~~~Eli's POV~~~
Ever since the 'incident' in the Icy Caverns, Y/N hasn't talked about the mission to any of us and never joined the conversation or tried to change the topic when it was brought up. I knew there was something going on but I didn't want to make Y/N uncomfortable, since I would of tried doing the same if I was in the same position as Y/N.
It's been a week since the mission and all the problems in Slugterra has calmed down and gone to rest. I sighed sadly on my Mecha Beast as I reached the hideout, putting away my Mecha and getting off to go inside. Once I opened the door, I was met with chaos. Trixie and Kord were screaming at the gameplay screen as Pronto ran around the household while Y/N chased after him. Frowning, I walked up to the duo on the couch and leaned on the side of it.
"What's going on with Y/N and Pronto?" I asked, turning to the two. There was a moment of silence and hard concentration before Trixie replied, "Pronto apparently stole something from Y/N and she's really angry now. I'm not sure what he took though." Kord screamed out in disappointment as Trixie won once again. I chuckled at the two as they did a rematch, walking away to find Pronto and Y/N.
It didn't take long to find Y/N cornering Pronto, holding a pole-like object to hit him with. Without hesitation, Y/N lifted the pole but I quickly stopped her and took the hard object away from her grasp with ease.
"Hey! I was about to hit him!" Y/N yelled out, growling at me. I sighed and shook my head, "What happened?" I asked, turning to Pronto.
"I just took this nice looking food from Y/N's desk and when she came back and found out, she was very angry!!" Pronto said, trying to plead for innocence. "Nu-uh! You stole it and ate it right in front of my eyes! It was my last piece of gum too! You brat!" Y/N screamed out, trying to get the pole from me. I lifted it above my head so she couldn't get it as I raised an eyebrow at Pronto.
"Okay, fine, I did eat it in front of her. But still! I thought she didn't want it!" Pronto defended his confession. "It was on MY desk!!!! Of course I still wanted it!!!" Y/N yelled into my ear, still trying to get the pole from me. "How about we all calm down.. I'll get you new gum, Y/N." I replied calmly, looking at Y/N.
Fury and flame burned in her eyes as she stared at me, looking at me if I was insane. "It was my last piece of surface gum." she gritted through her teeth, quiet enough so Pronto doesn't hear. My eyes widened and I frowned deeply. "Well, I'm sorry about that. It was going to run out away." I reassured. "I didn't think the last piece will be given to a MOLE." Y/N gritted through her teeth again, sighing and rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Fine. Whatever. I'm out of here." Y/N said, dropping the argument and walking away, frustrated.
I frowned and turned to Pronto, who was innocently blowing a bubble out of the gum. Once it popped, he looked up at me with confused eyes and quickly cleaned his mouth, standing up straight and smiling awkwardly. I raised an eyebrow and placed my hand on my hip, waiting for an explanation. "Okay, look, it looked so good and tasty on the table, I couldn't resist! You probably would of taken it if you saw it!" Pronto yelled out, holding his hands up in the air in defence.
I sighed and walked away, seeing Trixie and Kord still playing that racing game. I walked over to them and quietly stood there before bringing up a question, "Have you guys seen Y/N?" There was a pause and all you could hear were the sounds of the racecars racing along the track before Trixie replied, "She's outside. I'm not sure what she's doing though." I nodded in response and walked away, opening the door and stepping outside.
While looking around, I heard the sound of blasting and I suddenly was on guard. I ran towards the sound of the blaster and gently pushed a bush aside, trying to keep as quiet as possible. What I saw shocked me. Y/N was shooting all her slugs and letting them attack her. Some of them tried to explode her while others tried to hit her with their powers. It shocked me to see Y/N do this since slugs weren't usually used for self-training.
I watched carefully as Y/N flipped and dodged every attack with ease and slight struggle. She was probably taking all her anger and negative energy out in training. My eyes converted to a slug blaster quite far away from her. When her slugs detransformed, due to their time limit in being a morph, they slowly make their way back into the slug blaster again.
Some slugs have longer time limits than others. It's quite clear that her most powerful and used slugs had longer time limits in their transformation rather than the ones she rarely uses or newly collected. Even though this usually effects the time when the slugs are shot and that should Y/N a break, slugs kept coming out of the blaster after one slug detransformed, maybe even if it is still in the air.
This didn't seem to bother Y/N though, as sweat rolled down her face and her hair flew in the wind when she jumped, rolled or slid under the attacks from her own slugs. I was impressed, for sure, and kind of jealous. She could easily take my role as leader if she keeps up with the amount of work and strategic thinking she's doing now. Im not sure if she's greedy enough to do that but I hope she isn't.
~~~Y/N's POV~~~
The wind blew through my hair as I dodged every attack my slug shot at me. It was nice to use all my energy on training. It helps me relax and also helps me get better with dodging. I came back into focus when my Blastipede comes into view. That sneaky slug can detonate those blue bombs anytime without me knowing. I got into a fighting stance and lifted my arms up, my hands in fists. The slug smirked and threw all it's bombs at me, rushing me with an explosion of blue bombs after discarding the ones it held before.
I quickly went into action and punched the two blue bombs away from me. I got ready for the rush of bombs, my eyes scanning each one. Everything soon slowed down for me, like time was soon coming to a stop. After a few calculations, I lifted my right leg and kicked a blue bomb far away. Without any pause in between, I jumped up and did a cartwheel without touching the floor with my hands. Both of my legs knocked out three bombs in my way. The last few were easily thrown away with a few punches and a high kick.
My slug seemed to be disappointed with this but I smiled sadly. Although it smirked and connected its antlers, letting out a large cloud of dust, causing me to cough and close my eyes. When I opened them once again, I was greeted with thick dust and I couldn't see anything. I had to rely on my ears.
I closed my eyes so no dust goes in there and no distractions were available. I could hear the sound of blasting of slugs and I lifted my head up. The moment the sound of my Slyren singing entered my ears, I opened my eyes and kicked the dust. I had to remove the dust before I fall asleep from the song. I grunted and struggled to remove the dust, the sound of multiple slugs being blasted into the air causing me to kick and punch the dust more.
I began to give up on the dust and started to just focus on staying awake. My eyelids started to grow heavy but I forced myself to stay awake. Slapping myself continuously, I managed to keep my eyes awake but it was a huge struggle. Even when the Slyren detransform, it still kept singing. The dust soon drifted away but I was growing too sleepy to even stand in my fighting stance properly. "Ngh... Have.... To... Stay... Awake..." My eyelids were as heavy as bricks, causing my body to waver a bit.
I shook my head and slapped myself really hard, waking myself up for a second. I quickly took the chance and picked up the Slyren, covering its mouth. It stopped singing and I sighed in relief. Before I could put the slug down, a shot of water made me fall forwards and drop the slug. The dust from the floor raised up but I quickly stood up and dusted myself, making sure there were no injuries.
There were a few grazes and ripped skin but no blood. I quickly stood up and turned to my Aquabeek. "Alright, come at me." I threatened, my slug growing eager because of my sudden boast of confidence. With no hesitation, it shot rays of water at me. Easily, I dodged the water as it soaked the dirt where I used to be at. I smirked as it detransformed and another slug was blasted from the slug machine blaster.
Turning around, I was met with my Hypnogrif. In an instant, it started to try hypnosis me. I wasn't an easy target though, as I backflipped and cartwheeled over the rays of power. It was entertaining to just watch my slug struggle to get me. This continued for the rest of my slugs until I grew tired and got hit with an explosion with my Hop Rock. I flew in the air and landed hard on the dirt, dust flying out of the way. I laid there, pain electrifing throughout my body. There was shuffling and moving heard from the bushes but I didn't move.
Once the shuffling stopped, I heard loud footsteps and saw Eli looking down at me with worried eyes. My slugs quickly hopped towards me, chirping worriedly. I smiled weakly and sat up, rubbing my head. "Y/N! What was that!? Are you okay?" Eli asked, panic lacing his words. I chuckled quietly and shook my head side to side, using Eli to stand up. I yelped in pain when I stood up, my slugs climbing up my arm and landing on my shoulders.
Eli stood next to me and held my shoulder, looking at me worried. Shaking my head, I refused to let a tiny bit of pain pull me down. My slugs jumped into their slots as I walked back to the hideout. Eli chased after me, walking close by my side. "Are you sure you don't need help walking?" Eli asked once again, making me roll my eyes. "You sound like my mum, Eli. I'm fine." I reassured once again. I could still see worry and fear swirl in his eyes and I chuckled quietly.
"Eli, I'm fine. Really. Nothing hurts now. It was short time pain." I repeated, in a softer tone. Even though I've said this plenty of times, this one sentence and tone made Eli's body soften and calm down. I looked up at him and quickly looked away, remembering the scene from the Icy Caverns. I still don't understand what came over me. It was so sudden and stupid. I didn't even get to see how Eli feels about it and what his reaction was. It was a sure shame for me.
Consent was also another problem. You know, consent is hot. And I didn't ask for it. I just went for it. Which was stupid in many ways. Honestly, Y/N, next time think before you act. I sighed loudly, causing to get Eli's attention. "You okay?" He asked. He seemed calm now, as if our roles have switched. "Yep!" I said a bit too enthusiastically that is brought suspicions to Eli. "You sure...?" He asked once more, causing me to sweat and panic a bit. "Uh-huh!"
The rest of the walk to hideout was a bit awkward. My hair swished and flew in the wind and my clothes stuck to my body due to the hard workout I just had. I'm surprised I don't have muscles or light abs yet. I frowned at this thought and looked down at my body, hoping to see a light outline of abs on my crop top and stomach but was disappointed when my stomach remained flat. "So..." Eli started, startling me a bit. I looked up to Eli, expecting another word but was given none.
"So?" I replied quickly, turning back to the front of myself. There was a few moments of awkwardness before Eli continued, "About Icy Caverns..." My body stiffened. I dreaded that name. Icy Caverns. So many questions, scenes, people. Yet... No answers. I shivered and Eli looked down at me. "You cold?" He said, looking back up before it was my turn to look up at him. "Uh... Meh." I replied blandly, not sure how to reply.
Eli simply nodded and continued his statement from before, "I wanted to ask, Y/N..." He was speaking painfully slow. It was like he was trying to kill me with suspence and words. "What about it?" I replied dumbly. "The part when we were alone." I stopped in my tracks, my hair smacking the back of my neck.
Eli stopped as well and turned around at me, the wind clawing my skin. Goosebumps spread across my arms but I remained still. Eli fully turned around and stared back at me. Gulping, I took a step closer but I feet refused to take another. "W-What about it." I asked dumbly once more, turning to my feet. "If you're uncomfortable with it, we'll just forget about this and continue walking back." Eli suggested, causing my eyes to widened.
I'm not uncomfortable. I know I'm not. I'm not uncomfortable. I'm scared. I'm scared of what you'll say to my answer. I'm scared on what you're going to say to me. I'm scared to what will happen to our friendship. I'm scared. I know I'm scared. There is not denying it. I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared.
"Y/N?" I snapped out of my trace and looked up to see Eli, looking down at me to see if I was okay. He was so close. I could feel his warm breath huff against my skin. It brought me back to the same scene in the Icy Caverns. The kiss that was caved into my mind. Forever to be there. I blinked and I was pulled back into reality. Eli was still staring down at me. I didn't know if was a few seconds or minutes or hours. But it felt... Nerve-wracking? I gulped and closed my eyes, trying to calm myself. "Y/N. I'm sorry." I hear Eli said.
I was confused but everything stopped when I felt the familiar soft lips press against mine. My eyes widened to see Eli leaning down to me, our faces oh so close. I didn't care anymore. The world disappeared and all I cared about was Eli. I pressed my lips closer to Eli's, surprising him only for a second. Obviously, Eli didn't like being a submissive, taking the dominant role. He lifted my leg around his waist and pressed his lips harder against mine. We separated and our breaths were short and warm.
I frowned as Eli let go of my leg and chuckled sheepishly at my expression. I let out an disapproving tsk and walked pass Eli with my arms crossed, obviously not angry at him. "Oh, come on! I'm sorry!" Eli called out for me, chasing after me. I let out a quiet laugh but pulled up my angry stance again. "You know you're not actually angry at me." Eli took my by surprise by hugging me from behind. I gasped but then softened, melting into his arms. I turned around and gently kissed Eli.
The kiss wasn't passionate and heated, but rather soft and gentle. It let us melt away slowly, taking in everything our partner gave us. When we broke apart, I felt all shivers go down my spine and I placed my head on Eli's chest, smiling. "Let's go back. The crew is probably worried about us." Eli said quietly, not wanting to disturb the beautiful tension. I shot up and ran back to the hideout, surprising Eli.
"Race you back!"
I yelled out, laughing when I heard Eli calling out to me. We reached the hideout and opened the door to be met with a very angry crewmate with two worried ones. "Uhh... Surprise?" I said, laughing awkwardly. "You run away, and then Eli follows you and you come back laughing like the world is all rainbows and sunshine!?" Trixie yells at a surprisingly loud tone. "It's not my fault!" I covered my mouth. It spilt.
"Not your fault!? Who's choice was it to go out to Slugterra to train!? Who's choice was it to go.. Go... Muck around with Eli!?" Trixie yelled back, causing me to shrink. It was like she was going to say something even worse but she held herself back. I wonder why. Anyway, we were about to reply until Trixie's tablet starting to beep. We all turned around to see a bright red warning sign flash on the screen. Trixie immediately ran over to her tablet, like the moment a few seconds ago didn't even happen.
She turned on the tablet and it showed someone was in danger in Quiet Lawn Caverns again. "I bet it's those stupid Hooligangs again." I mutter, crossing my arms. "Well!? Let's get going then!!" Trixie snapped back at me, running towards her Mecha Beast. All the others followed as I lingered behind. "Who stuck a stick up her ass?" I mumbled to myself, catching up with the others.
We were quick to get to the Cavern but there weren't any Hooligans running around. "Maybe it was a false alert?" I suggested, getting a glare from Trixie. "Nobody just gives a 'false alarm' to the Shane Gang! That's just stupid!" Trixie screamed out. "Well... A lot of people did it on the surface..." I muttered quickly to myself so nobody heard it but me.
We walked around the area for a bit longer to try find the danger but we didn't find anything. We all frowned when we reached the centre of the town again. "Hey, dude, is it just me, or is nobody even here?" Kord pointed out. We all looked around to see the town unusually clean and all the lights off in the houses.
"Did... Dr Blakk get them...?" I asked, a worried expression forming on my face. "We need to save them then!" Eli said, turning back to us. "B-But.. We don't even know where they is!!" Pronto yelled in a strained voice. "We'll just see if anyone escaped from him..." I mutter loud enough for everyone to hear. They all agreed and we spilt up to search.
I drifted around on my Mecha Beast, looking through houses and windows. There was legit no-one around. Even though the people always hide, they would usually come out when they saw somebody has come to save their town. It was awkwardly silent in town, as my Dragon's wings flapped softly in the silence.
After a few minutes, I decided it would be better to do a bird's eyes view. And so, I pulling my Mecha towards the sky and it started to flap its wings harder, going higher into the sky. Once I thought I was high enough, I looked down at the town to try to find anyone running around or trying to hide. Sadly, I only saw my crewmates walking around the area, trying to find someone else as well.
I sighed as I flew back down to the surface, landing with a soft thud. After a few more minutes of desperate searching, I decided to go back to where we were told to meet up if we found anything. Maybe the others found someone or something to help us. My Mecha's paws hit the ground with a hard thud as I picked up the speed, pushing the Mecha down so it uses its four paws.
I quickly found the meet up area and was quite disappointed when I saw Eli, Kord, Trixie and Pronto standing around with no new evidence. "That's weird..." I mumbled when I reached earshot of the others. "There's legit nobody here. It's like, abandoned." Trixie informed. "Then, who sent the report and what was it about? Did it come with anything else? Like a video, or picture?" I asked Trixie, who took out her tablet again.
"Well, there's this blurry picture but... I just thought it was nothing much." Trixie replied, handing her tablet over to Eli. I leaned over to his left to see a blurry picture, seemingly the person is moving at a fast rate. "This will have to do then..." I said, picking the tablet from Eli's hands. "It looks like... Blakk's hideout.. I bet he took the villagers and took their slugs to ghoul them." I informed, turning to the rest.
"Then. Should we go get them?" Trixie asked, turning to Eli. "Of course! There's only one major Blakk hideout in Slugterra." Eli said, turning to us. "But first, we need to make a plan back at the hideout." Eli got ready and the rest of us agreed, turning to the exit of the cavern. "Let's do this."
~~~
We managed to reach the hideout but we all sat above a hill, looking down at the hideout secretly. "So. We all know the plan?" Eli turned to us, making sure everything goes smoothly. "Yep. No need to go over it for the 100th time." I replied, rolling my eyes. Eli did a hot chuckle, causing me to turn away from everyone to hide my blush.
Eli turned back to the evil lair and signalled to start the plan. Pronto nodded and loaded in his Flatulorhinkus and shot it at the entrance of the hideout. A large smoke of nasty gas emitted the air and everyone covered their noses from the gas so they don't pass out from the stink.
A Flatulorhinkus is a slug that produces a large smoke bomb of fart gas so strong that if someone breaths into it more than a few times, they may or may not pass out from the stink. Also, I did this information paragraph from my general knowledge, not research, so if you know anything else about this slug, comment here :)
After hearing the thuds of the guard minions, we all jumped out of our hiding spot and ran inside the building before anyone else can find the bodies and tell Dr Blakk. "Alright, the CCTV camera room should be on our right, so Trixie." Eli pointed to his right and Trixie nodded, running away with her blaster.
"Slugs are usually next to the security room, so Kord, follow Trixie and just go to the room opposite her." Eli informed, turning to see Kord already running away. "Y/N, you're with me. Pronto, distract anyone coming our way or Trixie's and Kord's way." Eli turned to Pronto, who nodded and ran off screaming.
We quickly ran to our left, sliding hallway to hallway. The place was quite empty, which was suspicious. "Maybe they're on their break..." I muttered to myself, Eli hearing this. "Well, even if they are, we need to be on high alert. In case we run into a guard." Eli said. I nodded in response and ran into a door, busting it open. Inside were the people but also a bunch of minions guarding them.
"So that's where all of the minions went..." I mumbled to myself as I nearly dodged a ghoul. Eli came in after I moved out of the way and shot his Rammstone. It went flying and hit the minion in the face, knocking him out. The rest of the minions got the idea, finally, and started to shoot their moving targets.
We decided to spilt ways so the minions had to decide who to shoot. There was a pause, as the minions tried to decide who to go for, until the ghouling started once more. Eli ran behind the minions and shot his Frostclawer, making them all freeze.
I ran behind a cargo and took out my blaster, getting out my Hypnogrif, and shooting it at the minions. It landed in the middle and an explosion covered the whole group. Once the gas faded away, it revealed the minions staring at me. They seemed to be waiting for orders.
I got out of my hiding spot and picked up my Hypnogrif, putting it back in the slot. "Untie these citzens and Eli, can you unfreeze this small group of minions?" I turned to the group and they got straight to action. Eli came over and blasted his Infurnus at the ice.
The ice melted with ease and the minions that was in cased with ice ran out to help untie the other citzens. Eli walked up to me and smirked, "That was really smart of you, getting the minions to do your dirty work." Eli complimented, giving me a peck on the cheek. "It was just killing two birds with one stone." I replied bluntly, turning to check on the minions.
"Plus, it seems like these minions will be under my control for a while." I raised my eyebrow, putting my hand on my hip. Eli stood next to me, watching the minions finish up their duty. "We have finished. What else do you want us to do?" A minion walked up to me.
I smiled and pointed towards the startled citzens, "Lead them back to their home at Quiet Lawn Caverns. But, you have to act like they are all being taken to somewhere else so you can 'trick' the Shane Gang." I ordered.
The minion nodded and ran back to his friends. He told them the plan and the citzens heard this. They agreed and got into handcuffs. They didn't do them too tight so they don't get hurt and then they went off their way, the citzens saying their thank you's as they passed by.
"I think that's our job done. I hope Trixie disabled the cameras and Kord got the slugs out. They should be at the Cavern to meet up with us then." I informed, walking out the door. Eli followed and we followed the minions around the hallway, hiding whenever we run into another minion.
We slowly made our way out of the hideout and the minions got onto their Mechas. We got onto ours and the minions followed us all the way to the Cavern. When we got there, the minions released the citizens and I told them to go back to the hideout and act like nothing happened.
They obeyed and did what I said. They ran back to the hideout and once they were out of sight, I got out my Hypnogrif and disabled it, so they weren't under my control anymore. I turned around to see the citizens happily getting their slugs back and thanking our group. I smile when I see Pronto boasting about his saves.
Trixie, Kord and Eli turned to me. I looked at them confused and Eli chuckled at me. "What!?" I frowned. I placed away my blaster and Eli came up to me, kissing me. My eyes widened, flabbergasted at the sudden kiss. Once he parted away, he turned to the two.
They seemed quite shocked and Trixie had a hint of negativity in her eyes. I wasn't sure why but I shrugged it off as my mind playing with me. "Bro, that's great! We have an official couple in the Shane Gang now!" Kord exclaimed, smiling widely. "Yeah!" Trixie added on, not so enthusiastically. She seemed to be forcing her smile.
"I'm glad you guys approve of our relationship." I laughed sheepishly, rubbing my nape. "Approve!? We appreciate your relationship! It's amazing!" Kord exclaimed again, Pronto coming out of nowhere. "What is happening?" He asked, confused. "Don't worry about it, Pronto. We'll explain it to you once we get to the hideout." Trixie explained.
We all got into our Mechas and rode home, laughing and chatting happily. I turned around to take a quick last look at the citizens waving goodbye to us but my eyes diverted to Trixie lacking behind with a frown on her face. My smile wavered at this expression on her face but once she made eye contact with me, she smiled.
Once again, it looked like a forced smile but I just smiled back at her, quickly looking back at the front in discomfort. I could feel her glare burning the back of my spine but I ignored her, riding faster to keep up with the rest. I wondered what was up with her, but I was pretty sure why.
I hoped it wasn't because of her being jealous of my relationship with Eli.. Hopefully she wouldn't try to ruin it. I love Eli with my heart and if I ever lost him, I wouldn't know what to do with my life. Anyway, enough with the cheesy lines. Let's just hope this story ends with a happy ending..
(Hey! Who said you can break the forth wall!?)
What the heck was that? Was that a voice in my head or..?
(Oh shoot. End the chapter, quickly!)
~~~
A/N:
Wassup people! Finally finished the chapter. I'm working on a drafted story at the moment so that might be why there aren't many updates on this book.
I have slightly bad news though... I'm losing interest in Slugterra. But I promise I will finish this book! But it might not be as long as I thought it would be. And the chances of there being a Book 2 of this is very unlikely.
But hey, new book coming out soon and you won't have to wait for chapters because it's all coming out at once. It might not work out but I'll just leave the first chapter out for you guys to see if you're interested and if you are and I get a lot of reads and votes, I'd add another chapter and so on!
Now that's out of the way, Have a nice day and stay hydrated! Goooodddd byeeeee!!!
(Not proof read and not edited after publishing)