Chapter 10—Cousins?

Thanks for the reviews and Create-gunner1209 for lending me an OC.

"How could we be cousins?" I asked Mom. "I spent almost my entire life with Eli and Trixie. Unless you have another sibling, I don't believe you."

"Wait, Mom and Dad had a sister?" Leo demanded.

"Both of you, quiet!" she told us. Mark, Emma, and Luke were watching it all go on. Mom sighed and continued. "Before Eli and Trixie adopted Jacob, they had a son and named him Leonardo. They kept him in a separate Hideout and treated him well. Every time they left to take care of a bad guy, they were most likely taking care of one of you. After Leo's…accident, they spent most of their time with Jacob or visiting Leo. They developed both of your dueling skills. They agreed to send both of you to SU when you turned 15. When Eli and Trixie died, I continued it, enrolling Leo when he came of age."

"Whoa," Leo said. "This is a lot to take in."

"I agree," I added. "How were Eli and Trixie able to do all this without being discovered? Why wasn't Leo included in the will?"

"I can answer those too," Mom told us. "Eli and Trixie confided their secret in me, so I looked after Jacob whenever they were away. Leo wasn't included in the will to continue this secret, and they depended on me to settle this. Leo and Jacob, you will share their slugs, and you can both stay in the Hideout."

"Does that mean I keep Burpy?" Leo asked.

"No, you don't," Mom said. "As I said, you share the slugs. You can alternate on the slugs you take with you each week."

"Cool," I replied.

"So, cuz, nice to meet you," Leo commented. I had a typo earlier, sorry. Leo's arm sleeve and eye patch are on the left side of his body, not his right. SORRY!

"Nice to meet you, too," I replied, shaking his hand. "If you don't mind, what happened…?" I added, gesturing to his left arm and eye.

"I'd rather say it in private…" he said, looking at Mom and my friends.

"Oh, sorry," they said, walking out and closing the door.

"When I was a kid, Dad took me out on a slug hunt," he began. "I wandered off and discovered a large black and red building, although it was run down. I found my way inside and to a room with what appeared to be a drill."

He continued his story, about how he got Dark Water on the left side of his body and Eli and Trixie took him to the Shadow Clan for help. They took Leo to the Lightwell, the source of all energy in SlugTerra, and bathed him in it. The water transformed him, though, making him part-Shadow Clan. He removed his eye patch and arm sleeve to reveal a bright green eye and an arm that's black with green, like a Shadow Clan's arm.

"After that happened I had to live with the Shadow Clan so that they could train me to use my abilities," he added. "About a month ago I left and went to my Hideout, where my collection of slugs looked after me until Aunt Karina introduced herself and brought me here for classes so that I can help change SlugTerra for the better."

"Cool," I replied.

"What about you?" he asked me. "What's your story? I heard Mom and Dad adopted you."

"My mother is Karina Shane, but she wasn't ready for a child yet, so another couple adopted me. When they were killed in a robbery, Mom got the Shanes to adopt me. For the next thirteen or so years I grew up around them and the slugs. Mom revealed that she's my mom a few hours before we had to rescue Eli and Trixie from the Deep Caverns, when they died."

"How did they die?" Leo asked me.

"Leon Blakk killed them with two Boon Deaths," I said. "If it helps, I almost killed him once."

He smiled. "Actually, that does help," he told me. "So, what else is there to know about you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Seriously?" he asked me. "We're Shanes. "There's nothing simple to us."

"Good point," I replied. I let my powers out and my eyes lit up bright blue.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed. "What is that?" He leaned closer. "Are you part-Shadow Clan, too?"

I laughed. "No, I'm not," I replied. I explained to him about my powers and those of my friends.

"Looks like I'm not the only odd one," he said.

I couldn't help but agree.

"What kind of slug is that?" I asked, pointing to a slug on his shoulder. It looks like an Infernus, but its body is completely black, has three glowing green antennae, and green Shadow Clan markings.

"Oh, this is Save," he replied, holding the slug out to me. "The Shadow Clan used him to save my life when I was infected with dark water. He's a Pulter slug, one of the few left."

"Cool. I've never even heard of a Pulter slug before," I commented. I introduced my slugs as well.

"Are you into trickshots?" he asked when he saw Speedy.

"You could say that," I replied. "I won Toxin, my Toxis slug, in a trickshot competition against Mario Bravado."

"Neat," he said. "How good of a duelist are you, though?"

I smiled. "One of the best. I beat my mother in a duel at a competition yesterday."

"I remember that," Leo said. "I was watching. You must be good to beat her, but can you beat me?"

I shrugged. "Maybe. I'm pretty confident in myself, though. Besides, I have MegaMorphed slugs."

He raised his eyebrows. "Seriously? Without an accelerator?"

"Yeah," I replied. "It's part of my abilities. What are yours?"

"Pretty much whatever Shadow Clan can do," he told me. "I can climb walls, speak to slugs and Shadow Clan, sense the presence of slugs and slug energy, I can see in the dark, I can velocimorph slugs by throwing them and more."

"Cool," I said. I focused for a second before saying, "I can speak to slugs and Shadow Clan and throw slugs into velocimorph as well," in Shadow Clan language.

His eyes widened. "Cool," he told me.

We were about to continue speaking when there was a knock on the door.

"Can we come in now?" Luke asked us.

I told them they could once Leo replaced the arm sleeve and eye patch, so the four of them rushed in.

"Are you guys okay?" Mom asked us.

"Yeah," I replied.

"So, are you guys really cousins?" Mark asked us.

"Yeah," I said.

"I don't want to talk about it," Leo added before they could ask any more questions.

"Are you guys moved in?" I asked my friends.

"Not yet," they replied. They left as I unpacked my things, placing pictures on my dresser, which is right next to Leo's. He noticed them and picked one up. I just continued unpacking, placing clothes in drawers and books on shelves.

"Is that a fusion blaster?" he asked me as I unhooked it from my backpack.

"Yeah, why?" I replied, holding out the staff for him to examine.

"I've never seen one before," he commented. "Have you used it in battle?"

"Yeah, quite a bit," I told him.

"Cool."

I placed the last of my things in their places and jumped up on the bed, almost hitting my head on the ceiling.

"All done?" Leo asked me.

I nodded and was about to ask him for a practice duel when Mom walked in.

"Good, you're done," she said. "Testing to determine your classes begins in ten minutes."

"Okay," I replied, grabbing my blasters and slugs, although I left Burpy with Leo so that they could hang out.