Act 74: Narc
The next day, in yet another place...it's early morning in the two of Sandstone, which has been changing quite a bit being the capital of the new republic. The construction of the schooling and medical facilities have been done quite a bit ago, which is providing education and health care for everyone. The recent rise in banditry has caused some issues but Sandstone is still relatively thriving thanks to the leadership in command and, secretly, some help from the secret benefactors that helped the New Sands Republic form in the first place.
Currently Luca the Lucario, Rani the Avali and Pix the Vulpix are going about the streets on patrol. Despite all the commendations he got, Luca didn't really want a position where he could take it easy. He could probably get himself a cushy job that would entail commanding or training pokémon for the NSR but things like this never really felt right for him. But he is still well known and respected.

Ranii meanwhile is a bit on edge. Not because she expects anything to happen, quite the contrary: She doesn't want to say this to the crew, but she secretly fears the day when she'll be recalled from this place for some other thing, especially if rumors of Miniknog activity heating up elsewhere turn out to be true. And she remembers what Luca said about not wanting to form a pack with her until the whole liberation. Though... then again, speaking of such, they haven't fully liberated and uplifted this world yet. The Grove was still no doubt licking its wounds, and the Snows... Well, who knows what's going on there?
Pix meanwhile yawns with boredom. She has mixed feelings about all of this. On one hand, this is a lot more solid and stable than the guild freelancer job she once had, and there was far less chance of her employers turning on her like the last ones did. On the other hand...
This is sooo boring! 
"Still, I suppose it's stable work..."
"Eh, what's that?" Ranii asks at Pix's sudden outburst.
"Wha?" She asks in return, surprised, apparently not aware that she had been talking to herself. "Oh, right, I forget you have good hearin'. Was just talking to myself. That's all."

Luca had been noticing that Ranii has been a bit on edge lately, he wonders why, it's unusual for her to be like this as these are some rather peaceful times. "Is something wrong, Ranii?"

"It's nothing." Ranii shakes it off.
"Ya know it's not good to bottle things up inside, Ran-Ran" Pixie replies soothingly.
"Well, I..." She sighs. "I'm just kinda worried they're gonna recall me one of these days, since things seem to be winding down. I mean, I've grown quite attached to this place, to all of you, and... I really don't want to go. Not yet, anyway." She says.

The Lucario gets reminded of those times she said she would have to go if they recall her, and well, has been giving this a lot of thought for a long time now. To be honest he doesn't want to be separated from Ranii either. "...Can we talk about this when we are off-duty then? I want to tell you something."

"Well, alright." Ranii replies. "Though I should point out you're the one who asked in the first place." she adds under her breath.
"Whatcha gotta say, Lulu?" Pix asks in her usual teasy tone. 

"Eh i would talk here if i could but, it concerns stuff that we can talk about in public." Lucas says to the Vulpix. "You know, Avali stuff..." If it is that sort of stuff, that being talking about things regarding Ranii's true identity, then talking about it out here in the open might really not be an option.
They hear a sound of distress coming from just around the corner, sounded like a shriek from a female. "N-No! Get off! Let me go!" Doesn't sound like something's good happening there.
These sort of noises...the Lucario doesn't like the sound of that at all, he is already going over there to investigate what could be happening.

"Yeah I-" 
Pixie is interrupted as both Luca and Ranii, who also heard it thanks to her hearing, both bolt off in the direction of the noise.
"Hey wait for me!" She yells as she runs off in the direction that they both went, towards whoever or whatever is crying out for help

When they get there they see a Litleo pinning a Ralts against a wall, it looks like he has his arms wrapped around her too...This is very much in public so there are pokémon looking at the incident too. At first this might look like something that Ranii, Luca and Pix might jump to a hasty conclusion given their experience, but the fire feline instead just took a purse the female had behind her before taking off running. So it isn't sexual assault after all, just a robbery.
The Lucario doesn't waste any time and starts going after that criminal, he doesn't plan to let him get away. "Hey, you! Stop!"
What will Ranii and Pix do now? One could stay behind to make sure the victim of the robbery is fine while the other one could go give Luca a hand with pursuing that Litleo.

"Pix!" Ranii shouts, "Stay here and tend to the victim. I'm going to help Luca!"
"Right!" Pixie gives a small nod, and makes her way over to the victim, while Ranii meanwhile leaps away to join Luca in the pursuit. While she is confident enough in Luca's abilities to catch one little teddy-lion theif, having both of them on the chase is sure to provide a swifter end. 
Besides, they don't need two of them comforting the victim. Pixie on her own is more than enough.

This little chase isn't going to be exactly straight forward however. There are obstacles on the way, small crowds of Pokémon that the Litleo runs around to avoid stumbling into. That's also when he looked back and noticed that he was being chased by someone, which got him concerned enough to try to do something to slow down the Lucario. Just before going into a bit of a narrow road the thief saw a stack of boxes, he pulled them as he passed to make them fall on the way to serve as an obstacle for the ones after him.
The Lucario also made some quick turns to avoid running right into an innocent pokémon and inconveniencing both them and himself as a result. When it came to the boxes it was really simple, the Blue Jackal just jumps right over them and keeps on going...catching up to that troublemaker.

Ranii meanwhile, in true pack hunting fashion, attempts to head him off at the pass as it were, using her ears to track the thief's movements and try to figure out where he's going. Once she does that she runs ahead, jumping into an alleyway he's about to take ahead of him and....

The Litleo yelps in surprise, he didn't not expected someone to pop up on his way like that. Still, he makes an effort to go around the Avali to avoid running straight into her, trying to run around her left. What will Ranii do? She has a chance to stop him here.

"Oh no you don't!" Ranii shouts as she sees him trying to get around her. She summons her spear, turns it to her side, and slams into the front of his face broadside, like a bat hitting a ball.

The fire-type cat got hit in the face so hard that it made him backflip before falling down on the sandy ground on his back. He whimpers and whines as he holds his nose with both of his paws.
Luca catches up soon afterwards. "Wow Ranii, I thought you were behind me the entire time." He says to her before looking down at the Litleo before picking him up by the shoulder and forcing him to his feet. "Alright you little shit. We are arresting you for robbery." Though thinking about it, it might be good that they are arresting someone for thievery rather than sexual assault, the severity of crimes have sure dropped quite a bit since the NSR took over. Especially since people actually started being punished for them, by more than just the odd one-off vigilante.
"What?! W-wait! Wait!" The feline starts, trying to beg them. "I won't do it again okay? I promise!"

"Of course you won't, because you'll be in jail." Ranii replies rather snidely.

"Stop being so dramatic, it's not like we will hurt any further unless you do something funny..." The Lucario said as he narrowed his eyes, getting his attitude serious so this thief doesn't try anything. Then he takes the pursuit that the Litleo stole and hands it over to Ranii.  "I guess we better get this back to its owner while we are at it. You okay with splitting up real quick? I will take this guy to jail and you go give that Ralts her coins back."
"No, please...you don't understand! I need that money to pay a dealer!" The Litleo begs again, revealing what he probably stole that currency for. There are still illicit substances being smuggled into Sandstone from time to time after all.
Luca just gives him a few rough shakes. "I'm not gonna let you go just because you keep crying. Now get moving!"

"Alright." Ranii takes the stolen coin purse. "I'm quite sure the little ralts will be more than happy to have this back" She looks back over to the Litleo. "And now we're DEFINITELY not letting you go after saying that." She comments snidely to his bawling about needing drugs. "It's off to rehab with you." She gives a nod to Luca, and then heads back off to where the Ralts was, assuming that Pixie is still there with them.

The Lucario is going to take this petty criminal to jail right away.
When Ranii makes it back to Pix she can see that the Ralts is still there with her. The Pokémon seems to be alright, she wasn't hurt or anything like that.

"I got it!" Ranii shouts to her, and as Pixie looks up, she tosses the bag over, the Vuplix skillfully catches it. "I got it back." 
"See?" Pixie says handing the bag of goods back to the Ralts. "Everything's fine." She pats the Ralts on the back. "Just like we said it would be."
"Did'ya get'em?" Pixie asks looking up at Ranii, who nods in turn as she joins them.
"Yup. The guy even fessed up. Said he stole it for drug money."
"Another one?!" Pixie groans. Indeed, this isn't the first time they've encountered this.
"Afraid so." Ranii sighs in return.

"Thank you so much!" The Ralt is grateful for Ranii bringing back her stolen money, she takes it and nods to her with a smile. "I need this to buy my lunch, thanks again for bringing it back."

Pixie gives her another head pat.
"It's no problem hun. See ya around!" She waves as the Ralts leaves.
"Well..." Ranii sighs once they're out of eyesight. "That happened."
"Yeah. Have to admit, it did break up the monotony a bit, Ran-Ran." Pixie half-giggles.
"True enough." Ranii admits. "Anyway, we should catch up with Luca now and continue our patrol. I'm sure he's done squaring away the little druggie."

The girls stay where they are, they talk and chatter alone for a little bit, at least until Luca comes back.
"Hey you two I'm back, hope I didn't take too long." The Lucario said as he approached. "Hey, so just in the off-chance that you might have something while i was gone. Does the name 'Valentin' ring anything?"

The two of them look at each other and shake their head. 
"Beats me." Ranii shrugs.
"Nope. Nothin' here either." Pixie replies.

"You know the druggy problem, right? We have been trying to look into it, it's odd. At first the drugs were simply coming in through merchants, that is...somehow less so the case now. There shouldn't be these many cases going around with how little of it comes in so it's being smuggled in somehow." The Lucario says. "And the name 'Valentin', rather unusual one I might add, seems to be from someone who is providing most of these drugs. It's been coming up a lot recently..."

"Hmmm.." Ranii thinks a little bit.
"Okay, so what do we do?" Pixie asks. "I mean it's not like this 'Valentin' guy is standing right out in the middle of the road right now waiting to be arrested. Or even in this town."

"Hmmm.." Ranii thinks a little bit.
"Okay, so what do we do?" Pixie asks. "I mean it's not like this 'Valentin' guy is standing right out in the middle of the road right now waiting to be arrested. Or even in this town."

"Well...yeah.' Luca admits, almost sheepishly. "He might be in Sandstone however. The guards back in jail said that they need someone to investigate some leads they have been trying to gather to get to the bottom of this problem. I thought it would be something good for us to tackle."

"Okay, so where do we start?" Ranii asks.

"They say that one of the places where the deal happens is around this inn, perhaps we could check and ask around there if someone knows something." He replied.

"Sounds like a plan" Pixie replies with a nod.

The trio walks to another part of town to start their investigation. The way there was relatively peaceful, things are picking up in Sandstone as the morning goes on. They eventually arrive at the Inn, previously there was just one of those in Sandstone, but with the growth of the town and the coming and going of pokémon thanks to the kick in the rear commerce received with the new power in rule, a couple more of these establishments were made.
"Alright, this should be the place..." Luca said as he looked around. Nothing looks suspicious, at least from out here. "Who should we try asking first? The people around here or whoever runs the Inn...?"

"Well, if we go in and ask the people who run the inn first then the people around here, it might draw unwanted attention starting off. If we ask the people around first and then the people running the inn it might draw less." Pixie suggests.

Luca decides that they will go with that suggestion. "Alright, let's go then."
So the next stop is the Inn, once they are inside they can see that it's a quaint little place.
They are greeted by a Parasect, which looks like some kind of insect with a large mushroom on its back, it has pure white eyes that almost look lifeless... "Oh! Hello! Welcome! How can I help you?" But she sure sounds lively instead of the opposite.

"Hello. What can you tell us about a guy named Valentin?" Ranii asks.
Pixie gives a small facepalm.
"Subtle, Ran-ran. Very Subtle." She comments under her breath.

Even Luca is surprised by how suddenly Ranii jumped the gun there. "I mean..."
The Parasect gasped and trembled a little. Quite a knee jerk reaction to the question. "N-no...?!" She sounds slightly confused.

Ranii looks back questioningly.
"Erm... well, look, I'm not very good at this subtlety stuff." She says with embarrassment.

"Do you know anything about...controversial items?" The Lucario tries to move things on, asking another question.
"Well...i mean..." The Inn owner seems a little bit unsure now. "Are you people with someone...?"
Luca puts on a brave face as he responds to that. "No."
"hhhhmmm..." Is she uncertain? Is she catching on to his lie? It's hard to deal with those eyes of hers. "Are you looking for those things that are getting people addicted then?"
"Yes."
"O-okay then...you gonna have to wait around a bit then."

"Alright, sounds good." Ranii replies with a smile.
Pixie gives a nod.

"Wait, if i might ask, who are we waiting for exactly?" The Lucario asks. He needs a bit of context or he is going to get confused.
"For 'them?' You do know who they are, right...?" It seems like this got the Parasect slightly suspicious. What can Luca say to try to deal with this now?
"...It's my first time doing this. I'm not exactly sure what I am supposed to do." He tries that.
"Ah, I see. Yeah I can see how it can be slightly nerve wracking, sorry about that." Looks like she is buying that. "It's usually a Krookodile and a Nuzleaf."
"Alright I see. Thank you." With that, Luca backs away so he can talk with his two friends a little farther away so they can have some privacy from the Parasect. "Alright, so how do we do this...? Do we tail 'em when they come...?"

"Yeah, that usually works for me." Pixie says. 
"That sounds like it works." Ranii reinforces this notion.

Since they know who they gotta look for, Luca decides to wait outside rather than inside of the Inn. Somewhere where the three of them are the least likely to stand out.
A Krookdile and Nuzleaf, a duo matching this description do show up and go into the Inn, the both of them are carrying bags with them.
"Well, I suppose that is them. Wish we could go there and stop them from selling, but this might be our chance to tail them to the source." Luca says to his two girls. He sighs. "Though to be honest we gotta be a little careful, we don't have clear evidence that they are doing drugs. And if turns out we got the wrong 'mons we might get in trouble..."

"Either way, better to trail them." Renali suggests. "If they are buying or selling drugs, it'll be better to know for sure by trailing them than just arresting them here..."
"And besides, if they are, it's better to catch the big one than some small fries." Pixie adds in.

"Either way, better to trail them." Renali suggests. "If they are buying or selling drugs, it'll be better to know for sure by trailing them than just arresting them here..."
"And besides, if they are, it's better to catch the big one than some small fries." Pixie adds in.

"I just hope we are on the mark...I don't like these 'drug' things. I have a very bad feeling about them."
It took a bit, but the Krookdile and Nuzleaf left that Inn, so that means it is time to start following them. There is just one problem though, on the way out those two seemed a little more alert as they went on their way, they are looking back quite a bit. Lucas' team will have to be careful not to get discovered tailing these two.
The Lucario mingles with a small crowd to blend in and not get spotted. "I was kind of afraid of this...I think that mushroom bug might have told them about us..."

Ranii has taken to the rooftops, being careful to stay out of eyesight and using her ears to track the pair, and Pixie has concealed herself behind some boxes.

When Luca figures it is safe to move again, he backs away from the crowd and continues moving after those two. They proceed to go into an alleyway. Being cautious about this, the Lucario wasn't simply going to turn and follow them straight into the alley like this. Just when he is about to turn the corner he stops and decides to peek instead. He catches a glimpse of the Krookodile turning his gaze in his direction, likely looking back to make sure they aren't being followed. Luca had to stop peeking immediately to avoid being seen. "Shit..."

Ranii has skipped roofs, and tries to stay out of sight.
Pixie seems to be quite adept at sticking to the crowds like Luca was doing a moment ago. It seems this isn't her first time doing this sort of thing.

Those two start moving again, still none the wiser that they are actually being tailed.
Luca took a peek again, seeing that they are moving, as soon they stepped out of the alleyway and into another street, he himself had to run to the other end of the alleyway to careful peek around the corner again...but he has them on his field of vision again, which is where he wants to keep. Aura Sensing just wouldn't work here and now, there would be so many aura signatures that would obscure the ones of those particular two if there was an attempt to use it.
Eventually the Krookdile and Nuzleaf make their way into an old boarded up house, they went in through the back.
This must be the place. Luca walks over to that door they went through and waits there for his two companions to come gather here with him. They did manage to follow too, right...?

He is soon rejoined by Ranii and Pixie respectively, the former gliding in from above and skillfully on two feet, while the other approaches from one of the crowds.
"You know, sometimes I envy you" Pixie comments to Ranii. "Being able to fly."
"Well..." Ranii replies. "It's not really flying, it's gliding." 
The two of them look to Luca, deciding to save that convo for later.
"So... what do we have here?" Ranii asks him.

"Oh, you two followed? Good, i kind of lost sight of you two and though you stayed behind." He said to them before looking at where those two pokémon they were tailing went into. "Well, they came in here. It's a bit of an unusual place, the windows are all locked. I'm not sure we got a lot of options when it comes to going in subtly."

"Of course we followed Blueberry." Pixie teases back, "you didn't think we'd leave you to your lonesome on this?!"
Ranii simply nods in response, Pixie having said exactly waht she was going to say.

"Heh, well I wouldn't know what to do without you two by my side so..." With that said he turns to the door again. He can't think of any other way other than a very direct one. the Lucario reaches a paw over to the door and opens it a little bit. "Hhhmm...it's not locked." He whispered.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Pixie replies excitedly. "Let's see what's going on in there."
"Quietly.. of course." Ranii responds to that. "We don't want to make a racket... at least untill we figure out what's going on."
"Well, yeah, that's what I meant." Pixie responds, unsure of how else her other two friends were supposed to interpret that.

"Indeed, let's take this easy." The Lucario says before opening the door and going in there.
It's pretty dark in there, hard to make out much but it looks like that to their left and to their right there are open doorways they can take. Meanwhile up ahead there are a pair of stairs, one going down and another one going up.
Ranii's hearing picks up sounds from both of the other two floors, so there is presence in both...but there is crying coming from down there.

As much as Luca wants to investigate this though, he is a bit hesitant as they are in the dark place. "We best not separate, let's go over here first..." He said as he stepped through the doorway on their left. He ends up almost tripping on something, which looks like a box. "Damn it..." Actually now that looks around there are a bit too many boxes around here in this room. Why would that be?

Pixie, also noticing the boxes, carefully opens one of the boxes out of curiosity. 

Inside Pix finds something that shows them that they do came to the right place. There is some of that 'snow' in this box, and it is wrapped up neatly and orderly inside of transparent bags made of plastic. So this is what they were looking for, the drugs are here...but there is also a hint of something else that goes even deeper.
"...What is that?" The Lucario asked as he poked at the bag, it's a material he has never seem before. "It's like a bag made of smooth water...?"

"Smooth water?"
Ranii goes over to look at it, as does Pixie. Both of which look at it with a bit of wonder.
"Well, whatever it is, we'd best not mess with it." Ranii suggests. "Leave it for the mop-up to sort out."
"Important part is," Pixie states. "This is indeed the place we're looking for."
"We could just leave now and get some back up to bust this place wide open." Ranii suggests. "But then again... that crying from downstairs does have me worried, and rather curious."

"Furthermore..." Luca looks at all the boxes with some concern. "How did all of these get here? You would think that people at the gate would notice something like this...Let's just see what that crying is about-"
A Door on the second floor swings open, there is light up there that shines down to the first floor, around where the trio came from. There is someone coming down...
"Well, that's all the deliveries done for today, I guess the two of you aren't so useless!" There is a female speaking to someone, she sounds overbearing.
"Well, like I said, today was a little weird..." Another female voice said, this one calmer but clearly holding back anger at the other one's attitude. "Something didn't feel right. That mushroom-head mentioned some potential clients who didn't show up..."
"Hhhmm?" The Lucario carefully walks over to the doorway to take a peek at this conversation. He can see that the Krookodile and the Nuzleaf are there. There is a third one too, a Zangoose, she is talking to the Nuzleaf.

Ranii quickly grabs Pixie who gives a small yip of surprise, and ducks behind some of the boxes out of sight, while still listening in on the conversation above with her sensitive ears.

"A Lucario huh? Not one of our usual clients...I'm going to go tell Valen about this." The Zangoose spoke a name that sounded very close to what Luca's group is looking for, it might even be the name they are looking for, just shortened.
"Right...can we go take a little break now? We really need our 'pick me ups' right about now." The Nuzleaf insist.
"Tch...fine, but only a 10 minute break, you still got more selling to go do." She said, walking away but leaving the door open.
"Come on big guy, let's go get some of that good stuff..."
It would appear that they are coming right for where Luca and the others are now.
The Lucario knows that he's gotta hide, so he quickly went over to the other side of the room to try and hide in the dark.
"Huh...?" Unfortunately, he might have moved a little too fast and made a noise by accident.

Ranii and Pixie remain silent, hoping that Luca's little noise wasn't enough to get their attention. Nonetheless, the former holds out her talon, ready to summon her spear in the advent of fighting.

"...What's wrong? weren't we going to take a break? Come on, I don't want my withdrawal setting in." The Krookdile finally speaks. "If i don't get those pill-thingies i will-"
"Don't worry, we are going to get something." The Dark/Grass type said as she stepped into the dark room, calmly walking and looking around. She is acting naturally but the way her eyes are examining the place, it's clear she is on the lookout for something.
Luca can only hope he doesn't get spotted, for someone of his size, with armor and swords on his back, getting so low to hide behind one of the boxes isn't exactly easy. Unfortunately a glimpse of him is caught.
"...I SEE YOU! YOU BASTARD!" Displaying some rather explosive strength, she picks up one of the smaller boxes of drugs nearby and throws it in the Lucario's direction.
Growling under his breath, Luca moves to the side to avoid getting hit by the impromptu projectile.

"Shit!" Ranii yells as her trusty spear materializes in her hand. She looks back quickly. "Pixie, let's go!"
Pixie nods quickly with a determined look, and along with Ranii, leaps out of their hiding spot.
"Only going to say this one time." Ranii warns the trio, while Pixie readies a flamethrower in her mouth. "Surrender immediately and no one gets hurt. Else, I can't guarantee your safety."

"That bitch got some...iron? stop her from moving!" The Nuzleaf orders to her friend while she reaches for something else to pick up and use as an improvised weapon, that ends up being yet another box.
The sand crocodile gives the ground a strong stomp with one of his foot, for a small moment Ranii and the others were probably wondering what that meant...but then the Avali begins feeling something creeping up her legs...it's sand, it's tightening around her feet and working it's way up. Looks like the Krookodile plans to put her on a Sand Tomb to make sure she doesn't get a chance to use her weapon.
Seeing that she is in danger, Luca is quick to get one of his swords on his paws so he can advance against them, hoping to stop that pokemon from hurting Ranii. "If that's how it's gotta be...!" He tried to take a swing at the Krookdile, but the Nuzleaf got in the way, her box clashing against his sword and getting promptly broken as a result...there was just one problem though, breaking that box resulting in it's contents spraying out into a white cloud of that 'snow' drug that gets on Luca's eyes nose, causing irritations that left him vulnerable as he rubbed his eyes and coughed.
"Hey! what the hell are you two doing down there?!" That Zangoose from before heard the commotion going on, she is certain to be hurrying this way now...

Ranii leaps up off the ground, barely making it in time and causing the attack to miss. She leaps over to a nearby shelf, weapon in hand. 
"Last warning, stand down before I  use this!" She yells.
Meanwhile, Pixie, having no such need for holding back to prevent casualties, shoots a burst of flame from her mouth, right at the Nuzleaf.

"You idiot! how the heck did you missed that?!" What was left of the Nuzleaf's improvised blunt weapon was destroyed by Pixie's fire, and she got burned too. "Graaaahh!" She stumbled back.
"I'm trying!" The Krookodile wants to try to do something against Ranii, but unfortunately there is just no way he could reach her. So he tries to go for a Bite against the Lucario instead.
Luca grunted in pain as his free arm got bitten by the enemy, but he is able to take this attack rather well. And well, Ranii's warning was given and clearly ignored, so he thinks he very much justified to deliver a cut across the chest of the reptilian pokémon, which he does and forces him to back away in the process.
That loud Zangoose finally sees what is going on. "What the hell?! you lead them here, you fucking idiots?!"
"NO I DIDN'T LEAD THEM HERE, YOU STUPID WHORE!" The Nuzleaf angrily shouted insistently to the other female pokémon criminal.
The Krookodile meanwhile, is in pain. He is trying to get the cut on his chest to stop bleeding by pressing on it with his arms. "H....Help...!"

"Welp, tried to warn them..." Ranii turns her trusty spear over to the side. While it's harder to grip like this, it does allow for a non-lethal attack.
Well, mostly non-lethal.
Seeing that Pixie has a good grasp on the Nuzleaf as is, and the Krookodile is all but incapacitated by her Lucario partner's strike, she instead moves to attack the newcoming Zangoose.
With a practiced leap, she leaps from the shelf she had been crouching upon, spear in talon, and takes a swing upon the Zangoose's head.
Pixie meanwhile continues her own attack upon the nuzleaf, determined to remove one more variable from this battle as she readies another flamethrower, which she soon unleashes upon the Nuzleaf.

Ranii almost managed to hit the Zangoose, what stopped her from doing so was that the pokémon was able to use her claws to catch her spear by the shaft, just right under it's blade. "One of you go get Valentin! now!"
"Tch...I'm not going down like this...!" Doing her best to avoid those flames, the Nuzleaf backaway as much as she could, avoiding the blunt of it but not all of it. She leaves the room.
Luca moved in to help the Avali now with that Zangoose, giving the female pokémon a kick in the stomach to throw off her balance and make her vulnerable.

Pixie at first attempts to chase after the Nuzleaf, but realizes that the others are still struggling with the others. So she turns her attention to the Zangoose, and readies a flamethrower for her.
It might be for naught however, as once Luca made his move, the Zangoose has let go of Ranii's spear, allowing her to ready another attack. She doesn't waste a moment of time.
"YAAAH!" She yells loudly as she brings the flat side of the spear around for another attack at the back side of the head.

Now the two of them managed to lay some decisive blows against the mongoose, scorching her back and slapping her across the face with a golden weapon.
The Lucario watched as the enemy was knocked out by Ranii and Pix. But they are missing something, aren't they? "...Where is that other one?"

Ranii looks around, looking for where the Nuzleaf went.
She hears footsteps. The nuzleaf may have thought they had snuck away, but their heartbeat and pitter patter of their feet betray them.
"Through there!" Ranii points to the door where they Nuzleaf left through. Ironically enough, that door being the basement door they had intended to investigate anyway.

As Ranii gets close to there, she can already hear the presence of more than one person in there. At most it would be two counting the two remaining criminals, but there are four down there. Two different voices are crying and panicking, the other two belong to the Nuzleaf and Valentin, who are arguing quite a bit right now.
"What?! Where are they?!" This voice is probably Valentin's, it's a male's voice.
"They are fucking coming..." Now this is the Nuzleaf responding. "But I'm not letting them take me! As soon as they come in here...they are dead!"
"Wait...you don't mean..." Now Valentin is sounding worried. "No! don't even think about using THAT! Can't you see where we are?!"
"I am not giving them the satisfaction...these Sandstone bastards already ruined my life as a Grove Soldier. I'm not going to run anymore even if it kills me."
The Lucario can sort of hear all that's going on down there, but not as much as Ranii. "We going in?"

"Hold up!" Ranii gives the command to both Luca and Pixie.
"What? What is it, Ran-Ran?" Pixie asks, stopping where she is.
"I'm... just hearing some things down there. Sounds like we might have a situation."
"Hostage situation?" The vulpix asks, getting a bit concerned.
"Possibly. But it sounds... worse. Like they have... something." Ranii replies.
"Something? Like what?"
"I... Don't know. They just said 'that'. They didn't say what it is." 

"Huh?" The Lucario looks back at her. "What do you mean?"
The arguing down there gets even more headed. Maybe Ranii will get the chance to get more information.
"This hole we are in is not exactly stable! If you use that move you could bury us!"
"And you think I give a shit at this point?!" The Nuzleaf shouts. "If you are so scared, why don't you run away, huh!?"
"You know very well why I can not do that, they are right outside, aren't they?" The hostilities are rising. "You were too cowardly to explode when you were a Grove Soldier, that's precisely why you are here right now, because you ran away...what makes you think you can do it this time? Because you are cornered? If you go ahead and do it, these two will die too..."
"...You are so quick to try to make me have sympathy using these poor 'test subjects' of yours? You really are the lowest scum, Valentin."

"Test subjects?" Ranii repeats what she hears. "Explode?!"

"Explode?" Luca is confused and concerned now. "Do they have explosives?"

"I'm not sure... It sounds more like he's implying the nuzleaf was going to explode..." She looks at him. "Is that something they can do?" Pixie looks at her and shrugs.

"...Yes." The Lucario remembers something from those times of war against the Grove. "When the Grove started getting desperate, they started making use of a particular species of pokémon well known for being able to use a move that is just that, exploding. I remember we dealt with something like that too."

"It sounds like they've got more than just one down there... if it sounded right, one of them sounded like they have something flammable or explosive down there too."

Luca contemplates on what to do, they can't just back away now, especially if there are people in there that they need to safe. "Well, then we will have to deal with that Nuzleaf before she explodes..." He holds up one of his swords as he reaches for the door handle, he is getting ready to move. "I will do this as quickly as I can..."

"I see." Ranii sighs. She was really hoping it wouldn't resort to casualties. But if that's what it takes...

Luca is going to barge in there in any moment now... The Nuzleaf is caught by surprised when the Lucario came rushing in through the door like that, she was not expecting him to be so fast. But she did tried to use the move Explosion, her body started glowing but before she could go through with it her body got ran through by Luca's sword. "Grraaahh!" Some red sab starts bleeding out through the entrance wound that the sword made on her chest, some of it is coming out of her mouth too. Luca gives a quick look around to see just who else he is here, he spots a Bunnelby and an Azumarill, the former is tied on the corner while the latter is tied to a table in the center of the room. The both of them...don't look alright, at all, they look very malnourished and looks like they are suffering from several types of drug abuse, likely forced on them against their will as the 'test subjects' that got mentioned in the conversation. The culprit of this must be that Meowth over there, he is the only other pokémon here after all, he too looks surprised by the dynamic entry of the blue jackal. "...You think...i'm done...?!" Even though she is at dead's door, the Nuzleaf still looks like she's got something fight on her. "You are coming...with me...Sand scum...!" Even so, she tries to take them with her, but then... 
BANG! 
Something penetrates the dying pokémon through the back of her head, and comes out through her temple, resulting in Luca getting stains of bloody sap on his chest, the projectile that caused that lost most of it's stopping power on it's penetration so it just caused a dent on the jackal's armor when it hit him.
Meanwhile, Luca is standing there in shock. He was not sure if he would had enough time to do it but he was about to twist the blade to try and stop the Nuzleaf from exploding but now she is dead. He looks up and sees that the cat is holding some sort of weapon that he used to do the did, it's barrel is smoking, Ranii should recognize it as some sort of revolver.
"Well...well...she didn't know when to quit, did she? Maybe those strength-based drugs made her a little more brave..." The Meowth said before aiming the weapon at the Lucario. "And who do we have here? If it isn't one of the Sand's 'heroes', to think i would have to deal with the likes of you...but no matter!" He cocks back the hammer on his gun, getting it ready to fire again. "Your iron is nothing compared to this!"

"Guns now?" Ranii says, a little shocked as she enters the room right behind Luca, her partner having ran off without consulting her on a plan. "Really?"
"Erm... Ran-ran... what's a gun?" Pixie asks as she enters the room too behind them.
"It's.... I will explain later." Ranii says without even looking behind her. 
Once she sees the gun pointed at her Lucario boyfriend however, the former swings into action, throwing the spear with all her might, the spear bouncing off of one wall, then the next, before homing onto its target from the top.

The cat was more than ready to move however, he pointed his weapon at them as well, he was holding them at gunpoint so any movement would have him react. And when Ranii moved that's what happened, she had managed to throw the spear but he pulled the trigger way before the spear managed to get to him.
However, instead of Ranii getting hit, it is her boyfriend who takes the bullet, the reason being he dove in front of her with the intent to take the bullet for her. It went right through his armor and into his chest.
The spear did find its mark right through the Meowth's head though, killing him before he could get another shot at anyone.
"Ngh...! Damn it!" The Lucario blurted out in his pain. He is holding one of his paws over the hole the projectile put through his armor, he is bleeding from there too. "That...thing he had, what sort of weapon is that?"

Ranii barely registers the spear taking out Valentine as she screams.
"LUUCAAA!!" She runs over to him, holding him tightly in her wings, Pixie likewise comes over, concerned. 
"B...Balance breaks..." She shudders. "What was that?"
Ranii ignores her, her mind racing with panic. Her spear reappears in her hand, and she begins to chant.
"We should cauterize the wound-" Pixie begins, but stops mid-sentence as she looks over to Ranii. "Erm, what are you doing?"
She gets her answer as Ranii's hand glows brightly, brighter than it ever has before, and before Pixie can ask further, there is a bright flash of light.
For a moment, Pixie, and everyone else in the room can see nothing but the bright flash. When the light fades, Luca's wound is all but healed, the bleeding is stopped, though a bit of the wound still remains. 
"Wow Ranii, you never told me you could do heal pulse." Pixie comments. "Er, Ranii?"
She looks over to her, only to see Ranii lying there, knocked out, having given her all in that heal pulse.

With the pain gone, Luca looks over at Ranii. "Oh no...she must have used a lot of energy doing that." He said as he goes check on her, carefully lifting her up. He sighs before continuing. "It takes a lot out of her but. But i'm alright now thanks to her. I hate to make her worry like this but i just could let her get hit, by that, i thought it would have...killed her if i didn't do that." Now he is feeling kind of awful for having Ranii get worried to such an extend. After a moment he slowly places his Avali girlfriend back on the ground and looks over at the two tied up pokémon, noticing how they look very out of it and even malnourished. "I don't understand...there weren't any missing pokémon reports or anything like these going on around Sandstone." So as he puts it, there wasn't anything even hitting about this Bunnelby and Azumaril that they see before them right here, the town's guards would have heard something and would have been on the lookout for it if that were the case.

Now that Ranii is squared away at the moment, Pixie, while still looking on with concern, joins Luca in inspecting the two captives. 
"Perhaps they came in from somewhere else?" She offers. That's the only explaination that seems to make sense given what Luca has just said.

"Indeed..." He sighs. While that is one possible answer to the question, it also brings more questions. Luca looks at that weapon on the dead feline's hands, he picks it up and puts it away. "Still, I got the feeling that this is going to give us the answers we need. It looks like something our 'benefactors' would like to keep hush-hush though, so I will only show it to Stic. Pix, someone's going to have to stay here and make sure everything stays where it is. Can you go out and call some of the town's guards to help us confiscate all those drugs and arrest those two pokémon who we managed to subdue?"

"I can." Pixie replies with a nod. She takes a step back, still facing Luca as she finishes with "be right back."
With that, she turns towards the door, and runs, determined to get ahold of the closest guards.
Some time later, she returns, a pair of Ampharos and a ursaring behind her.
They spend the next hour getting things sorted out, arresting the two mons the team subdued, taking note of the drugs, and fetching a further team to safely dispose of the drugs, as well as escorting the 'subjects' somewhere safe.

With that done it would come time to get some answers out of his two surviving criminals, and try to talk to the two 'subjects' once they were feeling better, but with their condition that might take a long while.
Luca and Pix took Ranii back to the New Sands capital building, which used to be the mansion before changes started occurring thanks to the fact that Sandstone is the capital of this new nation. Luca got a spot for Ranii to rest at with Pix for the time being, he would go see his father-figure right now concerning the 'unusual weapon' that he found.
The Blue jackal opens the double-doors that lead to Stic's office as he steps in, the Meowstic he is looking for is right up ahead, seemingly just relaxing after being done doing some paperwork.
The cat notices that he has a visitor. "Hello Luca...is there something the matter?" He can already read that this visit might not be something common.
Luca sighs and nods. "Actually yeah, there is, President. We just got done cleaning up a huge concentration of those 'drugs'."
He raises a brow. "A...large concentration you say? How large?"
"We found a room practically filled with boxes."
Stic finds this...troubling, he has been making sure to keep an eye on the influx of drugs, the law doesn't outright forbids it but moderation is very much advised. "I don't remember hearing anything about boxes making their way in. And it wouldn't be easy to simply get it past the entrance..."
"You think they are getting it past the wall somehow with us noticing? Perhaps the checkpoint on the entrance has something to do with it?"
"That it is getting past the wall, yes." The Meowstic nods to that. "But that the ones running the checkpoint might be the problem? No, I'm very certain that there is no problem there."
"I see..." The Lucario rubs his face with a paw. He is really trying to think of just what methods could be used to sneak so many drugs into Sandstone. "There is another matter that I must make you aware of, President." He proceeds to place something upon the Meowstic's table, that revolver that he confiscated.
Stic narrows his eyes. "This is..." He paused and look up to Luca. "Does anyone else know about this item?"
He shakes his head. "Perhaps the pokémon that survived the whole thing in that old structure today do. But I made sure that the citizens and the guards didn't know about it."
"Very good..." The Meowstic sighs in relief. These 'guns' are another can of worms that him and Avali would rather keep under wraps from the general public after all. He once more will need to ask from help from their benefactors, so he turns the Avali drone in the corner which has been there for a while as 'decoration', most that look at it don't suspect it is much. "Khaako, are you there?"

"Here and speaking" The blue holographic image of Khaako shifts into view quickly. "What can I do for you today, president Stic?"

"We might have...a problem." Sometimes it feels like it's one problem after another, ever since Stic was a guild master, he had to find ways to solve problems. Such is life for a leader. "Please look at this. One of those 'guns' were found within our walls. Luca made sure to keep it's existence a secret from those that don't need to know about it, however." He motions to the weapon on his table. "Luca, who else knows about this weapon?"
"Other than us, just Ranii and Pixie." The Lucario responded.
"Good, good."

The weapon weapon is mostly of dark color, with some part of it being made of chrome, such as the cylinder and the hammer. It looks small because of the shortness of the barrel, which would make it easy conceal it. What's more the thing looks like it's...in mint condition, this would mean two things, either the weapon has never seem alot of action or it's owner would be taking very good care of it...and the latter is very unlikely. The chrome parts look fresh enough to even have some shine to it too.

"Hmmm...." Khaako rubs the lower side of her chin as her hologram looks over the weapon. "Unfortunately firearms would not really be my area of expertise. I'd have to call in one of my packmates to have him tell you more about it..."

"Very good." The hologram of Khaako disappears almost immediately after saying that. A little while of waiting later, another avali, one with a short-hair like arrangement of feathers takes the place of Khaako's hologram.
"Hello, I'm Eita. I'm told you had a weapon for me to identify..."
She looks at the firearm. 
"Hmmm can't say I'm familiar with this particular model. Definitely looks factory-new, not one of the old USCM leftovers we've encountered so far. I presume from the lack of wires and the hammer that this thing is indeed ballistic, and not an energy weapon made to look like an old revolver. Also it's some sort of carbon-alloy, so it's definitely not of Novakid make. Wrong shape and size for that anyway, Novakids are all about their 'big irons' and such... If I had to guess, this appears to actually be some sort of civilian model. Clearly meant for carry ability while sacrificing accuracy and range. Which, again, points to it not being a military model of any sort. I'm afraid I cannot really tell from here who the manufacturer is."

"Mmmmm..." Stic looked over the weapon. Sometimes he wishes he could know about this stuff at a certain level so he could formulate proper plans against it, but for now he has to rely on others for that, some who might know about it. "I see. I will have this sent to Sandgun so it doesn't fall on any wrong hands. So Luca, is there anything else to report?"
The Lucario nods. "About this case, the interrogation of criminals, plus some evidence we think we might find out where and how exactly they managed to get all those drugs through."
"Alright, this seems to be a very sensitive matter so I will ask you to keep me updated on it." The Meowstic said to him.
"Yes, of course."

"Oh?" Khaako asks, her curiosity peaked. "What did they have to say?"

"They said they wanted to negotiate a trade deal with us, among other things..." Stic said, sounding like he is wary of it. "I'm skeptical about it. On one hand they were known to have a deal with the previous leadership, so it shouldn't be very different..."
"Do you know about them, Stic?" Luca asked, not having heard much of whoever is being talked about right now.
"What i have heard of it is that there is a city there known as 'Amber', it's located on an unusual island called 'Anchor', it's considered unusual because every island in the oracle sea shifts and turns like the Mystery Dungeons do, except Anchor which is located at the heart of the Oracle Sea. Supposedly it's a 'Jewel of Modernity', with vast farmlands and mines."

"Hmm, if I recall from the reports from the Oracle Sea, the only other place hat was able to accomplish similar permanency was of course the the Dark Isle Base, though the USCM was only able to accomplish this feat with advanced technology, which in turned required the use of a high-end nuclear reactor to keep it, the storm generator, and the rest of the base's electronics and equipment online. Only reason it was still there when we found it was because the robots were still maintaining said reactor even 100 years later. Curious how this 'Anchor' managed to accomplish this without this...
"So, what other things did they want?" She then asks.

"They also want us to accept the stay of ambassadors from the Oracle Sea within our territory for a time."
"What makes you distrust them, Stic?" Luca asks, not seeing much of a problem.
"The only things I heard about the civilization in the town in Anchor sounded like propaganda at best. And I'm wary that they might get the opportunity to exploit our goodwill." Stic explains his reason to not trust The Oracle Sea.
"But are you sure about this...?"
He sighs and shakes his head. "No, I am not sure. I know for a fact that expanding our influence to the rest of the world is what we want, and doing it without conflict is very good. But I would rather know well about who I am negotiating with. I need to know more about how the town of Amber operates, if it's really as prosperous as they say it is and not some illusion. Not to mention they picked a bad time to visit, with us already dealing with a pressing, delicate issue of bandits using weapons more powerful that iron..."

"Indeed... Still, it's worth considering. Maybe we could arrange a visit or something?" Khaako suggests.

"Yes, we will see how that goes." The Meowstic will go with that suggestion. "And that's about what I wanted to discuss with you at the moment, Khaako.

"On a final note, you brought up the guns showing up... I should say that we're still not sure if this is localized to the Sands, or if the miniknog, or whoever else is smuggling arms onto the planet, are smuggling them elsewhere too."

"That's concerning..." Had Seer not shown him that the future would be bright, he probably would be questioning if there was even a chance for this world to have a happy ending with the mounting odds. "I will keep doing what i can."

"I hope to whatever gods the citizens worship these days that it is just a sands thing. But we'll keep all of our ears to the ground and report back if we find evidence of them elsewhere."
And with a nod, the hologram is gone.

"Will that be all, Lucas?" Stic enquired as he looked to the Lucario.
"...Actually, there is something else I would like to talk about, Stic. But it's not related to anything important, it's something personal." He said, mustering up the will for this conversation with his father figure.
The Meowstic already had figured out that Luca here had something on his mind, he is oozing anxiousness which he can feel. "Is something bothering you?"
The Lucario gulps and gives a low now, trying to find the words to speak here. "You remember that time that I became an ace when we were still a guild? I swore I would lay my life down for you to see your dream of a life free of the nobles' grasp come true?..." In the past Luca had not much reason to life other than to serve Stic as gratitude for giving him a purpose. But right now in the present? Luca is a changed mon compared to the cold person he was back in those days.
"Yes, I remember it very well. You have come a long way. I remember finding you that same day you escaped, with nowhere to go...I still wasn't quite a Guildmaster either. It's a pity you didn't get to know Alak as much as I did..." He finished on a solemn note there. 
"...Stic, you did a lot for me, I wouldn't have been here today if it wasn't for you. Otherwise I would have died. I know I have been instrumental to you ever since the times of the guild, you could always rely on me. But..." Now he is starting to falter. "But I would like to be something else...I want to take my relationship with Ranii to the next level, but for that to work out I must join her, join the Avali Illuminate. According to her it might come a time where she will be called to go and she might never come back for several lifetimes. I...I want to go with her, but I don't want to break the promise I made for you. You both mean a lot to me. I understand that there are times when hard decisions need to be made, you taught me that. But I wish I could at least be there for you when your dream came true." He's already shaking from how emotional he is getting.
Stic looks in for a moment before inhaling and exhaling. Seeing what is practically his son facing such an emotional turmoil breaks his heart. He is now going to give a response. "...Indeed, Luca, you were very important to me in the past, you did so much for me, and I am happy for this. But I do not wish to stay in the way of your own life. I understand how much you care for me, I really do. Making my dream come true...it isn't going to happen overnight, or even in the next few years." He remembers the vision Seer had shown him, the one from the far future. "...I'm not sure that I will be there to see it properly." He laments.
"I...I don't understand. What are you saying?" He is starting to sound very concerned about that last part, Luca just can't bear the thought of Stic dying. He always expected to be the one to die for Stic. "...The Avali have something that can make us longer, maybe you can have it too if you join us?"
Stic can figure that Luca's thought's are heading for somewhere dark, and with wishful thinking. He approaches him and raises paws, placing them on his shoulders before continuing. "No. don't think like that. Focus. I can't join you. The New Sands Republic needs me here. I can not leave and you know that. I'm not entirely sure what living a life of centuries is like, I likely can not imagine it even. But as fantastic as that sounds, it doesn't seem like things will be going that way. I'm not going to die anytime soon, I will live my life. And I want you to live your life too, you can't stay focused on me forever, you need to follow your heart."
"..." The Lucario can't hold back his emotions anymore. At first tears began streaming down from his eyes, then he sobbed and hugged the Meowstic tightly as he fell to his knees. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I..." He wants to go with Ranii, but he would also want to stay with Stic. But unfortunately he can not have both...
"There is nothing for you to be sorry for, Luca." Stic can't help but cry too, but he is holding it together. "Like I said, you already did more than enough for me. It's time for you to make your own decision. I won't hold it against you if you decide to go with Ranii, you will go to where no Pokémon has gone before, with someone that cares for you by your side. Staying here is also something you can decide, whichever it is, i will be happy for you."
He had not thought that Stic would be this supportive to him on this. The Lucario took a bit to calm down so he could at least speak again. "Thank you, Stic. For everything. You are like a father to me..."
Stic is honestly happy to hear that he is considered so much to Luca. "Family can be many things, can't it? Even though we aren't related by blood, we got so close..."
"Yeah..." He sobbed a bit more before continuing. "You mean a lot to me." Now having calmed down, he pulled back from the hug and looked to the Meowstic in the eyes. He has made his decision. "I...will go with Ranii, and join the Avali Illuminate." Though he is already feeling conflicted inside once more...He was about to speak again...
"You don't have to apologize for it Luca, it's alright..." Stic reassured him. "I'm proud of you for deciding to choose your way. I understand it's not easy at all. I just hope that the day you have to depart, we can at least have a proper goodbye."
He blinked for a moment and then nodded. He is feeling more serene now with that storm of emotions having calmed down. "Yes, me too. I probably should get going, I might have taken a little too much of your time with this..." He sighs.
"No worries, Luca. It's fine." The Meowstic smiles as he begins walking back to his desk to have a seat. "Be safe, alright?"
"I will." And with that, the blue jackal made his way out of the president's office. Once he had closed the doors behind him, he took a breath and started thinking about what might come next...how forming a pack will be like. He goes to check on Ranii and Pix, he hopes the former of the two has managed to gather enough energy to wake up by this point...