Key To My Heart || Slugterra

11| Conflict

It was around eight in the morning when we returned to the hideout. Mia and Trixie headed straight to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for us while Pronto went back to sleep. With my slugs playing around the living area, I sat on the couch and let Eli do his thing. He pulled up a stool and sat in front of me, lightly tapping on my wound with a wet, warm towel. Kord sat beside me on the couch with a basin filled with lukewarm water, exaggerating about how lucky I was to find an Infurnus in the middle of nowhere.

"Thank you," I mumbled, and Eli converted his gaze from my shoulder to my eyes. "You got to stop thanking me," he pouted. "If you thank me again, I swear I'll slug you."

I laughed at his little joke before I stayed silent. The seriousness on his face when he clean my wound just made him ten times more attractive. A sad smile crept out on my face as I admired his charm.

He always reminds me of him.

I closed my eyes, resting them as I reflected on the events that recently occurred in my life.

I am now part of the Shane gang, the protectors of the 99 caverns. I love what I do. It always gives a sense of accomplishment and happiness to be able to help people out. And more importantly, I love the people I'm doing this with: my teammates, Eli, Mia, Trix, Kord, Pronto, and my slugs. We are inseparable at this point, and I love how everything turned out. I wish everything can stay the same forever.

But what about the world I'm from? Earth? What about my studies? My career? My life?

What about Blue? What about the promise we made? Where we will meet each other again?

Will I be willing to leave Slugterra when I figured out the way back to Earth?

A chirp drew me out of my train of thoughts. Burpy and his new friend hopped onto my lap, chirping and smiling as they looked up to me. Burpy and my Infurnus were standing right next to each other, and I can finally differentiate them.

Burpy was tiger orange, with one single yellow stripe on his cheek, and three yellow stripes on his stomach. Contrarily, my Infurnus was a shade lighter than Burpy, and had three yellow stripes on her cheek and five protruding yellow stripes on her belly. One similarity between them, other that they were both Infurnus, was that they both had one single strike of white on their foreheads.

"I haven't named you," I said and she nodded softly. I looked up at Eli and Kord with a small smile. "What should I name her?"

"Mireille? It means 'miracle'," Kord suggested, but she shook her head aggressively. Kord frowned as I let out a small laugh. "Sorry," I mumbled, "she doesn't like it."

Kord sighed as my Infurnus stuck a tongue at him playfully while Burpy giggled. My gaze landed on Eli as he smiled from his slug's giggle.

"What about... Phoenix?" Eli suggested, and she tilted her head, clearly considering it. Burpy smiled and chirped in agreement, nodding his tiny head at her. She looked over at Burpy and smiled.

"I'd say that's a yes," I concluded and she chirped cheerily. The pair, Burpy and Phoenix, then headed off and joined a group of slugs who were playing a game of dodgeball with popcorns.

"You name your slugs too?" Eli asked me as he rinsed the towel in the basin. "Yeah," I replied simply. "It just feels like the right thing to do. Plus, it's fun and easier to call."

Eli smiled, and nodded his head. "Finally, I found someone who feels the same way I do about naming slugs," he said. "Kord always thinks I'm a weirdo for naming my slugs."

"Yeah, whatever. I'm gonna shower," Kord complained as he rose to his feet and headed to his room, leaving me and Eli alone.

"I have to say, you're a great slinger," Eli praised. He stood up from the stool and sat beside me on the more comfortable couch after he had treated my wound. "I've never seen anyone improved this much in just a month," he claimed, wearing a wide smile. "Well, except for me, of course."