Author's note: Please check out the first chapter again as it's revised! Thanks!
The Shane gang rode their Mechas through the rocky path, taking the shortcut back to the hideout.
"Er...she was nice, "Kord said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Yeah, that girl was a ball of sunshine," Trixie rolled her eyes.
"Pronto has never been so offended in his life," The Molenoid scoffed.
"Come on guys, we helped them and stopped Blakk from getting those slugs from their cavern. It went awesome, even if there was a really cranky girl trying to get rid of us," Eli said.
"Speaking of that, why would Blakk want those slugs?" Kord mused.
"What do you mean? Isn't it typical for him by now?" Eli raised an eyebrow.
"I think what Kord means is that Arcana's known for housing lots of light elemental slugs. More specifically Fandangos. And they're not known for being dueling slugs,"Trixie explained.
Kord continued," But they do have a lot of slug energy. Which means..."
"He's building something big. And we need to find out what," Eli said with an air of finality.
Back in Arcana Cavern, the townspeople were safely back in their homes. Most were helping with the repairs of their town as well as the treatment of the injured from the aftermath of the battle.
The chief of Arcana and the unofficial vice chief were making sure everyone worked together like a well-oiled machine. They stood at one of the damaged buildings calling out to a brown haired boy who was clearing out the rubble from the hole in a building.
"Chase, how's the repairs and reconstruction going so far?" Carmen asked him.
"Pretty good," He replied, while walking down carefully from the pile of rubble.
"Good job on evacuating everyone out," Blake gave him an approving nod.
"It was no big deal plus the Shane gang distracted them enough for everyone to get out safely."
"Right," Blake frowned and walked off towards the town hall.
"And where are you going?"
"To check on the injured!"
"We just checked on them!"
"Well, I'm checking again!"
Carmen just sighed in exhaustion.
"Uh..." Questioning hazel eyes turned to Carmen for the answer.
"Don't mention them. She frowns more than she usually does when she hears their name. Long story."
"If you say so," Chase shrugged.
"By the way, were you the one who called them?"
"Yeah, the rest of us got taken down and you guys were still too far from the cavern. So, I didn't have a choice but to call them or we'd have a dead Arcana."
"Lucky you did. I have to rethink our combat strategies and give more training to our slingers. We'll need to figure out a way to counter the ghouls," Carmen folded her arms, deep in thought.
"Isn't it tough on you? You just got back from helping Dover cavern. Having to answer to every one of our allied caverns' distress call is tiring. I'm sure a little rest wouldn't hurt," Chase placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It isn't all that tough, I've got Blake to help me out. Plus, someone's gotta do this or else this cavern wouldn't be as safe as it is now," She shrugged, assuring him that she was fine.
"Well, as one of the Arc slingers I don't really like the idea of extra training," He puffed out a breath of annoyance.
Carmen gave him a constipated smile and caught him in a headlock," I'm sure you'd like it better if I made you do all the reconstruction on your own then!"
"Huh?! Wait! No! I take it back!"
Carmen laughed as she pinched one of his cheeks. The commotion didn't go unnoticed by the other civilians of Arcana. Some sighed at it like it was usual behaviour for their chief but a few glowered at her antics.
"That isn't how a chief should behave."
The comment didn't escape her ears. Carmen heard it loud and clear. But so did Chase.
"Hey-"
"Chase," The tone of her voice betrayed the smile on her face. She shrugged," Let's get back to work."
He lowered his eyes. Chase knew that look. It was a look that he and Blake grew to be familiar with when things got rough in the cavern.
It can't be helped. Forget it.
The advantage about having a solid team of slingers that would be dispatched the moment anything threatened Arcana was that it kept a safe cavern.
The drawback was that if they failed, people would start questioning their ability. Become anxious. Paranoid. Terrified.
Or sometimes complacent.
Blake gave a forced smile that was about to crack into a full blown scowl. She always tried her best to understand her cavern people and most of the time she could. But this was beyond her limits.
Mr. Jones, one of the civilians of Arcana was currently nagging her ear off. He was a rather aged. Now, Blake didn't like to stereotype but when it came to him she found herself thankful that she didn't know her grandparents.
"...I used to be part of the Arc as well! I know the regular procedures and drills like the back of my hand! Carmen should just stick with what her dad used to do. If she can't make better drills, she shouldn't try to act like a smart aleck and change procedures. If I know anything, her father was the most brilliant chief Arcana had!"
Blake's smile cracked. Nagging at her about Arc protocols was one thing. Implying that Carmen didn't do her job well was a whole other mess.
As much as Blake would love laying out an argument complete with case by case scenarios, she doubted he would pay attention for that long. Neither did she think her patience would last.
"Okay, hold it right there. With all due respect, Carmen is doing her best as chief. Yes, she made the wrong call but it happens. I'm sure everyone knows that Arcana always comes first. We do our best to protect everyone but we make mistakes too."
"Yeah?" He straightened, becoming more solemn. "Tell that to all the injured and the homeless thanks to the destruction caused by Blakk's men. If you could brush off every mistake with an 'it happens', it's a wonder how Arcana's not in ruins. You can't afford to make mistakes. Especially, Chief Carmen."
Blake forgot. Not about the perfection the Arc needed to be. But about how right Mr. Jones could be sometimes. He was a former Arc member, which meant that he knew the struggle as well.
She opened and closed her mouth a few times. Weakness flooding in. But Blake couldn't show him that she was faltering. Not her of all people. She had to be just as strong as Carmen, if not more. With a deep breath, she answered.
"I understand. There's no excuse for our misstep. We'll do something about it."
"Good," His posture relaxed. "Now, I should tell you about the old stories of the Arc. Might have some inspiration there-"
"Sorry, Mr Jones!" Chase interjected, saving the vice chief from more torment. "I'll need to borrow Blake for a second. Matters on the reconstruction. Reinforcing the structures. So on and so forth. Thank you!"
A cheery smile coupled with fast footsteps. He ushered Blake away from Mr Jones so fast that the elderly man didn't have enough time to say a word.
"You okay?" He whispered.
"Perfect. I owe you one."
"Get me a Rockberry shake and we're even."
"Done. Now, what is it?"
"All the rocks and rubble are cleared from the buildings. And I've asked for everyone to stay clear of the main path."
"So, clean up time?" Blake looked at the pathway that ran straight through the cavern which was full of large rocks and stone. Pulling out a Tormato slug, she loaded it into her grey blaster.
"Yup. Tomato," Chase held a slug barrel close to the reddish-brown coloured slug on his shoulder. It hopped in with a smile and he loaded his blaster as well.
"I've never asked but why do you call him that?"
"Tomato is one letter away from Tormato. So yeah..."
"...what?"
"I have bad naming skills okay! Can we just do the job?"
"Fair enough," Blake spared him a crooked smile. They both aimed their blasters and fired the Tormatos.
The two slugs created tornados which lifted up the rocks and debris from the ground, carrying them to the end of the path. Depositing them into a rather large metal cart with Mecha Beasts attached ready to bring them away to the dump.
"Awesome," The two slingers fist bumped, storing their blasters. Chase stared at Blake for a moment before flicking his gaze away when she turned to him.
"What?"
"Nothing," He gave her a half-hearted smile.
Blake sighed," I think I know what you're going to say. But let me just confirm, it's about Carmen."
"Yeah. Most of the people I was working with gave a few comments about her. And...you too," The brown haired boy rubbed the back of his neck guiltily," I'm sorry. I just felt like I needed to tell you...I don't think you wanted to know."
"It's okay. I want to actually. It's important what the cavern people think of us. We are the ones they have to rely on after all."
"But it's too much sometimes. You guys do your best for Arcana! It's not fair for them to act like you two aren't trying."
Maybe our best just isn't enough then.
Blake just gave him a good natured smile and put a hand on his shoulder," Thanks Chase."
Thoughts of inadequacy and incompetence had found a home in the corners of Blake's mind. She wondered if they found a home in Carmen as well but she decided not to think about it.
It was till late at night that Blake was kept awake by these thoughts. Especially, when the incompetence was displayed the same day.
She thought of what to do. The actions next. Sometimes, she can't help but just get pointlessly angry at the person who fueled the paranoia in Arcana. Blakk. He started this everyday battle, five years ago.
But three years ago, he made it so that Carmen had to take up the position of chief at seventeen. Blake made sure to be by her side every step of the way. As much as her fourteen year old self possibly could.
Now, they were grown up. They were expected to be seasoned enough, meaning that mistakes weren't pardoned so easily anymore.
Blake decided that staring up at her ceiling and overthinking was wasting her sleep time so she got up. With the objective of getting a glass of water, she made her way to the kitchen only to find the living room still brightly lit. The familiar auburn haired girl hunched over a tablet, elicited a sigh from Blake.
"You're still up?"
"It's only 2am."
"We have to wake up at 6am tomorrow to make our way to Lux Cavern for the meeting with their leader."
"I know."
A short silence filled the conversation before Blake ended it.
"You're working on new strategies right? You want some help?"
"You can go back to sleep. I'll handle this."
"I'm the vice chief right."
"Y-Yeah..." Carmen managed a small smile. Blake took that as a sign of acceptance and sat beside her. They surveyed the current strategies together till the lumino ores were starting to glow much brighter, indicating that morning was coming soon.
"That was productive," Carmen stretched her arms out.
"It was. So, now we have time to talk."
"About?"
"This afternoon. I know it was our mistake but-"
"It was my mistake. I was the one who sent almost half of the Arc to another cavern which included myself. The chief. I left Arcana defenseless."
"Firstly, we made a mistake. I may not be the chief but I'm with you every step of the way which makes me just as equally responsible. Secondly, saying you left Arcana defenseless is an exaggeration. Chase is capable enough to stand in temporarily."
"If he was so capable, then why are my slingers injured? 14 Arc slingers were injured, another 2 are still unconscious and the remaining 9 which includes us are all that's left of the Arc. How well do you think we'll fair if we're attacked again?"
"It was the first time we were attacked by Blakk. The first time the Arc has dealt with Ghouls. Before this, only five Arc slingers including us have faced Ghouls. How were we supposed to predict the future?! Predict that today was the day we'd get attacked?!"
"We weren't. We were supposed to keep Arcana as our top priority."
Blake kept silent. It seemed like that was all she could do today. Even as Carmen said the words, she couldn't bear to hear.
"What would Dad say?" Carmen placed a hand to her mouth, as if trying to muffle a sob. But she was much too strong to shed a tear. At least that's what Blake thought.
They were interrupted by the incessant beeping of their communicators. A quick look at it told them everything. Carmen looked at Blake who had her eyes wide in alarm.
"A distress call from Lux Cavern."
Author's note: Hey! Hope you enjoyed the story. Please tell me if there's anything I can improve on. I intend this to be serious but I'll try my best to add a little humor. This downward spiral is kind of depressing...
Lastly, thank you to the people who favourited and followed:) I appreciate it a lot!