Slugterra: The New Shane

Chapter 23: An Old 'Friend' Returns

Author's Note at the end of the chapter, please read it :)

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Alana's POV

"You know, you haven't changed one bit," I sneered, looking the girl over, memories flooding my mind. "I can't believe we were ever friends."

She only shook her head as she took off her glasses, revealing her eyes. They were a gray-green color, and they were stone cold. I remembered wistfully how they had once seemed nice and warm. She slipped her glasses back on.

"Neither can I," she said, taking a step closer, her blaster still aimed directly at me. "But, people change, I suppose."

I wanted to say I heard some regret or sorrow in her voice. But I didn't. She sounded completely at ease, much unlike I was, given the situation. You see, this girl and I had a history. From years ago, yes, but it was a history nonetheless. And it was one that I would have loved to go my entire life without remembering. I won't go into the details now, all will be explained later on.

Luckily, I anticipated her next movements. I may not have seen her in years, but I knew her well enough to have a fighting chance of guessing her moves. She pulled the trigger of her blaster. The second I saw her finger move, I dove out of the way, pulling out my blaster. Webs jumped in as if on cue, and we began to duel.

It was fairly intense. She was always a good slinger with powerful slugs. Now they had the extra firepower of ghouls, and she seemed pretty connected to them, which struck me as a little strange. I had never seen a ghoulslinger who had a bond with their ghouls, except for perhaps Twist and Loki.

She fired a Greneater, which hit the floor and exploded, causing it to collapse. I really wished we hadn't been on the second floor. The ground was shifting beneath my feet, but I kept my balance, firing Blizzard at the girl. Then I began to run for solid ground. Five feet away from floor that wasn't cracked, I heard a woman cry out. One of the shoppers who were trapped up here on the second floor- the girl and I were blocking the escalators, I realized. And the woman was yelling at a little boy, probably her son, who was running up to me.

He looked about eight. And he carefully walked on the crumbling floor, towards me, holding out his hand.

"C'mon! I'll help!"

Oh guardian slugs, if I wasn't too worried about him being in the crossfire, I would have freaked put over how cute this kid was. He had a small blaster and bandoleer with two slugs in it, a Flaringo and a Frostcrawler. On the bandoleer was what looked like a handmade badge, a slightly rough-looking Shane symbol, I realized.

Dodging a ghoul, I took his hand, and he helped me get over to solid ground. I fired Isis at one of the ghouls the girl fired. As a white flash was created as the ghoul was cured, I turned to the little boy with a small smile.

"Thanks for the help, kid. But you need to get back to your mom." We both ducked as a Grimmstone sailed across our heads. "Okay?" The boy frowned, looking a little bit disappointed.

"But I'm gonna help fight the bad girl," he said. "I wanna be in the Shane Gang when I grow up!" I smiled to myself and put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"I need you to help me, though," I said with a small smile. "You know Eli Shane?" The boy nodded enthusiastically. "Good. He's at the food court with the rest of the gang, across the mall. I don't know if he knows there's a fight happening yet, and I need the gang's help. You're young, and probably the fastest one here. Can you go get them for me, and tell them what's happening?"

The boy looked truly ecstatic, nodding excitedly and smiling. I laughed at his enthusiasm.

"Can I fire at her once?" he asked, looking longingly at the girl, who was scowling and reloading her blaster, then readjusting her glasses. I nodded, and Ash jumped in my blaster. The boy loaded his small blaster with his young Flaringo. I gave Ash a look, an he nodded, understanding. I wanted him to give the Flaringo a boost. Do damage on the girl, but make it look like maybe the Flaringo did more than it actually had.