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"Please Commander, our crew has to go and rescue Eli!"
Hera's words could be heard as she spoke to Commander Sato in the room next door.
Ezra blocked out the world in his head as he sat in meditation, trying to reach out to his twin.
"Ezra."
The padawan opened his eyes.
"Yeah?"
Kanan sighed, leaning against the wall.
"The fleet doesn't want us too... but we're going to search for Eli."
Ezra looked up at his master.
"They can't interrogate him," said Ezra, his voice breaking with dryness.
"He doesn't know anything about the fleet. They'll be torturing him for nothing."
Kanan shook his head.
"I think the Empire already knows that," said he.
"I think their main goal is turning the last of the Jedi towards the Dark Side."
Trixie shook her head.
"He wouldn't," The girl said, her lips curling downwards.
"Yeah, he's better than that," Kord rubbed his neck with uncertainty.
"You could accidentally push him into lava and he probably wouldn't be mad."
Ezra quickly changed the subject.
"Any leads, Sabine?"
Sabine pulled up an image of several Destroyers.
"Twist probably took him back to one of the Destroyers that was after us," She said, running a hand through her colorful hair.
"That way, there'd be less risk of Eli waking up on the ride."
Trixie suddenly gasped.
"Burpy?!"
Everyone quickly got to their feet.
One by one, Eli's slugs all started popping up out of nowhere.
Ezra's slugs immediately popped up and jumped onto the ground, giving tiny bro hugs to each other.
"Wait," Junjie muttered, scanning the ground with his eyes.
When he didn't find what he was looking for, he hardened his expression.
"The Elementals!" He gasped, turning pale.
"They're gone!"
Ezra stood up angrily.
"I swear, when I get my hand on Twist-!"
Kanan sat Ezra back down.
"Becoming angry isn't gonna get your brother back, Ezra," The Jedi said sternly.
The silence hung in the air for a moment.
"You're right."
Ezra sighed and shook his head, trying to loosen his thoughts.
"I'm just trying to figure out why Eli ran down there in the first place," Kanan thought for a moment.
Ezra gazed out the window of the cockpit.
"And I'm just praying that Eli can hold out," Ezra muttered.
Was he dead?
He wouldn't be surprised- he probably would've been killed eventually, considering his role as the protector of Slugterra.
He was dead, wasn't he?
Shame if he was, there was still a lot more he wanted to do.
No, he wasn't.
There was too much pain in his body for that.
Wait, what?
Eli snapped his eyes open.
"Oww..." Eli groaned, lifting a hand to his forehead.
"What the..."
Eli pulled his arms again. His hands were bound in heavy metal restraints.
"Great," Eli muttered.
"Only cause you can't be trusted just yet," A voice said from the dark.
"Not until you've been broken, at least."
Eli sighed, letting his hands fall.
"Twist." He didn't bother to mask the tinge of anger in his voice.
The dark-sider shifted at the sound of his name.
"Little disappointed," Twist crossed his arms, leaning up against the wall.
"I expected you to put up more of a fight, back there on your ship."
Eli immediately tried to push back Twist through the Force, only to be blocked away.
"You really think we'd let you use the Force while you're still in the light?" Twist sneered.
Barely lifting a finger, Twist sent a wave of the Force at Eli.
The Shane's eyes widened as he nearly keeled over, clutching his head with his hands.
Nausea and pain blurred his mind as Eli tried not to cry out in agony.
Twist only grinned wickedly.
"I'm really tempted to end this right here," He said smugly, twirling his modified lightsaber blaster in his hands.
Eli eyed the weapon in his hands.
"Let me guess," Eli glared up at his captor.
"Orders from your all powerful master?"
Twist's grin shrank ever so slightly.
"I'd watch my mouth if I were you," The dark sider scowled, holding up a cage.
Eli held down a gasp.
The Elementals were huddled together within the cage.
All Eli did was stare at the cage, willing for the slugs to be free.
Twist took note of this, his grin vanishing completely.
"Never seen these slugs before," He continued.
"Must be pretty important."
Eli bit down his tongue as he carefully chose his words.
"You're going to Ghoul them?" He asked, hating the worry in his voice.
Twist stood in thought for a moment.
"No," He said, a certain gleam to his amber eyes.
Eli took a very brief moment of relief to himself.
With a flick of the wrist, Twist ignited his lightsaber, pointing it towards Eli's throat.
"Not unless you do what you're told."
Eli gulped.
Knowing the power that Twist had, every slug in Slugterra would be Ghouled within seconds.
Course, Twist didn't know how important the Elementals were.
"From the little I remember, you always tried to play hero," Twist sneered once more.
"Risking your life for something like a couple of slugs. Nearly died for the sake of your Infurnus."
Twist menacingly moved the saber closer towards Eli, forcing him to lean away.
The saber's red glare gave the cell a suffocating air.
Eli tried to stand his ground.
Twist scowled some more.
"When we land, you'd better be ready to get your little crew to follow."
Eli glared up at the dark-sider.
"Now why would I do that?" Eli said through clenched teeth.
Twist held up the Elementals.
"These look pretty powerful," Twist mused.
"I could hand them over to the clone troopers for... experimentation."
Eli tightened his fists until his hands felt numb.
"What kind of slug-slinger are you, treating slugs like this?" Eli rasped, realizing how little he'd been breathing.
Twist suddenly sat straighter up.
"Now I remember something," muttered Twist, lowering his saber slightly.
Twist stepped forward and looked closer at his prisoner.
"... Shane. Eli Shane, that was your name, wasn't it?"
Eli held his breath.
Twist stood there for a moment, before angrily slashing at Eli's arm with his saber.
The Shane cried out in pain, slumping against the wall of the cell.
"That was for my father," Twist spat, grabbing the caged Elementals.
Eli waited until Twist's footsteps faded away before sinking down to the floor of his cell, ignoring the pain of his bleeding arm.
"Day One."