"What?" Trixie asked, appalled. "East- he killed your parents?"
Eli sighed and closed his eyes, hanging his head.
"What do you mean 'Eastern Caverns'?" Kord asked carefully.
Alana winced and looked down at her hands. She hadn't wanted to tell them, let alone like this. The tragedy of the West shouldn't have to be their problem, it was supposed to be her secret to bear. But now, anything she held back could be information helpful to know in the fight against the Dark Slinger.
She could worry later. She could panic and cry and be as upset as she wanted, but right now, the caverns were facing what very well might be their most dangerous threat. The gang stared at her in shock as she straightened her posture and narrowed her eyes, completely transforming from the panicked girl she had been only seconds ago.
"We don't have a lot of time to waste, so just believe everything I say, okay?" Alana asked, her voice still a little wobbly from her attack. "That guy is from the Eastern realm. It's a whole other set of caverns. There isn't just the 99, and it goes further than the East, too. I'm from the Western Caverns, and when I was a kid, the Dark Slinger attacked the West. He killed my parents and their team, and tried to kill me, but my mom sent me here.
"Will knew her. She had my power, too, and she knew how to use it to travel between the realms. She sent me here before she died. The Dark Slinger wanted us for our energy, but I don't know why. If he's here, then we need to know that he's willing to kill and destroy whatever he wants."
When Alana found it in herself to look up at her friends, she was met with looks of equal parts confusion and horror. Trixie had lowered her camera and was covering her mouth with one hand. Kord was staring over at the cavern wall, staring at it like it may part and reveal new realms. Pronto's mouth was agape and his eyes were wide and owlish.
Eli sighed and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before nodding.
"Alright. We'll talk about this later," he assured the others, his eyes flashing with an emotion that Alana couldn't quite decipher. "But right now, we need to focus on stopping this Dark Slinger. Alana, do you know what his goal was when he attacked you? What did he actually want to accomplish?"
It took Alana a couple tries to get her voice working again, but she finally found it in herself, shaking her head as she responded.
"I-I don't know. He only ever said it was for our energy," Alana managed. "And I don't know why. He- he said he didn't want to kill us. But I... I don't know."
The Dark Slinger wasn't exactly a trustworthy source. His motives could have been anything, killing the Caelums or not. But it didn't matter- regardless of his goals, the family had been destroyed.
Eli nodded and got to his feet, reaching out a hand. Alana hesitated for only a moment before taking it and letting him pull her up.
"We'll stop him," Eli promised. "We have to. Alana, are you okay to fight?"
Alana blinked in surprise, nodding quickly.
"Of course," she said immediately. "I'm not running."
Not again.
"You shouldn't just go out there though," Trixie choked out, shaking her head and seeming to push aside her concerns like Eli and Alana. "He tried to kill you- or, well, kidnap you. We can't just let him take you to the Eastern Caverns."
Pronto humphed and stalked over to his mecha, silently rummaging through its compartment for something. He quickly found what he was looking for, pulling it out, giving it a shake, and walking back over to Alana. He held up the item he'd rummaged for.
It was a simple black handkerchief, almost identical to the red one the molenoid always wore. Confused, Alana gingerly took it, looking down at Pronto.
"Um, what-?" she began, but the molenoid waved his hand, interrupting her.
"For your hair. It sticks out like an Aquabeek in a flock of Flaringos," he explained. "If you tie up your hair and put that on, you will be unrecognizable as Alana Caelum. And you will look as stylish as Pronto!"
Alana stared down at the handkerchief, unsure why the gesture was enough to almost move her to tears again. It was quite literally just a handkerchief, but with the flurry of emotions she was struggling to keep pressed down, the help in keeping her disguised from her past tormentor meant the world.
"Thanks, Pronto," she choked out, doing as the molenoid said. She took out her ponytail and wrapped her hair up in a bun, tucking it in on itself as much as she could. Then she wrapped the bandana around her head, just at the base of her hairline. Pronto looked her up and down and crossed his arms, giving her a happy nod.
"We'll keep an eye on you, Alana," Kord promised, resting a hand on Alana's shoulder before turning back to the cliffside. "And we'll stop this guy. What's our game plan?"
"Good question," Eli said, grabbing the binoculars and leading the gang back over to the ledge. He looked back down at the group of easterners. "I think our best bet is trying a sneak attack out here. If we keep the fight to the Outland Reach, we don't have to worry about civilians or collateral dam- oh guardian slugs."
"Eli?" Trixie asked, gently tugging Alana forward to stand beside him. "What happened?"
"He's looking right at me," Eli choked out before jumping and tossing the binoculars away. "We're about to find out what that ghoul can do!"
Alana gasped and jumped when there was a flash from the Dark Slinger. A dark green ghoul with a piercing red and black eye sped up toward the Shane Gang. It looked hauntingly familiar, and not just because Alana had seen the Dark Slinger before. But she couldn't take the time to think about it. Eli instantly loaded and fired Burpy, and as the Infurnus flew through the air to meet the ghoul, the gang scrambled to climb onto their mechas.
Burpy and the ghoul collided in the air, flashes of orange flames and wicked green and red light sparking in the air like lightning. The ghoul let out a roar that echoed through the cavern and made Alana's heart sink. It dug its claws into Burpy's velocimorph and the Infurnus let out a shriek that had Ash whimpering from Alana's shoulder.
"Oh no, Burpy," Eli breathed, looking up at his slug in fear. The ghoul finally released Burpy and retreated back to its slinger. Alana gaped as she stared up at not an Infurnus, but a wicked Darkfurnus, black and orange and emitting bright green flames.
"Guardian slugs," Alana breathed, backing Midnight up as Burpy let out a roar and began to fly towards the gang. "Guys?!"
The rest of the gang looked shocked, but not quite as caught off guard, and she remembered that she was the only person who hadn't seen Burpy ghouled before. For better or for worse, she hadn't been with the gang when they traveled to the Deep Caverns. She'd instead been trapped and nearly ghouled by Dana Edwards.
"It's okay," Eli assured, staring up at Burpy confidently. "Burpy's been ghouled before, in the Deep Caverns. And he didn't attack us then, remember?"
As if to spite his slinger, Burpy began burping out balls of green flames that hurtled toward the gang. Alana gasped and pressed the button on Midnight's control panel to switch the mecha to bike mode, the others doing the same.
"Well, this is now, E!" Kord yelled, swerving as the gang drove down the steep cliffside path, trying to weave around the flames. One of the flame bursts hit the back of Pronto's mecha, nearly sending the molenoid teetering off the edge of the path. The gang skidded to a halt at the bottom of the cliff, turning to face the newly formed ghoul.
"Alana!" Trixie called, loading a Frostcrawler. Alana nodded, her eyes still wide at the sight of Burpy attacking his slinger and friends, but followed Trixie's lead. The two fired their Frostcrawlers in unison.
The megamorphs flew next to each other, breathing out enough ice to create a towering fifty foot wall between the gang and the Darkfurnus. Alana could feel the burst of cold air from where she sat atop Midnight. Alana sighed in relief, taking a few breaths and holding a hand up, beginning to summon light energy to cure Burpy the second he appeared.
But the second that a blue glow began to dance across her fingertips, Trixie grabbed her arm and pushed it down.
"No way," the redhead said, eyes wide with fear. "No powers. Not unless you have to. It'll give you away to that guy. I'd hide Ash unless you need to use him, too."
Alana sighed and nodded, letting the wisps of energy disappear. So many months of freely using her powers, and now she was back to having to try to hide them. Ash chirped sadly, but he nodded and hopped off of Alana's shoulder and into her black backpack.
Eli loaded Doc into his blaster, and the gang was expecting a few more moments of relief from the chase given the size and strength of the ice wall, but with no warning, Burpy shattered through the center of it like it was nothing. Shards of ice clattered down to the ground around the gang, and the Darkfurnus continued his path uninterrupted.
"Cure him, Doc!" Eli called, his voice almost a plea as he fired his healer.
Doc fearlessly grappled Burpy, the white guardian starburst above his head shining bright as ever as Burpy went limp in his arms. Bright green and white engulfed the two slugs, and hope blossomed in Alana's chest when she felt the rush of pure slug energy overtake the Darkfurnus. Eli leapt off Lucky and sprinted forward as the two slugs returned to protoform and fell to the ground.
"Burpy, are you okay?" the Shane asked, dropping to his knees and scooping up his Infurnus. Alana and the others sighed with relief when Burpy nodded and hopped upwards, chirping happily and momentarily rubbing his head against Doc's in thanks.
"Guys," Kord said warningly, getting off his mecha and stepping in front of the others, his blaster at the ready. A pit formed in Alana's stomach when she saw that the Dark Slinger and his marauders had advanced to meet the gang at the bottom of the cliff.
The man in question looked even more sickly up close. His pale skin was tinted green, and Alana could see his veins on his neck and face. Something about the way he looked around at the gang made her feel like he knew something they didn't, although his gaze didn't stay on Alana any more than Trixie, Kord, or Pronto, so he must not have recognized her. He reached down and let his ghoul hop back into his hand, then onto his shoulder.
"That must be a ghouled Boon Doc," Trixie breathed, staring at the vicious dark green ghoul. Alana's eyes widened.
"That's where I've seen it before," she said. "Well, other than the West. Master Shanai. Blakk used that kind of ghoul. So on top of the damage we've seen them do before, they can also ghoul slugs."
Eli winced at the mention of the Unbeatable Master's death, but he stood his ground, his fingers curling into fists as he stared down the Dark Slinger.
"Are you working with Doctor Blakk?" he called out coldly, watching the Dark Slinger carefully.
The Dark Slinger cocked his head, as if surprised at the question. He let out a small laugh and shook her head before speaking in a voice that Alana had heard in her nightmares.
"I know not of who you speak," he snarled. He looked not at Eli, but at his shoulder, where Burpy sat next to Doc. "Is he your slinger?"
Burpy chirped in surprise and confusion, exchanging a glance with Doc before glancing back at the Dark Slinger and nodding carefully. Alana raised an eyebrow. Why would he address Burpy? The guy didn't exactly seem like the kind to respect slugs. The ghouls in his wrist blasters and on his shoulders attested to that.
"You wield an Infurnus," the Dark Slinger said, now looking at Eli. "You are the protector of these caverns? I was expecting someone... more experienced. I suppose it has been many years, I shouldn't be surprised there was a changing of the guard."
Eli started at that, and started to turn back to look at Alana questioningly, but stopped and kept facing the Dark Slinger. Alana wasn't sure if it was because he wasn't willing to turn his back to the killer, or if he wanted to avoid drawing any attention to Alana. Either way, she appreciated it.
"Well, he may technically be, but-" Pronto began, but Eli rested a hand on Pronto's shoulder, silencing the molenoid.
"I'm the Shane," Eli answered, gesturing to the orange star on his bandoleer, sitting right about his heart. "Which means you'll have to go through me to get to the 99 Caverns. We can avoid this if you take your men and go back through that portal to wherever you came from."
At that, the rest of the gang raised their blasters, aiming straight for the Dark Slinger. Alana cursed herself when she noticed that her hand was shaking as she held up her weapon, loaded with her Aquabeek, but she couldn't help it. She was pretty sure she hadn't been this scared since Dana had tried to ghoul her, when she thought she would die from the dark water exposure.
Now, being so close to the man who had destroyed her life and the lives of so many others, the dark water seemed like nothing.
The Dark Slinger didn't seem fazed in the slightest, despite looking down the barrel of five blasters. He took one more look around at each of the Shane Gang members, looking at Alana last. He luckily still didn't seem interested in her specifically, but let out a soft scoff when he saw her trembling hand that made her wish the ground would just swallow her up.
"Ninety-nine," the Dark Slinger mused, his eyes flashing with a power-hungry excitement. "I do think I will enjoy this. I have been eager for something new since conquering the Eastern Realm and the 100 caverns beyond."
Alana gritted her teeth, tightening her hold on her blaster. He was talking about the destruction of entire realms like they were levels in a video game, and something to keep himself entertained.
"Eliminate the others," the Dark Slinger continued nonchalantly, glancing back at the marauders, who nodded. "Leave the protector to me. I have found my new slinger."
"New slinger?" Eli wondered aloud, tensing as the marauders raised their black and green blasters. "All right guys, here we go!"
The Shane Gang and the eastern marauders fired simultaneously, slugs and ghouls crashing together in the air with flashes and roars. A shock wave spread out from the collision of power, pushing the gang to the ground.
"Focus on the Dark Slinger, and try to get ahold of that Goon Doc," Eli called, firing a Hop Rock. Alana fired a Thresher and Trixie fired her Tormato, the three slugs all hurtling toward the Dark Slinger. Even if he had the ability to use the Goon Doc to ghoul one slug, Alana doubted he would be able to ghoul three slugs at once.
But the Dark Slinger seemed unfazed, his expression remaining neutral as his Goon Doc hopped into one of his wrist blasters. He fired the Goon Doc and Alana watched in horror as the ghoul released a wave of dark energy just before the gang's slugs could make contact with the Dark Slinger. She winced and swayed at the rush, but kept her feet.
"Oh no," Pronto whimpered behind her. The three slugs momentarily writhed in midair before one final flash of red light transformed them into ghouls. Like a video playing in reverse, the ghouls halted in their tracks and reversed direction, hurtling towards the Shane Gang.
"Eli!" Alana yelled, frantically firing Mage while Eli fired Doc. The two Boon Docs released a wave of energy of their own, curing the ghouls before they could inadvertently harm their slingers.
The Goon Doc hung in midair for one more moment, and Alana took a half step forward, internally debating whether or not she should expose her identity by trying to cure the ghoul. But Eli answered the question for her, grabbing her arm and tugging her back.
"We're not at that point yet," he said, jumping as Kord fired a Rammstone that knocked a Grimmstone out of the air. "Wait. We don't know what he'll do if he finds out."
Alana sighed but nodded, firing her Bubbaleone, who knocked a Greneater back at the marauders, scattering them with an explosion.
"Fine. But if it gets bad, I'm doing what I have to," Alana warned. Eli looked unhappy with the response, but he nodded.
"Kord, let's get some cover!" Eli yelled, gesturing to the cave troll's Rammstone. Kord nodded and fired Bludgeon at the ground. With a mighty roar, the megamorph slammed down into the solid rock, tearing it up and sending huge chunks of rock flying into the air. Eli fired his Frostcrawler, who created an enormous ice wall with the rocks as a base to further reinforce it, separating the Shane Gang from the marauders.
"That'll buy us a second to get some cover!" Eli said, gesturing for the gang to spread out. "Alana, you stay the furthest back."
"Seriously?" Alana asked, frowning but still following the order, heading behind a rock jutting up from the ground that was further back than the cover the rest of the gang took. "Pronto's the one with the sniper scope!"
Eli started to call back out to her, but stopped, opting to press his earpiece instead. Even with the ice wall separating the groups, if he started yelling, the Dark Slinger would likely be able to hear him.
"If that Goon Doc manages to ghoul Mage and Doc, it'll be up to you to cure them and him," Eli explained, ducking down behind a short stalagmite. "This isn't me benching you, this is me making sure you're available to help if things go wrong."
Alana sighed, nodding. It made sense, she realized. If she got taken out, or whatever the Dark Slinger might want to do, then the gang would have one less healing resource both for the Goon and for any more of their slugs that he might get the chance to corrupt. She pressed her earpiece.
"Got it, that makes sense. Sorry," she said, rubbing her face.
"Don't be, I would've reacted the same way," Eli assured. "I don't like this situation, but not having you in the fight isn't a smart move."
"Guys? I think we're about to have company," Trixie interrupted. "Do you feel that?"
Alana paused and, sure enough, she could feel a rumbling in the ground, getting stronger and stronger.
"I'm gettin' real sick of this guy," Kord grumbled as one, two, then three large cracks appeared in the ice wall.
"Everyone get ready, fire on sight!" Eli warned.
Alana instinctively held her blaster up for Ash to jump into, but remembered that he was also essentially benched for the time being. She grabbed her Jellyish instead, waiting, and the second the ice wall collapsed, she and the rest of the gang fired.
Her Jellyish dove down at the ground right where the wall had collapsed and the marauders had begun to ride their mechas through, coating the ground in a thick layer of sticky green slime. The slime stuck to the feet of the mechas, slowing their advancement, but the brown ogre simply snarled and stepped over the slime.
Two of the other slugs made it through- an Arachnet that tied a marauder's blaster to his side and an Armashelt that hit the remnants of the ice wall, sending a chunk of ice crashing into the marauder's mecha. But the other two, a Rammstone and a Gazzer, were batted away by the ogre like a pair of gnats.
The two available marauders each fired Harmashelts, both at Eli. The Shane scrambled out from his cover just before the ghouls hit the stalagmite, sending the heavy rock crashing downwards. Trixie fired her Vinedrill in front of Eli while he ran for the rock she was taking cover behind. The Vinedrill dove into the ground, sending thick vines spiraling upwards to yank a Jollyfist out of the air.
"That was close, bro!" Kord called.
"They're trying to split us up," Alana realized, remembering what the Dark Slinger had said about leaving Eli for him. "They're focusing on E the same way we're trying to focus on the Dark Slinger."
"Well they should be focusing on Pronto!" Pronto exclaimed, firing his Flatulorhinkus at the ogre. The slug released a puff of toxic-smelling gas in the creature's face, but it seemed only minimally inconvenienced, whereas a normal slinger probably would have collapsed.
Alana couldn't help but snort out a laugh at that, firing her Negashade down at the marauders. The slug released a cloud of black fog, temporarily clouding the marauders' vision while Eli, Trixie, and Kord sent a Hop Rock, Lariat, and Armashelt sailing over their heads to crash into the Dark Slinger.
The man didn't seem to be expecting the assault, likely having assumed the slugslingers would try to take down the front lines instead of skipping over them. The three slugs crashed into him, sending him flying back ten feet and sprawling on the ground. Alana winced as she peered over the marauders at the Dark Slinger.
He now had noticeable scorch marks on his body, and certainly would have some bruises, even under the padding and armor he had. But instead of staying down for at least a moment, he almost immediately climbed to his feet. He swayed for only a moment before he narrowed his eyes and smirked, looking not at all like someone who had just taken a heavy hit.
"That's one Floppin' tough dude," Kord exclaimed in awe. "How is he still standing?"
"I don't know, but Pronto wants whatever he is having," Pronto grumbled.
Alana pushed her shock away as the firefight continued, both sides unloading ammo like there was no tomorrow. Flashes, roars, crashes and shakes echoed throughout the Outland Reach. Alana could feel every rush of dark energy emitted from the ghouls, and was almost frustrated with how quickly she got used to the sensation. It wasn't something she should have to do, but here she was.
The ogre roared and rushed forward, taking Kord and Pronto's attention. Eli, Alana, and Trixie were forced to shift their focus to the advancing marauders and away from the Dark Slinger. Alana found herself slipping into doing more defending than attacking as the marauders fired slews of ghouls in a way that felt like instead of any kind of strategy, they were just hoping to overwhelm their opponents with sheer firepower.
After taking another round of blasts from Kord and Pronto with no problem, the ogre turned its sights to Eli and Trixie, slamming its fists downward. Trixie dove to the right, rolling behind Kord and Pronto's cover, and Eli was forced to retreat back to where Alana was stationed.
"We're not getting anywhere," Eli groaned, taking a moment to catch his breath at Alana's side. "If we take down the Dark Slinger then the marauders won't have a leader and they'll probably panic, but we can barely get a shot in, and we need a big attack to keep him from just ghouling everything we shoot at him!"
Alana took a moment to fire her Slyren at an incoming Hop Jack, but the ghoul knocked the slug out of the air before it could start a song and exploded dangerously close to Alana and Eli, shaking the ground.
"Maybe if we can split him up from the marauders? Or at least get that ogre away from everyone else?" Alana suggested, racking her brain for any ideas. "Direct attacks against that thing don't seem to work. Maybe we get someone high up to try to snipe-"
Before she could finish her thought, a strong wind began to pick up. Alana and Eli barely had time to realize what was happening before their feet were suddenly lifted off the ground, wind somehow red-tinted raising them up. The Tempesto responsible swirled around in wide circles, spinning the slingers around with it over seventy feet in the air. Trixie's panicked yells could be heard from below, but Alana couldn't make out what she was saying.
"Not what I meant when I said get high up!" Alana shrieked, flailing around in the air and trying to right herself. "We need a landing strategy before that ghoul loses velocity!"
She and Eli both cried out as the tornado began to shift, traveling past the marauders and the ogre, and instead over to the side of the clearing where the Dark Slinger was facing. Alana's stomach dropped. She'd seen what he did to slingers who resisted him in the past, and she still had no idea why he was so fixated on getting to Eli.
"We can't get split up!" she yelled, loading her Arachnet. She and Eli were almost twenty feet from each other, but in the strong wind, there was no way they'd be able to just drift back together. "Heads up!"
She fired the Arachnet at Eli, forming a strong spider web between them. Alana wrapped her left arm around one end and Eli wrapped his around another. The Tempesto's wings finally began to slow, and the ghoul dove down to the ground, returning to protoform as it landed. The tornado it created dissipated, leaving Eli and Alana hovering in the air for a single moment before they dropped down.
Relief flooded through Alana as they fell together. The momentum of the wind would have carried them in opposite directions had they stayed apart. Of course now there was the issue of sticking a landing while tied to another person.
"Here we go!" Eli yelled as the two began to fall. He gave the Arachnet web a strong pull, yanking Alana closer before loading his Bubbaleone. "This isn't gonna be a very smooth landing!"
Alana nodded and braced herself. Eli fired Suds straight beneath them. The slug transformed and attached to the ground, creating a squishy landing pad for the two slingers. Alana's breath was nearly knocked out of her as she and Eli bounced once, then twice before Suds returned to protoform and the two crashed to the ground.
It was definitely better than the alternative, which was a seventy foot fall, but it still didn't feel great. Alana groaned as she sat up, rolling her shoulders. Ash chirped from her backpack, but didn't emerge as Burpy hopped off Burpy's shoulder and burned the Arachnet web away. The duel a few dozen yards away with the rest of the gang versus the marauders raged on.
"Good thinking with the web," Eli said, wincing as he got to his feet.
"Thanks," Alana replied, standing alongside him and nodding in thanks to Burpy. "Now we-"
"I must say, I'm impressed."
Alana gasped and whipped around, her face paling as the Dark Slinger carefully approached her and Eli. Eli winced glancing over at Alana, who simply shrugged. So much for keeping her away from the Dark Slinger- although with how the fight had been going, that was a pretty tall order.
"You and your subordinates are faring better than I predicted," the Dark Slinger said, staring at Eli. "Perhaps after you are mine, I can convince them to follow."
'Subordinates?' Alana thought indignantly. But instead of making some kind of comment about it like she normally would, she stayed silent.
"I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't care," Eli retorted, holding up his blaster for Burpy to jump into the barrel. He took a step forward as he raised his weapon, and Alana realized that in doing so he'd put himself right between her and the Dark Slinger. "You may have your Goon Doc, but you don't have anything on Burpy."
Now hidden by Eli, Mage hopped down from Alana's shoulder into a canister, and Alana quietly loaded her blaster. Something about what Eli said stuck out in Alana's head, and she mentally repeated his words until it struck her.
Her eyes widened and she glanced down at her right arm. It was covered by the sleeve of her shirt and armor on her arm, but she imagined the burn scar there, the raised, pinkened skin. She'd gotten it as her mother had activated the portal to send Alana to the 99 Caverns, from-
"Don't I?" the Dark Slinger laughed, shaking his head and holding out his hand. From his bandoleer hopped a small black and green slug that made Alana's heart sink and Eli gasp. The Darkfurnus in the Dark Slinger's hand barked and lit its ahead aflame with a pale green fire.
Evanlyn Caelum's words echoed in Alana's head.
"An Infurnus. So I was right. You are the champion of the East. Or at least you were, once."
"Pathetic slingers," the Dark Slinger noted as he loaded the Darkfurnus. "Don't you see? Don't you realize that even in your home caverns, you have no advantage? There is nothing you have that I haven't seen before."