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"description": "And a cliffhanger ending! How will this encounter end? Stay tuned till next week when we end this thing!\n\n[url=https://inkbunny.net/submissionsviewall.php?rid=c6a9fd4348&mode=pool&pool_id=59838&page=1&orderby=pool_order&random=no&success=]Ironswap is a swap of Sands of Iron by InfinityDoom[/url]. All characters belong to them.", "description_bbcode_parsed": "And a cliffhanger ending! How will this encounter end? Stay tuned till next week when we end this thing!

Ironswap is a swap of Sands of Iron by InfinityDoom. All characters belong to them.", "writing": "Shia stood, his knife at the ready, eyeing down the mons in front of him intently. He waited for them to make their move.\n\nAfter making his way back to the maze, the first thing he'd managed to do was stalk and hunt down the Zorua and Growlithe that had hired Brene to track them down. It was they who had started this whole mess after all, and they had to die.\nAnd die they most certainly did. It had taken him a few days, but Shia was a natural born dungeon dweller. They were not. When he had found them, they had been together. Distracted. Trying to have their way with yet another dweller. A young female sandile. Using the distraction, he'd sprung quickly, downing the one before the other even saw, and the other before they'd had time to get over the shock.\n\nKilling was not something the young Shinx reveled in. He had taken very little pleasure in his first and second kills, and he took very little in these either. To him, it was something that had to be done. Something he'd tried to do with the insane Breloom, but failed miserably. Something he ended up betraying his best friend. No, more than that, someone who'd ended up being more of a sister to him than anything.\nHe felt that by doing this one last task, perhaps he'd end up doing at least some good, some good before the Lord's mons and mercenaries had caught up with him.\n\nA day that had come sooner than he expected. His back was to the dungeon wall. Against the Marowak and Machoke he found himself up against now, he knew that running would be useless.\n\nAnd that suited him perfectly fine, to be honest. His contribution to Veera's suffering couldn't be forgiven, and it was probably better for everyone involved if everything that he was ended here.\n\nThat however, didn't mean he was going to give these paid thugs in front of him an easy time of it though.\n\n\"Well...\" He growled at them. \"What are you waiting for?!\"\n\nThe thugs said nothing, only exchanging a glance with each other.\n\"I know you're here for the bounty on my head. What is it now? A thousand poke? Two? Twenty? Higher?\" The Shinx mocked. Yet they still didn't move. This irritated him further. \"Are you that scared of some little Shinx with a little dagger?\"\n\nShia wished that they'd just get on with this. The tension was so thick he could cut it with this little dagger he held in front of him menacingly.\n\nStill they made no move. Which served to irritate the shinx even more. Slowly, one of them, the Marowak, leaned in close to his partner.\n\"Erm... what do we do now?\" His large sensitive ears heard Marowak whisper to his ... compatriot? Buddy? Temporary partner?\n\"The hell should I know?\" He heard the Machoke reply back. \"We were just told to locate this guy and keep anyone else from gettin' at him. He didn't tell us what to do when we actually found him.\"\n\nNow, Shia was confused, more so than they apparently were. Was this some trick to catch him off his guard? If not... who was-\n\n\"Alright you two, that's enough.\"\n\nThat voice. It was quite familiar to the stressed Shinx. Its owner was confirmed as the two thugs looked behind them, and saw who was talking. The pair stepped to the side, revealing a figure in the dark making its way towards him, and Shia raised his eyebrow as a familiar being strode forth, a familiar orange flame betraying the shadows hiding his form, which was soon revealed by the moonlight of the maze to be the Charmander that he'd suspected.\n\n\"You again.\" Shia spoke without much emotion.\n\n\"You've been rather busy, haven't you, my boy?\" The new guest chuckled. \"You're lucky we found you before [i]his[/i] mons did.\"\n\nThe Charmander in front of him looked to his two minions. \"You two, stand guard. Make sure we are not interrupted.\"\n\"You got it boss.\" The Marowak confirmed, the Machoke only giving him a short salute before the two of them stepped into the darkness.\n\n\"You've been quite hard to find, my boy.\" The Charmander commented as he turned back to his guest. \"I had originally hoped to find you back by drawing your prey out into the open for you. But, you took care of them before I could even find them.\" The hooded charmander approached Shia as he spoke. \"And quite well, I might add.\" He finished as he was now in front of Shia, who carefully lowered his weapon, but not his guard.\n\n\"What do you want?\" Shia asked, now more annoyed than anything. \"I already did what you ordered me to do-\"\n\n\"Let me stop you right there.\" His 'benefactor' interrupted him with a hand wave. \"I did not 'order-'\" He emphasized by making quotations with his paws in the air as he spoke \"-you to do anything. I merely suggested it. What you did, you did yourself.\"\n\nShia's eyes narrowed in response to that.\n\n\"And quite a good job you did as I said! I could not have done much better myself, in fact.\"\n\n\"For all the good that did.\" Shia sighed.\n\n\"Oh but it did. You've taken out both the source of the Sandstone's guild corruption, and ensured that Garble's line ends with him. I know what you are thinking, Shia-\"\n\n\"How did you know my name?! I didn't tell you that when we met that night.\"\n\n\"I have ways.\"\n\n\"Don't tell me your mother was an espeon or something. I may be just a dumb savage way in over his head, but even I know that's not how that works.\"\n\n\"Indeed.\" The charmander laughed in his usual creepy tone. \"Though I must say, you don't give yourself enough credit.\" He cleared his throat. \"As I was saying, I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that I ... 'made' you partake in something that didn't concern you, and brought the Lord's wrath upon you for no reason at all?'\"\n\n\"Perhaps I was wrong then about the psychic thing. That's close to what I was about to say.\" Shia grumbled.\n\n\"In that case...\" The charmander reached into his cloak, and pulled out something. A stack of papers. \"take a look at this.\"\n\n\"I can't read that, you know.\" Shia replied flatly.\n\n\"Oh, of course not. My mistake.\" The charmander sighed. \"We'll have to fix that at some point.\" He heard the charmander mumble under his breath as he returned the papers to his cloak. Shia chose not to comment as it seemed he had something more important to say anyway. \"In that case, allow me to get to the point. The person who caused you so much misery, the former guilder known as 'Brene the Berserker', turned to evil following a ... tragic event. One involving her being trapped and sold to a group of illegal, underground slavers. An event orchestrated by none other than our dearly-departed Sandstone Guildmaster.\"\n \n\"And I assume those papers you have prove it?\" Shia raised an eyebrow. \"Why not...\"\n\n\"I know what you will suggest. But I think you already know the answer to that.\" The charmander once again cuts him off. \"Ignoring the fact that I was only able to acquire this quite recently... thanks to a [i]certain event[/i], ask yourself: 'who would even care?'\"\n\nHe gave Shia a hard look.\n\n\"Garble? Please. We both know he couldn't care less. He's the one who gave them his son to babysit in the first place. Ashshell? What would they do? Oh right, the same thing they always do: [i]nothing[/i]. They'd try to go the 'legal' way, fail, and give up as they always do. Anyone else? They'd care less than Garble would. No, I simply gave you an opportunity to take revenge, both for yourself and them, and you did so. And besides, you prevented even more harm from being done by the two of them in the future. Now, Helios will not harm another soul, and Gaben? Well, he will never rape another eevee ever again. All thanks to you.\"\n\nShia remained silent, not sure how to respond to that. Part of him wanted to lash out in anger for being used like this. Part of him... failed to care. But mostly, and his subsequent actions and words, were based on his other desire: for his stalker to get on with it and conclude this meeting.\n\n\"That's great and all,\" Shia replied unenthusiastically, clearly having no sense of accomplishment but also no remorse for his actions, \"But as far as I'm concerned, all it really did for me was get a giant target on my head, for the sake of a vendetta that's barely got anything to do with me.\"\n\n\"It certainly does now.\" The charmander commented.\n\n\"And speaking of, you still haven't gotten to the part where you explain what exactly you even want with me right now? Why you sent those goons to come find me when it would have been much simpler for you to simply leave me to my fate here.\"\n\n\"Very well then. I will... get to the point, as it were.\" Shia's stalker said with a frown. \"As you said, it would be much simpler to leave you here, and let the Lord's mons have their way. To be dragged back to town, paraded like a freshly captured beast, used like a sack of meat in the dungeons, then hanged for all to see-\"\n\n\"I would not allow them that pleasure.\" Shia corrected him.\n\n\"Perhaps not. But either way, I cannot in good conscience allow that. Not after what you did. I came here to offer you a way out.\"\n\n\"A way out?\" Shia asks.\n\n\"Indeed. As luck would have it, I have a ship, one moored in Dryhaven. One being filled at this very moment with mons such as yourself I have managed to... collect' from across the sands.\"\n\nSha raised him an eyebrow.\n\n\"Come now, Shia. You did not think you were the only one I've had this encounter with?\"\n\n\"No, I suppose not,\" Shia muttered.\n\n\"Indeed.\" He continued. \"As I was saying, I am offering you a chance to escape. To get away from all of this. In the company of... like minded individuals such as yourself, might I add.\"\n\n\"What's the catch?\" Shia asked suspiciously. \"And please don't try the same trick you did last time on me.\"\n\n\"Alright. The catch... is that in exchange for us smuggling you out of the sands, you join my organization. We call ourselves the 'Wallbreakers.' If you were listening during our last encounter, I'm sure you can figure out why we chose that name.\" Shia nodded with acknowledgement. Satisfied, the Charmander continued. \"You will continue doing what you've been doing, meaning to or not. But now, no more hiding behind suggestions or requests. You do this officially. Otherwise, erm, well..\"\n\nThe Charmander sighs.\n\"The only thing I could offer you, is for us to leave you here to keep fighting off the lord's mons and hired goons on your own until you are either killed or captured. Something that will result in your death either way. Rather an anti-climax for what you've managed to accomplish, is it not?\"\n\nShia remained silent, in thought.\n\n\"No need to rush this decision, of course.\" The wallbreaker in front of him added comfortingly. \"I can wait here aaaallll night, if it takes.\"\n\nShia thought about it. Part of him wanted to tell this 'wallbreaker' to fuck off and let him die in peace. It's what he deserved after all, as for all this guy saddled him with praises for a 'job well done', he'd failed in the one time it mattered the most. And it's not like he cared whether he died or not at this point...\n\n...Yet, on the other hand, he did. Perhaps it was that small bit of him that wanted to live yet. Or perhaps, in his own weird way, he wanted to make amends. To her, to Veera, in some way, yet he knew he couldn't. Perhaps it was simply a desire to do some good yet, this time knowingly before he expired, and not simply die here like a cornered animal. Or perhaps, he'd just gone mad, and it was that madness that drove him forward.\nTo take his hand, say the forbidden words.\n\n\"Alright, I'm in.\"\n\nThe charmander's face lit up as he took his hand in hand.\n\n\"Excellently chosen, Shia, I-\"\n\n\"But...\" Shia stopped him before he could continue. \"No more of this mind game crap. I don't appreciate being used.\"\n\"I understand, Shia. Now...\" He turned, signaling his two muscle-mons to come back to him. \"Shall we?\"\n\n\"Alright. Also I didn't think I caught your name.\" Shia responded.\n\n\"Oh right. How rude of me. I found out your name, yet never bothered to give you mine in exchange.\" He looked towards his newest acquisition. \"You may call me Anders, dear boy.\"\n\n=======\nShia leaned on the rails, his mind wandering to the waters in the distance in reflection. He'd completed his chores for the day, and so had time off now to just think. Starting with how things had gone between now and then.\n\nAnders hadn't lied about the severity of the situation. Even in the dungeon, they had a few close calls. Even more outside of it, to the point where Ander's two muscle guards more than once were forced to knock out a few would have been bounty hunters to keep them from sniffing out Shia. Once they'd gotten to the boat though, they were mostly home free. The crowds had been thick, and too many for them to try to take him.\n\nAnders had apparently recruited quite a lot of mons. If Shia didn't know any better, he'd think they were building an army. The boat in question was a big, red wooden boat. Gigantic, and surrounded with mons. There was a cubone at the docks, inspecting boarders for items. They'd explained that everyone was told only to bring essentials.\nNot a problem for Shia, he had nothing of value to bring along anyway. Except the dagger that Anders had gifted him back in the sands. So he'd been cleared without incident. Shia couldn't say the same for some others.\nOne even had an egg they'd apparently been 'convinced' to leave behind. Shia didn't know the context. And to be honest, he didn't particularly care.\n\nThe Shinx hadn't made too much of an effort to really get to know the rest of the crew or passengers. He'd respond when spoken to of course, and he pitched in the fair share they were all expected to do to keep the ship running. But other than that, he mostly kept to himself. And his own thoughts.\n\nThoughts that were now beginning to question whether or not he'd made the right choice in even agreeing to this. He'd been hesitant to accept it in the first place, but now he was starting to have regrets. He didn't particularly enjoy killing, unlike some of the people here apparently.\n\nHe couldn't exactly blame them though, everyone here had their own 'the world mistreated me so now I want to tear down the walls' story. And it wasn't like he supported the Nobles or felt any sympathy for Gaben when he drove the blade into his neck. Far from. But to him... it was a task. Something he 'had' to do in exchange for gaining the knife he now had. Something he now realized didn't even need to be done. He could have just as easily took it, ran past the guard and back into the maze. Not that the outcome with Brene would have been any different... or Veera.\n\nHe sighed sadly. He could only imagine how much she hated him now. For messing up, for being forced by Brene to use him as a dildo. For his body enjoying the act he was committing against her. For being weak enough to cum in her. He could only pray that she didn't end up with child because of him. It's the very reason Brene had even agreed to keep him alive in the first place. To put an egg in her. Though for what reason... Well, he didn't want to think about what that madmon had planned. At best, she would have smashed it in front of them just to make a 'point' or further torture them. At worst... she would have hatched it and sold it for meat or for a slave. Either way, the only end result of that would have been to further torment them.\n\nShia could only hope there was a special place in hell waiting for her. Along with that Helios asshole. Anders had, at his request, gone into further detail, and he had realized the gravity and depths of his depravity and corruption. It'd gone much deeper. All under the useless 'Ashshell' guild's nose.\n\nAshShell... what a joke. They'd managed to 'ban' slavery, in reality, just drive it underground. And then... they burned out and accomplished nothing. The other guilds, one by one had turned away, and now the once great Ashshell were a former shadow of themselves.\nNo wonder they abandoned them in Sandstone, and cowered away when they needed them the most.\nIt reminded him just how bad this world really was, a fact that his little group had been living in blissful ignorance of, until Brene tore that ignorance away from them and forced them to see the world for what it was.\n\nAnd the brat... he'd learned that up until his banishment to the guild, He'd been keeping a harem of eeveelutions as prisoners, raping them every day and not letting them leave, until his father got angry with him and kicked them all to the curb, without as so much a poke of compensation, forcing them from one hell to another. He shuddered to think of what might have happened had things gone differently, and he'd somehow gotten ahold of Veera. Or what he'd do the minute he got his noble title back.\n\nAnd yet, Shia couldn't bring himself to feel proud of killing either of them. It was a task, nothing more. And now, he'd be expected to complete even more tasks. Killing more nobles, corrupt guildies, the works. And for what? A vague promise of a better world? He didn't know. And it wasn't really his business to know, either.\n\nWell, there was nothing to do now. It wasn't like he intended to jump over the railing or anything. And... maybe, just maybe, this string that Anders was weaving would lead somewhere good? Or he'd get the opportunity to die properly. One of the two. Either sounded nice at this point.\n\n===\nLight, sand-like powder fell from the sky, disappearing into his paw when he tried to clutch it and making it wet. Before long, the deck of the ship was covered in it. Off in the distance, Shia could see them: the weird slanted roofs covering buildings the likes of which he'd never seen before. It was all quite a lot for the Shinx to take in.\n\nThis was Shia's first encounter with Snow, of which the land ahead was so aptly named for.\n\n\"Alright ya lot, listen up.\" Cuse, the ship's captain, barked. \"We've already got buildings picked out for the lot of ya. Once you're off the ship, settle on in, and then it's off to that other one over there. Gots it?\"\n\nShia nodded along with the rest of the crowd. His mind was elsewhere, as usual. This time, on the snow itself.\nBefore he made his way into town, to his new apartment room, he took the time to inspect it more carefully, noting how it left tracks. He looked around, seeing it everywhere, seeing how it contrasted with the roofs of the buildings around here. Seeing how the snow was shoveled off the streets, into corridors, some of which were taller than his head even.\n\nHe had to admit, this place was quite beautiful. And it did make him a little more glad that he'd chosen to accept the offer rather than die in the desert.\n\nHe made his way to his apartment, where Cuse had pointed out. He'd quickly passed the attendant without giving it much thought, as he'd had no luggage. However, all the while, he got the weirdest feeling. Like he was being... watched.\n\nShia shrugged it off. It was a city, and he was a newcomer. Of course he was being watched. He'd have to learn how to operate in this environment, but he could definitely get used to it. He went to his room, quickly opening the door and inspecting the interior. It was small, but more than livable. Some decorations and paintings of things he couldn't identify here and there. A bed in the corner and-\nThe door slid close behind him. He sighed, without turning around. \"Oh, I should have guessed I'd have a roomma-\"\n\nThe words died in his throat, his neutral expression quickly falling into one of horrified despair when he saw who was standing there behind him, staring back at him with green eyes.\n\n\"V... Veera?!\"", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Shia stood, his knife at the ready, eyeing down the mons in front of him intently. He waited for them to make their move.

After making his way back to the maze, the first thing he'd managed to do was stalk and hunt down the Zorua and Growlithe that had hired Brene to track them down. It was they who had started this whole mess after all, and they had to die.
And die they most certainly did. It had taken him a few days, but Shia was a natural born dungeon dweller. They were not. When he had found them, they had been together. Distracted. Trying to have their way with yet another dweller. A young female sandile. Using the distraction, he'd sprung quickly, downing the one before the other even saw, and the other before they'd had time to get over the shock.

Killing was not something the young Shinx reveled in. He had taken very little pleasure in his first and second kills, and he took very little in these either. To him, it was something that had to be done. Something he'd tried to do with the insane Breloom, but failed miserably. Something he ended up betraying his best friend. No, more than that, someone who'd ended up being more of a sister to him than anything.
He felt that by doing this one last task, perhaps he'd end up doing at least some good, some good before the Lord's mons and mercenaries had caught up with him.

A day that had come sooner than he expected. His back was to the dungeon wall. Against the Marowak and Machoke he found himself up against now, he knew that running would be useless.

And that suited him perfectly fine, to be honest. His contribution to Veera's suffering couldn't be forgiven, and it was probably better for everyone involved if everything that he was ended here.

That however, didn't mean he was going to give these paid thugs in front of him an easy time of it though.

"Well..." He growled at them. "What are you waiting for?!"

The thugs said nothing, only exchanging a glance with each other.
"I know you're here for the bounty on my head. What is it now? A thousand poke? Two? Twenty? Higher?" The Shinx mocked. Yet they still didn't move. This irritated him further. "Are you that scared of some little Shinx with a little dagger?"

Shia wished that they'd just get on with this. The tension was so thick he could cut it with this little dagger he held in front of him menacingly.

Still they made no move. Which served to irritate the shinx even more. Slowly, one of them, the Marowak, leaned in close to his partner.
"Erm... what do we do now?" His large sensitive ears heard Marowak whisper to his ... compatriot? Buddy? Temporary partner?
"The hell should I know?" He heard the Machoke reply back. "We were just told to locate this guy and keep anyone else from gettin' at him. He didn't tell us what to do when we actually found him."

Now, Shia was confused, more so than they apparently were. Was this some trick to catch him off his guard? If not... who was-

"Alright you two, that's enough."

That voice. It was quite familiar to the stressed Shinx. Its owner was confirmed as the two thugs looked behind them, and saw who was talking. The pair stepped to the side, revealing a figure in the dark making its way towards him, and Shia raised his eyebrow as a familiar being strode forth, a familiar orange flame betraying the shadows hiding his form, which was soon revealed by the moonlight of the maze to be the Charmander that he'd suspected.

"You again." Shia spoke without much emotion.

"You've been rather busy, haven't you, my boy?" The new guest chuckled. "You're lucky we found you before his mons did."

The Charmander in front of him looked to his two minions. "You two, stand guard. Make sure we are not interrupted."
"You got it boss." The Marowak confirmed, the Machoke only giving him a short salute before the two of them stepped into the darkness.

"You've been quite hard to find, my boy." The Charmander commented as he turned back to his guest. "I had originally hoped to find you back by drawing your prey out into the open for you. But, you took care of them before I could even find them." The hooded charmander approached Shia as he spoke. "And quite well, I might add." He finished as he was now in front of Shia, who carefully lowered his weapon, but not his guard.

"What do you want?" Shia asked, now more annoyed than anything. "I already did what you ordered me to do-"

"Let me stop you right there." His 'benefactor' interrupted him with a hand wave. "I did not 'order-'" He emphasized by making quotations with his paws in the air as he spoke "-you to do anything. I merely suggested it. What you did,  you did yourself."

Shia's eyes narrowed in response to that.

"And quite a good job you did as I said! I could not have done much better myself, in fact."

"For all the good that did." Shia sighed.

"Oh but it did. You've taken out both the source of the Sandstone's guild corruption, and ensured that Garble's line ends with him. I know what you are thinking, Shia-"

"How did you know my name?! I didn't tell you that when we met that night."

"I have ways."

"Don't tell me your mother was an espeon or something. I may be just a dumb savage way in over his head, but even I know that's not how that works."

"Indeed." The charmander laughed in his usual creepy tone.  "Though I must say, you don't give yourself enough credit." He cleared his throat. "As I was saying, I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that I ... 'made' you partake in something that didn't concern you, and brought the Lord's wrath upon you for no reason at all?'"

"Perhaps I was wrong then about the psychic thing. That's close to what I was about to say." Shia grumbled.

"In that case..." The charmander reached into his cloak, and pulled out something. A stack of papers. "take a look at this."

"I can't read that, you know." Shia replied flatly.

"Oh, of course not. My mistake." The charmander sighed. "We'll have to fix that at some point." He heard the charmander mumble under his breath as he returned the papers to his cloak. Shia chose not to comment as it seemed he had something more important to say anyway. "In that case, allow me to get to the point. The person who caused you so much misery, the former guilder known as 'Brene the Berserker', turned to evil following a ... tragic event. One involving her being trapped and sold to a group of illegal, underground slavers. An event orchestrated by none other than our dearly-departed Sandstone Guildmaster."
 
"And I assume those papers you have prove it?" Shia raised an eyebrow.  "Why not..."

"I know what you will suggest. But I think you already know the answer to that." The charmander once again cuts him off. "Ignoring the fact that I was only able to acquire this quite recently... thanks to a certain event, ask yourself: 'who would even care?'"

He gave Shia a hard look.

"Garble? Please. We both know he couldn't care less. He's the one who gave them his son to babysit in the first place. Ashshell? What would they do? Oh right, the same thing they always do: nothing. They'd try to go the 'legal' way, fail, and give up as they always do. Anyone else? They'd care less than Garble would. No, I simply gave you an opportunity to take revenge, both for yourself and them, and you did so. And besides, you prevented even more harm from being done by the two of them in the future. Now, Helios will not harm another soul, and Gaben? Well, he will never rape another eevee ever again. All thanks to you."

Shia remained silent, not sure how to respond to that. Part of him wanted to lash out in anger for being used like this. Part of him... failed to care. But mostly, and his subsequent actions and words, were based on his other desire: for his stalker to get on with it and conclude this meeting.

"That's great and all," Shia replied unenthusiastically, clearly having no sense of accomplishment but also no remorse for his actions, "But as far as I'm concerned, all it really did for me was get a giant target on my head, for the sake of a vendetta that's barely got anything to do with me."

"It certainly does now." The charmander commented.

"And speaking of, you still haven't gotten to the part where you explain what exactly you even want with me right now? Why you sent those goons to come find me when it would have been much simpler for you to simply leave me to my fate here."

"Very well then. I will... get to the point, as it were." Shia's stalker said with a frown. "As you said, it would be much simpler to leave you here, and let the Lord's mons have their way. To be dragged back to town, paraded like a freshly captured beast, used like a sack of meat in the dungeons, then hanged for all to see-"

"I would not allow them that pleasure." Shia corrected him.

"Perhaps not. But either way, I cannot in good conscience allow that. Not after what you did. I came here to offer you a way out."

"A way out?" Shia asks.

"Indeed. As luck would have it, I have a ship, one moored in Dryhaven.  One being filled at this very moment with mons such as yourself I have managed to... collect' from across the sands."

Sha raised him an eyebrow.

"Come now, Shia. You did not think you were the only one I've had this encounter with?"

"No, I suppose not," Shia muttered.

"Indeed." He continued. "As I was saying, I am offering you a chance to escape. To get away from all of this. In the company of... like minded individuals such as yourself, might I add."

"What's the catch?" Shia asked suspiciously. "And please don't try the same trick you did last time on me."

"Alright. The catch... is that in exchange for us smuggling you out of the sands, you join my organization. We call ourselves the 'Wallbreakers.' If you were listening during our last encounter, I'm sure you can figure out why we chose that name." Shia nodded with acknowledgement. Satisfied, the Charmander continued. "You will continue doing what you've been doing, meaning to or not. But now, no more hiding behind suggestions or requests. You do this officially. Otherwise, erm, well.."

The Charmander sighs.
"The only thing I could offer you, is for us to leave you here to keep fighting off the lord's mons and hired goons on your own until you are either killed or captured. Something that will result in your death either way. Rather an anti-climax for what you've managed to accomplish, is it not?"

Shia remained silent, in thought.

"No need to rush this decision, of course." The wallbreaker in front of him added comfortingly. "I can wait here aaaallll night, if it takes."

Shia thought about it. Part of him wanted to tell this 'wallbreaker' to fuck off and let him die in peace. It's what he deserved after all, as for all this guy saddled him with praises for a 'job well done', he'd failed in the one time it mattered the most. And it's not like he cared whether he died or not at this point...

...Yet, on the other hand, he did. Perhaps it was that small bit of him that wanted to live yet. Or perhaps, in his own weird way, he wanted to make amends. To her, to Veera, in some way, yet he knew he couldn't. Perhaps it was simply a desire to do some good yet, this time knowingly before he expired, and not simply die here like a cornered animal. Or perhaps, he'd just gone mad, and it was that madness that drove him forward.
To take his hand, say the forbidden words.

"Alright, I'm in."

The charmander's face lit up as he took his hand in hand.

"Excellently chosen, Shia, I-"

"But..." Shia stopped him before he could continue. "No more of this mind game crap. I don't appreciate being used."
"I understand, Shia. Now..." He turned, signaling his two muscle-mons to come back to him. "Shall we?"

"Alright. Also I didn't think I caught your name." Shia responded.

"Oh right. How rude of me. I found out your name, yet never bothered to give you mine in exchange." He looked towards his newest acquisition. "You may call  me Anders, dear boy."

=======
Shia leaned on the rails, his mind wandering to the waters in the distance in reflection. He'd completed his chores for the day, and so had time off now to just think. Starting with how things had gone between now and then.

Anders hadn't lied about the severity of the situation. Even in the dungeon, they had a few close calls. Even more outside of it, to the point where Ander's two muscle guards more than once were forced to knock out a few would have been bounty hunters to keep them from sniffing out Shia. Once they'd gotten to the boat though, they were mostly home free. The crowds had been thick, and too many for them to try to take him.

Anders had apparently recruited quite a lot of mons. If Shia didn't know any better, he'd think they were building an army. The boat in question was a big, red wooden boat. Gigantic, and surrounded with mons. There was a cubone at the docks, inspecting boarders for items. They'd explained that everyone was told only to bring essentials.
Not a problem for Shia, he had nothing of value to bring along anyway. Except the dagger that Anders had gifted him back in the sands. So he'd been cleared without incident. Shia couldn't say the same for some others.
One even had an egg they'd apparently been 'convinced' to leave behind. Shia didn't know the context. And to be honest, he didn't particularly care.

The Shinx hadn't made too much of an effort to really get to know the rest of the crew or passengers. He'd respond when spoken to of course, and he pitched in the fair share they were all expected to do to keep the ship running. But other than that, he mostly kept to himself.  And his own thoughts.

Thoughts that were now beginning to question whether or not he'd made the right choice in even agreeing to this. He'd been hesitant to accept it in the first place, but now he was starting to have regrets. He didn't particularly enjoy killing, unlike some of the people here apparently.

He couldn't exactly blame them though, everyone here had their own 'the world mistreated me so now I want to tear down the walls' story. And it wasn't like he supported the Nobles or felt any sympathy for Gaben when he drove the blade into his neck.  Far from. But to him... it was a task. Something he 'had' to do in exchange for gaining the knife he now had. Something he now realized didn't even need to be done. He could have just as easily took it, ran past the guard and back into the maze. Not that the outcome with Brene would have been any different... or Veera.

He sighed sadly. He could only imagine how much she hated him now. For messing up, for being forced by Brene to use him as a dildo. For his body enjoying the act he was committing against her. For being weak enough to cum in her. He could only pray that she didn't end up with child because of him. It's the very reason Brene had even agreed to keep him alive in the first place. To put an egg in her. Though for what reason... Well, he didn't want to think about what that madmon had planned. At best, she would have smashed it in front of them just to make a 'point' or further torture them. At worst... she would have hatched it and sold it for meat or for a slave. Either way, the only end result of that would have been to further torment them.

Shia could only hope there was a special place in hell waiting for her. Along with that Helios asshole. Anders had, at his request, gone into further detail, and he had realized the gravity and depths of his depravity and corruption. It'd gone much deeper. All under the useless 'Ashshell' guild's nose.

AshShell... what a joke. They'd managed to 'ban' slavery, in reality, just drive it underground. And then... they burned out and accomplished nothing. The other guilds, one by one had turned away, and now the once great Ashshell were a former shadow of themselves.
No wonder they abandoned them in Sandstone, and cowered away when they needed them the most.
It reminded him just how bad this world really was, a fact that his little group had been living in blissful ignorance of, until Brene tore that ignorance away from them and forced them to see the world for what it was.

And the brat... he'd learned that up until his banishment to the guild, He'd been keeping a harem of eeveelutions as prisoners, raping them every day and not letting them leave, until his father got angry with him and kicked them all to the curb, without as so much a poke of compensation, forcing them from one hell to another. He shuddered to think of what might have happened had things gone differently, and he'd somehow gotten ahold of Veera. Or what he'd do the minute he got his noble title back.

And yet, Shia couldn't bring himself to feel proud of killing either of them. It was a task, nothing more. And now, he'd be expected to complete even more tasks. Killing more nobles, corrupt guildies, the works. And for what? A vague promise of a better world? He didn't know. And it wasn't really his business to know, either.

Well, there was nothing to do now. It wasn't like he intended to jump over the railing or anything. And... maybe, just maybe, this string that Anders was weaving would lead somewhere good? Or he'd get the opportunity to die properly. One of the two. Either sounded nice at this point.

===
Light, sand-like powder fell from the sky, disappearing into his paw when he tried to clutch it and making it wet. Before long, the deck of the ship was covered in it. Off in the distance, Shia could see them: the weird slanted roofs covering buildings the likes of which he'd never seen before. It was all quite a lot for the Shinx to take in.

This was Shia's first encounter with Snow, of which the land ahead was so aptly named for.

"Alright ya lot, listen up." Cuse, the ship's captain, barked. "We've already got buildings picked out for the lot of ya. Once you're off the ship, settle on in, and then it's off to that other one over there. Gots it?"

Shia nodded along with the rest of the crowd. His mind was elsewhere, as usual. This time, on the snow itself.
Before he made his way into town, to his new apartment room, he took the time to inspect it more carefully, noting how it left tracks. He looked around, seeing it everywhere, seeing how it contrasted with the roofs of the buildings around here. Seeing how the snow was shoveled off the streets, into corridors, some of which were taller than his head even.

He had to admit, this place was quite beautiful. And it did make him a little more glad that he'd chosen to accept the offer rather than die in the desert.

He made his way to his apartment, where Cuse had pointed out. He'd quickly passed the attendant without giving it much thought, as he'd had no luggage. However, all the while, he got the weirdest feeling. Like he was being... watched.

Shia shrugged it off. It was a city, and he was a newcomer. Of course he was being watched. He'd have to learn how to operate in this environment, but he could definitely get used to it. He went to his room, quickly opening the door and inspecting the interior. It was small, but more than livable.  Some decorations and paintings of things he couldn't identify here and there. A bed in the corner and-
The door slid close behind him. He sighed, without turning around. "Oh, I should have guessed I'd have a roomma-"

The words died in his throat, his neutral expression quickly falling into one of horrified despair when he saw who was standing there behind him, staring back at him with green eyes.

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