Alana opened her eyes hazily.
She was laying down in her bed, curled up under her blankets. She could hear Ash and Mage sleeping soundly next to her head, their quiet snores the only noise. All seemed peaceful.
But something was wrong.
Her room. It was dark. The Lumino crystals on the ceiling were out. The bioluminescent water lilies in a vase on her dresser were gone.
And why had she woken up?
Alana stayed still as she blinked sleep from her eyes. Heart heart pounded as she looked around rapidly, trying to see through the dark. The only light that came into her room was a rectangle of pale periwinkle shining through her window, the Lumino light coming from the crystals and mushrooms outside.
Her breath caught in her throat as she heard the floor creak quietly. Eyes darting back and forth, Alana began to slowly move her arm under her blankets, reaching for the blaster on her bedside table.
The floorboard creaked again, and Alana froze in fear.
A figure stepped forward into the light. A towering muscular figure, coated in shadows. Darkness obscured his face, but Alana could make out a wicked grin, and a slug that sat on his shoulder with a glowing red eye.
She gasped and threw up her arms, screaming as the man lunged forward. She saw the glint of a blade flash in the Lumino light-
Alana bolted upright, gasping for breath.
Her room was no longer pitch black. Yellow light drifted in through the window. The Lumino stickers on the ceiling were glowing, as were the water lilies in the vase.
She looked around wildly, making sure the figure was gone. But the only other signs of life were her slugs, who were beginning to stir and look up at their slinger with concern.
Tears began to form in her eyes as she rested her right hand over her heart, trying to calm herself down.
Just a dream, just a dream.
Her muscles still ached, even though it was the second morning since the Shane Gang had returned to the hideout. She wiped the tears away from her eyes as memories of the fury in Dana's eyes flashed through her mind, the feeling of the Briardrill thorns cutting into her arms and legs, the darkness that came from the ghouled Phosphoro.
"It all turned out fine," Alana breathed as she pushed away her blankets and stood, stretching out her arms and back.
But what was that dream about?
Alana had always been uncomfortable in the dark. She didn't like not knowing what was around her. She couldn't defend herself if she couldn't see what she was up against.
But that person. Alana's heart was still pounding. Who was he? She felt like she'd never seen him before, but at the same time, her fear felt like it came from experience. She couldn't think of a face to mask the figure, and didn't know what kind or slug- or ghoul- had been on his shoulder. And the blade she had seen hadn't exactly looked like a knife-
Ash chirped, pulling Alana from her thoughts. She smiled and held out her hand. Ash and Mage both jumped into it from her pillow. She raised her hand and Ash jumped on her right shoulder, Mage on her left.
"Sorry for waking you up," Alana said as she walked toward the door, not bothering to change out of her black tank top and blue shorts. Before she could grab the doorknob, another chirp sounded behind her.
Alana turned with a frown, looking down at the ground. Her Hypnogrif, Cipher, was staring up at her. No, not her- Ash.
Cipher frowned and chirped again. Alana frowned and glanced at Ash, who stared back down at the yellow slug. He chirped and shook his head. Cipher growled and shook his head before hopping away. Mage chirped disapprovingly at both the Infurnus and the Hypnogrif.
Ash grumbled to himself and turned back to face forward.
"What was that?" Alana asked, stunned at her slugs' behavior. Ash chirped quietly and shook his head.
Alana glanced at Mage, but the small Boon Doc just kept her gaze away from Alana.
"Okay, then," Alana muttered, opening the door and heading downstairs.
The rest of the gang was already awake, but they were just lounging around. The slingers were laying low until this evening, when they would make an evening patrol and get back into action after the train heist.
"I'm gonna take you out, Shane!" Sam was exclaiming as Alana walked down the stairs. Alana laughed as she walked behind the couch.
Sam and Eli were facing each other in a Slug Run game. Their virtual Mechas were neck-and-neck, and both players were going all out.
"Not today, Sam," Eli said, leaning forward as he rapiy pressed buttons, trying to get ahead.
"Go Eli!" Kord and Trixie were cheering. Pronto was sitting at the kitchenette eating a sandwich, uninterested in the race.
Alana walked into the kitchenette, going through the cupboards and pulling out a bowl for cereal.
"What're you doing over here? Not interested in the game?" Alana asked Pronto as she poured her cereal. The molenoid sighed dejectedly.
"Pronto is contemplating his life choices," he grumbled. "I was defeated by Sam three times in a row!"
Alana snorted as she poured the milk and set it back in the fridge.
"Sorry to hear that," she said, fighting to keep a smile from her face as she walked back behind the couch to her bean bag chair.
"Hey, Alana," Sam said, not taking her dark eyes off the screen. "How're you feeling?"
Sam had definitely been the most openly concerned for Alana, and it was more worrying than comforting. Sam knew the most about health, and the fact that she was so worried was making Alana feel like something should be wrong.
But the fact was, as upset as Alana felt, she was also fine.
The return of Dana wasn't the worst she'd been through.
Her blindness and capture wasn't the worst she'd been through.
Nothing would ever compare to the emptiness and sadness that taken the place of Will. She knew that things could get infinitely worse, so she had to stay positive and remember to be happy with whatever she had.
It was becoming increasingly obvious, though, that not everyone shared this mindset.
"Not too bad," Alana finally responded, taking a bite of her cereal. "My legs and arms are still a little sore from the Briardrill, but other than that I'm pretty good."
Sam nodded, smirking as she suddenly slammed her virtual Mecha into Eli's, slamming Eli off course right before he reached the finish line.
"Floppers!" Eli groaned, flopping back into the couch as Sam's avatar finished the race in first. Sam laughed and crossed her arms.
"And the champion defends her title," she said triumphantly. She glanced over at Alana. "I've still got a while before we head out. Wanna play a round?"
Alana paused, setting her bowl of cereal on the table next to the couch.
"No, thanks. That's not a question a need answered," she said humorously. Then her voice turned serious. "But there actually is something I wanted to talk to you about. All of you."
If her heart was thumping after her nightmare, it was absolutely pounding now. She'd been debating doing this ever since the gang had returned from the train heist. Something Dana had said had stayed in her mind.
"You don't trust your gang enough to tell them? You still keep secrets?"
Sam and Eli set down their controllers, and even Pronto stopped his lamenting and walked over to the living room.
Alana immediately regretted saying anything. She wrung her hands, and her face turned pink.
"U-um..."
"Is everything okay?" Trixie asked from next to Eli. Alana nodded hurriedly.
"Yes, everything's fine," she assured. "It's just that... I haven't exactly been honest with all of you."
Sam frowned and raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?" she asked warily. Alana glanced at Ash, who nodded encouragingly.
"You see..." Alana's voice trailed off for a moment. "Dana Edwards- that new girl who's working for Blakk- she and I won't get along because a couple years ago, I attacked the ghoul depot she was working at. I tried to get her out, but she wouldn't let me help, and she was exposed to dark water. She was almost... ghouled- there's dark energy inside her, amplifying her abilities and emotions."
Alana hesitated for a moment, but forced herself to plow through her doubts and continue.
"But that's not the only reason. We're practically made to be enemies. Because... Dana's infused with dark energy, and I'm infused with the light."
Everyone looked shocked, even Eli, who obviously hadn't been expecting Alana to open up to the gang.
"What?" Kord asked, breaking the silence.
"I'm... I'm connected to the light energy of Slugterra," Alana said, glancing at the surprised and confused faces around her. "The... the blue in my hair, that's where it comes from, that connection. And the weird stuff that's been happening. When I passed out in Deadweed, when the Shadow Clan wouldn't let me pass through the Dark Periphery."
"You're kidding," Trixie said. Alana met her emerald eyes and shook her head.
"I'm not," she promised. Sam looked her up and down like she was a new person.
"How does it affect you?" Sam asked. "You said it changed Dana, how does it change you?"
"I can sense slug energy," Alana explained. "I can feel the pent-up bundles of energy that are released when a slug transforms, and another energy like it in people, although it's way deeper down and weaker. I can feel dark energy, the corruption that happens when slugs are ghouled. And if I try hard, I can feel all of Slugterra's magic. I can feel the darkness chipping away at it the more Blakk ghouls."
"Who all knows about this?" Kord asked.
"Blakk does for sure. That's why I got singled out when we went to the Beast Forge," Alana answered, curling her fingers into fists. "So, by extension, Dana knows. And Twist. Some of Blakk's other workers."
Everything was silent for a few moments.
"How did it happen?" Trixie asked quietly. "Dana got corrupted because of dark water, but how did this happen to you?"
"I don't know," Alana admitted. "I know it's been suppressed for years, but I don't know how. And I know that it finally started to kick in because dark energy began to form, and I had something to compare the light to. But other than that... I don't know if Will knew, or anything about how this happened."
Sam sighed and rubbed at her eyes.
"Are you safe?" she finally asked. Alana frowned and tilted her head.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Are you safe? Is continuing to sling, to expose yourself to ghouls and Dana... is it going to hurt you?" Sam asked, looking worriedly at Alana.
"No more than sitting around doing nothing will," Alana answered truthfully. "It may be more difficult for me to handle ghouls than you guys, but nothing's gonna stop me from helping to defend Slugterra."
"Why didn't you tell any of this before?" Trixie asked. "Why wait so long?"
Alana shrugged, cracking her fingers and trying to come up with a good reason.
"Honestly, I don't know. I guess I was worried you'd think I was some freak?" she said. "But with everything that just happened with the heist... it reminded me that I really can trust you guys."
Pronto cleared his throat, making the first noise since he'd arrived. He stood next to where Kord sat, his arms crossed.
"Pronto has only one question for you," he said.
"Go for it."
"If you really do have the same energy has a slug... do you transform if you are moving at one hundred miles per hour?"
Alana opened her mouth to respond, then shut it. She laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head.
"Gee, Pronto, I actually don't know. I don't think so," she laughed. Pronto shrugged.
"We could always test it out. We could built some sort of canon-"
"No!" the rest of the gang cried out in unison before bursting out into laughter. A few minutes later, after everyone had settled down and recovered from Pronto's remark, Alana sighed.
"So... are we good, guys?" she asked.
Kord nodded.
"We're good," he said. "Believe me, I've got a lot of questions, but I think I'll let 'em be for now. You already just had a heck of a morning."
"Thanks, I appreciate that," Alana said with a smile.
She had been on the fence about telling them. But now, as she looked around at the smiling faces of her friends, she knew she had made the right choice. They'd been through so much together, and they still had plenty to go through.
She trusted her family. And it felt pretty nice.
~~~~~~~~
A couple hours later, Trixie, Eli, and Alana headed out to escort Sam to one of the healers from Bonnie Springs.
Sam rode on Midnight behind Alana, her curly hair down and a smile on her face.
"Are you excited to finally be going to Bonnie Springs?" Alana called over the rush of the wind.
"The word excited doesn't even begin to describe it," Sam answered. "I've been wanting to go to Bonnie Springs for years now. It's like if you quit slinging for a year and then you were coming back to it."
"Wow. I can't even imagine not slinging, and I haven't been at it that long," Eli said.
"And you're not worried your parents will try to find you?" Trixie asked. "I mean, they might not if you had just left, but you left and took money from the company."
"I did not take," Sam corrected. "I transfered. They're the ones who made the mistake of giving me control of finances. It was a betrayal of trust, not breaking the law."
Alana laughed and shook her head.
"Then would they be upset that you transferred money?" she asked. Sam shrugged.
"Probably. But they're clueless about who I am and what my interests are. They'll have no idea where to look for me," she said.
"Well, I'm not sorry you won't be in danger, then, but I am sorry about this whole situation. You don't deserve to have parents like them."
"I appreciate it," Sam said as the three Mechas began to slow down. "But don't worry. I'm away from them now and that's all that matters."
Alana, Trixie, and Eli stopped their Mechas when they saw a small group of people standing in their path. They were cutting through one of the paths in the back of Slagrock, still eager to stay away from prying eyes as long as Sam was with them. Other than the Mecha riders, the only thing around them was dull brown rock, and the occasional pocket of yellow Lumino crystals.
"Are these guys who we're looking for?" Eli asked Sam, surveying the group warily.
There were three Mechas- a horse, a rhino, and a tiger. They were all painted pale green and white, and their riders wore green and white uniforms.
"You bet," Sam said with a grin, hopping down from Midnight. The workers from Bonnie Springs followed suit, dismounting their rides and rushing over to Sam. Alana's first reaction was to reach for her blaster, but she relaxed as the three tackled Sam in a hug.
"Hey, guys!" Sam exclaimed, laughing as they hugged her.
"I thought you'd never been to Bonnie Springs," Eli said with a smile as he got off Lucky.
"I haven't," Sam laughed as the three pulled away. "But I've talked to these guys for ages on the phone and through video calls. They're my classmates."
The boy who'd been with the tiger Mecha stepped forward and waved. He had dark skin and long hair tied in dreadlocks, and was pretty short- even Trixie had a few inches on him.
"Rhydian Connors," he introduced himself. "Thanks for bringing Sam here. Even though now that she's gonna actually be at Bonnie Springs, I can kiss being the top of the group good-bye."
The girl who'd had the rhino Mecha, buff with narrow eyes and magenta hair, didn't say anything, but instead rolled her eyes and signed a few things with her hands.
Alana wasn't great with sign language, but she made out the word loser and tried to hold back her laughter as Rhydian scoffed and crossed his arms.
"I am not! And watch your language!" he added. Then he turned back toward the three members of the Shane Gang. "The mute one who still manages to find a way to be foul-mouthed is Alex Kyoya."
Alex smiled at her introduction and waved to the gang. The last rider walked up, an elegant-looking girl with light brown skin and long, pale blonde hair.
"Gwen Lansing," she said. "I'm glad to see everyone's okay after your heist."
"There were some bumps in the road," Eli said, glancing at Alana. "But we all made it out, and saved the slugs too, so that's what matters."
"Don't downplay it," Sam said, turning to Eli, Trixie, and Alana. "You guys also helped me get away from my parents. I can never thank you enough, but... thanks."
"It was no problem. Thanks to you, we were able to make it out of the formal and take out some of Blakk's shipment," Eli said. "We've got your back, Sam."
"Will you four be fine finishing the trip to Bonnie Springs alone?" Trixie asked. Rhydian nodded.
"Oh yeah. We might not be the best slingers, but we've got our muscle," he said, pointing back toward Alex, who shrugged and nodded.
"Thank you again," Sam said, taking turned hugging each of the three slingers. "I'll keep in touch. And know that you've already got friends at Bonnie Springs."
"We will," Alana promised, watching as she climbed up on the rhino Mecha with Alex. She was already chatting with other healers like she'd belonged in their group for her whole life.
She'd be fine.
After the healers rode away, Eli sighed and climbed back up on Lucky.
"Well, let's get back to the hideout," he said. "Now that Sam's gone, we don't need to lay low anymore. We'll start patrolling this evening, and I wouldn't be surprised if we start getting distress calls again by tomorrow."
Alana missed Sam already, but she couldn't help but be excited as she mounted Midnight and followed Eli and Trixie out of Slagrock. She loved a good planned-out heist, but she missed the spontaneity and thrill of distress calls.
The ride home was shaping up to be pretty silent. The three slingers could practically feel Sam's absence. She definitely didn't have the level-headedness of a mother, but having an actual adult with the gang (because really, did Pronto count?) was like having a big sister.
"Hey, Alana?" Trixie asked, pulling her Mecha back so she was riding next to the blue-eyed slinger.
"Yeah, what's up?" Alana asked, frowning when she saw Trixie's face covered in worry. "Is everything okay?"
"Kinda. It's just about what you were saying earlier, when you told us about your... powers, I guess? Are they powers?"
"I'd like to think so," Alana said with a small laugh. "Makes me feel like a superhero. And I'm not surprised you've got something to say, you all were surprisingly accepting."
Trixie's demeanor lightened for a minute and she shrugged.
"Pronto and Kord wanted to bombard you with questions, but I told them not to in case you got overwhelmed," she explained. "But I actually wanted to ask about Dana."
Alana's light-hearted expression faltered for a moment.
"What about her?" she asked, trying to sound casual.
"How do you think we'll be able to beat her if she's basically the equivalent of a ghouled person?" Trixie asked. "I know you don't know everything about her anymore since it's been so long since you two were close, but you're apparently the most experienced with energy out of all of us."
Alana paused and thought for a moment.
How do I respond to that?
"I guess we just beat her the same way we beat the ghouls. They used to seem invincible, but now we can take them, right?" Alana said. She stopped and sighed. "Honestly, I don't know. Ideally, I'd be able to get a shot with a Boon Doc in. Maybe that would cure her. But I also know that she'd never willingly let that happen."
Alana stopped for a second. She really didn't know what would happen when they inevitably had their final battle.
"I'll do my best to help her. And if I can't do that, then I'll just need to learn more about my own powers and stop her."
~~~~~~~~
Dana sat in a reclined lab chair, staring up at a screen impatiently.
She was in her scarlet tank top, pants and boots, her jacket sitting on a table next to her. Two adhesive patches with cold metal sensors were stuck on her skin, above her heart. Wires came from them and connected to a machine to her left.
The machine was largely made up of a single large screen with multiple tables and numbers running through it, but the largest was a spinning, thriving red mass at the center of the screen. Every once in a while, a flash of light blue could be made out in the swirling storm of scarlets.
The first time Dana had seen the visual representation of the storm inside her, she'd been scared. She remembered thinking of it as something separate, a monster within her. But now she knew, accepted, and relished the fact that she had control over it. Really, was someone who could command a monster that much better than the monster itself?
Dana found herself not caring about the answer to that question. She knew what it was and she knew not to dwell on it.
Instead, she just kept her focus on the screen.
"See, it's just a little bit," Dana said as the blue flashed in and out of sight again. "It just came from making contact with her."
Blakk sat in a chair next to the scientist that was running the machine, watching the red mass carefully.
"Do you feel any different?" he asked. Dana shook her head.
"No. If I weren't looking at it right now," she said, glancing up at the screen, "I wouldn't even know it was there."
Doctor Blakk nodded, watching as the red that represented Dana's energy thrashed around. Dana debated if she should continue and decided to try.
"This kind of proves my theory," she said. When she got no response from Doctor Blakk, she continued. "Our energies can be transferred. If we can get ahold of Alana and corrupt her energy, the results could be like what happened to me, but with no recovery time and possibly heightened abilities. Her body already knows how to handle energy."
It pained Dana to say it, but she finished.
"If we ghoul her, she could be even better than I am."
Blakk thought for a moment, then sighed.
"Very well. We'll try to make our move, then. But not yet. I have something of my own planned."
"What is it?" Dana asked eagerly. Anything at all to get slinging again. She wanted nothing more than to take down Eli Shane, to see the look of shock on his face if she could get Alana to Blakk's side.
"Someone I once knew has been spotted around Slugterra. I'm developing a new weapon to use against her, but I'll need a lot more ammo. You'll be starting slug hunting shortly."
Dana grinned. Up on the screen, the red mass pulsed, and the flash of blue was nowhere to be seen.
"Excellent," she said. "I'll get a team around."
~~~~~~~~
It had been a week after Sam had left the Shane hideout. Alana had no more dreams of the dark figure, but at the start of each night, memories of him flashed through her mind when her head hit her pillow.
Things had started to become business as usual. The Shane Gang would get distress calls throughout the day, sometimes as simple as a robbery, but often some of Blakk's workers wreaking havoc. The gang returned to the hideout each day exhausted, but the sense of fulfillment that came from every mission made all their work worth it.
Alana hadn't seen Dana since the day of the heist, but she was always keeping her eyes out. She knew deep down that she shouldn't feel as guilty as she did, but she couldn't help it.
Alana had fired the Grenuke. Dana had been working for Blakk. Alana had said horrible things to Dana, implying Dana was to blame for everything she went through. Dana had refused help.
They were both to blame, but Dana's life had gotten so much worse after the depot.
Thoughts of Dana and how their relationship crumbled were what filled Alana's mind when she woke up at three in the morning.
Luckily, when Alana was dragged out of her sleep this time, her room was still lit. She was no longer trapped in the nightmare with the dark figure. So what had woken her up this time?
It only took her a moment to figure out. At the center of her room, two of her slugs were having an argument.
Ash and Cipher were having a heated debate, literally. Ash's head was aflame as Cipher chirped urgently at him. Ash shook his head and began to chirp back. He pointed at Cipher, then at his head, then up at Alana-
And he froze when he saw Alana sitting up in her bed, watching her slugs in shock.
The flame on his head immediately went out. Cipher and Ash both backed away from each other, looking ashamed.
"What in Slugterra is going on?" Alana hissed, throwing off her blankets and rushing over to the two slugs. Mage stirred from next to Alana's pillow, looking at Ash with concern.
The two slugs didn't look exactly angry with each other. They just seemed distressed and upset- but Alana couldn't think of anything that would make them feel that way.
"You two have been making little passive-aggressive moves at each other lately, and I don't know why you would do that, but you need to figure it out," Alana said, crouching down and lowering her hands. Ash jumped in her right, Cipher in her left. "Are you two okay?"
Ash and Cipher both nodded. Cipher chirped quietly and approached Ash. After a second, the Infurnus sighed, nodded, and the two high-fived.
"Now let's please go back to sleep," Alana said, yawning and turning back toward her bed. But before she could take another step, red lights began to flash, shortly followed by an alarm.
Alana laughed and rolled her eyes, setting Ash and Cipher down on her bedside table and starting to change into her slinging gear.
"Of course," she said as she changed from her black tank top to her light blue and black tee shirt. "Three in the morning. Why not."
Once she had her pants on and her blaster holstered, she grabbed her boots on the way out her bedroom door.
"Everyone hustle up and head downstairs, my bandoleer and backpack are on the coffee table," she said, rushing downstairs.
Nobody else was awake. Alana flicked on the lightswithes as she ran up to the holodesk and opened up the distress call.
The screen showed a shaky video, probably taken from someone's phone. Blades of grass and leaves blocked part of the camera's view; the person was trying to stay as hidden as possible as they filmed.
It showed a mushroom forest- in Deaddrop Cavern, according to the video's location tag- being swarmed by a group of Blakk Industries workers. They were rushing around, gathering up any slugs they could.
And leading them, looking thrilled with herself, was Dana Edwards.
Alana scowled as Dana fired a Jollyfist that gathered up a small group of Vinedrills in a net of goo before suddenly turning toward the cameraman. She grinned and fired an Attacknet, and Alana heard the person grunt as the camera fell to the ground, showing the ceiling and mushroom trees around it for a second.
Then Dana came into view, peering down at the camera. Eyes narrowed, she raised her boot and stepped on the camera, ending the transmission.
"That didn't look good," Trixie said from behind Alana as the video began to play again.
"No, it doesn't," Alana agreed, turning toward the redhead and almost laughing at how her hair was sticking up in almost every direction.
"I'm working on it," Trixie mumbled, raising a brush to her hair.
"Right," Alana said, holding in her laughter as she undid the braid her hair was in. "That's why I sleep with it braided. Totally ready to go now."
"I don't think mine's long enough for that," Trixie said casually as Eli, Kord, and Pronto finally came rushing into the first floor, gathering up their slugs and gear.
"We should try when we get back," Alana said, heading for the coffee table, where her slugs were assembling.
"What is it?" Eli called, almost falling flat on his face as he tried to put on his boots.
"Blakk's got a slug hunting squad out in Deaddrop," Alana reported as she clipped on her bandoleer.
"At three in the morning?!" Pronto exclaimed. "Does nobody care about getting a full night's rest these days?"
"Apparently not," Trixie said bitterly as she tied her hair into pigtails.
"You said he's in Deaddrop?" Kord asked as the gang quickly filed into the launch bay and started up their Mechas.
"Yep," Alana responded as she climbed up on Midnight, yawning and stretching out her arms.
"Isn't that place pretty dangerous?" Eli asked. Pronto nodded.
"Extremely! There are sharp drops and cliffs at every turn! But because it is so dangerous, there are a lot of slugs," the molenoid explained as the garage door rose.
"Then let's get in and get out," Eli said, rubbing his eyes as he led the way out of the launch bay and into the night. "And teach Blakk's men a lesson."
~~~~~~~~
hey guys I know it's kinda of a short one but if I continued it would have had to cut off awkwardly so I went ahead and ended it where I did
Life is very busy so please hang in there with me
Cyan out!