I woke up in a room. I could not remember what happened last night. It was blurry and it felt like a dream. I looked at myself, and realized that I was only wearing my white bra and light pink panties. That was when I recalled about what happened, and I blushed. I saw my glasses on the bedside table and I wore them. I looked around and found out that I was in Junjie's room. But Junjie was not with me since we both slept together last night.
Suddenly, I heard someone throwing up from the bathroom. I went into the bathroom and saw Junjie. He was in front of the sink as he had just thrown up. Although I found it gross, I helped him out by wiping his mouth to remove the residue. I also helped to clean the sink and rinse his mouth so it was very clean.
"Are you okay, Junjie?" I asked him with concern since this must be his first hangover.
"I'm fine… I just have a… headache," Junjie answered, "what happened... last night?"
"Well... we..." I stammered, unsure how to explain it to him. He then noticed that he was wearing his gold boxers only. He also saw me wearing my underclothes.
"Oh no... I think I have drunk... an alcoholic drink... and..." Junjie began to recall what happened last night and his face turned red in embarrassment.
"Oh my, forgive me, Wen Jing. I must have lost control due to my... drunk behavior" Junjie apologized for his actions.
"That is okay. I... actually like it..." I admitted, which surprised Junjie.
I realized what I said. "Oh, sorry... I didn't mean to..." I tried to say otherwise but Junjie smirked and he pinned me on the bathroom wall.
I was surprised by his actions. Swiftly, he kissed me softly and gently. I kissed him back. As we were making out, there was a knock from the door.
"Junjie, Wen Jing, breakfast is ready!" a female voice called out. It was Khai.
"Wait, it is morning already?" I questioned.
"Yes, it is morning," she answered.
"Did we... sleep all night?" Junjie was shocked.
"Guess you two were very tired since I won the Slug Run," Khai commented.
"Uh... yeah..." I replied, feeling relieved that nobody found out what really happened last night.
"Anyways, breakfast is ready," Khai told us.
"Okay, we will be there," Junjie said.
My face hang a disappointed expression. "It is okay. We will do it later, Wen Jing," Junjie comforted me.
Meanwhile, inside the Slug Palace, Khai's slugs were sleeping inside in each of their bedrooms: one for female slugs and one for male slugs. All of her slugs had woken up and jumped out of their tiny beds. Expect for Flare, her female Infurnus, who was still sleeping on her tiny beautiful bed peacefully. Flare suddenly whimpered in her sleep as she was having a nightmare.
(Flare's Dreams)
Flare Flamehaze along with her bandmates, including the Kalt, and Chaleur Gangs were practicing their band. They took a break when they were done with their practice.
"Great job, guys!" Flare said it with a grin.
"Thanks, leader," Shocker replied as she put away her electric guitar.
"Oh, Flare, I have made a new dress for you~" Aqua told her and showed Flare the new dress that she made.
"Thank you so much, Aqua," Flare thanked her delightfully.
She took the dress and posed herself in front of a mirror while she was holding her new dress.
"It looks great on ya, Flare," Burpy complimented with a grin.
"Aww, thank you," Flare replied in a shy tone and blushed.
When she looked at herself in the mirror with her new dress that she was holding it, she suddenly saw a pair of thick dark red wings behind her! Flare gasped in horror when she saw them. She instantly turn around and pulled out a horrified expression upon her face.
There was a girl right behind Flare with thick dark red wings on her back. She wore a dark red dress, crimson ankle boots, and long crimson fingerless gloves. Her hair was very thick and dark, and had a pair of bloody red eyes. Though, this girl was very much like Flare!
"Midnight Flamehaze?!" The Limax Gang exclaimed in both shock and horror, except the Kalt and Chaleur Gangs who did not know about Midnight Flamehaze. But they did pulled out shocked and terrified expressions upon their faces when they saw her.
"How is this possible?! My friends helped me to defeat you when I was possessed by dark magic!" Flare shouted with a horror expression upon her face.
"You and your friends can never truly defeat me!" Midnight Flamehaze explained as she let out a maniacal laughter. Everything started to collapses! The Limax, Kalt, and Chaleur Gangs tried to run away but they were suddenly erased from existence!
"No! Guys!" Flare became scared now as she backed away. Her back was now against the mirror.
"Midnight Flamehaze's a part of you!" Midnight Flamehaze emerged from the mirror and tried to reach Flare! Flare quickly moved away from the mirror before she could catch her and felt terrified.
"I'll always be there waiting in the darkest shadows of your mind! I'll be back, Flare!"
Flare was so scared of Midnight Flamehaze until she felt her shoulders are grabbed by a pair of hands. She turned her head and her eyes went wide in horror as she saw Midnight Flamehaze right behind her! "And this time, I won't stop 'til I have all the magic!"
Midnight Flamehaze suddenly fuses with Flare! "No! STOP!" Flare screamed as she fought her dark half within her!
(End Dream)
Flare gasped as she woke up. She sat up her tiny bed and she realized that it was just a dream… a horrible dream she had. All about her dark half… Midnight Flamehaze. Then Petal, Khai's Vinedrill, came in and saw Flare awake. She chirped worriedly as if she had heard Flare's scream. Flare chirped back, saying that she was fine and it was just a bad dream. Petal was a bit unconvinced seeing her leader so… terrified. Then Shocker came in and chirped, saying that it was breakfast time.
As Junjie and I were fully in our slugslinger outfits, we exited out of Junjie's room and went downstairs. We went to the dining room, where our friends were already gathered around. On the table, there were pancakes, waffles, pine apple juice, rainbow cookies and toasted breads with butter. Before we could start eating, we heard a cry. The cry came from Ha-Chan as she was awake and hungry. We had no idea what to feed her!
"If only if we have chicken soup," Khai commented. When she mentioned 'chicken soup', the Magical Stylus reacted. It then flew up and stopped in mid-air. It draw a small bowl of chicken soup in pink lines. Once it was finished, the drawing of a bowl of chicken soup transformed into a real-life chicken soup! We were surprised by this. The bowl flew down and landed onto Flare's hands gently. Flare started to feed Ha-Chan and she cried "Ha!" delightfully. We smiled at the tiny baby as we started to have our breakfast.
Meanwhile, Fairy was eating her favourite cherries, Ying was eating her spicy noodles, and our slugs were eating their Slug Food and Slug Puffs. During breakfast, Junjie and I softly talked about what happened last night. We spoke in Mandarin to prevent anyone from understanding our conversation.
"俊杰, 昨晚... 你怎么会喝醉了?" I whispered.
"我... 以为那瓶饮料是可乐... 没想到是... 酒," Junjie answered.
I tried to avoid his gaze and resist blushing. "不过... 我喜欢... 你对我做出的一切..." I complimented.
Now it was Junjie's turn not to blush.
"你在那里学的?" I questioned him.
"我... 不记得了... 抱歉..." Junjie admitted.
"算了吧," I replied.
While we were talking, the Shane Gang congratulated Khai for winning her first Slug Run. "You beat Vance Bolt! Nobody beat him before during the race but you beat him! I never knew a guy was beaten by a girl!" Kord added and he felt hyped about it.
All of the sudden the television was on and the news announced two adult twins who had captured thieves from stealing a Slug Container that was filled with slugs last night. We wondered who the adult twins were. When the news shows a picture of the adult twins, they were… Locke and Lode! The Shane Gang and I were extremely shocked! However, we noticed their new appearance: Locke was no longer having a bread anymore. He and Lode didn't wear their heavy armours and goggles anymore, except their oversized backpacks. Locke wore a dark yellow tank top base layer, pale yellow jacket over his tank top base layer, black/yellow fingerless gloves, dark brown jeans, and dark yellow boots. Lode was now wearing a dark red tank top base layer, pale red jacket over his tank top base layer, gray/red fingerless gloves, dark brown jeans, and dark red boots. The news also showed their new names as Len and Lin. The Shane Gang and I were speechless along with our slugs, except Khai and her slugs, who just smiled.
"You see, Locke and Lode, or now Len and Lin have finally changed into good guys," Khai told the Shane Gang and I.
"Oh please... they bullied you before!" I argued because I refused to believe that they had changed.
"It's okay. I forgive them. Though, they remind me of one of my enemies named Nico, who was once an enemy of Team KHEI," Khai replied.
"Who is Nico?" we questioned her.
"Well, Nico wanted to get rid of magic because she thought that the magic itself killed her parents. But I told her that it wasn't the magic's fault that killed her parents… it was the dark magic user… Torch Flame," Khai explained. We gasped in horror when she mentioned Torch Flame.
"Nico felt regretful of what she had done in the past. I taught her about love and told her that her love for her parents is still inside her heart and her parents' spirits will always watch over their precious daughter. And I gave her a second chance as a forgiveness." The Shane Gang and I were awed at her story about Nico.
After breakfast, the Shane Gang and I were doing our things: Kord and Pronto were playing video games; Trixie was reading some stuff from her tablet; I was reading the slug section from my book that contained all the information of Slugterra; Eli was sleeping on the sofa; Khai was reading a message from her teammate, Elke. She sent her the information of the Camera Obscura and the urban legend about the Manor of Sleep to her high-tech tablet. While Junjie took a nice warm bath in the bathroom of his room, using a shower.
It was quiet in the bathroom except the sounds of the shower. Junjie suddenly heard a tiny scrape, like a nail on a chalkboard, coming from the shower door.
"Kord! Are you pulling a prank on me?" Junjie called out.
When he looked over his left shoulder, he got a glimpse of the shower door. He gasped in horror when he saw a pale hand pressing against the outside of the glass shower door. Several thick, long spines impaled it and the tip of one of the spines scraped against the glass. As Junjie watched, another hand joined it, and then a face came into view - a face with bloody bandages wrapped around the empty eye sockets.
Junjie was horrified to see it. He thought Kord was pulling a prank on him but… there was no way Kord could do that! Junjie quickly realized that the unexpected visitor… was a female spirit! She opened her mouth in a guttural snarl, and she pushed against the door, slamming it open! Junjie let out a high pitch scream as his back hit the shower wall behind him, and he fell into the corner. The ghost was gone, however, and all he could see beyond was the gently swinging shower door.
All of us had heard his horrified scream, and we were worried. We rushed to his bedroom to find him.
"Junjie! Junjie!" I called out as we saw him in his bathroom. Junjie did not replied my answer because he was terrified. He was half naked, though he already used a towel to cover his bottom part.
"Jun... Junjie?" I blushed furiously.
"What happen here?" Eli questioned.
"Junjie... tell us..." I tried to coo him as I turned off the shower and went closer to him. Though, my cheeks were still burning red.
Junjie covered his face with his hands to make sure nothing else appeared in front of his eyes again. He also started to mutter himself.
"Junjie?" I asked again.
"I... I..." Junjie stammered because he felt horrified.
"Just tell us... please..." I pleaded as I removed his hands from his face slowly. I looked into his eyes.
"Wen...Jing...?" he asked.
"Yes... it's me..." I answered as I touched his cheek.
"Junjie? What happened? We heard you screamed," Khai questioned him.
"I... I..." Junjie could not answer her question.
"Calm down. First, you need to dry yourself and put on your slinger outfit. Then tell us what happen at the living room" Khai told him.
"Yes... because... you are... making me... blush..." I whispered as I blushed even more seeing his current state.
"O-Okay..." Junjie replied.
"I... should go now..." I said as I went out of the shower with others.
A few minutes later, Junjie finished drying up himself and he put on his slinger outfit. He exited his room and went to the living room where we were waiting for him.
"What happened just now, dude?" Kord asked Junjie.
"I... I do not know what happened..." Junjie confessed.
"You must have seen something horrible, right?" I guessed.
"...yes..." Junjie replied.
"What is it?" Trixie was curious.
"There's... a woman... with bloody bandages that wrapped around her eyes..." Junjie explained.
"Really?" Eli sounded skeptical.
"Yes... She then... slammed the shower door and opened it, and I... screamed..." he said.
"Seriously?" Trixie asked in disbelief.
"Yes. It's really true. That woman... she doesn't look human..." he defended.
"It is... a ghost?!" Pronto was terrified now.
"...yes... I thought it was one of Kord's pranks, but it wasn't," he answered.
"Junjie, ghosts do not exist," Eli explained.
"They do, Eli" Khai defended.
"Do you have evidence?" Eli asked her.
"Yes. It is sixth sense," Khai replied.
"I agree with Khai. Ghosts are real, but you can't see them because of the lack of sixth sense," I agreed with Khai.
"Really?" Kord was skeptical too.
"Yes, I study them," I said and looked at Junjie.
"It seems that Junjie has gained the sixth sense. Which allows him to see things that others cannot," Khai explained.
"What? Oh no..." Junjie muttered.
"So you saw a female spirit in your bathroom while you're taking a shower? Am I right?" Khai asked.
"...Yes..." Junjie answered.
"Hmmm... sixth sense can allow users to see the spirit world. Which you can do now, Junjie," she told him.
"But... I do not want to see spirits!" he began to freak out.
"That's true. However, the sixth sense also allow you to see through the past as your vision," she added.
"But I don't want to see my past!" he exclaimed due to his fear of confronting himself as the Dark Slinger.
"No. I meant if you touch an object or a person, you will see their pasts," she corrected him.
"What?" he did not understand.
"Well, you can't see your past. You only see the pasts of other objects or people as illusions," she explained.
"Well, it is thought that objects can contain sentimental value from a person who wielded it in the past. When the person dies, usually by unnatural causes, it is thought that his or her spirit will linger in the objects they wield in the past. So, if you have sixth sense, you may have the ability to see their pasts due to their lingering spirits," I gave out an in depth explanation.
"Whoa..." Eli, Kord, Trixie, and Pronto were awed by my knowledge of sixth sense.
"Hehe, I study a lot. And this is actually psychology. With some mixes," I answered.
"That's right. And Junjie has the sixth sense," Khai agreed.
"But don't worry. It is only temporary. It happens to normal people too. Don't worry," I comforted Junjie as I massaged his head.
Khai picked up her Camera Obscura, which was an old camera. She stood up from her chair and was heading to Junjie's room.
"Khai?" Eli asked her.
"I am going to find some clues in Junjie's bedroom with this camera," she answered.
"Oh... uh... okay..." he replied.
Khai went into Junjie's room and stood in front of the bathroom door. She snapped a photo of it and then a photo popped out. She took a look and saw bloody hand prints on the shower door.
"This is not good..." she muttered worriedly.
Meanwhile at the living room, I was giving a comfortable head massage for Junjie.
"Feeling better, Junjie?" I asked as I massaged his head with my fingers.
"Yes... a little..." Junjie replied as he tried his best to calm down.
"It's alright..." I cooed him.
He looked at the corner of the living room and saw an image of Eli with dark blue tattoos that took the pattern of snakes and holly leaves.
"Oh no..." Junjie muttered in fear.
"What?" I asked him.
"It... it is... him again!" Junjie shouted.
"Which dude?" Kord questioned as he looked around the living room. But he could not see it because he didn't possess the sixth sense.
"There! At the corner!" Junjie exclaimed as he pointed to the corner where the figure was standing.
"But...no one's there," Trixie blurted out. Eli nodded.
"Ah! Another ghost?!" Pronto was frightened.
"I think his sixth sense is causing him to see someone... that wasn't really there... a ghost again..." I explained and gave Junjie a hug. He calmed down a bit when I did that.
Junjie still looked at the Tattooed Man at the corner of the living room with a terrified face. "Calm down, calm down," I cooed him as I massaged his head again.
Glace, who was sitting beside Junjie, stared at the corner with a horrified expression. She chirped at Junjie and I.
"Glace?" I called out. She gave out some worried chirps.
"Wait, she also sees it?" Junjie was shocked. Glace nodded.
"She's special," I said.
Later, the Tattooed Man disappeared in thin air, and Junjie's sixth sense wore out.
Then, Khai returned from Junjie room. "Khai! Did you find anything?" I asked her.
"Yes, I have" she answered and showed the photo of the shower door with bloody hand prints.
"What is that?" I questioned.
"I took a photo of the shower door. And it has bloody hand prints on it," she explained.
"What does that mean?" Eli felt confused and skeptical.
"It means... the ghosts are haunting Junjie," she said. Junjie felt utterly scared.
"Really? Poor Junjie..." I blurted out as I hugged Junjie tighter, trying to comfort him.
"Uh, Khai? May I hold the camera?" Trixie asked Khai.
"Oh, sure," Khai replied and let her hold it.
Trixie lifted the camera up to her eye level. She pointed it at Eli and the lens glowed in soft blue. She "accidentally" pressed the button of the camera and snapped a photo of Eli. A photo popped out of it. She took a look at it and was shocked to see tattoos covering Eli's skin all over.
"Hey, guys! Look at this!" Trixie showed us the photo of a tattooed Eli.
"Are those... tattoos?" Kord questioned.
"Those are the tattoos I saw from the ghost just now!" Junjie exclaimed.
Eli looked at his arm but there was nothing on his skin.
"Hmm... Eli may have tattoos but they are invisible," Khai speculated after studying the photo.
Trixie became a bit scared and she returned the camera to Khai.
Later, it was 12 o'clock and Khai was making lunch. We were all glad that she was the cook today as we could not bear Pronto's cooking. I tried my best to calm Junjie down. Eli was sleeping on the sofa again and he started muttering in his sleep. Burpy and the rest of Eli's slugs noticed this and they were worried about him.
"No…it's…too much…pain… Tattoos are…spreading…allover… The…Tattooed Man…is…coming…!" Eli suddenly spoke in his sleep. That really made Burpy and Eli's slugs worried even more!
They decided to wake him up. Beeker, Eli's AquaBeek, spouted water on his face, which made him instantly woke up from his dream. Burpy chirped as if he asked his owner if he was okay.
"I am fine... just had a bad dream," Eli replied.
Khai came into the living room, announcing that lunch was ready. On the dining table, there were fried fish, carrot soup, apple juice, rice balls and Japanese sushi. As we ate our lunch, Eli was gazing at his food and was not eating.
"Eli? What's wrong?" Khai asked Eli, which he then snapped out from his gaze.
"Hey, dude? Are you alright?" Kord questioned Eli worriedly.
"I'm fine... just... feeling dizzy... and a bit cold," Eli answered. His words made Khai felt suspicious.
Translation:
"俊杰, 昨晚... 你怎么会喝醉了?" : Junjie, yesterday... how could you be drunk?
"我... 以为那瓶饮料是可乐... 没想到是... 酒," : I... thought that bottle was Coke... didn't know it's... wine.
"不过... 我喜欢... 你对我做出的一切..." : But... I like... how you did to me... for everything...
"你在那里学的?" : Where did you learn that?
"我... 不记得了... 抱歉..." : I... don't remember... sorry.
"算了吧," : Never mind.
