Act 66: The Boy

Back in Sandgun base, Mattias is visiting again for his typical after-action assessment with the base's commander. He sits down on the chair and takes a deep breath before speaking. "Well, Stic has done it, he took the capital of the Sands. And the Grove has, for all intents and purposes, lost the war." He is enthusiastic about this but he is trying to hold back on it to not get to the point where he will probably sound loud and obnoxious in celebration. 

"There are still holdouts here and there, obviously." The base commander replies. "But without any kind of local support, and with them cut off from any kind of foreign support, I suspect that they will be a minor nuisance for a few months at best."

"Yeah unfortunately there are still stains to scrub, but the worst is finally behind us, right?" He shrugs. "Stic now has access to the wealth that once belonged to the Lord of Sands too. Speaking of him...Gron is behind bars waiting trial, Stic is hesitant about letting the Lord's child go see his father. And the kid is uuuh...distressed, to say the least."

"Tell me more about the kid." The commander tells the human

"Well, I compiled all the information I could on him. So let's start with the basics, he is an Aron, currently known as Aaron. Creative name, I know." He will never understand where this method of naming comes from, he finds it pretty impractical. "Well he is of the same species line as his father, and as expected they are blood-related. So anyways, it seems like Gron wanted the kid to grow up strong and firm like him, Aaron was already starting to undergo training that would have gotten rigorous as it went on. But Gron also seems to have instilled the idea of the importance of their position as nobility, letting Aaron know that he is high above the common mon, and that he should dislike the common mon as they are just there to be dominated and lead by someone strong...otherwise they are 'mindless idiots'."

"And those 'mindless idiots' just overthrew his father." The commander chuckles a bit.

"Pretty much." He nods. "So he had an okay relationship with his father as far as that can go, the other nobles too...but i have a feeling his father made sure they were all in friendly terms with him, and of course he kept him separated from those that live outside of the palace and kept feeding him ideas that they are superior. Also Aaron is quite feisty, they had to keep weapons away from him and lock him in his room, he really wants to see his father again and i don't think he realizes how dangerous it is to get in a serious fight that involves iron..."

"I... see." The commander replies. "So basically a shut-in."

"Yes, basically." He nods. "Stic is really trying to think about what he is going to do with him. He can't take him in because Aaron clearly dislikes him for arresting his father. There is also the idea of sending him to live with his mother once we have a clear confirmation of her identity...but Stic fears he will come back for revenge. He is really trying to avoid the option of simply killing the kid and getting that over with." From his tone it kinda sounds like Mattias thinks this last option is the best to go with.

"Well, there's always the option of sending him off world or to one of the bases for a while." The commander suggests. "Then again, Black Isle might be a bit too much of a shock."

He raises a brow. "Well well, that is an option too. Stic might even agree to it, I think. Though I do wonder what exactly will be happening to him if we send him away to some of those places, is he just going to be a prisoner or will you try to 're-educate' him?"

"A bit of both?" The commander asks. "I'm guessing they'll probably send him to the rust bucket. Or what they're calling Black Isle these days."

"Well, if it does end up like that, I really hope he didn't inherit his father's hardheadedness...for his own sake."

"We'll see. I just hope it's not too late to salvage him." He says.

"Yeah." Well those were the news regarding that subject, now there is another thing that Mattias would like to talk about. "Well, my colleagues have been working hard these past few days, I have something to show you. Also, I now know who is responsible for ghost-incident in Sandstone."

"Let me guess, it's the other human." He sighs. "Or the Miniknog."

"The Miniknog would have done way worse than just scaring pokémon." Mattias shakes his head and sighs. "But no, it was Jovanny. Went asking about it and among all the replies I saw him, saying he did that."

"This asshat is turning out to be quite the terrorist, isn't it?" The commander groans. "Seriously, what even is his game here?"

"'Misery builds character' he says..." He said before facepalming. "You putting him on a watchlist?"

"Definitely." The commander says. "Any more incidents and we might have to start trying to hunt him down or put bounties on him."

"Alright, I'm gonna have to tell him that." Mattias really really hopes this gives Jovanny the wake up call to stop doing things like this. Now for the other thing, Mattias reaches into one of his pockets to take out a photo. "We don't usually make physical copies of photos but I thought about leaving this here. We found something interesting way out on the sea."
The Picture is displaying some sort of island, a volcanic island, the sky is darkened by smoke coming out of the volcano as if it were a big smokestack, there probably isn't much plant-life there, if at all.
"Now, I don't know if you even consider looking at places like this, but we found this, there are only fire-types living there."

"Okay, and what about it?" The commander asks as he looks at it.

"Well, if you have any use for it, I just thought about letting you know." Maybe he should have expected it to not be much of a priority. "But on the other hand, this might require your full attention..." He places another picture on the table.
It's a picture of a very very big three somewhere, it has a very impressive amount of foliage on the top that seems to have multiple colors even. Suffice to say it is a sight to behold.

"Now you might be wondering what this is exactly. Well imagine a vital organ, like a heart, but this heart is connected to another organ that sticks out of the body. Well, that's pretty much what this tree is for this planet." It might not make much sense but this is the best that Mattias could come up with at the moment. 

"Pretty colors." The commander elaborates. "Though, elaborate on what you mean."

"Well, we have reason to be believe that it hosts energy that is said to be the source of all life in this world. It's also intertwined with the overall wellbeing of the world." He said. "As you might imagine that might be very important."

"I see." He says.

"Well...yeah." He wonders if the commander is failing to believe him here. "Well i have also been told that the area around that tree is fertile, alarmingly fertile. The whole place is also isolated enough that the pokémon that live around there haven't been touched by human knowledge, they live peacefully...i have trouble believing this. And what i have even more trouble believing is the theory that probably, maybe, who knows, living close to such a tree would have allowed those pokémon there to have been alive possibly before the Starbound Humans even came here. And finally my colleague there is having trouble in his investigation because they are just one person in a very tense forest, so i thought the maybe the Avali would have gotten interested to send someone over there to give them a hand or perhaps set up one of these bases."

"Hmm..." He rubs his chin. "I'll have to foward the request to Khaako."

"Yes, indeed. Well, I will let Stic know of the possible options of what to do with Aaron and overall, well...let's see how the New Sands Republic will go. For the Republic, as they say." And with that Mattias gets up from his seat, he has nothing else to mention to the commander so unless he has anything else he would like to say, the human is just going to be leaving now.

"For the republic!" The commander calls after Mattias as he leaves. "Here's to a brighter future."

"Heh. Yeah, yeah." He can only pray that Jovanny isn't going to get up to some of his antics again. Mattias then walked out of the tent and started making his way for the teleporter...

Back in the palace in the very center of the former capital of the sands, Stick had made a room into a temporary office for him to use while waiting for the matters that are going to be happening here, such as trial of the Gron which is going to happen in a few days as the city recovers somewhat from the final conflict that marks the end of the war. But there is also someone else that he will have to deal with right now, and he can hear it coming from the other side of the door.
"Let go of me! Now!" Someone on the other side of the door exclaims, sounding like they are struggling. Though soon enough the source of this voice is made known as the doors are opened to reveal an young Aron being forcefully escorted by a Marowak and a Sandslash holding his arms. "I won't let you take me!" Gron's child is as feisty as they say he is, he even manages to hit the Marowak with his elbow...that is when the two soldiers escorting him had just about enough of his defiance and simply shoved him into the room and closed the door. "Y-you...mean pokémon!" Even after having falling after that shove, Aaron stood up and went to try to open the door, but it looks like the two mons on the other side expected this and are holding the door shut, seeing that the door isn't going to open he resorts to try punching it instead...at least until he hurts one of his hands doing so. "OOow! Nooo!"
From his seat at his desk the Meowstic stares at the young pokémon, easy being able to tell his storm of emotions, chief among them is fear and anger at...pretty much everything that's happening right now, he was given a chance to speak with his father before coming here but perhaps that left him even more agitated. 

Seer stands at Stic's side, having been asked to be there just in case he decides to try something. The little Aron having no idea that Seer is actively watching his mind for signs of aggression, and other thoughts.

Aaron gave the door one final kick in anger before telling himself to tough up in the response to the pain in his hand. Then he turned around and saw that there were other pokémon here.
"Hello, Aaron." Stic says as he places his paw upon the desk and leans forward a little. "You were given a chance to talk with your father earlier today, just like a promise..."
Brave little mon that he is, the Aron is already looking like he is ready to fight them! especially Stic. "Yeah, I told him I would b-beat you!" There is very clear aggression in him, he is having angry thoughts about attacking Stic, imagining himself being able to beat both him and Seer...of course the scenario in his head is painting his soon-to-opponent much weaker and powerless than they clearly are compared to him.
The Meowstic sighs and brings his paws together. "Is that so? Are you sure about jumping headlong into what you are thinking of doing right now? I do not wish to fight you, Aaron, I just want to talk."
"Shut up! Father told me that you would only try to lie to me..."

Seer can confirm that his father did exactly that. She can also confirm some rather... not very nice ideas for her in his head once he's done with them. It's a good thing that he has zero chance of actually winning this fight.

But the question now is if Aaron is going to really act on this impulse...
"Aaron, I am very sorry if this is affecting you. I understand that you see me as a villain." Stic said to him, sounding sincere and firm even if the boy in front of him is hostile.
"If you are sorry...then let me father out of the prison and give everything back to him!" The young pokémon retorts, how naïve he must be if he thinks it would just be that simple.
"That's not how it works..." He sighs and gets up from his seat, stepping around his desk. "I do not wish to hurt you, Aaron, not now, not ever. And given your attitude I'm afraid I must bar you from attending your father's trial, you would be getting in the way."
"What are you going to do with my father...?!" Behind all that anger he is genuinely worried for his parents, he is asking this right now because he is afraid of what's gonna happen, he doesn't want to be separated from someone he loves. "T-tell me!"
To this Stic can not help but just look at him in silence. Deep inside he knows very well that it is impossible for Gron to be let out at all, but there is also a very real chance that he might get executed if the trial's results deem it so for his crimes.
Unfortunately the young noble doesn't take this silence very well, all it does is aggravate his worry for his parents. "TELL ME!!!" He began dashing toward the Meowstic, winding up for a punch...he is going to attack!

Stic, Watch out. He's going to attack! Seer relays it to his head. It doesn't seem like he's about to use any particular move, just a right wild haymaker.

The Meowstic looked as the boy approached and just as the punch was coming he calmly side-stepped to the right and avoid it before continuing to speak. "Your father will stand trial for his crimes, you might see your father as 'good', but know that the facts are that he has not been a good leader for the Sands."
The Aron stumbled forward a little after missing, this makes him just more frustrated though. "Shut up! My father is the Lord of the Sands! He is the best...!" He tried to take a swing at the psychic cat again, this time going for a back-handed strike...which gets simply avoided again.
Turns out he dodged that by simply being out of arm's reach. He keeps on talking. "Your father neglected his citizens, all he cared was about the good life for himself and you, because it was 'his right' given by the Iron King to his bloodline."
"The Citizens...the guilds...he already gave them plenty! T-they should have been glad to serve us nobles!" Next Aaron tries to go for a Tackle. He is utterly frustrated by what this Meowstic is saying, disgracing his father's, and his image like that, he really seems to think the New Sands are nothing but bad guys who are envious of what they had and want to take it for themselves.
The Meowstic grabbed him by the head to keep him still before he could build up momentum for that attack. "Not quite..."

"Ah... yes. The so-called 'iron king'." Seer adds in. "Wise. Noble. A hero summoned by the gods from another world who saved the world. United the whole world under his benevolent rule..."
Her eyes narrow.
"And every word of that is a complete, total, and utter lie." She says that last word with a special venom. "Though.. I forsee you'll find that out soon enough."
And yes, Stic. I know all about your little trip to Black Isle. She answers his unspoken question before he can even ask it.

So Seer knows...that's not quite a problem to Stic really, he trusts her.
"Aaaaargh!! I HATE YOU!!!" The young pokémon managed to shove the Meowstic away. He is furious now because of what they are saying, how these villains try to sway his mind with these...these lies that paint the nobles as such vile individuals! He is going to make them pay for this.
Stic is going to stop messing around somewhat, he is going to take this attack head on...in his own way. He uses Reflect to create a psychic barrier around himself to brace for what's to come.
Letting out a battle cry, Aaron throws himself headfirst at Stic to hit him with an Iron Head which struck the barrier...and easily reflected the blow and knocked him to the ground. Then he began crying as it began dawning on him that he stands no chance here, he can't win this, he is weak.......his father would be so ashamed of him......he can already hear Gron's voice in his head berating him for his failure. 

And so can seer. She relays this new emotion he's feeling to Stic. 
"Would he really berate you for failing to win a fight he knows darn well you had no chance of winning? Not a very good father, in that case." She comments.
"And as far as the nobles being vile individuals go..." She tells him. "I'm afraid it's true. Your father only showed you what he wanted you to see at your age. Only showed the polite side of them. I, on the other hand, we on the other hand, saw their vileness first hand. Saw what thoughts were in their heads, saw the victims of their technically-not-slavery when we rescued them."

"I-I...promised him I would beat you...b-but I can't..." Aaron sobs, letting his head hang on as tears fall from his eyes. Seems like he doesn't even have it in him to refute what Seer just said.
With him like this, Stic thinks it's finally time to start speaking again, he's got a response to give to that question that the boy asked before he started trying to attack him. "There is a very real chance that you might not see your father again."
He looks up at the Meowstic, his worry for what might happen to his father is what is giving him the most fear now. "P-Please no, don't hurt him..." He begs.
The Meowstic can imagine that if it was just him, maybe Gron would just be behind bars in the end, but unfortunately it isn't like that, and he is gonna have to explain why. "He is not answering just to me for his crimes, Aaron. It's for everyone. Your father knows this too, and I wanted to give him the chance of saying goodbye to you..."
Truth is his father had given something of a farewell to Aaron when they were allowed to talk earlier, but he just couldn't believe it, he kept denying it over and over again, but now it looks like he can not anymore. "N-no.....no.......!" He is practically bawling now.

Seer comes over to him and places a paw on his head, rubbing it softly in comfort.

The Meowstic continues speaking. "I'm afraid i can not keep you here, Aaron. I am afraid of what you might get yourself into, and more importantly while the people hate your father, they might also harbor hatred for you as well for being his child. So i will have to send you away somewhere..."
With teary eyes, the boy looks up at Stic. "W-what? Where...?"

At that moment, there is a knock on the door, and before any of them can answer, four Avali make their way into the room.

"Here we are, as requested." Nezami replies in kind. She looks down upon the crying Aron. "I take it this is the one we're supposed to take back to the Rust Bucket?" 
"Aww poor kid. Why's he crying?" Kasala asks.

Stic looks at Nezami and nods to her. "Yes, this is him. He is the son of the former Lord of the Sands."
"H-huh?!" The Aron looks confused at these...Pokémon? he never saw a species like this before at all.
Stic is sure he might have questions right now, he is just going to be transparent since eventually he is going to be knowing everything anyways. "These are the Avali, they come from somewhere far away...very very far away. It is with their help that a new power, the New Sands Republic, came to rise and get where today. They should me things you would not believe, and taught me things."
"A-are you...the humans...?" Perhaps it would be expected that he heard about that legend as well, he thinks they are humans, no one actually knows what they really look like after all.
"No, Not at all..." The Meowstic answered that.

"Ha. No we're not."  Nezami answers his question as well. "We're the Avali. Though, we do know of the humans. All their glories, and their not-so-glories. What they look like. How they died. And... unfortunately you're going to learn quite a lot of their darker side. All the terrible things a certain group of them did, that set all of this into motion."

It looks like the boy doesn't know what to say, in fact looks like he is ready to start crawling away if these 'Avali' start getting close. He is afraid now, afraid of whatever they are going to make him 'learn' to do to him.
"Indeed. You are going to be taken somewhere far from here, Aaron." Stic says to him. "It was not an easy decision for me to make, but I see this as the best possible option on what to do with you." 

"He's right you know, kid." Nezami says. "You wouldn't want to live your whole life in exile on your own, or face the end of your young life on a string or worse." "Especially when the word actually gets out that the old iron king was nuttin' but a fraud." Rhaun adds.

"N....No...i don't want to go...!" There are so many emotions figuratively and almost literally weighting him down, he is a fraid of these Avali and what they are saying, he is afraid of never seeing his home again. He just wants to wake up from this nightmare of his whole life turning on it's head so suddenly. Aaron is trying to get away from them now, crawling back.

"Kid... You're going to have to come with us now. Whether you want to or not." Nezami sighs.
"Please don't make this any harder than it needs to be." Nuko adds in.

"N-no!" He stands back up, trembling. Given his posture it looks like he is ready to try and defend himself should they try to come close.
Stic sighs and shakes his head. The boy really shows stubbornness like his father does. He wonders if he will have to do something to facilitate things for the Avali to be able to take him.

"Kid, if you don't come with us, we're going to have to drag you out of here by force." Rhaun replies forcefully. "While you look strong for a kid your age, you're still no match for four of us."
Seer meanwhile watches this go on, she shifts uncomfortably where she is, but resolving not to get involved.

It seems that if they try to grab him now he is sure to start struggling, so Stic sees no other choice other than walking past the Avali and approaching Aaron. "Aaron, that's enough."
The young steel-type looks at him as he approaches, he is getting ready to attack again. "I'm not...going!!"
"Don't try it." Stic said to him, he remained still for a moment before trying to take another step forward.
"RAAAAAHH-" Whatever move the Aron was going to use got shut down by a quick and sudden Sucker Punch right to the stomach, it would appear Stic isn't incapable of getting physical if he really needs to. Soon afterwards the boy was lying on the floor clutching his belly area because of the pain. Now he is unlikely to put up much of a fight when the Avali try to take him away.

"Thank you." Rhaun says to Stic as Nuko and Kasala both gently take him by the arms and lift him to his feet.
"Woah..." Nuko says as he struggles to lift the steel type kid up. "This kid's heavy! What's he been eating, densenium ore?!"

Well, one could argue that the boy's species looks like they have steel composing their body. It looks like he is too hurt to struggle now.
"Take care of him, alright?" Stic said as he watched the Avali preparing to take Aaron away now.

"We will." Nezami replies seriously and with a nod. Rhaun joins the other two in helping lift the Aron child out of the room.

Stic waited until they were gone from his office. Then he sighs and rubs his face with both of his paws as he goes back to his chair to sit down. What a predicament this was, he really wishes he could have used something not-so heavy handed to deal with the boy, but this is just wishful thinking. "I suppose that's that..." He looks over to Seer.

"It was unavoidable." Seer replies to him. "Any other method was either doomed to fail or would have ended out worse for all involved." 
Indeed, she did check exactly that, hence she allowed things to play out the way they did instead of intervening further. "Still, I foresee the child will be alright in the end. It will be a rough journey for him, especially at first, but it will turn out alright in the end."

He should probably be thinking 'I hope so', but Seer's future vision has not failed him yet, so he trusts what she sees. "Hhhmmmm...these were some eventful days ever since we managed to take the capital. I have seen some reports of some wild things having happened such as that noble called Orlax who went on a feeding frenzy before being put down, it was all but confirmed that he ate the pokémon that were around him at the time too..." He shudders a bit. "I swear...it's like the bigger they are, the more they are depraved."

"Indeed. You don't get much lower than that." She replies. "Perhaps the only silver lining out of that incident is that there aren't as many nobles to figure out what to do with."

"Yeah..." Stic can't really argue with that, having little to no sympathy for nobles certainly helps. "I suppose if nothing else is to occur, all we have to look forward to is Gron's upcoming trial. Mattias gave me the idea of setting up a 'courtroom' where it will be taking place. I heard it looking a little rough around the edges; it's only going to be used once. Then I was advised to try to look into making a proper 'courthouse' in the future."

"Really now?" Stic raises a brow and sighs. "I suppose the grandeur of the place does a good job at masking a dark story. Speaking of which, I'm sure this will be going through some major changes, Given that this whole palace is located over the river, I'm thinking about getting out of the way to make something else, perhaps a main hub for farming and drinking water." Oh yes, this river that runs through the capital, right down in the middle...it has plenty of potential. "I suppose in the end the nobles were keeping it to themselves, like they always do."

"Yes indeed." Seer replies. "Much like how Garble was keeping the fountain water to himself for decoration, of all things."

"Yeah, of all things it was decoration." Just thinking about how nobles can have such expensive tastes just to feel better than those below them is enough to make The Meowstic's blood boil. But well, these times are going to be behind them completely in due time...