Act 43: Bandit Problems.

This new day that dawns is a rather important one. After the two weeks of training, the teachings of the rules of war and the stocking of supplies...it is finally time for the campaign to push back against the Grove to begin. It's not an number that rivals the Grove, much less if it was compared to the second attack, but there are many mons gathered in formation just outside of Sandstone. The time to start mobilizing is nigh...but before what will officially start that is Stic's go ahead. The Meowstic is standing upon the wall, overlooking this small army. Before sending them off he is going to be giving them a speech.

Ranii, as well as Luca, stands in the crowd, in the front, listening to the speech their leader is about to give.

There is just the howl in the wind in this moment of silence...before the Meowstic took in a breath and spoke loudly. "The day has arrived, everyone, the day that we will work to liberate the Sands from oppression. You all trained vigorously to prepare for the battles that are sure to follow in the coming days, and were taught discipline that will assure our success in the long run. You will all be moving west to secure the territory of Bleached Bastion (best name for the place i could come up with, not sure about the 'Bastion' part but the Bleached seems to make sense because 'sun bleached'.) Do your best to take the town from the Grove's grasp, but remember all the discipline you must uphold, we are not to bring misery like the nobles we stand against. Put your faith in your superiors and remember the chain of command." He speaks firmly to everyone below. Now...it is time to officially begin, with the following words. "I bid you good luck on your journey to the west, and you find success in pushing The Grove out of the desert so we can start a better age for everyone!" 
With the command given, it is time to start marching west. Who is leading the way are the two ones whose ranks were traded from 'Ace' from the time a guild to a more fitting one, 'generals'. These generals are Aceo the Glaceon and Elec the Electrabuzz. Though Luca the Lucario also had the rank of ace, he isn't one for major leadership or tactics, he has always been better at getting orders done then handing them out. So instead Luca got the rank of captain, he doesn't mind that he isn't a general, really.

After Stic is done with his speech, there is a jubilant throng of cheers and shouts. Ranii is, of course, joining them. Citizens that are not part of the forces sent either to fight or support it through other roles, such as cooks, logistics, etc, gathered on the outside of the gates to cheer on the volunteers as they march out. 
As they march west however, the cheers fade, and only the howling winds of the bare sands accompany them. Ranii is likewise silent as they march. Just like her boyfriend, Ranii is not a General either. In fact, she was only technically ever an 'Honorary' member of the guild, called in as a favor by Khaako. Then again, she's also fine with this, as prior to being paired up with Luca, she was always more of a Loner anyway, never one for strategy or leading armies.

As they march, there begins to be talk among them, it's mostly just conversation. 
"So it's finally time..." Luca said, walking alongside his partner. "Are you holding up alright? It's gonna feel strange, you know? not taking orders from Stic for such a long time..."

"Hey don't worry, I'm used to being on my own." Ranii replies. "Before this I was freelancing, so I know how to act autonomously."

"Heh, maybe i will learn yet another thing from you huh?" He is glad that she is still going to be by his side for this, he feels confident with her.

Ranii smiles back as they continue marching. The rest of the day goes by without incident, and soon, night falls. The camp sets up, and they have their dinner. 
Unbeknownst to them however, at the same time, back at the base, Easani and Duci come back from a patrol. 
"Heey what's this?" He sees something sitting in the middle of it. A vehicle, similar to the black one he seen a few weeks ago. 
But smoother, and more white. Its cockpit has the familiar orange aerogel glass instead of the angled blue glass one of the elite vehicle.

The Decidueye on the other hand, has never seem something like this, so she is impressed and curious about what this is all about. Though she also sees the Avali symbol on it so she know it must belong to them. "How did this got here?"

"Not sure. I saw a similar one here a few weeks ago. A few days before you first arrived here, actually now that I think about it. Though it was different. Black, a bit more angular.  Had a group of weird 'valis in black armors on board. Never saw them again, though, and no one ever talked about it after that."
He scratches his chin.
"If one of these flying machines are here, my guess is they're doing another out-of-dungeon mission again. Though I wonder who's going this ti-"
"Ehhem."
Easani looks behind him.
"Oh hey Nezo!" Sure enough, Nezo is there with his whole pack. Minus Rali. But including Veers. They are all wearing their armors, even Veers is.

"Ah, Nezo." She greets the Avali as well. Duci then looks at how they are all dressed up, it must mean something, they are probably going out. And considering Easani said this is a flying machine there in the middle of the base... "You are going to fly in this?"

"Yup." Nezo replies. "We got ourselves a mission outside of the dungeon for once." He says with pride.
"It's just bandit elimination." Eilali adds in with a flat tone.
"... Yeah, it's bandit extermination." Nezo deadpans back.  "But still! Actual mission outside! That's gotta be something!"
It's at this point that Easani notices that a certain large lizard-robot is missing.
"Say where's Seph? Is he late or-"
"Eh..." Nezo groans. "He's off with his dweller buddies. Doing Nexus-knows-what." Suddenly a grin spreads across his lips. "You didn't hear this from me, but I think him and that 'furret' have a thing going on."
Eilali rolls her eyes in response. 
"But I'm here though!" Veers responds cheerfully. "And I'm ready to fight!"
"You sure are, little bud." Nezo rubs Veers's ears. "You sure are."
"And Rali?" Easani asks. Eilali simply points to the cockpit. He failed to notice before, but there she is, with a hat and glasses on, sitting at the controls. She looks over, and waves to Easani and Duci.

"Bandit extermination?" Duci sounds a little perplexed about such a mission being given to them. "Sandstone needs help with that now?"

"Apparently," Nezo replies. "I mean, they just sent their forces off to liberate the next town, and what's left is at home to defend the town from any surprise attacks, so I'm guessing they're asking us for a 'small favor'?" Nezo shrugs. "Ah well, it's better than roaming around the dungeon all day. No offense to our dweller friends of course."

That makes sense, if nothing else. "Well...I wish you good luck then."

"Thanks!" Nezo gives a friendly nod towards Duci, as he and his crew board the vessel. They watch the door on the side close, and the vehicle takes off. Easani gives a small salute, and a nod, as the vehicle starts up, the noise of the engine filling the air. The vehicle lifts up, vertically, floating up higher and higher, the shield having apparently been taken down for the moment, until its just above the wall, then the engines turn to the back, and it flies off over the dungeon walls, quickly.

Now to get to where the bandits are...
The place where these criminal low-lives have settled is around an Oasis, they got tents near that body of water, which must be the reason they picked this place. There is also an entrance to a cave there.
Currently there aren't many of them other than the lookouts, but it does appear that there are plenty of poison-type pokémon there.

"Alright, so we're coming up on the target." Nezo briefs the group. "The area is an oasis next to a cave. So here's how we're going to do this. Rali is going to try to take as many of them out from the air as possible. No doubt they'll start running to the cave once that happens. Then we land, the rest of us pile out, and finish them off. Quick, simple, easy."
"Yes sir!" Veers cheerfully salutes, a wide smile on his face. 
"Veers..." Nezo says, putting a hand on his head. "Have you ever killed anyone before ?" 
Veers shakes his head. "Well... no sir. But... As you know, both of my parents were taken away by bandits."
"I thought you said they were guildies?" Eilali interrupts him.
"Same thing." Veers half sniffles, half growls. 
"Eh, fair enough." Nezo says. "But I should warn you, the first time is the hardest. Try not to think too much about it."
Veers gives him a determined look, and nods.

One of the bandit mons that is mostly isolated from the others right now is a Venonat by the oasis, looks like they are just drinking some.

Suddenly, they see a bright light in the sky. It gets closer, and closer by the second, and hiss fills the air. By the time the bandit realizes this is an attack, it's far too late.

The poison bug stares at the brightly lit light with it's compound eyes...then his hissing noise starts. It was too late, there was a missile incoming which struck the bandit head on and obliterated it. 
The sound of the explosion wakes up the rest of them from their tents. A Serviper, a Vileplume, a Grimer, a Nidorino and a Salandit...they all look up and see the metal thing flying up in the air. As expected this causes them to panic and run off towards the cave.

The craft opens fire with its front guns, nailing the Serviper before it gets into the cave. The rest manage to get into the cave. 
The craft hovers just a few feet off the ground, and the side door opens. The rest of the pack quickly exits the craft one by one, and draws their weapons. Pistols. They do not believe they need anything bigger for this mission. After all, it's just bandits.
Veers takes a look at the shot-up Serviper, and gags.
"You okay bud?" Nezo puts a hand on his head with concern. 
Veers nods. "I'm okay. Just not used to this."
 Nezo lets go of the Eevee's head.
The aircraft's side door closes, and the craft rises in the air, hovering some distance away from the cave entrance. Rali keeps the aircraft there just in case any of the bandits decide to sneak past the rest of the pack.
"Alright. Let's get this over with." Nezo says as he nods towards the cave. Everyone nods and they click a button on the side. A concentrated light shines out of the bottom of the pistols. This is the other reason they chose pistols. Built-in Flashlights. "Keep your ears peeled. They'll likely try to ambush us, but we're better than that."
"yes sir!" Veers replies. They head into the cave...

When they all head in there, the first thing they come across is the Vileplume. This bandit doesn't look like he wants to fight though, he is just standing there, trembling.
"A-aaaah! W-wait!" The walking flower with huge petals on his head said.

All three guns are trained on the flower-head in an instant, their lights shining right into the eyes. 
"On the ground, hands on your head." Nezo orders. "You're under arrest for banditry, and you'll be taken back to Sandstone. Try to screw with us, and we'll paint the cave with whatever brain matter that head of yours has."

The light makes him close his eyes for a moment. "Ow! M-my eyes..." And as for wanting him to put his hands on his head, there is the fact that the whole top of his head has big flower petals. "H-how?!" Though he is secretly hoping they will come closer, but if not...

Seeing the problem, Nezo groans.
"Ugh, just get on your knees and turn around." Nezo groans. His ears are still on the alert for any sounds out of the ordinary. Any movement. Any heartbeats. So is Eilali. While Veers's ears are very large, they're not as sensitive as the Avalis' ears. Nonetheless he keeps vigil.
"Not sure why we're wasting time on this." Veers grumbles. "They're just worthless bandits."
"Kentares Accords." Eilali sighs in irritation at him. "Says we have to accept surrender. Though, if he snubs it, we kill his ass."
"Oh, right." Veers replies.

The ears of the Avali can pick an odd sound though, it sounds like something liquid bubbling, it is coming from the Vileplume's flower.
"Alright fine fine i will get down..." He looks like he is about to kneel down...but then he throws his head forward to spray Acid at them from the orange-brown center of his flower! "YOU FOOLS!"

The two avalis leap out of the way in time, Veers is not so lucky. He takes the full brunt of the attack. 
"ACK!" The purple liquid hits him head on, he immediately takes damage from the attack. While his armor blunts part of the attack, the lack of foresight on their part of not wearing helmets means he still takes some damage. He falls to his knees, and coughs.
"VEERS!" Eilali shouts at him as she lands. She reaches out to him, but quickly remembers the task at hand.
"First mistake..." Nezo growls as his gun is now trained on him.  Eilai's as well.
The two of them open fire, firing two to three rounds each into the plant-mon.
"... Last mistake." Eilali finishes.

He really didn't live long to contemplate on his mistake, he didn't know what those weapons were capable of. Whatever small time he did had was with him getting shot by their guns, the bullet's piercing his body, with a few of the shots even tearing off some of his petals. The Vileplume falls dead on the ground afterwards.
There was someone watching all of this go down, it's the Salandit. "AAAAAAAHH!!!" His only reaction from seeing his comrade getting cut down by those strange weapons was that panicked scream, followed by him running off deeper into the cave.

Right away hearing the sandalit, Nezo trains his gun on it, firing three shots at the lizard, the shots hitting the rock and missing in all three cases.
While his instinct is strong to chase after the fleeing lizard, Nezo knows better. Not only is chasing lone prey downright stupid, the pack's safety comes before all.
He rushes over to Veers, who's still on one knee. 
"You alright there?" He puts a hand on his back.
"Do we need to pull out?" Eilali asks out of concern.
"No!" Veers shouts in response to the last question, taking a breath and sucking in air. "I'm fine. Just a little acid-singed. I can still fight!"
Nezo nods and scans the cave with this flashlight-gun, while Eilali continues to look over him.
"My armor seems to have blunted most of it." Veers says. He looks at his hand. His armor is mostly intact, though the acid did ever so slightly warp some of the weaker bits of it. The tips in particular. "I'll be fine though."
"You sure?" Eilali asks with a lot of concern. 
"I'm absolutely sure." Veers says. "I'm not slowing you guys down over one little acid attack."
"I... If you say so, Veers." Eilali nods. 
"Well if you're good to go..." Nezo interrupts. "We still have more bandits to hunt. And we'll have to take more care about any more fake surrenders."
"... or just nail them before they get the chance to." Eilali growls.
"... That technically works too." Nezo replies.
With that sorted out, they go deeper into the cave,  this time, keeping a little more distance from each other while still sticking together.

As they proceed they start to smell a stench coming from up ahead, and there is also some voices.
This nervous one might sound familiar, last they heard this one was screaming moments ago. "I-i'm telling you! they killed Vile like he was nothing!" It's the Salandit again.
"Well of course! He was weak!" Someone else responds to him. "His little trick couldn't possibly fool everyone. Let's just hope he softened them up so we have an easier time with them..." 

"What an incredible smell we've discovered." Eilali grumbles.
"Pipe down. Sooner we blast or cap these jackasses, the sooner we can leave." Nezo replies.
"Told you we should have brought the helmets." Eilali grumbles some more.
"Didn't think they were necessary." Nezo replies back. "they're just bandits."
"If it's what I think it is, I don't think it'd help much." Veers grumbles as they walk on, still on the alert.
"Well I-" Nezo stops himself. "Clear chatter, enemy contact." He says as he and Eilali both pick up the aformentioned conversation.
"Contact... that way." Nezo says.

They come across that cowardly lizard from before, and looks like he was having a conversation with an amorphous mass of sludge...it's the source of this smell too. The team gets noticed by them too.
"AAAAHH!!! IT'S THEM AGAIN!" The Salandit shouts, sounding genuinely scared of them, which is a given after what he witnessed.
The other mons are more worried about other matters though, and are not that intimidated by the trio. "Shit! Three of them?!"

Luckily for the Sandilit, the trio is more concerned with the purple mass of sludge than him.
"The fuck is THAT?!" Eilmi shouts. She holds back the urge to puke on the spot.
"Who the fuck cares?!" Nezo replies disgustedly. "It didn't surrender, so... KILL IT!!"
Without a second thought, the trio begins firing at the monstrosity.

The cowardly lizard falls to the ground, surrendering and hoping not to get hit.
Meanwhile the Grimer is getting filled with lead, the bullets pierce right through it's amorphous mass...and he is still very much alive after all of that. "Arrgh! What the...!" Though it doesn't look like it was a pleasant experience for him, there is no lasting damage as the holes just close up again, he is more annoyed than anything. He even spat out some of the bullets that got stuck inside of himself. "The fuck you just did...? No matter...I'm gonna teach you not to mess with me!" Now he proceeds to retaliate by throwing a piece of Sludge from his body at Nezo.

Now the trio is on the defensive.
"What the?! It didn't fucking work?!" Nezo shouts
"The fuck is this thing?!" Eilmi
Having learned the lesson from the last time, they dodge the pieces of Sludge but they cannot keep this up forever. The three of them congregate and duck behind a rock.
The two avalis and the Eevee peak around the rock, and shoot at him some more, but all it seems to do is anger the sludge monster some more. Which seems to be advancing on their position. Thankfully it is slow, but it will be here soon.
"Fuck, this won't work. Does anyone have a 'nade?" Nezo asks frantically.
"What? You don't have one?" Eilmi shouts back as she takes a few more shots. Unfortunately, a click from her gun means she's out. She ducks behind the rock as another Chunk of sludge narrowly misses her.
"I didn't think we needed any!" Nezo says. "This was supposed to be an easy-peasy mission, remember?" He says as the magazine falls out from the bottom of his pistol, only to be replaced with another in his hand. "And we don't have that much ammo-"
"Ugh, typical." Eilmi grumbles. "You're always so-"
"Okay, then throw yours." Nezo argues back.
"What? What makes you think I have one?" She yells back. 
"Well then you can't yell at me for not having one, can you?" Nezo argues while peeking around the corner to take a few more shots. Unfortunately, the Gimer is only a few feet away from this point.
"Almost here, any bright ide-"
Before Eilmi can finish her snide question, she sees Veers reach into a pocket of his armor.
"Wait Veers, what are you-"
Veers takes out an object. He gives it a squeeze. He pops over the top, and throws it right at the Grimer. The round device hitting the grimer in the 'head' and sinking right into its mass....

The mass of sludge shakes himself after getting struck by that last thing. "Oh so are just going to throw useless crap at me huh?!" Before any other ill words could come from him, the grenade inside of him goes off, splatting sludge and shrapnel in the walls and even on the ceiling...That definitively killed the Grimer. But now this whole place smells bad because of the impromptu purple paint splash...
The boom also made the Salandit scream in panic again, but he still hasn't done anything other than lying on the ground with his hands on his head.

Veers ducks behind the rock right after he throws it. He hears what the Grimer says, but doesn't watch as the Grimer explodes from within.
The boom reverbs throughout the cavern, muffled slightly by the gross mass, which is flung  willy nilly all over everything, except the crew which is hiding behind the rock.
"Wait, you had a grenade on you?" Nezo asks in shock. Veers is still holding his ears. "Good on you."
Veers is shaking a bit.
"I... I... I..."
Eilmi laughs just a little bit. 
"Looks like someone here at least had some foresight." She looks at Veers, who is now shaking.
Unbeknownst to the two of them, the adrenaline of the moment is beginning to wear off, and the full horror of killing a mon, much less like that, is setting in. 
Yes, he's seen Seph do it before, to meat hunters, 'sex safari'-ists, and grove deserters who deserved it. But he's never been the one to do it himself.
Eilmi is the first to notice.
"Hey, you okay bud?" She asks, putting a hand on his head.
"I... I... just killed a mon." He sputters. 
"I told you the first time is the hardest, kid." Nezo, now also catching on, reassures him. "You did what you had to do."
"He's right." Eilmi tells him soothingly. "He would have done the same to us, given the chance."
Veers doesn't respond.
"You going to be okay?" Nezo asks. 
"I... I need a few moments." He replies.
His two other packmates nod, knowing full well the discomfort of killing for the first time. They got to do it in virtuality, for just this reason. Veers wasn't so lucky, so it's understandable that he'd be shaken up like this. Especially given the circumstance.
Unfortunately, this gives their other enemies precious moments to act.

While they are having their moment there, the Salandit is still where he is, he really doesn't want to mess with them. The same can not be said for the Nidorino walking past the cowardly lizard. This other bandit is armed unlike the others though, he has an old iron dagger. Currently this other poison type is trying to sneak up on them before attacking.

Although distracted, their ears still pick up the sounds of the heartbeat growing closer and closer. Nezo's in particular. 
"Wait." He says. He peaks up from his position behind the rock to see what's going on, turning towards the approaching heartbeat...

Upon noticing that he has been spotted, the poison type stops taking careful steps and decides to just rush them, with the dagger ready for stabbing. All while letting out a battle cry.

Nezo raises his gun, getting ready to fire, but the mon is too close. Instead, he turns his smg to the side to block the arm of the poison type to block its attack.
"NEZO!" Eilmi shouts. She wastes no further time, raising her own pistol, and firing upon the Nidorino without a moments hesitation. Unfortunately, the fight with the grimer left her a little low on ammo in her clip, so she's only able to get three shots out before she hears a click on her gun.

Those well placed shots were enough to kill the attacking bandit, especially since one of those was on the head. That's another dead bandit.
All these loud noises and the deaths following it, has the Salandit crying. He is not quite sure what is even happening anymore. "Don't kill me! Don't kill me!" It might be a pretty pitiful display but there is no doubt that he is being far smarter than all the previous bandits.

The group hears the Salandit right now, and they approach it, quickly surrounding him.
Veers, having shaken off his initial shock from having killed someone earlier, is among them.
The group learned from their previous mistake with the flower. Veers and Eilmi stand some distance away, on opposite sides of the Salandit, while Nezo approaches from behind. 
"You going to be cooperative? Or are you going to be a shitbag like the last one?" He growls. "Because I've had it up to here with your bandit shit."

"I-i will cooperate! I know I don't stand a chance against you!"

Nezo puts a foot on the bandit's head.
"You can start by answering questions. Cooperate, and you might just walk out of here alive." He growls. "How many more of you are there?"

He lets out a pained groan. "O-okay! Okay! I think... you pretty much killed everyone else but the boss and his right hand Mon..."

"Who are they? What are they, and where are they?!" Nezo shouts.

"I-it's a Nidoking and a Flygon!" He really hopes this response is satisfactory to them. "They are at the end of this cave!"

"... Alright." Nezo says, taking his foot off of him. "As I said, you'll walk out of here alive... but first."
He turns his gun around, so the butt end of it is pointed at the Salandit.
"You get to take a nap."
He brings the gun's butt hard against the back of the sandalit's head, hopefully knocking it out with one blow.

"Ack!" He wasn't wearing a helmet or anything so that blow to the back of his head knocked him out very easily.

Nezo looks over at him for just a few moments, just to make sure he's out cold. Satisfied that he is, he steps back. 
"We'll pick him up on the way out." he says. "It'll be off to the Sandstone jail for him. Better than his buddies, that's for sure." 
They nod. Hopefully he'll stay cold for long enough for them to get back. 
With his information in hand, they go deeper into the cave.

At the end of the cave they come across a rather spacious location. Though the only individual they see in here right now is a big Lopunny with her wrists tied up by a roped that goes around a big rock just behind her, they also died to cloth around her eyes and gagged her mouth in a similar way. She looks bruised from hits and judging by all that dry cum between her legs...the bandits must have been using her for 'fun activities' too. 

"Wait, what the?!" Eilmi says going up to the lopunny cautiously. "We weren't briefed on any hostages." 
Veers shifts his eyes to the side, a blush forming on his face while a frown forms on his face. Out of all the things he expected to see on this mission, this was not it. 
"Careful." Nezo says. "It might be a trap." He scans the area with his flashlight-gun to see if there's anything lurking around in the shadows.

The rabbit reacted a little when Eilmi got close, she pulled against the ropes a little and let out a muffled moan, almost sounding like laughter. She also spread her legs like she is expecting him to want to fuck here and now. 
There is a big heart beat coming from behind this big rock the Lopunny is tied behind. But with the Flygon coming out of the ground with Dig to try and strike Nezo, the trio might have more outstanding issues.

Nezo's ears twitch and he looks down, towards the grown. 
"WHAT THE?!" 
He leaps back out of the way just as the Flygon comes out of the ground.

After missing the Avali, he growls and flies some distance away before starting to Dig, looks like he is going to try to attack from below again unless they stop him. 
"So, you are the little fucks who have been killing my guys?" Now their bandit leader, the Nidoking, shows himself. He was the one hiding back there. "Apparently you did it pretty easily too..." He takes the time to bring a hand over to the Lopunny's cheek, amused by how she just seems to lean her head on his hand as if she is liking the affection being given by the one who probably not only gave her those bruises but certainly fucked her too.

"Yes, and you better call off your other buddy the next time he surfaces, otherwise you're going to lose him too." Nezo warns.
"And that goes for you too." Eilmi points her gun at the big boss.

The big poison type brute smirks. "Oh really?~ Well we will see about that, yes? He is my right hand mon for a reason." 
The Flygon comes out of the ground to attack again with Dig, this time he is targeting the Eevee!

The eevee can't hear as well as the avali can, so he is unaware of the Flygon digging underneath him despite the fact that he is on edge. 
... But Eilmi isn't. She screams his name and runs towards him, she leaps at him, and tackles him, just in time as Flygon bursts forth a mere inch away from him! Nezo turns and sees that, he aims his SMG and begins firing at the Flygon.

The dragon remains mobile in the air, so Nezo might have to keep his aim trained on him if he wants any hope of hitting him. However some bullet's did hit the Flygon, causing him to crash on the ground...he might not be out of the fight yet though and who knows if he will try diving underground again. 
The bandit boss watches those weapons of theirs, they are making quite some loud noises with those things. And is the Flygon...bleeding?! How? What did they just do? He doesn't understand but he is starting to realize why they might have killed all other of his underlings so easily...

Nezo fires another round right next to the dragon's head, missing by a mere inch on purpose.
"Make another move, either of you, and this dragon is toast."
By now, the crash has given Veers and Eilmi precious time to train their own guns on them, giving Nezo the opportunity to turn and face the nidoking bandit boss.

That Nidoking...is not where he was supposed to be, did he sneak off while they were fighting? Impossible, they would notice something too big moving about. No...he did not escape, it seems like he went back behind that rock he was hiding behind before, the same one the Lopunny is tied to. That's easy to tell because his heartbeat is coming from there. 
The Flygon is deviant though. "Fuck you...!" He tries to do one last attack. His eyes start glowing red and he lets out a roar, it's as if he has been overtaken by some Outrage and has gone savage! He runs towards the trio with his claws ready to tear at them. 

The trio of course open fire, a hail of bullets pouring into the Flygon in a desperate attempt to stop him.

That manages to stop the dragon from going on a rampage, putting him full of lead before he could get to them. 
The Nidoking comes stomping back again, he has something in his hands. Is that...a gun?! "I got one that is bigger than yours!" Yes, it appears that is an old assault rifle he has. He pulls the trigger and without any degree of accuracy, begins emptying the magazine at them.

"SHIT TAKE COVER!!" Nezo shouts as he backs up, and then leaps backwards behind a rock.
"ACK!!" Veers grips his left arm, as blood sprays from his arm. Eilmi grabs him as he and runs for cover behind the same rock that Nezo went behind, much like how they ducked behind one during the grimer attack.
"Nnngh UUGHHH" Veers whines as he holds his arm. Eilmi tries to tend to it the best she can, putting pressure on the wound as Nezo waits for an opening.
"What the FUCK!?" Nezo screams as bullets hit the rock and whiz by. "How the FUCK did he get a Nexus-cursed firearm?!"
"It hurts... aaaaah!!" Veers whines. "T... THis wasn't supposed to happen!"
"Hang in there Veers. You're gonna make it." Eilumi tells him soothingly, her expression grim as can be.  She tries to search the pockets of her armor for something, ANYTHING, to staunch the wound.
"This was supposed to be an easy mission, so I didn't bring much meds along..." She does manage to find something however, a bandage. She ties one end of it tightly around Veers's bleeding arm, tightly as possible. 
"Apply pressure. It's the best we can do for now." She tells him. "Just hang in there. Don't bleed out on us!" She says.
Nezo holds his gun at the ready, waiting for an opening to return fire. He checks his ammo in the mean time. 
"... shit." He says. His clip is low, from firing on that Flygon. There's only about 5 shots left. And he has no reserve ammo left either.
Suddenly, he has an idea.
"Veers, hand me your pistol."
"S...Sir?" The Eevee replies in pain.
"He's gotta run out sometime. As soon as he does, I'm going to nail him with everything we got. And you aren't in any condition to use this thing. I'll empty my SMG on him then nail him with whatever's left in your pistol. It'll be a lot faster than trying to reload before he does."
Veers nods, and, weakly, hands him the pistol. 
"Get'em, sir..." Veers whimper.
Nezo nods, and holds the pistol under the SMG, still using both hands to hold the submg.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! LOOK AT YOU! HIDING LIKE RATTATA!" The Nidoking mocked them as he kept on shooting his gun, at least until it ran out of ammo. "Huh?!" He doesn't seem to get why it is not shooting anymore, he pulls the trigger again and again but all this weird weapon does is make clicking sounds.

"He's out." Nezo says. "GO!!" He yells to Eilmi. Elimi nods. She grips her pistol tightly, and, temporarily leaving Veers where he is, the two of them come out from behind the rock. Nezo shoots the 5 shots he has left in his SMG towards the beast's stomach. Once he's out, he tosses it to the side and draws the pistol Veers had, aiming straight for the head as he fires shot after shot from it right at the beasts head. Eilmi likewise fires her pistol, straight for the Nidoking's head as well.

Those first five shots caused great pain to the bandit leader, but what was the cause of his death was the many rounds they proceeded to put in his head afterwards. All those shots were enough to seriously mess up the Nidoking's head...to say the least. He was dead before he fell to the floor. And just like that, it looks like their mission to exterminate the bandits has been successful in the end. That old assault rifle, now empty, lies besides the dead poison type pokémon.

There is a dead silence in the finality of it all. For a moment, they listen. Listen for any more sneaky mons trying anything funny, or for something else to show up. But the only noise that enters either of the avali ears is the steady breathing of the lopunny hostage, and... "Veers!" Eilmi shouts as she runs back behind the rock and goes back to tending him. Nezo meanwhile walks over to the old gun, and picks it up. "...." He takes the gun, and hangs onto it. The commander will want to see this. Many thoughts swirl around his head as he looks over the weapon, sees the dead mons in the cave. Many questions... It seems in all the excitement and the afterglow, one might have forgotten about the lopunny...

Well whatever the case, that rabbit is still tied up there, partially oblivious to the whole situation as she has her eyes currently blocked.

Its then that Nezo remembers he tossed his gun aside during the fight. Not the smartest idea, but he needed his hands free to aim the pistol.
Luckily it's not too hard to track down, as the light is still on. He walks towards it and reaches out to pick it up...
Only for his foot to bump against something in the dark. 
His heart jumps as he quickly looks over to see what he bumped into....
Which happens to be the large lopunny's foot. 
"Oh, It's you, mam. I almost forgot you were there." He refrains from picking up his gun for just a moment, just enough to search his armor for a knife. He finds it, and holds Lopunny by the arms, and cuts her arms loose, and then her legs.
"Are you alright?" He asks. "Did they hurt you?"

With nothing holding her anymore she quickly falls to the floor, she is sort of trying to stand on all fours but seems to be having difficulty with even that for some reason. Her paws reach for the cloth pieces obscuring her view and gagging her mouth, pulling them off. "aahh~ hahahahaha...h-hurts so good~" She looks to be in bliss but...something is wrong here, she is talking nonsense and her eyes are very unfocused. Her face seems slightly purple-ish...they must have poisoned her. "Bitch...! Bastard! Do you know who i am?!~ I'm the...the damn goddess of sex!~ I'm gonna fuck-...URK!" Then she unceremoniously pukes out some purple liquid onto the floor in front of her...Yeah that's definitely signs of some very bad poisoning.

"Shit!" Nezo shouts. "Looks like that asshole really fucked you up." 
He knows that they can't leave her here like this. Not that this was an option anyway. She's going to need medical attention. Her and Veers both. 
Though carrying her is going to be a pain. It makes Nezo really wish that Seph was here, he'd be able to handle her easily.
"Just stay calm mam. Can you walk?" He asks.
"Can you walk?" Eilmi likewise asks Veers. Who grunts and nods. "He hit my arm, not my leg. I'm a bit pained, but I think I can walk... as long as we don't run into anything else."
Nezo hears this and breathes a sigh of relief. At least they don't have to drag both of them. And then...
... Right. there's still the prisoner. And the only possible clue to where that gun came from.

"I can walk...the walk." Maybe that is an 'yes'? Her voice sounds a little rough now though.

"That's good." Nezo does his best to help her to her feet.
Meanwhile Eilmi likewise takes veers to his feet, who is still gripping his arm. 
Nezo comes over and hands Veers's pistol to her, who hands it back to him.
"Right, let's gather our prisoner and get the hell out of here."

When they get back to where the Salandit is...............he is still there right where they left him. Though it appears that he is stirring right now, he is going to wake up.

Nezo rolls his eyes, he'd rather not have him wake up now, so he ready his now empty gun, and just knocks him on the back of the head again.
Honestly if it was up to him, he'd have simply shot him in the back of the head after questioning him. But Accords and everything. Besides, they do need a prisoner now that a random firearm ended up in a bandit's possession.

Aaaaand now the lizard is back to sleeping again.

Nezo grabs the salandit, and flings him over his shoulder, he checks over to make sure the lopunny is still behind them and coming along.

That Lopunny is still following them, yes. She is zigzagging more than a Zigzagoon and mumbling...but she is following.

Well, it's good that she's still following. He was going to hand the salandit over to her, but given how toxified she is, he quickly realizes this is a terrible idea. He takes her hand and the four, five counting the salandit, make their way to the end of the cave.

Soon enough they are out of there. Things out here are pretty much how they left...dead Seperior on the right, bits of a bug by the oasis.
"Hey..." The thoroughly intoxicated rabbit girl starts speaking to Nezo now. "Hey! you....you want me to like, suck your dick?"

"Lady..." Nezo replies back with a blush on his face. "I cannot in good conscience let you do that while you're that poisoned.... besides, we have injured among us."
However he pulls her close and whispers into her ear.
"Though, ask us again later. If you're still interested."
Eilmi hmphs a bit at that last part.

"Uhhhhhh? Whaaaaaat? I'm fiiiine, baby!~" No, she is definitely not fine. "I just had a bit too much to drink, see?" Though thankfully this doesn't mean she is being persistent about it, she is not trying to get on her knees to suck the Avali off like her tone would imply.

Nezo simply ignores her slurred tone and the group finally gets outside. The aircraft is still hovering a small distance away from the cave, waiting to kill any runners. But when the pilot sees that it's her pack, plus a few more worse-for-wear looking people, she lands the craft. Nezo motions for the Lopunny to get in the craft first.

"OOoooooh party mobile!" She commented before getting in the ship, tripping and falling once she was inside.

Nezo reaches out for her, but realizes there are other priorities at the moment. At least she's inside. He tosses the unconscious sandalit onto the craft, and then helps an injured Veers on board.
"By the Nexus, what the hell happened in there?!" Rali turns back and shouts over the noise. "This was supposed to just be a simple clean up."
"I'll explain later. For now, get us back to Sandgun ASAP." Nezo orders.
"Er, that sandalit... shouldn't we-"
"No. He's the only one who might know where this damn firearm came from." He holds the assault rifle up. "He's going back to Sandgun for interrogation."
"Yes sir." Rali confirms, shutting the side door and flying off back to Sandgun.

Now that everyone's onboard, all that is left is to fly back to base...
Later, The Decidueye was having a walk in the middle of the night, being an owl means that Duci is somewhat nocturnal after all. She looks up and spots that flying vehicle from before coming back, it would appear that Nezo and his team are back from their mission.