Sandman001 - "I find Mei joining the CSI just because of the droids to by a load of BULL. She's a massive hypocrite to join a group that's just as oppressive as the people she was fighting against. At the the Republic seemed okay because it turned into the Empire. The CIS is treats all planets it invades awfully."
LW: The CIS's original purpose is actually pretty noble, hence why many systems defected to them. It would've been great, had it not been for Sidious's and Dooku's interference, as well as the greedy corporations that joined the CIS (and again, they were, to some extent, being puppeted by the two Sith lords.) Also, note that Elementia is a planet that was completely cut off from the rest of the galaxy for a while, so they have no idea about the politics and news going on in the galaxy. Both sides knew this, and tried to use that to their advantage to make a first good impression to both of them. However, the Republic, who has no army, couldn't really send in proper troops to help with the rebellion, and only meager medical supplies and rations, while the CIS, who had plenty of Battle Droids, sent plenty of them. Add in the fact that they also offered rations, and Mei was pretty much sold. She, much like probably most of the other Separatists, would be exposed to propaganda that will paint the Republic as the greedy, uncaring bad guys, while being told that the Separatists are just trying to be free. At least, that's my theory on why most of the Separatists stayed where they were, despite the atrocities that their side committed that they were against (like slavery and mistreatment based off of species.) Keep in mind that not every single one of the CIS was a pure scumbag, and actually wanted genuine equality for all. Ask Mina Bonteri, or rather, her son.
Also, it's CIS, not the crime show.
…
Jrmcvay442
LW: I thought we made it clear just how the kidnapping was (barely) successful. Danzo had a hand in it, which meant that he replaced guards, reduced guards, and did every other dirty trick you can think of, which includes tampering with the barrier. And even then, the best bounty hunters in the galaxy were running for their lives.
Also, the thing about Jango is that we made it clear that he was conflicted between completing the job that he was basically tricked into doing and trying to do the right thing. Not a very easy choice when your reputation is on the line, and when you're going to end up pissing off the wrong people. And it's not like he didn't try to do the right thing at the end.
The tailed beasts were called the tailed beasts, mate. They weren't considered living, thinking, feeling things for a very long time, much less a person.
Yes, the timeline is a bit weird, but I thought that we already went through that, especially with the fact that Sabine and Hera's going to be a part of the story, just like in the original version of this fanfiction. Granted, you didn't wait to read the future notes we put out in the other chapters, but yeah. Also, it's a fanfiction. Don't think about it too much.
While normally I would like to thank you for your constructive criticism, I wouldn't exactly call your comments that. It was just you venting out your unfiltered, unrestrained thoughts without even attempting to pretend to be polite. It's one thing to have constructive criticism and questions, but it's another to just be a jerk, especially when the real dogshit here is your spelling and grammar.
If you wish to deliver real constructive criticism, please do so in a polite and professional manner. This may be the internet, and this may be fanfiction, but have some standards for yourself.
And on that note, if you wish to justify your poor spelling & grammar with English being your second language, then please do study harder. Excuse or not, nobody wants to read something that looks like a drunk person wrote it. The fact that you decided to read a fanfiction that is in mainly English implies a lot about your dominant language. Also, I just checked what fanfictions you liked, and surprise surprise, they're all in English. Besides, AmusedLight here doesn't have English as his first language, and he writes supremely better than you.
AmusedLight: Yeah, lol. Man, your typing sucks, Jrm, like damn, I got a homie in Oman who spells better than you, lol.
…
As for everyone else, thank you for your kind comments and constructive criticisms. Really appreciate it! A single thoughtful review means the world to us writers.
[Kessel - Ölüm]
The roar of a ship's engines screeched across the land as it flew through the air. Flying over the landscapes of the mining planet towards its destination, the Sheathipede transport shuttle only began to slow down once it flew over the mining hole that was named Ölüm. It's landing gears opening up like a large, metal insect, it slowly hovered down onto one of the few landing pads the mining hole had, with two members of the Pykes Syndicate and Darts D'Nar himself awaiting the ship.
Once the shuttle settled down, it's doors slid open, and out walked the Prime Minister of Zygerria Atai Molec himself.
"Prime Minister Molec." D'Nar welcomed him. "It's an honor to be privileged with your presence, my lord."
"Darts D'Nar." Molec regarded while looking around. "I've been sent by the queen herself to bring a clear message to all of her subjects who have operations like yours on Kessel. I suggest we talk about this in private."
"Of course." D'Nar nodded in respect. "Let us go to my office. From there, you can see the whole operation for yourself."
D'Nar then snapped his fingers, and a Pyke member quickly walked forward to give them their air masks.
"Another mining accident, I presume?" Molec frowned, putting on the mask.
"Unfortunately." D'Nar sighed. "As profitable as this mine is, it isn't without it's own set of problems. This mine is ancient, with many of its walls weakened from constant harvest. Despite the new reinforcements my slaves have built, it was only a matter of time before another mine collapsed."
"Any casualties?"
"A few, unfortunately. We lost a few slaves, as well as two of fellow zygerrians, and even a couple of Pyke members. Such a tragedy."
"Quite."
…
The two Zygerrians sat in a high room, surrounded by soundproof windows where they could see the whole mining operation down below, from the very top to the very bottom. D'Nar ordered a nearby slave to pour two glasses of wine for the both of them as he explained the extent of his operation.
"As you can see, I have over 50,000 slaves working non-stop, 24/7 on the job, finding, gathering, and transporting spice to the upper levels, where the processing teams will extract the Kessoline from the Kessel Stones so we can sell the minerals for narcotics as spice." D'Nar stopped for a moment to down his glass, before he continued. "That alone makes a good fortune, but really, it's the coaxium that's the real money maker."
This was something that got Molec to raise eyebrows. "Coaxium? That's a rare hyperfuel. Pretty dangerous too."
"But also very lucrative." D'Nar smiled. "I've just discovered a large amount of that fuel is buried right beneath us. The minute this was discovered, I have prioritized its mining and doubled the workload for all of my slaves." D'Nar said, not being able to contain his chuckle. He was now standing above a fortune that would last almost a lifetime of profits he could now accumulate, with an unending flow of slaves that were being brought in every day.
Molec nodded, becoming quite impressed with the zygerrian's work.
"I see that you've made some admirable progress, which puts the other slavers to shame with your successes." The Prime Minister said, looking back down at the area below them. He watched as a large group of slaves were beginning to line up. "D'Nar, why are those slaves not being put to work?"
"Oh, you mean those from the Terran Sector? They are merely refilling their canteens before they go back to work." D'Nar answered. "This particular group has earned their little reward, since unlike the other slaves like the wookies and the others from the Outer Rim, these slaves have been making much more progress in my mine than all the others."
It wasn't very uncommon knowledge that humans were rather a popular race to enslave. Not only do they tend to last longer in a vast majority of climates, such as the sweltering one in Kessel, but they also tended to rival in physical beauty at times with the Twi'leks. It also helped that with all the human-supremacy attitude that was spread across the galaxy, it was admittedly rather satisfying to put them in their places.
It honestly seemed like his birthday when the Zygerrian Empire heard about the planet Earth, a lush planet full of humans. When the Separatists began to forge alliances in that planet, it allowed the Zygerrians to use the Separatist connections to sneak onto the planet to smuggle some of the humans out for their personal use. It was surprisingly easy, due to the fact that this planet had "third world countries", which the United Nations put less attention and care into, and thus, made it significantly easier to capture and ship future slaves.
The two zygerrians stared down at the line up as one particular blond was about to have his turn at the front of the line.
[ Outside of the Cafeteria Entrance ]
There was a large line waiting outside of an entrance to the inside of the mine, which lead to the cafeteria. Instead of only waiting for food, however, these slaves were also waiting for their second refill for their canteens, which was pretty rare. The slavers called it their reward for their hard work, but the people knew better. They all knew that the slavers acknowledged that if they wanted the slaves to harvest more spice and the coaxium, they'll have to give them more food and water, otherwise, the slaves will die at a much more faster rate, and replenishing their numbers is always too troublesome, hence why the slavers made some effort on keeping them alive.
In that line was Jimmy, who was talking to Tarik and Adrik about the new mine that they had extended with some other slaves, making some serious progress by applying more support beams that minimized the chances of the mine collapsing again. It was thanks to the Mexican's experience working in the mines that they thought of this, and after getting permission from their slavers, they were able to build the support beams.
"Man, we're lucky that you knew your shit, Jimmy. If you didn't explain to that fucking Zyg about the need for the support beams, more of us would probably die from another goddamn collapse." Tarik said to the Mexican with a handshake. "I owe you one, man."
"Don't thank me, amigo. Thank the Lord." Jimmy pulled out his cross necklace. "If it wasn't for his grace, then the whole ceiling would have collapsed."
"You trying to convert me, Jimmy?"
"Well, if I have a chance-"
"Man, even on a different planet, you Christians and Muslims are still at it, huh?" Adrik teased them.
"Well, a man's gotta find a way to pass the time."
That voice belonged to a very large man, who was covered head to toe in tattoos. His arms, legs, shoulders, and even the back of his head decorated by art, the only part of his body left untouched was his bald head and forehead.
"Joseph." Jimmy walked up to him in shock as he extended his hand to him. "Good to see you're still breathing, amigo. I heard you were working down in the underground with the Wookies." Joseph Iberra was a fellow Mexican who grew up in the same school as Jimmy, but unlike Jimmy, who went to try and make an honest living, Joseph was someone who had a dirty history of smuggling dope across the US border, which ended when he got into trouble with his last shipment. Before he knew it, he was sold off as a slave, and ended up in Kessel.
"I was…" Joseph shook his head as he gained some worried expressions from the others. "...I'm the only one left alive. Kessoline gas came out from the wall, and all hell broke loose." Everyone winced when he mentioned the Kessoline leak. Much like dioxis, if you breathed it in, you were a dead man within seconds.
"So you mean-"
"I just finished dragging their bodies to their final resting place if you know what I mean." Joseph said grimly, sounding very weary. "Wasn't a pleasant task to do."
"Ain't it ever." Jimmy put a hand on his countryman's shoulder. "Get in line, we're about to get our canteens filled." He pulled his friend in the line before anyone could say anything else.
Meanwhile, up in front of the line, Naruto was just about to take his turn. He was waiting for Zeb to finally fill his canteen, waiting patiently for his turn.
"Never thought in my entire life that being in front of a water can would be the best day of my life." Zeb said, half-smiling as he closed the tap of the water, before taking a sip from his canteen. "Ohh, that's good."
"If you don't mind, big guy, there's a line." Naruto reminded him, jerking his thumb at the growing line behind them.
"Hehehehe, right." Zeb closed his canteen and walked out. "Your turn, kid. Make every drop count." And just like that, after what seemed like forever, Naruto was in front of the line. After taking a moment to enjoy the reward of his patience, he stepped up to the water tank, and turned on the faucet.
While the water splashed and bubbled into his nearly empty canteen, Naruto found himself staring at the small, muddy puddle that sat near his feet. He could've been losing his mind, but he suddenly saw a younger version of himself smiling, with him being around Sakura, who was high-spirited as usual. Kakashi-sensei was giving his eye smile while holding his nasty book, while Sasuke was giving his usual gloomy look.
The water began to hiss, and Naruto realized that it was almost full. Quickly shutting it up, he was about to recap his canteen, when someone roughly stepped in front of him, splashing the water all over his already dirty pants. He looked up, and saw that it was Sabine.
Getting into his face, she snarled, "So I heard you and the Earthlings got yourselves a special favor for rebuilding a whole mineshaft."
Naruto just sighed. This girl was obviously trying to provoke him, and at this point, he was quite used to this behavior, even though he never understood what was the cause of their bad relationship.
"Well, got anything to say, kid?"
"No." Naruto answered while trying to close his canteen. "I'm just trying to get some water after some backbreaking work. So if you'd excuse me-"
"Like hell I will!" She slapped the water canteen from his hand, and he watched in horror as it fell onto the dirty ground, most of its contents splashing all over their feet and the ground. Everyone gasped and jeered at the sight of the two of them fighting again. Someone in the background yelled at them to just kiss and make up, but both of them didn't hear it.
Sabine took it a step further and grabbed the canteen, before spilling the remaining water right in front of him. "Here, try and enjoy it now, filthy imposter."
His expression blank, he bent down to his knee to try to touch the spilled water with his hand, ignoring the shoutings from his friends, who were demanding to know what was going on.
"You know what, Wren?"
"What?"
"This!" Naruto suddenly scooped up some of the water, and threw it onto her face. Caught off guard, she stumbled back as she tried to wipe away the sludge. Stumbling, she tripped over a large cable, making her fall onto the ground.
"Consider that a fucking warning." Naruto warned her with a glare. "I normally don't hit women unless I have to."
"Coward!" Sabine shouted as she kicked his leg, sweeping him off his feet as he fell onto his rear as well. This gave her the chance to jump right onto him, and began to punch him right in the face. "I'm not some girl you think you can just slap around!"
Months of pent up aggression and stress went into blow after blow, her small fists slamming into every inch of his body that she could hit. One of her hits landed onto his mouth, and when she retracted her hand, his lips were bleeding, much to her satisfaction.
Her grin quickly faded as he suddenly grabbed her fist midair, and quickly twisted it slightly, causing a sharp, intense pain to erupt from her wrist.
"AARGH!"
Seizing the moment, Naruto punched her in the face, before flipping her off of him. Before she could have time to react, he quickly crawled on top of her as he grabbed her neck, squeezing it hard.
Sabine gagged as she struggled to get him off of her, slammed her fists into his arms to make him release her, only for her to stop when she looked into the boy's eyes.
They were cold. Just dark and cold like it was Death itself standing right in front of her. Was he really about to kill her in front of everyone just like that? It was then that she felt fear. Fear of dying. Fear of dying before she got a chance to even say goodbye to her family. The world began to turn black as she was running out of air-
ZAPPP!
Suddenly, Sabine realized that she could breathe again. Coughing, she blinked the spots out of her eyes as she tried to process what just happened. Looking up, she realized that Naruto had collapsed, with a Pykes guard standing over him, an electrostaff in his hands.
"Stand back!" The other Pykes guards ordered, driving them away with their own electrostaff and whips. "Stand back, slaves!"
Someone grabbed Sabine's hair, and she cried out in pain as she was pulled up, forcing her to stand on her feet as one of the Pykes roughly forced her up. She could see the two other Pykes stomping on Naruto repeatedly to the point where he started to spit blood out of his mouth.
"Starting fights, aren't ya!?" The leading Pykes sneered as he stopped the beating. "Well, let's see how you like that now. No water for you for a week!" He turned around to Sabine, and pointed at her. "And you. Don't think you'll get away with it. The both of you will be placed in the Cleaning Unit…"
Both of them now forced onto the ground on their stomachs, Sabine could only thank herself for this mess she got herself into. Now she was put a week without water AND been given that task for a week. She wondered what the kid was thinking, especially when she saw him just staring into the ground like he didn't seem to care. That, or he had a concussion.
"Back to work, all of you!"
…
D'Nar couldn't help but chuckle at the sight below him. "And yet, that Elementia boy failed to finish off the Mandalorian. How disappointing."
Molec was curious to know what he meant. "You let your slaves fight against each other? Why not simply teach them a lesson?"
"Oh, I do." D'Nar shrugged, ordering his slave to pour himself another glass of wine. "I'll let them work in the Cleaning Unit, although…" D'Nar let out a harsh laugh. "I heard that they call it 'The Grave Unit.' Rather fitting, admittedly, since for the most part, they are disposing of the dead bodies of the slaves at the bottom of the mine."
"Gruesome." Molec chuckled, before taking a sip of his wine.
Placing his empty glass down, he let out a small burp, before he continued. "Do you think you'll have enough workers for a small project?"
D'Nar listened while pouring another glass for Molec "What kind of small project? If you didn't notice, I've already got my hands full at the moment."
"It won't take much for you and you'll get handsomely paid." Molec got up from his seat, and began to walk around, staring at the slaves below. "There are certain...individuals who are in need of a certain area where they could test their ideas in the dark if you can say…"
"So someone wants to use my slaves for experiments." D'Nar quickly deduced. "I suppose I can be generous. I am a man of science, after all. Still, it won't be for free."
"You'll be compensated, that I assure you." Molec told him "I just need to know if you're willing to contribute some space, slaves and equipment to these fine gentlemen." Molec said remembering the conversations he made with these individuals, who wanted to keep this as secretive as possible. Should their plans ever be exposed to the Republic or even the Separatist government, they would face a lifetime in prison, assuming they weren't given the death penalty..
"Let's bring up a toast to this opportunity then." D'Nar said raising his glass to Molec's level. "To progress."
The glasses touched each other.
"To progress."
[ Ölüm, Level 50; the bottom of the sinkhole ]
The Grave Unit was a job that nobody wanted. Granted, no one wished to do any of the work here, but this job was one of the worst ones a slave could do. Tasked with the job of disposing garbage, which included the bodies of the deceased slaves, it always left the unfortunate slave feeling depressed after they were done.
A body of a deceased Togrutan male was carelessly thrown onto a large, metal wagon, which looked ancient. Naruto flinched as he saw countless bodies under the Togrutan. Some were fresh, and some have been down here much longer than the others, with the stench being a dead giveaway. Even with the tied cloth around their mouths, the stench was still unbearable. Gagging, he shook his head, and tried not to think about it too much.
Letting out a painful sigh, he let out a groan as he tossed another body into the conveyor belt, which led to the incinerator. Turning back to the wagon, he flinched as he saw one of the bodies staring at him. A Wookie, whose head was split open, probably due to being beaten to death, had its eyes still open, which, despite the lack of life in them, was still staring into his soul. Shivering at the sight, he lifted his hand towards his face, closing them gently.
"Sorry…"
"Ruto!" Naruto turned around to see a man wearing an improvised gas mask over his head. Dressed in filthy clothes taken from the corpses, the man was huge, easily overtowering both Naruto and Sabine.
This man was named Levi Laskov, although many just called him "Bomber", due to only a handful of them actually knowing his name. Not many knew who he was or where he came from. The only thing everyone knew, however, was that he was the unfortunate one who was stuck working here for the rest of his life.
"Hey, Bomber." Naruto waved at him, before wincing. The Russian giant did not fail to notice this.
"Them Zygs mess you up?" He asked, already knowing the answer. "She responsible for it?"
He jerked his thumb at her, who was currently loading another body onto the belt. Naruto nodded, and Bomber snorted.
"Lovebirds. Alright, time to get to work."
Before Naruto could argue against that, a loud buzz rang through the air. They looked up, and saw more bodies falling from the sky. Some of them landed on the large, metal wagons, and some of them fell onto the floor with a nasty crunch.
"...The next batch?" Naruto asked stupidly. Bomber just nodded. No more words being needed, they both got back to work.
The three of them continued to toss the bodies onto the conveyor belt in grim silence. Bomber made sure to count the fallen, while Naruto and Sabine made sure to keep the fire going and to help Bomber load the bodies.
"Okay." Bomber finally spoke, immediately grabbing their attention. "We're done for this area. Time to move on to the next one."
"Right." Naruto and Sabine sighed in unison. They looked at each other for a moment, before they quickly looked away.
…
Ten grueling hours have passed now, and yet somehow, Naruto was the only one that wasn't showing any major signs of exhaustion as he laid down another body onto the conveyor belt.
That, however, didn't mean that he was enjoying the work.
Naruto grunted as he massaged his shoulders, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "This goddamn heat. Can't fucking get used to it."
The operator just pulled on his filter mask, before turning to Naruto. "Then you better be thankful that we're almost done for the night. I'll handle the rest here, so can you do one more run? We'll be done then for today."
Naruto nearly cried from relief. They've been working for almost twelve hours straight, with only a half-hour break in between. "Yeah, sure, no problem."
"Good kid." Bomber nodded. He noticed that one of the carts was already gone. "I guess the girl already took off. Go help her so that you'll be back upstairs sooner."
"Right." Naruto said, turning around. "See you in a bit, old man."
…
You would expect that the bottom of the pit would be a small area, but Naruto and Sabine learned the hard way that it was just as large as any other level.
Naruto winced as he took another step forward. He realized just how much his feet and his body hurt from the whole labor, which somehow seemed much more difficult than mining for spice or fuel.
'On top of that, it's fucking creepy.' He thought, glancing at the empty, filthy area around him. While seeing dead slaves wasn't exactly a new experience, there was at least plenty of other company around him that was alive, be it one of the slavers or another fellow slave. In here, however, you were mostly alone, save for the others that you could share your misery with.
SNIFF. SNIFF.
Naruto froze, his tired muscles suddenly clenching up as he thought he had heard something. His minimal training kicking in, he began to silently walk towards the source of the noise.
His ears now focusing on the source of the noise, his eyes widened when he realized what the noise was.
Someone was crying, and it sounded like a girl, judging from the breathing and the restrained sobs. He walked over to where it was coming from, and saw that it was Sabine. Sitting against the metal cart, her head was buried in her legs as the woman was breaking down.
Naruto, who was feeling pretty awkward, cleared his throat. Sabine's head shot back up, hitting her head onto the metal crate. Hissing in a foreign language he couldn't understand (but somehow, it sounded familiar), he had to hold back a chuckle as she tried to glare daggers at him.
"I guess you just needed a break." Naruto said, walking past her. He began to load up the bodies onto the metal crate. "The work sucks, I know, so I get it if you need to take a break."
"What's wrong with you?!"
Naruto turns his head towards her. "Excuse me?"
Tears leaked out of her eyes as she hastily tried to wipe them away. "We're in here just throwing bodies in these ovens to burn like garbage after they've been worked to death, and we're just dragging them around like they don't matter!" Now standing up, she kicked the cart in frustration.
The young man stood there awkwardly as the Mandalorian girl kicked out her frustrations, before sinking back onto her butt. Whatever fire she had was gone, replaced by just sadness.
"I'm stuck here with you, surrounded by stacks of dead people with no way out of here…" She sniffed. "I miss my family… "
Sabine couldn't hold it in anymore as she began to cry into her legs. "I'm going to die down here, with my body joining the others into that furnace, with the last memory I have of my family is of that fight…"
Naruto bit his lip as he watched the tough, rowdy Sabine - the girl that always tried to start problems with him, - began to finally break down, just like how he and many of them did at some point.
"I'm going to die." The coughing began to replace the sniffing. "I'm - *cough* - I'm - *cough* - going to die in this hole."
The coughing sounded serious as she kept on going for a good minute. Naruto realized that she probably needed water, since the last time they drank was when they had that fight in the afternoon.
CLUNK.
Sabine looked up, her eyes now bloodshot, and saw his canteen next to her. "Wha-?"
"Take a break." Naruto told her as he placed the last body into the cart. "We're done after this load, so let me handle it."
He began to push the cart into the dark tunnel.
"Wait!"
Naruto turned around back to Sabine and she was about to ask a question.
"Why are you giving me this?" She demanded, shaking the nearly empty canteen in her hand. "I didn't ask for your help!"
"Because you're in distress."
"I'm not a helpless girl." Sabine growled. "A Mandalorian survives and adapts, and we certainly don't ask for any handovers-"
"Then why the hell are you in here then?!" Naruto snapped as he stopped pushing the cart, turning around to give the girl an irritated glare. "Because let me tell you. Your stupid pride about being a Mandalorian and not taking handovers ain't getting you nowhere. And frankly I'm starting to think you Mandalorians are more talk then doing it." Naruto was getting enough from this nonsense about this 'Mandalorian pride' from what he was hearing and now it came to this point where even a helpful gesture was seen as an insult.
"And yet, here we are." Naruto cut her off. "I don't know much about your people, but from what I heard, we both come from a heritage of warriors. Didn't really do us much good now, huh? The point here is that everybody needs somebody, and right now, you need me, just like how I need you and Bomber to help us clean up this cesspool, and try to survive another day."
And with that, he turned back to shove the cart of bodies down the tunnel, stomping all the way.
Sabine just stared at his shrinking figure, her eyes narrowing at his declaration of his past. Her fingers curled into a fist as she slowly followed him.
…
Naruto's blank eyes stared as the last body was pulled into the flames, joining the rest of the fallen slaves to their disgraceful grave. He slowly looked away as he let out a sigh.
"Ruto."
Hearing his nickname, Naruto turned his head to see that it was Bomber, who removed his large mask. "I see you've finished your last batch. Where's the girl?"
"Sabine." Naruto sighed at the mention of the Mandalorian girl. "She's waiting at the elevator. After she helped deliver the last batch, she told me she'd wait at the elevator for me. "
"I see." Bomber grunted as he reached for the controls below the conveyor belt. Pushing the big red button, the machine slowed to a stop, as its job was finally done for the day. "You can go now. I'm just going to double check the machines in case I need to do some repairs for it again."
"Need some help?"
"Nyet," Bomber declined the offer "You did enough for tonight. Go and try to get some sleep. You'll need it, and try and forget about this night."
"Not sure if I can." Naruto replied grimly, refusing to look at the flames again. "This isn't something we do from where I'm from. My village only burnt the bodies of our enemies, not… innocent people. Whoever thought of doing this is a monster."
"You're telling me, my friend." Bomber chuckled without humor. "Bit of irony that those Zygs gave me this job. My ancestors would weep in shame if they saw what I was forced to do."
"What?
"Nothing, I'm just mumbling to myself." Bomber said, waving him off. "Just go now, I will see you tomorrow. Make sure to get plenty of food and water in your belly." The giant said as he walked to the back of the incinerator.
"Night, Bomber." Naruto waved him off as he turned around and walked towards the mining elevators. If he wasn't so down and tired, he would've let out a small cheer at the fact that his shift was finally over.
…
Sabine was standing by the mining elevators, waiting for Naruto to arrive so they could finally go back to their cells so they could try to sleep this horrible night off.
"Sabine." She turned around, and without saying a word, she clicked on the mining elevator's door for it to open. The two humans walked inside, and Naruto wished that the elevator, which was large enough to fit about a dozen people, had chairs or something to sit on.
Waiting for Sabine to go first, he pushed on the level he needed to go, and they silently waited for the elevator to take them to their designated area. The elevator groaned as it strained to move it's large body and its two passengers up. The machine was ancient, with constant maintenance the only reason why it hasn't given out yet.
SLAM!
Naruto nearly fell over as the elevator shook. Getting his balance back, he realized that they weren't moving anymore. He turned towards the controls, only to see Sabine yanking out a few wires out of place.
"Sabine, what are you doing?"
"Creating an opportunity." She said coldly. Stepping away from the disabled controls, she cracked her knuckles as she rolled her neck. "You and I never finished that fight properly. It's time that we finally settle this."
"Oh, Kami." Naruto groaned. This wasn't over? "Literally woman, what is your problem?"
SHINK!
His eyes widened as Sabine pulled out a handmade shank from her pocket. It was nowhere near as dangerous and sharp as a kunai, but it looked like it would still do a lot of damage if she overpowered him.
"You're the problem." She snarled. "You walk around sullying the name, 'Uzumaki.' As if you, a random nobody, could be from a clan of ancient Mandalorian warriors. If you really were from that clan, then where's your armor? They let me keep mine for some reason, but I heard nothing about your armor. So tell me, why shouldn't I stick this where it doesn't shine as punishment for sullying that name?"
Tired, trapped, and honestly fed up with this girl, Naruto just sighed as he got into a fighting stance.
"You know what? Fine. I can tell that you're stubborn like me, and that even if I somehow got out of this, you won't stop until you finally get your rematch." He slowly walked up to her as she walked up to him. "Just to let you know, I tried to be nice to you. But now? One of us is going down."
Sabine responded by charging with a yell, going for the first blow by trying to cut him in the chest. Naruto dodged her slash and grabbed her arm, twisting it to force her onto her knee. The shank fell onto the cold, metal floor with a loud CLANG!
But Sabine wasn't done yet. Reacting quickly, she kicked his leg with her other foot, which got him good. He let go of her arm, and she used this chance to grab the shank, before driving it into his shoulder.
"Fuck!" Naruto roared as he backhanded her away. Gritting his teeth, he hissed as he ripped it out of him, before tossing it into the side.
CRUNCH!
Naruto saw stars as Sabine kicked him in the face. He flew back a few feet, and it didn't take a doctor to know that she fucking broke his nose.
"Come on!" She roared at him. "Are you a real Uzumaki? Or did you just pick up that name because you needed to feel important?"
"..."
Sabine stopped when he froze. She waited for him to strike back, so that she could counter him again, but something was wrong. He wasn't moving.
...Come to think of it, she wasn't moving either. She tried to move her legs, her arms, even her head. She. Couldn't. MOVE!
What was this? Some kind of trick? Was she poisoned? Drugged? Or-
Her eyes widened as her brown orbs met yellow. Glowing, sick yellow eyes, which seemed to stare into her soul, met her terrified brown ones.
SLAM!
Sabine saw stars as something hit her head. Groaning, she blinked the stars away as she quickly tried to figure out what had just happened.
Something was on her back. Something hard and cold.
...No, nothing was on her back. She was on something. She was stuck to the wall!
Turning her head back towards the boy, her heart was struck with fear once again as his eyes stared hatefully into her soul. Her eyes traveling towards his outstretched hand, it suddenly hit her: He was a Force wielder! Which must mean-
Her thoughts were cut off as her body slowly left the wall. Despite the dark magic that was going on, however, she was still staring into those yellow, rage-filled orbs.
SLAM!
Naruto thrusted his fist forward, and Sabine flew back onto the wall. She groaned in pain as she saw stars from the impact.
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
Saying nothing at all, the boy began to use the Force to repeatedly throw Sabine back and forth into the wall behind her. Each impact was more painful, with each throw being stronger than the previous ones.
It hurt. Everything hurt as Sabine began to lose consciousness. She was sure that she was going to die there. She was going to die by the boy that she antagonized endlessly, and she would die, knowing that she was wrong, and that this boy was a true Uzumaki.
It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense really. How she got there, how he survived the bombardment, why his hair was the color of the sun, why she was going to die without even saying sorry to her family.
"P-Please."
It was just a whisper. A small, faint, weak, whisper, but Naruto somehow heard it, and stopped his assault, her body dangling weakly like a marionette in the air. Blood dripped from her face and mouth as she coughed, expelling a faint, red mist.
"Please." Using every little strength she had left, she slowly looked up at him. It hurt. It hurt to be reduced to this mess - to be begging for her life pathetically after everything she had done to try to hurt him. "Let me go."
Suddenly Naruto's eyes turned hollow as a sudden past memory came through his mind.
Hinata was laid on her back with blood coming out of her mouth after being horrible beaten by her cousin Neji in the Chunin Exams.
"P-Please."
"Hinata?" Naruto muttered as his eyes turned to normal.
"W-Who's Hinata?"
CRACK!
The ground around them suddenly began to shake as the elevator groaned, it's support systems finally failing after all these years. Naruto's eyes widened as Sabine fell back onto the ground, barely alive.
"Sabine!" Naruto shouted as he ran up to her, now fully realizing what he had done. Putting his body above her, he closed his eyes as he tried to summon the Kyuubi's chakra.
CRUNCH! CRASH!
The elevator's final support system broke as he fell back down, bringing an avalanche of rocks, dirt, and spice with it.
The last thing Naruto remembered was a loud, final crash, and everything went black.
People ran as they tried to flee the continued collapse. People ran as they tried to help the others.
The elevator crash was heard by everyone, both the slaves and the slavers alike. Without even asking for permission, they already left their beds to check out the damage, as well as to search for survivors.
"Out of my way, now!" Tarik was one of technicians who rushed through the ground to figure out what had just happened. He jumped over the rails to look down into it.
"What the kriff just happened?" D'Nar, who was coming down with his guards on his hovercraft, roared at the slaves.
"From the looks of it, the support beams must've finally given out." Tarik explained to the zygerrian. "It looks like it took everything down around it, from loose rocks, spice, and anything else that was within 10 meters of the elevator shaft."
Jimmy was the next to check the mine. He examined the damage top and down, and shook his head. "That must've been twenty levels up before it went down. No one can survive that."
"I don't care about survivors. I want that elevator working again!" D'Nar spat at them. "No one leaves, and no one eats until this place is cleaned up! Understood?!"
That earned the zygerrian a lot of glares from the slaves, which he returned, challenging them to do something about it. It was a tense minute before the slaves eventually looked away, grumbling as they began to get to work.
"One day I will do this to him." One of the slaves said, gliding his finger over his neck.
"Let's not waste our time here." Adrik shouted, gaining everyone's attention "We'll need headlights, cables, shovels, carts, pickaxes, and anything else you can find. The faster we finish this shit, the sooner we can go back to sleep."
Everyone was just standing there like a herd of sheep, until Jimmy came up and stirred it up.
"What are y'all waiting for, a tap on the back? Vamos!" He barked at them, and the crowd scattered as they started looking for some equipment for the task that was waiting ahead for them.
Naruto's entire body felt like hell, especially his shoulder. Blinking, he realized he couldn't see. Panic began to take over his mind as he began to hyperventilate.
"Oi, gaki! Calm the hell down!" The Kyuubi's voice suddenly boomed in his head.
"Kyuubi?" Naruto asked out loud.
"Yeah, it's me. You're welcome." The chakra monster grunted. "Long story short, you used the Dark Side to kick that Wren girl's ass, and you ended up bringing down the entire elevator and everything else within several meters radius. You both survived, thanks to my chakra, but not only is she dying from her wounds you inflicted on her, but you're also stuck under all the rubble."
"What?" Wincing, he slowly managed to push off the large slab of rock off his back. His body felt like he got hit by a spaceship, but he did his best to ignore the pain. Digging around his pockets, he pulled out a small, cool plastic tube. Breaking it in half, the glow stick began to do its job, illuminating the small pocket of space they were trapped in. He frowned, seeing that they were indeed trapped inside the remains of the elevator and the countless number of rubble.
"Great." Naruto held his head back, feeling a huge headache coming on. "Just fucking great."
"That's not all." Kyuubi reminded him. "Look to your left."
The blond turned his head to the left and saw that next to him laid the body of the girl that he almost killed.
"Oh shit! Sabine!" Naruto carefully crawled towards her, and gingerly rolled her over. This caused her to moan in pain, which made his hand jerk away from her.
She looked terrible. She was bleeding from her head, which he was sure was cracked, and she was barely breathing. Each inhale and exhale made her whimper in pain, and he realized just how badly he ended up hurting her.
"Ah...Fuck!" Naruto cursed to himself, feeling helpless. 'Kyuubi, please help me!'
"...There might be one way you can help her." The Nine-Tailed Fox finally said.
"Anything!" He nearly screamed.
"Alright. You'll have to listen to me very carefully. Tell me, how much do you know about the Force?"
"...The what?"
…
Naruto gulped as he took another deep breath.
He had just returned from his meeting with the Kyuubi, with the fox telling him to retreat to his mindscape so that they'll have more time for the fox to describe everything to him. Seeing as how they had plenty of time, he decided to get some questions answered, like why he was quiet all this time.
Naruto got pissed when he said that he wanted him to taste true suffering to help build his spirit, but he had to admit that the whole experience did help him grow up a bit.
"Remember, brat," The Kyuubi's voice echoed in his mind. "You need to let the Force flow through you. Keep your mind at peace so that you can heal the ones you love."i
Naruto said nothing as he closed his heads, placing his hands on Sabine's head. He could feel her suffering. He could feel her pain. Her sadness. Her fear.
"I'll help you just once, alright, brat?" The Kyuubi said. "After that, you're on your own."
Naruto nodded as he began to meditate.
"It's okay." He spoke to her through the Force. "It's going to be okay."
Naruto stayed like that for a minute as he sat there on his knees, doing his best to use the Force. For one terrifying moment, nothing happened.
Then, he felt it. He felt a wave of calmness and light coursing through his veins. Instead of feeling powerful, however, he felt calm. He was at peace.
Sabine moaned, and he opened his eyes. Much to his delight and relief, he saw the blood receding back into her body. Bones clicked and cracked as they were being gently mended back together. Bruises faded and swellings went down. Sabine's whimpers of pain turned into sighs of delight.
Naruto slowly lifted his hands, and listened for her breathing. Her breathing returned to normal, which made him smile.
Closing his eyes, he laid his head onto her chest as he fell asleep.
…
POKE. POKE. POKE.
Naruto grunted, before his hands shot up. It grabbed something thin, but soft.
"Ow! Naruto!"
He blinked, and he realized that Sabine was the one that was poking his cheek.
"Sorry." He grunted, letting go of her wrist. She rubbed her wrist, wincing at how hard he had grabbed it.
The two of them then fell into silence for a while, unable to say anything to each other, or even meet each other's gazes.
"..."
"..."
"...I'm sorry!/I'm sorry!"
The two of them simultaneously turned towards each other, and quickly shot out their apologies. When they noticed that they had both said their apologies in simultaneous haste, they looked away, embarrassed.
"I uhm, I'm sorry for being an ass to you all this time." Sabine finally managed to say. "I...I thought you weren't a true Uzumaki, and that pissed me off."
This made the blond raise his eyebrow.
"Um, wait a minute. What exactly do you mean by "true Uzumaki?"
Hearing this, the Mandalorian looked back into his eyes. "You really don't know, don't you?"
"No, I don't." Naruto's shoulder slumped, his eyes drooping to her knees. "I've been an orphan my entire life, with my parents killed minutes after I was born. Everyone in my life either refused to talk about my parents, acted like they didn't know, or claimed that they were nobodies. Hell, some of them even said that my mom was a whore, and my dad was a good-for-nothing drunk."
"Well, they're wrong." Sabine said quickly, her hands clenching on her knees. "If I'm correct about where you came from, you belonged to an ancient race of Mandalorians, who stayed behind on your planet to keep an eye out on an ancient monster that once lived there. At least, that's how the stories go."
This certainly got his attention, with his gloomy expression turning into one of desperate, childish interest.
"I don't know how much of the stories are true," Sabine continued, "But the one thing every clan can agree on is that at one point, the Uzumaki's became one of the strongest clans on Mandalore, my...our, homeplanet. They fought in the wars against the Jedi and the Sith, with them winning more battles than losing. Then at some point, they teamed up with the two factions to defeat a common enemy, which is why they fought and stayed on Elementia."
Naruto looked at her for a moment with a strange expression on his face.
"...So wait, why are you convinced again that I'm an Uzumaki?" He asked her. "It's not just because I kicked your ass, right?"
Sabine's eyebrow twitched at that, before she cleared her throat.
"No, it's because of how you beat me that I became convinced that you were a Mandalorian by blood. You see, one of the reasons why the Uzumakis were one of the strongest clans was due to their ability to use the Force. The minute you used it on me, I knew that you weren't just some yellow-haired idiot that decided to steal the name."
Now it was his turn to grow a bit ticked, although he did his best to not show or express it.
"...Can you tell me more about our culture?" He asked softly. Sabine gave him a small, sad smile at that.
"I would, but maybe after we get out of here." She offered. "I mean, we are running low on oxygen, so the less we talk, the longer we'll survive."
"Oh...right."
The two of them sat in silence for a while, staring into each other's eyes.
"...You have pretty eyes, dattebayo."
"Eh?"
"So, what do you think brought down this old piece of junk?" Joseph asked.
"Who knows, amigo?" Jimmy just shrugged. "It looked like every part of this thing was ancient. I guess it was only a matter of time before it gave out."
They were at the lowest level of the mine with many others. Thankfully, the elevator wasn't the only way up and down these levels, which meant that more help was on the way.
"Well, this thing ain't gonna clean itself." Jimmy sighed. "C'mon, break over."
"Right."
The two of them resumed picking up large rocks and debris, sweating profusely. It was a humid night, and their clothes were already sticking to their bodies. They were back to work for only a minute, and they were already panting like dogs.
"Be very careful."
The two of them jumped at the sudden, gruff voice behind them.
"Jesus, Bomber. Don't fucking scare us like that." Jimmy groaned, clutching at his heart.
"Sorry." He breathed in and out after running up the stairs without a break, before he cleared his throat. "I hope I'm wrong, but I think 'Ruto and Peach is stuck under there. We need to be extra careful cleaning up this mess."
The two of them blinked, before they fully realized who he was referring to. Turning towards their colleagues, they began to spread the news of potential survivors in the crash. Bomber, meanwhile, stared at the pile of rubble with a grim look.
"Stay alive, kid. You're a survivor."
Almost as if responding to his words, the rubble suddenly began to tremble. Everyone's eyes widened at this, and they began to scramble for cover.
But not Bomber. He just stood there, prepared to help his friend out if needed. His feet began to move forward, when they froze in their steps. For a moment, he could've sworn that the rubble was levitating.
It stopped when the rubble began to further collapse on itself. A large, metal beam fell on top of the growing pile, and the trembling stopped.
Bomber just stood there, gobsmacked at what he just saw.
"Fuck, Naruto! Stop!" Sabine hissed.
Naruto, whose face was scrunched up from effort, finally let his arms drop, and the trembling stopped.
He had just tried to use the Force to lift the rubble off of them. Much to their displeasure, however, it only just made things worse, as the rubble collapsed on itself the minute he finally began to successfully lift the mess off of them.
Fortunately, it at least gave them some fresh air to breathe in, but now the space had been reduced, leaving them very close to each other.
Nose to nose, the two teens could do nothing but sigh in displeasure as their situation had just turned from bad to uncomfortably worse.
"Well," Naruto grunted. "What now?"
"...Your breath kinda smells." Sabine complained.
"So does yours, dattebayo." He deadpanned.
The two of them just stared at each other. Without warning, they closed their eyes as their heads leaned into each other.
…
After what seemed like an eternity, the two finally parted. Panting, they stared at each other in wonder, stars in their eyes.
"Wow." Naruto breathed.
"Wow." She agreed, a small smile curling up her lips, before she sighed.
"What's wrong?"
"...I don't think we're going to make it." Sabine admitted, staring at the rubbed around them. "I never thought my life would end like this. I thought I'd die on the battlefield or something, not like this."
"Same here, actually." Naruto grunted. "Being a shinobi ain't a pretty career either, let me tell you that."
The statement wasn't meant to be comedic, but somehow, it made the Mandalorian girl giggle. "Well, I guess we're more alike than we thought."
"Yeah, I guess so." Naruto chuckled. He began to cough, forcing him to turn away from the girl.
*COUGH!* *COUGH!* *COUGH!*
Hearing his coughs grow eerily louder, she looked over his shoulder, and paled at the sight of blood splattering onto the ground.
"Naruto?! Hey, hey!" Sabine patted her palm onto his cheek. "You okay?"
"My-*COUGH!*-body hurts." He groaned. "Some shit...fell on me."
Gulping, she slowly lifted the back of his shirt, and paled at the sight of his terribly bruised back. If what he said was true, then his back might've sustained more damage than she thought.
"Shit, shit shit." Sabine muttered, her eyes darting around, unsure of what to do.
"It's fine, Sabine." Naruto groaned. "Should be fine…"
"Should be fine?! Are you crazy? You might be dying right now!"
"Just the life of a shinobi." He grunted, spitting out some saliva and blood. "The moment I signed up to become one, I knew what I was getting into. It's just a part of our lives. You get used to it."
"Stop talking." She whispered, tearing off a part of his shirt to wipe away the blood from his mouth. "Just...hold on, okay?"
"I don't have much to lose, which just makes this much easier." He sighed, his eyelids growing heavier. "I got no parents. Not many friends. Had to raise myself. Sucks that I never get to find out what they were like."
His hand rested on his stomach, exactly where his mark was. Despite him being a jinchuuriki, even he knew that there was only so much they can do, especially with how much the seal allowed them to do so. Still, even now, he could tell that Kyuubi was doing his best to keep his container alive, although at the moment, it was too slow of a job.
"Stop." Sabine whispered, her eyes shadowed by her hair and the dying light.
"You know, I meant it, dattebayo. You're...a good looking girl. Once you get past that stubborn nature of yours, you're not pretty bad yourself. Took me too long to stop looking at Sakura. Damn, I was an idiot. Falling for a stupid fangirl."
"Fangirls, huh?" Despite looming over Naruto's slowly dying body, even she couldn't resist a small chuckle. Back on Mandalore, she remembered how most of the girls in her class acted like good-for-nothing fangirls over the old ways, without even having any proper respect for their ancient culture. Most of them couldn't fight to save their lives, and mostly consisted of gossiping bullies that were more bark than bite. "So, any decent female shinobis back at home?"
"I can name a few." Naruto grinned painfully. "There was Ino, who was fangirl, but was actually kinda pretty good. There's Tenten, who really liked weapons. Then there's Hinata…"
His words began to trail off at the mention of the Hyuuga's name, which didn't fail to catch Sabine's attention.
"What about her?"
"...She was shy." He finally managed to say. "Sweetest thing to probably come out of my village. Was always nice to everyone, even me. Was a bit of a crybaby too, now that I think about it."
He stopped, and Sabine feared the worst, until she heard him slowly swallowing, wetting his throat.
"We…*hah*...graduated the same year. Turned out...she had a fucking crush on me. Me, of all people. She was so innocent, but so determined. So determined to not be a weakling. She's...strong." Naruto's eyes began to close as he was losing the battle to keep them open.
"Hey, HEY!" Sabine shook his shoulders. "Stay awake!"
"You know what?...You remind me of her a bit." Naruto smiled at her. "I mean...you're not very girly...but you both got the same, cool determination. Got...same smile too."
"You damn charmer." Sabine let out a dry chuckle as she brushed his hair out of his face. "Stay alive, and I'll make it up to you, okay?"
"I'll...take you up on that." He grinned, before he closed his eyes, the darkness finally taking him.
"Blondie? Hey, hey, HEY! Naruto, stay awake, buddy! C'mon, STAY AWAKE! NARUTO!"
SCREECH!
A large sheet of metal was slowly lifted from the pile. A few rocks began to tumble, but Bomber and the rest of the team moved to quickly stop them, in fear of the small avalanche accidently crushing the potential survivor.
After what seemed like an hour, they had finally spotted the two teens under the rubble. Bomber looked like he was about to poke fun at the two teens cuddling, when he paled at the sight of blood covering their bodies.
"Over here!" Bomber roared. "Survivors! Get the stretchers! Naruto is wounded!"
The two teens were carefully lifted out of there by the Russian giant. Gently placing them on the makeshift stretchers, he watched as they were being taken away to their crude medical center.
Sabine, who had just woken up, wearily reached out to Naruto, just as he was lifted away.
(A Few Miles Away From Ölüm)
Today was another beautiful morning for D'Nar. Stepping outside to enjoy the fresh air of Kessel's forests, his ears were filled with the sounds of loud construction.
While to many it was a perfect way to ruin a morning, for the zygerrian, it was the perfect way to start one. Sipping his tea, he sighed in delight as he watched the slaves below him work endlessly.
A new laboratory was being built on the edge of the forest, concealed by a large mansion that was also being built for D'Nar.
While normally he would not go behind the queen, he would make an exception in this case. Despite his loyalty to the queen, he admitted to himself that she can be rather short-sighted at times, and was, if he must be honest, a spoiled bitch that can't think outside of her world.
When the humans from Earth contacted them, they were admittedly a little concerned, worried that their illegal actions were discovered. Much to their relief, instead of the government, it was an organization that wanted to strike a deal with them. All they wanted was a place to run their illegal experiments, as well as some test subjects to do the said experiments on.
When the queen asked them what they had to offer, they promised them not just drugs, but also an army of biologically-enhanced slaves.
The queen, for a moment, seemed interested in the idea of using science to accelerate the process of obedience, but then decided to reject their offer, saying that Zygerria already had a powerful military as it is, and that their methods were adequate. Besides, she didn't want to risk getting the attention of the Republic, which would inevitably result in their army of Jedi bringing their glorious empire to ruin again.
Fortunately for D'Nar, the Prime Minister shared similar views with him, seeing huge promises in this research, and the two of them talked to this mysterious organization again in secret, and here they were.
"Sir, they've arrived." A Pyke member walked up to him.
"Let them in." He commanded.
The doors swung open as a group of men in hazmat suits walked in, carrying weapons and dragging in containers filled with supplies and force-knows-what with them. The filters on their faces made sure to not give away any part of their features, making them anonymous to the world. The one that stood out from the crowd was a young man in an expensive suit, who walked in with a confident grin. A large, black briefcase was in his right hand, which the zygerrian assumed and hoped was the money that was promised to him.
"You must be the professor, I assume?"
"Our sincere apologies, but no, I am his assistant." The human representative spoke, pulling something out from his suit. Kneeling to the ground, he placed the object onto the ground, and a holographic image of a professor appeared. His face and name tag was blurred out, with the rest of his body remaining clear as day.
"Who are you?" D'Nar demanded, his face turning into a scowl.
"Mr. D'Nar, for my own safety I had taken the necessity of sending my best man on the job to come to our facility and help oversee the construction of it." The professor's voice was scrambled, giving it a harsher, deeper tone.
D'Nar wasn't having this. "So you send a lackey here instead-"
"Don't come to quick judgement like that, Mr. D'Nar." The professor chided. "You out of all people must understand that individuals like myself cannot risk to be seen near planets like these. We on Earth are not that free of going around as you have that privilege, especially with my country's decision to join the Republic and my employer's alliances being on the opposite side."
"Well, can't fault one on being careful" D'Nar grudgingly acknowledged.
"We are all well versed in the art of politics, which has helped us get out of jams at times, but it is admittedly not my forte." The scrambled voice nodded. "I am a man of science, willing to do whatever it takes to unlock the secrets this universe has to offer.. For that, I will have to thank you and your Prime Minister for granting me this opportunity."
"I'm glad to hear that, but so you know-" D'Nar smugly remarked, "My services come with a cost."
"Of course." The professor replied, turning to his assistant. "Give him the credits."
The bald man nodded, before he lifted his briefcase. Opening it in front of the slaver, his mouth nearly salivated at the hundreds of thousands of golden credits.
"Should our partnership continue well, we will deliver your weekly payments." The professor stated, seeing the greed in the zygerrian's eyes. The said zygerrian was barely listening, chuckling as he grabbed a handful of credits, feeling them with his hand. He was so entranced by the credits that he didn't seem to notice a few slaves walking by with some cargo boxes.
One of those slaves, an old man who was here his entire life, looked at the partnership going on. He shook his head, before he resumed pushing the materials.
AL: That's it for this chapter! Hope everyone here is doing alright. This lockdown is really spiking up many writers to publish some stories. Got like six of my favourites in one day uploading, like damn!
Also, I'll be working on my other stories. Plus, maybe some new crossover related to GTA. But I'm already working on both One Piece and GTA V stories some of you are waiting for. Plus the Saints Row one.
That's all I have to say. Please wash your hands, keep up the social distancing, and please watch out for yourselves!
Peace from me and the friend Lucius Walker.
Till next time.