Chapter 1: The Monster of Slugterra

A rock explodes near sixteen-year-old Eli's head. He ducks and runs to another rock outcropping, one where his good buddy, a cave troll named Kord, is also hiding. "Oh man. I'm starting to run out of slugs!"

"I'm trying to form a plan. Hold on." The leader looks around the cavern and turns to the one he's fighting. A muscular man named Butch laughs at their pathetic assault before saying, "You know Shane, I think the only way you defeated the others was because they died from laughter. You're pathetic!"

"Yeah well, that's your mistake, Butch!" Eli retorts. "Trixie, anything?"

The bun-headed redhead girl says, "Okay, the slugs he's using are Fiesters. They're kinda like homing missiles. Upon contact, they send a shockwave that can destroy a boulder to oblivion."

"In ghoul form, that's twice as powerful. Weaknesses?"

"Um, let's see. Oh! They can't dodge obstacles very well!"

"Got it!" A rock explodes behind Eli, and he and Kord turn around to see the smiling slinger. "C'mon! Where's the Shane I heard all about?"

"Right here!" he cries out. Eli rushes to Blakk's collaborator, who aims and shoots his ghoul. At a hundred miles, the ghoul transforms and speeds to Shane, but he takes a quick turn away, making the altered slug chase after him in a wide range. Butch watches the two go with a confused look and asks to no one, "What is that kid doing?"

Eli quickly makes another turn and runs toward Butch, leading the ghoul back to its master. The teen Shane jumps over the ghoul slinger, and he screams as the Fiester ghoul explodes in his face. He crashes on the ground, his whole body numb from the shock, and lifts his head up to see a blaster in front of his face with a grinning Eli behind. "Now the smart thing to do is to leave. Unless you want to keep getting your butt kicked by a kid."

"Relax. I'm only here to let off some steam." Butch gets up and dusts off, whistling for his ghouls. "Me and my girlfriend had a little spaz, alright? And slinging is my way of cooling off."

"O-okay, well if you're done cooling off, then leave."

Butch scoffs and jumps on his mecha-beast, saying, "Next time though, I won't go easy on you," then rides away.

Trixie walks out of her hiding spot, followed by Pronto, a molenoid, and says, "Nice job, Eli."

"Thanks." While Eli's Infurnus slug Burpy hops on his shoulder, he puts his gun away and says, "Now we can start that weekend of fun we've been planning."

The redhead looks up in the sky and sees it darkening. She pales and asks, "This weekend?"

"Well yeah. You think we're gonna wait another week?"

Kord agrees, "We've been planning this for over a month, but every weekend there's always trouble. This might be the only time we have without dueling Blakk or any of his other goons."

"O-okay," she stutters, "why don't you three just start without me? I need to go." She jumps onto her mecha and rushes away from the group, disappearing behind some large plants. The cave troll mutters, "Oh yeah, I forgot one more thing. Trixie just riding off without explanation."

"Where does she go, anyway?" Eli asks.

Pronto, hopping on his donkey mecha, says, "That may be a mystery we, including the great Pronto, may never find out."

"Why not ask?"

"Uh, I tried that once bro," the Kord mutters. "She got all moody and threatened me if I asked again. Whatever it is, she likes to keep it to herself."

"Yes. We all have secrets and there's no point of them if we told people." Pronto states.

"Maybe you're right." Eli climbs onto his mecha, adding, "But wherever she's been going, it's not doing so well for her."

Kord says, "When the time's right, she'll tell us. C'mon. Let's start our weekend of fun." The boys ride back to the Shane hideout without Trixie. Behind, the redhead peeks behind a large fern nearby, watching her friends go. One of her slugs, a Tormato, jumps up to her shoulder and asks, "Why don't you just tell them? They're obviously worried."

"I know Bluster. But if they found out, they'll throw me out like my parents did. I don't want to go through that trauma again."

"But they're your best friends. They all care for you. Especially Eli."

"Yeah. But I don't want to take the chance." She turns her mecha Boomer around and heads to her own hideout far away.

A week has passed with no activity. One of the longest since Eli made it to Slugterra. And a week Trixie was missing. At the Shane hideout, Kord upgrades his blaster, examines it, and takes it apart to put other upgrades on then repeats. Pronto uselessly flips through the channels on TV with chip bags littered around. Eli continuously bounces a rubber ball against the wall and some slugs just watch the ball going back and forth with bored expressions. "Really wishing something would happen," Eli says.

"You know what I'd like?" asks Kord. "A Slugslinging Tournament. Or maybe the Slug Run."

"Well there isn't one, so we'll just have to do something else." The molenoid says.

Suddenly, they hear the door creak open and Trixie walks in, looking a little thinner and paler. "Hey guys."

The cave troll exclaims, "Trixie! You're back."

"Where were you?" Eli asks.

"I was just at someplace, nothing big. If anyone needs me, I'll be in bed." She starts walking to her room but a hand grabs her shoulder and the Shane says, "Hold on, Trix. Why did you just leave a week ago? Is there something wrong?"

Kord panics and gestures him to stop. The redhead turns to her friend and answers calmly, "Nothing's wrong, Eli. Sometimes I need time to myself."

"Oh. Alright then."

Trixie closes her door while Eli walks back to the couch. Kord asks, "Now why would she threaten me but not you?"

"I don't know. Just lucky, I guess."

Burpy looks at Trixie's door and hops over to Bluster, who sits on the table near Pronto. "Hey Bluster. What's going on with Trixie?"

"What do you mean?" he asks, but Burpy can see his slight nervousness.

"You know. She's been vanishing for a week every month and when she returns, she looks sick. So what's the deal? Does she sneak to a bar?"

"No Burpy. She doesn't do anything like that."

"Then what does she do?"

"Burpy, I made a promise to not tell her secret."

"C'mon. I promise-wait, go back a minute. What do you mean 'made a promise'?"

The Tormato widens his eyes, realizing what he just said. "W-well she asked me to keep it a secret and I nodded my head."

"But why would she ask you to keep your mouth shut? It's not like we can tell our friends."

"Burpy, she doesn't want people to know her secret yet so I'm not saying a word." He hops away from Burpy, who shouts, "This isn't over!"

Eli walks over to Pronto and snatches the controller out of his hand. He shouts, "Hey!"

"No more of your silly sitcoms. Let's try to get some excitement in this building." He switches through the channels for something with action in it when the news channel catches everyone's attention.

The news reporter says, "Breaking news on Slug News Five. The mysterious monster of Slugterra strikes yet again."

"Monster of Slugterra?" Eli repeats.

"You've never heard of the Slugterra monster?" Kord asks with shock on his face.

"No. what is it?"

Pronto says, "The Monster of Slugterra is a dangerous creature. They say that there was an explosion around Deadweed involving Dark Water, a Frightgeist slug, and a Shadowclan morphing into one deadly, frightening monster."

"The monster prowls the night and attacks unsuspecting victims," the cave troll continues, "and then disappears without a trace. So far it's eluded all the law enforcements and the slug hunters, even the great Stocker."

Shane starts rubbing his chin before asking, "Did anyone get a glimpse of the monster?"

"Not that I know of. But there are the dead victims. There's a couple on TV right now."

Eli turns around and spots the slugs all hopping closer to the TV as well as finding a man on TV with blood gushing out of various wounds and neck, where it got mauled the most. His heart skips a beat from seeing the dead body, but thank goodness he watched a lot of zombie horror movies with his dad. The police meanwhile tape off the crime scene and mark the dead person's body on the ground. Slugterra police sure work a lot like the police on top. "There's got to be somebody who's seen the monster."

"Sorry but if someone did, they never told the reporter or the police," the mechanic says.

On the TV, the Shane watches the police take the body away from the crime scene and sets a determined face on. Kord spots the look and asks, "What are you thinking of?"

"I'm thinking that this creature must be stopped before it kills more innocent victims."

"Of course. But what makes you think you can find the monster when the greatest hunter can't?"

"I don't know what the hunters used to try and find the monster, but I'm going to find patterns. Can I have a list of all murders made by the monster?"

"We can check on the police station for the report."

"Ah ha!" Pronto shouts, jumping to his feet. "A murder mystery! Just the way I like it."

Kord asks, "So Eli, what're you going to do after you find the beast?"

"Kill it before it kills me."

Inside her room, Trixie stares at the door with her arms wrapped around legs, chin behind her knees. Bluster hops on her bed and reassures, "I'm sure he doesn't mean it Trixie."

"No. He does mean it," she whimpers. "And I deserve it."

"It's not your fault. It's the beast."

"But the monster is still me! I'm the one who kill all those people mercilessly! I'm the one with the wanted posters everywhere. I'm nothing but a horrible monster."

"I repeat; it's not your fault. In a way, it's your ancestor's fault. They're the ones who messed with that wolf."

"If you're trying to cheer me up, it's not working. I can feel it inside me just waiting to get out. Soon, I won't be able to keep my friends safe from me."

The Tormato slug looks away, thinking of something else to say, then suggests, "Why don't you get some sleep? That'll help your mood."

After staying quiet for a while, she accepts and snuggles underneath her covers. Bluster checks to see if she's sleeping and jumps to the door, closing the door behind. When he turns around, Burpy jumps on the slug and, after rolling around, stops on top and says, "Tell me your secret, now!"

"Burpy, get off!" After pushing him off, he says, "I told you, I'm not telling you Trixie's secret."

"There is that, but I also want to know how you talked to Trixie."

"Like I said before, I just nodded in agreement. Now would you just leave me alone?"

The Infurnus slug grumbles but walks away.

Eli looks down and sees his buddy in a sour mood. Leaning, down, he asks, "Hey Burpy, what's the matter?"

After hopping on his shoulder, the slug starts chirping frantically while pointing at Trixie's Tormato. Confused, the Shane looks at the two and asks, "What about Bluster?"

Burpy starts chirping more hysterically but Eli just raises an eyebrow. Giving up, the slug just hops back down and moves to the kitchen.

"What's up with him?"

The other two just shrug their shoulders and return to their business. The hero looks at Trixie's door and then to Bluster, who looks like he's seemingly guarding the door. He whispers, "What are you hiding, Trixie?"