My heart craves you

01

Welcome to the 99 caverns

As the portal in the 99 caverns sprung to life, the symbol swapped from the one for the eastern caverns, to the one for the southern caverns. As alarms started blaring, someone limped through and glanced around. It was a girl, her purple eyes showing fear, her purple hair falling out its ponytail and a mess. As she covered her ears to protect them from the alarm, she slowly limped out the cave. She was met halfway by a man with a crown atop his head. She eyed him cautiously, taking in every feature about him while keeping her hand near her blaster but never unhooking it from her belt. "Hey, you came out from that portal there, does that mean you're from those eastern caverns?" He asked. "No, if you payed attention, you'd notice the symbol swapped to the southern caverns symbol. That's where I'm from, now just let me go..." Her voice was cold, her eyes untrustingly glanced around like she would be surprise attacked at any moment. "I'm sorry, but I can't. Eli Shane needs to know about this and probably chat with you, so you'll need to stay here a bit longer." He replied. The girl lowered her guard a bit, confusion overtaking her fear for a split second before she tensed up again. "...Fine, but make it quick please." She finally said.

As the girl sat in silence, she occasionally played with her slugs. She got her Thugglet, Illusi, to make a few cute illusions while the rest of her slugs all played with them. She watched with a smile, but still never let her guard down, clearly still scared of whatever happened from where she came from. As Illusi make an illusion of her Infurnus, her actual Infurnus, Blaze, hopped up to it and playfully growled at it. The girl laughed at her Infurnuses playfulness before petting the slug and paying attention to some of her other slugs. Finally, mechabeasts were heard coming down the tunnel, and all of the girl's slugs quickly returned to her. The people on mechabeasts were finally revealed and the girl was intimidated. There was a human boy at the lead, his black hair every so slightly messed up from the wind of running on his mechabeast, his slightly tanned skin with the tiniest of imperfections, and his light blue eyes, quickly scanning over the girl with only a slight hint of caution. The next person was another human, this time a girl, her red hair in dual pigtails that were done up tight, her pale skin that seemed to have a slight bit of make-up on it, and her green eyes piercing through the girl's soul to try and figure her out. The third person was a Cave troll, his hair concealed by a helmet, his blue skin with tattoos all along his arms, and his blue eyes giving her a slightly friendly gaze. Finally, there was a moleinoid, his hair also hidden via helmet, his purple skin with many noticeable imperfections, and his brown eyes giving her a judgemental stare.

"So, King, what's up?" The boy asked. The girl observed that he seamed to be the leader, despite seeming the youngest. "Her, that's what. She came out the portal claiming to be from the southern caverns, and she hasn't let her guard down." The King said. 'I did for a split second, you just didn't notice.' She thought to herself but not daring to say it out loud. As the boy approached her, she quickly grabbed her blaster and loaded her Infurnus in it, aiming at him. "Stay back. I don't feel comfortable with you getting close." She said, her fear spiking. The boy immediately stopped, but spoke to her. "Hey don't worry, no one here is going to hurt you. You have an Infurnus, you're the protector of the south, aren't you?" He asked. The girl quickly glanced at the rest of the people there before she spoke. "I was. But I'm not going back..." She murmured. Her mind quickly flashed back to her home, to what happened to it, before she shook her head clear. "Okay, well if you're gonna stay here, it's best for some introductions. I'm Eli, protector for the 99 caverns. That's Trixie, Kord, and Pronto, my friends and we're the Shane gang." He said. The girl finally noticed the Infurnus on his shoulder and slightly lowered her blaster, her fear slowly fading. "Aiko. Now can I please just go, I want to get as far away from the south as possible." She asked, her voice faltering. It seemed like this was the most talking Aiko had done in awhile. "And where are you gonna go? It's not like you have a place here." Eli asked. Aiko just shrugged, frankly, she didn't care where she ended up as long as it wasn't somewhere in the southern caverns. "Can I talk something out with my friends quickly?" He asked. She nodded, unloading her blaster and letting her Infurnus sit on her shoulder like normal. As Eli went and talked with the rest of his friends, Aiko noticed the King had left and she quickly glanced around, making sure he wouldn't sneak attack her. Once Eli returned, the rest of his friends were following and she couldn't help but tense up. "I made sure it was okay with everyone else first, but would you like to stay at our hideout?" He asked. She had to take a moment to process, Eli was just gonna invite her in his place without knowing exactly who she is or why she's here. "...Sure. But I don't have my mechabeast, I...lost...it before I came here." She murmured, her voice growing more hoarse by the moment. "That's fine dudette, you can get a ride on mine, there's plenty of room." Kord offered. Aiko smiled at his kindness, but still kept her guard up. "Thank you, you all are really kind." She thanked them all before cautiously hopping on Kord's mecha. As they all took off, Aiko felt her throat sore from all the talking and held back a sigh. Her White Boon Doc, Purity, hopped from her bag and onto her shoulder, letting out a concerned chirp. "It's fine, save your energy. I can just make tea or something for it..." She said, gently petting the healer. "You're not used to talking this much, are you?" Eli asked. Aiko shook her head no instead of talking, not wanting to make her voice worse. "It's fine, you don't have to chat if you don't want to." He said. Aiko gave him an appreciative glance before focusing on the sights around her.