exactly fast."

"And where did it come from? How are the locals dealing with it? Do we need to intervene here?" So many questions.

And he will try to answer all of these questions as best as he can. "Someone put that Keystone there knowing full well that this was going to happen, and this isn't quite something you can just find lying around..." Mattias brings up his 'phone' again to start making a call. "Hang, let me find out if the situation there is." He brings it up to his ear again. "BG, do you still have eyes on what's happening on Sandstone? Okay so local law enforcement are surrounding that #442, but is anyone hurt? Alright nobody died, yeah? Yeah..."

The human moves his communication device away for a moment to talk to the commander. "The town guards are fighting against it as we speak, they are resorting to iron weapons because that amalgamation of angry souls is not being cooperative and dangerous." He speaks on his 'phone' again now. "And what's happening now? Are they realizing that it's main body is that odd stone vessel?" And now he puts his 'phone' away for a moment again to speak to the Avali. "It is starting to look like the town guard might win this."

"So we might not have to intervene after all?" The commander asks.

It looks like he is going to answer that after hearing what this 'BG' on the other side of the line is saying. "Right then..." He sighs, and puts down his communication device. Now as for his answer. "One of the guards hit the vessel with a spear, it broke it and all the souls got released. For all intents and purposes, the threat has been soundly eliminated."

"Well that was all...odd, it didn't accomplish much of anything in the end." Mattias comments. He gets on the line with BG for a moment again. "What? You got another call? Right, if you can, could you look into how that Keystone was put there? Okay talk to you later." And with that he is finally done with his call. "That incident's done." Though at the start of all this he did mention a little something else that this 'incident' took priority over, but he doesn't seem to be bringing it up for some reason.

"Crisis averted." The commander sighs, and the other avali continue their work. "Well, is there anything else?"

Perhaps he did let something slip back there in the beginning, didn't he? "Alright, I don't want you to freak out, but a colleague of mine did something to help Bleached Bastion."

"By 'Bleached Bastion', do you mean the city's inhabitants, the grove occupiers, or the nobles that ruled it?" The commander asks for clarification.

He bites his lips for a moment. "I meant every pokémon in it right now." He says. "Alright so...there are these microscopic life forms that can attach to pokémon, a virus, if you will..." 

"Alright. So the former then." The commander confirms. "Go on."

"A strain of this virus has been unleashed on Bleached Bastion without notice."

"Ohhhh lovely." The commander groans.

"Given how the town is trying to get itself moving again, I think it will spread to everyone there in two or three days. symptoms are going to be fevers and perhaps a lack a libido."

"Whatever Libido the Grove hasn't already raped out of them, anyway."

Well this is all going better than Mattias hoped for. "And that's about it, two or so after the initial infection everyone should be feeling better than they were before. Better immune systems, better stamina..."

"So no need to really do much?"

"Yeah, not really any need to do much." He nods. "I was a bit scared that it might have been a little too much for your taste."

"I see..." The commander replies. "Well, we'll have to keep an eye out in case they look like they start getting into critical condition."

"Here's hoping." The commander says. "See you later."

Mattias got up from his seat...but didn't leave just yet because he almost forgot something. "Oh by the way. Some more of my colleagues are starting to be interested in some of the things that you, this was kind of inevitable. So in their stead you need to ask if your people do arms and science fairs."

"Well, yes." The commander says. "Though, we tend to do virtual ones on the Nexus. Especially in regards to the former."

"I don't know exactly how a virtual one would work but I will tell them about it."

"Alright, well, do see you around." The commander waves goodbye to him as he watches him leave.