Act 37: Visitor

A week and a quarter passes. Easani continues to caretake for Duci, her pain is starting to fade, and they talk more and more as time goes on. In Sandstone, the beginnings of the construction plans take shape. Infrastructure that the previous nobles neglected, or simply never thought to implement began to get built. A mass literacy campaign is underway. Training is underway for the upcoming campaign. The teleporter was also built, allowing fast travel between the dungeon base and the manor. While it is restricted to certain personnel at the current time, plans are being drawn for a public version. Unbeknownst to everyone, a certain visitor from another guild is making their way towards Sandstone at this very moment.

Arriving in Sandstone is some group of merchants from the towns to the north, bringing in supplies in their carts such as food, drinks and other things to be sold. They were allowed in town of course. Though among them there is also someone else in particular.
It's a Oshawott with a red cape with a guild badge with a small black gem in the center. He travelled with this caravan since they were going to same way, and so he could provide protection to it as well, with times being how they are in the lands of Sands these days...Regardless, he is now at his destination so he parts ways with the caravan, he came to visit this place, the reasons? 
Against all odds Sandstone survived not one but two Grove offensives, and it's still standing, furthermore there is also been talk of change happening to it despite of that. The first thing the Oshawott came to notice was that above the entrance there are more guards stationed there, and they also seem to be armed with things he never saw before, but something in his mind is sure that these are weapons...new weapons that the pokémon here are using. This is already starting to feel suspicious...but he won't bet getting anywhere if he just stays here, so he decides to go into the town.

As he walks throughout the town, he sees various construction projects going on. For what? He doesn't know.
However, a certain partner of his is growing quite restless.
"Remind me why we're in this hole again?" A blue female Riolu by his side grumbles. "Last time we were here we escorted a pair of savages begging for a handout."
Hearing the word 'savages' gets her a few looks. And not very good ones. 
If she were a little more observant, she would quickly notice something about some of these not-so-friendly stares. Their owners do not have badges of any kind on them.

The other partner, a male Drillbur, got surprised by how many stares came their way from the riolu's comment. He hopes this doesn't mean trouble.
Yes, the Oshawott remembers how that scuffled got their Drillbur friend wounded by a cut from iron by a Raichu's blade. And even though things turned out the way they did he still helped that Eevee and Linoone even though they were probably lying. He sighs and looks at Riolu. "Because there is something strange going on here, Lu." He then noticed how they are being looked at by the mons around them, and the fact that they don't have badges. He is quick to deduce that these must be mons from the dungeon, were they allowed into town? "Come on, let's go." He will have to think about this a little, right now he is focusing on getting around a corner with his two partners to get out of the line of sight of those pokémon. "...I think those Pokémon must have come from a dungeon. They did not have badges with them." He says to them. Not to mention the fact of how they reacted to the word 'savage', pokémon that live in town seldom react like this.
"What?" Burr sounds surprised by his statement. "A-are you sure, Sebastian?"

"Are they seriously letting savages run around in town now?" Riley grumbles to herself. It seems she hasn't really changed much since the last time, when against all reason, they saved a group of savages from getting raped. Part of her wonders what became of them, but most of her doesn't care.

"That one." Burr points to that Sandile with one of his claws.
That sounds like an option, hopefully that mon is not too busy to trade a few words. "Yeah, let's go ask that one." Sebastian and his companions go to him, he makes sure to walk at a slow pace so he can talk with the Sandile as they go. "Warm days." First he starts with the greeting.

"Warmer still." The Sandile waves as continues to push the wheelbarrow, not quite aware yet that they intend to talk to him.

"I hope I'm not bothering you right now but...what has been going on around Sandstone lately?" The water type asks him. "Things seem pretty different here since my last visit, so I am curious." 

"Ah, out of towners, eh?" He stops and puts the thing down. "Yeah, things have changed quite a lot since the Four Eyes took over." He says. "Construction projects all over. Like the one I'm hauling these bricks to."

"What? The 'Four Eyes' took over?" Burr whispers a question to Lu as he listens to this. "This...this sounds pretty strange..."
The Oshawott was left wide eyed for a moment. These 'changes' are starting to sound more radical than he expected. "Excuse me...? The Four Eyes took over? Wait...what happened to the nobility?"

"They all died in the 1st Grove attack..." He pauses for a small moment before speaking. "If I'm to be honest, and since I'm in no danger whatsoever of being carted off to the Lord's jails for saying this, but... We're all much better off without them."

So the nobles of this town died and these 'Four Eyes', a local guild he wages, took over. He also speculates that some other sand nobles didn't try to take these lands for themselves because they have bigger things to worry about, that of course, being the Grove. This new leadership might explain why there are mons from the dungeon walking around the town, but he doesn't know these 'Four Eyes' enough to know where they stand exactly compared to the past nobles. Sebastian decides to ask something else now. "I see. These construction projects then, what are they for?"

"Well, the one we're building is a school. I heard there's supposed to be some sort of food-growing building on the other side of town. There's also a San-A-Tear-e-um or... I think that's right? Going up somewhere too. Housing. That sort of thing. And a bunch of other things that I'm not exactly sure what they are."

These are...surprisingly good news. The Four Eyes intent to grow food and provide education to the common folk? This does sound pretty good, it's something he could only dream of happening in a society of this world. However deep inside there is this feeling saying that this is 'too good to be true'. "Alright, thank you for your time." With that, Sebastian goes back to his two partners.
Burr is the first to speak. "So, what do you think?"
"It's...amazing." He sounds content, yet cautious, he still gotta get to the bottom of this before . "They are making a place to teach things to others, working to get the citizens fed...these are things nobles would say are 'irrelevant' and not care." The Oshawott says before thinking again. "Although this 'San-A-Tear-e-um' sounds like something new to the locals, I can't quite figure out what this word means."
Unknown to them, there is someone watching them, someone that is close but hidden amongst the mons moving about their daily lives.

With that knowledge in mind, and unbeknownst of their follower, they continue on, noting more 'savages' running around.

After investigating the town, the water type thinks it is logical to go see how the seat of power of the town's nobles, the mansion, is faring. When he was about to set out there though, he comes across something on the streets...or rather, someone.
It is a black and white Linoone, she is in the middle of the busy street, glaring at them. Just so happens that she is also on the path they will be walking by. "...You want to know what's going on here, don't you?" She said, her tone seems a little...venomous. And before any of them could say anything, this stranger turns around and starts heading towards the mansion. "Come."
"What's up with her?" Burr asked, wondering what was up with that just now.

"Beats me." The Riolu among the group gets a bad feeling about her, but not being able to read her aura yet, she can't confirm anything about this Linoone. "Though, she does seem a little... out of place. I thought the black kind of Linoones weren't from around here?"

The Drilbur agrees with that statement. "Are we really going to follow her, Sebastian?"
"Yeah, but if she tries to lead us somewhere secluded we go our own way." Even though the Oshawott agrees to follow after that pokémon, he is going to be alert about it, they don't need to be led into an alley where someone might try to rob them.
So far everything seems to be going alright, that Linoone is heading towards the mansion with them following some distance behind. Eventually the group of mons can see the front doors...with a Lairon guard lying on the ground close to it, there is no blood though so he must have been knocked out.

"What happened here?" The Riolu asks, getting less comfortable by the moment.

Sebastian and Burr are also very aware that something is not right here. What's more, that Linoone stopped, turned around and pointed to something behind them.
Something is approaching behind the trio of mons, eyes behind darkened lenses looking at their backs. There is the sound of footsteps too. "'What is going on here?' you asks?" A smug sounding voice from a male begins speaking. "Well pumpkin, i'm not sure if you or that little mole over there are going to understand it, But you don't have to."
Sebastian turned around to face whoever this was, and to his surprise and utter shock it's human, a genuine human. It's a man sharply dressed in a black suit, very contrasting with everything around him, it's like he wants to make himself stand out in a place such as this. Even though his hair seems white and devoid or color he doesn't look very old. He also has a pair of sunglasses on, so making out how his eyes are like is not really possible. As for the Oshawott, is he left speechless...frozen in place.
"H-huh?!" The Drilbur exclaims in surprise when he saw it too, he is just confused at what this creature is as he has never seem it before...what's it even dressed in?

"Wh-What is that?!"  Riley asks in fear, putting up her dukes ready to fight, but backing away slowly.

For the moment there is only silence, the man doesn't say anything, the Linoone goes around everyone to go to this new stranger's size, Sebastian looks like he is...not really here and Burr is anxious about what might happen.
"...." the man slightly raises his arms and drops them in annoyance because of nothingness happening. "Come on! Can you stop having a flashback already? Aren't you going to tell them?"
Sebastian snapped out of that, shaking his head a little. Seeing this human made him remember how he himself looked like as a human, the memory was always there but it needed some reference to connect the dots.
"What's he talking about?" Burr asks his leader, hoping he can clear up this confusion.
The Oshawott closes his eyes and takes in a breath. He then turns to them. "Do you guys know the legends of 'humans'?" He begins.
Meanwhile the human looks down to the mon besides him. "Check it out, Moona, we are going to find out how transparent he truly is with his 'friends'."
".......It's Linne." She corrected him, annoyed. By the sound of it looks like this is not the first time he misnamed her.
Sebastian continues what he is saying. "That..." He points to the human. "That's what is what a human looks like."

Riley is... stunned, to say the least. And very frightened. She doesn't even know what to say. She simply stares at the human, with equal parts wonderment, fear, and... more fear.

Burr doesn't know what to say either. This 'human' feels alien and dangerous. Why is he interested in them?
"Well don't go praying to me or anything now..." He grumbles. "Still! Why don't you tell them how you know what a human looks like, Sebastian?" He eggs him to continue speaking, trying to sow some distrust by revealing that the Oshawott was originally a human...but this of course requires them not knowing that in the first place.
And whatever is the case, Sebastian doesn't answer that, instead going to ask more pressing questions. "Who are you? What do you want with us?"
"Huh, so that's how you're going to play?" Really? He just went straight to the point? The man thinks that is a little suspicious, which amuses him. "Just Jovanny, I don't have much time to introduce my whole name." He smirks and raises a hand, reaching it into his coat for something. "Now what I want is with YOU..." He sounds a lot less amused now...
Sebastian reaches for the seashell he carries on his belly, his scalchop. It looks like Jovanny is about to try something here, what is he going to pull out there...?
What the human pulls out of his coat is a small crescent blade attached to a shaft, as it is, it is an odd looking weapon...He doesn't turn it against the trio though, he looks down to the black and white Linoone beside him. "Pumpkin...don't let these other two give me any trouble while I continue to talk with Sebastian here." He proceeds to drop it over her head.
Linne held a paw up and grabbed it before it hit her head, she clicked something and it extended like a telescope! Now it's looking like a spear fit for her size. She then points it at the trio. "Yes, master."
Iron, of course it had to be Iron...He would rather not have a repeat of what with his friend in Dynamo Sand that one time. "Be careful, you two." The water type holds on to his natural weapon. "They look like they really mean business..."
"Crap..." Burr is nervous but he isn't going to back down, he just has to focus on not getting hit like it happened last time.

"I knew we shouldn't have followed her!" Riley growls as she gets into a fighting position.

"So tell me, why are you still here? You could have gone back home couldn't you...?" Jovanny begins speaking. He is also pacing back and forth, but every step brings him ever closer to the trio. "Yet you are still here, you tried to help people that spat on your face! and yet you still are...!" He grinds his teeth. "So tell me...why?"
"Why shouldn't I try to help them?" Sebastian replied without hesitation. "It's because of humans that this place got as bad as it did, I'm not sure I can blame them for all this having happened though, they don't got to stay to see what happened."
"Easy for you to say, you probably didn't imagine it being this hard." The human argues back against him. "These mons have nothing for themselves, they can't invent, they only got this unbalanced and moronic because some humans thought it would be 'better' to teach them stuff." He clicks his lips. "What's more, you little traitor, you think it was possible to stand up against what the Iron King put up, but what he instilled was 'human' too, you didn't think it would be possible to subvert it alone, would you?"
"But it was not four naught! change doesn't come quickly!" The Oshawott says. He still can't quite understand where this guy is going with this but it seems like he doesn't like pokémon. "Would you rather let them suffer then?"
The Linoone turns her head a bit to look at him, to see what his response to that will be.
"Here you go again, putting their needs over yours..." Seems like he avoided that question. "You are very pretentious to think you can just leave your past life behind...and for what?" The sand under Jovanny's feet begins to stir. "SO YOU COULD LIVE AS A MONSTER?!" With a gesture he raises his hand, using Sand Tomb to make a wave of sand rise against Oshawott to trap him.
"LOOK OUT!" The Drillbur cried out, the moment he felt some small disturbance in the ground he knew something was going to happen.
Sebastian didn't see this coming at all, the human being able to use a move really caught him off guard but thanks to his friend telling him to look out, he narrowly avoided getting half-buried by that wave of sand as he managed to jump over it.
The man regains his composure. "Oh...who am I to forget, you are not going to make this easy, you are a 'guild master' for a reason, aren't you?"

Riley, seeing how this has gone south, decides now is the time to fight. However, she's no fool, she knows better than to directly attack someone with Iron, especially a long spear like that. And seeing that her opponent is a dark type, she decides to open with a Rock Smash, she picks up a rock, seemingly from nowhere, and throws it at the Dark-Type Linoone.

The rock hit hard enough to break against the Dark-Type Linoone, it hurt her but she endured it. "Hmpft...!"
"Go help Riley! But be careful with that Iron!" Sebastian says to Burr, he himself will be facing this human.
The Drillbur acknowledges that order moves over to the Riolu's side.
Linne jumped towards them and tried to slash them both at once with a single swing of her spear.
The Drillbur stepped back to avoid getting a cut across the chest...again. "T-that was close...!"
Jovanny spread his arms, it is his opponent's turn to attack after all and he intends to take whatever comes his way. But the Oshawott didn't do anything, it's like he was hesitating to attack him. So instead Jovanny decides to argue more. "You do realize you were nothing but a tool right? a means to an end by forces above you. You are nothing to this place but an obsolete tool, trying to serve a function way beyond your scope!"
The water type glares up at him. "How can you be sure of that then?! What kind of argument even is that? I do don't care if i already did what i had to! I'm here right now because i want everyone to be happier! Sandstone is becoming a good example of that right now! They managed to-"
"'They'?" Jovanny interrupted him. Then he laughed. "You think they did all of this on their own? You should know what actual change is like in this place, boy."
"Then...is this all because of you? Did you made this place change?" At least this is what he understands, reasoning that such drastic changes must have come from a human sharing their knowledge and ideas to pokémon, because it always has been like this in the history of this world.
This just makes the man laugh louder. "Hahahahahahahaaaaaa...No. I myself didn't do anything to this place, Though you know, Pokémon tend to use iron so much that i think they are forgetting what moves are, don't YOU AGREE!?" He suddenly raised his voice again, which signaled an incoming attack. He gripped at the air with his hand, raising after thaat, this gesturing causing three large Power Gems to raise from the sand behind him, said gems then fired laser beams at the Oshawott.
Sebastian didn't managed to avoid all of it this time, but at least moves aren't fatal...but they still hurts like hell to take a laser to the chest, there is no doubt that this guy is strong to be able to hit like this. "How are you doing this!?"
Finally being able to strike the Oshawott brings a bit of a sadistic smile to Jovanny's face. "How do YOU do it?"

Riley likewise dodges the sweeping cut. 
"That's the best you can do with that?" She taunts.  "Looks like your human friend didn't really teach you how to use that."
Seeing an opening from her cut, she leaps over to her, getting as close to the dark type as possible, and delivers a force palm straight into the dark-type Linoone's belly.
She is about to taunt the Linoone further, when she hears Sebastian grunt in pain from the Power Gem attack.
"Sebastian!!" Riley yells, having spotted him get hit. However, she realizes she can't allow herself to be distracted, not while there's this spear-weilding bitch in front of her. So she focuses back on her opponent and gets ready to fight again.

Riley's moves, due to type advantage, seem to be too much for the Dark-type Linoone to just take and be able to retaliate right after. "hehe...HAHAHAHAHA! YOU THINK THIS WILL STOP ME?!" She shouted at them, somehow being able to sound angry and excited at the same time.
Burr rushes over to her and tries to attack her with his Metal Claws, his attack doesn't hit as effectively since his move doesn't have as much advantage against dark-type like Riley's.
Even getting scratched by those claws, Linne grabbed him by the neck Headbutts him, leaving him dizzy and vulnerable to a follow up attack with her spear, it seems like she is winding up for a stab there...
"Why are you here then!?" Sebastian asked, not taking his eyes away from the man.
"Aren't you going to fight back?" Jovanny asked, getting a little frustrated by how the Oshawott just seems to be on the defensive, perhaps he is hesitating because he is human? Or because he recognizes that he would put himself in a bad stop if he tried to attack? "I am here because I want to, unlike you I don't have any strings attached...but I am here because you do, because you insist on helping these monsters."
"They are not monsters!" Even he is getting angry at this guy's narrow minded selfish anger. "I don't think you can understand why I am trying to help, do you?! They didn't want any of these calamities brought by humans sharing their knowledge!"
"Did you want to come here then?! Did you want to wake up in this place?! DO YOU WANT TO STAY IN THIS PLACE?!"
Sebastian's guard went up, he can see a pattern that whenever his guy gets loud he attacks...but that didn't happen this time. "At first I did not want to, I was lost and confused...but went on because I had to. Why do you think I'm still here? Because they need me! You want to tell me that it's hopeless to try and be helpful to other pokémon...that's just a biased argument! Why do you dislike them so much?"
"Because I know better! Look what happened to you! You are a guild master without a guild!" He pointed at him. "And why is that huh?! Because the will of the Iron King refuses to change!"
"The Iron King died a long time ago, you sound like those nobles who hold on to a past that it's gone. It doesn't matter what happened that got me where I am now." Being called a 'guild master without a guild' did remind him of how all of that he had got lost, it happened the moment he got pushed from Mt. Monolithe after that argument that day... "I'm not dead yet so I'm not going to stop just because you are ranting at me!" Now he finally attacks, figuring out that his human is beyond reasoning. He jumps up at him and uses his scalchop as Razor Shell to cut at him.
The human instinctively raises an arm to defend himself, despite the fact he was leaving himself open to attack all times, When the water type finally came to attack him it seems like it was fierce enough to get that reaction from him.

"Burr!" She yells, once again getting distracted by someone getting hurt. "Oh you little bitch, you're going to pay for that." She winds up another rock attack, not realizing that she's both in range of the Linoone's spear, and that said Linoone, despite having been caught off guard from the previous attacks, is ready to use it again.
Suddenly, a golden spear flies into the ground in between them like a speeding bullet, interrupting the battle between dead in its tracks.
"What's going on here?!" A female voice shouts from above.
A cream colored 'Hawlucha' lands gracefully on the sands as the spear, lodged in the sand, disappears, and reappears in her hand.
Ranii surveys the battlefield, seeing the two guild members fight off the female Linoone with a wicked looking spear. She squints at the Linoone, then...
"Wait... I remember you." She says slowly. "You were that 'prisoner' that got transferred over with the others... Right before the gate mysteriously blew up.  Reports say that a weird colored Linoone was responsible for that." She narrows her eyes as she spins her spear in her hand.
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" Her question is more rhetorical than anything. She already knows the answer to it.

Linne glares at that 'Hawlucha', she saw her before that day so she remembers her. She backs away from the Riolu and the Drillbur, three things to fight against might be too much for her right now.
Luca meanwhile comes in through the front doors of the mansion, he opens then and notices the unconscious Larion on the way. "What's going on here?!" He pretty much questioned it like Ranii did. But he can see that there is something going on out there, and it's a fight?
With this new arrival, Jovanny decides to stop playing around, it might be time to go...but not before making sure to leave Sebastian here hurting. Reaching under his coat, he swiftly stepped back to avoid another Razor shell.
Burr looked at this newcomer. "W-who are you?!"
The Oshawott looked back when the Drillbur exclaimed that someone else had just arrived. He saw the Avali, that alien species from the stars. Wait...why does he know what that is? He begins remembering more right then and there. Sebastian begins remembering way more about his human life, he was a member of the Protectorate, the world he came from was called Earth, and there was space travel too, many other races, Floran, Glitch, Apex...he is remembering so much so fast that it overwhelms his mind. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" He screams, bringing his paws to his hurting head, and then...he collapsed on the sand.
The human looks down at collapsed water-type, how peculiar, did he just...fainted? Well, it looks like it's better to get out of here now. There is no point in doing anything else if the target of his torment is unconscious, what a bother. He can't forget Linne. Speaking of which, it looks like that even with that Drillbur distracted, he is still too close to her...perfect excuse to provide cover!
Seeing his friend fall, he starts heading his way right away. "SEBASTI-"
BANG!
Burr feels a strong, sharp pain on the side of his stomach, and begins spitting out blood...something penetrated him there just now. He doesn't have much time to think about it though, he just collapses in pain. 
Luca gasped at what just happened. Then he jumped over the Lairon to join in the fight because it looks like it's getting really intense, there is someone wounded on the ground after all.
The culprit of this was of course Jovanny, he had a pistol on his person, which he just drew to shoot at that mon just now. "Come on! we gotta go! get close to me!" He says to Linne.
Not wasting any time, the dark-type Linoone starts going to him. "Now we are going to be surrounded!" she chastises him for doing that, the sound of that gunshot here of all places is sure to have them surrounded soon...
"Just come here!"

"Yeah, I might have been a little too shellshocked by the artillery strike to recognize you on that day when I saw you and your ... whatever she is... friend of yours mulling about by the gate. You got lucky then that everyone was too shocked to pick you up."
She points her spear at the offending Linoone.
"Well guess what? Your luck just ran out, traitor."
She's just about to make her first move when a bang rings out.  A sound she knows all too well. 
A gunshot. The kind that killed her parents back in the Occassus Wars.
Her eyes dart to where it came from, and then to who was shot. She sees the Drillbur fall to the ground. She sees that human, with the smoking gun... it doesn't take a genius to figure out that this human is no friend of theirs. But who is he, and, unlike the others, why did-
-No. There's no time for that now. There's only one decision to make. One question to ask. 
What is more important: This Drillbur's life, or catching the ones responsible for the 2nd grove attack?
.... It only takes her a second to make her choice. 
"Luca! I've got the guy, don't Let that asshole get away!" She says as she makes a dive towards the Drillbur. She sees the wound. It's serious. If he doesn't get medical attention, he's going to die. And given the fact that the proper medical facilities aren't up and running yet.
She places her hand upon the drilbur, and begins to chant. A glow emanates from her hand.
"COME ON!" She shouts as the light transfers over to the drilbur, draining her own strength in the process but healing the wound. This healing session is intense, more so than the first time she used it on board her ship in front of Luca.
When the spell is complete, she falls to one knee, barely able to keep herself from falling over, and only thanks to her spear. And even that's barely enough as she gasps for breath.

The mole's agony began to abate when Ranii began using her healing on him. "Aaaah...Aaaaahhh..." He pants, some tears streaming down from his eyes, from that hurting he felt moments ago "T-thank you..." He says to Ranii, grateful that she made that pain stop, he felt like he was going to die. "Are you...okay?" Though now he noticed how drained she seems.
Jovanny puts a hand on the Linoone's head. He then looked up and saw the Lucario coming at them.
Luca saw something like this before, that's human, but it's nothing like the first one he saw, compared to Joshua this one is small and weak looking. He is running towards the both of them right now, with one his swords at the ready. He is not too far now, soon enough he will be within swinging distance.
Fortunately for Jovanny, this Lucario isn't fast enough, with Teleport he disappears in a flash before he could be slashed by a swing of that sword, and he took the Linoone with himself too.
"What?!" Luca exclaims, surprised. Had he know that would have happened he would have used something else, like an Aura Sphere...or even throwing his sword. This is bad...but it's not time to dwell on this failure. He goes over to the fallen Oshawott to see if he is okay.
That gun shot really stirred things up, some more from the mansion come looking to see what it was, seeing the aftermath of the little incident.
Stic came with them too. "Ranii? Luca? What happened here?!"
Even a few of the citizens came over to look at what might have happened.

"I... I..." She pants. "Fine.... it just... Takes a lot... Out of me." She looks up, towards the human, or at least she THINKS its a human... but they're already gone by the time she gains her breath back. When stic comes in to ask what's going on... she isn't even sure she has an answer. Let alone the breath to speak it.

It's going to take a bit of thinking to put into words what Luca saw too. "Master Stic, i think there has been some incident here just now, there was fight happening between those three pokémon and two other assailants that just fled." That explanation should suffice for now.
"I see..." The Meowstic looks at the trio of mons, and the very tired Avali. "Luca, help Ranii up and bring these three in here, i need to ask them some questions when they are feeling better."
"Got it."

Ranii extends a hand towards Luca.
"Help me up.." she pants.

Seeing her week like that really pains him. Holding the unconscious water type under onde his arms, he goes to help her up using his free arm. "Just hold on to me okay?" Then he looks to the other two mons. "Are you alright?"
"I-is Sebastian okay?" Burr asks the Lucario holding his friend.
"You mean this Pokémon I'm holding? Yes, he still has a pulse."

The avali nods, and allows the Lucario to pull her up, weakened by the spell. She gets on her feet. It takes a few moments, but eventually she gets her breath back to where she's able to stand up... with some assistance.

Ranii is the first to enter. 
"Khaako!" She addresses the drone directly, causing the hologram to appear. "We have problems."
"Problems?" Khaako asks as she appears. "What kind of problems? Must be serious if you're addressing me directly instead of through Stic." Indeed, this is unprecedented. 
"We have problems of the human kind."
"Human, as in you found another one?"
"We made contact with a hostile human." Ranii reports. "They were attacking a group of 'mons from another guild when we found them. The human shot one of them and teleported away."
"This is not good." Khaako shakes her head. "Any possible faction identifiers? Occassus Remnants?"
"Not purple enough."
"USCM Remnants?" 
"Too lightly armed."
"Pirate?"
"Too well dressed."
"Hmmm... The only other possibility I can think of is..." Khaako turns to her right. "Mattias?"

Luca entered after her.
Stic was thinking about that Incident until Ranii showed up and started talking with Khaako, she just mentioned a hostile a human? He attacked mons from another guild?
"Yeah...i know..." Mattias' hologram doesn't show up but his voice does, seems like his ashamed...and sure sounds like it too.

"He's Jovanny, age 45. Deep Time Space explorer, head of operations B, Jordan family generation number #128-B." He spelled out the whole designation of that guy to boot. "He is here because of a totally different reason than me, it doesn't concern anything that we are doing, it just happened to intertwine just now..."
"And what was he doing exactly?" Stic asks, if it's something for them to be concerned about, they have to know.
"He was after someone in particular, because that 'someone' was a human too...according to everything he gathered up."

Ranii listens as Mattias describes this "Jovanny" character, without interrupting.
Khaako however is a little less patient.
"That's interesting and everything, but why is he attacking mons out of nowhere?"

"Like I said just now, it's because he has confirmed that one of those mons is a human. It's not random, it's targeted at them." He sighs. "Even though only one of them is his target i'm afraid that by association the others won't be exactly free from harm if they try to get in the way."
"But why?" Luca asks.
"Because in Jovanny's eyes one of them is a 'traitor that has forsaken his humanity' while i'm not exempt from having the same opinion on this matter, I find it rather pointless to pursue one's emotions on a conclusion that is jumped on without much thought. I don't even know if he even has the right mon on his sights because he mostly keeps all evidence to himself, as he does all of this alone...zealously"

"Traitor that has forsaken his humanity?" Ranii finally comments. "So what, is he some sort of Occassus-wannabe?"

"No, he has a dislike for pokémon but has become indifferent to them at most, he is just angry about a certain individual."
The Meowstic decides to ask another question now. "And where is he now?"
"Likely nearby, still in Sandstone."
"Right..." He can't have someone like this running around if he can help it...maybe Mattias can help with that? "I would rather not have him hunting down anyone, especially in my town. Can you tell him to go away."
"No..........but you can try talking to him, there is a slight chance of him listening to the Avali, though i'm not sure to what extent."
"Oh?"

"What do you mean, 'to what extent'?" Khaako questions.
"And what did this certain individual do?" Ranii asks. While not exactly relevant to protecting people, and this strange mon from him, it would be nice to know what exactly his motives are.

"Again, it's one of those three, i'm not sure which but one of them is the source of his 'ire', the 'inhuman traitor' he wants to punish." He says. "As for your question, Khaako, i'm not sure how he might go about talking with you, you aren't a pokémon, he's never interacted with an Avali before, much less negotiated with one. But he is aware of your existence, and should treat you more fair than pokémon."
"What does he has against us in particular?" Stic asks.
"It depends on his mood at this point, when you debunk one of his reasons, he finds another. Very rarely does he come up with something justifiable for his hatred. But in the end, there is not much that i can do about it alone, Jovanny is my superior i'm afraid...although thankfully he can not interfere with what i am doing, nor would he because he respects me. When it comes to other humans, in mind AND shape of course, he is the exact opposite of what you are no doubt going to see from him."

"One of which three?" Ranii scratches the back of her ears. 
"Well it's good to hear that he cannot interfere with your work." Khaako interjects. "But if he's going to continue doing things like this, I'm afraid we'll have no choice but to declare him a terrorist, and an enemy."

"Yeah. So, you still want to talk with him? Maybe try to get him to back off?"
Perhaps that could be worth a try, though it seems like it's Khaako who will be doing the talk with this 'Jovanny' so Stic looks to her expecting her response to Mattias' question. 

"Yeah. That would be appreciated." Khaako nods.

"Okay, just give a second...and please don't freak out..."
Why did Mattias say that last bit? Because Jovanny comes walking in through the war room's doors, pushing them both open as he struts in.
Seeing him, Luca was quick to reach for his swords while getting between him and the others.
Stic is not thrilled about him coming in unannounced like this. "How did you get in here?" He has other concerns other than the fact that his human is standing before him right now, specially what did it took for him to get in here in the first place.
"Oh don't worry, I really just snuck in." Jovanny gives a careless, dismissive wave as he says that. "Don't worry everyone is fine, they don't even know I exist. But if it's any consolation not everyone can get in here...but i'm not everyone~"
This does remind the Meowstic of that one time a Wall Breaker managed to get in here, it's getting kind of annoying. "Why were you standing just outside?"
"Well, after what happened earlier, Mattias figured you would choose to talk to me so he politely asked me to come here. I just decided to wait just outside to be proactive in case you said 'yes'." He then looks to the drone, and that hologram it is generating. "Soooooo..."

"Okay, so I'm going to assume you've heard most if not all of our conversation, so I'll just be direct." Khaako apparently does not feel like wasting time with pleasantries with someone that obviously does not like them much.
"Who exactly are you, and what are you doing here? And why did you attack that one 'mon outside of here?"

The human crosses his arms and tilts his head. "I thought Mattias introduced me already. Well it all boils down to one of them, Sebastian. The name is a dead give away, and his deeds too...he's a human, a human who chooses to become a monster to live among monsters." He sounds stern now. "I can not forgive that."
"We are NOT monsters!" Luca snarls at him. This man's aura mocks him.
"Really, that word offends you that much?" He rubs his chin. "Alright I get it...But the point still stands, he chose to not be a human anymore..."
"When I see what you are like, I wonder why that is..."
"Luca, calm down." The Meowstic spoke up to keep Luca from stooping down to insulting this man, they are trying to have a conversation with him after all.
The Lucario complies and stops reaching for his swords.

"Yeah, this guy is sounding more and more like those Occassus psychopaths." Ranii grumbles under her breath. "I swear if he mentions 'human supremacy'.."
"Watch your tone, human." It appears that Khaako is similarly unamused. "Anyway, explain what exactly you mean and why exactly that's a problem."

"I really thought you knew what 'pokémon' meant..." He said under his breath for a second. "Well, it's not a problem for you, but it's a personal problem for me. Knowing Sebastian can walk away unpunished for leaving behind his friends and family like that, it makes me seethe..."

"First off, unless you are one of said friends or family, I fail to see what business that is of yours." Khaako chides him. "Second of all, I was under the impression that they do not come to this world by choice, unlike yourself. And third of all, and while I cannot say this for certain, If they did indeed come from this universe and not from another one like your own..." Khaako pauses, and sighs. "They more than likely do not even have a family to return to."

"You are right, they don't come to this world by choice, but why they choose to stay here is just insane. And yes...I am aware of the destruction of the humans home planet. But still..." Jovanny grinds his teeth a bit. "I pity him too, you know? He's setting himself up against the Iron King's legacy, he lost the Ashshell guild and is now little more than a nobody. If he didn't bother staying here, he would have been better off..."

"We'd need to get more information on this so-called 'Iron King'" Khaako admits. "At the end of the day, it's not really your choice to make anyway, as I said. Besides, I doubt you were here specifically for him. So I'll ask again, what are you really here for?"

"Heh." He raises his hands. "It's really nothing. I really don't want to get in your way, is all i'm saying. I was just tracking Sebastian all the way from the land of snow to here." He smirks. "Really, I don't plan to bring the moon down or anything like that. You are not looking at me like that just because I am a human, are you?"
"What about that Linoone that was with you then? She is wanted for being a grove infiltrator." Luca asked. He did see him working with her after all.
"Oh, her? She is not part of the grove anymore, she is my...apprentice." He says.

"She's still wanted. And still a criminal." Ranii informs him.
"Now listen here." Khaako says. "I'm going to have to insist on two things. First of all, you hand over that Linoone. We already have her boss in custody. And secondly, that you leave this 'Sabastion' alone from here on out. You say you don't want to get in our way, you'll honor these very simple requests."

Jovanny remains silent for a moment. Is he narrowing his eyes behind those sunglasses of his? "One thing at a time okay? Alright so little Moona...she is a great apprentice to me, has potential.  Poor little Moona was left shell shocked and angry before I picked her up. So, you want to arrest her, right? Can I pay her bail?"

"...." Khaako looks to Stic. "That's your call, Stic."

"We'll definitely watch him while he's here, and anywhere else we'll be." Ranii says. 
"Especially since you've perked our interest with him, and we intend to have our own talk with him. Both over this being a human thing, and regarding Ashshell. I'm sure he has many questions for us as well." Khaako adds.

"If you are certain then..." He and shrugs. "Then I guess we have an agreement, right?"
"Right..." Stic looks to Luca and Ranii. "Well be keeping Jovanny in custody until Mattias pays his bail...IF he pays his bail. I will need you two to escort him to the dungeon."

"Alright" Ranii nods. She looks at Jovanny. "Erm... does anyone have handcuffs or ropes or something?" She doesn't necessarily trust him with free hands, especially given that he apparently does have a firearm on him.
She'll have to frisk him later for it.

"Sorry, if i knew i would have brought my own ropes." The human said to Ranii...probably sarcasm on his part.
Luca walks to him, taking out one of his swords and holding the blade close to his neck. "There, now don't try anything and keep your hands where we can see them while we escort you there."
"Fiiiine by me."

Ranii summons her spear. She'll have to hold it to that Linoone whose name eludes her at the moment's back.
"And bring your 'apprentice' with you." She orders. "Actually, where is she?"

"..." He begins moving a hand to his coat, around that same place he got the gun from last time.
Luca can clearly see that, in response, his blade touches the man's neck, now with enough pressure to cut but to threaten him to stop. "You think I don't see that?"
"You want me to bring her to you or not? I'm not going to pull out a weapon or anything."

"What do you mean?" Ranii growls.

"She is in my pocket."
Luca blinks, perplexed by what this human is talking about. He sounds like he is speaking complete nonsense. ".......What?"
"Look, my hand is moving slooooow, I'm not going to do anything." With Luca watching him carefully, Jovanny reached into his coat, very carefully, and pulled out a small ball of red and white color. He feels the Lucario's blade is pressing a bit more against the skin of his neck though. "Careful, you're going to draw blood like that. I'm just going to press this now..." His thumb presses a button on the center of the ball, then he just holds it in his hand.
That spherical object he is holding then starts generating red like, like a laser, when it made contact with the ground, the light expands and then dissipates, leaving in it's place the Dark-type Linoone who immediately glares at Ranii and Luca...but raises her paws slowly in surrender.
Luca is left surprised...where she comes from? Was she...inside of that small thing the human is holding in his hand? Stic also saw this and is thinking the same thing.

"It's ... like a capture pod." Ranii explains. "Capture pods are small balls that are sometimes used to capture rogue monsters or robots...." She trains her spear on the Dark Type Linoone. "But I've never heard of capture pods being able to capture sapient creatures before."

"Well this ain't no 'capture pod'. And since I never seem one of those, I can't really help further the comparison." Jovanny said. He then looked down at 'Moona'.
The Linoone isn't happy that he just walked them right into a trip to the dungeon like this, she is glaring up at him but doesn't say much else. She just grumbles. Looks like whatever happens next she is going to have to rely on whatever plan the human has.

"Well whatever. I suppose we'll ask about it later. Anyway, off to the dungeon with you two." Ranii growls.

Luca and Ranii then escort the two of them down to the dungeon. It wasn't possible not to get stares from whoever they came across, be them guards or other staff of the mansion, when they saw this sharply dressed being they never saw before. And now that they are down here, comes the next step...frisking Jovanny, he does have a gun in his person still that Ranii is going to have to take away.

Ranii sighs.
"Welp, here comes the part I was not looking forward to, patting you down to find any weapons or contraband items. Which includes objects we don't know what they are." She tells him.

"You want me to do it?" Luca asks, given that it looks like his partner might have some difficulty reaching up at the human's pockets.

"Yeah, sure." Ranii says. "You'd probably be a better reach anyway, but first..."
She looks at the Linoone, and nods her head towards the cell, as she's sure the Linoone doesn't have anything on her, so she won't have to search her.

The Linoone looks at the cell. Unlike the ones in Sandgun, this one doesn't have bars, it has a strong door instead. It just needs to be opened first so she can step in.
First Luca takes that ball that Jovanny is holding in his hand, then he finds the gun in his coat, taking that away from the man too.

Ranii opens the door so the Linoone can step in. And then the human when she's ready.

She sighs and steps into the cell, going to sit in a corner now.
Luca is still taking whatever Jovanny has in his person, so far whatever he found he placed on the ground nearby, the ball, the gun, two sunglasses...and yet another pair of sunglasses that gets added to that little pile. This perplexes the Lucario...why is he carrying multiple of these things?
"Do you ever think about why there are prisons like this if there are pokémon that can just teleport?" The human wonders out loud.

"Gee, you think you have enough sunglasses?" Ranii comments as she sees them all in the pile.
"Uhhhhhh..." Ranii definitely does not have an answer for his question. So she shrugs and looks to Luca.

Just to be safe, Luca also gets the sunglasses from the man's face, if he is carrying a lot of them they must be important.
"They tend to break quite a bit, you know?" Jovanny keeps his eyes shut tight now that he has no more sunglasses. "...Is that all?"
"Yeah, it is." Luca pushes him toward the cell so the man doesn't go anywhere else blindly with his eyes shut like that.

Ranii watches as the man walks into the cell, never keeping her eyes and ears off of him for a second.

With both of the prisoners in there, Luca closes that door and locks it. "Alright, that's that."

"Yeah... let's hope so. These two are giving me the creeps." Ranii turns to leave. "After you." She says to Luca.

"Mmmm-Mmmm." Together with Ranii, Luca leaves the dungeon. "So where to now?"

"I have no idea..." Suddenly she remembers. "Wait, I almost forgot there were those other guild mons. 'Ash-Shell' I believe big and edgy over there called them?"

"Oh yeah, he was very interested in that one called Sebastian. I believe it was that small blue and white one."

Ranii nods. "We should check up on him, see if he's woken up yet."

"Yeah, let's get to where they are."
Currently the trio of mons are staying in one of the rooms that were converted into barracks, they let them stay here for now in some beds.
Sitting on his bed, the Drillbur is touching his stomach, where he once got shot. It's all healed up now but it still hurt a lot.
The Oshawott opens his eyes, finding himself lying down on a bed. He went through quite a trip down memory lane just now, it was like a dream but he remembers everything about himself now. He sighs.
"Sebastian, you are awake!" Burr noticed his friend opened his eyes.
The water type looks to the side and sees his two friends, Burr and Riley. "What happened? I remember blacking out, are you two okay?" He is more worried about them then himself at the moment.

"We followed some black Linoone up to this mansion, and then we were attacked by ... a Human, I think it was? And then this thing that looked vaguely like a Hawlucha or an Archen intervened, Bur got injured, again, by some sort of iron booming thing, but the Hawlucha-Archen saved us by using some sort of weird move with the spear she has..." Riley informs him. "I... I'm still trying to wrap my head around it."

He remembers that first part. "That wasn't a Hawlucha, or an Archen..." He says.
"It wasn't...?" The Mole wonders what that could have been then, if now an Halucha or an Archen.
Sebastian sighs and rubs his face. "It's very complicated...But-" He hears the sound of a door opening, he turns his head and sees a Lucario, and an Avali standing by a doorway. That latter one he knows is not a pokemon...

"Is everything alright...?" Luca asks.
"I suppose it was you who saved us right? Thanks." Sebastian says to them. "Can i talk to you...Avali?"
"Avali?" Burr never heard that one before.
"Yeah, that one besides that Lucario is an Avali." He explains to his friend.
"Oh, never saw a pokémon like that before." At least he assumes it is a pokémon, the number of species is staggering after all.
But of course, the Water type knows that is far from the truth. He just rather not drop everything on top of him in Riley and expects them to make sense of what is the universe beyond this world, so wishes to go on what might get revealed to them.

"Sure, I'd be happy to-" At first, she doesn't even realize that he'd just called her an Avali and not a Hawlucha.
"Wait... 'Avali'?" She suddenly stammers. "How did..."
Her eyes narrow.
"Oh, I see. That human must have told you things before he knocked you out."

"Honestly, no..." He shakes his head. "I just met him today and all he did was rant at me about how i am wrong. Can you tell me why you are here? Last i remember Avali liked to stick to their system around Avalon." Yeah he definitely knows a little more than expected. He is aware that his friend might ask what 'Avalon' is, he decides to put it in words they can understand as he turns to them to explain. "Avalon is a 'land' where most Avali live, it's kind of like the land of snow but colder."
Come to think of it, Luca is realizing something...the first human he met brought that name to attention, 'Sebastian'. It is quite an unusual name, he knew that even before, then came 'Joshua' and 'Jovanny', he noticed the pattern of names not-related to species being a thing among humans. Though he also could not forgo the thought of this Oshawott possibly taking the name and rank of the Ashshell grand master for himself, at least up until now, with him revealing that he is aware of things beyond this world there is no doubt in his mind that this individual talking to Ranii is...the actual Ashshell guildmaster.

"Well, that's definitely right.... or rather, it was right several decades ago before..." She stops herself in her tracks. 
"Okay, First you. Who exactly are you? I mean, I could have sworn I heard the name 'Sebastian' before. But..." She looks to Luca.
"Any ideas?"

"Ranii..." Luca whispers to her. "I'm pretty positive he is the guildmaster of the Ashshell guild, the very same one who set up that committee to stop slavery and then disappeared..." He looks at the Oshawott for another moment. "Or at least he tried to..."

"Wait... that's him?" Ranii asks in disbelief.
"One and the same." Riley replies. "Though... sometimes his decisions are less than stellar."

Sebastian can't argue with that, he makes mistakes sometimes, yes, he does his best to learn from them though.
"How did you disappear? Are you on the run from the nobles?" Luca asks him.
"No i..." Here comes the painful memories of what happened that day, he isn't sure how he was even able to survive that fall from that mountain. Just thinking about it makes him feel sorrow from the betrayal of his best friend. "I had a friend once, we built together everything we had, but...he wasn't happy with the nobles by passing the committee. On more than one occasion we argued about it, he wanted to solve the problem with Iron, i wanted a nonviolent approach...violence for violence is a vicious cycle that can't sustain peace." Finishing talking about this is clearly being hard for him. "In our last argument he...tried to kill me so i wouldn't get in his way."

"And... who was this friend of yours?" Ranii asks.
Part of her wants to debate him on that whole 'violence for violence' issue, as while this is to an extent, true, sometimes it is completely necessary. It wasn't like the Sandstone lord, who'd left the town in disarray and neglect for his own ill-gotten meat feast was going to simply hand over power to them or back down, or even listen to what they had to say.
Though at the same time, assassination of the lord aside, everything they'd done had been defensive. The Grove had attacked first, intent on pillaging and raping everything in their path, and murdering everyone who tried to fight back. The Avali and the Four Eyes had no choice but to defend themselves. They'd even tried to take the peaceful way out with the Neutrality agreement, only for them to break it a few days later in their mad lust for conquest, forcing the Avali to use the artillery gun to scare them into a rout. 
... But she decides to hold off on that until later.

"Ander..." He replied. "Me and him have been through a lot together, we travelled across all three lands, we explored dungeons." He sighs. "We got wealthy and famous enough and decided to try to make our own guild to try and change the world for the best, which resulted in the Committee..."
"Yes, the Committee..." Luca holds back on speaking about how 'much' that committee actually helped.

"I heard briefly about it. The one that banned slavery... in theory." Ranii sighs. "Seems the Grove didn't quite get the memo. Or at least the soldiers didn't."
She shakes her head.
"Anyway, that conversation can wait for later. Anyway, you wanted to speak to me in particular? Sure, I can do that."

Sebastian didn't want things to turn out like this, he was not expecting a war to suddenly break out like this when it did, it really made things even more difficult for the Committee...i might even sweep it away all together. "Why are you here? As in...why is an Avali all the way out here?"

"If I may be so bold as to ask, could you first tell me what exactly you know what an Avali is? I mean, it's obvious you come from this universe in particular, but... where and when? Are you from earth? Or somewhere else? If somewhere else, where you Protectorate, or one of the USCM factions, or something else entirely?"
She pauses for just a bit.
"Erm, I'm just asking so we have a frame of reference here."

"..." He looks to Riley and Burr. "I know things are going to start getting confusing now but...i will explain everything later okay?" He turns back to Ranii now. "I'm a Protectorate member, I'm from Earth."

"Yeah, right now I'm not even pretending to understand any of this." Riley scratches her head and shrugs.
"And how long have you been here?" Ranii asks. "Rough estimate will do."

"I lost count of the days but i wager it's more than one year."

"..." Ranii pauses. "That... does not add up at all."

"What...what do you mean?"

"How... Do I put this without completely shocking you?" Ranii thinks a whiles, then sighs in defeat. "Look, there's no easy way to put this. So I'll just say it straight out."
Ranii gives him a serious, yet very sympathetic look.
"Sebastian.... Earth was destroyed close to a century ago, by The Ruin."

This news is indeed very shocking to him, and it shows. He is staring at her with eyes wide and mouth agape. "W......what...?! H-how? What's the ruin...?"

"You mean people on Earth didn't know?" ... As soon as she says that, she feels like slapping herself on the head, as that question was really stupid. "Sorry, dumb question. Okay, you know that one cult, the Occassus?"

"O-Occassus...?" Sebastian thinks for a moment, trying to concentrate after receiving these news that Earth got destroyed, and that somehow it was very long ago too. "Occassus...i think i remember hearing it in some conversations, it was some extremist cult that began showing up. But...nothing beyond that really, the Protectorate was more focused on other matters. That's pretty much all I know..."

"Well, long story incredibly short is that they turned out to be a far more serious threat than anyone gave them credit for. To the point of summoning some long-forgotten planet-sized tentacle monster back into realspace. The thing ended up completely destroying the planet. I'm not sure if the Occassus intended that, but that's what happened." Ranii sighs. "I know, it sounds like nonsense. And when I returned to Avali space and learned all this, I thought it sounded silly too. But what happened to the years afterwards, to the tribe I had... was not ridiculous in the slightest. Or the least bit funny."

He listens to all she has to say in silence. It looks like the Oshawott believes every word she is saying. His head hangs low, he is shaken by this knowledge. "I...i see..." He says under his breath. "Were...were there survivors?"

"A few, more off planet than off. Though... that wouldn't last long either." She sighs.  "After they struck, the Occassus wasted no time in attacking what was left of the Protectorate. The USCM warlords also jumped in, and within a few short years, the Protectorate was little more than a footnote. Although... one survivor from Earth ended up destroying The Ruin from the inside. Though, once the USCM factions started turning on each other, and dragging everything else around them into it, including the Avali, they wiped themselves out too. So... I'm afraid at this point, even if you wanted to return home, you don't have one to go back to."
She puts a talon on his shoulders. 
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news like this. I really do. I mean... I lost my whole tribe during the Occassus War to those purple-coated maniacs."

"..." Even though he is very sadden by these news of all that happened, he places a a paw on the Avali's own shoulder to comfort her too after he heard that last part. "I'm...very sorry about what happened to your tribe..."

"It... was a long time ago. It happened when I was but a hatching, and I was raised by Alpacha." She sighs. "But I thank you. I'm sorry about what happened to your own family."
She pauses, their conversation halted for just a while, before she continues. 
"Anyway, I believe you had some sort of question for me?"

"You still haven't told me why you are here..." He says. "There is quite some isolationism from the Avali Illuminate, is it not? Did...something changed?"

"Yeah... I wasn't around before the big change, but from what I heard they used to be quite isolationist, before the Reborn Illuminate gained power. Things changed, I don't know the whole details, so you'll have to ask Khaako. What I do know is that nowadays the Avali are in the business of uplifting and helping protect less advanced races. Which was my original mission here, to assist the Four Eyes with that." Ranii explains.

"You don't hate me, do you?" It is one thing that he noticed from her. Though maybe 'hate' is a bit of a strong word but he knows how Avali didn't had the best relationship with humans.

"Of course not!" Ranii replies in protest. "Why would I?"

"Well the general attitude the Avali had towards human was...not the best. Not that i'm saying things got violent or anything, but the Avali usually disliked us."

"Oh. That." Ranii feels a bit silly now that she thinks of it. "Well, first of, as mentioned when I was very young my pack was taken away from me, I was raised Alpacha, so it wasn't until later that I learned about the whole 'Malefactors' thing. And by then..." She pauses. "Well, from what I understand, Avali in the past thought humans were the malefactor race that nearly wiped us out. But then, we found out it wasn't humankind after all, just like they insisted..." 
Her mood turns slightly sour.
"Instead, we found out... it was those fucking banana-sucking monkies!!" She growls that last part, before calming down. "Or rather, the race that would become the Apex. Apparently they were a bunch of shits before the Miniknog came into power too."

"So it was the Apex then?" Perhaps that is something the Protectorate should have found out that if they wanted to be friends with the Avali, if they could know and prove that then...This is all just 'what ifs' in Sebastian's head though. "So I take it that all the drastic changes that happened here are because of the Avali."

"Pretty much." Ranii confirms. "We've been assisting the Four Eyes guild in this."

"Does the Avali have anything to do with what happened to the nobles?" The water type asks. "With the Avali in the picture, I'm beginning to think that something is at play." He sighs. "You are not forcing all of this upon Sandstone, are you?"

"..." She isn't exactly sure if she should tell him about how the two of them, and not the Grove killed the nobles. After all, they'd worked hard on that day to make it look like the Grove had killed them.
But then again, Stic had freely admitted it to Duci's face after just a little bit of probing. And besides, it's not like this 'Sebastian' could really stop what was going on right now anyway.
"That's something to talk to Stic and Khaako about, really. As I'm not the one in charge of this operation." She finally says. "Suffice it to say though that acting this quickly and in this manner was not our first idea, but the Grove attacking forced that decision upon us."

"Alright. So in that case, where can i find Stic and Khaako?"

"In the war room-slash-office."

"Okay then, i would like to speak to them if that is possible." However he does think there are some questions he can ask her. "So I heard the Grove is still relentless on it's advance on the other parts of the Land of Sand. You know if Sandstone is going to be alright? I know it managed to survive more than one attack but..."

"Yeah, it's going to be alright." Ranii says. "They've... backed off after that second one. Although unfortunately we are, at the moment, still in a state of war with them."

He gives a solemn nod. "I understand, all this has thrown everything into turmoil. I'm afraid of the land of Snow deciding to join in and make things even more chaotic."

"Well, we did learn from one of the grove's commanders that this 'Princess Ivy' person had her sights set on the Snows too."

Things just seem to get worse don't they? "...why i am not surprised?"

"Indeed." Ranii signs. "Well anyway, shall I take you to Stic and Khaako now?"

"I need a moment to think so...when I'm ready i will go talk to them."

"Alright." Ranii nods politely.

Luca looks to his partner now that she is done talking to Sebastian. "So what now?"

"I honestly don't know." She shrugs. "I guess we wait till Sebastian's ready to talk with Stic and Khaako... Maybe we can spar out in the yard or something?"

Luca agrees and goes off with Ranii, leaving the trio of mons alone for the time being.
After a lengthy explanation to his two companions about... everything that was talked about, Sebastian went to talk with Stic and Khaako. A helpfu Sandshrew showed him the way there.
Stic has been waiting for him. He was crossing facts and can already guess who this Oshawott is and what he has done. "Welcome..." He bows down slightly.

"Hi." Riley simply replies. "So you're the one in charge of this whole outfit now, huh?"

The Meowstic eyes all three of them. "Yes. And I assume you come with questions."
"Can you tell us about the Four Eyes?" The Drillbur asks.
"Yes, Certainly. The Four Eyes was a guild which I was the guildmaster of. These days it's less of a guild and more the ruling body of Sandstone" Stic responds.
Sebastian noticed the drone beside the Meowstic's table. It must be there for a reason, communication being a highly probable one. "Is Khaako here?"

"Hhmm, so you indeed know much already I see." Stic says, measuring how much this Oshawott knows. There is really no doubt that he must be a human in a pokémon form, just like the legends say.
"Yes." Sebastian steps forth. "I'm also aware of how big the universe is. Sooo are the Avali who is wanting to uplift the pokémon?"

"Yes, that's exactly it." Khaako confirms. "And we are cooperating with the Four Eyes guild to do so."

"I see..." Well, now it's time for him to start asking the big questions... "Can you tell me how much you helped exactly? And how...'public' are you being with said help?"

"Well, there is the defense of Sandstone, obviously." Khaako replies. "And I"m sure you've already seen at least some of the non-combat related help we're giving. Public construction projects. Like, a Sanatarium, a school, curriculum for the school, a new iron forge, a hydroponics station, etc. I will admit, we are cheating a little bit with those last two, mostly due to the location."

"Yes, I have seen those, there is no doubt that such things can be really helpful." He nods. Though now Sebastian will go to the more 'complicated' questions. "The attacks on Sandstone, both of them...did you help in taking care of them too?"

"Yes... Yes we did." Khaako admits. "First time was less direct. We gave them some Glitch-Made weaponry, some swords, crossbows, etc."

"Those weapons do sound like they wouldn't make the common folk raise an eyebrow." Though the crossbow might be a bit 'cheaty'. "So the second time was...more direct, you are saying?"

"... Yes." Khaako admits with a sigh. "We were forced to utilize artillery."

"W-what?!" Artillery? against primitive combatants using melee weapons? That sounds like overkill! "Artillery?! You fired Artillery on them?! seriously?!" He doesn't sound happy about that, he can only imagine the carnage...

"Try to understand." Khaako replies with a slight growl. "This happened a day after The Grove had agreed to neutrality, only to launch a terrorist attack soon afterword, and attempt a surprise assault to take the city. If we had not used the artillery, it's a good chance that Stic here would be either enslaved, executed, or in hiding. Sandstone itself would be little more than a smoking rape hole for grove soldiers, and everything we'd set out to achieve would be set back, if not outright ruined."

Khaako presents a very good argument. As much as Sebastian tries to say something in response, he can't. Because on one hand it does sound like the Artillery saved Sandstone but it sure must have been a brutal day. Suffice to say he does understands Khaako's point. "....Was there really no other way...?"
"No..." Stic shakes his head. "There really wasn't...and we hope to never have to use it again."

"He's right. We've agreed not to use it again, unless they attack again. Which, it seems for the moment anyway, they've gotten the message. Sadly, that also means they've moved onto whatever other town was next on the list after this one. Albeit much weaker than before."
Khaako decides to move the topic away from the artillery for a bit.
"Okay, I believe it's my turn to ask you a question... what exactly is your Guild about? And your 'Committee'. We've heard of it, from time to time."
"... under not very pleasant circumstances." Khaako adds under her breath.
"But we know very little about it."

Oh yes, his guild and the committee, two things he remember pouring a lot of effort into...only for it to result in deaths.
“Those people raped you, tortured you, killed off most of our guild, and you will still weep for them?”
After a moment of silence, Sebastian finally begins speaking. "...That Guild...the Ashshell Guild, i founded it together with my best friend so we could help those that couldn't help themselves, and eventually try to steer the world into a better direction with laws that would abolish slavery, among other things."
“Yes… We won’t win by sinking down to their level,”
He looks down. "Though the Ashshell guild is...no more..." It's difficult for him to say this, remembering how many lives were lost, lives of pokémon who believed him and his idea of making the world better.

"Don't mean to sound rude, but it seems like the committee didn't quite take hold." Khaako comments. "Besides the fact this whole thing got started by a scout pack assisting a Linoone trying to get back her Shinx friend from a Raichu who had taken him as a slave, and the fact that one of her other friends had been almost taken as a sex slave in all but name by the previous Sandstone lord's son along with a bunch of other eeveelutions, who he had succeeded in that endeavor for."
Khaako raises her hand.
"And before you ask, they're still around here, albeit freed from their bondage.. At least I think so. Vaper is still here, I know that much. You can ask them for their stories if you want after we're done. Anyway, back on topic."
"Ignoring all that, it seems like this 'Grove', and the other Sand nobles that we've heard of are dead set on bringing slavery back in all of its horrible glory. When we negotiated a prisoner transfer with the Grove, the day before the surprise attack that lead to us unleashing the artillery, they also sent a bunch of their other slaves here. Victims they had captured from other towns, raped, abused, forced to do manual labor. Besides using it to sneak in two terrorists to blow up the gate, they probably figured they'd just get them back again once their attack was completed."
"I frickin knew it!" Riley growls. "See Sebastian, this is exactly what I was talking about after we arrested The Blossom!"

The Oshawott's head hangs low, after all that happened...One step forward, only for there to be several steps back, everytime.
“And yet there are slaves, still. Nobles bound their bastards to service, and anyone with money can indenture someone with no chance of them ever being free.” 
“Your committee failed.”
Why does it have to be this why? 
"You do realize you were nothing but a tool right? a means to an end by forces above you. You are nothing to this place but an obsolete tool, trying to serve a function way beyond your scope!"
Heartache after Heartache...
“You're a naive fool, Sebastian...”
 'We can change the future together, with friendship and kindness'...Can he really though?
"Easy for you to say, you probably didn't imagine it being this hard."
Sebastian begins trembling in place, closing his eyes shut and placing his paws on his ears like he is trying to stop himself from hearing something...something only he can hear right now.
"What's more, you little traitor, you think it was possible to stand up against what the Iron King put up, but what he instilled was 'human' too, you didn't thought it would be possible to subvert it alone, would you?"
 “You know you sound like you’re on their side, Sebastian. By trying to work by these nobles laws, you enable their evils too. You know this is why Anders left you-”
It doesn't stop...
The only other person who can 'hear' what is going on with the Oshawott is Stic, the voices of others in his head lambasting all his efforts is deafening...

Riley looks at the Oshawott with concern, as does Khaako. 
"Seb? You... You okay?" Riley asks, a little concerned. "I was just about to ask the same thing." 
Khaako says. "Is this normal for him?"

Burr is equally concerned as everyone else, Sebastian doesn't look like he is doing very well. He can even see that he is crying...
Keeping his eyes and mind focused on Sebastian, the Meowstic speaks to Khaako. "I'm afraid it looks like he is about to have a breakdown...there are painful memories swarming his mind right now..."

"Oh dear..." Khaako is genuinely worried now. "Looks... looks like we should cut this short."

Anyway"I don't know what to do..." Sebastian is finally speaking again, albeit sounding very saddened. "You did more here than i could but...After everything they have been through, Pokémon deserve better. I-i wanted to show them a better way with kindness and friendship..."
"...It's the Avali's kindness and friendship that helped us get to where we are." The Meowstic speaks. "I don't quite understand...The town of Sandstone's progress, doesn't it please you?"
"Of course it does...but are you really setting a good example for the Pokémon when it comes to dealing with threats? What if you instilled something more destructive than iron?"
He sighs. "Maybe not, many witnessed something very shocking in the day of the second attack of the Grove, which was the aftermath of the artillery. I personally don't want to use it again, but only the Avali knows if they will affect the future as much as you think..."

"Kindness and friendship as all well and good." Khaako adds. "I mean without it, you end up like the nobles. Or The Grove. Or... Nexus forbid, the damned Miniknog and their USCM puppets... But there are times when it simply isn't enough. It didn't work when we attempted neutrality with the Grove. Though it did work when the same was offered by The Wallbreakers... or at least that particular cell of it."
"The Protectorate likewise thought it could unite the galaxy through kindness and friendship alone, and it ended up being its ultimate undoing. The problem is that in order to enforce, you need force. While we of the Reborn Illuminate are trying to pick up mostly where the Protectorate left off after seeing the galaxy collapse into war and disorder, we are not making the same mistake they did."
"That's my assumption as to why the committee fell apart, or at the very least, became ineffectual. Because it had no real means of enforcing anything. Of course, that doesn't mean running around conquering everything in sight or just murdering people willy-nilly. Revolution is a defensive action, after all. Adventurism gets you nowhere either, as is the case with the Wallbreakers."

Sebastian didn't have much in the way of enforcing it, all things considered, his guild alone was up against the nobles, who wouldn't let go of their way of life. "That is not going to go well..." He shook his head. Peace with the Wallbreakers might end badly, and he thinks that because he knows who is behind them...

"Well, as I said, it was really only with a particular group of theirs. Mostly because the Nobles in this town had already been eliminated, so they felt no further need to continue fighting here. Though... it is odd that their leader also 'demanded' a 'date' with Ranii. Though, from what I heard, she rather enjoyed it. So it works out."
Khaako raises an eyebrow.
"I take it you're familiar with these 'Wallbreakers'?"

"Yes. I...i know who their leader is."
Stic's eyes go wide. "You mean...the one that started it all?"
He nods. "Yes...A Charmander known as Ander. Me and him used to be friends..."

"The guy we met with was an ... 'Inteleon', I believe? One using an obviously fake name."
Khaako's hologram appears to sit down in the air. Wherever she is, she's obviously sitting in a chair at that moment, but the image doesn't render it. She sets her elbows on a similiarly 'invisible' table, and rests her cheeks on the tops of her hands.
"Go on." She instructs.

"I honestly do not know where he is right now, i have been trying trying to look for him but i haven't had any luck." He says.
Stic has a question about this matter now. "And why exactly are you looking for him? You want to stop him?"
Sebastian nods. "Yes, yes...I know it can't possibly be this simple but i did said i would stop him if he ever went down that path."

"And what exactly is he doing?" Khaako questions. "And why did you say it wouldn't work out well for us?"

"He could be killing someone right now as we speak. And i said that because there is the possibility that he might see you as an enemy, i'm afraid if he find out what happened here he will just reason that the nobles of Sandstone got replaced by another set of nobles. Anders is very vengeful because of all the nobles did to us..."

"Because he's a nut!" Riley adds in. "As much as I have to agree with him on the nobles bit, especially the worst ones, he takes it way too far. He doesn't just kill nobles. He kills nobles, soldiers, guild members, etc. And anyone else that doesn't really agree with him! And if he isn't killing someone right now as we speak, he's trying to get someone else to do it for him."
"So he basically sees any authority figure as a 'noble' now?" Khaako raises an eyebrow.

The way his Riolu friend put it is not really inaccurate, unfortunately... "I'm afraid that's not unlikely, he can really jump to conclusions...especially now that he decided to take matters into his own hands."

"Interesting. From hearing Stic talk to that 'John' fellow, if that was his real name, which I highly doubt, it seems these 'wallbreakers' are not as cohesive as one might expect." Khaako rubs her chin thoughtfully. "Very interesting."
"I do have to wonder though why would any of you start employing savages of all things?!" Riley rudely shifts the topic away from the wallbreakers.
Khaako's eyes narrow.
"I would watch your tone, young lady." Khaako growls. "There are not many around here who would take kindly to that. No one in this room, that's for sure. And a little tip, I would especially not have that kind of attitude if the Ghost Bears ever decide to come back."
"Who the fuck are the Ghost Bears?!" Riley huffs.
"Ignoring your disrespectful tone of voice." Khaako continues. "I think it's time we told you about the Ghost Bears. After all, they were the ones who started all of this." 

"Riley, please calm down..." Burr places a paw on her shoulder.
"Oh yes, the Ghost Bear Pack, I remember them." Stic comments.

"Alright. You see way bac-"
Khaako's head suddenly shifts to the right. She's seen talking to someone, but the voice is hard to make out. Suddenly, Khaako gets up.
"Erm, sorry. It looks like my Packmate wants to tell this one. He does have a bit of a flare for the dramatic. So I'll let him in here for this bit." She turns to her side again. "All yours, Rakik"
Khaako walks off, disappearing from view, while another avali comes into view. While it's impossible to tell their coloration due to the blue hue, it can be assumed this particular avali is a darker shade. They sport a sort of messy 'hair'.
"Soo, Khaako tells me you guys want to hear the story of the Ghost Bear pack?" This avali speaks in a low, sort of gravely voice. "Well, children. Sit down, sit back, and pop yourselves a snack and drink of choice, because in order to tell this story, we're going to be here for a while. Oh... and one more thing."
He pulls out a guitar, and sets it on his lap. His finger goes over the strings, in preparation to play.
"Yes, there will be music, too. And if you don't like that... well, that's just too bad, because that's the way old Rakik rolls."

Stic, Sebastian and Burr were a little taken by surprise by this new Avali and his manner of speaking. They also oblige and remains silent so he can go ahead and tell the story.

He clears his throat, and begins to play a song on his guitar as he begins his story.

"To begin the story of the Ghost Bear pack, we need to go back. Waaay back, back before the Illuminate was reborn, back in the waning days of the Protectorate. On Avalon's fourth moon, four Avali were born to one of many tribes. They were Eilumi."
A bust picture of Eilumi pops up to the left side of Rakik
"Khaun."
A picture of Khaun pops up under that of Eilumi.
"Renali."
A picture of a female avali pops up to the right side of Rakik.
"And Eityu."
A male avali pops up under Renali's.
"Now, I'm sure some of you have seen at least two of them. I'm pretty sure those who are, are in the dark about those other two. And.... well... we'll get to that later. As is the tradition of most Avalis, Kayos and ... certain individuals aside, their eggs were sent to a local creche to be raised, educated, and empacked within a communal school." 
The pictures vanish, leaving Rakik and his guitar
"You see, we Avali aren't like you pokemon and humans. For us, we are a pack species. The basic unit of society is the pack, not the individual. So far, you've been talking to Khaako mostly because it's easier for non-pack species to process it. Just know that yes, we are here, and giving input, even if you don't see us. Anyway, back to our four Avalis. As their crechemates began the process of bonding and creating their packs, they did as well, forming their own pack. And while for a time in their early childhood they argued over what name to call their pack, they eventually settled on a name that they took from a favorite childhood game they played. One involving giant mechs and 'star league' and clans. They called themselves... 'Ghost Bear'."
"This pack went through school as most packs do, excelling at some things, not really so much at others. And when it came time to pick the pack's career paths, there was a point of contention. Eilumi and Eityu, both the adventurous types, wanted to go into the military. Eityu wanted to go into the Defense forces." 

"Eilumi however, wanted to go into the Exploratory forces. You see, back then, the ADF was... well, it's like this. Before the whole 'Reborn Illuminate' thing, the ADF was more or less full of totally-not-racist xenopobic assholes, while the AEF was... not full of totally-not-racist assholes. As such, the latter had something of a stigma, it became known as 'the place where the Illuminate sticks all of its weirdo xenophiles'. And quite often, that sentiment was oftentimes correct. Something that Eityu never really liked, but put up with because the pack is all, and the pack is everything.
Khaun and Renali both wanted to go into civilian medical science, but eventually Renali sided with Eilumi, and, well, Khaun got talked into it as well. With the decision 3-1, it was decided to join the Avali Exploratory Forces. They went to military school. Renali took some lessons on the side. Both in psychological medicine, and  in... well... ninja arts. Yeah, that was a thing they taught. It was essentially a joke class taught by one of the few not stupidly pacifistic Hylotls that they managed to get on Avalon, and it had very few students. But Renali was one of them, and by the end of it, she became damn good at it. Eilumi and Eityu both excelled in their combat studies, and went on to receive specialized training. And Khaun... Well, he was always more the medic type than anything. Which suited the Ghost Bears just fine. After all, every good team needs a medic. That's not to say he couldn't hold his own with the rest of the pack. It's just that he was a little less geared towards combat than the rest.
Anyway, they eventually graduated, got their own ship, and set out. You see, back then, the Earth had yet to become the world's biggest tentacle hentai picture, and the Protectorate was still a thing. So they went out and... well... explored. AEF charter was, and still is, a lot more 'loose' with their operating procedures and objectives than the ADF."

"Now while I'm sure some of you would love to hear me talk about every single mission and exploit they did during those first few decades, I'm sure others would like me to get on with this, so suffice it to say that while still sticking to their AEF mission, doing 'science' missions and such, the Ghost Bears often times found themselves doing side work for the Protectorate and other non-hostile factions. Mostly doing anti-piracy work and minor bounty hunting and whatnot. During this time, they started to sink in with another faction. A faction the Illuminate did not officially support, but took very little action against individual crews of the AEF.. 'assisting' on the side. A faction that stood in direct opposition to a certain banana-sucking group of tyrants that like to call themselves The Miniknog.
Then... one day, the Earth went boom. Now, I'm sure the good counselor has already filled you in on that event, so I won't go into detail.  Needless to say that at first, the Ghost Bears kept their distance from the war, as the Illuminate commanded. Instead, they concentrated their efforts more on helping a certain rebellion against the Miniknog. Running missions for them, helping the rebels storm clandestine 'science' facilities. That sort of thing. Then one day, during one such raid... they ran into something. Or rather, someone
Now, I'm pretty sure by now everyone knows just how much of a bunch of sick, colossal assholes the Miniknog are. At least, on the surface. You dig deeper, they only get worse. How much worse, might you ask? Well... take the 'nobility' of this planet, if you could call them that. All the rape, all the oppression, all the disappearing 'mons who don't like them off the street. Now, times that by 5. And finally add a layer of runway scientific experimentation and a complete disregard for sapient life. And you've got the Miniknog."

"Yeah... you can kind of see why they aren't really well liked by the avali. Even way back then. Now... even less so, for reasons I'll get into later. Anyway, in one of these facilities, the Miniknog had managed to get ahold of a protogen. "
A picture of Nine appears next to him.
"Now I'll spare you the details of what this poor soul had to go through, as that's best told at another time. But the short version of this is, he was basically forced as a science experiment to use 'rape' as a weapon. Forcing him, at gunpoint, or rather, button-press point, to rape captured 'rebels' until the broke, and then repeat the same process over and over again on the next bunch of captives. ... Yeah, that's the kind of 'science' they tend to do in these hidden facilities of theirs. 
Needless to say, that the rebels had known about this facility, if not what it was actually doing, for quite some time. They had tried to attack it multiple times, but each and every time it had failed, barely penetrating the first couple of floors before they were either slaughtered or captured for the next round of experiments. The Miniknog defenders who by this point had become pretty complacent, and 'Subject Nine' himself, who by this point had lost any and all hope at all and had settled into this nightmare, had thought that the facility was never going to be pierced.
Oh... how wrong they were. For the Rebels geared up for one more assault. And this time... they brought a vanguard. They had Ghost Bear."
Rakik grins.
"You see by then the Ghost Bear's battle prowess had been honed to a fine edge, and the defenders were completely unprepared. The Ghost Bears fought like mad, yet calculated bastards, the four of them blowing like a whirlwind of righteous annihilation, Renali's blades cutting hapless apex to peices while the main rebel force followed closely behind, swiftly eliminating those the Ghost Bears guns and blades missed." 

"It wasn't long before the facility was under the rebel's control, and then they started rounding up the few guards and scientists that the initial attack hadn't killed. Unfortunately, Nine was one of them. You see, they'd caught him right in the middle of an 'experiment', and had knocked him out. They put him on the firing line with the rest of the banana-sucking scum, and were ready to end both his, and his tormentor's lives, when one of the Avalis stepped in. One single avali out of the three of them.
Renalii. "
A picture of Renali standing in front of Nine, who himself was sitting on his button on the ground facing away from him with her arms outstretched, appears on the side of Rakik for a moment.
"You see, during the chaos, Renali had actually read some of the 'reports' and knew what exactly what was going on. That, and being the crew's psychologist, she knew a victim from a shitbag when she saw one. Though, her pack didn't quite agree with them, and it lead to an arguement, the three of them trying to convince her to let the rebels shoot the protogen along with the rest of the assholes, but Renali, refused to back down. Eventually Eityu sided with her, and Eilumi, who by that time had become the defacto-leader of the group, eventually relented, under the condition that Nine was her responsibility. After all, Renali was the one who'd had this hair-brained idea of sparing him, and had this ridiculous notion that Nine could be redeemed, despite what he'd been forced to do."
"... And, she was right. At first, the crew didn't accept him, outside of Renali, but slowly and surely, she worked through his problems. Eventually, Nine would ask a question. The only one that mattered. Why she bothered to help him? She told him that while he was bigger and physically stronger than her, inside he was weak. And it was their pack's personal motto to protect the weak. Nine asked if he could make up for his forced crimes by also doing this. Renali... said yes."

"Nine was brought out of his cage, and it took over a year for the others to fully trust him. Eventually, Nine would join the crew proper, as  their fifth pack member. Back then, this was almost unheard of, for avail packs to adopt members of other species as pack members. It would however, in the far future, set a precedent for such things, And it would not be the last time they did this. But that will come later.
As the insanity of the Occassus War dragged on, the Avali Government turned a blind eye to it, declaring that this was 'humanity's problem.' At the time, they were certain that it sort itself out, and that it had nothing to do with them."
"Oh how wrong they all were."
Rakik's eyes narrow. 
"This, my dear listeners, is where the Ghost Bear's story gets sad. So get those tissues ready."
He pauses for a bit, then continues. 
"One day, about half a decade into the Occassus Wars, they received an official assignment from the AEF. An Illuminate Colony located  the sixth planet of a backwater system called Oridan, which just happened to be shared by the now deceased Protectorate on the other side of the planet, had gone dark, and the Ghost Bears had been instructed to scout and report back. To the pack, this was supposed to just be a routine mission. Go in, see what was up, get out. What no one knew was that the Occassus, those goofy purple robe wearing humano-supremacist bastards, had completely wrecked the place, both the Illuminate colony and the Protectorate colony, and set up a teleport-scrambler just to prevent this exact thing from happening. The Bears beamed down, only to get separated thanks to the scrambler.  They ended up in the worst position any pack could end up in: completely separated. You see, we avali, if we get separated from our packs for too long, tend to get a little... crazy. We call this 'Isolation Madness'. Thankfully, Eilumi and Nine, and Eityu and Khaun had found each other before that happened. 

"The four of them reunited and went off to find Renali. Unfortunately, they soon did..."
Rakik's tone turns sorrowful. A harrowing image appears next to him. It depicts Nine holding a motionless renali in his arms, 
"A few days later, the four of them came across a hill.  A hill occupied by cultists in the middle of some sort of sacrifice ritual, using prisoners that they'd captured from both of the colonies. You see, by this point the Ruin was years dead and the nutty bastards, instead of shrugging and going home, had it in their heads that they could 'reanimate' it with enough sacrifices. Whether that would have actually worked or not has yet to be seen. Unfortunately... Renali was one of those captives.  They found her broken and beaten body hanging from some sort of altar. The remaining pack gunned down the cultists and tried to save her, but it was too late. She'd been dead for at least a few hours by then. Later accounts by surviving captives recalled that Renali had died as she'd lived, protecting the weak, and that they'd originally wanted to go after some kids, but she'd insisted on taking her instead. And they did. They'd beaten her, tortured her, even raped her several times before sacricing her to their malevolent god."
"Needless to say the Ghost Bears were a bit mad at all this. More cultists came, attracted by all the racket. They'd heard what had happened to their brothers up there. Nine flung the body over his shoulders, and with a fury they had never mustered before or since, they fought off the reinforcements. Just three avali and one protogen against 30 or 40 ak-armed cultists. No surrender was accepted, not that cultists would surrender, mind you. Zealotry and Martyrdom and all that not so good stuff being what it is. Some however, did retreat. The Ghost Bears simply followed them back, to a bunker the Occassus had been using as an outpost. The purple bastards threw everything they had at them."

"AKs, Grenades, Drones, even summoned demons. And none of it could hold back the fury of Ghost Bear, who went in like screaming banshees. It was only when they'd finally put down the last cultist that they learned what had happened to the colonies. The cultists had kept some prisoners in the bunker from both the Illuminate colony and the mixed-race protectorate colony. Also there was one of many of the teleporter jammers in there. Once the prisoners were out, they laid Renali's body to rest inside, and using whatever explosives they could find inside and collapsed the bunker from the inside, the place serving as a tomb to their fallen packmate."
Rakik returns to his normal tone of voice.
"WIth the bunker, and with it knocked out, the pack were finally able to beam out, taking whatever freed prisoners they could with them to the nearest Peacekeeper forces. But this wasn't the end of their operations on Oridan 6. In fact, this was just the beginning. Driven partially by their mission, and partially by anger over their fallen comrade and the lost of life brought on by the cultists, they soon came back with whatever AEF and ADF they could contact. The ADF, although it didn't want to get involved with this, found it had very little choice in the matter when it was pointed out that this was still Avali space. The AEF on the other hand needed far less convincing. That said, they were still not able to get that many. Even so, it was enough."
"The AEF and ADF, although undermanned, engaged in a several month guerilla campaign against the Occassus on this planet, the Ghost Bears being the spear that lead the charge. Their packs personal motto, 'Protect The Weak' soon being adopted by the other reinforcements, even some of the ADF ones. It took many good lives, and the campaign was hard, especially with the loss of their packmate crippling them, they fought long and hard, eventually freeing the planet from the cultist's grasp." 

The Cultits of course fought to the last man. For them, there was no surrender, and no such thing as 'rules of war'. 'Human' shields were commonly used during the campaign, as was demon-summoning as previously mentioned. But eventually they were completely wiped out, with the last battle taking place in the protectorate colony's former government center. But it was not so much the battle itself that is of note here. It's what happened after it.
After the battle, the "massacre of Oridan 6." would have far-reaching effects on Avali society as a whole.  After the last cultist was put down, Eilumi sent their report to the council. The Illuminate being what it was back then, tried to deny responsibility for letting this get out of hand, for their failure to respond when the cultists first attacked. And when they couldn't, they tried to downplay the severity of it. However, during this, they and other AEF forces had broadcast every instance of what had happened there. What had happened on Oridan 6 was out and about, among the citizens, every branch of the military, among those outside outside of Avali space. Everyone knew what happened on Oridan 6. 
Oridan 6 was just one battle in many in the slaughterhouse that the Occassus War had become. But for the Avali, it was far more than that. It was a wake up call. No one could now deny what was blatantly obvious: The Occassus War had come to Avali Space.
It also opened everyone's eyes to the other horrors that had reared their ugly heads right under the Illuminate's noses. Piracy and slave trading, something that the humans had kept more or less under control while the Protectorate still existed, had run rampant and was now on the Avali's doorstep as well. Not only that, but the USCM warlords were coming to blows to claim the mantle of humanity that had been long stolen from them by the Protectorate. All the while the Miniknog started a weapons buildup to conquer what was left of the galaxy." 
Images flash of the cultists gunning down various races, of spaceships labeled USCM fighting each other in space, of scraggly humans weilding AKs looking at cages presumably full of slaves. Of a picture of a large screaming ape face and several soldiers under it facing outward.
"All these problems and threats have been building up, and all the while the Illuminate had been content to stay in their little bubble and hope they go away. It was clear to everyone that the Galaxy was changing for the worst, and if the Avali wanted to have any chance to survive the oncoming storm, they had to change, or one or more of these threats would finish what the Malefactors could not finish.  It was clear, the Illuinate could not continue the way it was. It needed to be remade from the ground up. It needed to be ... Reborn."
An image appears, that of the Reborn Illuminate logo. The classic Avali logo with the circle and feathers, but the feathers are radiating from the center instead of tucked into one corner, while there are 'shine lines' coming out of the circle. "

"A faction, one that had been up untill this point been an often ignored voice in the politics of avali councils, quickly gained a lot of support amongst the civilian and both military branches. ADF and AEF both mostly backing it, for two entirely different reasons. A lot of things changed... but that is a story for another time. Needless to say however, that this faction was now lead by a familiar phrase, a paraphrasing and addition to the war cry heard all over Oridan 6.  Something that, as of now, has become the official doctrine of the Reborn Illuminate.
Protect and Uplift the Weak."
"Yes yes, this is a good story and all." Riley huffs with impatience. "But there's one small problem..."
She takes a breath.
"Just what does any of this have to do with our world?!" She nearly shouts.
Rakik looks over to stic, and sighs.
"Stic, was it? ... Could you do me a small favor?"

Stic nods and gets to explaining it to her. "As you must know by now, they intent to uplift us. We are going to unify this world so the Reborn Illuminate can do that, and they are helping us too, and after that we will still be allies they can rely upon." He looks to Sebastian, who out of everyone he is sure knows this is all beneficial to all pokemon-kind. "This can only be a good thing, right?"
Seeing how well the Avali managed to steer Sandstone in a better direction in such a short span of time, their idea of uplifting this world doesn't sound bad, and it's leagues better than if someone like the Apex got here first. So Sebastian agrees. "Yes, of course."

"Well I meant this talk about Ghost Bear specifically." She huffs. "I mean even if you buy this whole 'avali are going to uplift us' stuff, I fail to see how any of this talk of "Ghost Bears" has anything to do with us."
"Actually, Stic." The image of Rakik rubs his temples.  "I was going to ask you to take an unused piece of paper, roll it up, and toss it at the blue one's head. Lightly. Since I can't do it myself through the hologram."

"Riley please just let them explain." Sebastian says to her.
"Yeah, let's let them finish first." Burr adds it.
"What?" The Meowstic looks surprised by this request, it has to be a joke, right? "I'm not sure i can do that with letters, because it's all i got on my table at the moment."

"Well alright. We'll just have to imagine that I just threw a paper ball at your head, okay blueberry?"
He makes the motion of throwing something in Riley's direction.
"Hmph." Riley folds her arms and scrunches her face.
"Right. Though, I suppose you do have a point. I am getting a little off track. So while it's obvious that the Ghost Bears have more than made an impact on Galactic history at this point, you're probably wondering what exactly happened to the Ghost Bears themselves throughout and after all this?"
"I'm wondering when you'll get to the point." Riley says with a humph. Rakik makes another paper-ball throwing motion.
"Well, the Ghost Bears, rather than revel in their new found significance, continued to do what they always did, though fighting the cultists now in addition to their other enemies. Albeit one pack member shorter. One... very important, one very dearly missed pack member." 
The busts of all four of the original pack members, plus Nine appears. The image of Renali fades, leaving only the three avali and the protogen.
"You see when a pack loses a pack member dies or is otherwise lost, it affects the whole pack. And while by this point Nine was a good member of the pack, fully accepted and a part of it, he could never quite replace Renali. And this would only be worsened as the wars dragged on, with the loss of Eityu to the Miniknog."
The picture of Eityu fades as well. Leaving only two avalis and Nine.
"By the time the Occassus War and the USCM Civil Wars were both over, the once-proud Ghost Bears were beaten to hell and demoralized after having lost two dear pack members. While tensions with the Miniknog still ran high, the Ghost Bears themselves  needed time away from everything. They relegated themselves to AEF science missions, which had gone on the back burner since the wars. Doing basic... boring stuff like going to planets and doing scientific measurements"

"For all intents and purposes it looked like their glory days of making their mark on the universe was over and done, and that they'd be relegated to boring science .  And then... they came across another backwater world. One untouched by the wars,  One with more sentience species than even the Protectorate had in its ranks. One with a blue puppy that won't stop heckling the narrator.... Sound familiar?"
"Ha." Riley replies flatly.
"Yes, it was during one of these boring 'science' missions that the Ghost Bears first graced this world. Coming across a lone Linoone, and quickly taking her to their vessel for another routine brain scan. When they did however.... they quickly found sympathy with the young woman, who'd called herself 'Loona'. She and her friends, people that little miss prissy pants there, would call 'savages', had been raped in the dungeon."
"yes yes I remember that part. She claimed she was a citizen that had her badges stolen. And I called her out on her bullshit." Riley growls.
"You also said that if they were savages, they were welcome to rape them." Rakik points out.
"......"
Riley doesn't want to admit it, but she's suddenly feeling very small right now.

"Those same ones we found in that dungeon that day...?" The Drillbur is surprised, how can't he? 
"Yes, pretty sure he means them..." Sebastian responded to Burr before going to Riley's side to give her a pat on the shoulder. Still, what a coincidence that it was that same Linoone they helped that day who was among the ones that the Ghost Bear Pack decided to make contact and let them join their pack to boot. "...So where is the Ghost Bear Pack now?"

"Ah, since between You, Luca, and Stic, you should know the rest of the story, so I'll keep it brief." Rakik replies to Sebsatian. "When they took Loona in at first and scanned her memories, they found themselves with a subject that they in could conscious could not send back, yet couldn't understand. That last part changed once the software updated their translation software. When they finally could speak to her, they asked her if she'd rather stay with them, or go back to her home planet. Loona... after being raped in the dungeon, and then raped again by the Sandstone Guild when she tried to join them to get help, she told them under no uncertain terms that she had no desire to stay on this world. She did, however, want help in locating her two other friends. 
So they went to the surface, and began their search. During the way, they came across a pickachu... and a human protecting him. They went to the dungeon to search for her Shinx friend, Shia. They ran into Luca. And, well, Luca can tell you the rest of the story. As for what happened after that, well..." 
"When all was said and done, Ghost Bear was now 7 members strong. Two Avali, one Jolteon, One Shinx, a Pikachu, and of course, their Linoone friend. They went out to train their new pack members, and... 'Bond' with them. To answer your question as to what's been happening, they've been slowly going back to what they used to do before the wars. Anti-piracy raids, science runs, and, more recently, resuming raids against the MIniknog. Covert of course..."

"Another human?" Sebastian asks. "It couldn't have been that last one we saw..."

"Well." He finally stops playing his guitar, which he had been playing throughout the story, baring the parts where Riley rudely interrupted him. He gets up from his 'seat'.
"I guess this part is where I hand you back to Khaako. You've been a good audience...." He looks to Riley. "... Mostly."
He looks off screen. 
"Back to you, Khaako."
Rakik leaves, and Khaako returns and sits down.  Khaako opens her mouth to speak.
"Oh." Rakik pops back in, leaning his head back in. "And before anyone asks... yes, I do tap this." he says teasingly as he points to Khaako. 
Khaako responds by shoving him off screen, and shouts something at him off screen, rather irritatingly 
"Well, that's the story of Ghost Bear." She finally says with a sigh. "Anyway.. is there anything else? Any comments?"

"They sure are a distinguished group." That is Stic's comment.
Meanwhile, Sebastian has a bit of a request, though after what happened today, he is a bit hesitant. But before that he has a few more questions. "What do you know about those other humans? Are they all hostile?"

"From what we've seen, the one that attacked you is an anomaly. The first one wasn't here when they met with Stic. You would have to ask Luca more about them. The third one... well you already know them. Second, well, we keep in contact with them." Khaako informs them.

"I see..." The Oshawott nods. "Is he very far away from here? This one you have contact with i mean."

"Actually, we should be able to call him up now." Khaako says. "Now keep in mind, normally you would not be privy to such information, but as an Earth survivor... I feel you have the right to know these things."
She turns towards the other projector. 
"Mattias, get in here."

At the command, the human's hologram shows up on the Medallion. It took him some courage to show up knowing that he will be in the presence of a human who got attacked by another human over something...of hot debate. While Jovanny may hate this Oshawott, Mattias feels nothing but pity for him. "Yes...i'm here."
Sebastian looks at him, he didn't know that thing on the table was yet another projector. "So you are Mattias."
"Yes." He confirms it. "I have been listening to everything, i'm sure you might have your fair share of questions for me." He eyes everyone looking, in truth he is nervous about answering questions with so many people listening, especially since this is a rather unique situation.
"Yeah, I do..."

Riley, for once, just sits and lets her boss do the talking.

Sebastian is thinking. So many questions, but which to pick first? "Why are you here?"
"I volunteered to help the Avali with my expertise in pokémon, and some minor counseling too."
"Are there any other humans besides the ones that i know of right now?"
"You probably didn't saw Kage, he went up to the land of snow looking for clues on the Wallbreakers. He hasn't reported back yet. Then there is also Maximiller to the south deep into Grove lands performing some experiments and lore research, but they aren't the sneaking type so Kage usually has to be the one to get to them to get their report."
So even with those holograms they must communicate by word of mouth? "Don't you have a way to talk with them from afar?"
"I'm afraid that the range is limited without something providing a 'link' for distant communications."
Sebastian deduces that, taking this information into consideration, Mattias must be somewhere within the Land of Sands...maybe even near Sandstone.

"So there's one in the Grove too?" Khaako says to herself. "That's news to me too."

"Maybe you will meet them someday." The human comments.
"Alright so...next question." The Oshawott says before moving on to his next question. "That guy, Jovanny, he was able to, well...manipulate the sand. Is he, and by extension you, really a human?"
"So he revealed that to you huh?" He sighs. "Yes, we are very much human. The usage of pokémon moves is not limited to just pokémon, if you are know what you are doing, there is an archaic method with the right equipment and the more 'biological' method which has made the method i mentioned before obsolete."
"How was this 'achaic method' like then?"
"Well it was very limited, but we put TM/HMs on something like a big gauntlet and then put it on someone's arm."

Khaako sits and thinks of the possibilities of this kind of technologies.
While Riley tries to wrap her head around the very concept.

"...You do know what a TM/HM is, right?" Now Mattias asks a question.
"Yeah, i do." Sebastian nods. "It's an object that can teach someone a move, it's barely talked about because of Iron being popular."
"Hhhmmm, I thought so. Well, do you have any more questions?"
"Where are you from? Are you all survivors from earth?"
"No, we came from somewhere very far and different. I know this might come as a surprise for you since you are from around here but...the universe is big, but so is the multiverse."
That sounds...astonishing. "So you are from another universe? how?"
"It's a very long story I'm afraid, but it all started when something came from beyond time and space, and we piggybacked on it."

"I believe Stic and I have heard part of this before, but go on." Khaako encourages him.

Mattias get to explaining it now. "You are no doubt wondering what this 'creature' might be, and i should probably tell you all about it in case it comes a time you have to deal with one of it. Though i wish speaking of this wouldn't be putting more pressure on all of you with things that might sound ambiguous..." He gives a moment of silence. "This creature is capable of opening space-time anomalies connect to a place known as 'ultra space'. This creature is called Necrozma, is without a shadow of a doubt some sort of god...however for it to travel to other places means it is looking for something, which should be what sustains itself, light. I'm not sure Iron would do much good against it, it's huge, and made of crystal and light. And there are theories that the 'light' it would look for is the sun."

"So is this thing another sort of Ruin-wannabe? Kind of sounds like it from the name." Khaako rubs her temples.

"So is this something we are going to have to deal with eventually?" Sebastian asks.
Stic is wondering that too. He wonders if Mattias' always this good at making people feel dread by 'things beyond ones' comprehension.'
"I can't say for sure, it seems to be something very uncommon, and if that were the case we would already be seeing some signs so...there is nothing to worry about." The human replies to the question. "You might be tired of me talking about this sort of thing."
Stic knows he kind of is tired of this sort of talk.
"So, are there any more questions?"
The water type shakes his head. "No, I think I need some time to process things for a while."
"Oh, alright then."

"Hmmm..." Khaako thinks. "I have no further questions for you either."

"What are you going to do, Sebastian?" The Meowstic asks the human-turned-pokémon.
"I'm going to keep looking for Anders." That is his response. In truth, that is all he knows what to do right now, it looks like the Avali are going to do better than him when it comes to civilizing the pokémon.

Part 7