So if you were some of the first readers of the last chapter, you probably saw a typo that was Sticker instead of Stocker... guess that's a meme now, mostly because of the creator of the lovely image in the media box, willjaymusic XD anyways, here's Chapter 10!
~~~~~~~~~
Alana found herself avoiding the Enigmo's touch over the next few days. She couldn't help but imagine the worst-case scenarios when she thought about the gang finding out about her powers. They would call her a freak, and wouldn't want her staying with them anymore, and then she'd be on her own again-
Stop it, she thought to herself, shaking her head as she crept forward through the mushroom-tree forest's underbrush. They would never think that. Now focus.
She was afraid that her constant worrying was playing with her nerves. She'd felt small chills throughout the last few days, like there were traces of dark energy right in front of her. But no matter how hard she looked, she found nothing. It had been putting her more and more on-edge since the Enigmo hunt, and even Pronto had noted how her once cheerful disposition seemed to be fading.
Back to what we're doing.
She scanned the area carefully, looking for the Hoverbug the gang was chasing after. He had been tearing through the forest outside the hideout like crazy, and Eli finally decided that they should try and add it to their arsenal.
There you are.
Alana watched as the Hoverbug carefully poked its head out from behind a leaf. Midnight continued crawling forward silently, then when Alana was only a foot away, it flew out from the bush. Alana gasped and lunched forward in attempt to grab it, but missed by only an inch.
"Here we go again!" Alana yelled, all motives of stealth gone. She revved Midnight's engine and sped forward, chasing after the Hoverbug. The rest of the gang materialized around her, jumping out from their cover to go after the speedster slug.
The gang followed the Hoverbug out of the forest and into a plains area. All around them, cracks in the ground varying from a foot to four feet wide spread out like cracked glass. The vegetation melted away, leaving only a few mushrooms and bioluminescent tulips sticking out from rock pillars.
Eli sped up, taking the lead. He leaned down and picked something up off a rock pillar as he sped by on Lucky- an Arachnet slug that chirped happily and hopped into one of the canisters on his bandoleer.
"We're never gonna catch this thing, Eli!" Kord exclaimed as he and Trixie sped up to flank the flying slug. "This is like a game to them!"
"Oh, so that explains why this is so much fun!" Eli laughed.
"That's the spirit," Alana laughed.
"Thanks. Trixie, Kord, cut him off!" Eli called. Pronto laughed from his spot behind Alana and Eli.
"Ah, yes! And Pronto will bravely bring up the rear!" Pronto exclaimed.
"Go for it!" Kord told Trixie. She nodded and quickly leaned forward, making a grab for the Hoverbug. The slug giggled and sped forward more, causing Trixie to lose her balance and almost fall off her Mecha.
"He's hard to catch now, just imagine when he transforms!" Eli exclaimed, him and Alana speeding up to tale the lead.
"Heads up!" Alana called, pointing to the path in front of them. A crack in the ground spread out forty feet, and Alana could make out the tips of stalagmites at the bottom.
"This pursuit is doomed! We'll never make it across the chasm!" Pronto shrieked.
"We're totally gonna make it!" Kord said breezily. "I just put it new upgrades for our Mecha beasts. Twist your handles!"
Alana nodded and urged Midnight forward to get as much speed as she could before her wolf took a leapt. Once she was in the air, Alana twisted down on her right handle. Blue flames sputtered to life, shooting out of the exhaust pipes on her Mecha beast. Alana grinned as Midnight was propelled forward-
And the a chill ran down her spine, and alarm bells went off in her head.
"Wait- something's wrong!" she called over the rush of the wind in her ears.
Before anyone could respond, shocks of electricity jolted through their Mecha beasts. Alana gasped as Midnight's limbs went frantic for a moment, before the flames from the exhaust pipes sputtered out, and her Mecha plummeted down the chasm.
"What?" Alana cried out, hunkering down and keeping her hands tightly on her Mecha's handles. She looked wildly around her and saw her teammate's Mechas doing the same, flailing for a moment before plummeting down the chasm.
"I just gave these a complete overhaul!" Kord yelled frantically, pressing buttons fruitlessly on his Mecha's control panel.
"Did you happen to add any wings?" Eli called over the rush of air.
"No!" Kord cried out, then shrugged. "But that's a good idea."
Eli looked down at his bandoleer and grinned. "I've got this, guys!"
He fired his newly-caught Arachnet, which threw a web between several of the stalagmites at the bottom of the ravine, just as the gang's Mechas reached the rocks. Their Mechas were caught by the fall, landing in a heap at the center of the web.
"I am unimpressed with this so-called upgrade!" Pronto said, crossing his arms angrily.
Alana sighed, brushing her bangs away from her face. Then she looked up and laughed as the Hoverbug flew down the chasm, giggling when it saw the flustered slingers. It sped down to Eli, sticking its tongue out, then flying just out of reach when Eli made a grab for it.
"I despise Hoverbugs," Pronto hissed.
~~~~~~~~
Alana sat at the couch, playing a video game while Eli attempted to remove some of the Arachnet slug's web from Pronto's rear end. She frowned and watched as Kord worked on Lucky, with no luck at all. The cave troll took a step away from the Mecha, lowering his wrench and watching the machine tentatively. Then a cloud of foul-smelling green gas rose out of the Mecha's gears.
"Ugh," Kord groaned, kneeling back down to continue his work.
"You know, I am beginning to question your mechanical aptitude, Mr. Cave Troll!" Pronto exclaimed from his spot on the hammock next to the Mechas.
"Yeah, you're like a Mecha beast guru," Eli said, walking up to Alana, who tossed him an S-Box controller. "What happened?"
"I don't know what happened!" Kord exclaimed, wincing as smoke spat out from one of Lucky's exhaust pipes. "This wasn't my fault!"
"Well perhaps if you spent less time playing the jokes on Pronto-!" Pronto began, but Kord walked away from the Mechas and shook his head.
"I don't waste time pranking you," the cave troll argued. Alana laughed and paused the game as Trixie turned around in her seat at the holo-desk.
"Well, actually," Trixie laughed, pulling up a video on the holo-desk, "Check this out."
Alana and Eli tossed their controllers on the couch and stood behind Trixie curiously, while Kord smiled to himself like he already knew what was coming.
The screen flickered to life and showed a video of Pronto grabbing a box of cave corn, then promptly being electrocuted by a Tazerling. While Pronto gasped and fell to the ground, Kord popped up from behind the couch and gave the Tazerling a thumbs-up. Then, it flashed to a video of Kord setting a Dirt Urchin on the couch just as Pronto sat down, as well as the shrieks that ensued. Then, the video ended with Pronto taking a bite of a sandwich that immediately exploded in his face, and a giggling Hop Rock hopping onto the counter in front of him.
Alana grinned as Eli laughed and turned to Pronto.
"I dunno, Pronto, that looks like time well-spent to me!" he said. Pronto responded by scowling and angrily turning back to the book he had been reading on the hammock.
"Pronto getting pranked is great, but back to the Mechas," Alana said, tapping the holo-desk screen so the blueprints of Lucky that Trixie had originally been pulling up appeared. "Kord, do you have any idea why they stalled?"
Before Kord could respond, Lucky's gears spun around frantically and released another puff of smoke. The cave troll groaned and walked back over to the Mecha.
"Let's take another look under the hood," he said, clearly frustrated.
Eli, Trixie, Alana, and Pronto followed him as he steered Lucky into the launch bay and swung open the Mecha's control panel. Eli rested a hand on Lucky's side, and Alana glanced over worriedly at Midnight, who sat idle in the corner. They'd both gotten their Mechas from Will, and that made the two that much more worried about their rides.
"Turbo-connectors check out, power transmission is optimal, thermo-couplers are up and running," Kord said as he looked through the Mecha's inner workings. "Right now I'm stumped. My buddy Grendel's the head engineer at the Western Mech Forge, so I get service upgrades before anyone. Our Mechas should run perfectly."
He paused as Lucky twitched and let out another puff of smoke from his joints.
"Definitely not supposed to do that," Kord said. Then the cave troll turned to Alana. "I just thought of something. You said there was something wrong right before our Mechs stalled out- what did you notice? A flash on the screen, anything in particular?"
Is a little flash of dark energy an option?
"Midnight's gears stalled out and made a noise right before everyone else's did," Alana said hastily. "I think I just tried to activate the propellers before you guys."
"Couldn't we just take them back to the Forge?" Eli suggested, glancing up at Kord. "They could probably figure it out."
Kord paused, then frowned and turned away, leaving the garage and heading to the fridge.
"What did I say?" Eli asked, his shoulders drooping.
"It's not your fault," Alana assured. "It's just that cave trolls are pretty proud."
"He'd rather eat a Toxis slug than admit mechanic's defeat," Trixie added as the gang followed Kord into the kitchen area.
"Kord, the best way to face this is head on," Alana said. Eli walked up to her and nodded.
"Alana's right. And wouldn't you be, like, a hero if you brought some big problem to the Forge's attention?"
Kord nodded slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, maybe..."
"Then it is decided!" Pronto exclaimed excitedly. "Though the way may be fraught with danger, brave Pronto will guide you to the Western Forge!"
~~~~~~~
The gang decided to give the Mechas the night to cool down before heading to the Forge. Alana went to bed uneasily, afraid for Midnight.
Her Mech may be a machine, but she'd still put years of love and work into Midnight. Alana was no cave troll, but Will Shane had been friends with Grendel, who had always eagerly taught Alana about Mechas whenever Will brought Lucky in for service- without a mechanic like the Shane Gang had now, Will had taken monthly trips to the Western Forge to ensure that his Mecha was running perfectly. The defender of the 99 Caverns couldn't be slowed by engine stalls.
That night, Alana's dreams replayed her visits to the Forge with Will. She relived her excitement to see such a large factory and how the cave trolls would try to entertain her while Will was talking business and getting Lucky upgraded.
Throughout the next morning, the gang as a whole was excited to get going to the Forge, but Alana was feeling melancholy. She hadn't seen Grendel since very shortly after Will had...
She hadn't seen Grendel in a while. And she wasn't eager for more reminders of what used to be.
~~~~~~~~
The trip to the Forge took twice as long as it should have. The Mechas only seemed reliable when moving at a crawl, so move at a crawl they did. Alana was pretty should they could have gotten to the Forge faster if they had just walked, but her thoughts were all replaced by wonder when she saw the factory come into view.
The building hadn't gotten any less magnificent than when Alana had last seen it. It towered up toward the cavern ceiling, gold and silver with tall purple doors. A large blue window sat at the top, reflecting the Lumino light. The gang crossed a bridge over a river that was fueled by pipes spewing out water on either side of the Forge's entrance.
"Wow," Trixie said, staring up at the Forge with wide eyes as the gang jumped off their twitching Mechas.
"Now that's a factory," Eli laughed as he looked at the tall purple doors in wonder.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have guided you to the Western Mech Forge!" Pronto flourished, jumping off his Mecha and landing with a bow.
"Well, yeah," Alana laughed. "There are signs everywhere for it. And it's, like, half a mile high."
"And yet, we made it!" Pronto said dramatically. Alana snickered and rolled her eyes as Kord stepped forward. He pressed a button on an electronic panel next to the set of doors. It buzzed, then a voice sounded from a speaker:
"Beast Forge."
"We're here to see Grendel," Kord said. The panel beeped and flashed green, and gears within the walls of the Forge began to spin and creak. The tall purple doors opened to reveal not the cave troll Alana was expecting, but a lanky, pale blond man with dark gray eyes, with a gray shirt and black pants.
"Can I help you?" the man asked.
"I'm here to see the head engineer," Kord explained as the man stopped in front of him.
"You're in luck- that would be me. I'm Darius Yorman, the new head engineer," the man said, nodding in greeting.
Alana frowned and exchanged a quick look with Kord.
"What happened to Grendel?" Kord asked, tensing up.
"He's no longer with the company," Darius explained.
"He's not?!" Kord exclaimed, looking back down at Alana, who shrugged.
"Well, can someone take a look at our Mechas?" Eli asked, pointing to the twitching and sparking machines. "They nearly killed us."
"Oh really?" Darius asked, looking over the Mechas and shaking his head. "Well, then, right this way."
The gang followed him into the Forge, guiding their Mechas alongside them. Alana watched her blue and cyan Mecha beast carefully as she led the machine along. Every once in a while, Midnight would growl and her neck would jolt, then she would return to normal.
Inside, the front area of the Forge was wide with a tall ceiling. Model Mechas lined the walkway, standing atop glowing pedestals.
The Shane Gang led their rides over to an empty space, where two mechanics were already waiting. Eli was in the lead with Lucky, so they checked out the white wolf first. Alana and the others led their Mecha beasts to the side and gathered around while the man and woman opened Lucky's control panel and started to look around the gears.
"I recalibrated the interlink servos, flushed out the hydraulics, even replaced the pressure seals," Kord explained. Darius walked up to him and paused.
"Hm. Did you try jiggling the 'on' switch?" Darius asked. Kord looked down at him, unamused. "Heh heh, I'm kidding. You say these glitches started yesterday?" he continued hastily.
"I put in the recall parts last week, then we did a field diagnostic," Kord explained, quickly cut off by Darius.
"You already upgraded? How is this possible?" the blond asked, appalled. The mechanics stopped observing Lucky and looked up at Kord curiously.
"I'm the advanced field tester," Kord explained, a hint of pride in his voice. "New parts ship out to me automatically, way before anyone else."
"Well, good for you!" Darius exclaimed. Alana frowned and turned away from Midnight.
That seemed a little cold for a congratulations.
"Give the Mechas a level 3 diagnostic, top to bottom," Darius continued, turning to one of the mechanics, who nodded.
"So, how about a tour while we wait?" Eli suggested. "I'd love to see how this place works."
"Well..." Darius said uncertainly. Kord cleared his throat.
"Grendel always gave tours," he said. Darius sighed and nodded.
"I suppose a quick walk through the plant would be okay. Follow me," he said, waving the gang forward.
Alana patted Midnight's neck one more time before following her teammates out of the lobby area and down a hallway. Darius led them through a tall pair of doors that revealed one of the metalworking rooms.
The ceiling was tall, and the room smelled like smoke. There was an orange glow all around from molten metal being dumped from vat to vat. The gang walked down a walkway, watching as the liquid metal was dumped into molds and pressed. Steam rose from the newly-formed metal parts as high conveyor belts took them into the next room.
"All of our metal is imported in from the eastern caverns now," Darius said as he led the slingers down the walkway. "Over 400 tons of steel smelted every month. And not a drop goes to waste."
He paused and ran up to Pronto, who was peering at a button on a control panel alongside the walkway. Darius hastily slapped Pronto's hand away from the button.
"Don't touch that!" he exclaimed. "Not unless you want a wave of molten metal dumped on your head."
Pronto sighed and shook his head. "I am happy with my head just the way it is, thank you! Handsome!"
Alana and Trixie glanced at each other and rolled their eyes as they continued forward. At the end of the walkway, they walked into an elevator that had one glass wall, revealing another room as it descended. This one had several conveyor belts of nearly-finished Mechas, all being pushed toward a machine that set a glowing blue ball inside the center of the Mecha.
"Cool!" Trixie exclaimed, watching with excitement. "That must be the Mecha's heart!"
Darius nodded, looking at the Mecha beasts fondly. "Beating with the same power that flows through our slugs."
Alana looked down and let her senses spread out tentatively. Sure enough, she could feel the same warm energy she felt in slugs. She pulled her senses back in as Darius sighed and put his hands on his hips.
"Beautiful. I still don't know how they do it," he remarked.
Alana frowned- wouldn't the head engineer know something so simple?
"Um, molecular transference...?" Trixie said. Darius's face flushed, and he laughed nervously.
"Heh, that was a figure of speech!" he said hastily, clapping his hands together as the elevator finished its descend. "You're a pistol."
He led the gang out of the elevator, and they walled through another room, where limbs were being attached to Mecha beasts' bodies.
"So, the Western Forge makes all of Slugterra's Mecha beasts?" Eli asked.
"Every single one of them," Darius confirmed. Eli frowned and watched the conveyor belts carrying the Mecha bodies warily.
"I hope whatever happened to ours doesn't happen to anyone else's," he said.
"Don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of this," Darius said breezily. "Without Mecha beasts, Slugterra would be without reliable transportation. Everyone would have to find other ways to get around, like Doctor Blakk's Slugterran Express. We wouldn't want that, now, would we?"
Alana frowned and glanced at Ash on her right shoulder, who glanced up at her and shrugged. Then one of his antennae flicked, and he turned around and chirped quietly. Alana followed his gaze and saw one of the mechanics from before rushing up to the gang.
"Excuse me," she panted, coming to a stop in front of Alana. "You're the one with the MD-NT model, right?"
"Yeah," Alana said worriedly. "Is something wrong?"
"We just have a few questions for you regarding some unique coding," the mechanic explained. "It looks custom, and we don't want to damage anything you've put in place."
Alana nodded and turned to the rest of the gang, who were watching her curiously.
"There's more coding and voice commands in Midnight than your average Mecha," she explained. "Grendel put them in for me to make her a little more lively."
Alana chose to leave out the reasoning for giving the machine more life- she'd become terribly lonely after losing Will.
"If you'll come with me for a few minutes, we just need you to confirm there are no irregularities, then we can meet back up with your group," the mechanic said. Alana nodded and followed her down the walkway.
The mechanic led Alana down a long hallway, deeper into the Forge. The mechanic wasn't very social- she seemed concerned about something on a tablet she carried, but Alana couldn't see what it was.
The walk was made in awkward silence. Just before Alana was going to ask how much farther the Mechas were, she stopped in her tracks.
Dark energy.
A lot of it.
She could feel the mass of cold looming a significant distance away, but it was close enough for chills to run down her spine. Alana opened her mouth to question what was going on, but the mechanic cut her off.
"Sixteen hundred meters before sensing the dark energy," the woman said, typing the number into her tablet. "Interesting. Doctor Blakk will be glad that we've finally gotten more information regarding your abilities."
Alana gasped and reached for her blaster. "Blakk knows-?" she began, but was stopped short when someone crashed into her from behind, sending her to the ground.
She snarled and flipped over quickly, throwing her assailant into the wall- the other mechanic. She grabbed her blaster and loaded it with a Rammstone, but just as she pulled the trigger to fire at the man, the women ran up and kicked her arm aside. The Rammstone crashed into the ground inches above where the man was scrambling to his feet, and as Alana turned to face the woman, the man knocked her blaster out of her hand.
Alana scowled and dropped down, swinging her legs around and knocking the woman to her feet. Then something on the wall caught her eye- an intercom, stationed periodically down the hallways.
I can warn the others.
She made a move for the intercom, only ten feet from her, but was tackled down by the woman, who wrapped her arms around Alana's legs.
Alana gasped as she fell to the ground and kicked desperately at the woman. Finally, Alana's black boot connected with the woman's shoulder and sent her sprawling. Alana got to her feet and ran toward the intercom, her arm outstretched-
And suddenly the man was at her side, swinging his fist toward her. His punch landed right on Alana's right cheekbone and sent her slamming into the wall, just barely missing the intercom and collapsing to the ground.
Hot tears welled up in her eyes as pain flared through her face. Alana pushed herself up shakily, still ready to fight, but the woman grabbed Alana's arms and yanked them behind her back, dragging the young slinger to her feet.
"How... how does Blakk... know?" Alana coughed as she was led forward. Just speaking a few words caused the pain on her face to intensify.
"He has his ways," the woman said coldly.
There was a small chirp, and for a moment, the pain on Alana's face lessened. Then the male mechanic reached forward and flicked one of the blue canisters on Alana's bandoleer.
"Quit it, Boon Doc," he sneered. "Or else your slinger can pick up our fight, although I wouldn't recommend it in her condition."
Mage chirped quietly and remained silent.
Alana stumbled down the hallway, guided by the woman. Her face was already swelling, and she did her best not to move her head any more than she had to.
"So... the energy I felt..." Alana breathed, narrowing her eyes. "You... you're ghouling the Mechas."
"Ding, ding, we have a winner," the man drawled as he help out his hand, stopping the woman and Alana.
The man unclipped Alana's bandoleer and backpack, and Alana realized that he had picked up her blaster, too. He pressed a control panel on the wall, and a door swung open. The woman released Alana and shoved her forward into the room.
Alana stumbled, but quickly caught her balance. She spun around and got ready to jump toward the door, but the man slammed it shut. Alana scowled and pounded her fists on the door, her head falling.
"Looks like we've got more company, lads," a gravelly voice from behind her said.
Alana frowned- she knew that voice.
She turned around and laughed softly as she looked up at Grendel. A dozen other cave trolls sat around on benches, looking up at Alana curiously.
"Why, is tha' Miss Alana?" Grendel asked, peering down at her. "You look a little roughed up, lass."
Alana sighed and sank down to the floor, sitting down and resting her back up against the door.
"Feel roughed up, too," she mumbled. She looked up at Grendel and the other cave troll mechanics. "Good to see you again, Grendel."
"Good to see you, too, although I wish it were under better circumstances," Grendel laughed. "I haven't spoken to you in a while. How have you been doing?"
Alana laughed, but stopped abruptly when the motion sent pain rushing through her face. "Great. Been slinging with Will's son. He's still out in the plant," she said, readjusting her knee guards, which had gone askew during her fight. "Knowing him, he'll find us eventually."
"If that boy's anything like his father, it's guaranteed," Grendel agreed. "I suspect your friend Kord is the reason you all came here? His advance parts went crazy, yeah?"
Alana didn't want to speak any more than she had to, so she just nodded.
"But what landed you in here with us? Didja find out what they're doing to the Mechas?"
Alana shrugged. "Kinda. Long story."
Grendel simply nodded and walked over to one of the benches, sitting down and stretching.
"I understand. Well, you rest up, lass. No more talkin' for you. Your face isn't in too great o' shape."
I noticed, Alana thought. She nodded and tilted her head back, resting it on the door. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and tried to block away the pain that was still throbbing throughout her face.
How does Blakk know?
She didn't know how much time passed. It could have been five minutes, or thirty, or an hour. Every few minutes, Alana would let her senses go travel around the Forge. She could feel it, the dark energy in the final process of the construction of Mechas, where the heart was infused with the machine.
She was doing, this, letting herself stretch throughout the plant, when suddenly the door she was leaning against swung open. Alana gasped as she came back to her spot in the room with the cave trolls, falling back and catching herself at the last second. She spun around and prepared to leap out of the open door and attempt escape, but she stopped when she saw who had opened the door.
"Alana?!" Eli exclaimed, dropping down so he was eye-level with her. "What happened to you?"
"Oh, you know. The usual," Alana responded, shrugging. "Got caught off-guard."
Eli shook held out a hand and helped Alana to her feet.
"Are you okay to fight?" he asked. Alana scoffed and stretched out her arms.
"Always," she said with a smirk. Eli nodded and turned toward the other cave trolls.
"And you?" he asked. Grendel looked around, and his engineers nodded and got up. Eli smiled. "Good. Blakk's ghouling the Mechas, and we need to stop them before they get shipped out all over Slugterra. I have a feeling that by now, Trixie and Kord have realized something's up. We need to go help them."
He paused and handed over Alana's bandoleer and backpack. "Here. These were next door in a storage closet."
"Thanks," Alana said, clipping on her gear. Ash and Mage chirped happily and jumped from the slug canisters onto Alana's shoulders. Mage immediately began glowing faintly, and Alana sighed with relief as the pain on her face went down. "Thanks, Mage. Alright, let's get going."
With that, Pronto led the way to the others, running down the hallway, pausing every few minutes to sniff the air before taking off again. Alana ran alongside Eli, with the cave trolls following closely behind. Every once in a while, Eli would glance over and look at Alana. Mage had gotten the swelling from the hit down before being jostled by Alana running kept her from doing anymore, so the colorful bruise still remained.
Alana had a feeling that, judging from Eli's face, she was going to hear about this later.
Pronto led the group down another hallway before pointing to the door on the end of the hall.
"There! They're on the other side of that door!" he gasped. Eli nodded and sprinted forward, taking the lead. He only slowed down slightly as he ran for the door, kicking it down as he raised his blaster. The second he could see the inside of the room, he fired a Rammstone that knocked down Darius.
Alana gasped as she saw Kord and Trixie in the middle of a raised platform, molten metal slowly rising up to the level. She grabbed her blaster and fired a Frostcrawler, and Eli did the same. The two ice slugs circled around the glowing orange liquid, spitting out bursts of cold air that froze it almost immediately.
Eli leapt down past the frozen metal and quickly unclipped Kord and Trixie's handcuffs.
"Oh man Eli, you found us just in time, buddy boy!" Kord exclaimed with a sigh of relief.
"That's not all I found," Eli said, gesturing up to the cave trolls and Alana. "Look who was locked up in the basement."
"Alana- and Grendel! Boy, am I glad to see you," Kord said happily as he, Trixie, and Eli climbed over the frozen metal.
"No time for hugs and how-dee-dos, young fellow," Grendel said, but he grinned and nodded in greeting to Kord. "We've gotta move fast, before they send out those Mecha beasts to all o' Slugterra!"
"Grendel's right. We need to hustle," Eli said, turning to lead the way out of the room. But he gasped and took a step back when the doors swung open to reveal Darius and four other mechanics, all armed with ghouls.
The gang split up, diving in each direction as the ghoulslingers opened fire.
"Grendel! Can you guys buy us some time?" Eli asked. Grendel and the other engineers nodded eagerly.
"We'd like nothin' more," Grendel said.
He and the other cave trolls ran forward, knocking ghouls out of the air with their hammers and wrenched. One even ran over to one of the room's control panels, causing a claw to swing down and knock to of the ghoulslingers aside.
"Follow me!" Grendel yelled over the ghoulfire, leading the gang out of the room and down one of the Forge's stretching hallways.
"Okay," Kord gasped as he ran, "Someone tell me what's going on in this place!"
"Darius has ghouled the Mecha beasts!" Eli explained.
"What? How can you ghoul a machine?" Kord asked.
"It's the energy inside the heart unit that they get at," Grendel explained. "I've seen 'em do it."
They came to a halt at the end of the hall, and Grendel pressed a button on a control panel next to a set of doors. They opened and the group quickly filed into the elevator, taking deep breaths as they ascended.
"What happened to you?" Trixie asked, looking up at Alana's face.
"I got a little too nosy than they would've liked," Alana said. "I figured out something was up, but I got thrown in with the other cave trolls before I could warn you guys. So, Grendel," she said, wanting to change the topic. "What's going to happen to our Mechas now?"
"First they start actin' funny, then they go totally bonkers!" Grendel exclaimed. "Then... ka-BOOM!"
Alana cracked her fingers nervously. She definitely did not want her Mecha going "ka-BOOM." Midnight was way too important to her.
"Those creeps made me look like a fool!" Kord growled angrily. "Worse, they made me look like a bad mechanic! Well, then there's the whole exploding thing," he added quickly.
"And they're going to send those upgrades out to everyone," Trixie said worriedly.
"No, they're not," Eli said shaking his head. "We're going to shut this place down before that happens. But first, we're gonna save our Mechas."
The elevator dinged as it finished its ascension, and the gang ran out into the Forge's main lobby-
And all stopped in their tracks at the sight.
Their Mechas all stood atop glowing work pedestals, still creaking and twitching. Their once-blue eyes were now glowing red, and Alana took a step back when she heard Midnight quietly growl. She could feel the small amount of dark energy injected into the Mecha hearts spreading, corrupting the light.
"Oh, Fernando," Pronto whimpered when he saw his mule Mecha sparking at the joints. "It breaks my heart, but I must leave you to your explosive fate!"
"Maybe not, Pronto," Eli said, grabbing one of the slug canisters from his bandoleer. "What do you think, Doc? And Alana with Mage?"
Alana grinned and nodded. The healers should be able to cure the dark energy in the Mecha hearts. Mage chirped excitedly from Alana's left shoulder.
Before she could move to load the healer in her blaster, Alana frowned and looked up at Eli.
"Do you feel that?" she asked, looking down at the floor. She could feel vibrations shaking through the metal tiles.
Then the gang turned to face one of the halls that split up from the hallway.
Thud, thud, thud-
"Oh Floppers," Alana whispered as the source of the sound came into view.
Flanked by more ghoulslingers, Darius was riding atop a large elephant Mecha, charging toward the gang.
"Finish those kids!" he yelled angrily.
"Trixie, Alana, I need cover!" Eli called. Alana and Trixie nodded, running to the sides and taking position behind the pillars that ran throughout the lobby.
Alana fired a Rammstone while Trixie fired her Frostcrawler, but Darius's Mecha simply swatted the slugs out of the air before they made contact, hardly fazed at all.
"They didn't even make a dent!" Alana exclaimed, ducking down as one of the ghoulslingers shot a Harmashelt her way.
Eli, who had planned on being covered long enough to get a shot in, was now sprinting away from the raging elephant Mecha. Kord fired a Hop Rock, but it didn't even slow down the powerful Mecha.
Alana took a step back and waved her arm to get Pronto's attention.
"Pronto! The floor!" she called. He nodded and pulled up one of the floor tiles, jumping down.
A few moments later, he resurfaced behind one of the ghoulslingers. Pronto fired a Bubbaleone that made the slinger shoots up into the air. The motion made the ghouslinger fire an Amperling down at the ground that electrocuted one of the other ghoulslingers.
"Haha! It's good to be little!" Pronto exclaimed, jumping back down into the floor.
"Alana! Go for Midnight! We've gotta get rides of our own!" Eli called as he ran up to Lucky, firing Doc.
Alana nodded and ran up to Midnight, who growled at her approach.
"Easy, girl," Alana said soothingly, loading and firing Mage. The white Boon Doc flew in through Midnight's open mouth, and the Mecha took a few shaky steps off the glowing pedestal.
Alana turned and watched as Darius continued chasing after Eli, firing ghouls down at the Shane. The ghouls disrupted the floor tiles enough that they began cracking and breaking under the large Mecha's weight.
"Nice job, E-" Alana began, but was caught off by a loud bark. She turned back to Midnight and gasped.
The Mecha's eyes were still red- Mage hadn't finished curing the heart yet.
"Easy, Midnight," Alana said, taking a few steps back. "Calm down, Mage is gonna help you."
Midnight snarled and ran forward. Alana fired her Jellyish in the hopes that the machine would slow down, but Midnight dodged it at the last second and leapt for Alana, pinning her down against the floor by her shoulders.
Alana winced and kicked desperately at her Mecha, breaking free one of her arms and holding it up to shield her face just as Midnight lunged down at her neck.
"MAGE!" Alana yelled, struggling to keep her Mecha beast back. "HURRY!"
Then, Midnight's eyes flashed white, and returned to their normal blue. The wolf released her rider and backed away. Mage hopped out the nose of the Mecha beast, chirping happily.
"Good job," Alana said, grabbing her healer and reloading her. She glanced over at Eli, who was getting to his feet with Lucky standing nearby, now cured.
"I've got Trixie! Get Kord and Pronto!" Eli called, running over to Trixie, who was being backed into a corner by her Mecha. Alana nodded and fired Mage at Kord's Mecha, running up to it as the healer transformed and flew through the machine's gears.
After a few seconds, Mage popped back out of the Mecha's mouth, and Alana fired her again at Pronto's Mecha. The mule's eyes flashed back to blue, and Alana smirked as she felt the dark energy washed away from the hearts.
"Good job," she told Mage as the Boon Doc hopped out of Fernando.
Alana ran back up to Midnight, and just as she jumped up onto the seat, she ducked down to avoid being hit by a pair of Grimmstones. She turned to face the ghoulslingers, but laughed as Grendel beat her to it. He ran up behind the two slingers and slammed them together, knocking them out. The engineer laughed and put his hands on his hips.
"Been wantin' to do that!" he called out to Alana.
"I bet," she yelled back. Then she turned to Eli and gasped- Darius's Mecha had the Shane pinned down, and Darius had his blaster aimed right at Eli.
"Doctor Blakk cannot be stopped!" Darius sneered.
"Don't worry, I've got this!" Grendel told Alana, running up to the elephant Mecha.
Pronto rode up to Eli, loading his blaster and giving out a war cry, but Fernando came to a halt at the last second, catapulting Pronto into one of the lobby's pillars.
"What a piece of junk," Darius sneered at the mule Mecha.
Alana gaped as Fernando spat out a puff of smoke from his rear end. Darius coughed and waved his arms wildly, trying to clear his vision. He took a step back and steadied himself on what he seemed to think was his elephant Mecha-
But was, in reality, Grendel.
"Oh, I'm gonna enjoy this, wee man," Grendel laughed, raising his fist and punching Darius right in the stomach. The blond man was sent sprawling.
"Now," Eli said, getting up and walking over to Darius, his blaster loaded with Burpy. "You were saying?"
~~~~~~~~~
"I just got a transmission from one of the mechanics at the Western Beast Forge. It seems the lucky number was 1600 meters before Alana sensed enough energy for it to be a problem."
"And what will you do with this information?"
"Well, that number will increase as her powers develop, but it's a start. I know how close I can get without needing to suppress my energy, and I can keep working on the suppressors for your own uses."
A brief silence. Then,
"Doctor Blakk, why is she like this? I know it's hereditary and has to do with where she's from, but how is it in her bloodline? Is it a choice, or is it just forced upon her?"
"Does it really make a difference?"
Another silence.
"No. I suppose not."
~~~~~~~~
Man that really went different than the first time in The New Shane, huh?
Vote and comment if you liked!
Cyan out!