Slugterra wasn't the same anymore.
It will never be.
The once busy towns and inhabited forests were desolate and lonely. Stalactites hanging from the cavern ceilings were darkened and sharpened, as if it was designed to kill. Bioluminescent vegetation became dull and lifeless. Rivers turned gory red; cyan mushrooms mutated into purple crystals.
I had never seen anything like this.
Everything just felt so dead.
But even with the differences, I can still recall how Eli and I used to ride across these caverns, our muffled conversations and laughters filling the tranquility of this majestic place. I still remember his scent, the way Burpy perch on his shoulder, how a gaze from his ocean blue eyes could send electricity through my body, how a small kiss could flutter my heart.
Who am I kidding?
How can I ever move on from him?
Burpy and Phoenix chirped sadly on my shoulders with droopy antennae, the slugs in the carriers attached to Dalinda did too. Dalinda purred, watching out for any enemies as we darted through the deceased forest, and emerged out into Slag Rock Cavern. She slowed down her pace as we begun climbing up an inclining slope.
When we reached the top of the v-shaped valley, the lowest intersection between both mountains, Blakk's army finally came to sight.
Staring down, I pulled out my blaster, feeling my heart rate rising as I scanned the massive army. Below us, the battlefield before the citadel was filled with vile creatures. Hundreds of eels soared through the cavern's sky, each with one to three Darkbanes riders. Countless stone warriors and Darkbanes flooded the ground, with about a hundred Titans parked behind them. Five gigantic Behemoths stood mightily at the back of the army, accompanied by nine unstoppable warriors: three Iron Warriors, three Crystal Warriors and three Sonic Warriors.
Before the entire army stood their five leaders. They were standing in a line, waiting patiently for the Shane Gang's arrival. Doctor Blakk was standing in the middle of them, partnered by the Goon on his left and the Emperor to his right. Beside the Goon was Brimstone, and El Diablos Nacho stood beside the Emperor.
I froze, taking in the view one last time.
This is going to be bloody.
My slugs growled as Doctor Blakk noticed me on the distant valley, and when he did, the entire army quietened down, every pair of eyes was on me.
"We're ready," Twist spoke through my earpiece, bringing me out of my train of thoughts of the different gruesome ways I could die of.
I bit my lips nervously as Dalinda walked down the slope, slowly approaching the army on the battleground. She stopped when we were about thirty feet away from the line of leaders. Dalinda folded her wings neatly, her eyes stared confidently at the ginormous army in front of us.
I took in a deep breath, and looked at Doctor Blakk straight in the eye. He smirked evilly at me.
"I was expecting a bigger fight from the Shane Gang," Blakk drawled, his allies huffed, all wearing the same stupid smirk. "Turns out, your friends left you. They are smart. You are the stubborn one."
I rolled my eyes as Dalinda let out a dominant roar.
"You never learn," the Goon spoke. "You'll end up just like the Shane."
Oh no you don't.
You dare bring him up.
"I'm sorry but Slugterra is closed today," I yelled, laughing silently at my own Iron Man reference and ignoring the growing anger inside of me. I smirked, enjoying the confused looks on their face. "You better pack it up and get out of here."
Doctor Blakk rolled his eyes at me. My eyes lit up when I saw him loading up the Transplitter in his gattler.
"The slug is loaded up. Prepare to fire at any second now," Kord reminded through the earpiece. My grip on my blaster tightened.
"Without Eli Shane, you're nothing," Doctor Blakk drawled, and the two Infurnus perching on my shoulder growled at him. "Your two pathetic Infurnus will not save you. You will die! All of Slugterra will!"
And with that, he fired his gattler. The Transplitter ascended to the sky and transformed into the same monster that killed Eli Shane.
"Yeah, I will die," I sighed, smirking. "Just not today."
My eyes narrowed as I fired my blaster at the transformed ghoul. Top megamorphed and consumed the Xmitter before it could emit its powerful wave.
Then, out of no where, a Tormato emerged from the mountains behind me. It megamorphed and blew Top and the Transplitter away from the battle scene.
Surprised by the unexpected Tormato, Blakk's army erupted into ear-piercing roars and cries. Each creature was looking into the mountains above me for the source of the slug.
"And not only do I have two Infurnus," I said, loaded my blaster up for the anticipated big fight. "We also have two Thugglets."
Red spots sparked all around me and the two mountains, before our entire hidden army materialised before their eyes.
On the saddle of the mountains, slingers, either with gattlers or snipers, were aiming down at Blakk's army. Millions of slingers arose behind me, equipped with accelerated blasters and Mecha Bulls. Each slinger and mecha was protected with titanium armour, cheering with a raised fist. The Eastern Cavern soldiers were positioned at the front of the local soldiers as they were better slingers.
Junjie rode up to my left on his Mecha Wolf, and Mia to my right, with the rest of the leaders forming a line before our own army, all dressed in shining armour from head to toe.
"Told you it was a bad idea to send out the threat," the Goon rolled his eyes at Doctor Blakk. Doctor Blakk ignored him, glaring daggers at me.
"Stand down! This is your last chance to surrender!" Junjie shouted at them. "You are not going to win this!"
"Stop this, dad!" Tad yelled. "You don't have to do this! This is not who you are! Do not be fooled by the power of Dark Water!"
"Shut it!" Blakk yelled in rage. "Foolish! You all chose death! Charge!"
I fired Jack at Blakk's foot soldiers while the rest of the leaders beside me fired their Fandangoes. The group of slugs transformed before the army could react and covered the entire ground army with a thick layer of ice, temporarily trapping them in.
"Remember, we need to take down the eels before we fire the Elementals!" Twist yelled as the eels were the only ones left. They let out furious cries when they saw what was done to their army below, before they growled at us and started to charge down.
Gattlers and snipers on the mountains opened fire, taking down the eels one by one. Tad smirked as he fired Pieper at the eels. While the other slugs were taking down the eels and fighting off ghouls that were fired by the Darkbanes riders, Pieper megamorphed and released strong sounds waves, successfully hypnotised the ghouls.
The incoming ghouls returned to photoform and were falling from a dangerous height. I turned Dalinda over and she leaped into the sky, expanding her wings gracefully and soared through the red sky. One by one we caught the falling ghouls and Doc healed them all immediately.
"The ice will not be able to hold the ghouls from underneath it for any longer!" Kord screamed just seconds before one part of the ice wall collapsed. A ghoul was fired through the hole, ascending towards the eels. I had never seen a ghoul like that before, and I hated the fact that I couldn't identify it.
Last time when that happened, it did not end well.
"Anyone knows what that is?" I asked through the earpiece as I fired Buzzsaw, Eli's Thresher, who successfully cut an eel in half in midair.
"That's impossible," Tad mumbled in disbelief. "That... That's a ghouled Pieper!"
"A what!?" A few of us screamed into our earpieces in unison as the ghoul megamorphed. I could then see the similarities both slugs shared.
The new ghoul let out green sound waves, contradicting to Pieper's yellow ones, stopping the ghouls from turning to photoform. The power of the two Pieper slugs was cancelling each other out.
The ghoul crashed into Pieper, and they broke into an agressive fight, scratching and biting each other.
"We need to help Pieper!" Tad yelled. "If she's defeated, the ghoul Pieper would hypnotise our velocimorphs!"
The entire ice wall exploded into pieces as ghouls were flying out in all directions. Blakk's foot soldiers gasped as the dusty air cleared up.
"Charge! Now!" Doctor Blakk commanded as the entire army started running towards us.
"Group A, fire your Fandangoes at Pieper!" Junjie commanded and the group of soldiers at the very left of the army fired their Fandangoes to assist Pieper.
"And for the rest, FIRE!" Tad screamed as deafening gunfires sounded from the mountains, and before we knew it, thousands and millions of slugs rained down on our enemy, crushing the Darkbanes and stone warriors.
"Let's do this! Let's save Slugterra!" Mia yelled at the top of her lungs, before she revved up her engine and charged against the incoming army. The ground soldiers roared as they followed Mia's lead.
"EAT MY STANK!" Pronto's signature phrase can be heard miles away.
In midair, I fired Spikey at an Eel, before I looked down to examine the situation.
Explosions erupted throughout the land and large pillars of smoke rose into the dark red sky.
Doctor Blakk and his allies moved to behind the Unstoppable warriors, seeking protection from them.
Losers.
I watched from above as both armies collided in the middle, with the ten ground leaders leading our army. They spread out along the defending line to fight against the Darkbanes and stone warriors, showing no mercy. Slugs and lava were fired back and forth, and the cries of the dead echoed into my ears.
We were able to hold them back. The Darkbanes were easily crushed by the armoured Mecha Bulls, and the megamorphed slugs were destroying the stone warriors at a fast rate.
We were wining.
"Gattlers and snipers, fire at the eels! We need to get rid of them before the Titans and the other stronger enemies come to us!" I ordered, and they obeyed.
Slugs darted past me and eels fell left and right as I soared. Some even had their intestines hanging out of their falling corpse. I fired slug after slug at the eels, and Dalinda did as well with her blaster on her tail.
I heard a bone-chilling scream from a Darkbane near me. I turned around and saw a few eels on my tail, firing ghouls at us. One of them had a gattler.
"You see this, bud?" I laughed at them and Dalinda turned to check out the situation. They were no match against us. Taser and Ivy loaded themselves up. I spun my blaster to terminal velocity, wanting to finish the trail of eels with a fusion shot.
"Watch out, Ales!"
Trixie's cry echoed in my ear. I turned around just to realise an eel was charging straight at us from the front with incredible speed.
I gasped and hold onto Dalinda to brace for the impact. We crashed into the eel, my body jolted aggressively from the impact. Dalinda was strong enough to not be knocked down by it, but she was significantly slowed down from the impact.
The same eel let out a cry before it swerved around and charged towards Dalinda from the left. It's tentacles grabbed onto Dalinda, but it had little to no effect on her.
I aimed my blaster at the eel. My blaster was powering up when Dalinda shook again. Another eel wrapped it's tentacles around Dalinda from the right. I jolted forward and hugged Dalinda's neck to prevent myself from falling. I looked down and saw another eel below her. Three eels were holding Dalinda in place.
Dalinda struggled to let herself free, but the grip of the tentacles were strong.
I pushed myself up, and started firing at the Darkbane that were riding the eels trapping my dragon. I managed to take down the Darkbanes on them before I felt a giant shadow overcame me.
I lunged myself forward, hugging Dalinda tightly as I felt an eel crashed into us from above. Tentacles snaked up beside me, reaching for the Elementals in my bandoleer. I let go of one hand to hug my bandoleer, protecting the Elementals from being snatched away. Burpy and Phoenix fell on Dalinda and hid under me, chirping urgently.
"Do not fire at that group of eels! Alessia is in there!" Pronto ordered in his trembling voice.
"Alessia!" Junjie called out for me. "You need to protect the Elementals at all cost!"
"What do you think I'm doing-"
I inhaled sharply when I felt the tips of the tentacles dug through my armour and into my back, slowly dragging it's blade down my skin.
I sucked in a deep breath, my eyes widened from the painful sensation. Tears were forming at the corner of my eyes from the enormous pain, but I couldn't move.
The Elementals need to be protected.
"Alessia!"
I could hear my friends calling for me through the blaring cries of the four eels.
"They are too strong!"
"The Behemoths are charging down!"
"We are running out of slugs!"
"We need to fire the Elementals now!"
"Pieper!"
I forced myself to look up, my breathing got harder. In the middle of the four stomach-churning faces of the eels, I saw Pieper's body plummeting upside down with her eyes closed. Her colours faded, her body unresponsive. The number of gunfire decreased dramatically when I saw the ghouled Pieper slug flapping its wings, staring down at Pieper with dominance.
It had control over the velocimorphs. The gattlers were down.
I dropped my head in defeat.
Is this the end?