Act 35: Dynamo Sands

Nothing interrupts Duci during her flight, no pursuers from the Grove, and no interceptors from Sandstone.

Eventually Duci had to come down, her wings were getting tired, and the rest of her body too came to think of it. But she sees something of interest down there. The Owl lands on the sands, taking a breather and cursing under her breath about the pain in her behind. She raises her head and looks forward at the entrance of a mystery dungeon. She knows what it is just from the feeling she gets from it, it's from experience. Before going in there though, she needs to get rid of something so she doesn't get recognized...at least as much as possible. This Grove cape of her's...it's gotta go. She simply unties it from her back and let's the cold desert wind take it away. Even though she is not able to walk right, she heads into the dungeon...it's far safer than being out here.

The desert wind takes it away, it disappears quickly into the night. The large dungeon walls and entrance stand forebodingly before the disgraced Grove soldier, now turned deserter. Even back in her homeland, the mystery dungeons were always something of, well, mystery. Never truly able to be conquered, even by the Grove's finest. There is little doubt that this one, 'Dynamo Sands' if the maps were accurate, is any different in that regard.

She keeps going at her own pace into the dungeon, through a narrow hallway. She keeps her ears and eyes open in case something pops up and she needs to be ready to act fast.

She wanders through for some time, the loneliness creeping in, with only the occasional echoing stone falling upon another stone or the rocky creak of the dungeon readjusting itself. Many times she finds herself in a dead end, and is forced to retrace her steps. Perhaps coming here was not the best of ideas? What was she even hoping to find here? 
Suddenly, the sounds of shouts, a few angry ones and a few scared ones fill her ears. They are supplemented by the sounds of feet rushing her way.

Stopping here was the only choice she had right now, she is just trying to find a good place to rest. And she would rather not stop in any narrow spaces or dead ends, she always imagined that the walls could close in on you if you did so. Then when she came across an open space she heard voices shouting, it seemed like they were coming from the other paths that lead into that open space. That sounds like a commotion coming...so Duci decides to step back a bit to just watch from where she is.

"This way!"
Three mons run past her, not even noticing where she is. A Pichu, followed by a Furret, and a Cubone. They look panicked, and Duci is not even able to see what gender they are. Though from their sounds, one might guess that two are female, one is male.
"They went that way!"
"Don't lose them."
"Ha ha!"
More voices, three males this time. And three more mons run past her. A Cacturne A Breloom, and a Goldduck. They have malicious grins on their faces as they run past the ghost-bird. However, there's something very noteworthy about these three. 
They are wearing leaf-capes.

The Decidueye decides to stay in hiding, watching what is happening. She knows those must be Grove members judging by the fact that they are grass types wearing those leaf-capes, but they aren't supposed to be here...which means those must be deserters that managed to escape.
One of the mons escaping, the Furret, is feeling too tired to run, she is slowing down. "Can't...go on..." She whimpered. And to make matters worse her legs give up and she just falls down on the sand. "J-just go on without me...! I'm just slowing you down!"
"N-no! Furret!" The Pichu grabbed one of her friend's paws and tried to pull her along, but she was unable to help her up.
Those three wicked pokemon are guaranteed to catch them now for sure...
The Cubone isn't completely tired, he could still run and leave them...but he doesn't even consider that, he turns back to put himself between the three other mons and his two friends. "Furret! Chuchu! Stay behind me!" Looks like he is going to try to be brave with that bone club he carries as a weapon.

The three Grove members catch up with them, they see the cubone taking a stance, ready to fight. 
"Oh ho, what's this?!" The Goldduck chuckles. "Little bitty boy thinks he can fight us!"
"Ground type against grass and water types?" The cacturne laughs. "You're way out of your league boy. Not to mention..."
They draw their Irons. Looks like they didn't abandon them, though they appear to be in bad shape. Still, they look lethal enough for this.
"We have Iron, and you don't. So hows about you be a good bunch of savages and bend over for us? We promise we'll make it quick."
The Cubone refuses to move.
"Are you stupid?!" The Cacturne taunts with a sneer. "Or do you not know what Iron is, boy?"
"I'll handle this." The Breloom steps forward, cracking his knuckles. He gets into a fighting stance.
"You're not even going to use your iron, Loo?" The Goldduck questions as he notices that the breloom doesn't even take out his blade.
"Nah. Not worth it. Besides..." He grins at the boy. "I'm not really into necrophilia, so I want him alive enough to scream when I stick it in his cute little behind."

Chuchu stays besides Furret, the both of them watching what is going to happen, fearing for their friend desperately putting his life on the line for them...
The Cubone grips his weapon tightly, gritting his teeth. "You think because you have that accursed iron you are strong!?" He angrily yells at all of them. He begins raising his bone club. "This...this is strong too!" He flings it at the Breloom. It wasn't just thrown willy-nilly though, this bone club is going to come back to him like a boomerang.

The Breloom, 'Loo', smirks and  ducks out of the way, the bone wizzing past his head by an inch with a whur.
"Eeeey you missed, pal." He taunts. "My turn." He runs up to the Cubone, quickly hitting the unarmed savage with a headbutt.
"Loo look out." The Goldduck suddenly shouts at him, as the whir of the returning bone grows louder.
Before the Cubone can react, 'Loo' picks him up and holds him in front of him, like a shield. 
"Yeah yeah I got it, Gole."
The Cubone's own bone whacks him in the back of the head.
He then delivers a Mach Punch right to the poor cubone's stomach, causing him to go flying into the sand, right up to the feet of the Cacturne.
"Take my advice kid... Give up. It'll go a lot faster for you and be less painful in the long run." He says. "... Maybe."

In one second the gap between the skill of those two mons was clarified, with the Cubone getting overpowered and handled with ease.
Being left dizzy from the assault on his head and with a stomach ache from that Mach Punch to the stomach. The mon lies on the ground, whining, whimpering and clutching his stomach with his arms. "N...no...i can't...let you...!"
"Stop!" The Ferret cries out, begging. "H-he can't fight anymore...! Don't hurt him..."
Watching this all play out, Duci wonders at first if she should show up, maybe try to command them to stop and open their eyes at the bigger picture. But it looks like these deserters wouldn't care if she did, they might probably think she is here to kill them if they see her. "Hhhrrr...these fools..." She mumbles to herself.

"Heh. Alright. I'll stop fighting." The Breloom picks up the kid. "Besides, me and my buddies have other things planned anyway."
Malicious grins appear on their face as the other two approach the two remaining mons.
"I've got dibs on this boy." The Breloom snarls as he sits down, putting the Cubone on his lap. "Tell me boy, have you ever had a dick in you?"
"I'll take the furret." The Cacturn says. "Always had a thing for big girls." He roughly grabs her with those prickly hands of his, and throws her onto the dirt, getting behind her, his cock already out and ready to go.
"Yeah. I always did like my victims small." Gole laughs.
"J... J..." Chuchu shakily speaks up just as the Goldduck reaches out to grab her. "Just you wait till Big Daddy finds out about this! H-He'll rip you to shreds!"
This causes the others to pause what they are doing, and look at her... before bursting out laughing. 
"'Big Daddy?' The gold duck laughs. "What, is he some big scary Raichu or something? Oooooh! Oh no! Not Big Daddy! Sabe me from the big scawy waichu, Loo!" He jokes.
"Oh noes! Big Daddy's coming to kill us!" The Breloom laughs. "Big strong electric or ground type? Oh no! I might have to actually use my Iron!"
"N-No! He's not those things, he's-" 
Before ChuChu can explain, suddenly there is a loud, metallic screech in the distance.
"... He's there." She points to a cliff face some distance away. Sitting atop it, clearly visible in the dark, are a pair of glowing, yellow eyes, connected to an unknown creature. But whatever it is, it's big. 
Whatever it is, it leaps off the cavern walls as blue flames eject from its feet, assisting in its long jump. The creature lands in front of them, on two feet and one hands. It looks at them with an infuriated expression. What's now standing in front of them, is no mon they've ever seen or heard of before: an easily 8ft tall, hulking, serpent-like metallic monstrosity.

"Big Daddy, help us!!" The Pichu cries as she makes a break for him.

That screeching spooked them, and got them confused. Then they looked up at the eyes up there...before this tall metallic creature jumped down and landed in front of them.
"What...what the?!" Loo exclaims, surprised by this creature he never saw before. And it seems to be angry at them too. "Who the hell are you?!" He keeps holding on to the Cubone now, intending to use it as a hostage.
The Cacturn's very intimidated by the size of it. "I-it doesn't look friendly!" He looks at the Golduck. "D-do something about it! You are the one who got all the psychic powers!" He stays on top of the Furret still, not letting her go.
The Golduck didn't even try to pick up the Pichu, he was frozen in place by the sudden arrival of this tall creature looking at him like it wanted to kill him. He only snapped out of it when he got yelled at to do something, in which case his shaking hand grips the handle of his iron sword, pointing it at 'Big Daddy.' "S-Stay back! Or I'm gonna cut you open!"
Their bravado evaporated rather quickly.
The Decidueye isn't far from the action but even from here that strange serpent-like creature seems terrifying. What is that anyways? She never saw something like that. An unknown creature...this makes her think back to the times when she was in Sandstone, that one individual, Ranii...she didn't look like any pokemon she ever saw or heard of either. Are these...really Pokémon?

The Pichu runs over to 'Big Daddy', the creature, and wraps her arms around his legs. He responds in kind leaning down to hug her briefly and patting her on the back before lifting her up and putting her on his shoulder. 
"Hold on, little 'chu." It speaks in a metallic, yet very reassuring voice. "I will save your friends."
His expression changes to an angry snarl as gets back up and surveys the situation. His eyes look upon the Goldduck, then the Cacturn on top of the Furret, And finally upon the cubone. 
"Attention bandit scum." The creature yells. "You have been found committing illegal acts within a restricted space. To my friends, no less. Relinquish your hostages and weapons, and surrender yourselves, and you will be shown mercy as prisoners of war, as per the Kentaries 3 Accords. Should you fail to comply, I am authorized to use deadly force, and I will do so."
"Get'em Mr. S!" ChuChu cheers on from her little perch atop of 'Mr. S's shoulder. 

"As if!" the Breloom scoffs at Mr. S. "There are three of us, and one of you! Size means nothing against Iron!" He said that to rally the other two.
"Y-yeah! I will just have to cut your neck open and that will shut you up!" Even saying this, the psychic duck doesn't dare get close, instead trying to attack the enemy by squirting water from his hand at him with use of Water Gun!

The creature simply raises its own hand, the water splashing around it, the pressure from the blast proving to be no obstacle for it whatsoever as he walks towards it. 
Pichu however gets splashed from the backblast, so she hides behind the serpent's large head.
Despite the fact that it is walking rather than running, it is upon the Goldduck within moments. It grabs its hand, gripping it tightly. so tightly that a sickening crack is heard throughout the dungeon. The Goldduck is lifted up by his now crushed wrist and is forced to look into the machine's eyes. 
"Lethal force... Authorized." It hisses loudly. 
"Kill'em!" Chuchu yells. 
Its other hand shoots towards the Goldduck's neck, gripping just as tightly. It barely gets time to choke as its windpipe is quickly crushed with a gurgling snap. The Goldduck falls limp, and the Synth drops it into the dirt.
"Correction." 'Big Daddy' taunts as he turns towards the remaining two. "There are two of you, and one of me."

That Golduck died in a matter of seconds, and it wasn't even because he was stabbed with Iron, but from the bare hands of this creature instead. The remaining two mons are shaking in terror, so is the one hiding and watching all this.
"That...that idiot! He could have stabbed him in the arm!" The Breloom angrily shouted. He then looked to the Cacturn. "F-Fine then, you...run at him and stab him!" He orders.
After witnessing this though, the cactus is more interested in self-preservation. "Hell no! Do I look like I wanna die?!" He also starts making use of an iron sword of his own, but instead of turning it against Mr. S he points the tip to the back of the neck of the Furret he is on top of. "If you get one step closer to me, I will kill her!" He threatens.

The synth stops in his tracks and looks at them.  The Pichu, suddenly worried, whispers something into his ear. The synth whispers something back, but the others can't hear it. THey can barely make out a "are you sure?" from Mr S, and a nod from the Pichu.
"Alright." His attention turns back towards the Caturn. At first, it looked like their threat worked. The large synth backs away, slowly...
Only to suddenly raise its foot, and kick a large cloud of sand and dust straight at the caturn's face, unfortunately also blinding the furret. 
"PIIIIII!!!" A shout is heard as from behind the large metallic being, Chuchu unleashes an electric attack, right into the synth itself! However, rather than hurt the strange creature, it seems to invigorate it, to give it a power boost as it uses the opening provided by the sand cloud to leap over to the Cacturne, much as how it entered the fray in the first place. 
With an enraged metallic growl, it lifts the cactus up, its natural spines being no obstacle to the metallic creature. 
"Boone, duck!!" The 'chu shouts, as only a second later, the Cacturne is sent flying directly at the Breloom.

While the Furret was left blinded on the ground, the Cactus got picked up and began screaming in fear. Then he got tossed at as a projectile towards the Breloom and the Cubone.
Boone ducked and Loo dove out of the way, the latter was already planning to escape the moment the Cacturn began screaming. With the Cactus missing them both and hitting a wall instead, now there is only one remaining. The Breloom thinks this is not worth it anymore, he wants out of here, right now...and it really shows how much he is panicking. He begins running towards one of the narrow hallways that lead out of this open space.

"Oh no you don't!" The synth goes to all fours and charges after Loo, running after him, his front pair of hands and back legs moving back and forth like a quadruped animal. 
"Weeee!" Chuchu yells as she hands onto 'Big Daddy' with one paw, she raises another in the air, clearly enjoying riding the big synth like a horse way too much for her own good.
The ride doesn't last long before the Breloom turns a corner, only to end up in a dead end with a very angry synth blocking the only exit. He's soon joined by the other two dungeon dwellers by his side.
The Synth rises to his feet, staring down the now trapped Breloom deserter. Rather than advancing upon him, it raises a hand in front of him, palm out, and then curls its fingers back and forth, wordlessly taunting and daring the breloom to attack him.

"Y...you! You monster!!" Filled with fear and desperation, the grass type reaches his iron sword in his hand and goes swinging rapidly towards this powerful creature that has effortlessly beaten two other pokémon. Hoping that Iron can finally put down this mighty foe. "D-DIEEE!!"
Meanwhile, The Decidueye takes this chance to pass by that open space now that it's free, looking down at the corpse of the Golduck for a moment before heading into a different path. She would rather be as far away from that thing as possible.

A clatter echos throughout the dungeon as the Iron makes contact with the metallic beast.  There is a large scratch on the beast's metallic plate. But no penetration. Not to mention the sword is even more damaged than before.
The synth looks down at the sword with a grimace. 
"Weapon material: Iron. Feared by pokemon throughout this world. Condition: Poor. My body's material: 95% Durasteel. Condition: Optimal. Odds of damage by this weapon..."
He yanks the sword out of the Breloom's hand. He holds the weapon on its flat side, one hand on the base of the blade, the other at the middle section of the blade, on both ends by his thumb, pointer, and middle finger.
"Zero percent!" He says as he casually snaps the weapon like a dry twig, and tosses both pieces behind him. He then advances towards the now clearly doomed deserter.
Meanwhile, the Duicideye is walking along when she hears another set of footsteps coming her way. Not heavy like before, but much lighter. 

The former Grove soldier has his back against the wall, he is now absolutely terrified of this thing. All he can do is scream and beg not to die as he curls up in the dead end.
---
Duci stopped in her tracks when she heard the footsteps, looking in it's direction to see if she could make out what was the source of it. If it's dangerous she could try flying, there is no ceiling after all. Hopefully it's just another dungeon savage that she can ignore...

Something that goes ignored. He had his chance earlier, and he blew it. The crack of bones and a scream reverberates off the walls of the dungeon. So loud that even Duci can hear it. And with that, the final deserter is dead.
Duci however has her own issues. Namely, who those footfalls belong to. As the source comes into being, she can make it out. 
It's more of those strange not-hawlucha creatures, like Ranii, but of different colors, and wearing some sort of strange bodysuit outfits and headgear, and seem to be equipped with some sort of strange white angled weapons, much unlike what she saw back at sandstone. They are running right straight to the location where the giant snake-like creature is.

Upon spotting them, she realized that this dungeon might be more than meets the eye, and that is saying something. She swiftly spreads her wings and uses them to jump out of this narrow path, taking advantage of the fact that this place has no ceiling to hide up on the cliff and let them pass...if they don't spot her already ascending.

Luckily for her, it seems they're neither looking for her, nor noticing her. They run right past her. Three of them, plus one Eevee. Also in one of the strange bodysuits.  It seems they're running towards that giant lizard thing, but for what reason, she cannot yet ascertain. Just when it looks like they're past, something strange follows them. Some sort of strange flying metallic object with 'box' like body, two vertical yellow 'eyes', two 'fins' on the bottom of it, an da strange thing sticking out the bottom of it, something that looks almost like the items the not-hawlucha and the eevee were carrying. It sports two circular "wings" that keep it aloft, but never flap. There it is apparently staying afloat by pushing air down from its circle-wings somehow, as it's kicking up a small amount of sand in its wake. 
It looks suspiciously like that strange 'paperweight' that the Sandstone leader had on his desk in his office.
Unlike the others however, notices her. It turns to her, and turns towards her, and hovers up to her eye level.
It 'stares' at the ghost-bird for a few tense moments, before a voice shouts at it.
"Drone, stop screwing around and come on!"
The 'drone' gives a beep, and leaves, hovering sideways while it turns, and rejoins the strangers.

Duci watched them pass by until she saw the drone, which got her attention as she saw it before back in Sandstone... when it flew towards her she stared at it in shock until it went away. Following this event, she turns around and hurries along, looking for another path of the dungeon she can descend into.

As she does not pursue the drone or not-hawluchas, she does not see the end of that encounter, nor does the 'drone' return.

At last she found a quiet enough place to stop, it's a bit of a dead end, and it's narrow... but it doesn't look like she is going to find any better place. Hopefully it's isolated enough. She just lies down on her front, here on the sand. She is hoping tomorrow she feels a bit more rested to come up with a plan.

The morning comes, as does the desert heat, even in this place. However, a semi-loud buzzing fills her ears. The same kind of noise she heard yesterday.
It would appear she's not alone.
"Hey, wake up."
... Yup, definitely not alone.

She shook a little as she woke, her eyes open wide as she tried to think of something. She decides that she is going to try and pretend she is local... it's not the best idea but it's the only one right now. She raises her head and looks in the direction the voice came from.

It's those not-hawluchas and the giant snake thing from before.  The buzzing is coming from that machine that is following them around.
"Hey lady, are you alright?" One of the not-Hawluchas in the strange white metal outfit says to her. It's clearly male, and from its head, it's light brown with black tones. It's sporting something of a mohawk. "The drone picked you up last night and it looked like you'd suffered some injuries or something."

Seeing that giant snake thing so close scared her stiff. If he grabs her she is certainly going to die, isn't she? Though it appears they want to help her..."Yes. I was...raped."

"Oh no..." One of them, a slightly bluish cream colored one with red and purple headtones and fluffy 'hair', a female, says in shock.
"Hmm... let me guess, another one of those damnable Grove bastards, huh?" The first one says. "I am sorry, we do try our best to protect people from them, but there's only so much we can do at a time around here."
"You should allow Eilali to have a look at you." The giant snake-like metal beast says to her in a metallic, yet very concerned voice. He nods to the third of the not-hawluchas, a black-colored one with light blue outlines and a white 'cap', sporting what appears to be some sort of long 'ponytail' behind them. Said not-hawlucha steps forward, a bag in hand. 
"I can check and patch up injuries quickly here, but I'll have to take you back to the base for a more thorough analysis."

"Yes...it was one of the Grove." And she can say that with absolutely certainty, since that was exactly what happened. Though it looks like things are going well so far, they are going to take her to their base...it got her curious. "I'm... not sure I can get up. It really hurts back there..."

The black avali, a female by the sound of her voice, takes out a strange looking thing from her bag. It looks vaguely like some sort of magnifying glass, but it's got some sort of yellowish glass, and some doodads on the outside of it. She clicks a button and gives the Ducieye a once over, looking through it as she gently inspects her. First at her face and eyes. She gently takes her face and tilts it to one side, then the other.
"formerly dislocated jaw. I'm guessing your rapist hit you in the face before doing the deed." She comments, before she lets go of her face and inspects her backside, traveling down her body with that device of hers.
"If you'll pardon me for asking while she's doing that," the light-brown one says. "I don't believe our pack has seen a 'mon like you in this dungeon before. What exactly are you?"

That strange item this not-Halucha is holding, how is she using it to figure out her injuries? Well, there shouldn't be harm in being honest to that. "I am a Decidueye ." She replied.

"I see." The brown not-Hawlucha says. "And what kind of type or types are you?"
"The one or ones who did that to you, what were they? Did it happen in or out of the dungeon? Do you know where they are? Are-"
"Rali!" The brown Hawlucha turns and snaps at the 'white' one. "Don't overwhelm the poor girl."
"S...Sorry." Rali comments. 
"Sorry about that. Rali can get kind of... excited when it comes to this sort of thing. Avali's protective instincts and all that." He comments. 
By now the black one, Eilali, is checking out her rear with that device. 
"Oh dear." She says. "there's some internal damage alright. Especially around the anus. though a bit around the vaginal opening too." She says as she gets up. "Yeah... we're definitely going to have to take you in, madam."
"Right, what she said." The brown one, whom Duci still doesn't know the name of, says. "Oh, and you may call me Nezo." He nods towards the snake creature. "And that big guy there is 'Seph'. Though the locals around here just call him Mr. S. or 'Big Daddy.'"
"I will help you up and or carry you." Seph announces as he draws near.

She looks up Seph as he approaches, remaining calm, which is taking some effort after what she saw him do to those other members of the Grove. "A-alright."

Seph, despite his appearance, is very gentle as he picks her up. He holds the Decidueye bridal style, allowing her to lay on those large arms of his. 
Nezo puts a finger to what seems to be one of his four ears, and nods. "Pos that command, returning to base with a 261 in need of med-a, over."
He whispers something else but Duci can't make it out from there.
"Alright packies, let's hustle back to base with our guest. 84-1, guide the way."
The drone beeps, and turns. The rest of the team nods and they set off at a brisk pace towards... somewhere. They follow the drone, if one were to guess, it was following them.

The way they speak confuses the Decidueye  a little, why are they talking about numbers? What's a 'med-a'? She will probably find out soon enough, wherever they are taking her right now.

Nezo puts his finger to his ear as they're following the droid. "Veers? Double back."
There is a pause as they walk. 
"I know that. But that's an order." Nezo talks to the air again.
He looks back at Duci.
"Sorry, trying to communicate with another team mate that got separated, thanks to a dungeon readjustment. Luckily we should be meeting up with him shortly."
A while later, they hear a voice come up from behind him.
"Nezzoooo!!" Another voice, a small but male one cries from a turn as they come a four-way fork in the road. An eevee, the same one Duci saw with them the day before, runs up to him. They stop as the Eevee bends over and pants from exhaustion.
"Thank the Ma-The Nexus I finally found you back!" He pants. "I..." He pants. "I thought I'd lost you guys. I thought The Maze would have taken me away from you guys for good!"
"Hey hey calm down Veers." Nezo comes down and pats his back. "You know we weren't going to abandon you to the maze. We would have come looking for you eventually."
Rali comes over and hugs him, and he hugs her back tightly.
"Besides." Seph adds. "If push comes to shove, you could have just beamed back to the-"
"Not in front of our p-uh, guest!" Nezo says as he cuts off Seph's advice with a throat cutting motion.
"Oh. Right." Seph looks at Duci apologetically. "Sorry, but that's privileged information."
"Oh... Uh... right." Veers puts his paw behind his head in embarrassment.
"Take a drink of water and catch your breath, buddy." Nezo tells Veers. Veers takes a canteen. He frowns as he shakes the thing. 
"I'm out." He whines.
Rali rolls her eyes with a smile and hands him hers. 
"Sometimes I wonder how you survived at all without us, Veers." She jokes as the eevee takes a drink from the canteen.
"I really don't want to answer that." Veers tells her as he finishes his drink. He puts the cap back on the canteen and hands it back to Rali. 

Rali takes it back from him, and gives him a small peck on the cheek. A small blush forms on the eevee's cheek. 
"Anyway..." Now with his breath caught and his thirst satiated, he finally notices the elephant in the room. Or rather, the Decidueye in the serpent's arm. "Who's that?"
"A victim." Nezo says to him.  "We found her while out looking for you. We're taking her back to the base for medical attention."
"Is that such a good idea?" Veers asks. "I mean, she kind of looks like-"
Nezo suddenly grabs him and turns him around, and there is whispering. A while later, Veers turns around.
"M-My apologies mam. I... I know what that's like." He says. 
"Anyway, now that everyone is here, let's get going." Nezo announces. Everyone nods and they continue their journey.

Duci remembers seeing Eevee from yesterday, and it seems he is dressed up just like these not-Hawlucha, so he must be with them. She listened to their back and forth talking in silence. This 'Nexus' caught the Owl's attention though. "What is the Nexus...?"

"It's... " Seph pauses, he is unsure if he should explain it to her or not.
"It's the newest dungeon dweller trend." Veers explains. "Ever since everything starting going weird, a lot of people started worshiping it instead of The Maze. I mean... really, what has The Maze ever done for us?" He says a bit angrily. "And before you ask, yes, I used to be a dungeon dweller. I suppose I still am in a manner of speaking."

Dungeon Dwellers worshiping something other than the maze? This is certainly extremely unusual. She then looks up at Seph, and the not-Hawlucha before asking..."Are you the Nexus...?"

"Hahaha no." Seph laughs as they continue to walk along. 
"Na, they just call him 'Big Daddy'." Veers says. 
Something in the distance can be seen jutting tall above the rocks, a pair of big, long metal things, pointed up towards the sky, separated from each other by a space in the middle. 
"We're almost there." Seph says encouragingly. "Once we're there we'll check you in, and get you some medical care, a meal, and allow you to rest."

"What is that?" Duci asked after she laid eyes upon those metal things pointed up at the sky.

"That... keeps the rapists and scumbags from The Grove out of Sandstone." Ralitells her with a smirk. "Very effectively, I might add."
"Sadly it also means we've been getting a lot of Grove deserters in here as of late, thinking they can just come in here and do here what they can't do in Sandstone." Eilali sighs. "Like that trio we dealt with yesterday."
"You mean the trio that Seph dealt with yesterday." Nezo corrects. "By the time we arrived on the scene it was already over. Yeah, Seph tends to take that whole 'Big Daddy' thing to heart."
"It can't be helped." Seph says in his defense. 
"We know big guy, we know." Nezo sighs.
They come across a large wall, with what seems to be a metallic door built into it.

"..." Those... large metal things, they 'very effectively kept the Grove out of Sandstone'? She is beginning to realize that the source of that rain of death...must be here, it must have come from those things. So it's these individuals that are aiding Sandstone from afar with highly destructive powers. To say that Duci is feeling tense right now is an understatement. So this must be their base? behind those strange doors? What could it be like on the other side?

The brown not-hawlucha touches the side of his head, and a loud buzz rings out just before the door opens. The drone, which upon arriving at the base has moved behind them, lands on the ground, its wings folding up as the blades inside of the drone slow and then come to a complete stop. Eilali picks up the drone and carries it with her.
They step through the now open door, the large serpentine creature having to duck down a little to allow himself entry. However, he is careful not to drop the Decidueye in his arms as this happens.
The sight before them... there are various tents, a few buildings made out of unknown materials. All surrounded by the maze walls, which looks like they have tried to intrude upon this place, but for some reason, have failed to do so. And then there are of course those things. More of those not-hawluchas running around, and a few mons, mostly ground, normals, and electric types. 

But what catches her eye immediately is the two things she saw from the outside... though now she stands corrected: they aren't two things, they're one giant one. Two halves of a split tube, connected to a longer base at the rear. She couldn't have seen them from the outside, but some sort of dark yellow translucent stuff is inside of the halves, some sort of "rails" or something. THere are strange tubes  and large protrusions from the sides and back of the device, themselves holding large translucent 'fins' of some kind.  As to what purpose they serve, it is impossible to tell. 
What she can tell is that the translucent bits aside, it is made of metal. Not Iron, but something else entirely. As is everything else around here outside of the tents. And it is white, clean looking. mostly untouched by the sands. Again, like everything else around here.

The sheer size of it leave her in stunned silence. It's like nothing she has ever seem before. She can't make heads or tails of it. Whoever is helping Sandstone, she is convinced that they can't be from these lands, maybe even not from this world...

"Well, here we are. And now-"
"Ah, hello there." A surprising sight catches their view. A leafeon, a male approaches them. "Welcome back Nezo." he hugs the little not-hawlucha and the two share a friendly kiss, before turning to Duci.
"I see we have company."
"Yes. We found her in the east quadrant while looking for Veers." Nezo replies.
"I see. Did you get lost again?" The Leafeon teases the little eevee, who looks away ashamed. He strokes the eevee's hair. "Hey don't worry little buddy, it happens to the best of us."
Veers looks back and smiles at him, like a little brother looking up to a favorite bigger one.
And yet, there is something... frighteningly familiar to the Decidueye about this Leafeon, and his voice...

The Decidueye  stare at the Leafeon the moment he came into view, what's with the familiarity of it? Has she seen him before? "Who are you?" She asks him.

"Oh me... I'm here to officially welcome you to Sandgun base...."
His eyes narrow, and a malicious grin creeps across his face.
"...Commander Duci."
The moment he says that, the door she just entered slams shut. And locks with a loud buzz.