Beyond What's Known

Chapter 3

Alana winced as an unfortunately familiar chill settled into her peripheral senses. The feeling of dark energy was definitely not something she'd missed since Blakk's fall. The unrelenting but comforting warmth of light energy wasn't wavering, so the 99 Caverns certainly weren't suffering from as much dark energy as they were in Blakk's prime, but as the gang rode closer, she recognized what had to be at least dozens of ghouls.

"Look!" Trixie called, pointing at the east side of the town. Pillars of smoke were rising up to the cavern ceiling.

"I'm guessing that's where we're heading," Eli said, taking a deep breath. "Everyone, stay on guard. Alana, keep us updated on ghouls. It looks like the townspeople have already evacuated, but prioritize civilians if we see any."

Alana nodded, keeping Midnight close to Lucky as she followed Eli, letting herself focus on the slug energy nearby. She raised an eyebrow when she felt one concentrated bundle of uncorrupted energy surrounded by the sparks of darkness that indicated ghouls.

She wordlessly pointed to the source of the energy, guiding the gang through the empty town streets. Eli was right- there didn't seem to be any civilians, only the occasional stray slug canisters. A few windows were shattered, and the gang made sure to carefully drive around the broken glass.

"Around the corner," Alana whispered suddenly, stopping Midnight. The rest of the gang did as well, quietly stepping down from their rides. "A few ghoulslingers. But a lot of slugs, too."

Eli nodded, leading the way forward to peek around the corner. Alana loaded Ash, taking one last deep breath to settle her nerves before crouching down and taking a look for herself.

As she'd guessed, three ghoulslingers stood in the town square, but they didn't look like Dr. Blakk or any of his workers. They wore spiked armor that looked otherworldly, unlike anything Alana had ever seen in the 99 Caverns. They each had mechas, and an additional friend - a large brown creature, easily fifteen feet tall, with grungy brown fur and dark red eyes. It reminded Alana of the ice monsters living in Snowdance.

The ghoulslingers were loading slug carriers onto their hyena mechas. Eli and Alana pulled back from around the corner and let the others take a turn getting a look. Disgust churned in Alana's chest.

"Those are Fandango slugs," she whispered, running a hand through her bangs. "They're gathering slug energy. That can't be good."

"And they've got that ogre with them," Kord mumbled. "That's one big dude."

The ghoulslingers were silent as they loaded their cargo, but the distant, incoherent mumbling of a familiar voice caused Trixie to take another quick glance around the corner.

"It's the King of Sling!" she whispered with panic. "He's trapped under some debris, but the ghoulslingers are between us and him."

"Looks like we're going in, then," Eli said, loading his blaster. "How bad does he look?"

"Not too bad from what I saw," Trixie answered. "And he's still conscious. I think he's mostly just stuck under the rubble. It looks like a wall collapsed too close to him."

"Then we get past those guys and make sure he's safe," Alana murmured.

"But there's the question of who these guys are," Eli said, running a hand through his hair.

"They look different from anyone I've ever seen here," Trixie whispered, clipping her recording camera to her belt. "Eli, are these guys from... where you're from?"

"Definitely not," Eli confirmed, loading his blaster. "But wherever they're from-"

"Over there!" a new voice shouted from around the corner. Alana's eyes widened and she barely had time to jump before a Hop Rock detonated, sending the gang in different directions.