Never knew watching the Shane Gang falling down a waterfall would be one of the most entertaining thing to watch in my entire life. Dalinda flapped her wings continuously, holding us at a stationary point in midair as my dear teammates scream and yelp before they were all submerged into the waters of the Undertow Cavern. Their ski-mode mechas emerged out of the water, before they gushed out of the water for air and held onto their mechabeasts.
"You know," I started, "you could've just used the gliding mode on your mechas to avoid the amusing fall?"
"Floppers," Eli cursed as he climbed up his drenched mechabeast. Dalinda charged down towards them, before she circled them while everyone got onto their mechas, recovering from the traumatic fall.
I took the chance to admire the foreign place. The waterfall that the Shane Gang fell out of was inside a weird-looking structure, that seems to be a stone structure, fully covered in algae. The cavern was mostly water, with a few rocky structures erected here and there. The waters was so clear that I could see the underwater world from above the sea.
"So," Eli spoke after everyone had their breaks. "Kord, about the new update?"
Kord, being scared of water, his expression changed immediately from a disgusted one to a proud smirk.
"Press the rainbow button-" Kord was immediately cut off by Pronto.
"We have rainbow buttons!?" Pronto asked in pure joy as they found their rainbow buttons and pressed onto it.
In a split second, their mechas leaped into the air and went underwater, disappeared in sight. The water became completely still, and the atmosphere was eerie and soundless.
"Bye?" I questioned.
I felt a soft tap on my shoulder. I turned and it was Dalinda's tail. She guided me with her tail, pointing under one of her flipper around her head. I gently lifted it up, and to my surprise, there was a hidden switch under it.
"So I was right! You do have an underwater mode!" I said in amusement and pressed onto the button.
She let out a spine-chilling roar before she folded her wings above me. They creaked forward and became transparent, acting like a glass window. I felt my seat was lowered. I was laid down on my back as the control panel was lowered and laid right before me. Dalinda's lower body moved forward, connecting to her wings, sealing the little space shut as we went underwater.
Without her wings, we dived into the water. When we were completely submerged, a pair of flippers, like those of an ancient underwater dinosaur, extended outwards, two on each side of her. There were two light source in front of Dalinda, and it shone bright yellow rays once the transition was completed. I felt like my heart skipped a bit as the mechanic sounds and motions around me stopped.
I looked around me, taking in every small detail. She turned into a jet submarine. I was laying straight in it, with the controlling handles by my sides, placed at the perfect and most comfortable position for me to control them. Dalinda's wings acted as the canopy, the transparent enclosure of vehicle.
I looked up from my control panel to the view laid before me and gasped when I saw the underwater world.
The world underneath Slugterra was immensely breathtaking.
The underwater world was alive and dynamic, filled with a mixture of prehistoric creatures, such as the coelacanths, and animals that were totally foreign to science! Transparent underwater-breathing mushrooms conquered the sea bed, accompanied by many unique rocks structures and caves that serve as the shelter for the animals down here.
"Wow," I whispered in awe as a family of fish swam across my window. They were like a family of hundreds and thousands of sardines that glow in the dark. My slugs emerged out from the backpack and leaped towards the canopy of the submarine, chirping excitedly together as the fish wiggled their way before us. They swam so closely to each other that they blocked out the rest of the ocean from our sight. It felt so peaceful and... somewhat romantic.
"This is so beautiful," I mumbled to myself, smiling from ear to ear unknowingly.
If only Blue knows this place exist.
My smile disappeared at the thought of it. At the thought of him. The thought of Earth always remind me of him.
"Focus Alessia. You are on a mission."
The family of fish swam across the canopy and swam away. Gently pushing forward the handles, Dalinda's flippers gracefully glided through the waters of Slugterra, her back engine producing two traces of bubbles as we moved forward. It was like a game, unlocking new sceneries and new creatures, both gentle and aggressive, as we explored the sea.
"Ales?" Eli called out for me through my earpiece out of the blue as five jet submarines emerged out from a cave right below Dalinda. "So sorry we kind of went a little overboard with our new jets and forgot about you-"
They pulled their jets to a halt, with their jaws dropped to the bottom of the seafloor when they noticed me and my new ride. Vice versa, my eyes were widened as I adored their stunning models.
"Kord, you did a fantastic job!" I praised, still amazed by how amazing their new jet submarines looked.
"Of course, tell me something I don't know," Kord flexed. "But look at yourself! That's straggling!"
"Holy slugs your mecha could transform into a submarine without any additional adjustments? Cool!" Trixie cheered with excitement in her voice.
"Damn we all look good," Mia praised.
"Of course we all look good," Pronto added. "But! Undoubtedly, Pronto's ride is the most significant-"
Eli raised an eyebrow as a signal to us, and we stepped on our pedals and drove off, once again, leaving Pronto behind.
"Hey! Wa-Wait for me!"
...
"Are you seeing anything... fishy, Trix?" Eli asked with a grin.
"You know, fishy? And we're underwater? No? Okay."
I rolled my eyes playfully at him as the six of us hid ourselves in the shadows, observing the goons from a distance. I gave the underwater, almost identical citadel a quick scan through. Everything seemed to be according to plan; we were good to go.
"Everything seems fine," Trixie reported while looking into her camera that had zoomed in on the underwater infrastructure, and then at her hologram, displaying the surveillance cameras inside it.
"Wait," she said harshly. "Malvolio Drake and his brother, Brutale Drake. They are in the citadel."
"Who are they?" Mia asked.
"Long story short, they were pirates until they begin working for Blakk," Kord replied. "But honestly speaking, they are really no threat to the Shane Gang."
"Oh come on! No one is a threat to the Shane Gang, okay!?" Pronto rolled his eyes as we had a small laugh, proud but not prideful like Pronto.
"Our jets will be too obvious if we were to ride them around here. Let's get out of this place and suit up. Then we'll go straight back into the citadel and proceed with our plan," Eli instructed and we all nodded, except for Kord.
He hated the water, but he had no choice.
We slowly backed away and drove out of the secret cave as quietly as possible. After we were at a safe distance, I unbuckled my seatbelt to change, just to realise I don't have my privacy with the big canopy.
"Hey Dalinda, could you face a wall or something please? I need to change," I said sheepishly, but she didn't moved an inch, instead there were machine rumbling; she had a different plan in mind. The canopy transformed from a transparent glass-like material into a translucent cover scale by scale. My slugs stared in awe as I chuckled.
"Thanks Dalinda! Your creator must be the wisest person in the whole universe!" I exclaimed.
Dalinda's machinery went silent at the mention of her creator, but it was only for a second.
After I had successfully changed inside the rather compact space in my jet, the canopy turned back into a transparent screen.
A red button lit up, which had the word 'EXIT' crafted on it in capital letters. I pressed onto it, taking it as a sign from Dalinda to do so. The control panel flipped over, so that the buttons were hidden inside the walls of the submarine. All my slugs hopped back into my backpack, getting ready for the mission. I wore the helmet of the underwater suit, and oxygen entered from the top left corner of the thick glass of the helmet.
The canopy departed sideways. Water dashed into the submarine at that instance and it slowly filled up the small space. I bent my knees, and jumped out of the submarine. Feeling the cold water made contact to my skin through the suit.
Dalinda closed her canopy, and the waters inside her exited the submarine through a pipe. After all the waters were out, she auto-drove herself towards the other mechas. They landed on the sea bed, before she camouflaged herself to her surroundings.
"WOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!" Trixie yelled in excitement as she dashed through the water with incredible speed, with the help of her underwater jet-pack. Pronto and Mia quickly joined her, while Kord was still adapting himself to the new environment.
"You alright?" I looked away from Dalinda and saw Eli swimming towards my direction.
"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine," I replied with a smile. Hero and Cobra swam out of the backpack and stayed near my shoulders, chirping as Eli swam up to me. We were at eye level to each other. We slowly paddled with our arms and feet to keep ourselves stationed as we took a moment to look at each other.
He reached out his hand to grab my left arm, my eyes never left his mesmerising ocean blue eyes. I gently bit my lower lip as he held my hand between us. I looked down and realised there were a set of control buttons on my left arm. Eli pressed onto a button, and the torchlight above my head shone.
He let out a little chuckle as I blushed.
"Come on, let's keep up with the others. We don't want to lose them, right?" he said, and motioned me to follow him. I kicked my legs, allowing my flippers to do its magic as I swam beside him.
"The green button," he said as he pointed to his green button and pressed onto it, which activated his jet-pack to let out two trace of air bubbles and got him swerving in the waters like an eel, just like the rest of them.
I followed him, pressed the green button and kept up with the team. We deactivated the feature as we reentered the cave. With my blaster in hand, loaded with Nile and Taser in a Torpedo Shell, my eyes searched for any signs of danger.
We successfully made our way to the back door of the citadel without being seen. Eli and I took cover behind a large pile of rocks and debris, and the others also found cover. Nile swam out of his canister in the blaster and I loaded up Cobra in a Torpedo Shell. I peeked out of my cover, and there were no goons in sight.
I pressed onto the left side of my helmet to communicate with the others.
"I smell something fishy," I said as I scanned through the building once more, but still spotted no one.
"Yes! Finally someone get it!" Eli cheered, and I turned back and punched his shoulder.
"I'm being serious! Why is there literally no goons guarding the back entrance? Is this another trap?" I said, and Eli wore his signature game face.
"Tad has no idea we know about this underwater citadel. We would have no idea this place exist if it wasn't because Dana just happened to be in the mood to double check for us if the stolen slugs are stored in Blakk's citadel, which happens to not be there. That's how she found this place," Eli explained.
"Now that you put it that way, is it just me or this sounds like Dana is setting us up for a trap?" Mia suggested, and Eli responded immediately. "No Mia, I trust her. She is a good person. She will never work for Tad."
"But it does sound like Dana is setting us up," I added, and Eli looked at me with a confused expression.
"Think about it! Dana teleported herself to Blakk's main citadel and found out that the slugs were not there. I can believe that, but how would she have found out about this place?" I asked. "I'm not trying to question your faith in her, Eli, but for the sake of everyone's safety, I-"
"Do you trust me?" Eli asked, his ocean blue eyes stared straight through my soul with a hint of sadness.
I gulped. I didn't mean to hurt his feelings.
"Of course I do! We all do!" I exclaimed. "But-"
"Then you can trust Dana," he assured us. "When she knew that the slugs are kept at another place, she searched the entire citadel for clues on where the slugs may be. She saw the blueprint of another citadel in Tad's office, which is this underwater citadel. She knew that it was underwater because the address was written on the blueprint. To add to that, it makes sense for Tad to build a citadel at this location because this place was once used by Doctor Blakk to mine Dark Water."
"Which we totally destroyed three years ago," Kord added with a victorious smile, probably thinking about the incident.
"Tad doesn't know we are coming here and in his mind, no one has any idea that he has another citadel underwater. He also doesn't know about Dana and her powers. That explains why this place is so lightly guarded," Eli concluded, looking at his teammates one by one.
I was still hesitant when our eyes met, but his verbal assurance and confidence was more than enough for me to trust him.
"Alright," I said, as I powered up my blaster with Cobra aiming straight at the citadel. "I trust you, Eli."
...
What do you guys think about the new mode? Jet submarines!