Author's Note: this week has been stressful i had a mental breakdown because of a bitchy teacher and i got 2 more tests. on a happier note, i need designs for Tad's company's symbol (you'll see why in the chap) and Ataro's symbol so if anyone's up to do it, just do it!
Tiffy's POV
Something was off with this entire situation.
As our mecha beasts galloped through the wood, quickly approaching the cavern, the three of us informing Johnny on what happened in Cyan's room before growing silent, retreating back into ourselves, thinking of the first time something like this happened to us. The first time a monster had broke into our home, taken a piece of us, then broke our caverns with the jagged edges. We knew exactly who we were all thinking of, we all had a piece of ourselves torn away when she fell. But ever since we lost that part of us, we've been closer while trying to mend it. Her death may have tore away something from us, but the only good thing that came out of her death was that it brought us closer together. We spent countless nights staring at pictures, silent tears falling down our faces as we stared at the framed picture in shaking hands, spending the night trying to pick up scattered broken pieces, our thoughts only interrupted by the wailing siren. Times when we wanted it to sound so badly, so we could sling our anger away, forget the grief for one second, hide the pain in our slashes and scars. Those dark times drew us closer together, until needed each other more than we needed water, until we knew each other better than we knew ourselves.
And now, I knew Cyan was hiding something.
I looked from my rose red, simple wrist blaster that Johnny and Cyan insisted I had, my eyes fixating themselves onto her pure white mecha beast, lines of cyan running through them, the power core glowing a vibrant, striking cyan blue. The pure white steed stood out in our dark, eerie surroundings, the crimson red undertones causing goosebumps to pop up on my skin, the hairs on my arms standing on end as I felt a unnerving cold creep up on my back. They also made me grimace: the amount of slugs and people Ataro had ghouled was starting to take a toll on the caverns and the slug energy. I brought my focus back on Cyan herself, noticing how the vibrant colours of her cyan blue chest piece stood out in the black. She looked forward, her body rigid, her hands constantly moving on the steering handlebars on the mecha beast, fidgeting with the rubber. Her posture was abnormally proper, her back so straight it seemed like she was focused and bent on upholding it.
"Cyan, any idea why they broke in?" I finally asked, my voice piercing through the thickening silence like a red hot knife. Her body turned towards me swiftly before I completed my question, but she turned back to the front quickly once she heard my question.
"No, it doesn't make sense to me, but we got another thing to worry about now." Cyan quickly brushed it off anxiously, her muscles tense as she rode slightly faster. Johnny and I looked at each other, and by the look in his eyes, I knew we were thinking of the same thing. Cyan was one to voice out her opinions, her anger. She wasn't one to internalize her feelings.
"But it doesn't make any sense. Why would Ataro send his best warrior to us and then invade a cavern without her?" Johnny asked, trying to probe her to talk, and I agreed,
"Yeah, it's almost-"
"Shut up, both of you!" Cyan hissed as she peered through the trees, her fist clenching, her nails digging into the material on her fingerless gloves. The two of us walked towards the trees, looking through them.
Ataro's soldiers guarded the entrance, a blaster aimed at Tad's head, the end of the blaster touching his head as he shakily signed a contract. Ataro's men pushed in gallons and gallons of dark water into a truck, a pitch black truck with the previous Blakk symbol on it, the symbol his father used, the symbol he discarded once he reworked Blakk Industries into a mecha beast company. We could never forget the bright red V seared into our minds. Innocent children below the age of ten years were handcuffed and shoved into another truck, also with the V plastered on it. Teens and adults were forced to carry materials to the city center. At first, I wondered why Ataro used Thaddeus Blakk symbol and not Tad's symbol, but my questions were answered once I saw hired people snapping pictures of the whole thing, sending it to multiple Slugnet news outlets.
Tad was being blackmailed.
But then, after that, I noticed something else that seemed very out of character, but made sense in a way too. How a representative held the contract instead of Ataro himself. How Ataro himself wasn't there.
Why wasn't he there?
"What the heck?" Lancaster muttered to himself as she peered through the thick bushes, and we walked over to the bushes quickly, pushing them apart at the very slightest to have a look at Rock Lock Cavern. My fists clenched, my jaw tensing up once I saw the innocent people slaving away, catching slugs, placing them in ghouling canisters cowering in fear. A low growl emitted from my throat, his eyes fixated on the pitch black and crimson red symbol that decorated the walls, that was painted on pitch black flags hoisted up all over the cavern. People painted them on walls, stitched them onto clothing. But all that, it causes anger to bubble and boil in my blood, to swell inside my chest. But once I saw the slugs shoved into a ghouling machine, seeing the slugs squealing for help, I growled, cocking my mini gattler blaster, the brilliant red barrels filled with vibrant blue slug tubes cocking and reloading, my spare, simple wrist blaster on my left arm loaded.
"Those fuckers better leave before I-" I muttered angrily, storming towards then, but Johnny pulled me back to them hastily, quickly telling me,
"I wish we could pummel them too, but we gotta think this through-" He stopped in his tracks, his words cut short when a snap sounded at our left. Our heads snapped towards the area, pointing out blasters at the bush. Moments later, a man rolled out of the bushes, his sea green eyes terrified.
"Please, you guys need to help me, they're, they're-" The man begged, his clothes ripped and torn, scratches and bruises covered his slightly flabby body. His penny brown hair swept upwards in a curly wave, complimenting his sea green eyes.
"Calm down, sir, we'll help you, just keep your volume down." Johnny comforted, brushing some of his own hair aside from his face so he could be recognized easier. His face melted into relief as he looked around, recognizing the three of us, staring at the badges on our clothes, then our faces.
"DA, you don't know what's in there, you don't know what they're doing to people, I just escaped from that wretched place! They're after me, they were chasing me here, please, guys, you have to fend them off-" Cyan groaned with irritation as she glared down at him and threatened,
"Hey, if you don't shut your mouth I'll stitch it shut, got it?" The man flinched at her harsh voice, nodding quickly as he stuck with Johnny, much to his discomfort. She dismounted her mechabeast, and so did I as we scouted the area. But as we did, I couldn't help but wonder what happened to her these past few weeks. Ever since she was discharged from the hospital after the invasion on High Plains Cavern, she's been acting distant, closed off, secretive. None of us could guess why we always saw her in anywhere but her bedroom in the dead of the night, why the dark circles were more distinct around her eyes than they were on ours, why she never told us anything until we needed to know it. The most obvious answer was grieving Ally, but she would have been on the roof, or sitting in the cluster of beanbags she loved so much. Or in the garage, watching the mighty beast as the w collected dust, imagining our previous leader riding into battle on the ferocious wolf. She would have been letting us in, talking about it to us. But we found her everywhere: in the living room, sitting on the couch, indulging in the silence, in the kitchen, sipping on a cup of apple juice, in the reading nook, blankly staring at the pages, trying to read the words on the page despite her exhausted self, like she was trying to stay awake, shutting us out. I looked over at Cyan, who looked around urgently, checking her surroundings, the indented footprints in the moist mud. Suddenly, her head snapped up as we both heard the quiet rustling of leaves, a flash of crimson red in the distance. Her eyes widened as she saw them, snatching her blaster from its holster.
"They're coming." She informed me, loading her blaster with her Phosphoro, Spark. I ran back to Lancaster and the man, and Lancaster loaded his blaster.
"I heard them too." He told me, aiming his Frightgeist, Ghastly, at the bushes. Cyan emerged from the bushes, standing in the center of Johnny and I, her Phosphoro, Spark, loaded in her cyan blue and pure white blaster. She turned to the cowering man behind her, shaking with fear.
"Go when I tell you to. Don't turn back." She informed him harshly, looking at him for a short moment before she turned back to her surroundings, her left hand tapping on the handle of the Vitalis Crystal dagger she hung on her belt. We heard the thundering footsteps as they got louder and louder, turning the pitch black into the undertone of the forest. We grabbed our blasters, standing back to back from each other, the man in the middle of it all.
"Fire in three..."
We braced ourselves as flashes of crimson red approached closer.
"Two..."
The footsteps sped up, before slowing down to a stop.
"One."
"GO!" Cyan screamed, shielding her eyes as she shot Spark up into the air, and I covered my eyes too. I heard all the guards exclaim in confusion as the pure light attacked their eyes, before the three of us opened our eyes. We heard the man utter a grateful thank you before he scampered away into the woods as the light died down. I saw a guard charging towards me, and I leapt as I turned around, nailing him in the neck. I ducked as a punch soard above my head, ramming my head onto the underside of his chin. He stumbled back, falling to the ground. I hollered,
"Molenoid Longbomb Squad, first barrel!" I held up my blaster as the slugs in the first barrel of my blaster jumped out to the second barrel as nine slugs hopped out of my backpack. The Rammstones, Robert, Tie and Varo hopped inside the first three slug tubes, followed by the three Hop Rocks, Vary, Bam and Boulde. The Tormatos, Whisper, Tau and Tide, hopped into the first barrel as I shot the Flatulorhinkus in my wrist blaster at the ground, obscuring their vision. I grinned as I shot the Rammstones and Hop Rocks, the Rammstone pummeling them all into one big explosion, then the Tormatos, who swept them all up in one big tornado. I yelped as I was swept into the tornado, firing Cob with my wrist blaster at a mushroom tree, grasping onto it, swinging myself towards the town, where Cyan and Johnny had already started attacking the guards and freeing civilians.
"What took you so long?" Lancaster asked with a smirk as he shot his Flaringo, Flare, at a Frostfang. The Frostfang took down his Flaringo, and we quickly rolled behind a mecha beast each, our backs sticking to it.
"Combo moves." I breathed in response, rapid firing all the slugs in the second barrel, letting more of my extensive arsenal hop into the three barrels of slug tubes as I took cover behind the mecha beast. I quickly snuck a look at the people I was firing at, grimacing when I saw six soldiers crowding up on me. I glanced towards my left to see Johnny rushing off, Tad taking his place behind another mechabeast, firing at four more soldiers who joined up with the six.
"Tiffy, any ideas on how to take them down?" He asked me as he loaded a lumino battery charged blaster with a Slicksilver. And looking at her, I got an idea.
"Shoot that Slicksilver, and do you have a Lariat?" I asked.
"Yeah." He responded, showing the slug tube with the slug inside to me.
"Pass it here." I commanded, and he nodded, tossing me the tube.
"Shoot the Slicksilver!" I ordered, and he obeyed, pulling the trigger. Their blasters flew out of their hands, and I shot Tad's Lariat at the guards. His slime latched itself onto one of the guards, and I loaded my Hoverbug into the blaster, shooting it at the velocimorphed Lariat. My Hoverbug, Wings, flew in circles, wrapping the soldiers in slime. I shot my Grenuke, Rad, at their feet, the slug exploding at their feet. They fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Nice shot." He complimented,
"Thanks. What's going on?"
"Ataro threatened to kill you guys, the people and me if I didn't buy the cavern for him. They want dark water, and this is one of the lowest caverns-" Tad informed me, but his voice faltered as his emerald green eyes widened in fear as they focused on one point, and I quickly turned towards where he was looking, gasping at the sight of the massive drill.
And Cyan tumbling into it.
"CYAN!!" I screamed, running towards the drill.
"Building Blocks Squad, first barrel!" I ordered, and three Geoshards named Ruby, Diamond and Bentley, three Frostcrawlers named Icie, Frostbite and Flakes, and three Vinedrills named Melon, Grape and Wine, hopped into my gattler blaster, before I shot all of them at the drill. The crystal covered the hole in the ground, vines threaded into the machinery, the ice destroying it as Cyan landed on the Geoshard Crystal. I stormed over her as she got out of the hole.
"What the absolute fuck are you doing trying to stop it alone?!" I scolded Cyan, but before I could continue, I shoved her downwards as a Grimmstone soared in the air seconds where we were. I got up, shooting the slugs from the second barrel at the approaching guards. But as I turned back, Cyan was crusading off on her own, shooting her slugs in the direction of mine, hitting some of my slugs off course.
What the fuck was she doing?!
"We gotta work together here, Cyan, what's gotten into you?!" I screamed, before I brought my right leg upwards, the toes of my metal boots nailing a guard under his chin, before I knocked out a guy with my blaster. Cyan ignored me, firing slug after slug as we chased the last of Ataro's soldiers out of the cavern. But before we could rejoice, a soldier jumped into the driver's seat, driving away with the truck full of kids, another truck speeding away with Dark Water.
"Screw the dark water, we need to save the kids!" I exclaimed.
"Help the people!" Cyan commanded, trying to take the charge once again. Tad called out,
"I'll stay to help the people! You three get to the kids!" Tad reassured, and Cyan looked like she wanted to argue, but the truck only got further. She nodded as the Molenoid Longbomb Squad hopped back to me. I loaded one of the Tormatos in my wrist blaster, shooting Tide at the ground. Tide's tornado boosted the three of us upwards, back into the forest. We mounted our mecha beasts, seeing the truck on the trail down the hill, taking the long ramp down. The three of us just sped down the hill, arriving just behind it.
"Any ideas on getting the kids out?" I asked, but Cyan was quiet, her calculative stare observing the situation.
"The only way we're getting them out safe is stopping the truck without violence." Johnny stated,
"Cyan, do you have Blackout?" I asked, talking about the only Xmitter we all had.
"That'll stop us too." Cyan told us grimly, before she charged forward, riding towards the side of the truck. She shot her Dirt Urchin, Spike, at the tyres, but they just crushed the spikes. Cyan shot her Sand Angler, Luquillo, at the ground in front of the truck, creating quicksand, but the driver just drove past it.
"The fuck is she on?" Lancaster exclaimed, shooting his Arachnet, Viola, at Cyan's mechabeast, pulling her backwards.
"For fuck's sake, Cyan, stop with your closed off bullshit and work with us!" Lancaster snapped as his Arachnet dragged Cyan's mecha beast back, seething with irritation.
"I know where this path is headed. Make him go faster and make sure he stays on this path, I'll meet you at the end of it." I told them, and they nodded. I quickly turned to the left, my mecha beast skidding to the left before I zoomed into the dense forest, taking sharp turns. And as I turned and ducked, knowing the position of every branch amd every leaf in this forest, I couldn't help but think of the man who taught me almost everything I knew about Slugterra. His voice echoed through my mind whenever I had to navigate through the caverns.
"Tiffany Romania Caine, you are the best daughter anyone could ask for."
Tears started to prickle at my eyes as his shaking voice echoed in my head once again.
"I'm sorry I was always off on my trips, that I never really spent that much time with you."
I tried to shake the memory of him out of my head, but his comforting voice came back to me every single time.
"But remember this, my darling."
I looked upwards, blinking the tears out of my eyes. A fallen mushroom tree blocked the way.
"Your mother and I love you very much."
Time slowed as I leaped over the enormous mushroom tree, skidding to the end of the path, aiming my gattler blaster at the oncoming truck. The pitch black truck suddenly halted in front of me, his shoulders slumped in defeat once he recognized me. As Cyan pinned the driver to another mushroom tree, Johnny and I focused on uncuffing the kids, whispering comforting words in their ears, wiping away their tears as we undid the chains on their hands and feet. As we did, my jaw clenched as I saw how much their hands shook, how reddened their wrists were, how their lips trembled, eyes filled with innocence.
"Your sister is going to be just fine, okay, little slinger?" Johnny tried to reassure a young boy sitting next to him, his own eyes filled with tears as he shakily held a ghastly pale, young girl in his arms, Boon Docs and Fandangos desperately trying to save the young child, who appeared to be his twin. My heart ached, tears springing up to my eyes as his eyes met mine, the sorrow in his emerald green eyes telling me everything I needed to know: she may not make it.
"We need to drive this back, the kids can't walk." I told him, trying desperately to think straight with everything, and Lancaster nodded in agreement, forcing out,
"I'll stay here with them."
"Are you sure you can-"
"I'm a healer, Tiffy, if anyone can help them, it's me. Plus, you need to talk to her." He told me, his eyes turning back to the young girl he held in his arms
"Okay. Keep them safe." I walked out of the back of the car, closing it and using my Thresher to cut a window, so the kids wouldn't feel so trapped. I walked to the mecha beasts, setting them on autopilot to follow the truck, before going inside it next to Cyan. As we rode back to Rock Lock Cavern, I glanced over to Cyan, her sad, cyan blue eyes staring forward at the path.
"Cyan?" I asked her as we rode back to Rock Lock Cavern.
"Yeah?" I opened my mouth to ask, but I closed it as I tried to think of the right words.
"Why are you being so distant lately? Ever since after you got admitted out of the hospital, you've been off." She hesitated, picking her words before she answered,
"I'm sorry, it's just all the Ataro stuff, it really got into my head when I got stabbed." She obviously lied through her teeth, scratching her neck as sweat dripped down the side of her face nervously. I sighed irritatedly at her. She was a terrible liar.
"It's okay, I just wanted to know. Just come back to me when you're willing to tell the truth." I sarcastically replied, turning back towards the front, glaring at the path in front of me as we rode back to Rock Lock Cavern, returning the children to their parents, Johnny enveloping the twins in a tight hug before they went back to their parents, the three of us riding back.
As we rode back, silence enveloped us again, Johnny and I riding alongside each other. But not many know that the silence spoke volumes, if you listened. I didn't even need to look at Johnny to sense his worry for his best friend, for I felt it too as Cyan rode ahead of us, trying to look like the person she once was. But after all we've been through, all we've lost? None of us could be the same. We only could be closer, we only could depend on each other.
And Cyan trying to carry everything by herself?
The weight will crush her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It felt powerful, the control I had over a warrior like her.
As she thrashed in our little contraption, her face scrunched up in agony, I grinned maliciously as the machine stabbed steel needles into her body, more steel parts clamping both sides of her face. I let go on the button and she fell back in the iron chair, panting. I grinned as I walked towards her, snapping my fingers at her face. Her eyes snapped open, and I admired the crimson red that swirled in her fierce irises, the energy from the electricity buzzing behind her ferocious eyes. My eyes traced down to the sleeveless shirt she wore, exposing all of her bare, muscular arms, tracing each and every scar under her restraints. She was just like a doll. Delicate. Fragile.
Perfect.
"Do you feel it, sweetheart?" I cooed, my lips inches away from the ones she pressed tight, her ruby red eyes glaring into my soul. She wordlessly spat in my face, snarling like a wild animal.
"Feel the electricity coursing through your veins?" I taunted, but she just glared through me. I chuckled at her stubbornness, her determination to spite me, at her strong resolve, her headstrong attitude. It was one of the many things I loved her for, after all
"Reply to me when I'm talking to you, you bitch!" I ordered, slamming my hand down on the button, grinning with delight as I watched electricity crackling all over every inch of her skin. I frowned as I stared at her lips, those soft lips still sealed shut, no sound erupting from her throat despite me increasing the amount of electricity. It frustrated me. It infuriated me. But when my eyes lay on the table, with her possessions...
It made me excited.
Thrill filled my lungs as I walked over to the table, picking up both of her infamous daggers, examining the Dark Crystal blades. I walked over to Savea, her eyes dazed, unfocused, but widening once she recognized the blades in my hands.
"I always wondered why you chose twin daggers. Especially since that wretched girl used them." I told her, studying the blades.
"But now, just holding them, what power I feel!" I exclaine dramatically, leaning towards her, with a grin as I held both of her daggers above my head.
"And I like it."
I rammed her daggers into her thighs, a beam of satisfaction stretching upon my face at her sound of her agonized scream, her whimpers as she finally gave in to me. And as I walked away from her, I relished in her suffering, her screams.
After all, power had been taken from me all those years ago. I was just taking it back.
And oh, how satisfying it felt.
Aquito: excuse me what the FUCK
Ashley: HECK I PITY SAVEA I NEVER THOUGHT IT WAS POSSIBLE
Ally: never underestimate me, i guess?