Chapter 29—Slug Hunt
Thanks for the reviews! I may not be able to post as often as i used to for a while. Mom grounded me from laptop, so I have to do this in secret.
"When did you go on a slug hunt last?" Luke asked me.
"About a year ago," I replied. "My parents wanted my to know what it's like to go on a slug hunt. Eli taught me that if I asked politely enough, I could get a slug to join my team without using any of the devices most people use."
"Neat," Emma said. "Now, be quiet. I heard something."
We silenced and dismounted our Mechas to investigate the noise.
It ended up being a group of various slug species, but they were surrounded by several slug hounds.
"That's not good," I commented. Mark fired Shiner into the sky to create a distraction.
As the slug hounds looked up at the light I fired Tesla at one while Luke fired Subzero at another and Emma fired Volt at a third.
Tesla and Volt managed to zap their targets with enough power to send them on the run while Subzero froze a third's hind leg. It took off running as well, leaving us to face two more angry slug hounds.
"Keep the slugs safe!" Mark told us as he fired Needles between the two hounds. He shot out a bunch of needles, causing the final hounds to take off yelping.
"Hey, there," Emma said cautiously as we approached the slugs. "Are you guys okay?"
They nodded and began chirping.
"They're thanking us for helping them," I translated for Emma. "They said that men in black suits sent the hounds to corner the slugs while they went back to retrieve devices to capture them."
"Would any of you like to join our teams?" Emma asked them. "We'll keep you safe the best we can."
Four slugs hopped away from the group. The Gazzer joined Emma, the Thresher joined my team, the Vinedrill joined Luke, and the Slicksilver went with Mark.
"These guys are absolutely adorable!" Emma announced.
"Yeah, they're pretty cute," I agreed. "Now, we need to make sure these slugs stay safe. Those guys sounded like Blakk's men."
"That's because we are," two voices behind us said. "Now, turn around slowly."
We turned as they said and saw that they were each pointing blasters at us, loaded with Hop Jacks.
"You sure you want to do this?" I asked them, my eyes beginning to turn blue. "There's two of you and four of us. You launch those slugs, and you'll most likely miss."
"Not if we both aim at you," one of them said as they pointed their blasters at us. "You're Shane's kid, aren't you?"
"Yes, yes I am," I replied proudly.
"Good. Blakk wants you alive. He didn't say anything about the rest of your friends, though," the other one sneered. They changed their targets at the last second and fired the slugs at me friends.
"No!" I screamed. I ran at the closest one and hit the first Hop Jack out of the air, but I couldn't get to the other one. It was too close to Mark.
Strangely, though, the spot he was standing in was empty.
"Are you okay, Mark?" Emma asked Mark. Her eyes were glowing an eerie yellow.
He nodded and she set him down, drawing her blaster.
"You guys are horrible people," she growled as she launched Bruiser. Instead of being regular velocimorph, though, Bruiser Mega-Morphed without an accelerator.
Or at least, without a mechanical one.
"Whoa, Bruiser!" Emma shouted as Bruiser exploded between the two goons. The detonation was much bigger than before, somehow affecting their blasters so that they wouldn't function.
"Forget it. Let's get out of here!" one of them shouted. They took off and we watched them run away.
"That's right! You'd better run!" Emma yelled as her eyes slowly faded back to normal.
"What just happened to Emma?" Luke asked us. "She was standing next to me one second, and in the other she moved Mark to the other end of the clearing."
"Looks like she's got a gift, like me," I said. "She must have the gift of speed."
"Seriously?" Emma asked me. "That's so cool!" She closed her eyes in concentration before opening them. They turned yellow again and she disappeared as she took off around the cavern before returning to her spot.
"Whoa, there," I told her. "You can't go showing off your powers like that. We have to keep this a secret between us. Nobody else can know," I said to the rest of them.
"Agreed," Mark, Luke, and Emma said. I looked at them all and nodded.
"Let's make sure these slugs are kept safe," I told the others. I had the wild slugs climb on my arms as I moved them to my Mecha along with the others.
"Where should we take them?" Emma asked me.
"Let's start off by putting them someplace else in this cavern. If we have to, we can move them to Bullseye Cavern to keep them safe," I told her.
We traveled around the cavern and added a few more slugs to our arsenals before finally coming upon a spot the slugs would be safe at.
"Here it is, guys," I told the slugs on my Mecha. "Stay safe!" I added as they hopped away.
They turned and waved before leaving.
"They were nice slugs," Mark commented. "At least we added some more slugs to our own teams," he added, referring to the slugs we got on the way there. He got a Hop Rock, Luke acquired a Bubbaleone, Emma found a Flaringo, and I got a Frostcrawler. I always wanted a Frostcrawler.
We explored the cavern further, but didn't encounter any more slugs that wanted to join us, so we returned to the spot the entire groups was supposed to meet at and waited for the rest of the people to arrive.
When they finally did we returned to the University and got ourselves dinner.
"Well, today has certainly been interesting," I commented as we sat down.
"That's the understatement of the year," Emma added.
When we finished we left the cafeteria and were making our way to the Arena to practice some more when I heard two familiar Mechas approach.
"Jacob!" Trixie yelled when she Eli got close enough. "Karina told us what happened. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," I told them. "You didn't have to come all the way here to check up on me. Jade fixed me up pretty well."
"Yeah, but we also wanted to give this to you," Eli told me, tossing me a backpack.
"Thanks. I always wanted a backpack," I said awkwardly as I caught the bag.
"Look in the top compartment," Eli added, smiling.
I lifted the top flap and gasped in excitement. The upper compartment had little slug beds, a mini couch and everything Eli's bag has.
"It came in today," Eli told me. "The bottom compartment should have plenty of space for your books and everything else you need."
"Thank you!" I said, hugging them while they were still on their Mechas. I emptied my original backpack and placed its contents in the bottom of my new bag.
"Welcome to you little home-on-the-go," I told me slug, gesturing for them to jump in through a small hole in the top of the bag. They leaped in and I opened the top to watch them jump around in joy. They soon raced to be the first in their choice of bed. Stinger automatically went for the highest one, using his webbing to pull himself up there.
"They seem to be enjoying it," Mark commented.
"Yeah, they do," I agreed as I pulled the bag onto my back.
"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Eli asked me.
"Yeah. Aunt Karina fixed me up pretty well," I assured him.
"Martin had better be punished," Eli added. "Using ghouls is bad enough, but to try to seriously harm your opponent…"
"I'm sure he'll be punished," I told them.
They nodded and left for home again.
"That was nice of them to bring you a new backpack," Emma said as we continued to the Arena.
"Yeah."
When we arrived at the Arena nobody was there so I used Yang to black out all the cameras and the entrance.
"What're you doing?" Emma demanded.
"You need to learn how to better control your powers, and this is the best way to ensure nobody watches," I explained to her. "Luke and Mark, you might want to stand back."
"Sure," Mark said, paying close attention.
