Sam was silent for a moment, probably trying to understand what Alana was implying.
"How far are we talking?" she finally asked carefully.
Alana sighed and kicked at some rubble on the sidewalk.
"Like... far. Are there any medical concerns for someone who's been separated from the rest of Slugterra their whole life? Let's say he's been around other people before, but the whole... town? Was just separated from everyone else."
"Well, whoever he is, I'd be concerned, yes," Sam replied. Alana could hear mecha engines revving on Sam's end. "Has he ever been to a doctor? What if he's got some weird immune system condition? Or what if he's carrying something?"
"Well, I already hit him with Mage, so sickness wise we should be fine, at least for anything contagious he'd have," Alana explained. "But I guess you should still check on him?"
"How is he, is he acting fine?"
"He's unconscious. The whole time he's been here. I haven't actually talked to him," Alana admitted. "He's just laying on a couch in the King of Sling's place."
"Ooookay. Well, I guess call me if he wakes up, but in the meantime, if he hasn't started seizing or anything, I'd say he's fine for now. Where is he from, anyway?"
"Far away."
"Yeah, you said, but where? Gateway's far away enough as it is, has he just been camping out in the desert his whole life? How do you know where he's from if he's unconscious?"
"I just do," Alana replied, running a hand down her face. "Look, I promise I'll fill you in when you get here, but this isn't a conversation I wanna have over a call. Just call me when you guys are close, okay?"
A moment of silence. If Alana knew anything about Sam, the young woman was probably debating whether or not she wanted to argue. Luckily, she chose to let it slide for now.
"Okay, fine, I will. Let me know if anything changes."
"I will," Alana promised before taking out the earpiece. She clipped it back to her belt and absently stared out at the disheveled street.
What were they going to do with the Eastern man? She couldn't help but imagine him like Eli, a beloved person who was now far from home. Or like herself, alone and confused having just escaped a world set aflame. And now that Eli was free from the Goon, he was acting like normal, but who knew what 'normal' was for the stranger?
She really hoped it wasn't the version of him she'd already seen, both just yesterday and ten years ago in the Western realm.
Alana sighed and pushed off against the building she was leaning against, squaring her shoulders. One thing at a time. The man was still unconscious, and there was plenty to do in Gateway in the meantime.
She headed back over to Pronto, who was directing Kord to carry the person with the broken leg back to their home, their father following behind disdainfully. Alana kept her gaze away from the three when she passed them, not eager to give the man an excuse to start up another "conversation."
"How'd that go?" she asked Pronto, laughing when the molenoid scowled and rolled his eyes.
"Some people do not give Pronto the respect he deserves," he grumbled. "So rude and impatient! But the person is fine."
"That's good to hear," Alana sighed. "Sorry you had to deal with him. Were other people like that?"
"Some," Pronto admitted. "They seem particularly upset at the fact that Eli was behind the attack. Speaking of...?"
"He's resting up at a bed and breakfast at the edge of town," Alana explained. "He's tired, and he went through a lot, but he'll be okay."
Pronto's shoulder sagged with relief. He nodded, and glanced up at Alana cautiously.
"And the Goon?" he asked, sounding like he already knew the answer, but had to hear it out loud.
"Gone," Alana confirmed. She kept her eyes fixed on a point just past Pronto, unable to look him in the eyes. "He got away."
She knew Pronto wouldn't say anything hurtful about it, at least not to her face, but she couldn't help but sigh with relief when the molenoid simply nodded and laughed.
"Ah, you left him for Pronto to finish off. Very good," the molenoid noted. "Eli is safe. The most important mission is complete, then."
Wondering what she could have ever done to deserve such good friends, Alana nodded, quickly wiping a tear from her eyes. If Pronto noticed, he didn't comment.
"Right," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "But the work isn't done yet. How's our new Eastern friend? Have you heard anything from the King of Sling?"
"Nothing yet," Pronto said. "He split off to bring people to his humble abode if their own homes were destroyed. He's been up there while Kord and I worked our way through town."
"Well, the Bonnie Springs folks are a few hours out. I think I should go to the King's mansion. Now that I'm back with Mage, I can help people out that Doc may have missed, and check in with the King to see what needs to happen for the town," Alana said, thinking out loud. "Lots of the people seem to be fine, but I think the doctors need to check in on them to be sure."
"Good plan. I will go check in on Kord, and then we will go see how Eli is doing!" Pronto said. Alana frowned slightly, but Pronto had already turned away and headed off to find Kord, leaving Alana standing alone in the street.
She took a step forward, debating whether or not to call out to him. But her voice caught in her throat, and she turned away.
She really didn't want to go alone. She wasn't sure if other people would be irritated at the events of today and yesterday, sure, but her main concern was the man from the East. She didn't want to have to face him alone if he was awake. It was likely he'd be fine if he was once the caverns' protector, but she didn't know that.
Ash chirped from her shoulder. Alana jumped a bit, almost losing her footing. Ash snickered and then patted Alana's cheek apologetically.
"Hilarious," Alana laughed quietly, sighing and rubbing at her eyes before starting down the street towards the King's mansion. "Okay. I can do this alone. I got this."
That didn't stop her legs from feeling like lead, or her stomach from churning, but it didn't really matter that she was scared. She had a job to do, and she certainly didn't deserve to take any of the rest of the gang away from spending time with Eli.
So she forced herself to keep going, keep walking toward the King's mansion. The front gates were wide open, and there were a few people mingling in the yard. None seemed injured, just tired, unsure, and a little covered in ash.
When Alana walked past the gates, they gave her a quick glance, but nobody stopped to talk. The closest she got to an actual interaction was a group of kids waving at her from where they were all sitting in a circle in the grass. She smiled and waved back, but continued her walk up to the front doors of the mansion.
They were both propped open. A dozen or so people were sitting on the couches in the front room, all drinking and eating and looking, much to Alana's relief, healthy. The King of Sling was with them, patting the back of a woman whose hair was covered in soot. He definitely kept glancing around at the soot she was leaving on the couch, but seemed to accept his furniture's fate.
The King looked up when Alana walked in and beamed, quickly getting to his feet.
"Ah, Alana! Welcome in! How're ya doing?"
"As good as I can be," Alana said, wringing her hands and looking around worriedly, as if the Eastern slinger would pop up at any moment. "Um, how are you? All of you?"
She glanced around at the others. Her heart seemed to stutter-step when they didn't immediately respond. Instead, they glanced around at each other, all looking unsure. The woman finally cleared her throat and offered up a small wave.
"We're all set over here," she said quickly.
Alana fought to keep her smile from wavering. She nodded and turned back to the King.
"Thanks for helping take care of people," she said. "The fight's over, at least for now. Eli's fine and resting up, and some doctor's from Bonnie Springs are on their way, but now that I'm back with my own Boon Doc, I can take a look at anyone Doc didn't heal."
She held up her blaster and nodded towards Mage, who was already sitting in the barrel. But instead of anything she would've expected- like the people seeming relieved, or even not really having a noticeable reaction at all- the people in the room all visibly tensed. Two of them even quickly got to their feet.
Alana turned to look at them, and when she met their eyes, they both quickly sat back down and averted their gazes. She frowned and holstered her blaster.
"Or... maybe not?" she trailed off, looking up at the King. "Are they okay?"
The blond man coughed and shrugged.
"Oh, well, they, uh, they're just a little tense. They've had a big day," he said, resting a hand on Alana's shoulder and gently guiding her out of the living room and into a hallway. They stopped in front of an extravagant painting of the end of Gateway Cavern, bright paints portraying the wall of magma.
Alana frowned. The King wasn't a good liar on the best of days, but now with so much going on and his nerves frayed, it was even more obvious than usual. She opened her mouth to tell him as much, but he interrupted.
"And you have, too, I'm sure! I'm glad to hear Eli's doin' fine, how'd things shake up?" he asked eagerly. "Do we have our Shane back to normal?"
Alana crossed her arms, hugging them close to her body.
"Yeah, he's okay, just really tired," she said. "The Goon Doc that possessed him got away, but with how fast he took off, I think he'll need some time to recover before he can possess anyone else. For now, we're in the clear."
The King frowned and nodded.
"Well, at least there's one problem solved," he said uneasily. "The townsfolk are all pretty much set, a couple of maybe fractures that the doctors should take a look at, but nothing major. I think you and your friends should be fine to head out."
"Head out?" Alana asked, her disdain with the King's lying turning to confusion. "There's still a lot to do out here. Mage might be able to help with some of the people if they just have sprains, and there's so much damage to the town buildings that needs mapped out, and we can probably help get any repairs jumpstarted. I bet Kord's already got some ideas."
The King held up his hand, and Alana stopped. She was really regretting not having the guts to ask Pronto to come along with her.
"Look, you know we all appreciate you slingers' help-"
"It doesn't really feel like it right now?" Alana interrupted, wishing it didn't sound like so much of a question when she said it. "Everyone seems more wired up than usual. I know this was bad, but this isn't the first time the Shane Gang's helped with some crazy stuff we didn't even know was possible. Why are people acting differently now?"
The King sighed and glanced down the hallway at the entry room, where the townspeople were sitting.
"'Cause this time around was a little different. They all just saw the Shane bomb their town," he said, staring down the hall intently. "You and Sting took off after Eli, so you didn't get to see the full extent of what happened in town, but it's a miracle all these good folks are alive."
Alana stayed silent, guilt gnawing at her chest. If they'd been able to stop Eli yesterday, when they were still in the Outland Reach, the townspeople never would have seen him while he was possessed, and they never would have been attacked. Word may have spread eventually of what the Goon Doc could do, but it would've been a lot easier if no one had seen it firsthand.
"Now you know I believe you with all this possession stuff, but these folks haven't got the whole story yet. But they did see Eli, and they heard his voice, and they saw him attack their homes. I think they know it wasn't all him doin' it on his own accord, but that don't change the fact that he got compromised and they could've died because of it," the King finished.
Alana gaped, groaning and pacing the small hallway space, her arms crossed tightly.
"He could have died, too," she said, shaking her head angrily. "We all could have died too. Honestly, with what I know about that Goon Doc, we probably should have died. We got lucky, this is a best case scenario."
Memories of the West in flames flew across her mind. When the Dark Slinger invaded, he hadn't hesitated to start killing right away. He didn't switch hosts like he did in the 99 Caverns, he stayed with what he knew, the Eastern Champion. And it clearly worked. It sounded like killing Evanlyn was't the Goon's plan, but he still did it anyway. He killed her, and Alana's father, and the other Paladins, and who knows how many more.
It was a tried and true method, and he could have done it again, Alana was sure of it. The Shane Gang was talented, yes, but even though she hadn't seen the Paladins fight in over a decade, she knew with absolute certainty that the gang should have been easier to beat if the Goon had stayed with the Dark Slinger.
But he didn't. He rushed to find a new host, and Eli didn't go down without a fight. That forced him to make mistakes, to feel cornered and unstable, and that's how Alana and Trixie were able to catch up to him. They easily could have died fighting something that, for some reason, wasn't even on its A-game.
"What do you mean by that, 'best case scenario'?" the King asked, raising an eyebrow. "You fought this thing before?"
"I've seen it, but I haven't fought it," Alana said, waving her hand. "It was a long time ago. I didn't know he'd be able to come here."
"You knew this could happen?"
The blood drained from Alana's face. She whipped around, her shoulders sagging in disappointment. The people from the living room must have either heard the conversation or just decided to be nosy, because they were all standing at the end of the hallway, looking equal parts confused and annoyed.
Her voice caught in her throat. She glanced down at Ash worriedly.
"Well?" the man at the front of the group prompted. "You knew this could happen?"
"Listen folks, tensions are a little high right now, everyone's been through an awful lot," the King said, a nervous (and obviously fake) smile on his face. "Why don't you good people go on back to the living room and-"
"We deserve to know what's happening!" the man interrupted. "Those ghoulslingers weren't like anything we've ever seen around here, and you told the 99 Caverns that all the ghouls Blakk made were cured," he said, pointing at Alana. "So where did they get them? And now you're saying that you knew some mind-possessing ghoul existed all along?"
Alana's heart thudded in her ears. She was so used to fighting Blakk's henchman and other criminals that she'd forgotten what it felt like dealing with unhappy citizens. She knew it was just part of being in the borderline vigilante role that she and the rest of the gang were in, but everyone had been so content since Blakk's defeat.
"I- um," Alana said, wincing at how her words felt like lead in her mouth. She couldn't just explain that she had once seen the realm-destroying creature, but that was over ten years ago and she'd had those memories back for only a small part of that. "I can't give you all the details right now-"
"Or ever, apparently!" a woman behind the man snorted.
"Look," Alana said desperately, wishing more than anything that the rest of the gang was there, even though they all deserved to be with Eli. "If I had known it was possible for the Goon Doc to get here, I would have done something about it before. We had no idea any of this would happen! Our number one goal is keeping Slugterra safe-"
"By keeping us in the dark about stuff like this? What else are you hiding? You're just a kid!" the man exclaimed, taking a step forward that Alana quickly matched with a step back.
She was tired, and stressed, and hadn't had any time to recover from the day's battle. She hadn't gotten the chance to meet with the entire gang to decide how they wanted to handle conveying all the new information they'd learned to the public. They hadn't even gotten the chance to all talk since she revealed to the rest of them (besides Eli) that she was from the West.
"Exactly, I'm just a kid, so try to understand that my friends and I just had the worst fight since Blakk, we need some time to recover and then we can explain," she said, hands raised placatingly. "I know there was more damage done to the town than any of us wanted-"
"That's putting it lightly! And it was all done by the Shane kid! Where is he anyway, tearing up another town?"
"Watch it," Alana said darkly. "He's safe now, and he didn't do this on purpose, he was possessed-"
"By a slug?"
"By a ghoul. That's not something new, we've seen Cryptogrifs do the same thing in the Converta Mall incident-"
"That incident didn't have the person who's supposed to be protecting us trying to kill us."
Alana gritted her teeth. She didn't know what to say. She wasn't sure if there was anything she could say. This was far worse than Converta Mall, no doubt about it. There was no comparing the two situations.
"I know," she said helplessly. "I'm sorry. We're sorry."
"Sorry doesn't give us answers, and it doesn't fix our town!" the man yelled, taking another couple steps toward Alana. It felt like her heart was going to pound right out of her chest.
The King stepped forward and rested a hand on the man's shoulder.
"Now, Jake, give her some slack-"
"King, we love you, but now isn't the time-"
Alana sighed and rubbed her eyes hard enough for spots to dance in her vision. She wanted to just slip away, try to get to the rest of the gang. Yeah, that was a good idea - there were plenty of exits in this mansion, or at the very least there were plenty of windows that could be an exit in a pinch. The townspeople seemed focused on the King of Sling for the time being, so maybe she could sneak out.
She turned toward the other side of the hallway, ready to silently run down it in the hopes of finding a way out of the building. But she froze when a door twenty feet down slowly swung open. Her feet seemed like lead, stuck to the ground, and her breath caught in her throat.
Alana knew what was going to happen before she even saw him, but that didn't help. She couldn't move. Ash chirped with concern, following her gaze down the hall at the figure emerging from the side room. Alana's throat closed up. Her fingers trembled, and she couldn't look away.
The young man stepped slowly out of the room, clearly disoriented and confused by the shouting close down the hall. His long black hair was in a messy bun, strands hanging at the side of his face, but his furs and armors were neatly equipped. His dark brown eyes quickly glanced over the adults in the room before meeting Alana's.
She tried to find solace in the fact that his eyes were brown instead of scarlet, and while he looked tired and there were faint circles under his eyes, dark veins weren't marring his skin.
He was clearly the same person, but it was also obvious that he wasn't the Dark Slinger anymore. Alana knew that. There was no Goon Doc on his shoulder. She knew that. But that didn't stop her from feeling like a five-year-old again, sitting up in her bed and seeing him for the first time, shrouded in darkness and staring at her with the eyes of a killer.
She tried to form words, but a broken whimper is all she could manage. The adults were still arguing behind her.
Her horror must have been evident. The Eastern slinger's face softened. He carefully closed the door behind him. The sound of the door clicking shut made Alana flinch. She vaguely thought that was funny, that the click made her jump over the yelling behind her, but she was starting to accept that her head wasn't in the best spot right now.
The Eastern slinger took another step forward, but stopped when Alana managed to shake her head ever so slightly. His eyes flicked down to her bandoleer, and they lit up when he saw his Infurnus.
The yellow-orange slug chirped happily and jumped out of Alana's bandoleer, his head aflame as he hopped over to his slinger. The slinger smiled and scooped his slug up, murmuring quietly to the Infurnus and gently setting him on his shoulder. Alana would have been concerned that he now was armed with a powerful slug, but his blasters were still on Midnight, and she doubted he could throw him at 100 miles per hour.
"K-King," Alana finally managed, taking another step back and bumping into the King of Sling. She managed to get her hand to her blaster. "King?"
The King of Sling turned, his eyes widening when he saw Alana's panicked state and the man walking down his hallway. The townspeople around him fell silent, looking at the newcomer warily.
"Ah, up and attem!" the King laughed, looking grateful for a change of topic. "Welcome back to the land of the living!"
The Eastern slinger raised an eyebrow, but straightened his shoulders and gave a small bow.
"Thank you for your hospitality," he said. "Although I am afraid I do not know where I am."
"That'd be Gateway Cavern," the King explained. He patted Alana's shoulder. "Alana here and her friends brought you back from the Outland Reach. Alana, why don't ya go take this fella to the rest of your gang and rest up until the Bonnie Springs folks get here!"
He was clearly giving her an out to get away from the frustrated townspeople, but he didn't know that a big part of her panic right now was being around the Eastern slinger, and the last thing she wanted to do was be alone with him. But she couldn't voice her discomfort without letting everyone know that this guy was a murderer.
"Um," Alana managed, looking back and forth between the Eastern slinger and the townspeople. She didn't want to be stuck with either of them, but there didn't seem to be a way out. Tears started prickling at the edges of her eyes. She cursed them, but she couldn't get herself to relax when she was so overwhelmed.
"Well who's this?" the man behind the King exclaimed. Alana winced, watching the Eastern slinger warily to see if he turned aggressive.
But his expression didn't change in the slightest. He nodded, still not moving forward due to Alana's clear discomfort.
"Forgive me. I am Junjie, the champion of the E-"
Alana's eyes widened. This probably wasn't the time to reveal there was an entire other civilization past the Outland Reach. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, to interrupt, but a loud voice rang down the hall before she could speak.
"There you are!"
Part of Alana's fear disappeared immediately at the sound of Trixie, who pushed her way through the crowd of adults to stand at Alana's side. Alana could have cried with relief. Trixie's head was tilted with confusion at the unruly citizens, but her eyes widened when she saw the Eastern slinger- Junjie, he'd said his name- up and about.
"Um?" Trixie said blankly.
"Ah, Trixie Sting, perfect timing!" the King laughed nervously, leaning down to Alana and Trixie. "Why don't ya take Alana and your new friend out to Siobhan's? He looks about ready to fall back asleep and she don't look too good either."
Trixie met Alana's panicked eyes and nodded quickly. The King turned back to the crowd of the citizens, ushering them back into the living area and telling them off for being so harsh to Alana. The people didn't seem soothed at all, but the appearance of another Shane Gang slinger seemed to subdue their confidence for the time being.
After a moment's hesitation, Trixie reached down and grabbed Alana's hand, gently tugging her closer to the exit of the hall. Alana's eyes were still on Junjie.
"Hey. How... how are you feeling?" Trixie asked carefully, her other hand twitching toward her blaster.
At this, Junjie tensed and instinctively moved his arms. Alana assumed that, had he been armed, his blasters would have activated. He gritted his teeth when he remembered he had no weapons.
"I would feel much better if I had my blasters back," he said evenly. "You seem to hold some form of power here. I assume you have them?"
"We do," Trixie confirmed. "But we're not handing them over yet. I have a feeling you know why."
Junjie winced and glanced downward. His Infurnus hummed quietly.
"Very well," he said tersely. "I mean you no harm. If that is what I must do to show that, I understand."
Trixie sighed quietly with relief, seeming surprised it was that easy. Alana thought she would feel better at Junjie's compliance, but she could still feel her heart thudding in her chest, and she couldn't look away from him. It felt like if she did, he would just transform back into the Dark Slinger.
"Great," Trixie managed, gesturing toward the end of the hallway. "We can fill you in more, I promise, but we need to get somewhere away from prying eyes. You still look dead on your feet, can you make it across town? It's a small town."
Junjie took a hesitant step forward. His skin definitely looked clammy, but he nodded.
"I can make it," he said slowly. "How do I know I can trust you?"
"Because we're the ones who just saved you from that Goon Doc," Trixie replied. "And nobody else here knows about the East yet. We're the only ones who know how to help you."
Junjie thought for a moment, carefully studying Trixie and glancing at Alana worriedly.
"She does not look well. Is she a friend of yours, ah Trixie, the man said your name was?" he asked. "And this is Alana?"
Alana winced at the sound of her name coming from his voice. She glanced down, just staring at Junjie's shoes. She didn't want to look him in the eye, but she still didn't want to let him out of her sight.
"Uh, yeah," Trixie said softly, glancing up at Alana's dazed expression. "She's okay. We've all had a bit of a day, you know?"
Junjie scoffed and nodded, glancing down at his Infurnus, who was just resting on his shoulder with his eyes closed. He looked exhausted.
"Yes. I know."