Take Back the Light

Chapter 2

"Midnight, lock onto the others' signals! We're gonna take them out one by one till we find Mage!" she called.

Alana took a deep breath and loaded her Negashade, Eclipse, into her blaster. A Vinedrill from the worker in front of her dug itself into the ground in front of her Mecha. Vines sprouted from the ground, weaving across the forest floor. Midnight growled and leapt over the vines, pushing off the side of a mushroom-tree and continuing her chase.

Smirking at her Mecha's moves, Alana fired Eclipse. The black slug sped forward and knocked herself into the worker's Mecha, emitting black gas and causing the Mecha to veer into a mushroom-tree with a loud CRASH!

The heavy smoke lowered and covered the ground as Alana caught up to the crash and leapt off Midnight.

"Mage! Are you here?" she called, looking around and receiving no response. Alana frowned as she picked her way through the Mecha wreckage. Bolts and screws littered the ground, and the Mecha itself was smoking. The worker lay on the ground to the side of the vehicle, groaning.

Alana yanked the groaning worker up by his collar, avoiding some of the goo that still remained on his outfit after Ali's attack. The man winced as it moved and sent more jolts of electricity.

"Where is she?!" Alana demanded.

"I-I dunno! I swear! I don't know which one took the Boon Doc, I was the one who tackled you down... and then I handed her off to one of the other guys!" the worker assured. "I handed her off when we saw you! But then we took off so fast!"

Alana rolled her eyes and let go of the worker, letting him fall to the ground. She straightened up her bandoleer and jumped back up on Midnight.

"Let's go find the next one!"

Before Alana had finished her sentence, Midnight took off once more. Alana let the Mecha go on autopilot as she followed the SPS signal coming from the next Mecha. The Slugterran Positioning System was great way to get around, but it was a great way to get followed, too.

Alana sighed and stretched out, cracking her back in attempt to take advantage of her few moments of peace before reaching the next slinger.

"Okay, we have to assume that Mage is with the last worker. So we're going to go as fast as we can to get this next guy, take him out quickly, and then go for number three. And here we are," she finished as Midnight crashed through a line of bushes and took off down a path, following just behind the next worker.

Alana announced her presence by firing a Rammstone that slammed into the rear end of the worker's Mecha, damaging the back legs and slowing down the vehicle.

"You're awfully persistent, aren't you?" the worker yelled, firing an Arachnet at Midnight as Alana got only a few feet away from the slinger. The Arachnet spat out webs that stuck Midnight's legs together, forcing Alana to stop.

Ash jumped down to the webs and began burning them away as Alana leapt from Midnight to the worker's moving Mecha. For a moment, time seemed to slow down as she hung in midair. For a heartstopping second, she feared she would miss the Mecha. But she stuck the landing and immediately began looking for her slug.

"Mage?" Alana called out desperately as she grabbed onto the worker's shoulders to keep from falling off. The worker scowled and began twisting around, trying to throw Alana off.

"Get off of me!" he yelled, grabbing Alana's left arm and yanking her down. Alana cried out as the Jellyish goo that remained stuck on her arm stung her. The worker had barely any left on him- he must have had his Aquabeek hose him down. But doing so had cost him time that had allowed Alana to catch up quickly.