Being part of the Shane Gang is great, but it also meant working round the clock.
After the siren went off at three in the flopping morning, I put on my slinging gear, bandoleer and holster, feeling fairly pumped out for my first ever distress call mission.
"Good morning Cobra," I greeted and yawned, eyeing the slug inside my backpack. She let out a small yawn before she chirped with her wide warm eyes. I grabbed my backpack and headed downstairs, and I met Mia on the way.
"How was last night?" I asked, eyeing her playfully. "Horrible," she whispered with a tired frown. "It was super awkward. We only said goodnight and he was facing the opposite direction!"
"Really? No way! That was exactly what happened on my first night too!" I exclaimed tiredly.
Just that I was the one facing the other direction.
We quickly made our way down the stairs, greeted the other members and loaded our slugs into our respective backpacks.
"Ready to embark on your first ever mission?" Eli asked as he clipped his bandoleer on in the garage. "Born ready," Mia said, clenching her fists.
"Finally able to put our skills up to the test," I replied as Hero hopped onto my shoulder. "What is our mission?"
"Tad's goons were spotted in Wind-Farm Cavern," Trixie said, studying her hologram. "It seems like they were scouting the area."
"For what?" Eli asked as he mounted his wolf mecha, Lucky. "No idea," Trixie shrugged as she mounted her mecha. "They're probably on a slug hunt, but regardless of why they are there, them roaming around that area raises all sorts of red flags."
"Agreed," Kord mumbled sleepily and climbed onto his mecha. "Pronto the magnificent can never get used to these flopping distress calls that are way past my bedtime," Pronto complained, yawning as he dragged himself towards his mecha.
Mia and I exchanged a glance, not knowing who should go on whose mecha. I should be going with Eli as the last time we head out I was with him, but this time, now that I know Mia has a crush on him, it's different.
Should I go with Trix? Or would that make things weird and awkward?
"Come on, Ales!" Eli called out for me, gesturing me to join him in his ride. I gulped and bit my lower lip.
I don't know what to do!
Flop!
"Ales!" Trixie called out for me out of nowhere and waved a hand at me. "Come join me!"
I gave Eli a wry smile before joining Trixie on her ride. My unexplainable move resulted in Eli shooting me a confused look and went speechless. He was about to say something when Trixie quickly cut him off.
"Let's go!" Trixie called as she revved up her engine and drove off, leading the gang. Kord and Pronto were too sleepy to even care about the drama and they followed Trixie without delay. At first, Mia still stood on the same spot, but she eventually mounted Eli's mecha and the pair drove off.
Eli caught up with Trixie in no time, still confused with what just happened.
"What was that all about?" Eli yelled through the dashing wind. "Nothing important and personal!" Trixie yelled back, and Eli frowned.
"Women," he commented, before he sped off and led the way.
Mia's arms were around his waist, her head laid on his back, her purple hair flying behind her as the mecha sped forward. A smile crept onto her face and blush rose to her cheeks.
I found myself staring at the pair throughout the journey while the rest of the gang talked about possible reasons for the presence of goons in Wind-Farm Cavern and what to have for breakfast later. A small sigh escaped my nostrils and I decided not to look at them and distracted myself with the night scenery of the bioluminescent mushroom forest.
Hero chirped sadly, noticing his slinger's mood. I turned my attention from the forest to him, and gave him a smile. "I'm fine Hero," I whispered, assuring him.
"So Trix, about the Elementals you were talking about yesterday in class, you were saying that they ended up guarding the entrance of the fall of the Eastern Emperor?" I asked, trying to distract myself from my emotions.
"Yeah, what about that?" Trixie questioned, her eyes still on the road.
"If the Elementals are guarding the entrance," I said, exchanging a glance with Hero, "then why is the Air Elemental perching on my shoulder at this very moment? Am I seeing a ghost?"
"No that's not a ghost and we were supposed to cover that part later in class," Trixie laughed, "but I can tell you now since we've some time to spare."
I nodded. "Yes please."
"What happened next was that the Shadow Clan thought it was too risky for the four Elementals to be together, so they trained up new guardian slugs and replaced them. The four Elementals then retuned from the Eastern Caverns and were scattered across the 99 caverns, just like how they were before Doctor Blakk and the Goon Doc decided to ghoul them," Trixie explained. "That was about a year ago. Recently, Tad has been trying to capture the Elementals, and that's why we are regrouping them. They are now safe under our care. Eli does bring them along on missions, but they were seldom used as they were too powerful, to the point where someone may be possibly killed."
"But as you said, isn't it risky for the Elementals to be together?" I asked curiously. "It's better that way than them being ghouls," Trixie replied and swerved along the snaky road.
"Right," I replied, tightened my arms around Trixie's waist as her mecha bolted down the empty street.
The road came to an end, leading to nothing but a dark, uncanny forest.
"We're close," Pronto announced as Wind-Farm Cavern came into view through a thick fog. "Keep an eye out for Tad's goons. They can show up at any moment-"
"Watch out!" Eli warned as three Hop Jack accelerated towards us. The gang came to a halt and dodged out of the way, into the forest, sending the ghouls crashing down onto the empty road.
Sure enough, around ten uniformed lackeys showed up on their hyena mechas. Leading them was a short green creature with a crappy red helmet, and a snail-like, ginormous dark blue creature with twelve crab legs. We unmounted our mechas and took cover behind the trees.
"Well, if it isn't The Scrap Force," Eli said, loading his blaster with his Frostcrawler, Chiller.
"Or is it The Tough Guys?" Trixie asked. I let out a laugh at their hilarious name, before loading my Rammstone, Ram.
The snail-like monster let out a groan as it's upper limbs flared out behind him. "Those names make me want to puke!" he drawled, loading his blasters with ghouls. "Allow me to reintroduce ourselves. We are The Strong Guys!"
I laughed out loud and my slugs giggled. "Does it make it any better?" I teased, and they groaned again. This time, the short green creature defended. "Yes! It is ten times better! Who are you anyway?"
"That's for me to know and for you to guess," I smirked before firing Ram and the rest of the gang took their cue and opened fire. Ram megamorphed and successfully knocked down two lackeys off their mechas with ease. Eli fired his Frostcrawler at an incoming Greneater and slid down towards me, taking cover beside me.
"Nice shot, Ales!" he praised, firing Banger, his Armashelt, who crashed into one of the hyena mechas, sending its rider tumbling down. "But next time, allow me to take the lead."
"Oops," I gulped and fired Funnel, my Arachnet, who webbed an incoming Hop Jack and forced it to return to protoform. "Sorry, got a little too excited."
"Mia watch out!" I heard Trixie cried out a second before a Hop Jack exploded. I watched in horror as my best friend flew backwards from the detonation, crashing thirty feet away from us, unprotected.
"Mia!" I screamed. She was not responsive, laying lifelessly on the grassland. My heart raced, my mind acted quickly as I sprinted towards her, unconcerned with the danger I was exposing myself into.
I inserted Geo, my Geoshard, and fired it at Mia. It landed on the road right in front of her, creating a wall of lime crystal spikes, giving her temporary cover. I turned around and fired Prime, my Frostcrawler, and froze a Dark Urchin that was coming my way, before sliding down one of the crystal and landed beside Mia's unconscious body.
Cuts and bruises covered her body, but there wasn't any fatal injuries.
"Strange!" I called and my White Boon Doc jumped out of my backpack and onto my shoulder. I shot him a worried look. "Do you think you can handle this?"
Strange chirped and nodded, with Hero chirping cheeringly on my other shoulder. "Alright then, let's do this-"
I winced in pain when a pair of clawed paw grabbed my shoulders, jerked me around, and lifted me off the ground. Hero and Strange dodged the deadly jaws and landed on Mia, looking up at their ascending slinger hopelessly.
"Ales!" I heard Eli called out for me, but his voice was faint as the creature lifted me higher and further away from the scene. It's sharp claws dug into my collarbone. I winced in pain, and I managed to look up at my predator.
It was a Hoverblade.
I began swinging myself, kicking the air and sending painful punches on the Hoverblade's paws. I continued to struggle and fight, but the slug gained the upper hand, tightening its grip on my shoulder as it flew across the cavern.
Jet began to squeak worriedly, flying out of his tube from my bandoleer and into my blaster. Unhesitatingly, I pulled the trigger and the Hoverbug megamorphed. It took a sharp turn and charged straight at his enemy. Jet crashed into the Hoverblade and it groaned, finally loosened its grip on my shoulders.
A wave of relief flowed through my body as the pain retrieved from my shoulders. I loaded Top up and fired him below me. The pink slug transformed into a giant balloon and swallowed its slinger.
Now that it was safe, I rested my head on the slug's lining, taking a quick peek at the wound caused by the sudden attack.
My left shoulder was visibly fine. My right shoulder, however, had blood stains at the spots where the Hoverblade dug its claws into. Once we were at a safe height, Top burst himself and I landed safely on the ground.
My Hoverbug, Jet, landed on my shoulder with a proud smile as the ghouled slug landed face down on a small water puddle.
"Great job, Jet!" I praised and it chirped, before flying back into its canister.
"Now let's get back-"
"There she is!" a man's voice echoed through my ears as three lackeys rode their mecha towards my direction, firing ghouls at me.
"Oh floppers," I sighed, before firing Nile, my Aqaubeek, and Taser, my Tazerling, subsequently. Nile managed to put off the ghouls in midair and corralled the lackeys with a pool of water. The second Nile returned to protoform, Taser let out a strong bolt of lightning at the pool, electrocuting the riders and their hyena mechas.
While they were recovering from the shock, I took this opportunity to hide myself behind a fallen rock, firing my Hop Rock, Rox. Tad's lackeys swiftly dodged Rox's explosion and were scattered across the trees.
"Wait, I know that girl!" one of the lackeys said. "She's the one at the factory, the one who released our slugs and stole our blasters!"
"Good, so you recognised me," I yelled, loading up Lariat, Mint. "And you should know what will happen next!"
I fired Mint at them and the fight began.
After a couple of shots, I aimed at one of the lackeys and fired Mago, my Thugglet slug. It velocimorphed, knocked down a Dark Urchin and a Briardrill with its large horns, and ran into a lackey, creating a false illusion for the other lackey that was closed by. After one collapsed from the impact, the other shrieked, and ran away like a chicken from the illusion.
With two of them down, I fired Jet at the last lackey. It picked him up and flew away, crashing his prey into a tree.
I pasted a weak smile on as the fight was over, resting an arm on the rock, panting heavily. "Well that went well," I mumbled, assuring myself.
"Did it?"
My reflex kicked in and I turned around to face the source of the voice, but it was too late. A Grimmstone sent a deadly punch right at my abdomen. I cried out in pain as it sent me flying backwards, crashing onto a stony wall of a cave, before falling down a small chasm. My body landed on the lifeless ground of the chasm with a loud thud, dust filled the air.
A groan escaped my mouth as I felt the pain in my whole body magnified. At the bottom of the chasm was piles of rubble, with little to no signs of living organism.
In spite of the escalating suffering and discomfort, I dragged myself towards a pile of rubble, and rested my back on the rocks.
There was a loud thud that shook the ground behind my cover. I held my breath as I heard a blaster powering up.
"Come out little princess, you can't hide forever."
It was the giant snail creature. His voice was hoarse. I furrowed my brows as I glanced at my bandoleer.
I ran out of slugs.
Maggi, my Flopper, waved at me from its canister on my bandoleer. He was the only one left. "You think you can do this?" I asked quietly and it nodded.
"Alright, let's see what you got!" I smiled, loaded him up and fired at the daunting shadow through the thick, dusty air.
There wasn't a transformation.
My heart skipped a beat as a Harmashelt flew passed me from the filthy air, just inches away.
The creature let out an evil grin. "This battle is over! You're out of slugs! Quit hiding and surrender!"
"Floppers," I cursed under my breath, trying to think of an escape plan when I realised I still have one more slug left.
"Cobra," I whispered to myself, eyes widened.
"Come on now, we don't have to make this any harder," the creature drawled as his footsteps grew louder and louder.
"Cobra, I know you can hear me. As much as I hate to force you to do anything, I think we're running out of options," I whispered, trying to stay as still as possible so that I wouldn't make any other unwanted sound. "Please Cobra, I know you're not confident in yourself, but if you don't help me out we're both dead!"
A small chirp sounded as I felt a small weight landed on my shoulder. Her body weight did caused pain when she landed on my right shoulder, but I was too relieved to be wincing.
She nodded at me, before hopping into my blaster.
"Face it! You have no where to escape! You're a piece of dead meat! Just come out of hiding already!" the creature yelled before a gunfire sounded, and seconds later, the pile of rubble behind me blew up. I turned my body around, my eyes met his as I raised my blaster at him.
I gave him a weak smirk, before firing Cobra.
"Y-You have the slug!" the creature yelled, but he was too late. I watched in amazement as she transformed into a winged, glowing megamorphed slug, transmitting rings of yellow sound waves from her mouth to her enemy, causing him to drop to his knees, covering his ears.
"Way to go, Cobra!" I praised as the creature groaned in pain. Cobra may drew me some time, but once she returned to photoform, I will then be a piece of dead meat.
My gaze trailed up the towering, uneven chasm walls. The chasm was about forty feet deep, wouldn't be a problem for me to climb up and save myself if my shoulder was not wounded.
"Wind-Farm Cavern, home to Hoverbugs and Tormatoes," I mumbled, recalling what Trixie had taught me as my eyes scrutinised the piles of rubbers laying around me. "If only I can find one and get out of here."
And as if the Guardian Slugs heard my request, there was a faint squeak underneath a nearby stack of small marble.
It was a slug's chirp.
A spark of hope lit in my eyes as I started shoving the rocks away from the pyramid of rocks where the squeak came from.
The bone-chilling groan of the creature grew louder; the yellow radiation of sound waves were dimming.
"Please, please, please, please..."
Cold sweats glided down the sides of my face as I hurriedly removed the rough, stony rocks, hoping to find a slug. I ran my now bloody hands across the sharp-edged rocks as a faint orange colour progressively emerged.
I was in seventh heaven at the sight of the colour, and briskly removed the remaining pieces with determination. A crouched slug finally came in sight. My face creased into a huge smile of relief when I finally found a Tormato slug.
Or at least that was what I thought.
Instead of the tiny pair of pastel yellow horns that normal Tormato slugs have, there was a pair of orange antennae. Its supposedly fire orange body was replaced by a tangerine orange colour, with yellow strip patterns.
My eyes widened at my beyond belief finding.
An Infurnus.
...
How's the story so far peeps :D
I really hope you enjoyed it <3